Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

(Before writing this chapter, I truly never imagined that the Jade Emperor would one day become a forbidden subject.)

March 15, 1954, Beiping (Beijing).

Comrade Khru's special plane landed at the western suburbs airport in the afternoon.

Sunlight filtered through thin clouds and fell on the track, adding a touch of warmth to early autumn in Beiping.

Zhao Ping'an stood in the welcoming line, watching the short, stout figure walk down the gangway.

Comrade Khru. The supreme leader of the Red Empire.

He was originally scheduled to arrive on September 29th.

Now, they've moved up the yield by half a month, just to see if the claim of 2000 jin per mu for corn is true.

Zhao Pingan went back and checked the system data again, only to find that it was actually a mistake in his memory.

Comrade Heru's fondness for corn stemmed primarily from his time as the first secretary in the Ermao area.

The bumper corn harvest solved the local food shortage, which was crucial at a time when the entire Red Empire was facing a food crisis.

It was an exceptionally shocking event, so Comrade Khru was quickly recalled to Moscow and entrusted with important responsibilities.

This forged an unbreakable bond between Comrade Khru and corn.

What truly drove Khru to madness was his visit to the United States in 1959.

He was greatly shocked when he saw that the corn yield was 800 jin per mu. Then the farm owner told Comrade Khru...

"Corn is a good crop. It can be used as a staple food and as animal feed. When there is not enough food, it is used to feed people and to feed livestock."

In addition, corn stalks are an excellent raw material for silage, and at that time, the two major powers were already in competition.

The two sides began to compete in all aspects, and the Red Empire was clearly far behind in terms of the residents' dining tables.

Therefore, Comrade Khru began to go astray.

Therefore, after careful analysis, Zhao Ping'an realized that his previous plan had unexpectedly worked out.

Perhaps we can achieve better results, after all, what is the difference between a yield of 800 jin per mu and a yield of 2000 jin per mu?

Everyone knows what I mean!

That evening, the leader met with Comrade Khru. The atmosphere was friendly, and they discussed some bilateral relations.

Comrade He Lu tried several times to steer the conversation toward high-yield corn, but the leader always managed to change the subject with a smile.

"Tomorrow, Comrade Zhao Ping'an will take you to see it," the leader said. "It's best to leave professional matters to professionals."

Comrade Khru nodded and said no more.

On September 16, in a corn-producing area of ​​an experimental field base in the southern part of the North China Plain.

Comrade Khru stood at the edge of the field. Despite having traveled for several hours by train, he was not tired at all and insisted on coming to the farmland to observe as soon as possible.

He wore a well-tailored light gray suit and gleaming leather shoes, which seemed somewhat out of place amidst the surrounding farmland. Behind him followed a group of entourage members, translators, and guards.

Comrade Khru glanced at the cornfield, then at the scales and baskets prepared beside it, and said nothing.

Zhao Ping'an made a gesture. Several farmers went into the field and began harvesting. To demonstrate the yield per acre, this time Zhao Ping'an used manpower instead of agricultural machinery. He marked the boundaries of each acre, cut the crops one by one, packed them into baskets, and weighed them.

The numbers jumped up little by little. Five hundred jin. Eight hundred jin. One thousand jin. One thousand five hundred jin.

The scale stopped at 2,030 jin.

An attendant walked over, carefully examined the position of the weight, and then nodded back to Comrade Khru.

Comrade Khru then walked over and touched the corn cob with his hand.

The golden grains are plump and firm, gleaming in the sunlight.

He put the corn cob back and took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands.

"Is this production volume stable?" he asked.

Zhao Ping'an nodded. "This is the average yield for this area. The yield in the Northeast can be even higher."

Comrade Khru nodded and said nothing more, but Zhao Ping'an saw the glint in his eyes.

The subsequent agricultural technology demonstration went unexpectedly smoothly. Tractors, harvesters, fertilizer plants, pesticide factories, and so on—each one added to the joy on Comrade Khru's face.

That evening, Zhao Ping'an had just returned to his residence when someone knocked on the door.

The person who arrived was a minister in charge of agriculture who accompanied Comrade Khru, along with a translator.

