Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

In the corner of the back room, it was dark and damp, and the air was filled with the smell of musty straw.

Shen Zhaodi huddled behind the pile of rubble like a frightened little mouse. Her large eyes, which should have been full of intelligence, were now filled with fear as she stared intently at Shen Jinghong, who was walking towards her.

In her memory, although her eldest brother didn't beat her as easily as her second brother, he never looked at her properly. In this family, she was just an unwanted object, a tool to do chores, be beaten, and ultimately exchange for a dowry.

"No...don't hit me..."

Seeing Shen Jinghong's outstretched hand, Shen Zhaodi instinctively covered her head, trembling like a leaf, and pleaded in a tearful voice, "I didn't steal any food... I really didn't steal any food..."

This plea was like a needle, piercing Shen Jinghong's heart.

His outstretched hand froze in mid-air; the gesture of wanting to pat her head turned into a very soft sigh.

"Zhao Di, I won't hit you."

Shen Jinghong crouched down, ignoring the dirty mud on the ground, letting his expensive trench coat drag on the floor. He softened his tone as much as possible, revealing his gentlest smile:

"Brother will take you away, take you to eat meat, take you to school, okay?"

"Walk?"

Shen Zhaodi froze, peeking out from under his arms with half her dirty little face, looking at him in disbelief, "Where...where are you going?"

"Go to a place where no one will hit you, no one will scold you, and you can eat white flour buns every day."

Without further hesitation, Shen Jinghong picked up the pitifully thin little girl.

It's too light.

The twelve-year-old child felt light as a feather in his arms, like a bundle of dry firewood that could break at the slightest pressure. Through her thin, tattered clothes, he could even feel the protruding ribs on her back and the scars of old wounds upon new ones.

Anger surged in his chest, but he forcibly suppressed it.

Shen Jinghong, carrying his younger sister, turned and strode towards the center of the courtyard.

"Stop right there! Where are you taking her?"

Liu Cuihua had just caught her breath when she saw her eldest son about to take her youngest daughter away, and she immediately panicked. In her eyes, this was a "money-losing child" who could be exchanged for several hundred yuan in dowry; how could he just take her away like that?

"That's my daughter! What right do you have to take her away?"

"Your daughter?"

Shen Jinghong stopped and glanced at her coldly. There was no warmth in her eyes, only endless disgust, as if she were looking at a pile of unrecyclable garbage.

"From today onwards, she is no longer."

He looked around and, in front of all the neighbors, announced in a loud voice:

"The name Shen Zhaodi is too awful and unlucky. From this moment on, she has changed her name."

"Her name is Shen Xiwang."

"She has absolutely no connection with your Shen family anymore. Anyone who dares to lay a finger on her again will be reminded of Shen Yaozu!"

After saying that, he didn't give Liu Cuihua a chance to make a scene and gave Chen Weiguo a wink.

"Escort the commander!"

Chen Weiguo understood immediately. At his command, two rows of soldiers immediately took up their guns and formed a human wall of steel, keeping the elderly Shen couple and the neighbors who wanted to watch the commotion out of the way.

Holding the still-dazed "Shen Xiwang" in her arms, Shen Jinghong strode out of the courtyard house that had imprisoned her childhood.

At the entrance of the alley, a black Hongqi sedan was parked quietly under the streetlight, its paint reflecting a cold, eerie sheen.

"Get in the car."

Shen Jinghong opened the car door and gently placed his younger sister on the soft leather back seat.

The little girl had never seen such a beautiful car before. The moment her bottom touched the seat, it felt like she'd been burned. She didn't know where to put her hands and feet, afraid of getting the leather dirty.

"Brother...can we afford this car?"

She asked timidly, her eyes filled with fear and curiosity.

"If you can afford it, this car will take you to school every day from now on."

Shen Jinghong got into the car, ruffled her dry, yellow hair, took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket, unwrapped it, and put it in her mouth. "Eat it, it's sweet."

The moment the sweetness melted on her tongue, Shen Xiwang's tears streamed down her face.

This was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten in her life.

"drive."

Shen Jinghong gave the driver an instruction.

"boom--"

The engine started, and the car smoothly glided out of the alley.

Shen Jinghong did not turn around.

The courtyard behind him, along with the mess inside and the rotting old family home, were left far behind in the darkness by the throttle.

The dust has settled.

The streetlights outside the car window swept past one by one, casting shadows on Shen Jinghong's face.

"Brother, are we really not coming back?" Shen Xiwang asked cautiously, licking the chocolate from the corner of her mouth.

"I'm not coming back."

Shen Jinghong looked out the window, her eyes deep. "From now on, we'll live in a compound, in an apartment building. I'll find you the best school, so you have to study hard."

"Study?" Shen Xiwang's eyes lit up, then dimmed again. "But Mom says it's useless for girls to study..."

"fart."

Shen Jinghong cursed, then looked at her younger sister gently, "That's feudal dross. So what if you're a girl? Lin Huiyin was a girl, and Madame Curie was a girl. You can become anyone if you want to."

He paused, his gaze falling on the thin girl's hands, which, though rough, had long, slender fingers.

"Hope, would you like to study medicine?"

"Studying medicine?" The little girl blinked. "Like the doctor who treats Grandma Li in our ward?"

"Even more powerful than that."

Shen Jinghong's gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, seeing the impending battle at the icy Changjin Lake, and the countless volunteer soldiers wounded and falling in the cold wind.

In this life, he brought back a penicillin production line and advanced medical equipment. But he still needed people, countless military doctors like little angels, capable of saving lives in the midst of war.

"He's a doctor in military uniform, a great hero who came to save us."

Shen Jinghong held his younger sister's small hand, his tone solemn:

"I'll send you to the affiliated school of the military compound. When you grow up, I'll send you to the best military medical university. You'll learn to wield a scalpel and to fight against death."

"Yes! I want to learn!"

Although she didn't quite understand, Shen Xiwang nodded vigorously, her eyes shining with an unprecedented light.

The car drove along Chang'an Avenue.

The majestic Tiananmen Gate stands tall in the night, its red walls and yellow tiles appearing especially solemn under the lights.

Looking at the huge portrait of the leader through the car window, Shen Jinghong felt a surge of pride.

The family matters are settled, and all worries have been eliminated.

He had personally filled in the quagmire that had bound him.

Next, it will be his battlefield.

That was a mushroom cloud deep in the desert, the flames of war on the other side of the Yalu River, and the journey to the stars and the sea.

"Lin Qinghan..."

He silently recited the name in his heart, and the image of that aloof and stubborn figure, as well as the leather suitcase containing the F-86 blueprints, appeared in his mind.

"I've finished cleaning up the trash here. It's time to take our 'token of love' out into the sunlight."

Shen Jinghong smiled and said to Chen Weiguo in front of her:

"Battalion Commander Chen, don't go to the guesthouse, just take me directly to the Academy of Sciences."

Chen Weiguo was taken aback and glanced at himself in the rearview mirror: "Commander, it's so late, aren't you going to rest?"

"rest?"

Shen Jinghong pushed up his glasses, his eyes gleaming with a fanatical light—the excitement of an impending new era.

"Time waits for no one. If some blueprints aren't drawn up soon, the US will lose sleep."

"Let's go see Lin Qinghan! Our great industrial era... has begun!"