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Chapter 313 Sublimated Thoughts
Thoughts are undoubtedly a wonderful thing.

For example, if you don't think about why people live, you can live in a muddleheaded way.

Just like the farmers in ancient times, they worked from sunset to sunset and rested at sunset, and their highest ideal was to have a wife and children and a warm bed.

As long as they can have a meal and live, that’s enough. In fact, most people in Xida are probably in this state.

Thinking about the meaning of life is undoubtedly a very difficult thing for most people with reading disabilities.

Most of their knowledge about life comes from various media.

The living habits that have been passed down for many years have made them habitually turn on the TV at home in the evening, so they really believe what is promoted on TV news.

In fact, the world is often so strange. Many public intellectuals on the Chinese Internet are mocking the Chinese people for not being able to think independently.

Then they promoted a country with a total population of only 300 million, but nearly 10 million of them had reading disabilities and nearly 1 million of them believed in the flat earth theory, saying that everyone had the ability to think independently.

Yes, said the flat ground.

It is hard to imagine that in an age when satellites are almost filling the Earth's orbit, there are still millions of people who firmly believe that the Earth is flat. The idea that the Earth is round is just an official lie, and there is even an organization called the International Flat Earth Society.

Of course, this is indeed an ability to think independently...

Qiao Yu's speech in the interview was like an epiphany for many such people.

Although this live broadcast is conducted entirely in Chinese, other countries in the world will use the already popular AI translation technology to directly convert it into their own language when broadcasting it.

For example, Richard John.

Especially when Qiao Yu said that the hard-working people in the areas that had cooperated with China would definitely be willing to testify for him, he really had an urge to go on TV and tell everyone that what Qiao Yu said was true!
This is indeed the case with Chinese culture: as long as you are willing to work hard, you will be able to live a good life.

He is a living example.

In the past, he had trouble supporting himself, let alone his family! At that time, he had to go to the food bank every week to collect food that even dogs would not eat.

Is he lazy? Really not! It's because he has no job opportunities. He wants to work around the clock, and the salary he earns is not even enough for his family to eat.

There was no way. Although he knew how to weld, there was no place hiring for welders in the whole of Philadelphia.

He didn't have much education and wasn't good at accounting, so he could only do the lowest-level jobs and get the lowest hourly wage. He couldn't support a large family.

It would be better to just stay at home and do nothing, relying on subsidies and food banks to survive.

After all, as long as he plays it badly, at least according to state policy, he can still get the children's health insurance plan, and with the special supplementary nutrition plan for women, infants and children, he can also live a life of food and clothing.

Everything has changed since the Chinese came.

He found a job with a good salary, and his salary was enough to support his family. He even had insurance.

Actually, none of his American bosses were as nice to him as his Chinese bosses. He couldn't figure out why.

After all, for the first thirty years of his life, the news had described China as an evil country where people had no freedom and could only passively accept a life of poverty.

It was not until four years ago that the media suddenly changed their story. He did not believe it at all at that time, until now, he finally believed that he had been living a lie for the first half of his life.

Their vision is that everyone in the world can live an ideal life as long as they are willing to work!

Obviously this is not friendly to the rich! But for ordinary people like him, this is simply the best system in the world!

Their officials always say that they have done a lot for world peace, but the news always reports that they are starting wars everywhere.

However, the way the Chinese people maintain world peace is to work hard to develop technology! So that no one dares to start a war easily to maintain world peace.

Even more than that, they also want to improve technology so that everyone can live a relatively wealthy life. For this reason, they have to build a base on the moon and then conquer the universe!
For a moment, Richard had a vague feeling that he had found the meaning of life and the direction he needed to strive for.

It's the feeling of realizing for the first time that life should have more pursuits and meaning than just eating, drinking, reproducing and watching TV.

As we all know, when a middle-aged man in his forties suddenly has the idea that he should fight again in life, it is often the beginning of a story.

It's just that he needs some support now to make his ideas more firm.

……

"Thomas, do you think he is right?" Richard pointed at Qiao Yu on TV and asked his eldest son who was watching TV intently.

"Of course, they may not remember, but I remember what our home was like before! And what it is like now!"

Thomas glanced at his two younger brothers beside him and answered in a muffled voice.

This made Richard blush slightly.

John's family is a very traditional Catholic family, so Richard actually agrees that he should be the main breadwinner of the family, while women only need to take care of household affairs.

But unfortunately, he did not do this well before. But this is obviously not because he did not work hard, but because he simply could not find the direction to work hard.

"You know, I'm a welder, but there wasn't room for me in Philadelphia before, so..."

Richard couldn't help but make an excuse.

"I understand, Dad. So do you think there is something wrong with what Academician Qiao Yu said?"

Thomas asked as he glanced sideways at Richard.

The two children who were still in elementary school also looked at the two family members who were chatting, and the second son even interjected a word.

"Dad, I know why my brother was unhappy with his previous life. He didn't like living in the same room with me. He always complained that my feet smelled! But I don't think they smelled! And he always said that I liked to steal the toilet from him!"

Well, although the old house was over 100 square meters, it only had three rooms.

He and his wife had to live in one room, and the youngest child had to live in another room, so the eldest and the second child had to sleep together.

In fact, compared with those homeless people, this was already very happy, but it was not as well-off as it is now.

When the houses were expropriated, Huaxia gave the suggestion that there were two ways to redistribute the houses after expropriation. One was to calculate according to the family population, and after the old city reconstruction was completed, each person would be guaranteed 40 square meters of living space during the distribution.

