The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 283 The Last Day of Return (Combined Chapter)

Time: A little past 9 a.m. on the 30th and final day of the time travel back, with less than 18 hours left before the next time travel begins.

Location: Panjiayuan, Beijing, at the main entrance of Deyuelou Restaurant.

The four-eyed carriage door has been modified by removing the two rows of seats in the back, allowing six large stainless steel insulated containers to be installed at once, carrying a total of over 300 kilograms of braised food.

He confidently assured Hu Biao and Annie behind him:
"Boss, boss lady, don't worry! I've been driving a taxi for two years since I graduated from technical school, so I'm definitely an experienced driver. I guarantee you won't spill a drop of soup on the way."

"I will definitely deliver these things to Sister Lin without any problems."

After saying that, Four-Eyes got into the car and left, looking quite expectant.

Hu Biao and Annie remained standing there, staring blankly at the taillights, their expressions somewhat gloomy.

The reason for this situation is that something seems to have happened between Four-Eyes and Sister Lin, or perhaps Four-Eyes has some feelings for Sister Lin, who is three years older than him.

Currently, one of them is the store manager of a branch, and the other is the assistant store manager, so the situation is somewhat ambiguous.

In addition, after the Panjiayuan flagship store opened three days ago, business was not as booming as Hu Biao and his team had expected; in fact, it was rather sluggish.

Although the turnover is getting better day by day, even yesterday, the best day, it barely exceeded 10,000.

At first glance, the turnover seems substantial, but when you factor in various costs such as rent, labor, and taxes, it's actually still operating at a loss.

On the contrary, the business at the Majuqiao branch continues to be booming; the 300 jin of braised food sold every day is barely enough to meet demand, and the turnover can reach 27,000 to 28,000 yuan.

However, upon closer reflection, such a situation at the Panjiayuan flagship store doesn't seem entirely unexpected.

No other reason than that Panjiayuan is too far from Majuqiao, more than 20 kilometers away.

The catering industry in a place like the capital is full of hidden talents, with countless famous restaurants and hidden gems. The number of people who know or have heard of Deyuelou, a popular suburban restaurant, is really quite limited.

Unfortunately, Deyuelou opened too hastily, with virtually no publicity or promotion; Hu Biao, who had spent almost all of his initial profits on opening the flagship store, didn't have the money to spare for such things.

Therefore, it seems only natural that the main store has not been doing well these past few days.

Of course! The old saying "good wine needs no bush" still holds some truth.

In the few days since the store opened, the number of regular customers at the main store has been increasing, and a considerable number of people have even started to treat it as their own canteen.

As a result, the head office's revenue increased day by day.

I believe that in another half month at most, the main store will be able to turn a profit; a month later, business will be booming.

Furthermore, with the Majuqiao branch, profits were continuously flowing in, so Hu Biao could not only afford to lose money at the main store and continue to operate, but could even make a profit.

But before opening the shop, Hu Biao and Annie were both too ambitious.

Faced with such a dismal business situation, I feel somewhat disappointed.

After the Wuling minivan driven by Four-Eyes had completely disappeared from sight, Annie was the first to compose herself and comforted Hu Biao:
"Don't worry about business! It's getting better every day, isn't it?"
Besides, we're also doing some promotion and marketing, so once customers come to eat here, we're not worried about them not coming back a second time.

With two hours until lunch service, let's take a look at some historical materials; our next time-travel adventure is about to begin tonight.

The promotion and marketing tactics that Annie mentioned actually started yesterday afternoon.

To be more specific, Ling Lanfang took several of the shop's female employees to distribute flyers at nearby subway stations and office buildings.

The flyer advertised great deals during the opening of Deyuelou's main store: a rice bowl for just 5 yuan and a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) for just 2 yuan.

If you share the promotion on your WeChat Moments and get 66 likes, you can also receive braised chicken wings, or a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) or a serving of braised food of the same price.

Limited to 500 servings per day, first come, first served, while supplies last.

The main idea is to build a reputation even if it means losing some money; given the taste of Deyuelou's food and its affordable prices, customers will become loyal once they try it.

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao nodded in response: "Yes, everything will be alright."

Then the two of them went into the empty shop together; because this morning, Iron Rooster and Big Monkey and others had also gone to hand out flyers and wouldn't be back until before the shop opened.

Now that only the two of them are left in the shop, it's naturally quite empty.

The moment the two stepped through the door, their cell phones vibrated simultaneously.

At first, the two thought it was someone in the transmigrator group sending a message about something important, so they immediately turned on their phones.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be true; it was just a news link shared by AT.

After clicking in, Hu Biao and Annie's somewhat dejected expressions immediately turned into beaming faces.

The text above reads: "Warmly celebrate Comrade Zhou Kun, a renowned young scientist from our country's XXX Research Institute."

In research on 'controlled nuclear fusion', a crucial breakthrough has been achieved in addressing the challenge of 'stable confinement of plasma'...

