Chapter 2424: Sonia (I)

The risks were mainly twofold: one was dying in an accident during the expedition. But Wang Kai thought this wasn't a big problem. She would receive protection equivalent to Senator-level, and they would try to avoid putting her in danger. If they really encountered a major storm or were surrounded by enemy superior forces—a "total party wipe" situation—presumably Wang Kai himself would also be dead, and he wouldn't need to worry about what happened next.

The greatest danger was Sonia escaping midway. Reportedly this young woman had linguistic talent, was proficient in multiple languages, had rich field expedition experience, and was also skilled in sailing. Although a single woman's situation in this timeline was very dangerous, she might be desperately homesick or no longer able to endure her slave status and take the risk of running away. In East Asia of this timeline, it wasn't hard to find English or Portuguese ships in many trading ports. If she was determined to seek help from compatriots to escape, she might actually manage to get away.

Of course, there was another hidden concern. Sonia was a woman, and also a certain Senator's life secretary. This expedition would take at least half a year, with mostly men on board. It seemed somewhat inappropriate... However, he had already designated Li Huamei as captain. They could live together and avoid suspicion.

Wang Kai thought it over. Before approaching Lin Hanlong, it would be best to first do some peripheral investigation. See how the relationship was between this English female naturalist and Senator Lin, and whether they had children.

If the two had a good relationship and had children, the possibility of Sonia escaping midway would be greatly reduced.

Where to start? The first thing he thought of was the girls of the "Little Cang Club." But Sonia herself was a club member. The other girls would certainly say good things, and besides, several of them weren't currently in Lingao.

Logically, going directly to the Chief of Staff Office to investigate would be simplest. However, information about Senators' life secretaries was privacy content. Without an official letter from the relevant department, even Senators couldn't access it.

Then he could only start from Sonia's workplace! Fortunately, this wasn't a secret. Sonia's workplace was the newly built "Natural History Museum" in Lingao.

Like many of the Senate's departments, the "Natural History Museum" had a grand name, but in terms of scale, it probably couldn't even compare to a cultural center in an 18th-tier small county town in the old timeline.

Its predecessor was the "Natural Specimen Display Room" within the Fangcaodi Academy. Under the guidance of Senator teachers, Fangcaodi teachers and students had collected various mineral, plant, and insect specimens locally in Lingao. Later, after they could produce formalin and arsenic, animal specimens were added.

This specimen room gradually grew more substantial as the Senate expanded. From being limited to just Lingao, it expanded to all of Hainan, then Guangdong, Shandong, Liaodong, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Jeju Island, Kyushu... Wherever Senators set foot, specimens were continuously sent back here. Gradually, the specimen room became increasingly cramped, expanding from one room to three rooms, gradually showing a trend to occupy the entire building. Moreover, the Senators felt such a "rich" collection shouldn't be kept only in Fangcaodi but should be seen by more people for popular science education.

Thus, building a new Natural History Museum was put on the agenda. Qi Feng was again selected as the Natural History Museum's designer. The reason was that many of his design drafts were favored by many bigwigs within the Senate.

Senator Qi had designed buildings for the Senate many times and had experienced enough of the Senate or rather the Planning Agency's stinginess. So this time he restrained himself considerably, not overusing his aesthetic concepts. Taking "simple," "plain," and "dignified" as criteria, he designed this Lingao Natural History Museum.

The exterior was modeled after Beijing's Natural History Museum, a Soviet-style neoclassical building, with major simplifications according to the Senate's material capabilities. Roman columns and other decorations were eliminated, the main building was shrunk, and the wing buildings' heights were also compressed. To compensate for the omitted architectural decorations, at the "strong suggestion" of several Senators, Qi Feng added a clock tower to this building, fitted with the Science Department's symbol: a large clock.

The Natural History Museum's main building had a floor area of 2,000 square meters, two stories high. It was divided into four exhibition halls and one exhibition room. There were also supporting facilities like specimen storage rooms and production rooms. Among Lingao's public buildings, it was quite eye-catching.

Because it was positioned as "popular science for all," this museum was established outside Bairen City, by the Wenlan River, adjacent to the stadium. The surroundings had landscaping and landscape design. Although it couldn't be called "magnificent" or "splendid," in the 17th century, it was a one-of-a-kind existence.

As soon as the museum was initiated, Lin Hanlong applied for a position there for Sonia. The reason was simple: he himself was almost never home. Leaving such a blonde beauty at home... As the saying goes, one fears not thieves stealing but thieves coveting. The fuss he'd made back then, spending so much money and owing so many favors to buy this girl back, had been sensational throughout the entire Senate. The first time Sonia went out after arriving at the Lin household, she caused a crowd to gather in the Senator residential area. Whether Senators or life secretaries, everyone wanted to see this exotic beauty's face—especially since she also had the title of "naturalist."