This distribution method is obviously more suitable for families with large populations, so now John's family owns a 200-square-meter five-bedroom house with four bathrooms.

There will no longer be a situation where you have to rush to the bathroom in the morning.

"Yes! Remember, Richard, when you first went to deal with the Chinese, you were even scared. We thought they were all barbarians, but do you still think they are barbarians now?"

His wife also joked nearby.

Although she usually prefers to watch HBC dramas during this time period and has no interest in these high-tech and talk shows, today the school teachers suggested that everyone watch this live broadcast, so she still patiently watched it from the side.

Richard shrugged, smiled and said, “Well, it seems I asked a stupid question.”

……

At night, John's family went to bed two hours later than usual.

After finally settling the three children down to bed and fulfilling the two little ones' wish to listen to a story before going to bed, the wife returned to the room.

But she found that her husband, who should have gone to bed long ago, was not sleeping, but sitting at the head of the bed in a daze.

You know, even though it's Saturday every day, Richard has to work overtime just like his eldest son.

There was no way. Although from their perspective, the efficiency of the Chinese was already high enough, God knows how many times higher than that of the American engineering team. But the Chinese did not seem to be satisfied at all, and they even complained that the construction was too slow.

The foreman from China said that there are more than 50 states in this area, and each state will have a lot of projects to be done in the future!

They need to quickly complete the projects in Philadelphia before they can continue to undertake more projects in other places, so that more Americans can enjoy the happiness of the new era.

Richard certainly didn't know that all the foremen who came to the United States actually received special foreign affairs training, including how to treat local workers and various rhetoric and speech.

But he didn't believe these arguments before. In his opinion, rushing the deadline is nothing more than making more money. What does it have to do with the Chinese what kind of life Americans live?

So he was somewhat dismissive of the Huaxia foreman's words. But today's situation changed his view again.

Although, but... maybe this is what the Chinese really think?

It was as if he had always thought that China was a barbaric country! The people there had no freedom at all. But the facts proved that the Chinese were not only not barbaric, but even kinder than his own people.

Even the Fish Town that Hua Xia had remodeled was different from before. The public security was much better than before.

In the past, he would never allow his children to go out alone at night. Even he and his wife would not choose to go out after 7pm unless it was absolutely necessary.

No one can tell what will happen outside in the darkness.

But now the public security in Fishtown has obviously improved. The homeless people who used to hang out on the street next door have disappeared. Especially in the neighborhoods where Chinese people live, some shops are even open all night.

It's nothing more than increasing the pay of the police so that they can work harder. If they enforce the law indiscriminately, they will be warned...

Of course, these are all things he heard from others. He had never thought deeply about these things before, but after watching the interview today and talking to the children, he suddenly felt that maybe this is what the Chinese people really think.

It is normal that he cannot understand what has been accumulated over 5,000 years of civilization, but the spirit of dedication is universal.

"Honey, why aren't you sleeping yet?" the wife asked casually as she changed into her pajamas.

Like other middle-aged couples with three children, they are too familiar with each other and have lost the passion of their youth. So his wife doesn't think Richard wants to do anything today.

This is true.

"I'm considering whether I should join that Chinese organization, um, I mentioned it to you before."

"Didn't you say before that you wouldn't consider it?"

"But today my mind has changed. If Chinese people are all working to make more Americans live a better life, how can we enjoy these things with peace of mind?"

Richard asked back.

The wife did not answer directly. After all, she was also one of the beneficiaries.

When it was just the two of them, the house was always filled with quarrels. She really didn't want to experience that feeling of poverty and misery again.

"But you said that if you join their organization, you will have to follow them at any time if they need you! And it is very likely that you will be transferred to work in other states in the future..."

The wife said worriedly.

"It's just a long business trip. If you don't want to change your current life, you can stay here. Even if you go to another state, you will be given family leave.

I think these are not actually problems. The problem is that there are still many people who do not understand the significance of the Chinese coming to this land, and still think that these people come to steal their job opportunities!
Can you believe it? The Internet is still full of such comments! They don't even consider where there would be so many job opportunities if the Chinese didn't come!

They are unwilling to change their lives through hard work, and always think that everything is someone else's fault! I can't sleep well when I think that there are still so many people who hold this kind of thinking!

Lisa, think about it, if the Chinese engineering team chooses to leave because of these people's attitude, what will our lives become?
Did you expect that I would be unemployed again, and then we would have to sell our current house and rent in a worse neighborhood because we couldn't afford the damn property taxes!
Going back to living on welfare. No, it might even be worse, because the kids are grown up! They won't be able to enjoy those benefits any more!

If we are even less lucky, maybe the children will get sick and we will become homeless! This is the most terrible thing. Do you understand? I think I should do my part..."

Seeing that Richard was getting more and more excited, his wife quickly raised a finger in front of her mouth and made a "hush" sound.

"Keep your voice down, the children have just fallen asleep, don't wake them up!"

"Don't be afraid, this house is well soundproofed. It's not the shabby wooden house we had before." Richard said embarrassedly.

Fortunately, his wife shrugged her shoulders and walked over to give Richard an understanding hug.

"You're right, John. I support you. Even if you have to work far away in the future and don't want to be separated from us, maybe we can move there."

"Thank you, but even if Suna wants to join, she still needs to be assessed. To be honest, this is just my wishful thinking now."

"Don't say that. I believe the Chinese people will see your value! Just like they gave you a chance to work on the construction site before!"

(End of this chapter)