Break out of the courtyard

Xie Jia was born in 1939 and has two sons and two daughters. He is 11 years older than Zhang Heping.

If he cannot make any further progress within 3 years, he should retire after 3 years.

Conversely, if he could go further, his retirement could be delayed until 04.

His wife, He Fang, was born in 1942, only one year older than Tang Xin. She will retire next year, but she has lost her ambition.

Therefore, Xie Jia spent most of the luncheon inquiring about the domestic projects promoted by Zhang Heping.

He Fang, on the other hand, focused on topics related to beauty and skincare, and got along quite well with Tang Xin and Chen Shuting.

As for the jade ornaments and jade gifts presented by the Zhang family, the Xie family only accepted two broken jade gold bracelets, saying the rest were too valuable and therefore declined them.

The weddings of Zhang Long and Xie Wan, and Zhang Hu and Xie Ting, are tentatively scheduled for August 30th of next year; the date for obtaining their marriage certificates will be earlier, set by Xie Jia on July 1st, the day of his return, ostensibly for commemorative significance.

The luncheon had just ended when Elder Hua and Elder Li took Zhang Heping to a confidential meeting to discuss the exercises to be held along the southeast coast next month.

After watching Zhang Heping and his group leave, Xie Jia and his wife bid farewell to Old Lady Zheng, Director Wang, and the Zhang family, and then took their two daughters and drove back home.

"Xiaolong's parents look so young!" After returning home, He Fang couldn't help but find the red wine that Zhang Long and Zhang Hu had given her last time.

Sister-in-law Cheng Bei pulled Xie Wan and Xie Ting aside and quietly asked about their progress.

"Dad!" Xie Qiang leaned closer to the window, sat down next to his father Xie Jia, and asked in a low voice, "What happened to Mom?"

Xie Jia looked at his wife, who was trying to open the wine bottle, and thought of Zhang Heping and his wife's youthful appearance. He couldn't help but feel a little regretful, thinking that delaying his daughter's marriage might have been a mistake.

“Cheng Bei, have some too!” He Fang took out two bowls and carefully poured out some red wine. “Before, I heard Xiao Wan and the others say how young Zhang Long and Zhang Hu’s parents were, but I just thought they were exaggerating and didn’t take it seriously at all.”

"After meeting you in person today..." He Fang put the cork cap on the wine bottle, and was about to put it on the cabinet, but then she withdrew her hand, put the wine bottle back in the wooden box, closed the box clasp, and carefully placed it in the locked cabinet.

“You haven’t seen him in person!” He Fang picked up two small bowls and handed one to her eldest daughter-in-law, Cheng Bei. “Consultant Zhang, who is 46 years old, looks as young as Zhang Long and Zhang Hu!”

"Zhang Long and Zhang Hu's mother is only one year younger than me, and looks about your age!"

"Me?" Cheng Bei looked at her two sisters-in-law who were nodding hurriedly with doubt. She was a little incredulous, but seeing her mother-in-law's current state and her unusual behavior of pouring red wine just now, she wondered if it was true.
“Their stepmother was born in 52, but she looks even younger!” He Fang looked at the less than a penny of red wine in her bowl and exclaimed, “Now I finally understand why so many people are still dissatisfied even though Consultant Zhang provides the Life Extension 120 potion for free!”

"Rejuvenation! Immortality! These are the ultimate goals that humanity has pursued for thousands of years!"

"Consultant Zhang has mastered such incredible beauty and longevity techniques..."

For various reasons, the images of Zhang Heping and his family appearing on television and in videos were edited after being transmitted to China, resulting in most people not knowing what Zhang Heping looks like.

On the contrary, many foreigners have seen Zhang Heping's videos and are more aware of the size of the Heping Group than most Chinese people.

"Mom!" Xie Wan waited until her mother He Fang finished her reflection before continuing, "Aunt Xin and Aunt Shuting take care of themselves not only with this red wine, but also with those cosmetics."

"I wanted to buy you cosmetics before, but you wouldn't let us spend money recklessly!"

“Exactly!” Xie Ting interjected, “If you and your sister-in-law need it, we’ll send you two sets of cosmetics every month. We can buy them at the employee price, which is much cheaper than outside.”

……

After finishing the meeting, Zhang Heping immediately took his family on a private jet and returned to the Shenzhen World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

What outsiders didn't know was that Zhang Heping also went to the Dapeng Peninsula that night through the underground base.

The following afternoon, the third Genius Training Camp came to an end. Zhang Heping went to the library's computer room to check on the completion of the tasks by these gifted teenagers, and then distributed a bunch of souvenirs according to their completion rates.

