When building the cities, they all had grand theaters, but in my observation, they were all abandoned. Jiang Ye said, "I have already sent people to contact orchestras and theater troupes on alien planets. They will perform in various cities. If we are lucky, some orchestra and theater troupe members will be willing to stay and teach. Therefore, each city must have specialized art schools."
The city lords nodded like pecking chickens; since they didn't have to pay, they might as well accept.
"Before the alien orchestras and troupes arrive, I will notify you. You will arrange for the theater staff to operate. Network promotion, poster promotion, television commercials – whatever is needed must be done. Every performance must be sold out. If absolutely necessary, tickets will be given away for free. In short, empty seats will absolutely not be tolerated at that time," Jiang Ye said.
"Initially, tickets can be given to the upper class," Feng Zhi Shuang interjected. "When the upper-class people go to the theater to watch plays, it will pique the curiosity of the middle class. When the middle class starts watching plays, ordinary people will also become curious, and the atmosphere will be formed."
"I don't care how you do it specifically; this task is assigned to you, and you must do it well," Jiang Ye said. "Art schools should not only have music and drama classes but also fine arts classes and dance classes. In short, any class related to art should be offered. You can send people to alien planets to hire teachers, and I will reimburse their travel expenses." Da Feng Novel Network
"Do art schools admit children or adults?" a city lord asked.
"Only children make choices," Jiang Ye continued reading the list.
"Every city already has parks, but it's not enough," Jiang Ye read from the list. "We need to build more sculpture parks, skate parks, graffiti parks, forest parks, and large amusement parks."
The city lords were all stunned.
Xu Yan was so tired that sweat beaded on his forehead. He gave up on coming up with a preliminary plan on the spot and passively opened the notes on his tablet, typing simple records.
"You should have all seen the first few parks. For the sculpture parks, put in all sorts of bizarre sculptures, leave plenty of open space, and ensure good landscaping. The skate parks should be decorated in a trendy style, focusing on various facilities for skateboarding, and should be equipped with safety personnel. The graffiti parks can be designed in a pseudo-maze format, a maze with high walls that even a fool can find their way out of. All the walls are designated graffiti areas, where everyone can write and draw freely," Jiang Ye paused. "It's important to note here that there should be plainclothes staff patrolling the graffiti parks to prevent the display of indecent content. If encountered, it should be washed off immediately."
The city lords nodded one after another.
"The forest parks require meticulous planning. Each city will decide its own style. If any alien plants are needed, list them and send the list to me. We will procure them uniformly from the alien forestry company," Jiang Ye said. "As for the amusement parks, I have already sent people to negotiate with alien amusement park enterprises, so you don't need to worry about that."
The meeting continued until three in the afternoon, and they even ate lunch while the meeting was in progress.
Jiang Ye assigned the long list of tasks, and the attendees left with heavy hearts.
The entire plan was conservatively estimated to cost hundreds of billions. Once all the projects were completed, the appearance of the major cities would undergo tremendous changes.
In terms of cultural conditions, this was all Jiang Ye could do.
He couldn't force everyone to memorize poems and recite lyrics, could he?
Hopefully, it would be enough to fool the planetary inspection.
After leaving the Macroeconomic Building, Jiang Ye had just gotten into his car when Cen Ye Meng called.
"Hello? What's up?" Jiang Ye asked.
"I'll send you a photo, take a look," Cen Ye Meng said.
Jiang Ye blinked and switched to his phone screen.
On the white porcelain floor tiles, there were many red streaks of different colors, rotating and changing, their lines reminiscent of Van Gogh's work.
Next to them were a few tubes of lipstick used with light.
"Did your son play with your lipstick?" Jiang Ye continued on the phone. "You just need to scold him, don't hit the child. I'll buy you a few more sets of lipstick."
"You're really protective, but I don't intend to hit the child," Cen Ye Meng said. "Don't you think our son's drawing is quite good?"
"Indeed," Jiang Ye nodded.
"Buy some painting materials on your way back," Cen Ye Meng said. "Let the child doodle; it can increase his intelligence and save him from ruining lipstick."
"Alright, I'll be back soon."
Jiang Ye drove directly to a nearby large shopping mall.
The mall was much more prosperous than before. Last time he came, there were still many empty shops, but now all the spaces were renovated or open, with many customers coming and going.
Jiang Ye found the art supply store. The store had all types of art supplies: oil painting, traditional Chinese painting, pencil drawing. There was an entire wall dedicated to just paints, as if all the colors in the world had converged there, dazzlingly brilliant.
The shop owner was a beautiful girl with hair dyed four colors. She looked at Jiang Ye with a hesitant and surprised expression.
"No need to look, I really am Jiang Ye," Jiang Ye waved his hand at her, accustomed to being noticed like this.
"Oh! General Jiang, hello! Are you here for an inspection?"
"Today, I'm just a customer," Jiang Ye looked at the countless brushes and paints on the wall. "My child wants to paint. Do you have any safe and non-toxic art supplies?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" The owner pulled out a box of green paint from beside her, dug out a piece with her finger, put it in her mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and swallowed it.
Jiang Ye was dumbfounded. "Paint is edible?"
"It's edible, but not tasty. The most expensive batch of paints in the store are all genuinely food-grade. You can eat two pounds a day without problems... you might get constipated," the owner said. "Which type would you like to buy?"
"Give me ten boxes of every edible paint, in all colors. As for brushes and canvases, you can pack them as you see fit, but make it a generous amount," Jiang Ye said.
"This kind of paint is very expensive..." the owner said softly. "Will you pay in installments or in full..."
"My dear child, do I look like someone who lacks money?" Jiang Ye chuckled. "Full payment, immediately."
...
He bought five large boxes of various paints and art supplies, filling the car.
Jiang Ye carried the five boxes to the empty room on the first floor. In front of Jiang Sen Lin, he arranged all the paint boxes one by one, spread out a large snow-white canvas on the floor, and taught him how to use brushes to doodle.
"Alright, you rascal, paint whatever you want," Jiang Ye patted Jiang Sen Lin's bottom. "Don't eat the paint randomly, don't put the brushes in your mouth. Call me when you're done."
Jiang Sen Lin's eyes were wide. He crawled on the floor, staring intently at the paints.
He had never seen so many colors and was extremely excited.
After hesitating for a while, he tried to poke a brush into the red paint.
Jiang Ye got up to leave, thinking that this child was truly fond of red, no wonder his wife's lipstick collection had all gone missing.
Jiang Ye returned to his study to handle official business and quickly forgot about it when he got busy.
After all, what kind of masterpiece could a child create by randomly painting?
But two hours later, Cen Ye Meng suddenly pushed the door open, her face full of shock.
"Husband! Husband, come and see!"
Jiang Ye got up groggily. "See what?"
"Our son's painting!" Cen Ye Meng grabbed his wrist and pulled him out.
Jiang Ye was dragged to the art studio and saw the large painting on the floor, his mouth agape in astonishment.