Light Speed ​​War

Chapter 247: Taking care of Nana

Zhou Yuan found a floral towel, wet it, and used it to wipe Panna's face and mouth, cleaning away the dirt and grime. He wiped her face and mouth four or five times.

Panna subconsciously scratched the mosquito bites on her thigh every now and then. Zhou Yuan was also getting sleepy. He had been wiping himself down and was about to leave the room when he saw this. He scratched his head, then resolutely found a stool and a palm-leaf fan. He sat down and used the fan to fan Panna, driving away the mosquitoes. Zhou Yuan himself was wearing mid-length trousers and felt his legs were itchy, so he kept swinging his legs to keep the mosquitoes away. Later, he moved the mosquito repellent between his feet and fixed the fan's oscillation, blowing it towards his back. In this way, Zhou Yuan protected himself from mosquito bites while simultaneously using the palm-leaf fan to drive away mosquitoes and fan Panna.

Panna was asleep, breathing evenly, and her hand had stopped scratching. Zhou Yuan gritted his teeth, overcoming his weariness with strong willpower. He fanned himself with a palm leaf fan while looking at the crescent moon outside the window, thinking about how Panna had shielded him from drinking at noon. He couldn't fall asleep no matter what; he had to stay awake until dawn.

But time passed very slowly. After a long time, Zhou Yuan felt a buzzing sound around him. He pulled back the palm-leaf fan and waved it around himself to drive it away. The buzzing sound disappeared, but when Zhou Yuan continued to fan Panna, the buzzing sound reappeared. Zhou Yuan simply ignored it and deliberately moved his right leg out, trying to let the mosquito bite his thigh and then swat it. But the buzzing sound seemed to keep lingering in his mind. Zhou Yuan thought that this was fine too, as the buzzing sound would keep him awake. So he simply ignored it and continued to fan Panna.

Zhou Yuan was finding it increasingly difficult to stay awake, so he tried to focus his attention on the topics he had discussed with General Chu and Chu Xiaolu during the day. He began to seriously reconsider the Western Turks' intentions in not provoking their homeland. Although his words during the day seemed reasonable and had convinced General Chu and the others, Zhou Yuan now felt that he had overlooked one crucial point. That point was: if the Western Turks' technology advanced to the point where they could land on nearby planets and colonize them, could they, in order to avoid future troubles, or to monopolize the planet's resources, possibly wage war against other countries on Earth, implementing genocide or other similar policies, especially against their homeland, the Eastern Turks? Zhou Yuan believed this possibility could not be ruled out. After all, although the Eastern Turks and Western Turks were currently forty or fifty years behind in technology, there was no guarantee that the Eastern Turks' technology wouldn't advance rapidly one day, posing a threat to the Western Turks. If such a threat arose, the Western Turks would certainly take aggressive measures against the Eastern Turks.

That depends on the attitude of the Western Kingdom's decision-makers at that time. Will they fight amongst themselves to monopolize resources, or will they join hands to share them? In other words, in this major future event, their own country, the Eastern Kingdom, will not have much say. Zhou Yuan still prefers to assume the worst about the Western Kingdom. If the Western Kingdom really takes radical measures, what should the Eastern Kingdom do?

Zhou Yuan repeatedly deduced and studied this problem in his mind, without stopping the fan in his hand or the shaking of his legs.

Later, Zhou Yuan pondered questions about artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and the origin of the universe, which helped him pass the time.

Later, Zhou Yuan's mind seemed to be out of his control. He thought to himself that he must persevere and not fall asleep, so he slapped himself a few times to clear his head.

Zhou Yuan finally noticed that it was already getting light outside the window, and he estimated that it was around four o'clock in the morning.

Zhou Yuan got up and moved the chair he was sitting in. Because he hadn't slept much all night, he was exhausted and had little strength. The chair fell to the ground with a heavy thud when he moved it.

The sound of the chair leg hitting the ground was quite loud, waking Panna. Panna opened her eyes and was surprised to see Zhou Yuan moving a chair. Panna looked at her clothes, but nothing seemed amiss.

"Brother Zhou, what are you still doing here?"

Panna got up and saw the palm-leaf fan by the bedside, and seemed to understand.

Zhou Yuan slowly turned around, yawned, and said weakly, "Nana, you really have to buy a mosquito net today."

Panna choked up a little, "Brother Zhou, you didn't sleep all night?"

"Nana, I need to go back as soon as possible. It won't look good if Uncle Pan sees me here."

"What are you afraid of?" Pana asked Zhou Yuan with a grin, then moved closer to him.

Zhou Yuan took two steps back, holding onto the chair. "Nana, I'm going back to sleep for a while, I'm so sleepy. Remember to buy a mosquito net today."

"Brother Zhou, thank you."

"I should be thanking you. If it weren't for you, I probably would have collapsed on the table yesterday."

Pan Na saw that Zhou Yuan's eyes were red. "Big brother, go back and get some sleep. I'll come find you when you wake up."

"Ok."

Panna and Zhou Yuan left the room and came to the yard. When Panna saw the vomit still there, she felt nauseous.

Zhou Yuan immediately ran to the kitchen, skillfully shoveled ash to cover the vomit, then swept the vomit into a dustpan and poured it into the toilet.

Panna looked at Zhou Yuan's efficiency with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"Nana, what are you laughing at?"

"Big brother, how come you're so skilled at this?"

