"Huaxia aided the construction of the African high-speed rail project, with an investment of more than 30 billion."

"This is the spirit of internationalism, free aid to build high-speed rail, and promote Africa's economic development!"

"The high-speed rail project reflects the pattern of China."

"Cutting back on food and clothing, and winning the favor of Africa, from the Gauteng high-speed rail project."

"The largest national charity project in the 21st century, led by China Railway Group."

Shortly after Houston's order, there were overwhelming reports on the Huaxia Internet and various news media about the Gauteng high-speed rail project.

This should have been a victory, or rather, an important step for our infrastructure to go abroad and start earning foreign exchange for the country.

However, with the deliberate distortion of the media, the situation has changed slightly.

On the surface, the media praised China's so-called "internationalist spirit", China Railway's courage to "help others without expecting anything in return", and praised "the deep friendship between the Chinese and African peoples".

But in fact, anyone with a brain can see the yin and yang behind these reports.

How much ability to throw 30 billion into Africa?

Is the country's economic development in place? Have all the people in the country eaten?

You don't care about the workers who work hard in the construction site for a year and can't get their wages, you don't care about the farmers who can barely make ends meet after planting all their lives, you don't care about the children who can't afford to go to school in the mountains, and the old people in the countryside who commit suicide by drinking medicine on a large scale without livelihood security, you run to care about those?

Is your dad?

For a while, there were only two keywords left in mainstream public opinion.

Questioning, angry.

"Measure the material resources of China and the joy of the country. It's really awesome, it's been 2006, and you can still see this kind of news, the Qing Dynasty hasn't died yet, right? ”

"Hehe, the people's friendship with the country is at least forced, and if you don't give money, you will be beaten. What now? We even have to curry favor with a country like South Africa? ”

"It's really ironic, in the past few years, it was originally a fighter and a missile, and I thought we were standing up, but as a result, a piece of news directly hit the prototype."

"Upstairs doesn't need to be so absolute, maybe there are other official layouts?"

"Layout? What is the layout? Interest-free loans, technical assistance, in exchange for what to come back? I heard that the biggest harvest is a mine where birds don't, and South Africa doesn't want that, isn't this charity? ”

"It's just that with the addition of the conditions of the mine, it seems that we are not so rushed."

"It's really catching up, I really don't know what the above thinks, 300 billion, if you invest in the country, how many people in the country can benefit? If nothing else, as long as medical insurance is started, will there still be so many people in this country who can't afford to see a doctor? ”

"Seeing a doctor? Eating is still a problem! 30 billion, enough for millions of lonely and widowed elderly people in rural areas! ”

The comments gradually shifted from the project itself to the domestic environment, and as if to echo the discussions of netizens, one social news after another was exposed.

And these news directly point to the most painful problems in the country.

According to a special reporter's investigation, the suicide rate of the elderly in rural areas has reached a historical peak in recent years, and even in one village he sampled, the suicide rate of the elderly over 70 years old reached an astonishing 80%.

To exaggerate, the pesticides in the agricultural machinery store near the village were all out of stock, and the hemp rope hanging from the trees was also hung with the body of an old man the day before, because it was not destroyed in time, and another one was hung in the afternoon of the same day.

Such a thing is nakedly exposed to everyone, and "shocking" is no longer enough to describe the horror of it.

——

Admittedly, everyone knows that this is a complex social issue.

Low rural incomes, inadequate social security, and the outflow of rural population are all causes of the problem, and it is not as simple as increasing capital investment in rural areas to solve them.

But who cares about this at a moment like this?

If you have 30 billion to throw at Africa, can't you come up with 3 billion to solve this problem?

When emotions take over, there is no room for rational discussion.

Although in addition to the official, there are a large number of *** spontaneous science popularization and explanation of the significance of foreign investment, explaining that this is definitely not a charity project, but a layout made for the greater good, but no one listens at all.

