A lot of things in life, if you experience them again, will give you different insights.
Especially when modern experiences collide with the people of this era, it can truly lead to wondrous things.
After attending classes for two consecutive weeks, it was almost the end of the month, and National Day was fast approaching.
In 1979, National Day holidays lasted for three days. Initially, there were various classes every day, and since Chen Yang had just started at the school, it wasn't easy to take leave. Now, with the holiday, Wang Baolin suggested they go out and explore the Bund in Shanghai.
Liu Xiangyu, who rarely ventured out, also accompanied them. Even as a junior, he hadn't yet visited the Bund.
With Wang Baolin, a Shanghai local, and Chen Yang, a fellow townsperson, accompanying him, he was willing to give up his three-day job of dusting and getting free meals at the school library.
"Brother Yu, Yangzi, look, this is the Huangpu River."
"This piece of land was allocated to the British, called a concession back then. Damn British and French, all sorts of scoundrels came here to meddle."
"But if they hadn't meddled, these buildings wouldn't be here now. These 'buildings of all nations' are a distinctive feature of Shanghai."
"Looking at these buildings, I will always remember that we must work hard and strive for excellence, otherwise our descendants will be trampled underfoot by these bastards, allowing them to build on our land and lord it over our future generations."
If he hadn't followed Wang Baolin out today, Chen Yang would never have known that he was such a hawk at heart.
After all, when Wang Baolin held a high position in his previous life, he wouldn't easily express such sentiments. At that level, every word and action would be magnified and interpreted by the media.
Liu Xiangyu, on the other hand, was used to it, clearly understanding Wang Baolin's character.
"This is also a time of great change for the nation. I feel as if our country's destiny is like this surging river, gradually radiating immense vitality."
"Baolin, Yangzi, this is our opportunity. I believe that we, along with our country, will flourish and become prosperous and strong."
Looking at the bustling Bund, Liu Xiangyu felt a surge of heroism.
Chen Yang looked at Liu Xiangyu and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Great men are great men. Even while still studying, he already had such profound insights. No wonder he was so successful right after graduating and starting work.
Chen Yang gazed at the 'buildings of all nations.' The prosperity seen now was only relative to the backwardness of other regions in China at the time.
In his previous life, Chen Yang had visited this place many times. This very area would become truly priceless in the future.
Let alone this place, even the undeveloped tidal flats on the other side of the river, overgrown with weeds, would later become the most prosperous area in all of China, bar none.
Though this place was now a desolate area where even dogs wouldn't live, in a few decades, it would become the future Pudong New Area.
The well-known Lujiazui, Shanghai's iconic Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai Tower, and others, would rise from the ground. Almost every globally renowned multinational financial institution would establish its representative offices or branches here.
Of course, all of this was still a long way off. Pudong wouldn't be approved for development until 1992. Currently, the most prosperous area in Shanghai was still the Bund.
It was from this year onwards that the progress of reform and opening up began to show its results in Shanghai.
Shanghai started to establish various financial institutions and markets, such as the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, Shanghai Gold Exchange, and Shanghai Clearing House, all of which were first located along the Bund.
The Shanghai municipal government even vacated its building to establish the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
As the vanguard of China's reform and opening up, this most economically developed and prosperous city in China began to exert its strength.
Chen Yang looked at the Bund, with his own plans in mind.
There were many things he was not yet qualified to get involved in, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have ideas later.
Of course, Chen Yang's ideas weren't simply about hoarding land in Pudong.
In the past, a certain Mr. Li from Hong Kong had severely outmaneuvered a prominent figure in Pudong.
He bought a large tract of land, claiming he wanted to develop it. As a result, Shanghai's second-in-command at the time virtually gave him that huge piece of land in Pudong for next to nothing.
However, this scoundrel left the land undeveloped for over a decade, eventually even affecting Pudong's regional planning. More than ten years later, he sold it back to Shanghai for more than ten times the price.
Chen Yang didn't know if that prominent figure was angry, but Mr. Li had already pocketed the money and fled to live with his British father.
Chen Yang certainly wouldn't dare to do such a thing, unless he didn't want to stay in China anymore.
However, if he had the chance in the future, buying a piece of land to build a skyscraper for his own group, to serve as its headquarters, would be feasible.
Shenzhen was also a good place, but Shanghai was just as good. As long as there was money, a skyscraper could be built in Pudong, and another one in the inner districts of Shenzhen.
Not necessarily competing with the Shanghai World Financial Center in height, but it should at least have a few spires taller than the Oriental Pearl Tower.
"What are you thinking about, kid? You've been staring at that muddy ground across the river, lost in thought."
Wang Baolin patted Chen Yang's shoulder. He noticed Chen Yang continuously staring at the muddy land on the opposite bank, occasionally chuckling, and found it strange. What was so captivating about this muddy ground that it was more interesting than the bustling Bund behind them?
This was understandable. Who would have thought that the Pudong, which was currently a tidal flat and a stinking mudflat, would become the most prosperous area in China in just a few decades?
Even for more than a decade or two decades later, people in Shanghai would still lament, "I'd rather have a bed in Puxi than an apartment in Pudong," let alone now. This stinking ditch was uninhabitable even for dogs.
"Nothing much, I just think that Shanghai will definitely develop rapidly in the future. Perhaps this area in front of us will be used for building skyscrapers."
"By then, we'll have our own buildings, hundreds of meters high, and from the top, we can look down on the buildings built by these foreigners."
Chen Yang smiled faintly. Hearing his words, Wang Baolin's spirits immediately lifted.
Chen Yang didn't know that his simple words at this moment had planted the seed of an idea in Wang Baolin's mind to build skyscrapers across the river and step on the buildings of foreigners.
His simple words even led to more skyscrapers being planned in Pudong's future than in his previous life.
It would be like a line of soldiers, standing in formation, across the Huangpu River, looking down at the Bund building by building.
"Yangzi, your idea is excellent. Not only will we build tall buildings, but in the future, we will also invite foreigners to pay money to rent our buildings, making them pay to sit in our buildings and look down on the buildings built by their ancestors."
"Damn it, that's how it should be!"
Wang Baolin became more animated as he spoke. Chen Yang thought to himself, "Wow, isn't that exactly what Lujiazui is like in later generations? Aren't those skyscrapers filled with various multinational institutions and companies!"