Following Old Rules, Planting New Roots

Chapter 8: 1.08 Chapter Follow Old Rules, Plant New Roots

What era is Shenzhou in now?

Is it not strong? No, it is much stronger than the East during the same period in the Main World.

Shenzhou has seventy-eight provinces, with a total area of about 21.45 million square kilometers. Its core territories include Bohai Commandery extending to the Silla Peninsula, Indochina Peninsula, Nanyang Islands, South Asian Subcontinent, Tamil Peninsula, and the Western Australian Coast. The recorded population is 890 million. Of course, due to statistical omissions, the total population is even larger.

Is it not autonomous? It is quite autonomous, even dictatorial, one might say!

Shenzhou's cultural lineage is preserved intact. Compared to China in the Main World during the same period, it has more indigenous thought systems to explain the world. For example, concepts like Han, Manchu, Mongol, Zhuang, and Tibetan, which exist in the Main World, do not exist in Shenzhou. The ethnic concepts of the East in the 20th century actually originated in the West. Intellectuals used Western learning to explain the East and also defined nationalities.

In Shenzhou, there is only the concept of Zhuxia. Within Zhuxia, everyone belongs to the Yanhuang bloodline, differing only in their branches. Culturally, the boundary is defined by ritual. According to the Hua-Yi Distinction, those who enter Huaxia and uphold ritual are Hua, while those who leave Huaxia and abandon ritual are barbarians. Shenzhou's great scholars governed with this ideology, assimilating all the way to the South Asian Subcontinent.

However! Comparing the two eras, all of this in Shenzhou gives a sense of decline! When facing the impact of the times, it seems more difficult to generate correct and objective responses.

Although Shenzhou's top think tanks currently maintain an Eastern-centric logical framework, this concept of family and nation, which matured two thousand years ago, has accumulated too much logic through prolonged development, making it "too profound for the masses."

In the current era of ignorance and blindness, the crude tribalism originating from the West is surprisingly well-received. Furthermore, in the last thirty years, molecular genetics technology has proven the purity of the Chinese paternal bloodline.

The simple understanding of country and nation among ordinary people in Shenzhou, without significant historical disasters to deeply impress upon them, has led to the political correctness of "the Yanhuang Nation must forge ahead" becoming the inferior driving out the superior. All 800 million people in Shenzhou are pushing with extreme confidence for Shenzhou to confront the world head-on.

Wei Keng: "I don't oppose confronting head-on, but your industrialized population is only forty million. The rest are simply literate but ignorant. Do you intend to rely on the upper class to use their intellect and the lower class to use their courage to fulfill a divinely ordained destiny? This is a dead end, and a dead end that won't lead to clarity until the brink of national ruin and extinction."

Before returning to the family board of directors, Wei Keng altered his itinerary midway and made a surprise visit to the family industrial park in Xijing, which was also the most technologically advanced industry of the Luoshui Group—the Luoshui Cloud Aviation Machinery Company.

Wei Keng felt a slight sense of relief seeing the clean and orderly operations within the factory grounds. Compared to the chaos outside, the industrial zone was another world. All workers were housed in a supporting residential area within the industrial park, complete with a dedicated kindergarten, supermarket, and restaurant. In the production workshops, a series of precision lathes processed delicate, needle-fine rhombic tenon joints, inserting them into machines like acupuncture needles. On the electronic screens, precise "yin and yang" data continuously appeared. The workers operated with skill, all indicating that Shenzhou still possessed the world's top industrial technology.

After touring his industrial park and understanding the various supply chain situations of the industries.

Wei Keng opened his system, the cross-world system linked to his consciousness, and organized the technological data of Shenzhou from his perspective.

Wei Keng categorized the current international market's technological industries into three columns: green, yellow, and red.

The green market had strong competitiveness and consisted of top-tier technologies such as nuclear power, electronic communications, and maglev railway technology. This inlaid willow craft gave Shenzhou a unique advantage in this area.

The yellow industries included large-scale aviation, satellites, shipbuilding, and high-energy physics applications. These were areas where Shenzhou competed with other world powers.

The severely lagging red column: Life Sciences. In this area, Europe and Shenyang had begun developing augmented soldiers, organic mechanical implants, and various other technologies. European War Dogs, after implanting chips, could understand a reported hundred tactical commands. As for dolphins, they had been "specially trained" (actually through drugs and chip control) by them and turned into combat creatures that guided underwater bombs with strong sound waves.

It must be said that Shenzhou's culture paid little attention to animal husbandry. Apart from oxen used for plowing, which had a deeper emotional connection in their culture, horses, dogs, pigs, and sheep were all considered livestock. Culturally, certain animals were defined as lowly, and thus, less effort was invested in the technology related to them.

