Chapter 10: Totally Conning Li Xiaoman
Snowflakes rustled against the villa’s third-floor glass outside the window. Lin Ran’s breath condensed into white mist between the heater and his cup, his mind full of the Fabian Society badge with its relief of a sheep and a turtle.
Before Li Xiaoman could react, Lin Ran quickly continued:
“Although the entire plan sounds incredibly unbelievable, it is indeed what I plan to do next.
And I have full confidence that I can achieve it.
The beginning of this grand plan only requires a small favor from you.”
Li Xiaoman suddenly interrupted: “Crazy Thursday V you 50 today?”
January 2, 2020, happened to be a Thursday.
Having known Lin Ran for almost two years, Li Xiaoman was very familiar with this domestic meme.
Seeing this, Lin Ran knew that Li Xiaoman at least did not feel anger from being fooled, which was very important:
“If you want to V me 50, that’s not impossible.
But right now, I just need you to do me a small favor. Later, I will gradually prove that everything I say is true.
Right now, I just need you to lend me the Fabian Society badge and your Corolla. I need to go review some historical archives, form an initial proposal, and then go to Blue Origin.”
Although very tired, Lin Ran’s request was so simple, but Li Xiaoman’s rigorous personality meant she had to get to the bottom of it.
Her gaze toward Lin Ran became even sharper:
“Unreasonable. The Fabian Society is a group in the humanities and social sciences field. I don’t see the connection between the two.
Restarting the moon landing requires rocket engineers, not the Frankfurt School that criticizes instrumental rationality!
Even if you could really find a way from historical data to enable America to complete the Apollo Moon Landing again, what you need is NASA’s archived treasures, not using the Fabian Society to connect with Frankfurt School scholars.
You’re not thinking of selling the badge to Moritz, are you?”
Lin Ran rolled his eyes: “Think about it. If I sell your family’s item to your cousin, would he pay?
Wouldn’t he think it’s rightfully his anyway?”
Moritz, the son of Li Xiaoman’s uncle, her cousin, worked at Citibank in New York.
The Fabian Society badge could bring great value to those in the know; whether it was a cultural relic or a token depended on who held it.
When Lin Ran found this badge, Li Xiaoman was so happy not only because it was a family heirloom, but also because with the badge, it could serve as a bridge to leverage Frankfurt School resources.
The most direct example was getting a recommendation letter from a Frankfurt School big shot and going straight to a top law firm for an internship-to-permanent one-stop service, which was proof material for prestigious family descendants—even a fallen prestigious family was still prestigious.
America values family inheritance much more than China.
Similarly, valuable to Li Xiaoman, it held no small value to her cousin Li Mozeng (English name: Moritz). Everyone was Li Family, and with me getting it, I could smoothly connect to the Frankfurt School line too.
So Li Xiaoman had this doubt.
Fortunately, Lin Ran understood Li Xiaoman well, so he was prepared for her questions:
“Of course, 60-year-old technical data is already public on NASA’s official website. What I need to look up is not technical data, but to go to university archives to find out who participated in that engineering project back then.
I need to find a few key people to ask some questions face-to-face to confirm some key technical details.
This is the puzzle for restarting the entire Apollo Moon Landing.
Of course, I’m not sure if all these puzzle pieces are still alive to piece together the entire Apollo Program.”
After Lin Ran finished speaking, Li Xiaoman was half-believing, half-doubting.
Lin Ran continued: “Two months. I only need two months to formulate a plan convincing enough for Blue Origin!”
At a time flow rate of 60 to 1, 2 months in the 1960 era would be 120 months, 10 years—more than enough. Lin Ran had left himself ample redundancy time.
“Fine, I’ll reluctantly believe you this once.
Even if you really convince Blue Origin that you can do it, there are still some problems to solve.
First, confirm: after graduation, do you plan to return to China or stay here?”
Lin Ran said resolutely: “Return to China!
I want to get the first pot of gold from Blue Origin and then return to China. You know I like aerospace, not computers. What I want to do is aerospace. Now that there’s an opportunity to get initial capital in America, I naturally want to return to China for development.
A Chinese person’s identity is too sensitive in America. Doing aerospace in America would just mean dealing with investigations, leaving no time for real work.”
Coming to America for a Computer Science PhD was to make money, but with the golden finger to 1960, he could have both money and ideals. Lin Ran couldn’t think of a reason not to go back.
He had no interest in helping outsiders build America.
Li Xiaoman lowered her eyelids, seeming a bit disappointed. She wasn’t prepared to go to China, but soon rallied her spirits:
“Fine, assuming you really can pull it off, there are still a few difficulties to overcome.
First is how to contact Blue Origin executives to give us an opportunity.
With America’s current manufacturing and costs, to get Blue Origin to invest resources, we at least need to reach executives at vice president level or above.
Second is your identity. Leading a return to the moon as a Chinese person wouldn’t be their glory in America—it might even be a shame. Then you’d face all sorts of accusations, the most typical being technology theft, and you might never have a chance to return to China.
Finally, your visa. You have an F-1 visa, which doesn’t allow work at companies, meaning you can’t work for Blue Origin. Also, this type of visa allows registering a company, but only for initial planning stages—no actual operation, and no remuneration or income from the company.
This last problem is small but very fatal.
You know how big a cake you’re trying to take a bite of.
If Blue Origin succeeds in returning to the moon, does NASA still need to do it? If not, 260 billion US Dollars down the drain.
If they continue, Blue Origin gets NASA’s return-to-moon orders thanks to it, and you’d indirectly offend competitors.
To put it bluntly, any glitch in these links would put you in a very difficult situation—the mildest being unable to return to China for a long time.
Illegal work is the most direct crime to be charged with.”
Lin Ran calmly said: “Exactly, I know all that you mentioned, so this is cooperation.
You handle these problems, and I’ll take care of the technical difficulties.
Sister Xiao Man, you’re not trying to trap me here in America on purpose, are you?”
