7. “Traveling Through Time and Space”

Heavy rain and thunder poured down over Nangang as the motor home entered a long tunnel. “Taipei Is Not My Home...” The voice of Luo Dayou accompanied Cai Shinan on his journey.

Looking into the rearview mirror, Cai Shinan was astonished to discover that his graying hair was rapidly turning black. His eyebrows were becoming thinner, and the wrinkles on his face were fading.

The odometer on the dashboard was rapidly counting backward. The leather seats began to give off the distinct smell of new leather, and the interior of the vehicle gradually became newer as well.

When he emerged from the tunnel, however, there was no wind or rain on the Xindian side.

“What the hell is going on?”

Cai Shinan muttered to himself in bewilderment.

As the motor home approached a rest area, Shinan got out and walked into the shopping area. He caught sight of an old man eating and reading a newspaper. The headline read:

“Chinese Military Exercises in the Taiwan Strait: Missiles Test-Fired; U.S. Rushes Two Carrier Strike Groups to the Region.”

Images of the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis suddenly flashed through Shinan’s mind.

“No way. What the heck is going on?”

Shinan walked over to the newspaper rack, picked up a copy, and quickly scanned it.

“Oh my God! It’s 1996? Am I dreaming?”

His cell phone rang.

Shinan pulled out his phone and answered.

“Hey, big brother, did you bring your suit with you? Mom said that if you didn’t, she’ll go with you to a suit store tomorrow and help you buy a ready-made one.”

“A-Fen, why do I need to bring a suit?”

“Big brother, you really have a terrible memory. Mom wants you to go on a blind date!”

“A blind date?”

Shinan suddenly remembered the girl he had been set up with back then, Zhang Yahui, the daughter of township chief Zhang Zhiguang. She had eventually married a tycoon in the electronics industry and become his current boss’s wife.

Shinan muttered to himself:

“I really shouldn’t have let her go back then! If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have to worry about pleasing her now or live such a pathetic life... This time, I’m going back for the blind date. I’ll have another chance to deal with her, and this time I’m definitely going to seize the opportunity!”

When he returned to Donggang, Shinan saw the same old streets as before, including the old harbor that had not yet been renovated.

He left his vehicle at a private paid parking lot and took a ferry back to Baisha Wharf.

When he returned to his family home, it was indeed the same old three-sided courtyard house.

The blind date was arranged at a seafood restaurant. Zhang Yahui arrived accompanied by her parents and younger sister.

During the meal, Yahui’s father, Township Chief Zhang Zhiguang, proposed that their first son after marriage take the mother’s surname.

This time, Cai Shinan readily agreed.

The marriage was immediately settled.

Just then, Shinan’s phone rang.

He pulled it out of his suit pocket to answer it.

Its unusual appearance immediately caught the attention of the entire Zhang family.

Shinan spoke a few words and then hung up.

Zhang Zhiguang looked at him curiously.

“Shinan, is that a telephone?”

“Yes, Uncle Guang. It’s a telephone from the future. It’s called a smartphone. It’s very lightweight and can be held in your hand. It can also be used as a camera and connected to the Internet.”

“A telephone from the future? A camera? The Internet?”

The township chief widened his eyes and examined it with great interest.

“Where did you buy it?”

Cai Shinan realized that he had let something slip.

So he answered vaguely, “I designed it myself.”

“Let me take a look, will you?”

Without waiting for Shinan’s permission, Zhang Zhiguang took the phone from his hand.

“How come there aren’t any buttons on this thing?”

“It has a touchscreen. Just tap the different icons on the screen with your finger, and you can operate all kinds of functions.”

Shinan gave him a brief explanation.

“This design of yours is incredible! There must be a huge business opportunity here. I’ll invest in you and set up a factory to manufacture them.”

“Uncle Guang, manufacturing this kind of phone isn’t something an ordinary factory can handle. The internal components are extremely complicated.”

Shinan realized that his future father-in-law was actually serious.

“This is going to be trouble.”

So he deliberately said those things, hoping Uncle Guang would back down on his own.

“No problem! Just go ahead and do it. Set up the factory and establish the company. I’ll take care of all those matters.”

Zhang Zhiguang’s eyes sparkled with excitement. He was convinced that this new product had enormous market potential.

Seeing that he had put himself in an impossible position, Cai Shinan had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept his future father-in-law’s arrangement.

In less than a year, Zhang Zhiguang really had the company and factory up and running.

The company, Guangnan Communications Technology, was located on Little Liuqiu Island.

But then a problem arose.

The machinery and equipment needed to manufacture smartphones had not yet been invented at that time.

Zhang Zhiguang was determined to see the project through. He invited several friends in the business community to invest together, assembled substantial financial resources, and recruited machinery designers from overseas.

Cai Shinan organized a design team.

After two years of low-profile research and development, the manufacturing machinery was gradually built, and production of smartphones finally began.

With extensive coverage by the news media, Guangnan Communications Technology quickly became the focus of attention both at home and abroad.

Only then did Cai Shinan truly realize that rather than being a high-profile general manager attracting everyone’s attention, he would have been better off returning to his original job as an ordinary employee.

He had become a bird trapped in a cage, completely deprived of his personal freedom.

The only thing that prevented him from regretting everything was his wife, Zhang Yahui.

She regarded him as an idol and remained completely devoted to him, always treating him with absolute obedience and affection.