"Huh? Why are there only 27 dishes? Our table has ten people, and each person can order three dishes. Shouldn't there be 30 dishes on the table?" When the staff responsible for distributing the food announced that all dishes had been served, someone calculated the number of dishes on the table and found that three dishes were missing.
"Could it be that three dishes were lost during transportation?" someone guessed curiously.
"Not necessarily. Perhaps when the delivery person went to pick up the dishes from those restaurants, they accidentally missed three dishes!"
"It's also possible that some restaurants simply didn't open. After all, the menu was submitted 10 days ago. If something happened during these 10 days, it's normal for the restaurant not to open!"
"Alright, let's stop discussing it. With 30 dishes, possibly from 30 different cities across the country, it's normal to have some omissions. Anyway, 27 dishes are more than enough for us 10 people. Let's start eating and don't worry about anything else!" the leader in Han attire said. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Just as they were about to pick up their chopsticks, a person at the table who had remained silent suddenly spoke, "Everyone, my fellow workers, I am very sorry, but these three dishes are not missing because I didn't order any dishes myself, so I don't have the right to eat them!"
"Also, if it weren't for the company's strict requirement, I wouldn't have come today. Now that the meal has started, I can leave. Everyone, enjoy your meal, I'll take my leave now!" With that, the young man, who was also not wearing a work uniform, left the table directly, becoming the first person to depart.
"What's wrong with this Engineer Fan? I feel like there's a story behind this!" Seeing someone leave, a curious person couldn't help but say.
"I don't know, but who is he putting on a grumpy face for? It's rare for the company to provide such a benefit, allowing us to order from anywhere along the entire Black-Guangxi line, and have it delivered to us in just two hours. Such an opportunity is probably never to be encountered again. Everyone is so happy, only he's putting on a grumpy face. Don't mind him, let's eat!" another person said with clear displeasure.
"Manager Chen, do you know what's going on with Engineer Fan?" Finally, someone couldn't suppress their curiosity and asked the leader, the only one wearing Han attire.
After all, this leader was Engineer Fan's direct superior, and when Engineer Fan left abruptly, this leader didn't react at all, not even showing surprise, as if he already knew this would happen. Therefore, he must know something.
"This is his personal matter, so please don't inquire about it. Eating well is the most important thing. As Old Hu just said, being able to have the newly completed vacuum high-speed magnetic levitation railway deliver takeout for you, bringing dishes made in over 60 different provinces and cities across the country to one place at the same time, is a grand occasion that happens once in many years. Even the Manchu Han Imperial Feast of ancient times probably couldn't compare to the banquet before us."
"You know, although the Manchu Han Imperial Feast had 100 dishes, each dish was actually prepared on-site by the imperial kitchen. Compared to the 27 dishes before us, each dish comes from a different city, a different restaurant, and a different chef. This is an opportunity that one encounters perhaps once in a lifetime. Why do you have so many questions? Hurry up and finish these dishes!" After the leader said this, everyone suddenly realized and transformed into enthusiastic eaters, devouring the food.
So, while 10 people eating 27 dishes might sound like a lot, the majority of the people present were hardworking individuals from construction sites, doing manual labor every day. Their appetites were naturally much larger than others.
Moreover, many people only ate dishes and not rice, so even with 27 dishes, they were almost all gone in less than half an hour, becoming part of everyone's enjoyment. And this unprecedented super gathering of dishes from across the country slowly came to a close!
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"Now, we bring you the latest news from our station. The vacuum magnetic levitation ultra-high-speed pipeline railway, originally scheduled to be built in 10 years, from our country's distant H Province all the way south to Guangxi, has officially achieved north-south connectivity and successfully completed its trial operation today!"
"This is the world's first vacuum magnetic levitation high-speed pipeline railway, independently developed, produced, and built by our country. The entire pipeline is 5,032 kilometers long, passing through H, J, L, Beijing, J, T, L, Y, A, S, Z, S, F, G, G, and other provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, totaling 138 administrative districts. It has 67 stations, forming an unprecedented high-speed artery! The task was completed three years ahead of the projected ten years!"
