Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 269 Leaving Dongyang, a Souvenir Gift
When the sun was high in the sky, Zhai Dacai started to yawn.

Waking up naturally is the best way to make up for staying up late.

Last night was really noisy.
Then he walked out of the room almost at the same time as Tang Xiaokui.

Zhai Da glanced at the little girl, while Tang Xiao Kui lowered her head guiltily.

Last night, this guy rolled around like a crocodile until after 1 a.m., then needed someone to accompany him to the toilet. After returning home, he continued rolling around like a crocodile until he needed to use the toilet a second time.
This time, she didn't bother Zhai Da again and mustered up her courage to go by herself.

But when he came back, he entered the wrong room. If he hadn't realized the room layout was different, he would have almost fallen headfirst onto Zhai Da's bed.

Someone who was already asleep was startled awake by his deathbed, thinking that Little Wood was coming to discuss a big business deal in the middle of the night.

So when he woke up in the morning, a tired Zhai Da was speechless. Just as he was about to complain about his "new" younger sister, Lu Wei also walked out of the master bedroom looking sleepy.

Zhai Da asked in confusion, "You're having trouble sleeping too?"

Little Wood nodded expressionlessly: "Teacher Yu snores."

"Huh? Didn't Mom used to hit me?"

Little Wood rubbed his eyes: "I've hit him before, but yesterday it was too close to my ear."

Well, everyone has their own difficulties.

The three of them stood together in the bathroom, all sleepy-eyed, looking at themselves in the mirror.

Zhai Da was on the left, Lu Wei on the right, and Tang Xiao Kui in the middle. Even standing on a small stool, Tang Xiao Kui was still much shorter than the two of them.

"Give."

"Oh."

"elder brother."

Three toothbrushes, distributed from right to left.

Then, a tube of toothpaste with an insufficient balance was passed from left to right.

Finally, the two adults and one child brushed their teeth in unison.

They all looked very sleepy.

Lu Wei looked at Tang Xiao Kui's disheveled hair; the delicate little girl had become a messy-haired girl.

She stood gently behind him and tidied him up.

Zhai Da glanced at her and thought she was adorable, so he stood behind Lu Wei and started combing her hair.

This was the first time she had done this job. Lu Wei's hair was straight and healthy. With such long hair and without much effort in maintaining it, it could only be described as a natural gift.

"Double tail?"

"Well, thank you sister."

"High ponytail?"

"Um"

Yu Xiaoli appeared outside the door at some point, without saying a word, just watching with an aunt-like smile.

Only after the three of them finished washing up did they say, "Breakfast is back, come and eat."

"Okay~!" ×3.

------

Winter break is almost over, everyone knows that.

The small county of Dongyang welcomed back the young people it had raised, and inevitably had to send them away again.

Who among them is perhaps someone who never returned?

With different schools having different start dates, after a brief reunion, the friends from Utopia gradually embarked on their journeys to continue their university life.

In the last few days, Zhai Da kept track of the sales of "The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual" every day, communicated with the publisher about the reprint plan, and helped Lu Siwen forward the 1.0 official version of "Dongyang Past".

I only did two things.

First, I visited Professor Shen Rui with Lu Wei.

This wise man had been providing much help to the two of them all along, guiding Zhai Da and lending a helping hand to Lu Wei during her most difficult time.

Zhai Da had wanted to visit before the Lunar New Year, but at that time, Teacher Shen Rui went to Xuchang to see General Manager Yu Donglai, so it has been delayed until now.

With a whole box of Assam leading the way, Teacher Shen was very happy.

Besides the usual "belated New Year's greetings," Zhai Da also discussed business matters with Teacher Shen.

Although Mr. Shen Rui was familiar with "Yueda Catering", this was the first time he had heard Zhai Da give a systematic lecture.

Without investigation, one has no right to speak. This staunch materialist did not offer overly detailed advice, but only provided a general direction, and frankly stated that it might not be accurate.

That is "standardization" and "replicability".

Technical standardization: craft brewing equipment can be mass-produced, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Brewing standardization: Transform the reliance on craft brewers into a process manual that can be summarized and summarized, ensuring that anyone can do it.

Model replicability: If both of the above can be achieved, a replicable "small team" can be set up at any time, with the standard of "being able to start business from scratch in any city".

With these three factors, the expansion speed of "Yueda Catering" can increase exponentially. Not to mention other districts in Harbin, it is not impossible for it to expand to several cities or even several provinces within a year.

