Chapter 8 The First Date

  Racing starts on Saturday, and I'd like to ask everyone to vote for me! Thank you very much!

  It was only after several weeks that Zhang Haino received a reply from Feng Laoren, and he learned that his "cousin" had been promoted to lieutenant general and replaced Stranta von Graf, who had retired due to injury, as the captain of the Sedlitz. In the letter, he encouraged himself to rest and recover early, and vaguely told himself that there would be no major actions in the High Seas Fleet recently.

  As for this point, Zhang Hainuo was not surprised, but he knew that there were only two years left for Germany.

  In his reply to von Lauterbach, Zhang Haino also "implicitly" expressed the idea that the Beiyang Fleet could win a naval battle through a series of strategic and tactical victories, in order to test the other party's thoughts.

  "Captain, I have some good news for you. After a thorough examination yesterday, the doctor said you can be discharged from hospital next week!"

  Anna came to Zhang Hainuo's bedside with a tray of medicine, her face full of smiles. As the recovery schedule progressed, the number of medicinal pads and gauze on Zhang Hainuo's body also decreased. The convalescent home was actually a good place for military officers to relax their minds and bodies. If it were in an ordinary field hospital or if there were large-scale military operations in the public sea fleet, Zhang Hainuo would probably have been discharged from the hospital long ago and might even be standing guard at his post!

  "It's all thanks to your thoughtful care, Miss Anna! Actually, you can call me Lieutenant Heinrich or just Heinrich. That way I'll be more used to it!"

  "Alright, Lieutenant Heino! You're young, so you recover quickly. If an officer in his forties had injuries similar to yours, he'd need at least half a month of convalescence. And if he were any older, he might have to retire from the military altogether!"

  "Haha, I should feel lucky then! Ah, Miss Anna, I still don't know your age this year... Cough cough, this question is really too impolite, please pretend you didn't hear it!" Zhang Hainuo intentionally made a somewhat self-reproachful expression. He knew that in such situations, most young women and quite a few middle-aged women who didn't mind telling others their age would laugh and say "it's okay", then reveal perhaps real or slightly exaggerated numbers.

  "Captain Haino, it's not good to ask someone's age like that!" Anna still had a smile on her face, without any sign of anger. Now she only needed to spend one or two minutes helping Zhang Haino change his medicine, and the rest of the time was spent helping him tidy up those scattered books and notes - one willing to put away, the other willing to tidy up, this was actually a pretty good thing.

  "But... if you invite me out for dinner tonight, I might consider telling you!"

  This sentence is undoubtedly a great comfort to Zhang Hainuo, who was just thinking about whether he should invite the nurse who took care of him to dinner. He almost agreed without hesitation, but then thought again, damn it! After arriving at Lü Gen, he started with serious injuries and inconvenience, and later was busy studying the books sent by Edwin, as a result, he had never been anywhere except for walking on the large lawn of the sanatorium from time to time! Every day's meals were either delivered by medical staff or eaten in the large dining hall hundreds of steps away, where the food was good but really not suitable for dating...

  Anna obviously saw Zhang Hainuo's embarrassment and smiled, saying straightforwardly:

  "I know there's a great restaurant in town, it's only half an hour drive, I can borrow the car, how about that? Lieutenant Heinrich, you should be able to drive, shouldn't you?"

  Watching Anna make a gesture of holding the steering wheel, Zhang Hainuo couldn't help but want to laugh. His driving skills were not professional level, but he had the most basic techniques such as stepping on the accelerator, shifting gears and grasping the steering wheel. Moreover, the cars in this era should be simple and crude.

  "No problem! What time shall we set off?"

  "Five o'clock, I'll come find you at five o'clock! How's that?" Anna said with her head tilted to the side.

  "No problem!" Zhang Hainuo was overjoyed in his heart.