In terms of humans, Shenzhou inherited the Zhou Rituals. Religiously, it had always opposed human sacrifice. Regardless of the circumstances, innocent people should not be sacrificed to appease heaven. After the Zhou dynasty overthrew the Shang, they established the Zhou Rituals, completely distinguishing themselves from the Shang Civilization, which later became an important logic for the Hua-Yi Distinction.

So, in recent years, European, American, Shenyang, and even Soviet Russian large medical companies have been conducting human experiments with the tacit approval of their governments. Culturally, they have Monotheism and a culture of atonement afterward.

And in the East? No company would dare to attempt such a thing. In Eastern culture, there is no scenario where a company executive is removed, replaced by a good person, atones, is whitewashed, and turns the public's impression around. Instead, everything associated with it would be nailed to the pillar of shame forever. Haven't you seen Qin Hui kneeling there for a thousand years? No one surnamed Qin dares to claim kinship, atonement? It's the kind of eternal damnation in the eighteenth level of hell.

In this world, the West's ability to repel Shenzhou during World War I was due not only to their diligence but also to their sheer cruelty! Shenzhou dared not act, but Monotheism could ruthlessly push forward, squeezing oil from the bones of Africans, slaughtering all the indigenous peoples of North and South America, and even directly testing anthrax weapons on the small islands of the Pacific Islanders.

Wei Keng arrived at the family's board meeting. Looking at the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Branches, he thought, My old father! Truly a hero. The First Branch also had male heirs; Wei Qiang had left five children in this world.

Of course, now was not the time for family reunions.

Wei Keng called out each person's name, checking the identities of all department heads. This process was like a university homeroom teacher taking attendance.

He had to meet the heads of each industry! This wasn't just symbolic.

Sitting in a high position, he couldn't possibly know everything happening below. After all, Wei Qiang hadn't put a worm in everyone's belly.

As a weak lord, if he wanted to understand what was happening below, he had to show that he was open to hearing opinions and willing to accept factual statements from everyone within the system. This way, at least, he wouldn't appear easy to deceive.

The greatest danger for a weak lord was being isolated by the system's operations, leading to subordinates starting to collude and solve matters on their own. Qin Er Shi had ruined himself this way.

After meeting all the important figures.

Wei Keng clapped his hands and said, "Everyone, Xiao Gui Cao Sui. I'm not some great talent, but I know myself. You are all supervisors of your respective departments, masters of your crafts. From now on, I will still have to rely on all of you. However—"

Those present slightly raised their heads, their gazes sweeping over Wei Keng. All Chinese people know that where the tone shifts, that's the crucial part.

Wei Keng produced a personnel transfer plan.

Wei Keng said with a smile, "I think each department needs to communicate more. Saying 'we are all Wei family' within the company might be a bit much, but we are all fellow disciples, eating from the same pot. No one should have any objections to this, right?"

Wei Keng's personnel transfer plan involved positions like Accounting and Personnel Management.

The entire reshuffle did not involve any technical positions. Those transferred were all deputies from various departments, for example, transferring a deputy from department A to be a deputy in department B. The heads of each department were not moved, meaning the power of decision-making in each department remained unchanged.

The spokespersons for the various branches of the industry fell silent. They had nothing to say about Wei Keng's approach, but they also knew what would happen next.

The insertion of personnel into each department broke up existing cliques. If things that were previously irregular were to happen again, it would become inconvenient. Stagnant water breeds rot; a constantly used door pivot never decays.

Wei Keng did not want to fall out with the people promoted by his younger brothers. He was merely making adjustments based on the personnel information left to him by Wei Qiang—to make them check and balance each other and uphold the rules.

As for Wei Keng himself, he had his own plans to complete.

Coming to this entirely new world, what was most important? He needed to connect with the local reality.

Many children of wealthy and influential figures from the 21st Century, after studying abroad in Europe and America, returned with little skill but stubbornly imposed their Western social thinking. This was a lesson to be learned.

Therefore, after the meeting, Wei Keng summoned his butler and made his first clear demand.

His study was already filled with high school basic courses that Wei Keng had bought from the Teaching Bookstore.

The butler beside him asked again in a tone seeking confirmation, "Master, you want to go to school?"

Wei Keng picked up the milk beside him and took a gulp before asking, "What, do I not have the right to education?"

The butler said, "Master, then may I ask which school you wish to attend?"

Wei Keng: "Didn't I say? After the exam, we'll decide based on the results. Don't mention recommendation letters again. Also, there's no need to curry favor with any particular school; I can even accept failing. I just want to know about the study habits of the many talents the company recruits every year."

Wei Keng asked the butler to rent him a place outside and find retired teachers to tutor him, then began his grand examination endeavor.

As someone of average talent in the Main World, Wei Keng was quite confident about getting into university.

And how many times had he retaken the exam now?

Opening the book, the first thing he saw were various formulas he didn't recognize! That's right, the physics symbols were completely different from the Main World.

