Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 2169, The era of the telephone
There is an open space under the dormitory of Daming Imperial Institute of Technology in Xincheng, South District of Beijing. The employees of Daming Telecom Firm are constantly busy. They will build a telephone booth here to facilitate the students of Daming Imperial Institute of Technology to communicate with their relatives.

"What is this building?"

"I heard that a telephone booth is being built."

"Telephone? Is it the one invented by Professor Kuang Xiong from the Daming Royal Institute of Technology next door?"

"Yes, yes, the telephone line is very popular now. I heard that Daming Telecom has assumed that the telephone line has been sent to Songhu. It is estimated that it will cover the entire mainland of Daming soon. At that time, we will be here. When I called home, I could hear the voices of my relatives in my hometown even thousands of miles away.”

"real or fake?"

"Of course it's true. The day before yesterday, I went to Wang Wei's house as a guest. His family had the money to install a telephone, so we called and tried it. It was indeed very convenient."

"Wang Wei, have you installed a telephone in your home?"

"Well, it was installed a few days ago. Because my family has a branch factory in Tianjin, it is also installed for the factory. In this way, if there is anything, you can call and know immediately. It is indeed very convenient. .”

There were many students watching the excitement, and everyone was discussing with each other constantly.

"Wang Wei, how do you use this phone?"

"Yeah, after it's built, can you teach us how to use it?"

"It's actually very simple. There will be numbers on the phone, and each phone will have a separate number. We only need to dial the number of the other party, and then the operator of the telecommunications company will receive the corresponding number, so that we can get through to the other party. phone, as long as the other party is answered, you can talk.”

The classmate named Wang Wei also explained in detail with the classmates around him.

"Wang Wei, can this be sent to Songhu?"

"It would be great if I could make a call to Songhu, so that I could hear the voices of my parents, wife and children. Even if I can't see anyone, it would be nice to be able to hear the voices."

Hearing Wang Wei's words, Zeng Jiajun on the side immediately became excited.

He is from Songhu. Songhu and the capital are far apart, and it is extremely inconvenient to travel. During the Chinese New Year, he was busy with his studies and research, so he didn't go home. He missed his parents, wife and children very much. .

"Of course you can. Songhu is already on the phone now. I guess there must be a public phone booth in Songhu. Or you just need to find a relative or friend who has a phone at home. If you know the other party's number, you can't call it." OK."

Wang Wei nodded and said.

"Great!"

Zeng Jiajun immediately danced excitedly. He misses his family too much, especially his wife. They are all young people. Naturally, the beautiful wife in the family is the most concerned, but it is a pity that colleges and universities do not allow it. I brought my wife and husband in.

However, many students in the school have brought their wives to the capital. Although they cannot enter the school, they all rent houses near the school.

There is no legal age for marriage in Ming Dynasty. Generally, when they reach the age of university, their families will arrange to start a family, especially the students of the Imperial Institute of Technology of Ming Dynasty.

Although it is not as good as those masters who took the imperial examination, they are all new elites and talents who are selected from the crowd. They are also very popular in society, and their income and treatment are very good after they come out.

There are so many people who are willing to marry their daughters to them, all of them are basically married, but most of the female students in the school are often unmarried.

It's just that the number of female students is very small. After all, this era is still dominated by patriarchy.

There are not too many families willing to send their daughters to study. Even if they are, it is almost enough to go to elementary school and middle school, and there are really few families who still go to college.

Generally, the girls who are sent to study in college are those who are rich and powerful in their families, and they are not in a hurry to marry their daughters. They treat their daughters as precious ones. There is nothing wrong with studying for a few more years and raising them up. .

Now the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, the big nobles have started to popularize everything and advocate late marriage and late childbearing, which will be arranged after the age of [-], because some studies have shown that getting married and having children after the age of [-] is good for the health, and the children born are also healthier. feed.

This kind of trend is also gradually spreading. For the health of one's own children and the health of future generations, it doesn't matter if it is a few years later.

"Brother Zeng, you have to write a letter or send a telegram to your family first, make an appointment and know the number, so that you can make a call at that time."

"The phone booth hasn't been built yet, so hurry up and write a letter and send it back."

Wang Wei looked at the excited classmates around him, and quickly reminded him.

"Yes, yes, hurry up and write!"

"I don't know when I will be able to make phone calls here in my hometown, Chengdu, Sichuan."

"I guess it will be the second half of the year."

"Have you called Henan?"

"Henan seems to be connected, and most places in Liaodong are also connected. Basically, the places close to the capital have been connected by phone. In the second half of the year, we can basically call in the mainland of Daming."

"Is it expensive to make a phone call?"