  It wasn't even four o'clock in the afternoon, but Zhang Hainuo had already started to dress himself up seriously. This was, after all, his first date since coming to this era. First, Zhang Hainuo went to wash his hair, then stood in front of the mirror and shaved his chin and cheeks until they were spotless - although he had seen this face in the mirror over a hundred times in the past two months, today was absolutely the most handsome time - his hair, which was between golden and brown, naturally curled slightly, and Zhang Hainuo combed it into a popular 2:8 ratio; his eyebrows were on the thicker side, his eyes were not large, but paired with his eyebrows gave a kind but not weak impression; his nose was high, but not that typical eagle hook nose, as for his mouth, there wasn't even anything worth mentioning, but it didn't drag down this face either.

  Next, Zhang Hainuo took out the brand new naval lieutenant uniform from his trunk, which had only been worn once, carefully buttoned every button, and carefully put on his two medals. A pair of black leather boots was polished to a high shine. Unfortunately, there was no full-length mirror here, otherwise Zhang Hainuo would have been delighted with his handsome military attire!

  When the big bell struck five, Anna Tiefert appeared punctually in front of Zhang Hainuo. She was wearing a wheat-colored long skirt, with a small hat of the same color on her head, and a curly hair hanging down very elegantly. In her hand, she held a white small leather bag, and a pair of white small leather shoes were faintly visible under her long skirt.

  If she was an angel in white when working, now she is a elegant princess ready to attend a banquet.

  Looking at Zhang Hainuo's somewhat dazed expression, Anna burst out laughing.

  "Hey, Lieutenant Heino, if we don't leave now, there won't be any seats left!"

  "Oh, sorry!"

  Zhang Hainuo finally came to his senses, put on his military cap, and walked to Anna's side, proactively extending his right arm - he hadn't formally or systematically learned the traditional etiquette of Europe, but from German streets and TV, he could still pick up some things, even if not quite standard, at least enough to make do.

  Anna smiled and took the arm of the young and handsome naval lieutenant, "The car has been borrowed, it's right at the gate of the sanatorium!"

  "Alright, let's set off!"

  This was not Zhang Hainuo's first time taking a lady out, but it was the one where he felt the best. The crisp deep blue military uniform on his body, the medals on his chest and the beautiful young woman by his side were all things that made him proud. And indeed, this handsome man and beautiful woman pairing attracted many envious glances and whistling sounds along the way.

  "That's the one!"

  Following Anna's direction, Zhang Hainuo saw a gray-green canvas-covered four-seater car. Although the car was old and not as luxurious and elegant as those in later generations, with narrow tires and simple driving room and seats, Zhang Hainuo was very satisfied as long as it wasn't a primitive car made by adding an engine and steering wheel to a horse-drawn carriage frame.

  Zhang Hainuo politely opened the car door for Anna - although the quality of that car door was not much better than a fence door, then quickly walked to the other side, got in the car, and while feeling around for the steering wheel, accelerator and brakes, hypocritically praised:

  "Oh, this is really a great car!"

  "Ah, we also have to thank Dr. Dietrich, the orthopedic specialist who took care of your right hand! This is his private car, and it's hard to get gasoline now, so he doesn't drive it often himself!" Seeing Zhang Hainuo's surprise, Anna added, "Don't worry, there's still half a tank of gas in this car, enough to take us from here to the southernmost part of Rugen Island!"

  Zhang Haino was unclear how many kilometers it was from here to the southernmost part of Lü Gen Island, but as soon as he mentioned that gasoline was hard to come by, he would think of the various helpless predicaments brought about by the lack of oil during the late period of the Third Empire in history. The situation around the Second German Empire was not much better - with the Russian Empire to the east, Britain and France to the west, Italy to the south had already defected to the Allied Powers, while the Netherlands and Denmark to the north adhered to neutrality, and the sea routes were also tightly blockaded by the British fleet. The supply of petroleum was also a big problem! Fortunately, this era was not too dependent on mechanized troops, and the proportion of air forces was relatively small, so the lack of oil was not fatal. Of course, if the oil supply was sufficient, the main warships of the German Navy could be used on a large scale like the British, with oil-fired boilers instead of coal-fired boilers. It is worth noting that these two types of boilers have significant differences in technical performance such as efficiency and fuel consumption per unit power.