...Zhou Kun remained very humble in the interview, saying that it was all due to a sudden inspiration, and that the greatest credit did not go to him...

Comrade XX called on everyone to learn from Dr. Zhou, whose humble attitude serves as a role model for everyone...

That said, because their breakthrough in 'room-temperature superconducting materials' might actually play a key role, Hu Biao and his team had indeed done some preliminary research on 'controlled nuclear fusion technology'.

It is known that many challenges need to be overcome in order to fully realize this groundbreaking clean energy technology.

In addition to the stable confinement of plasma, there are many other challenges, such as extremely high temperature and pressure, energy gain, material challenges, the scarcity of tritium, and technological costs.

While the above news is encouraging, it is still somewhat insufficient.

This means that at most 20% of the problems have been solved, and there is still a long way to go. It is far from being a complete success.

Even so, Hu Biao and Annie were still full of motivation. All they wanted was to travel through time a few more times and satisfy that mysterious being.

At that time, Zhou Kun will naturally be able to gain more inspiration.

Faced with such a major event, the fact that Deyuelou's business would slump for a period of time seemed insignificant.

Whether or not we can contact Zhou Kun, and whether anyone knows about the efforts they made in this technological breakthrough, are all equally unimportant.

In the time that followed, feeling much better because of the news they had just seen, Hu Biao and Annie took out their phones and began to memorize various historical materials from the War of Resistance Against Japan.

What they didn't know was that for the rest of the day...

The business at their own flagship store will soon see a huge turnaround.

Even Zhou Kun, who had been unable to contact Hu Biao since his first time travel, finally learned where Hu Biao was now.

This allows more emotions to fester and develop...

******
At 10:30 a.m., Zhao Ying walked into the newly opened shop called "Deyuelou" according to the address on the flyer.

When I saw the huge store was empty, there was only a couple behind the cashier scrolling through their phones.

Furthermore, the layout of the store was exactly like that of a hot pot restaurant, which immediately gave me a strong urge to turn around and leave to avoid being ripped off.

However, after thinking that a bowl of rice with toppings only cost five yuan, which couldn't even buy half a cup of milk tea, I figured I wouldn't lose too much, so I still went into the store.

That's right! Zhao Ying came here to take advantage.

To be more specific, she works for a nearby internet company and was given a half-day off this morning because she worked too late last night.

After sleeping in late, she got up, washed up, and went out to stroll around the company area without even having breakfast before returning to work like a beast of burden in the afternoon.

As soon as I got off the subway, someone handed me a flyer.

She had originally intended to casually toss it into the trash can, but after a quick glance, she was drawn in by the grand opening discount at the new store—a rice bowl for only five yuan. The capital city may be large, but living there is not easy, especially for a young woman.

Compared to boys, who have to pay for rent, transportation, and food every month, girls like Zhao Ying have to spend extra on cosmetics, clothes, and bags to maintain a basic level of sophistication.

So even though the monthly salary isn't low, it's really not enough to make ends meet, so a five-yuan rice bowl is quite tempting.

So, I followed the address and found this place.

After sitting down at a table that was clearly a hot pot table, I had already made up my mind: I would only order one rice bowl, and I would resolutely refuse any other food no matter how much they tried to sell me. If it wasn't good, I would just leave.

Just as Zhao Ying sat down, a pretty girl, presumably her mother, came over from the cashier with a cup of barley tea and asked enthusiastically:

"Hello beautiful! What would you like to eat?"

As the other person approached, Zhao Ying subtly picked up the bag she had been holding and hid it to one side of her seat.

The main reason was that she recognized at a glance that the seemingly ordinary capri pants the other person was wearing were actually Coperni's latest style.

Coperni is a relatively unknown brand in the country, but its prices are by no means cheap.

So you must hide your high-quality counterfeit Chanel bag well, otherwise even if the other person doesn't say anything after recognizing it, you will still feel very embarrassed.

"I'd like a twice-cooked pork rice bowl, is that five yuan a serving?"

After glancing briefly at the menu on the table and selecting this from the restaurant's recommendations, Zhao Ying answered and confirmed the selection.

To Zhao Ying's surprise, the other party smiled and said, "Yes! The new store is having a promotion these days, only five yuan a serving, please wait a moment."

Then he put down his teacup and left without any intention of promoting his product.

What shocked Zhao Ying even more was that a plate of twice-cooked pork over rice was served shortly afterward.

Before they even started eating, the sight of the bright red twice-cooked pork alone made Zhao Ying feel that it was absolutely worth the five yuan.

When the alluring fragrance filled her nose, Zhao Ying felt like she had hit the jackpot.

As usual, Zhao Ying took a picture of the food before starting to eat.

Then, all she could think about was the crisp, green garlic sprouts and the lean, fatty yet not greasy, meat slices that were perfectly tender and not dry – the combination of the two was simply too delicious to be true.

