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There's a famous singer in China who, if he didn't sing well, would have no choice but to go home and inherit a fortune of millions...

Fortunately, his acting career was very successful, while Yu Wei was clearly not so lucky.

After graduating with his bachelor's degree, he did not choose to pursue postgraduate studies but instead went home to inherit the family fortune.

The good news is that his family business is very successful. After all, he and Qiao Yu are practically friends.

This network of connections, coupled with his family's import and export business, naturally provided a significant advantage.

The only pity is that Yu Wei isn't cut out for business. But sometimes, a few words with Qiao Yu can resolve some problems...

Although Yu Wei, by his very nature, did not want to exploit this relationship for personal gain, sometimes people gradually learn to compromise.

Zheng Xiwen was certainly aware of all these things.

In fact, Zheng Xiwen had a thick stack of information on anyone who had any dealings with Qiao Yu.

Yu Wei's personal information is probably the second thinnest among these people. The thinnest is Qiao Xi's...

As for Yu Yongjun, who is far more shameless than Yu Wei, he also graduated with a PhD from the School of Mathematics at Yanbei University last year. He is currently working as an assistant researcher at the Institute of Mathematics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Zheng Xiwen can't help but laugh whenever he thinks of this guy.

This guy really wanted to apply to Qiao Yu's combined master's and doctoral program. Unfortunately, Qiao Yu decisively rejected him. Then, Qiao Yu introduced him to another advisor.

It wasn't that Qiao Yu was unkind or that she felt Yu Yongjun lacked talent.

Qiao Yu probably felt that the two were too familiar with each other, and it would be difficult to be too harsh when disciplining them. He thought that the senior brother was such a guy that he would corrupt the atmosphere of his future students.

Of course, these are all Zheng Xiwen's guesses; only Qiao Yu probably knows the truth.

He only needed to make a few phone calls as Qiao Yu requested. Zheng Xiwen's English wasn't very good, but it wasn't a big problem for daily communication.

Of course, even if the other person doesn't understand, they will proactively find a Chinese translator. After all, they are one of the most important people in Qiao Yu's life.

Often, Zheng Xiwen's words represent Qiao Yu's will.

To be honest, Zheng Xiwen was somewhat looking forward to seeing what attitude these two big names in the Western technology industry would have.

Are they willing to obediently hand over those documents? Indeed, the most sophisticated business battles are never as dramatic as depicted in movies; they are far more down-to-earth.

You don't even need to hire a corporate spy; you can just ask for it directly.

Sometimes Zheng Xiwen really suspected that Qiao Yu was American, or at least that he had been educated at Xida University.

The logic behind these thoughts is so similar.

……

Another student from Xida University is undergoing what would be considered "cruel" training by ordinary standards at the Aeronautical Science Research Center every day.

In addition to daily physical fitness and weightlessness training, they also experience several alternative training sessions every day.

It feels like riding the most thrilling roller coaster several times a day.

After the initial novelty wears off, the days actually become quite difficult to endure.

Thomas was actually alright; young people are more accepting of this kind of thing, but Richard really considered giving up several times.

If he hadn't considered the importance of this moon landing and how it was laying the groundwork for his future, he might not have been able to persevere after just one week.

As a middle-aged man, I really prefer to avoid many overly stimulating activities.

But no way.

Knowing that the documentary "Richard's Family" was still being filmed, he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

What else can be done?
Due to health reasons, Richard had to withdraw from the lunar mission after a week of training.
Of course, it's also possible if there are Chinese people involved. As long as the Chinese people are willing to announce to the outside world that he can no longer train due to health reasons, everyone will probably understand.

But firstly, Richard didn't believe that China would tell such a lie to the public for his sake; secondly, if he didn't go to the moon, would Thomas go?
If Thomas had chosen to go alone, the documentary would have only recorded Thomas's solo journey to the moon, and he, as the father, would have been labeled as irresponsible...

It wouldn't really matter if Qiao Yu hadn't said those words to him before.

After all, he only needs to take good care of his family and doesn't need to pay too much attention to how others see him.

But now he has the opportunity to live in the White House, and it would be a huge loss if he gave the public the impression that he was a coward.

Although Richard had never been a candidate, he was a voter... to be honest, he preferred a leader with an adventurous spirit to a coward.

Of course, you can also choose to withdraw from this trip along with Thomas.

But this kid trained very hard, hoping to quickly complete the training and board the spaceship to the moon.

In short, when a middle-aged man suddenly has a grand ideal, he seems to have no choice but to grit his teeth and endure it, no matter how bitter or difficult it may be.

Fortunately, at least for the time being, he doesn't need to worry about his wife and two other sons.

The three of them have already begun a month-long independent trip to China, arranged by the Chinese side.

The company specially arranged a tour guide to take the three of them on a trip through the beautiful landscapes of China.

The documentary production team also arranged for a group of people to follow the wife and children throughout the trip, to enrich the material for the documentary.

According to the schedule, director Michael Roddy will spend the first three weeks filming with Richard's wife and two children, and the last week he will return to Beijing to document Richard and Thomas's final training sessions.

After all, the majority of the month-long special training consisted of the same content, and there's no need to film such repetitive things in a documentary.

A few days of training and the last week of training are enough to fill in the gaps.

Most importantly, this month of intensive training brought about changes in Richard and Thomas.

As a seasoned documentary director, he certainly knows what kind of content and visual language can keep the audience watching.

To be honest, Michael Rhodes was also very invested in this film, after all, he had been out of the spotlight for several years.

On the other hand, he believes this film will have no shortage of viewers! After all, the entire internet is now controlled by the Chinese.

The content they want to promote will naturally be pushed to the majority of people. As a director, Michael Roddy is well aware of this.