What's worse is that starting with this problem, a new round of problems has exploded.

In one place, several elementary school students fell off a cliff on their way to school, killing two and injuring three.

In one place, hundreds of migrant workers were left homeless on the streets because they were not paid, sleeping under a bridge, and being evicted by local law enforcement.

Somewhere, a husband and wife chose to give up treatment because they could not afford the high medical bills, and after the wife died of illness, the husband also died suddenly due to overwork, leaving behind a three-year-old daughter, skinny and begging on the street.

One news after another washed over everyone's cognition.

On the one hand, it was the medical expenses of tens of thousands of yuan that pushed a family of three to a dead end.

On the other hand, 30 billion yuan was thrown into the water casually.

In this contrast, it is impossible not to be angry.

And even Chen Nian himself, after seeing such news, can only express his understanding of the people's anger.

Because, the truth is indeed as discussed on the Internet.

We still have a lot of problems to be solved, and if the Gauteng high-speed rail project is really a complete "aid" and "charity" project, as the media has claimed, then how can we account for our people who are still suffering? ——

Good thing it's not.

In the near future, the results of this project will be felt.

It will earn us more foreign exchange, bring more resources, and even one day, it will become a "full-scale offensive" milestone.

By that time, the so-called "charity" will become a joke.

Do we do charity?

Stop it.

We just want to have another way of getting the resources of that vast and rich continent to feed our own people.

This is a strategy that is not easily understood because it has an excessively long cycle.

From the perspective of an ordinary person, maybe 10 years is the limit of what they can see, which is human nature.

Chen Nian sighed and retracted the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

I really can't prove anything-—— it's not my job.

To prove it, it's official.

But whether it is China Railway or China Metallurgical, they still need more time

At the same time, the Evende region of South Africa.

Li Jing stood nervously on the side of the drilling rig, waiting for the drill bit to penetrate deep into the rock formation and extract the first samples from the Baihe mining area.

The original termite nest has been destroyed, and the air and ground are full of homeless termites, which makes people's scalp tingle at a glance.

But she just stared at the drill bit, for fear that something would happen in the process.

Even if the termites climbed on her, she just slapped it with her hand and didn't make any other movements.

Hu Wanyou, who was on the side, was also concerned about the progress of the first drilling, but compared to Li Jing, he was much more calm.

Looking at Li Jing's expression, he said comfortingly:

"Don't be so nervous. Now that things have been decided, the boots have landed, no matter how much you worry, you can't change the outcome. ”

"And, as things stand, it should be much better than we expected."

"Although the amount of gold dust in termite excrement is not much, it is the result of 'screening'."

"Based on the topography, it's likely that these termites nested all the way down the rock crevices to the sandstone layers inside."

"Most of the gold dust that was brought out should have been consumed in the lower nests, and perhaps less than 20% of the gold dust that managed to reach the surface was successful."

"In other words, the grade of the gold mine below should not be too bad."

Hearing his words, Li Jing straightened up, sighed and said:

"It's really hard not to be nervous."

"Have you read the domestic reports? Any idea what they say? ”

Hu Wanyou was stunned, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally nodded.

"Looked."

"I didn't want to tell you these things, for fear of putting psychological pressure on you."

"I didn't expect you to go to see it yourself-—— you are usually so busy with work, and you still have time to watch the news?"

Li Jing shook her head with a wry smile and replied:

"It's such a big thing, no matter how slow I am, I can't know it."

"The exchange of the Evende-White River area for the high-speed rail project has already raised many questions, and now, coupled with the fact that some people are deliberately fueling the situation at home, the rationality of our project is even more untrusted."

"The only way to reverse public opinion is to determine the value of the White River gold mine and let the people know that we are not in a loss-making business."

"But the problem is. Ay. ”

Li Jing didn't say any more, but Hu Wanyou had already guessed her thoughts.

In the final analysis, it is not that she has no confidence in the gold mine itself, but that her confidence in herself has been destroyed by the surging public opinion on the Internet.