They even felt that they had only spent five yuan, but the meal was more satisfying than the last Michelin three-star meal, which they felt was practically a crime.

Before she knew it, this girl, who was on a diet, had devoured a whole bowl of rice that would fill even an adult man's stomach.

Even so, the first thing Zhao Ying did when she saw the plate, which was cleaner than a dog had licked, was to forward the store's promotional advertisement.

I sent a message to a group chat using WeChat: Please! I need likes for my first post on WeChat Moments.

Because I had enough classmates and friends, I reached the requirement of 66 likes in just three minutes.

Zhao Ying redeemed another roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and after taking a bite, she had only one feeling: It's so delicious!

All of the above has led to the following consequences: First, in a somewhat playful internet slang sense, the Deyuelou flagship store will now have an additional NPC customer named Zhao Ying who will be regularly refreshed.

Secondly, after seeing a post on Zhao Ying's WeChat Moments that was full of praise for a small shop called "Deyuelou", I was impressed.

Many of her colleagues at the internet company clicked on a link instinctively.

Through a simple mini-program, everyone placed an order at Deyuelou to solve their lunch problem.

It's just a five-yuan order fee plus a three-yuan delivery fee. It's a total of eight yuan, so you won't lose out or be cheated.

Their lunch was delivered by Deyuelou's dedicated deliveryman.

After just one meal, they were completely won over and decided to make this newly opened, unknown little shop their first choice for ordering takeout from now on.

And with their enthusiastic promotion, this product has spread like wildfire in their office building.

For Deyuelou and Hu Biao, this was just the beginning...

At 1 p.m., at Wudaokou Vocational and Technical College, one of China's top universities, Zhou Kun finally woke up after sleeping for twelve hours straight.

There was no other way! It had been since midnight about thirty days ago, when Hu Biao and the others returned from their time travel.

Zhou Kun was suddenly awakened, and an inspiration came to him to solve the problem of 'stable confinement of plasma' in 'controlled nuclear fusion'.

He and his team worked like crazy in the lab.

The problem was finally resolved a day ago; after being reviewed and approved by relevant experts and given a brief interview by CCTV, he went home and fell asleep immediately.

After twelve hours of sleep, he felt incredibly refreshed.

The only problem is that I feel extremely hungry and want to eat something quickly, preferably something like roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) or youpo noodles, which are local delicacies.

There are many canteens at Wudaokou Technical College, and one of them makes decent oil-splashed noodles, but he personally feels that their roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) is lacking.

So, going out to eat? Of course not.

Because of the series of important scientific research achievements he has made, it is now really difficult for him to go out. He can only ask the security personnel to buy two more from outside.

So he sent a message to one of the security guards, Xiao Zhu, asking him to buy two roujiamo (Chinese hamburgers).

Upon receiving the message, Xiao Zhu naturally dared not be careless.

It should be noted that Xiao Zhu has a high school classmate named Zhao Ying, and the two became friends on WeChat at the last hometown gathering in Beijing.

Just recently, I came across Zhao Ying's post on WeChat Moments, and I still remember her praise for roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) very clearly.

Without much hesitation, he drove to Panjiayuan and bought two roujiamo (Chinese hamburgers) from Deyuelou.

Zhou Kun burst into tears after taking just one bite of the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger).

Not only was the roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) incredibly delicious, but more importantly, he tasted the flavor of the roujiamo made by his great-grandfather, the old squad leader from his time-travel adventures.

From that moment on, he memorized the name 'Deyuelou' on the packaging and decided that he must visit it sometime in the future.

Since my great-grandfather definitely won't come back to life, there's only one possibility: he's inextricably linked to Hu Biao and his associates.

"Brother! Let's work together to make China better and better."

While munching on a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), Zhou Kun muttered to himself.

After he finished eating, just as he was about to go back to work in the lab, an assistant called, her voice filled with undisguised excitement:
"Dr. Zhou, the latest Nobel Prize nominations are out. You have been nominated for your contributions to 'room-temperature superconducting materials' and are widely considered a worthy candidate for this year's Nobel Prize in Physics."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Kun simply said, "I understand."

In a very short time, he realized many suspicious details.

For example, since two months ago, the West, especially Uncle Sam's family, has been trying every means to contact him, offering extremely generous conditions to get him to come over, but he has been rejected.

They have a "if they can't have it, they'll destroy it" mentality.

The Nobel Prize nominations were originally scheduled to be announced in September, but they were announced so early this year, which is definitely suspicious.

Perhaps they're planning to use this method to lure me out of the country. Detaining me would be easy, but they might just kill me outright.

Zhou Kun was confident enough: now it was not him pursuing the Nobel Prize, but the other party chasing after him to award him the prize.

So even if I don't go abroad, the Nobel Prize will still find a way to award me the prize...

(End of this chapter)