When the interview draft was delivered to Saionji Kinmochi, the paper still smelled of ink. Saionji Kinmochi read it very carefully; what this Japanese *Genrō* cared about most was He Rui's view on Sino-Japanese relations. After such a war, nationalist sentiments in Japan had been stirred up, and the attitude towards China was very hostile.

Saionji Kinmochi felt that the situation in Japan was still under control at this stage, but once strong nationalist sentiments also arose in China due to victory, the relations between the two countries would slide towards a sharp confrontation that even Saionji Kinmochi would be completely powerless to solve. These were also some of the questions Saionji gave to the editor-in-chief of *Yomiuri Shimbun*. In the interview draft, Mitsuko had already asked He Rui.

'Your Excellency, do you think there is a direction for improvement in current Sino-Japanese relations?'

'Nationalist sentiments in China are not high. The driving force stimulating Chinese nationalist sentiments lies in China not being treated equally. As China has restored complete sovereignty, domestic attention has now shifted from resisting foreign oppression to domestic economic construction. Rational politicians in Japan should be very clear that as long as they no longer deliberately provoke malice towards China, China's national sentiment poses no threat. This is a good time to change Sino-Japanese relations.'

'For Japan, a large part of national confidence lies in a condescending sense of superiority over neighboring countries. This sense of superiority is a false existence; the core of being condescending lies in using privileges to obtain excess profits. Responsible Japanese patriots need to explain this fact clearly to the Japanese public. The truth will not hurt anyone because facts are facts.'

'Who would oppose windfalls? Only a very few moralists. If the Japanese people knew that the excess profits brought by privileges were lost, they might be unwilling or unhappy. But they would also accept the facts and focus on what they should pay attention to. Of course, if the Japanese people, after rationally recognizing the facts, still decide that they must obtain resources for Japan's continued development by invading China, that is also a good thing. Proving whether this choice is right or wrong through war, although a tragedy, can also make the truth completely clear to the world. However, based on my understanding of the Japanese people, the Japanese people will not choose this way. Only a group of people with ulterior motives use lies to exaggerate the probability of success, use assassination to suppress rational voices, and finally drag Japan into a war to maintain those people's personal interests...'

Saionji put down the interview draft and sighed slightly. The previous worries had dissipated; He Rui could still view problems rationally and calmly, and then make correct judgments. In the interview, He Rui had pointed out the practices of extremists in Japan. Those people were threatening politicians who tried to save Japan by adjusting the domestic economic system through assassination. The two MPs who proposed the "Japan Land Restoration Plan" were victims.

After sighing for a while, Saionji sat back in his seat and continued to browse. Seeing He Rui propose the idea of a 'customs union,' Saionji nodded slightly but didn't take it seriously. Saionji himself wasn't sure about advancing Sino-Japanese relations to this extent. The 'trap' in the customs union concept was also very clear: if Japan really wanted to engage in a customs union with China, it must comprehensively adjust Japan's national policy. It was impossible to change Japan's national policy without several years.

As a diplomat, Saionji was proficient in diplomatic tricks. If Japan proposed a request to restore Sino-Japanese trade at this stage, the Chinese side could say, 'With such a good new suggestion, shouldn't we discuss it properly?'

Seizing this point, China could cut into more fields, make various new demands on Japan, and logically delay the negotiation of restoring normal trade.

It wasn't just Saionji who saw through this. After reading the interview draft separately, Mitsui Yasuki and Ishiwara Kanji smiled bitterly, "He-kun's asking price is too high."

Ishiwara Kanji shook his head. "What Japan needs is a true bright future. If Japan's needs cannot be met, Japan will constantly challenge the East Asian order. He-kun understands Japan very well; only the plan he proposed can give East Asia true peace."

Mitsui Yasuki shook his head slightly. "But Japan cannot accept such conditions."

"It's not that Japan doesn't accept it, but very few people cannot accept it." Ishiwara finished speaking and stared at Mitsui, asking, "I wonder if Mitsui-kun is willing to walk into a bright future?"

