The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 340 Secretly crossing Chencang
Everyone present nodded firmly in agreement. After thinking for a moment, Mr. Yang said, "Before we have our own positioning system, can we borrow satellite signals from the great Americans?"

"Of course it's possible. In fact, American satellite signals are already commercially available, and restrictions may be further eased in the next few years," Liu Hua said with a smile. "It's just a business deal—paying them for American products, right?"

The leader of the Ministry of Industry said with a smile: "If it can really guarantee the safety of shipping, it is understandable to use it temporarily. After all, our country is now open, and international shipping business has expanded several times in the past two years. If we can guarantee safety, we will suffer much less loss."

Liu Hua frowned. He remembered that something happened because the Americans turned off the GPS signal, which led to the humiliation they suffered. He couldn't remember the specifics, but it seemed to be something about ships transporting goods to some river. Some of his memories from his previous life were already blurred.

This incident is considered a national humiliation. Of course, the ship later redeemed itself under certain circumstances.

Liu Hua tentatively said, "I think that before we have our own navigation signal, in addition to using the satellite signals from the great American, we should retain a relatively primitive and reliable navigation method."

Mr. Yang said, puzzled, "Why? This doesn't sound like something a scientist like you would say. Why not use the advanced technology we have?"

Liu Hua shook his head: "I always felt that the Americans weren't very reliable. What if one day they wanted to control us and simply shut down the GPS signal in the corresponding area? Wouldn't our ships just be stuck going around in circles at sea?"

Silence fell over the banquet. No one spoke. Everyone knew that if one relied too much on something, one would lose one's own opinions once it was lost.

Similarly, if one becomes overly reliant on a particular technology, everyone will be at a loss when they leave that technology.

After that, no one talked too much about this topic, because everyone present knew that it involved a major national strategy and was not something that a few people could handle.

But Liu Hua took this matter to heart. He didn't want the cargo ship incident to happen again, so he wanted to research a navigation method that could bring the ship back without relying on GPS signals, even when we don't have a global positioning system.

Of course, he doesn't have time to do that right now, but he came up with a solution: although our country doesn't have a global positioning system, there are several weather satellites over the Pacific Ocean. We can use triangulation to calculate the approximate location of ships in the Pacific.

It's technically feasible, but nobody wants to do something so difficult and thankless because with advanced GPS signals, who would bother making this thing? However, it would be quite practical as a backup navigation device.

In fact, people in other countries don't have this concern, except for us.

After the New Year, Liu Hua was engrossed in his work when he suddenly received a call from Lao Zhang: "Boss, you should come to the factory. Two foreign guests have arrived."

"Why are you in such a hurry when two foreign guests arrive? It's not like we've never hosted foreign guests before. You can handle everything. Anyway, we've already discussed everything. If you can't understand what they're saying, just ask for a translator. Haven't we already contacted the School of Foreign Languages?"

"These two people who came this time are a bit hard to reason with," Old Zhang said anxiously. "They can speak a little Chinese and they even brought a translator. After I received them, they said they wanted to buy our factory. I have refused them repeatedly, but they still won't give up."

"Looking for trouble? That's easy, just call the police."

"Call the police? What are you calling the police for? Do you think the police handle this?"

Liu Hua said with a smile, "We have already refused, but they keep disrupting our normal production order. You should call the police and deal with it as disorderly conduct. Detain them for a few days first."

The matter was resolved quickly, and Liu Hua had no interest in finding out whether the two men had been detained.

A week later, Lao Zhang came to him again: "Boss, those two guys are here again. This time they seem to have brought a boss with them. They didn't say anything else, just that they wanted to see the boss." Liu Hua was extremely annoyed. He was so busy every day, how could he have time to see these two rascals?

“They turned me down and told me that if I wanted to buy something, I should just pay up. I don’t have time for that.”

Three or four days later, Liu Hua was guiding students in supercomputer research at Huaqing University when he received a call from the relevant department.

"Are you saying someone was following me on the street?"

"That's right, we've detained them now. Do you know who they are?"

Liu Hua laughed and said, "These people are clearly up to no good. I don't know what they're plotting in secret. How would I know if they're scheming in secret?"

"After our interrogation, we found out that they are from the South Korean Four Star Group. They want to acquire your company, but they haven't been able to meet with you, so they resorted to this tactic."

“I know about the acquisition,” Liu Hua said impatiently. “But I’ve already clearly rejected them. Why are these people still so persistent? They’re like leeches. Please warn them again and make it clear that I will not sell my company.”

"Okay, we'll pass on the message for you."

Liu Hua scratched his head: "Isn't it illegal for them to be secretly following me like this?"

"We can assess the situation and see if we need to subject them to legal proceedings."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Hua scratched his head and muttered to himself, "That's not right. Someone is following me. How would the relevant departments know? They are also secretly following me, or rather, secretly protecting me."

So Liu Hua made a phone call to the General Logistics Department: "Have you arranged for people from relevant departments to protect me secretly?"

"Because of your strategic importance, you will be secretly protected when you go to and from get off work."

Liu Hua was secretly pleased; this was a sign of his status. So he smiled and said, "I really have to thank you. And please tell my comrades who are protecting me that they've worked hard."

We will convey your message.

I thought the matter was over, but less than ten days later, the university informed me that the South Korean Four Star Group was coming to inspect the school's semiconductor program and might even donate money for research.

Liu Hua stroked his chin and said to Director Huang, "These South Koreans don't seem to have any good intentions."

"No, I've heard that in capitalist societies, it's common for companies to donate to schools."

Liu Hua shook his head: "You don't understand the intricacies of this. We've already crossed paths twice before, and he didn't even get to see me. Right now, they're just using a show of force while secretly plotting something else."

(End of this chapter)