Break out of the courtyard

At the World Internet Forum, when the live broadcast of the launch of the Shouyuan No. 2 space capsule showed a bright blue planet and a dark space intrusion, those watching the live broadcast realized one thing: the Shouyuan No. 2 space capsule of Peace Space Corporation had successfully entered low Earth orbit.

Next, we'll see if the second longevity module can successfully dock with the first module!
The Great Hall of the People, Huadu Hall.

When Mr. Hua, Mr. Li, Mrs. Zheng, and others received the news of the successful launch of the No. 2 Shouyuan spacecraft, they gathered together again for a meeting. On the television screen, the No. 2 Shouyuan spacecraft was still chasing the trajectory of the No. 1 Shouyuan spacecraft.

"Aside from the Salyut 2 space station which exploded out of control, the Northern Soviet Union actually only successfully launched six Salyut space stations and one Mir space station," said Old Li, pointing to the No. 2 Lifetime capsule on the screen, with a smile.
"If we don't count manned experiments, we already have two space stations. I heard that two more space stations will be launched in the second half of the year."

Upon hearing this, Hua Lao smiled and said, "The No. 2 Longevity Space Module carries two monkeys and ten white mice. If the docking can be completed successfully this time, the No. 3 and No. 4 Longevity Space Modules may be able to carry out manned missions."

"Isn't this too hasty? We haven't even tested the manned spacecraft yet!" Old Qian frowned and asked, "Didn't we say before that we would wait until the Tiangong space station project started before conducting manned missions?"

"Experts within Peace Aerospace Company have suggested incorporating the Shouyuan space module into the Tiangong space station," Hua Lao explained with a smile. "Advisor Zhang did not object, only saying that we should wait until the scheduled experimental missions of the Shouyuan No. 2 space module are completed before discussing it further."

Professor Qian nodded slightly and said, "The Soviet Union's Salyut and Mir space stations, the United States' Skylab space station, and their manned spacecraft, to put it bluntly, are all serving various scientific research and experiments."

"If Consultant Zhang is willing to contribute the Shouyuan space capsule to the Tiangong space station, we can save at least 20 billion yuan in research and development funds."

On the other side, Mr. Kong said, "I heard that Salyut 7 space station crashed earlier this month, and the Soviet Union only has Mir space station still in the sky; after the US Skylab space station crashed, they no longer have a space station."

“That’s right!” Elder Hua responded, “The US hasn’t launched a space station in recent years, and even manned spacecraft launches have been rare!”

Kong Lao continued, "The problem between the North and the Soviet Union is getting more and more serious. I'm worried that the space race between the US and the Soviet Union will eventually fall on our shoulders?"

Hua shook his head and said, "We were forced to join the space race between the US and the UK long ago. Think about the war in the Middle East. If it weren't for the Beidou navigation satellites from Peace Space, would we be able to see the battlefield there so clearly?"

“Indeed!” Old Li chimed in from the side, “Without the BeiDou navigation satellites, we can only learn about the war situation in the Middle East from CNN in the United States, and we cannot intuitively understand the military gap between us and the United States!”

After a moment of silence, under Hua Lao's intentional or unintentional gaze, an elderly man sitting to the side broke the silence.

"Military spending should be restored!"

……

The Grand Steward's Office in the capital of the United States.

"Everyone, is there any way to disrupt the docking of the Peace Spacecraft's spacecraft?" When Old Bu Shi, the chief steward, said this, he didn't look at the other people in the office, but stared intently at the computer monitor in front of him.

A young strategist suggested, "How about sending a satellite to crash into it? Afterwards, just say the satellite malfunctioned and it was purely an accident!"

“It’s pointless!” A bearded old man, with a cigar between his fingers, said calmly, “The Peace Space Corporation’s official website shows that they still have the No. 3 and No. 4 spacecraft waiting to be launched.”

"Even if we successfully prevent their second spacecraft from docking with their first spacecraft this time, they can still launch other spacecraft to attempt docking in the near future. We can't stop them every time!"

"Furthermore, if Peace Space discovers that we have sabotaged their spacecraft experiments, it could very well trigger a space war!"

"Don't forget, the Peace Group's electromagnetic and laser weapons are enough to destroy our satellites in space!"

"Who can guarantee that the satellites launched by Peace Space before were not carrying weapons?"

The US president was so refuted by these words that even the good mood he had been feeling about the Middle East war completely vanished.

Seeing that the chief steward remained silent, and recalling his usual disdainful remarks about the Peace Group, the female secretary spoke up, "If the fact that Peace Aerospace's satellites and spacecraft are equipped with weapons is exposed, wouldn't we have a perfect excuse to sanction them?"

