I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Under the bright sunshine, in the northeast corner of Yangcheng Third Welfare Home, there stands a gray three-story building.

In front of the small building is a large courtyard, surrounded by trees and flowers, as well as a few simple fitness equipment welded to the ground.

Shen Kang pushed a wheelchair out of the gray building, and an elderly man with thinning white hair sat in the wheelchair.

Yangcheng Third Welfare Home, being called a welfare home rather than an orphanage, naturally takes in both orphans and the elderly.

Most of these elderly people are lonely elderly people who have no one to support them and have limited self-care abilities. After the neighborhood committee understands their situation and communicates their wishes, they are sent to welfare homes.

A few are self-funded foster care models, but the conditions at the Third Welfare Home are not very good and cannot compare with professional nursing homes. Its advantage is that it is cheap, so some families with very poor economic conditions will also pay some money to send their elderly relatives there.

The elderly man in the wheelchair that Shen Kang was pushing was an elderly man who was being cared for at his own expense. He had a daughter who often came to visit him.

"Grandpa Pan, what are you going to do?"

"Chess, I'm going to watch them play chess."

Some elderly people were already exercising and sunbathing in the courtyard. A small portion of them walked out on their own, while the majority were pushed out by Shen Kang.

Two of them were playing chess, and several people were watching around them.

"Okay, then I'll push you to watch the chess game."

Shen Kang pushed Grandpa Pan towards the people watching the chess game.

Whenever the weather is nice, the welfare home organizes activities for the elderly to come to the yard and get some sunshine, which is good for their health. However, they are often short-staffed, so anyone who can help out does so. Today, it was Shen Kang's turn to do that.

After settling Grandpa Pan in, the elderly people all came out. Shen Kang had finished his work and was now watching over them.

So he walked to the side, casually pulled up a small stool and sat down, lost in thought.

In the past two days, he tried to contact Zhou Man, and Zhou Man met with him once, but her attitude remained unchanged. She didn't say what difficulties she had encountered, only that no one could help with this matter and that all she could do was pray.

Later, they simply disappeared.

Shen Kang had no intention of giving up. He was thinking about what other directions he could work towards, full of energy and determination—anyone who tried to get him to date a rich woman would be dealt with!

He quickly found a new direction: if he couldn't handle Zhou Man, what about Xiao Bonian? He could try He Qiuzhu? Maybe getting their help would lead to a breakthrough! At the very least, he could find out what difficulties Zhou Man was facing through them!

Okay, let's do it this way. I'll contact Xiao Bonian after today's caregiver is done!

Having decided on a new approach, Shen Kang stopped thinking about it and turned his attention back to the elderly people in the courtyard.

The elderly people were divided into several groups. Some were playing chess and watching others play, while others, who were "strong and healthy," were doing low-intensity exercise on the fitness equipment. However, the largest group was the one in the northeast corner of the courtyard.

Six old men, some in wheelchairs and some on stools, were talking.

Yes, we're discussing matters and how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An old man said in a deep voice, "This problem has always existed, and it's not something that's only been around for a year or two. If you ask me, the root of the problem is the mess that Old Mei made back then, insisting on forcibly inserting a new country into the country."

An elderly man in a wheelchair, with a rather fiery temper, retorted, "That's pure nonsense! Everyone knows this is Old Mei's doing! The key question now is, how do we solve it!"

"That's not entirely true. The United Nations agreed to this back then, so it should be considered legal."

"I don't necessarily think so. Just because the United Nations agrees doesn't mean it's correct."

"Everyone, we're here to discuss solutions, let's not go off-topic."

……

Shen Kang found it amusing.

If you didn't know better, you'd think this was a Buddhist temple or the United Nations headquarters.

When Shen Kang was young, he didn't quite understand why many middle-aged and elderly people liked to watch current affairs news, study history, and research major political and economic events in the country and the world, and also liked to discuss them when they got together.

As a result, when he reached his thirties, he also started reading current affairs news, studying history, and debating with people online.

Because he began to realize that he was powerless over the world and could not influence anyone. But by studying and discussing these matters, he could express his opinions freely and assertively, as if he had become an influential figure…

Faced with this scene, if it were Shen Kang at 18, he would watch from a distance while playing Snake on his phone.

But the person here now is Shen Kang, who has traveled through time from the future.

So he picked up a small stool and went over.

However, things took a turn for the worse as the two old men's ideologies clashed, and their emotions became increasingly agitated, almost leading to a full-blown argument.

If these old men get really agitated, things could easily go wrong.

Shen Kang quickly spoke up: "Hey, hey, hey, don't get agitated. Actually, if you ask me, this is easy to solve, I have a way."

The old men all looked over, their faces full of disbelief.

"Xiao Shen, do you have any other ideas? What ideas?"

Shen Kang patted his chest and said, "If all else fails, I'll go to Israeli Prime Minister Ahud's house and talk to him, and ask him to give me face and stop expanding. If that still doesn't work, I'll bring two more boxes of milk."

The old men were taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter. One of them even teased, "Little Shen, I didn't realize you had so much influence."

Another old man said in a serious tone, "Didn't you hear that Xiao Shen went carrying two cartons of milk? If Aihud doesn't give Xiao Shen face, how could he not give face to two cartons of milk?"