The business of the Mitsui Conglomerate had gone from bad to worse in the past year, and he was anxious about it day and night. Seeing Ishiwara looking at him with sharp eyes at this time, although he didn't want to say anything, he knew he had to make a choice. Mitsui replied, "Which Osaka merchant doesn't want the country to prosper?"

Hearing this, Ishiwara nodded. The saying 'When Osaka merchants are angry, the feudal lords of the world are shocked' is because the feudal lords indeed lack business talent. However, Osaka merchants also kept their duty and would not actively provoke anything.

"Mitsui-kun, in my opinion, this report will definitely trigger a great repercussion in the country. The upper echelon will not make any answer to these questions because any reaction will only make them more embarrassed. At that time, it will depend on whether the public can know about the 'Japan Land Restoration Plan'."

Mitsui thought for a moment and understood Ishiwara's idea. If they wanted to force the Japanese upper echelon to change, they had to point out a clear path for the people. He Rui's interview itself was not shouting to the Japanese people, but to the Japanese upper, middle classes, and intellectuals. Hoping these people see a path.

If they chose to respond, they had to mobilize the Japanese people. If the "Japan Land Restoration Plan" could really be executed, the lives of the Japanese people could be changed immediately. Coupled with the fact of the 'bizarre deaths' of the two MPs, it would definitely incite the emotions of the people.

But this couldn't be said aloud. Mitsui asked, "Ishiwara-kun, can He-kun defeat Britain in Burma?"

"Definitely." Ishiwara answered decisively.

Mitsui didn't understand military affairs and didn't want to discuss it, so he replied, "On the day He-kun wins, the people should feel something."

This is the Japanese art of ventriloquism. Explicitly talking about the war in Burma, but actually guaranteeing Ishiwara. As long as the external situation was ready, Mitsui would take action.

Just as Ishiwara expected, *Yomiuri Shimbun* published the interview draft in four days, and the emotions of the Japanese people were quickly stimulated. The views on He Rui in Japan were very strong. Being defeated by He Rui filled the Japanese people with anger and hostility towards He Rui. But the commanders of both warring parties were graduates of the Army War College, which gave the Japanese people a sense of relief that 'our own people were defeated by our own people.'

What He Rui expounded in this interview was Sino-Japanese cooperation. Of course, some Japanese would think He Rui was shedding crocodile tears. Similarly, a group of people would feel that if the future of China and Japan could really complete true Sino-Japanese cooperation as He Rui described, advancing hand in hand, and the two powers of China and Japan opening up a bright future together, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

In the past thirty or forty years, the trend of thought in Japan was not only the simple faction of invading China. A great many Japanese aspirants and elites had proposed considerations of Sino-Japanese cooperation. After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, a great many cooperationists felt that a bright future was ahead, but unexpectedly, after the Xinhai Revolution, China not only did not rise but fell into deeper chaos, making this voice smaller and smaller.

The appearance of He Rui had changed the overall situation. People who continued to hold Sino-Japanese cooperation watched the changes in China, expecting China to walk a new path to revitalize the East. As long as China could walk this path, they were naturally willing to devote themselves to cooperation between the two countries.

Even those who were disheartened couldn't help but have an impulse to rekindle confidence, watching what result the contest between China and Britain in Burma could produce. However, this group of people was just a little impulsive. Britain was the world's number one power and the founder of the current Versailles order. It was already a fantasy for China, which was extremely weak a few years ago, to defeat Britain.

He Rui knew the thoughts in Japan very well. This interview was just a foreshadowing for future work towards Japan. He Rui's own attention was placed on domestic economic construction; even the war in Burma was not He Rui's current priority. History had long proved that the British army in Burma was nothing to fear.

At this time, He Rui was conducting an academic discussion with the comrades of the newly established Yellow River Basin Administration. The Yellow River at this time had not suffered the disaster caused by Chiang Kai-shek ordering the bombing of Huayuankou. Although the river channel also had various problems caused by large amounts of sediment, it was countless times better than 1949 in He Rui's space-time.

