It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 34 | Look! Barrage Balloons!
Unlike later generations, the market reaction speed is not as fast, and the overall pace of today's stock market is much slower.

Over the next three days, Shang Ke closely monitored the stock price trends of Beihua Group.

The first day's increase was 3.7%, the second day's increase was 1.2%, and the day after that's increase was 3.5%, and none of them were positive unilateral increases.

Huh? Not enthusiastic enough? Are people today underestimating the profound impact of nylon plastic?
This is still a big gap from the profit-taking point set by Shangke.

He did some brief research and concluded that the stock market of the Grand Federation was relatively stable, rarely experiencing sudden surges, and the market was indeed still taking a wait-and-see attitude towards nylon plastic products, after all, it was a new thing.

After careful consideration, he decided to wait patiently.

Stay calm, everything is under control.

So, on the Lantern Festival, he happily invited Jian Keqiu.

"I didn't know the Lantern Festival was so lively in the capital," she said.

"You haven't seen it before?"

“I rarely left school before.”

Chang'an can be said to be the ancient capital with the richest history of the Lantern Festival. Activities such as releasing sky lanterns and guessing lantern riddles are endless. Since the Tang Dynasty, officials in Chang'an have liked to make lantern trees, which are dozens of feet high, with trunks wrapped in silk and thousands of lanterns hung on the branches.

In a nutshell, that is - the trees of fire and the flowers of silver combine, and the iron locks of the star bridge open.

The two of them walked along the prosperous Weiyang Avenue, where traffic was constantly flowing and colorful fireworks were constantly blooming in the night sky.

Shang Ke looked at Jian Keqiu's profile beside him, and could vaguely see the glittering light reflected in her eyes.

He was trying to tease her.

Just then, a firework with a tail of flame rose up, like a meteor flying against the sky, bursting into the night sky, colorful and dazzling.

The east wind blooms flowers on thousands of trees at night, and even blows them down, and the stars are like rain!
This phrase undoubtedly fits the current situation perfectly, at least for now, because the other situation may not appear for decades.

So what are the other famous lines in this poem?

Shang Ke deliberately said, "I've searched for her everywhere, and suddenly I turned around... ahem! Where on earth is that person?"

Jian Keqiu, who was standing there, looked up at the sky, as if he didn't understand. He just said indifferently, "I'm right here. What's that in the sky?"

Shang Ke was very upset.

Oh! Such a sentimentless woman! All my efforts have been wasted!
He looked up at the sky at eleven o'clock, and saw six strings of "light beads" reaching into the sky in the distance. Each string was made up of hundreds of large lanterns, and on the top was an object in the shape of a small airship. The height was estimated to be no less than three hundred meters, and from a distance it looked like a ladder to ascend to heaven.

"That's a barrage balloon..."

"Military stuff?"

"Ah."

To be honest, Shang Ke felt that the National Defense Forces were really good at having fun. They not only celebrated the festival but also brought out anti-aircraft balloons.

The garrison headquarters has several independent air defense units under its jurisdiction. In addition to the heavy anti-aircraft artillery battalion, there is also a balloon laying battalion and a searchlight battalion. Obviously, these six strings of light beads are the work of the balloon laying battalion.

Jian Keqiu asked curiously, "After the Hoffman accident, did the military continue to use hydrogen balloons?"

Shang Ke answered as a matter of course, "Of course. Helium is more than ten times more expensive than hydrogen, and it's all imported. Besides, barrage balloons are consumables, so of course we use cheaper ones."

The distribution of helium production is extremely uneven, and it is a rare resource. In later generations, the country's dependence on helium imports has been close to 100%.

As for the Hoffman that Jian Keqiu mentioned, it was actually the Hindenburg airship in the history of the original dimension. This time it was a little luckier and crashed two months later - a fire broke out at the end of the voyage from New York to Los Angeles.

Afterwards, the two continued strolling along Weiyang Avenue. Several jewelry stores along the way were crowded. Shang Ke was thinking about whether to give one to Jian Keqiu, but the latter had no interest at all.

"You are really peculiar. You are not even interested in shiny jewelry." Shang Ke exclaimed in amazement.

"I just feel it's too crowded, what's the problem?" Jian Keqiu didn't care.

Then, she instantly changed the subject and said, "By the way, I've asked the professor in the neighboring department about the wind tunnel you mentioned last time."

I am so angry about the lack of romance of the science and engineering girl!
"Uh...how is it?" Shang Ke asked helplessly.

Jian Keqiu took out a folded note from her handbag and handed it over.

The words written on the note were sloppy and concise, just a few sentences, without any verbosity, and at the end was the professor's signature.

"Regarding the wind tunnel issue, the existing equipment at our university and in Taiwan is still usable, but further development has been sluggish for several years and should be given more attention."

Shang Ke was stunned when he saw the name signed at the end of the sentence. This Professor Zhou sounded so familiar.

He closed his eyes and tried to recall for a long time, and finally remembered who it was.

One of the four great masters of fluid mechanics!

Jian Keqiu was frightened by Shang's sudden excitement, as if he had seen something surprising.

"Very good." Shang Ke took a deep breath, and wanted to pick her up and spin her around, saying approvingly: "Miss Jian, you are so awesome. With this proof, everything is settled!"

"What's the big deal? Last time you said you would ask someone to speed up the progress in this regard?" Jian Keqiu asked doubtfully.

Neither party has ever been frank about their family background, and their understanding of each other is very vague.

Shang Ke only knew that Jian Keqiu's family was engaged in industrial business, but he was not sure about the specific scale - it could be as small as a small workshop with a few people or as large as a large factory with thousands of people.

Jian Keqiu knew even less. The backgrounds of professional military officers were varied, and she was too lazy to guess.

Shang Ke, who was in high spirits, felt that he had nothing to hide now, so he simply replied directly: "My father is a member of parliament, I asked him to urge the proposal in this regard."

A congressman? It's rare for a congressman's only son to become a professional military officer.

Jian Keqiu suddenly felt a little worried. It didn't matter if they were just friends, but if she considered it from other perspectives, she might be marrying above her station.

It’s hard to tell the reason, but a faint sadness wells up in my heart.

Seeing her reaction, Shang Ke quickly added an explanation: "Well, don't think too much about it. My father is only a member of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Regional Advisory Council, and my family is not the kind of people who have been in politics for generations. I just got lucky and got into politics halfway. It's not that complicated."

There is still a big difference between the local regional advisory councils and the central advisory council.

But for a level 10 player, there seems to be no difference between a level 80 mini-boss and a level 100 big boss?
The turmoil in Jian Keqiu's heart only lasted for a brief moment and soon subsided.

After all, what does someone's background have to do with me? It's good enough that we can just chat. She thought.

"I'm a little curious. So, your family doesn't support you staying in the army, right?"

Seeing her doing her signature move - putting her index finger on her cheek, Shang Ke couldn't help but smile.

“I don’t support it, but I don’t oppose it either.”

The reason for not supporting is parental love, and the reason for not opposing is simple patriotic enthusiasm. It is contradictory but self-consistent.

Jian Keqiu nodded and said seriously, "Your family are all good people."

(End of this chapter)