Chapter 25: The Chosen Chen Jingrun

"You don't really need to worry about that. You are Chinese, so you don't understand the operational logic of American politics. For a billionaire in America, having enough authority means they can make anyone—whether it's Blue Origin or any external auditing agency—simply ignore you," Li Xiaoman explained.

Lin Ran was somewhat surprised. He truly didn't know much about America; his past impressions were limited to superficial and abstract concepts like it being developed, domineering, an absorber of global elites, and offering good benefits. Since he had started interacting with people like Horkheimer, John Morgan, and Arthur Rudolph in 1960, he had come to realize that the logic governing America relied far more on connections than on rules. However, he felt that Li Xiaoman’s perspective might provide him with a completely different facet of understanding America—a facet that was crucial and could become a part of his informational advantage.

"Sister Xiaoman, your answer is still a bit abstract. What do you mean by 'ignore'? I’m a real person, so are they just going to pretend I don't exist?"

Li Xiaoman thought for a moment. "True, it is a bit abstract. Let me give you an example. The most straightforward example is corruption. In American-style corruption, all actions are transparent. Every act of graft is laid out in the open and written into reports submitted to Congress. Take USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, for instance. Every year, they tell Congress about their problems in detail, and any citizen can look them up on the USAID website. But these issues are defined as 'meeting standards,' 'issue alerts,' or 'no misconduct.' Out of a hundred audited problems, not a single person is ever convicted.

"The most outrageous case was in 2010 during the Haiti earthquake. USAID announced it would allocate $1.15 billion to Haiti. When combined with funding from other Western nations and donations from global citizens, the total exceeded $5 billion. In the end, less than one-tenth of that money was actually spent on post-disaster reconstruction in Haiti. Yet, the flow of that $5 billion was clearly written in the USAID reports, directed toward foundations in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia that had various ties to politicians. For example, they spent $4 million to study the feasibility of building a new port in Haiti, announced the study was a failure, and the money went straight into the pockets of the winning contractor. They spent $300 million just to build the Caracol Industrial Park, which wasn't even finished. Even though treating the wounded and post-disaster reconstruction were more important, they spent over $300 million on HIV/AIDS mitigation projects.

"All the money's flow was laid out in the open, but no one was punished, no one had any problems, and everything was reasonable and legal. Why was there no accountability? Because the funds were distributed through multiple international organizations, contractors, and NGOs, creating a long chain of responsibility that made it difficult to trace specific individuals. Since it’s hard to trace, they just don’t bother. That is the peculiarity of American logic.

"Corruption works this way, and so would your situation. Even if you are a researcher at a commercial space enterprise, even if you truly touched the rocket launch equipment or accessed a massive amount of internal Blue Origin data, and even if these things were clearly written in reports given to NASA by auditing agencies and published on NASA's official website, everyone would still turn a blind eye to it. Bezos, as the world's richest man, absolutely has the capability to ensure that. So you don't need to worry too much. If you are even more careful and don't appear in public records, you will be even safer."

When Li Xiaoman spoke of American-style corruption, her face was filled with indignation, giving the impression of someone watching a national heist but feeling utterly helpless. Lin Ran was left stunned; he hadn't realized things could be played this way. He had clearly underestimated America.

...

"Dean Qian, Secretary Wang from the Science and Technology Commission is here. He’s asking if we have any mathematical problems we can't solve, and wants us to pick a few out."

Although Zhang Kewen had been transferred to the Academic Affairs Department as a section chief, because Qian Xuesen’s new secretary had not yet arrived, she was still concurrently serving as his administrative secretary.

"Oh, this is about the matter in Hong Kong, right?" Qian Xuesen asked. Although his mind was entirely on the development of the DF-1, he was still aware of external affairs. For instance, the Fermat's Last Theorem had been proven by a Chinese mathematician who would be lecturing at the University of Hong Kong in the summer and had told the publisher of the *Overseas Chinese Daily News* that anyone could come to him with mathematical problems. The Science and Technology Commission had long since notified the relevant departments to prepare and send a delegation to ask this renowned mathematician for solutions when the time came.

Qian Xuesen didn't hold high expectations. After the commission notified everyone, he had consulted Hua Luogeng, whose opinion was that the mathematician's expertise was primarily in number theory and algebraic geometry, which had little relation to the differential equations they needed for missile research. He knew very well that while number theory, algebraic geometry, and differential equations were all mathematics, in the grand category of math, different sub-fields were as far apart as different professions.

So Qian Xuesen didn't take it to heart. He handed a pre-prepared set of equations to Zhang Kewen. "Give this to Secretary Huang’s team."

There were so many mathematicians in China who couldn't solve these; it was unlikely that even someone as brilliant as this man could solve them in just two months. After all, that was the limit of how long he would be in Hong Kong.

Zhang Kewen, however, treated the papers like a treasure, carefully sealing them into a Mechanics Research Institute envelope.

Meanwhile, at the Institute of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hua Luogeng was speaking earnestly to Chen Jingrun: "Jingrun, this time you are being sent to Hong Kong to attend Professor Lin's course. You must remember that learning is secondary; building a good relationship with Professor Lin is the most important thing. The problems you are taking with you are a premise; only by establishing a good relationship can you ask more, and only then will others be willing to spend time on you. I know you are honest and sincere, which are virtues, but from another perspective, you are a bit wooden, which is naturally not good for social interaction. So, when you go to Hong Kong, remember to observe more, think more, and answer more. Your talent is unquestionable, and I believe it is enough to make Professor Lin look at you with admiration."

The person finally selected to be sent to Hong Kong was none other than Chen Jingrun. At the time, he was working at the Institute of Mathematics and conducting research in a number theory seminar organized by Hua Luogeng, focused on the Goldbach Conjecture. Lin Ran’s field was number theory, and so was his. Beyond the overlap in their fields, the most important factors were that Chen’s English was good and his memory was astonishing. At that time, few people were fluent in English, and going to Hong Kong—a territory under temporary British control—to deal with an American-Chinese professor made English proficiency critical.

Although China didn't count on Lin Ran actually being able to solve these problems, what if he could? If he did, the answers had to be brought back, especially since some of these problems were related to intercontinental missile guidance algorithms. Thus, an amazing memory was equally vital. With these three criteria overlapping, only Chen Jingrun fit the bill.