"Over the years, the Peace Group has exacerbated our trade deficit by leveraging its product advantages. If we don't retaliate..."

An old man with brown hair, holding a pipe, said coldly, "It's fine to retaliate against the Peace Corporation's products, but it's not acceptable to trigger a space war!"

"Our satellite manufacturing and launch costs are higher than those of peaceful spaceflight, and our space weapons also have no advantage."

The chief steward frowned and asked, "How do we counter their products?"

The brown-haired old man picked up his pipe, took a deep drag, exhaled a mouthful of smoke, and then sneered, "Using NMN100 as bait, while the alliance is winning a great victory in the Middle East, we will pull all the alliance countries together to restrict the Peace Group's export products."

“This approach is worth considering!” a middle-aged woman agreed. “However, we should restrict each product one by one, gradually pressuring the Peace Group until they agree to our conditions, rather than imposing restrictions all at once.”

The large, fat man on the sofa next to us frowned and said, "What if the Peace Group ignores us and stops supplying smartphone components?"

……

The Peace Space Rocket Command Center on Dapeng Peninsula in Shenzhen.

Most of the Zhang family members had returned to Villa No. 1, except for Zhang Bei and Chang Le, who remained at the command center, waiting to go back with Zhang Heping for lunch.

In addition, Professor Luo Wen, Zhang Yi's father-in-law, did not return. He was at the construction command center of the controlled nuclear fusion device, working with the experts to verify the relevant data provided by Zhang Heping in the early stages.

As early as around 1989, Zhang Heping launched two scientific and technological competitions: one was the life science life extension plan, and the other was the controllable nuclear fusion device construction plan.

With the high-level testing of the Longevity 100 drug both domestically and internationally, its visible anti-aging effects demonstrate to the world the achievements of the Peace Group in the field of life science and longevity extension.

Now, through the No. 1 and No. 2 Life Buddies, the Peace Group is demonstrating to the world its significant investment in the new Life Buddies.

With the emergence of the generic drug NMN100 from the United States at a price of 3000 million US dollars per vial, other countries have been forced to pay more attention to life science research.

It is foreseeable that other countries will increase their investment in human resources and capital in this area.

After all, in their limited understanding, they believe that this medicine is not a one-off deal, but an essential anti-aging medicine for everyone as they grow old.

As far as Zhang Heping knows, many self-proclaimed anti-aging drugs have been launched in Europe and other countries, but their effectiveness remains to be seen.

Another area is research on controlled nuclear fusion. Although foreign countries have been conducting research in this area for a long time, the investment is not large.

Even though Zhang Heping publicly stated that he wanted to develop a controlled nuclear fusion device, and even though a controlled nuclear fusion device was already under construction on the Dapeng Peninsula, foreigners were still watching and waiting, seemingly convinced that the mainland would not succeed.

However, the seven thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants that have already been built in mainland China, as well as the ten thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants that are under construction, have made foreigners extremely envious.

In recent years, foreign delegations have frequently visited the mainland to tour thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants through political channels.

Unfortunately, when they wanted to come to the mainland to learn this technology, it became a pipe dream.

However, after Japan and magnesium announced that they were also building thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants, the number of such fantasies decreased significantly, because they had more options. When Hua Lao and his colleagues heard that Japan and magnesium could also build thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants, they initially thought there had been another internal traitor.

However, after a thorough investigation, no possibility of internal leaks was found.

Afterwards, through various investigations and analyses, the clues finally pointed to a hard drive that Zhang Heping had stolen in 1983!

Back then, the hard drive containing the bidding documents for the thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plant was stolen by people from Japan.

Although Zhang Heping went on a rampage afterward and managed to retrieve the hard drive from the Japanese, who can guarantee that the Japanese didn't back up the data on the hard drive?

Of course, who can guarantee that all the data on that hard drive is real?

So when Mr. Hua asked Zhang Heping about the hard drive, Zhang Heping simply said, "Don't worry about it!"

What Zhang Heping didn't reveal to anyone was that 95% of the nuclear power plant data on that hard drive was real, with only one part having a problem with the alloy material ratio.

This problem is not immediately apparent; structural changes will only occur under specific conditions of high temperature, high pressure, and high corrosion, accumulated over time.

Because these slow changes occur inside the reactor, they are difficult to detect from the outside. By the time they discover the problem, it is already after an accident has occurred!

In other words, the competition for controlled nuclear fusion has not yet been successfully initiated, and the hidden dangers of thorium-based molten salt reactor nuclear power plants that were planted in Japan and the US seven years ago have not yet been exposed. The future is promising!

