Double-Cut During the War of Resistance: My Wife Came from 1937

"Click!"

The bathroom door opened, and Xia Weiwei came out.

At that moment, she was still wearing that white V-neck short-sleeved shirt and jeans, and her slippers made a "squeaking" sound as she walked because of the water stains.

He didn't know if it was because the stains had been washed away, but Ma Hongwei felt that the other person's skin was much whiter.

Especially after taking a bath, her fair skin with a rosy glow further accentuated her beautiful appearance, making her even more captivating.

Ma Hongwei only glanced at it before becoming somewhat lost in thought.

Seeing that the other person was staring straight at her, Xia Weiwei's pretty face flushed red.

She couldn't help but shout, "Hongwei? Hongwei? Comrade Ma!!!"

This sound startled Ma Hongwei awake.

Feeling Xia Weiwei's gaze, Ma Hongwei's face immediately turned red, and he quickly made an excuse: "Um... I just remembered, weren't I going to show you that solar power generation thing?"

"Weiwei, do you want to watch it now, or after you wake up tomorrow?"

"It's already past ten o'clock, which isn't very early."

According to Ma Hongwei, there was not much nightlife during the Republic of China era, and people generally went to bed early.

"Of course, we'll watch it now!"

As Xia Weiwei spoke, she quickened her pace and walked towards the sofa.

"Um?"

Ma Hongwei suddenly noticed that as the other person walked, his clothes were trembling and heaving, with extreme fluctuations.

He thought to himself, "Could it be a vacuum?"

While he was pondering, Xia Weiwei sat down on the sofa.

Her hair was wet, and she had a faint, pleasant fragrance emanating from her.

"Look at this!"

Ma Hongwei opened Bilibili, played a video about photovoltaic power generation, and said to Xia Weiwei, "This is a video filmed here by an Englishman!"

He held the phone in his left hand and placed it between the two of them.

Xia Weiwei looked at the screen and saw a foreigner wearing sunglasses squatting on the cement road.

Behind the other party were huge metal supports, on which were placed plates.

Below is a line of eye-catching yellow translation text.

Xia Weiwei said, "The fonts used in your later generations seem so simple!"

She has been learning traditional Chinese characters since she was a child.

However, not all text is simplified, so she was still able to understand the whole sentence.

"Simplified fonts are easier for people to learn!"

Ma Hongwei said, "Starting in the 1950s, the State Council passed and promulgated the Simplified Chinese Characters Scheme and launched a nationwide literacy campaign. Even the elderly in rural areas had to participate in the literacy campaign and learn to write their own names."

"Before the founding of New China, more than 80% of the population was illiterate, especially in rural areas where the illiteracy rate was as high as 95%. Now, the illiteracy rate has dropped to 2.67%."

"The illiteracy rate is so low?"

Xia Weiwei was shocked.

In their time, they were mostly landlords, rich peasants, capitalists, as well as urban civil servants, intellectuals, and their descendants were not illiterate.

Although the Republic of China proposed the simplification of Chinese characters in 22, it was not implemented until 35. However, it was abolished after only six months.

Such policies are highly unpredictable, making them extremely difficult to promote.

Xia Weiwei shook her head and continued watching the video.

The Englishman then said, "In China, almost 10 trillion kilowatts of energy are delivered every second, which is more than three times the output of all the power plants in the world."

"And in the vast Gobi Desert and sandy lands of Gansu Province in Northwest China, they are using some of it to build solar thermal power plants."

The scene then shifts to a forward-pushing aerial shot.

On the ground, countless supports stood, densely packed, encircling a tall tower in concentric circles.

The top of the tower is bathed in sunlight from all directions, making it extremely dazzling and eye-catching even though it's daytime in the video.

From a distance, it looks like a second sun in the sky.

As the camera pans forward, the words "First Flight Energy Saving" appear on the tower.

Ma Hongwei explained: "This is just one way of applying solar energy. There are a total of 12000 supports. The ones on the supports are special mirrors called heliostats."

"They are able to reflect sunlight onto the central tower, and they move every 10 seconds as the sun's position changes."

"The white tower in the middle is a molten salt tower, which is a heat absorber. It is filled with rock salt that can absorb heat. It can absorb heat not only during the day, but also at night, it can convert the stored heat energy into electrical energy."

Xia Weiwei stared at the screen and exclaimed, "It's unbelievable! They can even generate electricity from sunlight!"

"We also have some Gobi desert areas in our Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Soviet Area. If we could build a power station like this there..."

She knew that she was just thinking about it.

Given the technological level of another era, even with assistance, it would have taken an extremely long time to build such a power plant from scratch.

It also requires a large number of researchers and machinery and equipment, which they simply cannot obtain at present.

Suddenly, Xia Weiwei looked at Ma Hongwei and asked, "Hongwei, what do you think about us going to find your higher-ups?"

"I'm just an ordinary citizen, how could I possibly see them?"

Ma Hongwei said, "Moreover, now that economic development is the central focus and everything is about money, many people do not truly believe in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. There is not only a lot of corruption, but also many traitors who have been bought off by foreign countries and leaked state secrets."

"Several famous national-level scientists have died in car accidents. It would be normal if it were one or two, but seven or eight, or even more, is very abnormal. It is obviously foreign imperialism targeting them."

At this point, Ma Hongwei couldn't help but sigh: "My rank isn't high enough to meet with high-ranking officials. If I happen to encounter a traitor, wouldn't that bring disaster to China in another era?"

This is not an exaggeration on his part.

The main problem is that every time I open Douyin (TikTok), all I see are stories of officials being brought down.

This year is not even halfway over, and four ministerial-level officials have already been dismissed, while there were even more last year.

Xia Weiwei sighed, "I never imagined that China would become so powerful in the future, yet the situation is still far from optimistic!"

"I think we can wait until we have some influence in the future, and be able to meet with the real high-level officials, before telling them."

Ma Hongwei continued, "Right now, we only have 10 cubic meters of space available, which isn't enough to hold much stuff."

"We can study what space evolution requires. Once the space is upgraded and we find higher levels, we can transport more things."

"Um!"

Xia Weiwei nodded: "You're absolutely right. For now, we'll focus on transporting the most crucial medicines back. They're still fighting the Japanese there, and they desperately need these!"

After she finished speaking, she looked back at the screen.

In the video, the British man says, "According to Chinese experts, sunlight is concentrated to heat the salt inside to a liquid state, reaching 550 degrees Celsius. This heat is then used to heat the water, converting it into steam, which in turn powers the huge turbines."

"Believe it or not, this solar-powered rural area can generate 240 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every day, enough to power 50 households in the region."

"Wow!"

Xia Weiwei murmured to herself, "50 families, that's at least one or two million people. That's simply amazing."

In their time, the population of Beiping was only 156 million.

In other words, this one power station is enough to supply electricity to everyone in Beiping, and there is even a surplus.

Soon after, Xia Weiwei asked again, "Hongwei, how can this solar thermal power plant allow foreigners to come and film it? Aren't you afraid they'll steal our secrets?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Hongwei said, "Since they let him film it, they must not be afraid of leaks. Besides, this kind of power plant is not the most advanced. The United States was already researching it in the 1980s and began construction in the 1990s."

Xia Weiwei thought this was the most advanced technology.

Surprisingly, it was just technology from the last century.