Another old man said, "Two boxes of milk might not be enough. It would be best to add a carton of Zhonghua cigarettes, and that would be about right."

"Do foreigners like smoking Zhonghua cigarettes?"...

Shen Kang's actions steered the conversation in a strange direction, and the two excited old men were also led astray, eventually calming down.

Among this group of people, an elderly man in a t-shirt had appeared out of nowhere. He moved a small stool and sat down next to them. He was none other than Mr. Zhou, who had come to the welfare home with Secretary Zhang.

Mr. Zhou glanced at Shen Kang, seemingly lost in thought: This kid, his move just now was quite interesting. He has some ability to handle specific situations, and he might become a good office manager in the future.

Shen Kang noticed him too and struck up a conversation: "Grandpa, I've never seen you before?"

"My family is planning to have me fostered, and they're looking for a place. I came here today to see what the conditions are like."

Shen Kang understood. "Then you can see for yourself, sir."

After saying that, he ignored the old man.

The old men at the scene, led by Shen Kang, had their conversation drifted further and further off track. First, one of them casually remarked, echoing Shen Kang's words, "Aren't we going to host the Olympics? Let's bring those two families to Beijing and have a good talk!" Then the topic turned to the Olympics, and they started chatting enthusiastically, since the Olympics are currently the most important event in the country.

After what just happened, Shen Kang is now chatting with the old men and even solved a riddle for them.

"Zhang Yimou, the chief director of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, has a shrine at home that he worships every day, praying for blessings. Can you guess which deity it is?"

Some of the older men guessed it was Wenchang Dijun, since he should be in charge of culture, while others guessed it was the Jade Emperor, since he governs everything.

Shen Kang said they were all wrong, and finally revealed the answer: "It's the Wind God. Because Zhang Yimou was most afraid that the wind direction would be wrong on the day of the opening ceremony, and that the smog would blow over, and then everything would be ruined."

It was a bit like hell, but it made the old men laugh out loud. After they finished laughing, the old men started talking about the environment, and as they talked, they even mentioned a landfill not far from the Third Welfare Home.

Shen Kang also knew about that landfill. It was built in the last century and the location was problematic. It didn't take urban expansion into account, which resulted in a residential area being too close to it, leading to a lot of protests. He heard that it was going to be shut down.

One elderly man worriedly asked, "Do you think that with so much garbage now, Yangcheng will be surrounded by garbage in the future?"

As the national economy continues to develop, the amount of garbage generated is also increasing, and how to deal with garbage has indeed become a major problem.

Especially with the nationwide plastic ban officially taking effect on June 1st this year, waste disposal has become a hot topic, frequently appearing in the news.

As the old men talked about this, they all became very worried, sighing and lamenting, concerned for future generations. It seemed as if the future of China had already become a garbage-filled country.

Shen Kang chuckled and said, "I think everyone should stop worrying unnecessarily. I reckon in the future, instead of being surrounded by garbage, people will complain that there isn't enough garbage!"

An old man said, "Little Shen, this joke of yours isn't as funny as the previous ones."

With the reputation built up from the previous "two boxes of milk" and "praying to the gods," the old men all took it as a joke.

An elderly man asked him, "How could you possibly complain about not having enough trash?"

Shen Kang said that garbage can be recycled. But an old man immediately retorted, saying that if garbage could be recycled, then why are there more and more landfills? That means that the majority of garbage is still non-recyclable!

Shen Kang originally intended to just say it and leave it at that, but seeing how serious the old men were, he had no choice but to say a little more: "Indeed, most of the garbage cannot be recycled, but this garbage is not entirely useless. It can be used to generate electricity, using garbage to generate electricity. If the technology advances in the future and there are more and more waste-to-energy plants, who knows, one day there might not be enough garbage, and manufacturers will have to spend money to buy garbage."

Shen Kang wasn't making this up; the fact that they were spending money to buy more garbage when there wasn't enough was indeed a scene he witnessed in his later life.

However, the old men couldn't see it, so they still didn't believe it, saying that he was just a kid having wild ideas.

Another old man said, "If it were really possible to do it this way, why doesn't the government do it immediately? Instead, they keep building new landfills." This proves that what Shen Kang said is utter nonsense!

Seeing this, Shen Kang didn't argue with these old men. He just smiled and acted as if to say, "I was just talking nonsense and you've seen through me." He waited for the old men to move on to the next topic so he could continue to participate and brag.

But one old man suddenly asked Shen Kang, "Do you think waste-to-energy is a good idea?"

Shen Kang was startled. He looked around and saw that it was the new, unfamiliar old man who had said he was here to check out the conditions and might be able to move in.

Jay Chou was also looking at Shen Kang.

On the old man's desk in Yanjing, there used to be a project proposal for a waste-to-energy business.

He reads many project proposals like these every day, since the group invests in many areas and is constantly looking for new profit growth points.

However, most of those project proposals will be abandoned.

Waste-to-energy plants are also among those abandoned. This is because these plants are typical capital-intensive projects, requiring too much upfront investment and having too long a payback period, resulting in a low overall rating.

But his daughter's "youngest son" seemed to be very optimistic about waste-to-energy, and he wanted to see what differences this kid had with the group's elites.