The Remote Survey Department had set their sights on this young lady with extensive field investigation experience from the very beginning. They even specially visited to suggest letting Sonia "work" at the Remote Survey Department. Lin Hanlong initially refused, but thinking again, he wasn't the type who wanted to stay home and accompany his wife all day. Leaving such a lively girl at home would either give her depression or leave her idle all day with nothing to do, getting into some kind of trouble...

If she took a position at some department and had things to do, it would actually prevent problems arising from idleness. Moreover, he knew the people at the Remote Survey Department and the Science Department above it—mostly technical personnel devoted to their specialties, with fairly upright conduct. This point he was fairly reassured about.

So he agreed to have Sonia "seconded" to the Remote Survey Department. Of course, at that time he hadn't agreed to let Sonia go on maritime expeditions—he only agreed that when the survey team conducted land surveys on Hainan, they could bring her along.

After a period of time, Lin Hanlong saw that Sonia's mood was stable and she showed deep interest in Senate knowledge. Plus the girls of the "Little Cang Club" soft-talked and hard-pressed him to "do the work," he gradually relaxed the restrictions. He allowed her to accompany the survey team on maritime expeditions.

Several maritime expeditions passed without incident, but Lin Hanlong felt this wasn't a long-term solution after all. Expeditions were short-term; most of the time, the female naturalist was still at home. Just then, Sonia became pregnant. Lin Hanlong heard the museum was being prepared and specially went to request Dr. Zhong, who was in charge of this matter. So as soon as museum preparations began, Sonia legitimately joined the preparatory team. This time it wasn't a secondment but a proper job with a position: Level Three Researcher at the Natural History Museum.

At this moment, this Level Three Researcher at the Natural History Museum had just woken up. Seeing sunlight shining through the gap in the curtains, she fumbled around the pillow and found the birthday gift Lin Hanlong had given her last year: a Seagull ST1601K movement fitted with a handcrafted silver watch case by skilled artisans.

This type of watch had just begun limited external sales through No. 82 last year, with sales restricted to Senators and a few senior naturalized citizen cadres. Before that, watches were only issued to navigators, officers, and engineering technicians who needed precise timekeeping, and occasionally given as prizes to meritorious naturalized citizens.

As soon as this type of watch went on sale at No. 82, quite a few Senators immediately bought them as gifts for their close ones. Sonia thus received one.

The watch was a novel thing for Sonia. As a naturalist proficient in navigation, she understood the significance of precise timekeeping and had witnessed the efforts craftsmen and scholars put into it. But from the moment she saw the watch, she realized all the efforts she had witnessed in the past were meaningless. Because the Australians had already miniaturized timekeeping devices to such an extent, and its precision, one could say, far surpassed all existing timekeeping devices.

When she shared this observation with Zhong Xiaoying, seeing Zhong Xiaoying's hesitant expression, she realized perhaps her knowledge was still insufficient—these Australians had even more precise timekeeping devices.

Therefore, when Lin Hanlong gave her a watch as a gift, although her sense of shock at "Australian technology" and "Senate miracles" had faded considerably with the passage of time, she was still delighted beyond measure the moment she held it.

The watch was very exquisitely made. Rather than calling it a timekeeping device, it was better to call it an exquisite piece of jewelry!

Through the glass face—this was also one of the parts that currently couldn't be self-produced and required old-timeline stock, and was one of the current research topics at Lin Hanlong's optical factory—the blued hands were approaching ten o'clock.

Sonia rarely slept in before, but since having the baby, this had become the norm. Last night, she and the nanny had struggled until dawn to get the baby to sleep—this was a high-needs baby. Right, this term was also something a Senator had said. Speaking of which, the Australian Senators knew almost everything. They could even explain A through D why her stomach hurt during her period. This terrifying "erudition" had shocked the newly arrived Miss Sharper.

Now, she had completely adapted. Not only had she adapted to the Australians' "erudition," but also to the Australian way of life. For example, she had become accustomed to the Australians' more form-fitting but lightweight and comfortable clothing, not wearing corsets, and not needing to wear seven or eight layers of skirts in cold weather.

Obviously, Australian clothes were lighter, more flexible, and more convenient for movement. However, she still couldn't accept wearing trousers outside. At any time, she had to wear a skirt—as a compromise, the hem was shortened to just above the ankles, showing a bit of lower leg—of course, the lower legs had to wear a pair of knee-high socks.

(End of Chapter)