50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 732 An Invitation from Cleveland

The two little ones are already ten months old, and the youngest, Charles, can already walk unsteadily on the carpet by himself.

Although little Annie cannot walk alone, she can still hold onto the furniture and follow behind her brother.

Sun Zhiwei stayed home and played with the children until evening, when Tong Jiajia and the other two returned from outside.

Before dinner, the children need to be fed complementary foods. Tong Jiajia is responsible for feeding Charles, and Sun Zhiwei is responsible for feeding Annie.

My younger sister Annie is only a few months old, but she already shows a quiet personality and doesn't cause any trouble when she eats.

Charles, the older brother, was very naughty. He would take a bite and then spill half of it, making a mess of food everywhere. He would get scolded by Tong Jiajia from time to time.

After the children finished eating, the couple placed them in a corner of the living room filled with toys before their dinner officially began.

The Sun family did not have the custom of not speaking while eating or sleeping; the dinner table was also the time when Sun Zhiwei and Tong Jiajia communicated.

Tong Jiajia then brought up the matter of going to the foundation during the day.

It turns out that Gerald Spencer, the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, was recently in New York seeking sponsorship.

He was very interested after hearing about the Maria Foundation's "Angel Hut" project, and as a result, he visited the foundation's office in person yesterday afternoon without prior notice.

Cleveland has a population of only 60. In China, that would be the size of a county town, not even a large one.

However, in the United States, Cleveland is a major transportation hub in the Midwest and an important industrial city.

Especially 20 years ago, when Cleveland had a population of nearly a million, it was a truly large city.

Therefore, Tong Jiajia had no choice but to personally receive the mayor of Cleveland during his visit.

Although he was very unhappy about this, Sun Zhiwei also knew that they had to integrate into American society and couldn't afford to argue with everyone they met.

Sun Zhiwei was familiar with Cleveland, which was at its peak of development decades ago.

In recent years, Cleveland has been mired in economic difficulties, with numerous problems such as industrial decline and environmental pollution damaging its reputation and causing the city's population to plummet.

It also earned a terrible nickname in the surrounding cities: The mistake on zhe lake.

"So, Mayor Gerald came here to ask you to donate money?"

"Hehe, they invited us to participate in a large charity event in Cleveland."

“I listened to their event plan, and it’s a very large event. They named it the ‘Balloon Festival’ and plan to release 200 million balloons at the event.”

"Releasing balloons? Why do that? Will releasing more balloons increase Cleveland's economy?"

He couldn't quite understand why, if the new mayor wanted to improve Cleveland's image, he shouldn't be focusing on revitalizing the economy and improving the environment, instead of releasing so many balloons.

"He did explain that. Because last year, Disneyland also had an event that released a large number of balloons, which won a Guinness World Record."

"They thought of organizing a similar event, and if it could break the Guinness World Record, it would undoubtedly boost the confidence of the citizens and wash away Cleveland's stigma."

"Ha, they certainly have wild ideas." Sun Zhiwei scoffed at their ridiculous plan. If it succeeded, he'd eat toilet water upside down. "You didn't agree, did you?"

"This is a national charity event. Mayor Gerald came to New York not only to raise funds, but he also bought some pages in newspapers such as The New York Times to promote this 'Balloon Festival'."

“I want to promote the foundation’s Angel Hut project, and this is a good opportunity for publicity and exposure.”

Sun Zhiwei has future plans for this foundation. Initially, he will build up his reputation in the United States, and when the time is right, he will take the foundation to the mainland.

He didn't earn so much money to serve the American people, but the IRS is undoubtedly a major hurdle if he wants to transfer his assets in the United States back to the US.

The Maria Foundation is the key to circumventing this hurdle, allowing him to use more money on his own family in the name of the foundation in the future.

Tong Jiajia's plan to promote "Angel's Hut" can help the foundation build its reputation, which does not conflict with Sun Zhiwei's long-term plans.

"When is the event? I'll go with you then." He didn't feel comfortable letting Tong Jiajia go to such a far place as Cleveland alone.

The next morning at breakfast, the house was bustling again as Caroline and Tong Jiajia dressed and washed the children.

Sun Zhiwei felt that he had only made things worse in the past, so he sat at the dining table and read today's newspaper with peace of mind.

Today's New York Times headline is a major news story that even Sun Zhiwei has to pay attention to: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

This is a big event, but now that he thinks about it, didn't this happen last month? Why is it only being reported now?
Looking at the date of the accident in the newspaper, it was indeed April 26th, as I remembered.

However, the report contained no useful information and was filled with sensational lies fabricated by the reporter.

For example, it says that the leak caused pollution over a 10-kilometer radius, and hundreds of people were exposed to radiation, using many exaggerated words to describe how terrible the situation was.

Sun Zhiwei could only laugh at their limited imagination; what 10-kilometer pollution? It was clearly 30-kilometer pollution.

It wasn't that hundreds of people were exposed to radiation; rather, 31 people died on the spot, and more than 200 people suffered severe radiation exposure.

Even though it has been almost a month since the accident, the fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is still burning, and countless radioactive dust particles are still spreading into the sky.

A rescue team of 50 people is rushing to Chernobyl, and they have only one order: to put out the fire.

But no one cares about the fate of this 50-strong rescue team.

What no one could have imagined was that in the following 20 years, another 10 people would die from radiation sickness, and 27 would develop cancer due to radiation.

Even more terrifying things were yet to come. The explosion caused by the accident blew countless radioactive dust particles into the sky, and they were carried by the airflow to all of Europe.

Within the next year, most of Europe will be contaminated by radioactive fallout.

Experts estimate that it will take at least 800 years to completely eliminate the impact of this catastrophe on the natural environment, while the ongoing danger of nuclear radiation will last for 10 years.

However, these data are only the data that Sun Zhiwei obtained in his later years. Now, the accident has just happened, and most people do not know how widespread the damage caused by this incident is.

Because specific local measurement data was concealed, radioactive dust continued to fall across Europe for months afterward.

(End of this chapter)