Du Chong, Chiang Kai-shek's predecessor, caused the Yellow River to change course. Although it caused a thousand years of disaster, after the Yellow River returned to the north for more than a hundred years, time had also restored the Yellow River Basin a lot.

The realistic pressure was not great, so the discussion atmosphere was quite relaxed. The problem of how to prevent sediment from entering the river already had the solution of silt dams. For the saline-alkali land in the Yellow River flooded area where no grass grew, He Rui proposed a plan to plant *Populus euphratica* to improve the saline-alkali land.

As for areas like Lankao, He Rui directly borrowed Secretary Jiao Yulu's plan to solve it by planting a large number of paulownia trees ecologically. He Rui respected excellent communists like Secretary Jiao Yulu very much, but He Rui's focus was that the solution proposed by Secretary Jiao Yulu was an ecological improvement plan to cope with the harsh natural ecological environment.

The comrades of the Yellow River Basin Administration all graduated from water conservancy and agricultural schools. Hearing that He Rui did not ask everyone to 'work big and work hard,' but discussed how to use the comrades' professional fields to solve problems, their spirits were naturally high.

But these plans were things everyone had never contacted before. Comrade Huang Zhenxue, a forestry major at Northeast Agricultural College, asked, "Chairman, paulownia trees grow very fast. Where will they be used after planting? These trees are not suitable for building materials."

"You can try making musical instruments," He Rui replied. This was not He Rui's whimsy, but introduced in relevant reports He Rui had read.

In the 1970s, people in Lankao didn't know that paulownia could be used to make musical instruments. At that time, paulownia was made into bellows for burning fire. When these bellows were blowing wind, the sound produced was very pleasing to the ear. A technician from the Shanghai Musical Instrument Factory came to Lankao. After hearing this sound, he thought Lankao's paulownia was very suitable as a material for musical instruments. This news spread quickly in the industry, and large national musical instrument factories in Shanghai, Yangzhou, and other places came to Lankao to purchase goods.

Back then, Secretary Jiao Yulu cultivated paulownia in Lankao to prevent wind and fix sand. Unexpectedly, the soil here was a mixture of sand and silt. The paulownia planted in this soil had light and soft material, uniform structure, no warping, cracking, or deformation, and good air and sound permeability. It was called "breathing wood" by the industry. Benefiting from the unique soil quality of the old course of the Yellow River, it was born with the characteristic of "breathing" and became the best soundboard raw material for national musical instruments.

Huang Zhenxue didn't expect such a use and couldn't help asking He Rui, "Chairman, is there any particular reason for this?"

He Rui couldn't say it forcefully, so he laughed, "Let's treat this as a small secret of this meeting. I just said it on a whim; comrades, don't spread it. Paulownia trees take only 15 years to mature. Let's bring this up again in 15 years."

Speaking of this, He Rui suddenly remembered something and stood up. "Comrades, have you heard of a time capsule?"

Everyone had heard of 'time' and 'capsule' [box], but they didn't know what the combination of the two words meant. Everyone looked at He Rui. Some directly expressed they didn't know; some didn't know what He Rui meant and dared not answer randomly.

He Rui explained, "A time capsule is a letter written by everyone to themselves or others at a certain time in the future, asking questions to people at that time. After writing the letter, put it in a box and lock it up. Open it again when that time comes. Since I said paulownia trees can be made into musical instruments, and paulownia trees take 15 years to mature. This year is 1925; let's write a letter to that time and open it again in 1940, 15 years later. At that time, see if the ideas from 15 years ago have become reality."

Most comrades initially thought the 'time capsule' was a mysterious instrument or special technology. Unexpectedly, it was such a humanistic thing, something like a game. Under heavy work pressure, everyone needed mental adjustment and immediately expressed they could do it.

However, the box was brought, and the lock was ready. Facing the letter paper, everyone was in trouble. What to write? Or who to write to?

Watching a group of young people biting their pen tips in difficulty, He Rui laughed, "Haha, comrades. This is an expectation for the future. Write to whomever you want; if you can't think of anyone, write to yourself."