Professor Shen's advice is not from the future, but from the present. He believes that the "replicability" of the service industry will be extremely important in the next ten years.

This concept, which became a must-learn for many startups more than a decade later, was very advanced in 09, especially for craft beer supply, a business model that relied on local markets and had a (temporary) technological monopoly.

Afterwards, Zhai Da simply made a phone call and invited Wu Yue to a meeting. In the end, all three of them gained a lot.

Teacher Shen Rui has a profound and comprehensive knowledge base.

Wu Yue possesses keen observation skills and rich practical experience.

Zhai Da possessed the knowledge and understanding of later generations.

Doing business is easy, but running a company is difficult. Although Zhai Da is a reborn person, it doesn't mean that he doesn't need to learn anything in this life. If he holds that kind of mentality...
At best, that would just be setting up a group-buying website.

Before leaving, Zhai Da and Wu Yue invited Professor Shen Rui to visit Harbin, and Professor Shen Rui showed great interest.

The second thing was to revisit the old place and go to the garbage dump behind the sanitation workers' dormitory.

He acquired many special items and had many wonderful memories here.

However, this time he only found one thing, even though he searched everywhere.

The items here have all undergone the first round of screening; anything of value is sold off immediately, while what remains are the accumulated wealth of many years.

In layman's terms: The prize pool is smaller, and the payout rate is lower.

"Congratulations, host, you have discovered a special white item [The Unbeatable Roller Skates]: He has never beaten his childhood friend, not even in his imagination."

Ownership: Owned, activated.

"Equipment effect: When you are about to overtake the first place or fall down, you will experience the illusion that time is slowing down. (This equipment is damaged and needs to be repaired before it can be used normally)."

"Note: It's just an illusion. You'll still have blood on your face. You don't actually think white equipment can manipulate time, do you?"

This is a very useless piece of equipment. There are only six wheels left for both feet. The key point is that it is a pair of "children's roller skates". The shoe size is adjustable, but the largest size is only about 34.

Let's keep it for now. If the plan remains unchanged, he will soon need a lot of useless "equipment" for his experiments.

Before leaving the sanitation workers' dormitory, Zhai Da, based on Fan Junwei's introduction, also found the sanitation worker aunt who had been cleaning the Utopia courtyard.

Zhai Da didn't plan to put the [Execution of Old Elm] into his "Equipment Slot" and take it to Harbin this time. Firstly, the city wasn't ready yet, and secondly, if he put it into his equipment slot, it would stop growing.

While preparing, it's important to nourish it further. Since the equipment slots don't have size limits, it can be "transported" no matter how big it grows. Zhai Da left a large quantity of nutrient solution and various fertilizers in the yard, instructing the sanitation worker to add them at lethal doses for normal trees, hoping to help the [Executed Old Elm] grow more.

Oh, and Zhai Da also asked his aunt to feed the crows while she was at it.

Finally, on February 14th, Zhai Da ended his long winter vacation and prepared to return to Harbin.

At Lianyungang Baita Airport, Yu Xiaoli and Tang Xiaokui, who had accompanied him all the way, stood in front of the security checkpoint for a final farewell.

Zhai Da hugged his mother, holding the down jacket he would need to wear as soon as he was born.

"You're taking care of the child again. Don't exhaust yourself. If you can't manage, we can hire a nanny."

Yu Xiaoli said with a hint of complaint and reluctance, "Don't worry, even with a child as difficult as you, I still managed to raise you."

Was Zhai Da difficult to manage? He himself doesn't remember.

But who can "easily take care of" an orphan and a widow?

Zhai Da patted Tang Xiao Kui's head: "You too, take good care of yourself and your mother-in-law. There's nothing scary about going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, just leave the light on."

Tang Xiaokui blushed slightly and nodded with her head down.

After standing up, Zhai Da waved his hand and said, "Alright, you guys can go back now. When it gets warmer in Harbin, you can bring Xiao Kui to play."

Yu Xiaoli and Lu Wei hugged and exchanged some casual words of advice. Zhai Da then pulled Lu Wei along to formally prepare to leave.

At this moment, Tang Xiaokui, who had been keeping her head down, seemed to have made up her mind and suddenly called out to Zhai Da.

"elder brother!"

Tang Xiaokui ran up to Zhai Da, her twin ponytails swaying from side to side, attracting the attention of many travelers.

What a pretty little girl.

