Chapter 108

Chapter 108

The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a joyful holiday, the sweet taste of yuanxiao drifted far and wide. The master chef in the military district made two flavors: black sesame with sugar filling and crushed peanut. Sugar was a precious commodity; even in the military district, each person only got two to sweeten their mouths, which still made many new recruits happy for quite a while.

Jiang Long also made tangyuan, filled with tangerine peel and red bean paste. Ever since Feng Xia tasted it once in the capital, she couldn’t forget it. Jiang Long specially figured it out and finally succeeded. The weather was still cold, so after making the tangyuan, he didn’t rush to cook them; instead, he put them outside to freeze, took off his apron, and went straight to the lab.

Feng Xia had been conducting experiments in the base on the mountain, but a circuit problem occurred a couple of days ago, forcing her to move the lab down. As for the circuit issues, several old professors, including Feng Xia, could have fixed them, but they couldn’t make bricks without straw—the wiring was severely aged, and there were no materials, so they had no choice but to relocate.

The little girl was furious; the experiment was at a critical moment and got interrupted. Regiment Commander Qian urged people to help set everything up overnight. Relying on her youth, Feng Xia had recently brought a cotton quilt into the lab and slept wrapped in it. Jiang Long and Zhang Ying were worried—she was young and needed to take good care of herself; a poor foundation could lead to lifelong regrets!

The top leader had also emphasized the importance of looking after the little girl’s health. They had failed in their duty! The two of them had no choice but to take turns keeping watch outside the lab so that whenever Feng Xia got hungry, there would be food ready.

Jiang Long saw Zhang Ying sitting at the door from a distance. He nodded at her and asked, “Still not out yet?” Zhang Ying shook her head with a wry smile. “No movement yet.”

Jiang Long sighed helplessly and sat down beside Zhang Ying. Inside the lab, apart from the faint sound of electric currents and the soft hum of instruments, there was the occasional exchange of voices between the old and the young. Feng Xia and Old Gentleman Wan Fulin had been in the lab from the beginning of the year to the end, paying no attention to holidays or festivals.

Zhang Ying glanced at her watch. The blue-and-white porcelain color scheme and ceramic texture made the watch incredibly beautiful. The hour and minute hands moved silently, without a sound, and it worked perfectly underwater—a truly flawless timepiece.

Jiang Long felt a bit envious. He knew the creator of this watch was the young woman inside, and the watch used a composite ceramic material with wide applications. The top brass had already extensively used this material in military industry. One of Jiang Long’s comrades was the chief of staff at the Field Army base, and the higher-ups had developed a bulletproof vest using this material as the main component. Its bulletproof performance was excellent, greatly increasing soldiers’ chances of survival on the battlefield.

Jiang Long had joined the army early, learning to read and write in the military. His education level wasn’t particularly high—just enough to be considered literate. He had great admiration for Feng Xia. For someone so capable, with such skills and contributions to the country, he was willing to protect her with his life.

Zhang Ying saw that the indicator had reached the 12-hour mark, so she got up to call everyone. If she didn’t call Feng Xia and Old Gentleman Wan Fulin to eat, the two of them would keep doing experiments until they passed out from hunger.

Especially Feng Xia—once her obsessive streak kicked in, no one could stop her.

She had just pushed the door open when a loud “bang” startled her. Zhang Ying immediately rushed inside, and Jiang Long was even faster. The two entered the lab one after another and were stunned. On the experiment table sat a machine, roughly 70 centimeters long and 50 centimeters wide, with a beautiful silver-white shell. It was quite compact and very aesthetically pleasing.

But aside from the experiment table, the place was a complete mess! The two younger assistants were leaning against each other in a corner, fast asleep. Even the loud noise just now hadn’t woken them up, a testament to how long they had been staying up. Wan Fulin and Feng Xia stood among a pile of cluttered instruments, looking at each other in dismay. A wooden bookshelf full of books had collapsed, and the loud noise just now had come from it.

The floor was littered with iron sheets, wires, screwdrivers, pliers, and the like—comparable to a scrapyard. Zhang Ying and Jiang Long had only ever called people from outside the lab before and had never come inside, so they hadn’t expected it to be such a mess.

Wan Fulin felt a bit embarrassed. He smoothed his beard and said, “Xiao Zhang and Xiao Jiang, what are you doing here?”

Zhang Ying and Jiang Long: …

“Nothing serious—we heard a loud noise and came in to check. Are you and Feng Xia alright?”

Feng Xia waved her hand, a hint of joy still on her face, her sweet dimples showing. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the printer on the experiment table. This thing had finally been built.

The Flower Kingdom’s currently self-developed first-generation computer, the dsj-5, Feng Xia’s printer was also designed to work with this model. Of course, it could be used without an internet connection, but then it would only serve a simple copying function, like reproducing forms or flyers. With this, if placed in government offices and if people could use computers proficiently, work efficiency could be greatly improved.

Now that the thing was built, the old man and the young woman were no longer in a hurry. The Field Army base had no computers and no internet connection, so even if they wanted to use it, they couldn’t. To test it, they would at least need to go to the city, so there was no rush.

Feng Xia stretched, finally feeling the emptiness in her stomach. She was starving. Patting her flat belly, she asked Jiang Long, “Brother Jiang, do you have anything to eat? I’m really hungry.”

“Yes, yes, I brought it. I brought Professor Wan’s share too. Come, come, let’s eat outside—it’s still hot.” Jiang Long was delighted that Feng Xia finally had the mind to eat properly.

He hurried outside to prepare. Feng Xia took Professor Wan Fulin’s arm and called to the two young people in the corner: “Xiao Wang, Xiao Li, want to come eat something?”

Xiao Wang and Xiao Li didn’t think it was odd for Feng Xia, who was younger than them, to address them that way. They shook their heads dazedly—they had been up for days and just wanted to sleep. Feng Xia and Wan Fulin were one with extraordinary ability and the other with vast experience, so they had to give it their all to keep up. They had only slept two hours a day for the past few days, draining half their energy.

Feng Xia patted their shoulders understandingly and said, “Alright, our experiment succeeded, and we made it. Bonuses will be issued first—200 yuan each. Go ahead and sleep. You can head back after you wake up.”

The two mumbled “200” in a daze, then wrapped themselves in their cotton quilts and fell asleep leaning in the corner. Now that Feng Xia said they could rest, they thought of nothing but sleep.

They were just too tired!

Over here, Feng Xia greeted the young soldier on guard outside the lab, asking him to look after the two young ones. She had just eaten the chicken porridge and a large jar of soup that Jiang Long had prepared, but she still wasn’t full. Now, going back to eat a proper meal was the priority.

Old Gentleman Wan Fulin also couldn’t hold on any longer. Jiang Long personally escorted the old man back, while Zhang Ying led the half-asleep young woman back to cook some tangyuan and eat.

The lonely printer: ??? Hey, anyone going to look at me?!