Carmen looked at his old father sawing wood in front of the wooden hut. Then he walked up and looked at the stack of wood in confusion.
“My dear father, you are doing… what?”
“Building a vessel… A miniature version.” Jacono wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stared at the yet to be assembled keel beside the lake.
“Building a vessel? What’s the purpose of that?” Carmen looked at his father, puzzled.
“If the work that had conquered the Atlantic ocean has no purpose,” Jacono said bluntly, “Then including us, including everything, all would be without purpose.”
He said something with an ambiguous meaning. But Carmen seemed to be accustomed to his father saying things people didn’t understand, so he didn’t express his attitude as he only sighed in reply.
“… Okay, but do you know how to build a vessel?”
“I don’t know.” Jacono laughed delightfully; he pointed his saw at the keel starting to take shape. “Don’t underestimate it because it’s just a ship, there are a lot of tricks to be learned. Including how to treat the wood and how to connect the wood. To construct this keel, it took me an entire year. Although I failed many times, the process was surprisingly fun.”
Carmen looked at his father in surprise, then he looked earnestly at the keel.
“Hard to imagine… Did no one help you?”
“Cides wanted to find me a boatman, but I rejected the proposal. I wanted to explore by myself on how the vessel worked.” He flung the saw in his hand to the side as Jacono picked up the bottle of water on the tree trunk and took a few big gulps.
Carmen looked at his father immersed in the activity; he was silent for two seconds before he said,
“I heard you needed to see me-”
“Give up on that prophecy. Jacono didn’t look at him, but rather at the keel.
Carmen was shocked because of his father’s abrupt words.
After a moment, he said with difficulty,
“Why?”
Jacono’s sight returned as he looked at his son’s eyes keenly.
“The infant would have to leave the parents one day and learn how to walk by himself. They told us a lot, but they can’t tell us more. If we continue to follow this path, the future we face might be more upsetting than the situation they had gained.”
“…But if we listen to the wise words of the intellect, wouldn’t it save us the trouble of going through detours?”
“Who said detours are wrong?” Jacono asked back.
Carmen fell into silence.
Seeing that his son didn’t speak, Jacono continued to speak about things with deeper meaning, “Humans should build on the intelligence of its ancestor and not depend on the future to further the future.”
“Although history has changed, the trend will not change.” The next twenty years belong to artificial intelligence; then a technological explosion led by breakthroughs in material science, and then-” unable to agree with his father’s perspective, Carmen said softly.
“That might not be the case.” Jacono scorned before he picked up the saw on the ground. “Did you see this keel? If I told you how to build a vessel, how to build a steam vessel, if “I” died one day, would you be able to build an aircraft carrier?”
“That’s the scientist’s job,” Carmen said with an indifferent voice.
“Science and capital were tied together from the very beginning. Technology determines the space human live in, and capital expands the space. That is the nature of the science and capital. Did you give back all your economic knowledge to your Harvard professor? I suggest you reread the Schumpeter function chapter.”
The old father returned to working in front of the tree truck and ignored his son.
He stood beside the lake for a long time. It was not until the sky in the distance began to turn yellow did he finally turn around and leave the wooden hut of his father.
…
The next morning, Jiang Chen took a flight to Australia. Because of the combination of airport size and traffic, the airport located in Coro Island only had flights to nearby Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, to travel from Han to Xin, he would have to the first fly to Australia.
After a rather lengthy journey, Jiang Chen finally got out of the plane at Coro Island. It was midnight.
When he walked out of the airport, Ayesha was already waiting for him.
“Head to the presidential palace,” Jiang Chen said directly after getting on the car.
Ayesha nodded and started the car.
“Do you not need to go home and rest? As she drove, she nonchalantly asked.
“There is no need. If they don’t see me, someone might lose sleep because of it,” Jiang Chen mocked before leaning back in the seat with his eyes closed.
Ayesha grinned as she didn’t speak for the remainder of the trip.
When they arrived at the presidential palace, he explained his identity, and the guard immediately let him pass through. With an attendant’s reception, Jiang Chen arrived in Zhang Yapin’s office.
After a few days apart, the guy was more haggard. It was clear that the troubles had gotten the better of him. When he saw Jiang Chen, he looked relived as he couldn’t wait to greet him.
“You’re finally back.” Zhang Yapin smiled bitterly when he looked at Jiang Chen
“Don’t ask me what to do yet, explain to me the situation first,” Jiang Chen said concisely.
Zhang Yapin nodded and began to explain to Jiang Chen what has happened in the last few days.
First, after Ivan ordered to take out the fishing boats obstructing the construction of the military facility and led the force in a standoff with the country F coastal guards. The F coastal guards were first extremely aggressive and hostile, they didn’t think the three Xin fast boats were competition.
Just as they were about to enter the Xin territory to demand people, Ivan took out the weapons without wavering.
They were dumbfounded. They didn’t think Xin would have the courage to do this as they were without a plan. Although the coastal guards were equipped with light weapons, the coastal guards didn’t dare make a decision that could cause a severe repercussion in their diplomatic relationship. Since once the first shot is fired, it would be a regional conflict. So they could only remain in a standoff, at the same time, reporting the message to their superior.
Finally, the F president Aquino came in contact with Zhang Yapin. But Zhang Yapin didn’t realize what had happened at New Moon Island since the national defense was the responsibility of Celestial Trade Company.
Zhang Yapin realized something was off immediately and got in touch with Ivan before he learned about the event.
Okay, he had to admit that when Ivan sunk the reckless fishing boats looking for trouble – Oh no, pirate boats – he too did curse in his mind. “This feels fu*king great.” Although the relationship between the Pannu Islands and country F was not a generational feud, the grudge has been building among the public for a while.
But he was the Xin president, after all, he had to consider national interest above his personal emotions. After he calmed down, a drop of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
Just the day before, Aquino notified him that if the recovery work could not be commenced within the next three days, country F retain the option of solving this through military means to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of their citizen abroad are maintained.
But when Zhang Yapin said the last sentence, Jiang Chen was immediately unhappy.
“Fu*k the legitimate rights and interests,” Jiang Chen cursed out, “Military means? Funny, I will teach them a lesson.”
He hasn’t cursed like this for a long time.
“Country F has an enlisted military of one hundred and twenty thousand people… We might not even beat a battalion of theirs,” Zhang Yapin said in a small voice.
Jiang Chen glared at him and laughed.
“Who said we would fight them.”
“But they are already threatening us like this,” Zhang Yapin said with a bitter face.
“Country F always maintained an image of being a victim in sea territory disputes to garner the compassion of the international society. They would never send out their military force to start a war with us.”
“But-”
Zhang Yapin was still not convinced, but Jiang Chen interrupted him.
“Also, the key is still Han and UA. Do you remember what I told you? Maintain neutrality and don’t sway to either superpower. If country F decide to take military actions against us, it will force us to join Han as an ally, and Han would definitely not let go of an opportunity to break the first and second islands’ chains and proactively provide us with assistance. The UA would be reluctant to see the Han gaining a military base in the western Pacific Ocean, so they must restrain its ally from being too reckless.
Culturally, Xin was more similar to Han, but ideologically, it was more aligned with UA. This situation resulted in both superpowers think the country would join forces with them.
“Because we haven’t chosen a side yet, we are safe,” Jiang Chen patted president Zhang on the shoulder as he said with sincere words.
Although Jiang Chen had his reasons, Zhang Yapin still thought it was a bit forced.
“But why don’t we stand by the UA and continue the diplomatic strategy of the previous regime?” he asked in a low voice.
Jiang Chen’s eyebrows raised.
“Because I don’t fu*king want to.”