Chapter 217

Zhao Jianguo's finger still rested on the phone Screen, that message lay quietly in the notification bar: 【Northwest direction, received distress signal】【Equipment type: solar irrigation system】【Fault code: E-721】. He didn't put down the phone, nor turn back into the house, just stood in place looking for two more seconds.

This APP was made by He Yushui, originally just to manage the light bulbs, water pipes, stoves and gas in the Siheyuan. Nobody expected that, just two days ago after connecting to the national community network, the first out-of-province signal came like this.

He knocked on the doorframe next door. He Yushui was about to sleep, her hair a mess, hearing the movement she poked her head out: "What's up?"

"Minqin County." Zhao Jianguo handed over the phone, "Their greenhouse there had its top blown off by sandstorm, the system just received a distress call."

He Yushui took the phone, squinted at the Data Stream for a moment: "It's using the old protocol, image transmission compressed, only able to see the frame outline." She quickly went back inside, opened the computer, plugged in a USB drive to check the backend log: "The signal was sent from the agricultural technology station, the IP location is correct."

"Any on-site photos?"

"No. Only a thirty-second survey video, the wind is too strong, the picture shakes badly."

Zhao Jianguo stared at the timestamp in the corner of the Screen, "It should be evening there now, tomorrow morning the wind will get stronger. Waiting for them to send more data might already be too late."

He Yushui looked up at him, "You want to start designing now?"

"Can't wait." he said, "Transportation is inconvenient there, materials are hard to move, we need to give them something that can be assembled quickly."

She nodded, opened the modeling interface, "I'll set up the platform, you draw the structure."

The two sat at the small table in the living room, the TV connected to the laptop, Projection of a 3D grid. Zhao Jianguo flipped through weather records while calling up the lightweight truss model stored in the system. Outside the window it was quiet, only the sound of keyboard taps and occasional coughing.

"Wind resistance rating calculated at level eight." he said, "But the material needs to be cheap and durable, best to use steel pipes with bolts for assembly, available at the local hardware store."

"Weight also needs to be controlled." He Yushui added, "I heard the mountain roads there are narrow, big trucks can't get in, manual handling can't exceed fifteen kilograms per piece."

Zhao Jianguo nodded, drew a few lines on the sketch, then deleted and started over. Finally he settled on a hexagonal folding frame, the top an arc surface, referencing the force distribution of a yurt, each joint left with a buffer groove.

"Taken apart it can lie flat for transport." He pointed at the model rotating the angle, "Six units, three people can assemble one in two hours."

He Yushui immediately generated a 3D drawing, embedding an encrypted channel. Zhao Jianguo recorded a voice segment: "The base anchor points buried sixty centimeters deep, add rubber pads at the connections for shock absorption. When wind speed exceeds level seven, retract the top."

Clicked send.

The Screen's lower right corner popped up a prompt: 【Remote technical support record generated, enable tracking?】

He clicked "Yes".

The time displayed 11:17 PM.

The next morning, Dong Xu passed by and saw him still slumped on the sofa, half a cup of Cool Tea on the Desk.

"You didn't sleep all night?"

"Waiting for a reply." Zhao Jianguo rubbed his face, "Last night I made a protective frame drawing for Gansu, not sure if it'll be usable."

"You can still do that?" Dong Xu glared, "Can our APP even manage out-of-province?"

"Now we can." He Yushui came in holding soy milk, "The national network went live yesterday officially, we're considered the first to take an order here."

San Daye somehow also came over, squeezing in front of the TV to look at the lingering structure Projection.

"This looks like a tent, doesn't it?" he said, "But these lines are all curvy, is it really sturdy?"

"The arc shape bears the wind force." Zhao Jianguo simply explained, "The stronger the wind, the tighter it presses."

Sha Zhu poked his head from the Kitchen, "If it really holds up, won't they call us 'Beijing Divine Craft'?"

No one responded. Everyone was actually waiting.

The third day at noon, the sun bleached the Courtyard white.

Zhao Jianguo had just taken two bites of rice when his phone suddenly chimed.

The APP pushed an image.

Yellow sand filled the sky, several silver-white honeycomb-like frames firmly covered the greenhouse, windbreak nets pulled between the frames, ground stakes driven deep into the soil. In the distance, figures gathered to watch, and a child climbed onto the frame waving.

The caption read: "Zhao Engineer, last night's level-eight gale, not a single one fell! The locals all call it the 'Iron Tent'! — Xiao Zhang, Minqin Agricultural Technology Station."

The house exploded in chatter.

"It really stood up!" Dong Xu slapped the table and stood up, "This is stronger than the stove on our roof!"

San Daye leaned closer to the TV, squinting to count the brackets in the photo, "Six…… all stable?"