Seven hours have passed since the launch of the No. 2 Shouyuan spacecraft at 4 a.m.

When the clock in the rocket launch command center struck 11 a.m., the hall fell silent.

"Why are you looking at me?" Zhang Heping sat in the back row reading a book, meeting the gazes around him, and said calmly, "It's a handover operation. I'll follow the instructions of the commander-in-chief."

Unlike Zhang Heping, Zhang Bei and Chang Le, the two boys, were not as composed. They had already crouched down in the front row to watch the images transmitted back from the two external cameras of the space capsule on the big screen.

This scene is being broadcast live to the world through the World Internet Forum.

The docking process between the No. 1 and No. 2 Shouyuan spacecraft is not just the horizontal docking that is currently underway, but also includes the attitude and trajectory adjustments made in the preceding 7 hours.

Zhang Heping felt that the overall commander had made good arrangements, and since horizontal docking was simpler than radial docking, he let him continue to command.

Even if the front port of the No. 2 capsule were to collide with the rear port of the No. 1 capsule and break, we could simply change the orientation and use the rear port of the No. 2 capsule to dock with the front port of the No. 1 capsule.

This is the advantage of modular space stations; it's like building with blocks.

At 11:30 a.m., enthusiastic applause rang out at the rocket launch command center.

Zhang Heping stood up, stretched, and smiled at the excited crowd, saying, "Shift change!"

Lu Zhongsheng, the general manager of Peace Aerospace, said from the side, "Teacher Zhang, why don't you say a few words to everyone?"

"What are you talking about? We've all been up all night!" Zhang Heping waved his hand. "After lunch, everyone should catch up on some sleep, then take turns resting and spend more time with their families!"

After speaking, Zhang Heping called his eldest son Zhang Bei and nephew Chang Le back for lunch.

After everyone watched Zhang Heping's vehicle depart, the commander-in-chief sighed to the crowd, "This is the first time I've ever done a spacecraft docking like this, and with Professor Zhang requiring it to be completed before lunch, my heart was in my throat!"

"Thanks to everyone's concerted efforts, we were able to successfully complete the docking of the No. 1 and No. 2 Shouyuan space modules."

Lu Zhongsheng, general manager of Peace Aerospace, received a phone call and then excitedly told everyone, "Comrades! The capital city government called to congratulate us on completing the first-ever space docking in China!"

……

On the way back, Zhang Bei suddenly asked Zhang Heping, "Dad, you seemed quite indifferent to the successful docking of the No. 1 and No. 2 Lifespan Space Modules. Do you not care about it?"

Zhang Heping leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and casually said, "It was expected, what's there to be excited about?"

"The longevity potion still needs improvement, and we still have space stations, lunar bases, and Mars bases to work on."

"Once the Middle East war is over, the Americans might use their victory to cause us trouble again."

When Zhang Bei heard what his father said, he couldn't help with any of it and was lost in thought for a moment.

It wasn't until the convoy reached the vicinity of Nanshan that Zhang Bei spoke up, bewildered, "Dad, I don't think I'm cut out to run a company. What else do you think I could do besides running a company?"

Although Zhang Heping did not open his eyes, he could hear the complexity in his eldest son's tone, so he comforted him, "I asked your stepmother to start a company to make money so that I could help you accomplish some things I wanted to achieve."

"Why did you start this company?"

Zhang Bei thought about how, over the years, not only had he not made any money from running his company, but he had also almost lost all the hundreds of millions of dollars in his personal account.

He suddenly realized that he didn't seem to be starting the company to make money.

“If you don’t start a company…” Zhang Heping began again, pausing deliberately to draw his eldest son’s attention before continuing:

"I think you could be a computer teacher, marry a quiet female teacher, and enjoy a simple and peaceful life."

"This is Zhang Yi's life!" Zhang Bei seemed dissatisfied.

Zhang Heping, with his eyes closed, said nonchalantly, "Or, you could become a cyber police officer, maintaining order online, cracking down on online fraud, rumors, and so on. Then marry a sexy policewoman who knows martial arts. I just wonder if you'd get beaten up?"

"You can also become a computer science blogger, answer technical questions online, share new discoveries, build your following, and gain their recognition."

"If you get tired of computer-related things, you can open a teahouse, coffee shop, bakery, etc. Just hire a few pretty girls to run the shop, and you can sit on the side and daydream."

"Dad!" Zhang Bei frowned and said, "Why do you say I can't do something big like you?"

Zhang Heping opened his eyes, turned to look at his eldest son Zhang Bei, and calmly asked, "What great things can you do with that little bit of money?"

...(End of chapter)