Chapter 234: The Butterfly Effect

Xu Maohé was still crying on the phone, his lamentations as mournful as if he had bet on Germany in the World Cup. Hearing this made Li Xian feel quite uncomfortable. However, there was nothing he could do about the situation. On one hand, it was now 1993, and Wang Hongcheng, who had been defrauding people with the water-to-oil technology for over a decade, had gained the trust of many in the scientific and military-political circles. He now enjoyed the status of a senior colonel at the Academy of Military Sciences, complete with a bodyguard. Naturally, he also received protection and preferential treatment from local governments.

On the other hand, despite his audacity, Wang Hongcheng was quite cautious in his actions. From the information Li Xian had learned, Wang's experiments were never publicized and were always targeted at leaders. This was because leaders, often lacking technical expertise, couldn't see through his magical methods. Even if some experts did discern the fraud, given Wang's reputation and the support he had, these individuals often chose to ignore it to avoid offending Wang's numerous backers.

Thanks to these two shabby but effective strategies that played on certain bureaucratic rules, Wang Hongcheng had managed to survive for so many years without being exposed.

The third aspect was Wang's clear understanding of his own limitations. Although he had swindled from the city to the province and from Longjiang to the central government, he had always done so under the guise of academic research, deceiving people with the promise of funding and investment. It wasn't until the end of 1992 that he began attracting funds to build factories. In the short span of nine months, Wang Hongcheng did not produce or sell the so-called "expanded fuel agents" in bulk. Instead, he built factories to attract more investors, fully aware that if his so-called technology flooded the market, the myth he had built over ten years would collapse quickly. Consequently, fewer than a hundred tons of this fuel were sold, with a total value of just over three million.

Because of these factors, when Wang Hongcheng, the con artist who once shocked the scientific community, was finally caught, he was only sentenced to ten years for selling fake products.

According to the original history, Wang Hongcheng had just over a year left to serve. After being detained by the Ministry of Public Security in 1995, over 200,000 intellectuals nationwide petitioned the government to spare him. It wasn't until two years later that he was publicly tried.

As an ordinary person, Li Xian felt furious on behalf of Xu Maohé, but considering Wang's current power and the fervent support from intellectuals for his water-to-oil technology, he felt powerless.

Despite the frustration, a fire inside him burned fiercely, and he couldn't extinguish it.

Reading about these issues in the material was quite different from experiencing them personally. After some hesitation and comforting Xu Maohé, Li Xian went back to his residence.

Old Wu and Su Ma were indeed not around.

Only Su Ya was under the eaves, engrossed in a book.

Li Xian sneaked up to her and saw that the book in Su Ya's hands was "One Hundred Thousand Whys." He smiled.

It was quite a classic piece of popular science literature. When he was young, his parents had bought him a set, but with the rich content available on computers and televisions at the time, he hadn't read much of it. Later, when the school organized donations to children in remote areas, Li Xian handed over the set of books without even unwrapping them to earn a little red flag for himself.

Though he enjoyed the flag for a day, he was punished by his father that evening, being labeled as a "wasteful child" and given a good beating.

His buttocks were sore for days, and he didn't dare sit on the toilet.

Unexpectedly, Su Ya liked these books.

Upon hearing someone approach, Su Ya looked up, smiled at Li Xian, folded one of the book's pages, and set it aside.

Li Xian waved his hand, sat down beside her, unbuttoned his shirt collar, and lay down on the stone steps. After being interrupted by Xu Maohé, he felt drained, and his previous excitement had waned considerably.

Seeing him silent, Su Ya tilted her head and gently poked his forehead, which had been sunburned.

When he opened his eyes, he met Su Ya's questioning gaze.

"Good girl, my head hurts."

Li Xian closed his eyes again.

Above him, the sound of fabric rubbing against each other was heard, and soon water was splashed. A cold, white towel was gently placed on his face and carefully wiped.

The sticky feeling of sweat on his face and neck disappeared, and a refreshing breeze followed.

Su Ya's face shaded him from the sun, her clear eyes blinking as if asking, "How about now?"

"It still hurts."

Li Xian smiled slightly, extended his hand, and pulled a pants leg closer to him, naturally and somewhat shamelessly resting his head on it.

"Rub my head, will you?" He chuckled, teasingly, "Good girl."

Su Ya blushed but didn't refuse. Her soft, cool hands soon began to massage his temples.

"Imagine someone who is trusted by everyone and seen as a good person, but is actually a complete fraud. What should be done?"

With his eyes closed, Li Xian asked.

The hands on his temples paused, not moving for a while. Li Xian slowly opened his eyes and saw Su Ya tilting her head with a puzzled expression.

She then picked up a pencil and wrote on the cover of "One Hundred Thousand Whys": "Since he's a big fraud, why does everyone trust him?"

Li Xian laughed, rubbed his head on her lap, and moved closer to her thigh.

Feeling the numbness on his leg, Su Ya subtly shifted her buttocks away.

Like a caterpillar, Li Xian wiggled to follow her. He could faintly smell a detergent fragrance. Through the buttons of her white shirt, Li Xian caught glimpses of something indescribable.

The scale was modest, but it had potential.

"Because his deception is so sophisticated. Everyone is fooled by him," Li Xian answered while secretly admiring the view through the buttons.

Su Ya seemed troubled by the question. She couldn't understand why everyone was so foolish, or how it was possible for someone to be so clever as to deceive everyone.

"Expose him? Make everyone aware that he's a fraud?"

The pencil wandered on the cover of "One Hundred Thousand Whys," and then a line of small characters appeared before Li Xian's eyes.

"Easier said than done." Li Xian sighed and shook his head, taking the book and pulling Su Ya's hand back onto his head.

Enjoying the soft massage on the back of his head and the cool hands on his temples, Li Xian flipped through the book. He opened to the page Su Ya had folded—"Why does the butterfly effect exist in nature?"

"The butterfly effect is a theory proposed by meteorologist Lorenz in 1963. It means that the flapping of a butterfly's wings in the Amazon rainforest could potentially cause a tornado in Texas two weeks later…

In sociology, the butterfly effect is used to explain that a small negative mechanism, if not properly guided and adjusted, can bring about substantial harm to society. Conversely, a small positive mechanism, if correctly directed and after some effort, can create a tremendous impact, or even a 'revolution.'"

Seeing this, Li Xian's lips curled into a smile.

He tossed the book aside and sighed.

"A bug got into my eye! Quick, blow on it for me!"