  "What's wrong?" Anna asked with concern as she saw Zhang Hainuo looking dazed.

  "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of that Dr. Detrich you mentioned, his appearance... " Zhang Hainuo curled up the corner of his mouth and smiled: "Really looks like Santa Claus!"

  "Santa Claus? HO! No way!"

  As Anna covered her mouth and giggled, Zhang Hainuo had already started the car. The town they were heading to was not far away, visible from the gate of the sanatorium, and all they needed to do was drive along the coastal highway to reach it. From a distance, the town didn't seem very large, but there were many beautiful buildings, including a tall, pointed clock tower - below which was a small train station, with railway lines stretching inland, crossing the Rügen Island railway bridge into mainland Germany.

  This Mercedes car uses a 60-horsepower gasoline engine, and its speed is not much faster than that of a horse-drawn carriage. The hard seat was uncomfortable on the sandy road, but for this happy couple in the car, the gentle breeze blowing against their faces as they drove slowly along the sun-kissed road had a special charm to it!

  "We're here! It's the house with a white roof right in front of us!"

  Anna pointed to a two-story European-style building by the roadside, which looked more like a tavern than a Western restaurant from its appearance. However, the sign standing at the entrance clearly told everyone that this was the "White Grape Wine Restaurant"!

  "Hmm, the white wine here should be pretty good!" This was Zhang Hainuo's first reaction after seeing the signboard, but when it came to evaluating and identifying wines, he was a complete amateur. In the past, when he was in Germany, he hardly drank at all, only having a few cups during gatherings with friends and family after returning home. To him, a wine that cost hundreds of yuan seemed no different from one that cost tens of yuan. At this moment, Zhang Hainuo couldn't help but think, if only he could inherit some memories from the real Heinrich von Finkenstein, it would be great! According to Edwin, even if he wasn't a connoisseur of wine, he must have had much more knowledge about it than himself!

  "Yes, it's delicious and not expensive!"

  Anna smiled and said that she wasn't worried about Zhang Hainuo's wallet, because as a naval lieutenant, he could get a considerable allowance every month, and if he went out to sea on a mission, he would also have extra subsidies. Such an income was considered mid-to-high level among German workers.

  At this point, Zhang Hainuo, who was originally studying economics in Germany, still had some understanding of it. However, as the war progressed, the shortage of materials in Germany became more and more severe, and inflation was inevitable. By the end of the war, the economy was almost on the verge of collapse. So, to be on the safe side, he brought with him the special war injury allowance of 650 marks that he had received from the German Navy Department due to his injuries - this was almost three or four months' income for a German working-class person before the war!

  As soon as Zhang Hainuo entered, he found that the business here was indeed very good, with about 70% of the tables already occupied by customers. If he had come any later, it would have been possible to find no seats, just like Anna said!

  "Isn't there a table by the window?" Zhang Hainuo asked the waiter with some disappointment, because he thought it would be enjoyable to eat while looking at the street view outside, but unfortunately those tables were already fully occupied.

  The neatly dressed waiter had a very helpless expression on his face. At this time, Anna, who was holding Zhang Hainuo's right arm, spoke up:

  "It doesn't matter, let's go inside and sit down!"

  The waiter quickly led the two to a table in a corner, and Zhang Hainuo noticed that the military personnel who came here for dinner accounted for a large proportion. There were naval officers and army officers, some of whom were having dinner with ladies, while others were dining out with two or three officers. When he walked by from the side, these people didn't pay much attention to him either. Among them, there were indeed many handsome men, and many people wore medals on their chests. Judging from the military rank, except for a table where an older army lieutenant colonel was sitting, the others were basically company-grade officers.