Everyone's brows smoothed out, and some began to write at their desks. Huang Zhenxue wrote a few words, then stopped his pen, frowned and thought for a while, and asked again, "Chairman, what to write?"

He Rui was writing a letter. Hearing this, he answered without raising his head, "Write whatever you think. But this kind of letter is mostly about one's expectations for the future."

Huang Zhenxue also felt it made sense, so he picked up his pen and wrote, 'To the future me, has the Yellow River at that time become one-fifth of the sediment flowing into the Yellow River annually in 1925 due to comprehensive water and soil management, as we deduced? Has the Yellow River water, which used to be half water and half sand in a bowl, become only a little sediment? Can the paulownia on the saline-alkali land be made into musical instruments and play beautiful music? At that time, the earth I see is already green, the river is clear, and fish and shrimp are in groups.'

Writing here, Huang Zhenxue stopped his pen. Just thinking of such a picture, he felt his heavy responsibility. Born in a Shandong refugee family, he lived a hard life in Shenyang since childhood. However, the older generation had a strange persistence for children's advancement, so he went to a church school. After He Rui arrived in the Northeast and vigorously promoted education, he had the opportunity to go to university. He was assigned to the Agricultural College and majored in forestry. His future was probably cultivating and planting trees in the vast Yellow River Basin.

Thinking of the current situation of China's land learned at the study meeting, Huang Zhenxue continued to write, 'In China in 1940, has the forest area recovered to 15%, instead of the current level of about 9%? Has every family used coal instead of cutting down trees everywhere for fuel? At that time, are there patches of forest land all over China like the Northeast forest farms, where people stroll in the woods during leisure time? Timber is sufficient and cheap. Every household can have their own brand-new furniture...'

Writing and writing, Huang Zhenxue found that he just wrote what he learned in class into the letter for his future self to read. He stopped his pen and began to think about what to write for himself. After thinking for a good while, Huang Zhenxue wrote, 'Future me, have I walked across the land of China, seen the mountains and rivers everywhere, and seen the sunrise and sunset everywhere? At that time, am I living in China, the world's number one power? Is China at that time truly peaceful, and everyone lives and works in peace and contentment? I also have a wife, laughing and playing with children in the forest farm I participated in completing.'

As a single young man, writing here, Huang Zhenxue felt very embarrassed. He wanted to erase this paragraph but felt there was no need to erase it since he wrote it for himself. But his mood was fluctuating at this time, and he couldn't continue writing, so he hurriedly wrote, 'That's all for now. I hope I will be a very capable person at that time. Goodbye. Sincerely, salute.'

The envelope was ready. Stuffing the letter paper into the envelope and sealing it with glue. Writing 'To Myself' on the cover, Huang Zhenxue handed the letter up.

A box had been prepared here. Everyone's letters were put in, and the outside was sealed with a thick rubber cover. So He Rui took the comrades to the courtyard and dug a pit to bury it in a place designated as a green belt. He Rui ordered a stone slab to be made and told the comrades, "A cement block will be put in here, and the top stone slab will be engraved with 'Yellow River Basin Administration May 1925 Meeting Time Capsule Burial Site, to be opened in May 1940.' With this mark, everyone doesn't have to worry about not finding it. Comrades, let us reunite here in 15 years."

Thinking of the future reunion, the young people became excited unconsciously, and cheers and applause rang out. He Rui looked at the young people but sighed slightly in his heart. 15 years later, 1940, if his plan could be executed smoothly until that day, China should be experiencing a war, a war sweeping the whole world.

He Rui didn't know how long that war would last, but He Rui believed that China could win that war and build a better new world after the war.

Looking at those vigorous young people, He Rui put down his thoughts about the war and said loudly to the comrades, "It's noon; I'll treat everyone to a meal."

If it were people from the old era, they would naturally be humble in various ways. Hearing this, the young people of the new era shouted 'good' loudly. For them, eating was eating, nothing more.

Soon, everyone marched mightily towards the cafeteria. Everyone was really hungry.