"Not one collapsed." Zhao Jianguo enlarged the image, pointing at the joints, "Look here, the rubber pads took effect, no hard breakage occurred."

He Yushui silently downloaded and saved the image, then opened the video attachment. The picture shook, showing a group of farmers gathered around the frame talking.

"Who designed this thing?" an old man wearing a hat asked.

"An engineer from Beijing." the young technician said with a smile, "We welded according to the drawing sent on the phone."

A kid beside him tiptoed to touch the frame, "Dad, can I climb up?"

"Don't touch the bolts!" that person laughed, stopping him, "This is a life-saving thing."

The camera turned, the child shouted toward the sky, "Thank you, Beijing uncle!"

He Yushui suddenly lowered her head.

She didn't cry out loud, but her shoulders gave a slight shudder.

Zhao Jianguo saw it, said nothing, just poured a cup of warm water and placed it beside her hand.

She raised her hand to wipe her eye corner, softly saying, "What we're doing isn't just fixing lights and replacing pipes… it's truly changing others' days."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

Then Sha Zhu grinned, "Hey, in the future if I fix my stove, could I also apply for national support?"

Dong Xu kicked him, "Be serious."

Zhao Jianguo walked to the window, watching the clothes hanging in the Courtyard sway gently in the breeze. He knew, this APP from today onward is different.

It is no longer just a housekeeper tool for the Siheyuan.

But something that can cross mountains, pass through wind, and deliver into the hands of those who need it.

He opened the system interface, pausing before the new module prompt that popped up.

【Remote Collaboration Module】 unlocked.

Function description: Supports cross-regional real-time modeling sharing, multi-terminal synchronized debugging, automatic archiving of emergency plans.

He opened the usage log, discovering there were already three new requests queued waiting for processing.

Inner Mongolia——Pasture area water purification device malfunction.

Guizhou——Mountain area photovoltaic panel tilt angle abnormal.

Hebei——Collective grain warehouse temperature control failure.

He Yushui walked over, stood beside him and looked for a while.

"Who should we help next?" she asked.

"That little Zhang from People's Diligence just private messaged me." Zhao Jianguo swiped the screen, "They want to turn this design into a universal template and promote it to the three surrounding towns."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'll open-source the algorithm." he said, "Let them adjust the parameters themselves according to the terrain."

He Yushui chuckled, "Then you need to write the operating steps clearly; others aren't as familiar with these twists and turns as you are."

"I've already recorded an explanatory video." He looked up at her, "Help me review it all, and fix any parts that aren't clear."

She responded, sat down, and turned on the machine.

Zhao Jianguo continued to browse the backend data. The user growth curve went from gentle to steep; in just three days, the number of access points in county towns and township communities exceeded two hundred.

An account marked "Taklamakan Desert Edge Village" just came online, stayed only a dozen seconds, then went offline again.

But he noticed that the other party attempted to upload a hand-drawn sketch; although the format was wrong and it failed to send, the file name read: "We want to grow vegetables."

He marked this record alone with a star.

He Yushui turned her head to look over, "What are you noting?"

"A place that hasn't been connected yet." he said, "But they want to give it a try."

She didn't ask further.

Zhao Jianguo exited the backend, returned to the main interface. He created a new entry in the "Mission Log" and typed a sentence:

"The meaning of technology is to let hope reach where the wind cannot."

The system automatically saved.

When the page refreshed, a new notification popped up in the upper right corner:

【New distress signal arrived】

【Location: West shore of Qinghai Lake ecological observation station】

【Content: Nighttime power supply interrupted, monitoring equipment shut down】

He opened the details and saw a blurry night‑scene photo; ice clung to the iron‑sheet eaves, and discarded battery packs were piled at the doorway.

The map showed that the place was at an altitude of 3,200 meters, with the nearest town 140 kilometers away.

He Yushui came over holding a cup, "Another one?"

Zhao Jianguo enlarged the photo, pointing at a corner of the roof, "There used to be a solar panel bracket there; now it's empty."

"Broken?"

"It might have been snapped by the snow." He dragged the timeline to check the local weather, "The night before last a blizzard hit, with temperatures dropping to minus twenty‑one degrees."

"Are you going to make a new bracket now?"

"No need." He shook his head, "What they lack most right now is electricity. I'll first design a portable energy‑storage pack solution so they can hold out until the weather clears."

He began to retrieve the parameters of low‑temperature lithium batteries, while simultaneously opening the satellite map to measure distance.

He Yushui stood behind him and looked for a while, then suddenly said, "Do you know? Little Zhang just replied."

"What did he say?"

"He said that in their village primary school, the first thing the children did when class started today was to draw 'Beijing Engineer'."