I don't remember Zhao Ping'an's surname, but I do remember that he was a middle-aged man in his fifties who spoke very politely.

"Minister Zhao, I apologize for disturbing you."

Zhao Ping'an invited them in and poured them tea.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the minister got down to business.

"We saw that cornfield during the day. The yield is indeed high. I wonder what kind of seed this is..."

He paused, seemingly considering his words.

"What I mean is, if we want to cooperate in this area in the future, is that a possibility?"

Zhao Pingan smiled.

"Of course. We are socialist brothers, so we should naturally share good things. We can provide seeds."

The minister nodded, but didn't reply, waiting for him to continue.

Zhao Pingan continued, "Seeds are negotiable. Not just seeds, but also fertilizers, pesticides, and drip irrigation technology."

We have a complete system. Especially the drip irrigation technology, which is very suitable for the water-scarce Central Asian region.

The minister's eyes lit up.

"As for the price..."

Zhao Pingan waved his hand.

"Comrade, we're not here to negotiate the price; we just need to reach an agreement, right?"

Zhao Ping'an paused for a moment, then continued, getting straight to the point.

"We also have needs."

The minister looked at him.

Zhao Ping'an said, "The Red Empire has been industrializing for decades and has millions of skilled technical workers."

We're just starting out here and lack mentors. We welcome any future collaborations in this area.

The minister was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"I can take this with me. I will report it to Comrade Khru properly."

He sat for a while longer, discussing agricultural details, before taking his leave.

Zhao Ping'an saw him to the door. As he was leaving, the minister suddenly turned around.

"Minister Zhao, this morning on the train, those canned goods, fresh vegetables, and radios you served... are these things we can discuss in the future?"

Zhao Pingan smiled.

"Sure. Everything is within the scope of discussion. As long as it concerns people's livelihoods and doesn't involve specific classified technologies, we can talk about it, because we're comrades, aren't we?"

The minister nodded and left with a smile.

Over the next few days, Zhao Ping'an accompanied Comrade Khru on a tour of Northeast China.

Unlike those in North China, the factories here are larger, more modern, and more industrialized.

Fertilizer plant, pesticide plant, drip-irrigated cornfield, tractor factory, radio factory... Even though they had visited some of them before, Comrade Khru still led his people on a quick tour again.

Comrade Khru didn't say much along the way, he just looked, listened, and occasionally asked one or two questions.

His entourage was quite busy, some taking notes, some taking photos, and some packing samples.

At the edge of the drip-irrigated field, Comrade Khrushchev squatted down and touched the black plastic pipes. After looking at them for a few seconds, he stood up and walked away.

At the radio factory, he stood for a while beside the assembly line, watching the workers assemble radios.

But Zhao Ping'an noticed that after each place was visited, an attendant would always lag behind, chat with the factory workers for a few minutes, ask a few questions, and write them down in a notebook.

This led Zhao Ping'an to believe that the Minister of Agriculture had relayed the message back, perhaps because the price hadn't been negotiated yet, and given the advanced technology, he was afraid of revealing his need and being tempted to overcharge. Therefore, even Comrade Khru pretended to be nonchalant.

But eyes don't lie; not everyone in the delegation is a movie star.

"This deal is finalized; not even Jesus can stop me," Zhao Ping'an resolved in his heart. This wasn't just a business transaction, and he wasn't just after sales figures. What Zhao Ping'an valued was the long-term impact these products would have.

On the evening of September 19, the Minister of Agriculture came again.

This time he didn't go inside; he just stood at the door for a while and said a few words.

"Minister Zhao, we've taken notes of everything we've seen these past few days. Seeds, fertilizers, drip irrigation, canned goods, radios... all of those are within the scope of our discussion, right?"

Zhao Ping'an nodded.

"They're all here."

The minister nodded.

"That's good. A dedicated person will handle the follow-up matters. I've also reported on the dispatch of the skilled workers you mentioned."

He paused.

"That's something we can discuss."

After saying that, he took his leave.

Zhao Ping'an stood at the door, watching his figure disappear at the end of the corridor.

He smiled, turned around, and went back into the house.

We can talk. Those three words are enough.