"Mr. Zhang, could you build a virtual learning dream system in the United States as well? I want to study in that dream every day!"

Just as Zhang Heping was about to leave, a teenager from the United States made a whimsical request.

Zhang Heping did not directly refuse, saying, "That depends on how the situation develops!"

The current situation is not as peaceful as ordinary people think.

Otherwise, the decision would not have been made to conduct exercises along the southeast coast.

Zhang Heping's previous plan to improve the space-based weapon system will not be approved.

In addition, Peace Space's lunar and Mars missions were also launched simultaneously.

Zhang Heping went to Dapeng Peninsula last night to deploy the upgrade of the space-based weapon system and the particle beam weapon and space-based kinetic energy weapon needed for the Mars terraforming project!
Space-based kinetic energy weapons cannot hit moving targets, but they are surprisingly effective against stationary targets!
In particular, it could be used to penetrate the Martian surface, release underground liquid water, and weaken Martian dust storms.

As for particle beam weapons, it's not time to make them public yet; we'll send them to Mars first to test their power.

Of course, the weapons are a classified project; what the outside world sees is just lunar landers being sent to the moon by rockets.

In addition, a manned spacecraft was also involved in the operation, successfully docking with the Tiangong space station, marking the official commissioning of the Tiangong space station.

Just as European and American space agencies were sending cooperation requests to the China National Space Administration and Peace Space Corporation, the exercises began along the southeast coast.

This was the first highly targeted joint sea, land, and air exercise. Zhang Heping was even invited to the space-based computing center to oversee the exercise, which shows the importance that the higher authorities attached to it.

However, Zhang Heping was not impressed, mainly because what they were showing off were all antique weapons from their inventory; it felt like the exercise was just to make room for new weapons in the warehouse.

On the third day of the exercise, the US sent two aircraft carriers to the eastern part of Taiwan.

In response to this situation, Zhang Heping previously proposed at a meeting in the capital that a space-based early warning system could be used to block OMA's satellite system, rendering them blind. Unfortunately, this suggestion was not adopted.

Domestically, the government only wants to develop the economy steadily and does not want to provoke major disputes.

Therefore, keeping Zhang Heping at the space-based computing center was simply to ensure that the space-based early warning system could be used to counter any escalation of the situation.

Ironically, even after the US deployed its aircraft carrier, NASA was still applying to participate in the lunar base project, and the collaborative development project on the hovering hammer at Area 51 remained unaffected, as did other collaborations with the US. If one had to pinpoint an impact, it would be on shipping along the southeastern coast, forcing goods to be transported from the inland to the ports and airports of Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

For mainland export companies, transportation costs haven't increased much. On the contrary, the island nations have been more affected, with the Southeast Asian shipping routes disrupted for 19 days, forcing them to rely on mainland railways and ports to transport goods and raw materials.

Zhang Heping knew that his stubborn temper was not suitable for this kind of game between countries, so when he was stationed on the Dapeng Peninsula, he spent most of his time directing the lunar and Mars projects.

The lunar landers sent to the moon during this period were loaded with engineering robots and equipment, and their mission was to build the first phase of the underground engineering project of the Guanghan Palace base.

The main reason why Zhang Heping and Hua Lao did not allow European and American aerospace experts to participate in the lunar Guanghan Palace base project was that if the project succeeded, the Guanghan Palace base would become Guanghan City, or even Guanghan Province.

According to the Outer Space Treaty, which came into effect in 1967, the Moon and other celestial bodies may not be claimed by any state through sovereignty claims, use, or occupation.

You cannot possess the terms of the contract, but that does not mean you cannot possess the resources!
The Outer Space Treaty does not prohibit countries from establishing bases, exploiting resources, or conducting scientific research on the Moon.

Interestingly, there is also a provision that these activities must be peaceful and must not exclude other countries.

This leads to another saying: First come, first served!

This statement, while seemingly contradictory to the Outer Space Treaty, is not actually in conflict; it all depends on how the first occupiers interpret it.

After the Americans were the first to land on the moon, they thought their technology was the best in the world and deliberately left themselves the right to explain this loophole.

Once they establish a base on the moon, they can claim that the area around the base is their resource extraction zone, and other countries must operate in other areas and are not allowed to seize it by force!
This is what is known as "first come, first served"!
If another country were to establish a base on the moon first, such as China's recent actions, the rhetoric from the EU and the US would change, demanding that China open up lunar-related scientific research and not exclude other countries from participating.

Therefore, the foreigners are still arguing with the Chinese space agency about this matter, insisting that the Guanghan Palace project is a scientific research project, not a resource extraction project.

The reason they are so self-righteous is mainly because the Americans previously sent some lunar soil they collected to the Chinese space agency.

