CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER 121: STRIVING FOR THE FUTURE

Let me ask: What does it take to build a modern industrial nation?

A large, educated population to work in the factories.

A great number of technical personnel to provide frontline support.

Numerous technical experts to organize production and research...

In fact, the most important thing in building a modern industrial nation is capital!

Let’s not talk about other countries—take the Soviet Union’s "First Five-Year Plan" as an example. The total investment during the entire plan reached 76.64 billion yuan, equivalent to more than 700 million taels of gold.

One tael of gold is 37.42849791 grams.

700 million taels of gold equals 26,199,948,537 grams of gold.

Converted to US dollars... that’s $2.97 billion!

What’s the most important thing?

Money is the most important!

Without money, nothing can even get started.

Workers live to work, working to get ahead in life.

So, pressured by the demands of life, after settling matters in France, Pierre had no choice but to return to the United States and continue acting as a human mule, carrying goods.

Soviet gold was good, but there wasn’t much of it.

But America was different. The demand for scarce commodities like sugar was measured in the millions of tons, and the Lend-Lease Act had ensured full employment for Americans. Full employment meant... people had money in their hands.

With money to spend but not enough goods on the market, demand stimulated the market.

Faced with such demand, who could just sit by and watch?

Although Americans paid in dollars, not gold, after World War II, what was the dollar?

Greenbacks!

The US dollar was as good as gold—a hard currency.

On the day he returned to New York—or rather, the next day (after all, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and he and Heidi had to enjoy a night of passion after their brief separation)—Pierre took a Pan Am DC-3 to Cuba. This was because North Borneo Company didn’t yet have a route to Cuba; otherwise, he would have taken his own SM.75.

Although the war had affected many people’s lives, for the wealthy, it had almost no impact. Their children were usually kept safely in the rear, and as for themselves, they continued to live as they always had—if anything, even more affluently, since the war had pulled America out of the Great Depression.

Just like now—every weekend, New York’s wealthy would head to Havana to enjoy life. There, not only was there tropical scenery, but also countless luxury hotels, resorts, and casinos, as well as the balls they loved, Havana cigars, and passionate Latin women.

For them, weekends like this had long become a part of life. But today, there was a small surprise.

Most of the passengers were a little surprised to see a Chinese person on the plane, they only glanced at him out of curiosity. But for Grace, in addition to her curiosity, she found the whole thing rather amazing—just yesterday, she’d attended a fundraising event for China and had donated $100 herself. The spring incident had let all of America see how difficult China’s war of resistance was. In recent months, fundraising events for China had been held everywhere, just as they had previously for Russia and Britain.

She hadn’t expected to run into a Chinese person on the plane today—let alone have him as her seatmate. From the moment she sat down, she kept sneaking glances at the man beside her.

He looked familiar somehow.

How long had the plane been in the air?

Pierre didn’t know, but as he read his magazine, he could feel the woman’s gaze beside him. In fact, he’d noticed her the moment she sat down—after all, a beautiful, shapely blonde always draws a man’s attention.

But being stared at is uncomfortable, even if the woman staring at him is...

All the materials were stunning. Closing the magazine, Pierre turned his head to look at the blonde, blue-eyed foreign girl beside him and said,

"Miss, your gaze is not very ladylike."

"Ah!"

Only then did Grace realize how rude she had been. At just fifteen, she immediately blushed bright red and hurriedly apologized.

"I’m sorry, sir. That was impolite of me. Please forgive me."

As she apologized, Grace explained,

"I just thought you looked familiar, so I was trying to remember if we had met before. Was it at the fundraising event in Central Park yesterday to support China’s war effort?"

It was normal for him to look familiar—after all, a few months ago, he had been on the front page of the newspaper. But the print quality of newspapers in this era left much to be desired, and the photos were a bit blurry.

"Fundraising event?"

Pierre asked in confusion.

"Yes, there were quite a few Chinese people at the banquet. I thought I might have seen you there, which is why I was so rude."

The blonde beauty’s explanation left Pierre surprised, but even more curious—curious about that fundraising banquet.

"Could you tell me more about that fundraising event?"

"So you really didn’t attend," Grace replied, then explained,

"You know, because of Governor Dewey, Americans have come to realize how much we’ve neglected China, who’s been fighting the Japanese for two years. For two whole years, we sent huge amounts of supplies to Britain and Russia, but only gave China a thousand rifles. My God, it’s almost shameful to mention. So now, events like this are held in the US all the time..."

The girl’s explanation left Pierre stunned—fundraising! Americans were voluntarily raising money for China!

It was almost unbelievable. Could this be the change he had brought about?

Thinking of this, Pierre couldn’t help but feel a bit proud.

"Yesterday, we raised a total of $155,000! All of it will be used to buy supplies and send them to China to help resist the Japanese invaders..."

Grace emphasized,

"I think every American is happy to do their part to kill Japanese devils."

With that, her big blue eyes stared at Pierre. Her subtext couldn’t have been clearer—I donated too.

But Pierre didn’t notice any of this. He was busy thinking about how to maximize the amount of funds he could obtain in the coming year. After all, the construction in Borneo would require billions.

Money—what a headache!

...

Seriously!

This guy is so rude, zoning out again!

Grace couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. Coming from a wealthy family, she was used to being the center of attention thanks to her background and beauty. When had she ever been treated so coldly? Pouting in frustration, her pretty face was full of gloom.

This guy is so arrogant!

But Pierre didn’t notice the girl next to him sulking at all. He was lost in thought, pondering all sorts of things, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with any answers...

So in the end, he simply stopped thinking altogether...