Chapter 100

Lin Yuan said, "We need some equipment. Did you bring your computer?"

Zhang Hua, while taking something out, replied, "I did bring it, but you have to use it sparingly. It can only last for eight hours before needing a recharge. My power bank isn't as good as Shen Wanqing's, so it can only charge a few times. There's nowhere to charge it in this era, so I haven't taken it out to use it."

Lin Yuan agreed and turned on the communicator to talk to the Beijing ship, asking them to send a map of the aerial photography around Beijing. He opened his computer and the wireless network, and the drones on the Beijing ship began to transmit the images to his computer.

Watching the progress bar move bit by bit, Lin Yuan asked Zhang Hua, "What's the name of the chamber of commerce president?"

Zhang Hua said, "His name is Wu Xiaolin. Everyone respectfully calls him 'Master Wu,' and later, it became easier to call him 'Fifth Master.'"

Lin Yuan nodded and asked, "What kind of business does this Fifth Master do?"

Zhang Hua said, "He started with pastries. Later, as he made more money, he expanded into various industries. Because of his generous and righteous nature, he was elected as the president of the chamber of commerce."

Lin Yuan thought, "Since this Fifth Master started with pastries, maybe I can solve some of our military food supply issues through him."

So Lin Yuan asked, "Does this Fifth Master still do the pastry business?"

Zhang Hua said, "Of course, he has several large workshops."

Lin Yuan said, "Arrange a meeting for us."

Zhang Hua nodded in agreement. Just then, the image transmission was complete. Lin Yuan was about to leave when he suddenly thought of Guan'er and asked, "Old Zhang, do you have any medicine for external injuries?"

Zhang Hua laughed and said, "You can't ask me for everything, do you think I'm Doraemon? If you want medicine for external injuries, just go to any pharmacy and get as much Yunnan Baiyao as you want."

Lin Yuan laughed and agreed. At that moment, Zhang Hua took out two gift boxes from the cabinet and said, "Look, this is what Fifth Master's workshops made, the 'Eight Delicacies' and 'Little Eight Delicacies.' They gave them to me and said they were very delicious. You can take them and eat them." The 'Eight Delicacies' and 'Little Eight Delicacies' are terms for eight types of pastries.

Lin Yuan asked, "Why don't you keep them for yourself?"

Zhang Hua laughed and said, "At my age, I should eat less sweet things, or I might get diabetes. There's nowhere to find insulin in this era."

Lin Yuan had no choice but to take the two gift boxes, bought some Yunnan Baiyao, and returned to the house Cixi gave him.

When Guan'er saw him return, she shyly hid to one side. She told Lin Yuan her true identity, fearing that he would neglect her.

Lin Yuan smiled and asked, "How is your injury?"

Seeing that Lin Yuan didn't neglect her, Guan'er was overjoyed and pouted, "It still hurts a bit."

Lin Yuan changed her bandages and placed the two gift boxes in front of her, saying, "Come, have something to eat."

Guan'er curiously opened the box and immediately blushed. Lin Yuan saw that there were only eight types of pastries inside and couldn't understand why she reacted this way.

It turned out that in that era, the 'Eight Delicacies' and 'Little Eight Delicacies' were often given as wedding gifts. This custom continued until the Cultural Revolution's "Smash the Four Olds." After the reform and opening up, this custom was gradually replaced by giving cigarettes and alcohol. No wonder Lin Yuan didn't know.

Guan'er didn't want to say it outright and slowly bit into a small peach crumble. Lin Yuan said, "Guan'er, help me with something."

As he spoke, Lin Yuan turned on the computer. Guan'er exclaimed, "What is this thing?"

Lin Yuan said, "It's something used for war."

Guan'er said, "Oh," and didn't ask any more questions.

Lin Yuan thought, "It's good that Guan'er is here. If it were Shen Tao, he would ask a bunch of questions."

Lin Yuan opened the aerial photography map. It was winter, and it had snowed recently, so the image was mostly white. Despite this, many lines like patterns could be seen, indicating the undulating mountains. Lin Yuan recognized the Yan Mountains north of Beijing. He scrolled down to the plain where Beijing was located.

Guan'er, seeing the moving map, couldn't help but stare at the screen curiously.

On the aerial map, the city was just a small block, and the larger area was vast fields. There were many crisscrossing lines in the fields, which were roads between villages. Because many people walked on them, their color was slightly different from the fields. Scattered in the fields were square blocks, which were farmers' houses. These houses gathered in clusters, forming villages.

Lin Yuan scrolled the mouse wheel to zoom in on the image, and the blocks became clearer. He dragged the image and found a rectangular block, then pointed to it and asked Guan'er, "Do you know where this is?"

Guan'er, who had never even seen a photo, let alone an aerial image, shook her head. Lin Yuan said, "This is the Forbidden City, where the Emperor lives."

Then Lin Yuan zoomed out and found the city walls of Beijing. In ancient China, larger cities would build city walls. As the capital, Beijing naturally had city walls. The entire city wall was in the shape of a "convex" and lacked the northwest corner. Lin Yuan moved the cursor around the city wall.

Then Lin Yuan said to Guan'er, "Do you see? This is Beijing." He pointed to a town to the east of Beijing and said, "Look at this town. It's to the east of Beijing and is the closest town to Beijing. Do you know what it's called?"

Guan'er thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be called Gaojia Town."

Lin Yuan clicked on the location, and a dialog box popped up. It turned out that the Beijing ship, understanding Lin Yuan's intentions, had created a program to input place names on the map.

Guan'er mentioned a few more places, but she didn't know the ones farther away. Lin Yuan thought it made sense; as a young woman, she couldn't be running around all day, so it was understandable that she didn't know. Lin Yuan closed the image viewer and was about to close the computer when Guan'er leaned over and pointed to the screen, asking, "What is this little bird? It's so cute!"

Lin Yuan looked and saw that Zhang Hua's computer had "Angry Birds" installed. He thought, "This old Zhang, even at his age, he's still being cute and playing games like a young person."

Lin Yuan casually opened the game and said, "It's a game."

Guan'er suddenly screamed and hid behind Lin Yuan, saying, "Why is it making sounds? Is it alive?"

Lin Yuan realized that the game music had started, which had scared Guan'er. He saw that Zhang Hua was a high-level player, having achieved the highest score of three stars on all levels. He randomly selected a level and said, "You play like this. You pull the bird and crash it into the green pigs to kill them."

Guan'er said in a sweet voice, "Can Guan'er play for a while?"

Lin Yuan, seeing her cute and charming appearance, wanted to agree but then thought, "There's no time for this now." So he smiled and said, "Not now, maybe later."

Guan'er's expression darkened, and she said, "Oh."

Lin Yuan comforted her with a few kind words and then went out, thinking, "I should find some people who often travel around to do this. Fifth Master must have many assistants, so I might as well ask him for help."

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly realized a problem: there were many towns and villages in Northeast China. If he had to piece together each place name, it would take forever! He needed a better way!

While he was racking his brain, a servant rushed in, out of breath, and said, "Sir Lin, a Mr. Zhang Hua has asked you to go to Fifth Master's house immediately. Something big has happened!"

Next episode preview: What big event happened at Fifth Master's house? How will Lin Yuan solve the military food supply problem through Fifth Master? Stay tuned.

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