Chapter 57: Genius?
The end of 1998 was fast approaching. The year Su Can had traveled back to had, to be precise, held a measure of peace and a few bright spots.
The major historical events that were supposed to happen were still happening, both internationally and at home. Su Can knew that in the first half of 1998, before he had traveled back, the internationally condemned atrocities had still taken place in that barbaric country three thousand kilometers from the mainland.
Yet while they caused an international uproar, ordinary people at home remained entirely unaware. Only later, when information became more accessible, would they gradually come to light. Of course, people always needed to view an issue comprehensively and without bias.
The people held the greatest power, yet it was also the people who were most easily incited to commit irrational acts.
The nation had no sword, and so it could not draw one. But it had already recognized the immense strategic and tactical significance of building a navy capable of leaving the Yellow Sea and entering blue waters.
As Su Can boarded the bus to school toward the end of the year, he looked out the window. Winter had deepened. Evergreen camphor trees still stood along both sides of the streets. Some had contracted powdery mildew, and the maintenance crews were spraying them with lime sulfur.
Some old buildings in the city had been torn down, and new ones had gone up. Su Can knew Xiahai City would need at least two more waves of construction before it reached the size and standard of the city he remembered from the future.
The year-end accounts showed that, after half a year in business, his family's shop had already made a profit of 150,000 yuan!
By Xiahai City's standard of