"From the northernmost tip to the southernmost tip of our country, a journey of over 5,000 kilometers can be completed in as little as two hours, which is more than three times faster than airplanes! However, the travel cost and energy consumption are less than 2% of that of airplanes! This is because in a vacuum environment, the train's movement is almost without resistance!"
"For many years, many people have said that we have not reached world-class levels in rail transportation. But now, we can proudly tell the world that not only have we reached world-class levels in rail transportation, but we have also achieved world-leading, unparalleled levels, levels that only Chinese people can achieve!"
"This is the dream of countless railway workers over the years, and it also represents the great rejuvenation of our nation, which is striding forward!"
"Today, China High-Speed Rail Technology Development Co., Ltd., the constructor and developer of the entire project, also held a unique and grand super dinner, offering an unprecedented feast to all pipeline builders in a way exclusive to the vacuum magnetic levitation ultra-high-speed pipeline railway!"
"It is understood that to build the entire pipeline, the high-speed railway development company has set up work stations in 32 cities across the country. Each work station has anywhere from 200 employees to 8,260 employees. They have a total of 123,800 employees working diligently on the land of our country for the construction of the pipeline."
"To repay these hardworking and lovely workers, the company specially held this super dinner. Ten days in advance, the company asked the workers to write down the hometown dishes they most wanted to eat. These dishes could be from anywhere, regardless of location, space, or chef."
"As long as it was a catering establishment still operating along the pipeline, they could order freely. For example, Xiao Chen, an employee at the Nanning station working at the southernmost tip of our country, is a native of H Province. He ordered his hometown delicacies."
"These include braised chicken racks from Old Zhang's stall downstairs, braised pork and vermicelli from Aunt Fatty's stall near his middle school, and a dish called 'Three Gins Convergence' from a local five-star hotel, which he had never tried but was very curious about!"
"And these dishes he ordered would appear on his dining table at the same time, just like his 123,800 fellow workers."
"So, how was all this achieved?"
"To realize this incredible super dinner, China High-Speed Rail Company partnered with the well-known domestic food delivery company E'buo'pa."
"First, these orders are sent to E'buo'pa's database in advance, then calculated by E'buo'pa's intelligent AI, and then E'buo'pa places orders with the listed restaurants three days in advance."
"By 10 a.m. today, all restaurants will have finished cooking the dishes on the orders. At the same time, E'buo'pa's more than 50,000 delivery personnel in these cities will receive different orders and rush to the respective restaurants as quickly as possible to put the already packed dishes into special insulated boxes. Finally, they will be delivered uniformly to the temporary distribution centers of Jiangnan Express located at various vacuum pipeline stations."
"Using the advanced intelligent AI distribution system, all the takeout was sorted by different regions in just 10 minutes and loaded into a series of pre-prepared vacuum magnetic levitation trains, which then delivered them to their respective destinations at the fastest speed."
"And by the time all the takeout was delivered, it was exactly 1 p.m."
"Then, these delivered takeout only needed 10 minutes to reach the dining venues near the stations, allowing employees to promptly enjoy delicious dishes from all over the country, still steaming hot!"
"This is the speed of the vacuum magnetic levitation high-speed railway, this is the speed of our country's mature food delivery system, this is the speed of China!"
"With this speed, all difficulties will be nothing before us. We will use our own hard work and sweat to create the national rejuvenation!"
"..." Everyone who saw this news, whether Chinese or foreign, was stunned at this moment.
In just 3 hours, food from any restaurant across the country was packaged and delivered to construction sites in any city across the country. Was this really something achievable in reality? [PS: Actually, only cities along the pipeline!]
Also, in just seven years, how did the Chinese people connect the railway pipeline of over 5,000 kilometers from north to south? The American pipeline, which was announced to be built at the same time, shows no progress yet!