Zhai Da squatted down and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Without further hesitation, Tang Xiao Kui took off the bright yellow bag that she always carried with her and held it up to Zhai Da's chest with both hands: "Brother, this is for you."

Zhai Da was taken aback and didn't take it, clearly surprised as well.

Tang Xiaokui said earnestly, "Brother, didn't you mention before that I now have everything I wanted? A new home, a new mom, a new brother, a new sister, and all those photos of my parents have been magically conjured up."

The little girl tiptoed and put the yellow bag strap around Zhai Da's neck, then whispered in his ear:

“It’s broken, and I don’t know ‘photo magic’. Only my brother can take more and better photos.”

"If you take any nice photos while you're away from home, could you send them to me?"

At this moment, the young mind understands.

Her mother, her father, and herself.

What I really care about isn't a broken camera, but the memories that were recorded, and the vividly colored photos.

She has already hung up photos of her parents in her new home, and they will watch her grow up together.

Let this instant camera go with Brother Zhai to see a wider, more vibrant, and timeless world.

Zhai Da was stunned for a long time before finally patting the small yellow bag.

"Give it to me, I'll cherish it, and I'll send you the photos later."

Then he picked up his "98 new" little sister and lifted her up.

Tang Xiaokui's silvery laughter became the last echo left for Zhai Da during this winter vacation.

--------

As Zhai Da stepped through the security checkpoint and began his return journey.

Almost simultaneously, a thousand miles away, in a dormitory compound built decades ago in northern Beijing, in that warm room, the aging giant was intently cutting paper.

This is a habit from a bygone era, when cultural life and cultural resources were scarce. The cheapest and most convenient resources were various newspapers. The elderly would cut out valuable and interesting content from the newspapers and paste it on cardboard or wooden boards for long-term preservation.

It can help organize information, aid thinking, and also provides blank sheets of paper for writing down one's thoughts.

It was titled "Clippings".

Mr. Qian maintained the habit of making newspaper clippings, of course, before his health allowed.

Today he resumed his old habit, but instead of cutting newspapers, he cut out sheets of A4 paper.

The contents of "The Timeless Cohabitation Handbook" were scanned and enlarged to a size that was easy for the elderly to read. Mr. Qian cut the paper very slowly, and his withered hands even trembled a little, but his brain, which time could not defeat, was working at a fast pace.

The clippings on the cardboard had many interesting things on them, as well as Qian Zhongshu's annotations.

"Affordable electric cars"

The label next to it reads "Lead-acid ×", "Ternary lithium?", and "Lithium iron phosphate √".

"Autonomous driving"

The sign next to it reads "Small radar?", "Satellite positioning ×", and "Visual analysis?".

"GPU-based conversational AI"

How far is VR technology from a truly immersive experience?

Every "near future" seems so distant.

But this could not stump the old man whose vision could see through time. His life had spanned at least three eras, and his wisdom could probably foresee even more.

The contents of the book were cut into small squares, which vaguely seemed to form a network, an industrial network.

There is no data, and not many technical terms, but at least in the near future depicted in this work, many technologies and industrial products are logically consistent, rather than the castles in the air and space operas of many science fiction works.

The answer is that aliens lack water, oxygen, and land, prefer melee weapons and tight-fitting clothes, and maintain a feudal system.

This made the old man find it more and more interesting.

There was no particular purpose behind it, but the old man was enjoying himself, and his spirits had noticeably improved in the past few days.

It's as if a youthful curiosity has been rekindled.

However, he hasn't finished reading it yet.

Even though I spend most of my time reading this "romance novel," I've only read less than half of it. My lack of energy is one reason, but I'm also frequently interrupted by my own thoughts.

Yes, being strictly limited by my spouse and doctor is also one of the reasons.

The door to the room was pushed open, and the old woman walked in carrying medicine, complaining as expected, "You're fiddling with this stuff again. I regret giving you this book."

Old Qian gave a weak laugh: "I can only use my brain, cough cough! cough cough cough!"

His lover immediately patted Mr. Qian's back gently, but she didn't dare to use too much force, as she knew his body better than anyone else.

This winter has been very difficult to get through.

"Stop messing around with this stuff, what's the point?"

Mr. Qian turned his gaze back to the clippings.

He just felt that this future was well-described, and its value lay in the fact that it was predictable.
It's not that I completely believe the child's "science fiction," but rather that I add my own thoughts and scientific literacy.

"It's so interesting and realistic."

"I couldn't help but think about how to make it actually happen."

　Sorry for the lateness.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)