"It must be very expensive to make a phone call. It won't be cheap anyway."

Many students were discussing continuously, and at the same time, they were looking forward to being able to contact their families after the phone call.

Zeng Jiajun was even more excited, and missed his family too much.

He also sent a telegram directly to Songhu's home.

The Daming Telegraph Firm has already established a global telegraph business. Sending messages through the Daming Telegraph Firm is also not cheap. Each time you send a message, it costs several hundred texts. If the content of the transmission is long, the fee will be more expensive.

The cheapest thing is to write a letter. There is also a special post office in Daming. Not only can you write letters, but you can also mail some items. The price is also charged according to the weight and size.

Generally speaking, Daming's information exchange is still very convenient.

One day half a month later, Zeng Jiajun arrived at the telephone booth half an hour earlier.

There are more than a dozen phones in the phone booth. At this moment, every phone is very busy here. With the opening of the phone service, this emerging communication method is the most popular among young people.

"Why haven't you finished playing?"

Seeing the classmate in front of him chatting non-stop with his family, Zeng Jiajun was also very anxious, and it was only 10 minutes away from the agreed time.

But the classmate in front of him chatted reluctantly with his wife at home, and he didn't intend to hang up at all. Even if the call time was charged by the minute, it was very expensive.

It costs 1 Wen for 20 minute, 10 Wen for 200 minutes, and 1 tael is not enough for even an hour. Such an expensive fee is really too expensive.

But even with such an expensive charge, there are still a lot of people in this phone booth, because it is very rare to be able to talk to home from a long distance, and there are a lot of people here every day.

"Could you please hurry up?"

Zeng Jiajun couldn't help knocking on the door to urge him, and he could see the smile on the other party's face through the glass. There is no doubt that this must be calling the little lady in his family.

After waiting and waiting, finally when the other party hung up the phone and came out, Zeng Jiajun also hurried forward, took out 2 silver dollars and said: "First call 2 silver dollars, more refunds and less compensation."

When the staff of the phone booth heard this, they put away the silver dollars happily and said, "Okay, if there is anything you don't know, you can come to me."

"Okay, thank you!"

Zeng Jiajun picked up the phone, then took out a note with a number written on it, and then pressed the Arabic numerals on it as Wang Wei taught.

Soon, a voice came from the phone asking, "Are you going to call Songhu?"

"Yes, please wire it up."

When Zeng Jiajun heard it, he quickly said that it was the operator's voice.

"Okay, please wait a moment."

On the Songhu side, Zeng Jiajun's parents, wife, and son had already arrived at a relative's house early on, chatting with the relative while waiting patiently.

My son went to the capital to study, and it has been almost a year since he came back. Everyone misses him very much. I heard that I can hear calls and voices on this phone, so I came here to try it out.

"Jingle Bell!"

While everyone was waiting, the phone rang.

"I'm coming!"

When Zeng Jiajun's relatives heard this, they hurried to answer the phone. It is not cheap to install a phone. Usually, if there is a call or something, the family will rush to answer it.

"I'm Zeng Jiajun!"

"It's really Jiajun, I'm my aunt."

"Auntie, it's really your voice."

"Of course it's my voice. Your parents, wife and children are beside me. I'll ask them to answer the phone."

Hearing the voice from the other end of the phone, Zeng Jiajun was very excited. It felt so good to be able to talk to his family and hear the voices of his relatives across a long distance.

"Jia Jun?"

At this time, his father's voice came from the phone.

"Father, it's me, I'm Jia Jun."

When Jia Jun heard this, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Jia Jun, Jia Jun, I'm your mother."

At this time, the voice of Zeng Jiajun's mother came again, and she also missed her son very much.

"Mom, mother, are you okay?"

Hearing his mother's voice, Zeng Jiajun became even more excited and shouted hastily.

"Okay, okay, everything is fine at home, don't worry about it too much, study hard, and take care of your body."

"I'm doing well here too. I'm eating well and sleeping well. I'm still studying some new things with my classmates at school."

"Well, good, that's good, study hard."

"Master!"

At this time, the voice of Mrs. Jun from the Zeng family came from the other end of the phone.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, and you?"

"I'm fine too, I just miss my wife very much."

"Well, you have to take care of your health and study hard. Don't worry about things at home. I will be filial to my parents-in-law and take good care of my children."

"Thank you, lady, I will come back during the summer vacation."

"It's not hard, this is what I should do."

"."

Zeng Jiajun and his family kept chatting, and an hour passed without knowing it. Hearing the voices of his parents, wife and children, the time passed very quickly when they were chatting.

PS: Ask for tickets~ All kinds of requests!
(End of this chapter)