"You should thank me for throwing up before you last night."

"I'm not going to talk about it anymore, it's disgusting."

Panna walked ahead, with Zhou Yuan following behind. As Panna prepared to open the courtyard gate, she suddenly turned around, catching Zhou Yuan off guard. Panna quickly kissed Zhou Yuan on the right cheek. Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment. Panna had already opened the gate and waved to Zhou Yuan, who waved back.

Zhou Yuan returned to his yard and cleaned up the vomit covered in soot in the corner. He brushed his teeth, rinsed his mouth, drank some water, then lay down on his bed in his room and quickly fell asleep.

Zhou Yuan was fast asleep when someone shook him. He groggily opened his eyes. "Mom, so early?"

"Hey kid, it's still early. Get up and eat."

Zhou Yuan got up, drank two bowls of porridge, and then lay back down on the bed and fell fast asleep. He slept until about eleven o'clock and felt much better.

Zhou Yuan had lunch with his mother again and told her that he wanted to go visit Pan Na.

"Hey, Xiao Zhou, have you had lunch yet?"

"Uncle Pan, I've already eaten."

"Brother Zhou, would you like to eat some more?"

"I really can't eat."

"Xiao Zhou, you drank quite a bit yesterday. Are you feeling better now?"

"Much better. Uncle Pan, I have some memory of what happened after yesterday. Uncle Pan, what happened after General Chu and the others..."

"Xiao Zhou, you're really something. Yesterday after lunch, you even escorted General Chu and the others to the alley entrance and saw them off to their car."

"Dad, I don't remember."

"Silly girl, you've had too much to drink, how could you remember?"

"Uncle Pan, did I do anything rude or inappropriate afterward?"

No. Why are you asking that?

"I'm worried that he might cause trouble if he drinks too much."

"That's not the case."

Zhou Yuan thought to himself that he must have been holding on by his own strength back then, so he was relieved.

"Dad, I'm going to the supermarket with Brother Zhou later to buy a mosquito net."

"Oh dear, girl, I forgot about that."

Zhou Yuan and Pan Na exchanged a smile.

Panna quickly finished her meal, put down her chopsticks, went to her room to get her small handbag and a parasol. The two went out together under the scorching sun and left the alley.

Zhou Yuan knew the way well; the large supermarket was only about 800 or 900 meters away. The two walked there, chatting as they went.

Passersby on the street were giving Panna and Zhou Yuan sidelong glances; Panna's crop top was too eye-catching.

"By the way, where are your parents?"

"Brother Zhou, they're going back to Beining from Jinning tomorrow, and we'll be flying back to China the day after tomorrow morning."

"Huh? So soon? Aren't you on summer vacation? Why don't you stay a few more days?"

"My parents are going back to China. Our summer vacation is nominally long, but in reality..."

"What actually happened?"

Panna hesitated for a moment, "Actually, we have a month of special training every summer vacation, which is a required course for college students."

"Special training? In what way? Can you tell me?"

“The training content is different every summer. For example, last year we trained in the military, and this year we went to a high-tech company.”

"Is this the case at every university?"

"Yes, it's state-mandated."

Zhou Yuan was slightly surprised. The universities in the Eastern Kingdom did not have such arrangements during the summer vacation. Many college students would go back to their hometowns, set up stalls, or do odd jobs during the summer vacation. It was nothing like the unified organization in the Western Kingdom.

As they chatted, they arrived at the supermarket. A cool breeze blew in at the entrance, and Panna, seemingly still not used to the cold air from the air conditioner, yawned.

When the two entered the supermarket, they were surprised to find it packed with people, including quite a few elderly people. They strolled around the supermarket side-by-side, with Pan Na pointing out items and comparing their prices with those in the Western Kingdom. Zhou Yuan, having nothing else to do, simply accompanied Pan Na.

After browsing in the supermarket for about an hour, Panna lost interest and the two went straight to buy a mosquito net. Panna asked the clerk if they had any mosquito nets that were supported by iron poles, similar to those in Mongolian yurts. The clerk said no, and that mosquito nets required the clerk to provide their own support poles. Zhou Yuan and Panna were stunned when they heard this, because the bed Panna was sleeping in was a single bed, like a student dormitory bed, although student dormitory beds have upright supports.

Seeing Panna's disappointed look, Zhou Yuan apologized to the waiter and then pulled Panna aside.

"It's okay, just buy that mosquito net. It's the right size. If you don't have a support pole, we can figure something out. Or I can make one for you."

"Brother Zhou, is this alright?"

"Sure, I can't do high-tech stuff, but I can't do simple things."

Pan Na's expression changed from worry to joy. When she woke up this morning, she saw that the mosquito bites on her thighs were red and swollen. If Zhou Yuan hadn't taken care of her last night, she felt like she would have been eaten by the mosquitoes.

Zhou Yuan and Pan Na went to the waiter again, pointed to a mosquito net, and the waiter searched inside before handing them a newly packaged mosquito net.

After confirming that the size of the label was correct, Zhou Yuan took the mosquito net and the two left. Zhou Yuan turned around, picked up two bottles of soda, and then each of them carried a watermelon.

At the cashier, when Panna was about to pay, Zhou Yuan paid first, saying that it was rare for Panna to be back in China and the items weren't expensive.

After leaving the supermarket, the two drank ice-cold soda, feeling refreshed and invigorated.