Now, what worries her is not whether there is gold at all, how much there are or how high the grade is.

Her concern is that even if the mine proves to be able to fully cover the losses on the high-speed rail project, it will still fail to convince people and restore confidence in the country's decision-making.

In the end, this project became an eternal stain in the history of China's development.

Thinking of this, Hu Wanyou patted Li Jing's shoulder and said:

"But do good deeds, don't ask about the future."

"Think about it yourself, how many things in our country can really be fully understood?"

"From the very beginning, the birth of this country was actually in the midst of a storm of doubt and hostility."

"After that, what is the one that is really smooth and smooth when we fight the North Peninsula, resist US aggression and aid Korea, reform and open up, fighter planes, and high-speed rail?"

"Nope!"

"All we can do is get the job at hand right."

"As for the rest, someone will take care of it for us."

Hearing Hu Wanyou's words, Li Jing nodded heavily.

By this time, the rig had reached a predetermined depth, and after a short pause, the drill bit began to move upwards.

The two of them turned their heads at the same time, staring at the small hole less than five centimeters in diameter that the drill bit had penetrated.

There are no traces of groundwater seepage, and the underground sandstone should not have been eroded by flowing water.

Such signs make people even more confused.

Because, the situation is starting to develop towards polarization.

Or, the gold reserves under this mountain are much lower than expected.

Or, beneath their feet, is a large gold mine that has never really been discovered, and whose reserves may even be comparable to those of the large and small mines on the main vein of Rand.

The time to reveal the answer is coming.

Li Jing couldn't help but hold her breath.

As soon as the drill bit was completely raised, she jumped on it and began to inspect the sand that had been punched out.

Her fingers trembled slightly, and she even adjusted it several times in a row before she finally adjusted the lens.

And when those gravels lay on her hands, her nervousness instantly reached its peak.

The heartbeat seemed to miss a beat at this moment.

Her pupils narrowed suddenly, as she saw something incredible in the field of view of the lens.

Eyes full of gold.

She slowly raised her head to look at Hu Wanyou, and stammered:

"We're like, digging a big guy"

A few days later, the first exploration results from Even-White River were released.

Based on the results of multiple explorations and test mining, the total reserves at the Evende-White River gold mine are more than 400 tonnes of gold, with ore grades of a staggering 9.6 grams per tonne.

This figure is well above the average grade of a domestic gold mine and is of high quality even in the South African Rand mine.

After getting the report, Li Jing turned over the more than 100 pages of the report page by page, and was silent throughout the whole process.

Hu Wanyou was smiling on the phone and reporting the situation to China.

"Yes, the grade is around 9.6, and of course, it may be higher."

"After all, we are not fully exploring now, it is impossible to be low, the lower limit is here."

"This mine is right, we have made a lot of money!"

"If we consider the full-cycle income, as long as there is no change in the policy on the South African side, we estimate that we can earn more than 100 billion from this gold mine alone!"

"Oh, those Canadians probably regret it to the point that their bowels are green - no, they have nothing to regret, after all, they didn't have a fancy for this land in the first place."

"Or call them stupid."

"Oh, it's not our credit, it's mainly the right direction given by the superiors."

"It's not a sycophant this time, I really don't know where their information came from."

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about it, I have a lot of things here, you just need to report according to the report I sent in the past."

Putting down the phone, Hu Wanyou turned to Li Jing and asked happily:

"Don't worry about it now, right?"

Li Jing nodded, then shook her head again.

"I'm worried or worried."

"It's a lot harder to mine here than we expected, and it's a lot more difficult than we expected."

"Don't talk nonsense."

Hu Wanyi waved his hand, interrupting her.

"When it comes to infrastructure, what else can be hard for us?"

I've not been in a good state lately, and I'm not feeling well, so let's send a chapter first.

The arrears will be made up slowly in the past few days.

(End of chapter)