However, Peace Space Company didn't buy their argument, directly denying that it had signed the Outer Space Treaty and insisting that its mission to the moon was to extract resources.

As for whether employees of Peace Space Corporation will conduct scientific research on the moon, the official explanation is simple: the relevant scientific research has already been completed at the simulation base in Northwest China, and this trip to the moon is just to practice vegetable and grain cultivation.

Seemingly in an attempt to prove itself, Peace Space Corporation also released its plans for the first phase of the underground engineering project and the second phase of the energy engineering project at the Guanghan Palace base.

Based on the underground base beneath Nanshan Mountain in Shenzhen and the Taishan thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plant, which has been operating smoothly for nearly ten years, most foreigners believe that Peace Space Corporation can complete the first and second phases of the project.

Once there's one, then two, then three!
The primary task of foreign intelligence agencies has temporarily shifted from investigating the technology of the Lifespan 120 drug to investigating the later-stage plans of the Guanghan Palace base.

The third phase of the Guanghan Palace base ground defense system project involves many undisclosed weapons, such as a pulse particle accelerator cannon sent to Mars orbit for combat testing, as well as conventional laser weapons and kinetic energy weapons!

Can this be made public?
That's clearly not an option right now!

There's no need to disclose the subsequent Phase 4 ground engineering, Phase 5 food supply engineering, Phase 6 Guanghan City tourism development engineering, and Phase 7 Guanghan Province mining engineering in advance.

After the Americans discovered that the exercises along the southeast coast did not involve any new weapons or equipment, they ceased their provocative actions.

With the exercise over, all parties quieted down, hastily resumed the Southeastern air route, and continued to quietly develop their respective economies.

Zhang Heping returned to the academy, and Heping Aerospace also suspended its intensive rocket launch missions.

As of March 26, Peace Space Corporation had sent 156 lunar landers to the moon, and a total of 600 engineering robots had entered the lunar subsurface to carry out construction.

Because the lunar surface only has a lunar lander, foreign spy satellites cannot detect the construction progress of underground projects on the moon, which led the Americans to launch a manned lunar landing program.

The Americans told the Chinese space agency that their previous lunar landing data had been destroyed, and this was the best opportunity to test it.

If their data was indeed destroyed, it would be impossible for them to successfully launch a manned lunar mission in the short term; otherwise, the Americans are lying.

……

"Honey, many state-owned enterprises in mainland China are downsizing!" His mistress, Chen Shuting, carrying a thermos, approached Zhang Heping's desk and whispered.

"The investment managers below asked if we could also streamline the factories we've invested in in mainland China?"

Zhang Heping was replying to an email, so he said without turning his head, "For factories that we already control, we can appropriately expand production, or guide redundant employees to transfer to other factories."

"For those factories that we were unable to acquire, we will launch another acquisition offer. If they still do not agree, we will withdraw our investment and replace them with other similar factories."

These words immediately reminded Chen Shuting of the idea of ​​reacquiring similar factories that had already streamlined their workforce!

After refilling the teacup on the table, Chen Shuting immediately returned to her own desk and began to organize the personnel in the mainland and adjust production resources.

It is worth mentioning that the factories controlled by the Peace Group in mainland China only account for a quarter of the total investment.

They faced numerous restrictions back then simply because they invested too early.

In addition, the good performance of the Heping Group and the stable export channels of Tingmei Trading have led factories that are not controlled by the Heping Group to gradually mistakenly believe that it is because their products are good that the Heping Group benefits from them and makes a profit from their price difference.

Chen Shuting would occasionally whisper sweet nothings in Zhang Heping's ear.

Otherwise, why would Zhang Heping have proposed withdrawing his investment and switching to another similar factory? It was all to please his concubine.

On March 30, Japan and the US stirred things up again by adapting the Resident Evil movie into a shooting game, continuing to allude to Umbrella Corporation and the people behind it!
However, Zhang Heping ignored them and instead took his family to the airport to pick up Xie Jia and He Fang, who had come from afar, and brought them to the World Advanced Technology Research Institute.

They came in a private capacity, and were considered Zhang Heping's in-laws, so they were only granted temporary access to the academy.

Even with temporary access, Xie Jia and He Fang still signed a thick stack of confidentiality agreements.

Zhang Heping personally picked them up at the airport, which was already giving his in-laws plenty of face, so he didn't come out to entertain them afterwards and continued to attend to his work.

The task of hosting then fell to Ma Xiuzhen, Tang Xin, Xie Wan, and Xie Ting. It mainly involved showing the Xie couple around the academy and letting them experience the virtual dream world, etc. (End of Chapter)