I, Yan Jiefang, will live to 2025 in this courtyard house.

At the end of October, Forbes officially released its 2002 list of the richest people in mainland China.

Yan Jiefang continues to lead the pack with a net worth of 22 billion dollars.

While others were still using millions of dollars as the unit, he was already using billions of dollars.

Because they didn't know the exact amount of Yan Jiefang's savings in Hong Kong, they only made a so-called reasonable prediction.

Based on the changes in the banks there, it is estimated to be around $100 billion.

Adding the 120 billion from domestic sources, the total is 220 billion.

His personal wealth is $3 billion more than the combined wealth of the other 99 people in the top 100!

Almost everyone who saw the list felt it was outrageous and wondered if Forbes had made a mistake.

After all, while Yan Jiefang's wealth was also considerable in previous terms, it did not exceed 10 billion US dollars.

How did it suddenly jump to over 200 billion this time?

But they are professionals, and a well-known company from the United States, so they naturally come across as highly regarded by many media outlets.

Yan Jiefang didn't care about the list at all. He said, "You can rank it however you want, as long as it doesn't go so far as to involve personal attacks."

The rest of the Yan family were not surprised; they had all known for a long time that Old Yan had overseas accounts.

Nobody knows how much money is in there; it's like a treasure trove, inexhaustible.

Because Yan Xueheng and Yan Xueyuan own their own company, they are also in the top 100 of the list, and their rankings are quite high. However, because they did not make it into the top ten, they did not receive much attention.

The eldest brother, Yan Xueqian, was completely unknown and had no trace of him.

After all, the lithography machine factory has only just started construction, and the land hasn't even been prepared yet.

...

"Dad, look at this news! My uncle's assets have more than doubled! They're now over 200 billion! And that's in US dollars!"

In a courtyard house in Beijing, He Xiao, a middle-aged man, held up a magazine and shoved it at Sha Zhu.

"Oh? Let me see."

He Yuzhu, who is 67 years old, looks much older. He sits up from his recliner, takes the magazine, and looks at the list on it.

The first name on the list is Yan Jiefang.

"Isn't he only 22? How did he get ranked first? The second place has 850."

Sha Zhu pointed at the numbers above with some confusion.

Actually, He Xiao didn't know what was going on before, and only found out after asking someone who knew the stuff.

He pointed to the English text following the numbers:

"See these letters? This is English, pronounced 'Bilian Thao La,' meaning 10 billion US dollars! 22 'Bilian Thao La' is 220 billion US dollars!"

He Xiao's voice was full of amazement, but also a hint of regret.

"My uncle is amazing! How does he make so much money? Sigh, I should have gone to the south to develop my career too."

Sha Zhu patted his son with a serious expression:

"It's his skill that he can make money. How can you, a kid who can't even get into university, compare to him?"

"Go south to develop your career, and you'll starve to death without anyone even knowing!"

He Xiao muttered something:

"Isn't my uncle just a vocational school graduate?"

Sha Zhu waved his aged hand:

"That's because those small business owners aren't eligible for university; they can only go to vocational school."

"Look, when it opened up, all three of his sons got into Tsinghua University, and they were all top scorers in the Beijing college entrance examination!"

He Xiao nodded:

"That's true, I was being too attached to appearances, hehe."

Sha Zhu slowly stood up and patted his son on the shoulder:

"Comparison is the thief of joy. If you can inherit my hotel and earn millions every year, you should be secretly happy."

Look at the neighboring houses next to the old courtyard house; they're basically neither high-end nor low-end.

And that guy Banggeng is almost 50 and still can't find a wife. His ex-girlfriend ran off with someone else a long time ago. His life is ruined.

"Dad, why are you bringing up Widow Qin again? Was she your... your white moonlight?"

Sha Zhu was somewhat puzzled:

What is "white moonlight"?

Although I don't know what this word means, it sounds nice and is a good word.

He Xiao took a few steps back and scratched the back of his head:

"I've never heard this word before. I heard it from your grandson a few days ago. He said he saw it online and it seems to mean a pretty girl or a female classmate."

Sha Zhu sat back in the recliner, staring blankly in a certain direction, muttering to himself:

"Pretty girl, that's a fitting description..."

Seeing this, He Xiao could only shake his head helplessly and then quietly left.

Luckily, Mom was at the hotel and didn't see Dad like this, otherwise he would have given me a good beating.

...

While many people follow Forbes, it pales in comparison to another matter.

On October 30, Eastweek magazine published a photo on its cover showing a female celebrity being forced to take a humiliating nude photo years ago, causing a shock throughout Hong Kong.

The photo was uploaded to the internet as soon as it was published, which made its spread many times faster.

Many curious netizens downloaded and saved it, making it virtually impossible for anyone to retrieve it all.

When Yan Jiefang returned home that evening and saw the incident online, the matter had already gained significant traction.

After browsing through some forums and online communities, he shook his head and stopped paying attention.

This kind of thing actually happens quite often; it's just that ordinary people aren't as famous as celebrities, so they don't get much attention.

As for looking at that photo?

Does he need it?

Yan Jiefang casually manipulated a few buttons and saved the clearest image to a hidden folder.

...

At 9:48 a.m. on November 6, the diversion channel of the Three Gorges Project was successfully closed, and all the water of the Yangtze River was diverted to flow downstream through the diversion tunnel at the bottom of the dam on the north bank.

This is the second river closure of the Three Gorges Project since the main river closure in 1997, marking the imminent completion of the second phase of the project and the full commencement of the third phase.

Yan Jiefang breathed a sigh of relief upon learning the news.

Over the years, he has had a lot of trouble with the power supply problem.

According to some inside information he obtained, tomorrow, November 7th, the rotor of the world's largest hydroelectric generator unit will be hoisted at the Three Gorges construction site.

If this project is successfully completed, his company should be able to use the Three Gorges hydropower next year.

This is of great significance to the normal production of several wafer fabs; each additional power source provides an extra layer of protection.

Moreover, this is an extremely stable hydropower resource.

Although the entertainment industry is full of public opinion storms, it has little to no impact on these companies, society, or ordinary people.

On the contrary, these seemingly uneventful events are the real big events, events that can affect millions of households.