On the contrary, if the Chinese people don't want others to see something, it simply won't spread on the global internet.

Michael Roddy can certainly relate to this. In the past decade, the previous major international film festivals, such as Cannes and Hollywood, were a bit slow to react, still selecting winning works according to the old standards.

As a result, the winning entries from those years are nowhere to be found now. Furthermore, most of the award judges are now embroiled in various lawsuits.

As for some particularly egregious film creators and actors, they fared even worse.

Basically, I haven't received any announcements in recent years.

There's no way around it; people in their circle are very pragmatic. Nobody dares to invite these people, or even offer them much help.

After all, no one knows whether this goodwill will anger the Chinese people. Traffic is the lifeline of these people's careers.

Especially now that China's network infrastructure has begun to reach the world, the internet is becoming faster and faster, and most of the younger generation has said goodbye to television and is focusing their main energy on mobile network products.

It can only be said that the development of this world lags behind that of China.

Now that this process is accelerating, young people in the West are also no longer trusting so-called authority.

Where can you find news content that is more reliable than the various messages on the internet?

It's common knowledge that professional media people are masters at fabricating news stories. The saying goes, "Seeing is believing," but these professionals are all too adept at using the camera to distort the truth.

Nobody believes the nonsense that they at least gained freedom even though they couldn't afford to eat.

In comparison, the lives of ordinary people like them, recorded on their phones, appear significantly more credible.

Nowadays, whether it's Western University or Europe, ordinary people no longer pay attention to those so-called awards.

They seem to prefer deriving pleasure from the new generation of electronic devices.

The widespread adoption of the Taiji series computers, coupled with the increasing maturity of virtual screen projection technology, has allowed people to view a concert from a god-like perspective, bringing this control over entertainment media to its peak.

After all, whether it's holographic live streaming, recording movies, or concerts, it has to be submitted to China for review first.

If the relevant departments in China do not approve the application and authorization is not obtained, the technology cannot be used.

Even if you use this technology through various connections, you can't just openly put it on the internet, otherwise you'll definitely be sued and go bankrupt.

This is why Michael Roddy put so much effort into completing this project.

He also hopes to establish connections with China. This would allow for better development in the future.

It can only be said that ever since the previous owner of the White House chose to open up the infrastructure of the three western states and hand it over to China for large-scale construction, these once successful people knew very well where the future lay.

It's simply that they couldn't accept reality at first, or they still had some unrealistic fantasies about the strength of Xida University.

But when Xida unhesitatingly turned its sword against its allies to prolong its own life, everyone had fully woken up.

The once invincible empire has completely decayed. There is virtually no possibility of a comeback.

After all, relying on the blood of allies to survive is a one-time thing.

With more choices available, no one can simply wait for the price of a loaf of bread to rise to a point where ordinary people can no longer afford it.

Shared values ​​may be a good thing for maintaining rule, but for people, eating is the most important thing.

If any family hasn't woken up yet, they're probably not far from being ousted by angry citizens.

This also means that the empire has begun to withdraw its reach entirely to its home continent, gradually losing its ability to dictate the world.

The once-powerful force that commanded overwhelming obedience is now a thing of the past.

Although some bases abroad are still in operation, how much deterrent power do these bases have that even aircraft dare not take off and land frequently?

In short, Michael Roddy put his heart and soul into making this documentary, drawing on all his knowledge and experience.

Especially after arriving in China, I would travel around with Mrs. Richard and their two children during the day, and then chat with the three of them at night to enrich my material collection...

They even added many filters to the scenery during the daytime travel, just to make all parts of China look more beautiful.

It just goes to show how advanced modern photography equipment and post-production techniques are; you can have any kind of filter you want.

So the key point is actually what the creator wants to express.

After arriving in China and having in-depth conversations with many people, Michael Roddy was very clear about what he needed to express.

This made the entire filming process go very smoothly.

After learning about certain things, Mrs. Richard became very active in front of the camera.

In many cases, it even goes a bit too far. But that's okay, with the director's cooperation, it's just a matter of making some minor adjustments during editing.

For Lisa, Michael Roddy's role is to portray a sincere woman who quietly dedicates herself to her family.

For this reason alone, Michael Roddy abandoned his principle of striving for realism and not having a script, and started giving Lisa some lines.

How did you feel about the trip?

"It was simply a fantastic journey! I can't believe such delicious food and beautiful scenery exist in this world. Everything is so well-organized; this world is like a paradise! Luckily, our Fish town is starting to resemble China!"
And have you noticed, Michael? The people here are incredibly friendly. Even if they don't understand our language, they'll readily use translation software to chat with us.

"Of course, Chinese people are known for their friendliness and hospitality. Of course, that's assuming you didn't come with guns, haha! So this trip must have been very enjoyable for you, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lisa remained silent for a moment, then her eyes reddened, and when she spoke again, her tone was heartbreaking.

"Of course, in fact, this is our first trip since Richard and I got married!"

"Wait, you said your first trip, not your first trip to China, right?"

"Yes, that's right. As you probably already know, our family's circumstances weren't good before, and we couldn't afford a single trip, even just to the next state."

Fortunately, things are moving in a positive direction now. Although Richard now works six days a week occasionally, averaging nine to ten hours a day, he can support our whole family with just this one job.

I've seen many people online saying Richard is being enslaved. Well, if you think this is enslavement, then my whole family is happy with it. At least our children can attend good schools, and we can afford fresh food and vegetables.

We can even afford a long trip now. You know what? I haven't been to Savers Value Village in ages because Richard told me he's going to work hard so we won't have to buy any secondhand goods anymore and can still live well.”

At this point, Lisa paused, lowered her head as if wiping away tears, then raised her head firmly and said, "If this is slavery, then we like being enslaved!" (End of Chapter)