Wei Keng stared at this celestial script for a full thirty minutes before slapping his forehead.

Wei Keng: "System, synchronize and replace all formulas with ones I'm familiar with."

The formulas quickly converted in Wei Keng's vision, and the questions now looked much more approachable.

In Jianye, Ke Feijia, who was operating in the laboratory, checked the system after work. He looked at Wei Keng's situation and, upon confirming that Wei Keng was attempting to participate in the public examinations here, was somewhat surprised. But he smiled and said slowly, "Quite good."

Ke Feijia's lowest psychological expectation was that Wei Keng would have a chaotic private life and cause some trouble after arriving in this dimension, and he could tolerate that. As long as Wei Keng didn't misuse his power or argue with him, it wouldn't be a big problem. As for Wei Keng participating in Shenzhou's public examinations now! Although the meaning was unclear, it was still a positive action.

Ke Feijia still needed to give Wei Keng some pointers regarding his actions: First, all examination activities must be within the sight of security personnel; second, his activities during this period must be kept secret, and he must use a pseudonym.

The college entrance examination, especially the science stream, was not simple in some respects, but it couldn't be said to be an overnight success like Fan Jin passing the imperial examination.

Wei Keng had only passed the college entrance examination in his previous life. The admission rate for top-tier universities was around ten percent. After enduring hardship and repeated failures, he was fortunate enough to reach that score line. As for whether talent was necessary for science and engineering, Wei Keng believed it was! Because he knew he had no talent for English; no matter how he memorized words, he always chose the wrong prepositions in cloze tests. So, conversely, science and engineering probably required a bit of talent.

However, the talent required for science and engineering was definitely not rare; at least half of ordinary people possessed it. As long as it was a boy, when playing basketball and considering the force and angle of a shot, they could somewhat grasp the concept of parabolic motion. When setting off firecrackers and igniting wood shavings with gunpowder, they could intuitively understand chemical formulas in chemistry experiments.

Wei Keng: "I am of average talent, not stupid. With my aptitude, the condition to get into university is about a year of absolutely focused study!"

In the Main World's 21st century, most working-class families had the financial resources and energy to provide their children with an environment free from distractions during the crucial high school years. Oh, if they really couldn't maintain it at home, they could send them to Maotanchang, where there wasn't a single internet cafe in the entire town, and schools confiscated all mobile phones. This was the key to getting into university.

However, the conditions that were commonplace in the East in the 21st century of the Main World were actually difficult for most middle-class families to consistently provide here.

In Shenzhou, the admission rate for top-tier universities in physics was only one percent.

After Wei Keng finished the exam, he realized: "These questions aren't impossibly difficult, at least the physics problems. They aren't like the Jiangsu Paper, which asks: after a small ball collides with a pulley, it then travels along a circular track, finally falling onto a tabletop and undergoing an elastic collision with another small ball, and then asks for the kinetic energy of both balls after the collision, presenting a series of nested problems.

It's not just the Jiangsu Paper. Such exam questions, to put it nicely, are designed to test your awareness of potential issues with rockets after you enter the aerospace industry. There are also straightforward exam papers, like the BJ Mock Paper, which is very direct."

Wei Keng undoubtedly passed the one percent line, and he was even thirty points above the admission line. However, he was an outstanding student? It was a bit beyond his expectations.

Finally, when Wei Keng treated his tutor to a meal, he inadvertently resolved his confusion.

At the dinner table, the tutor, with a ruddy face, said to Wei Keng, "Seeing how hard you've been working these past six months, I've always found it hard to believe you're a disciple of the Wei Family's inner sect."

Wei Keng asked with slight curiosity, "What's wrong? Is the academic atmosphere in the Wei Family's inner sect not good?"

Tutor: "Not as hard-working as you. Getting up at 7:30 AM, sleeping at midnight, two sets of practice papers a day! Sigh. It's been a long time since I've seen a student try so desperately."

Children from wealthy families in Shenzhou don't need to strive so hard. Most commoner families, on the other hand, face worries like unemployment, and family instability greatly affects academic performance.

The "undisturbed environment, with clothing and daily necessities" that children in the Main World are accustomed to, cannot be provided by the vast majority of families in this plane.

Wei Keng brought out the determination from his two lives spent in the ocean of learning in the Main World, striving for major exams. He believed that by lowering his conditions to match those of ordinary people in this world, he could fairly verify the extent of involution here.

The result was that most people in this world didn't have the energy to compete with him.

It's still best to work hard for the college entrance examination. Although there are many paths in life besides the college entrance examination, this path is the most secure. It not only represents your personal acquisition of a diploma but also signifies that you have competed fairly with the largest segment of society.

If you don't do well the first time, don't be discouraged. Summarize, identify all your shortcomings, and then patiently retake the exam. Don't be defeated in one go. Believe in yourself; you're not that fragile.