Smile, Wilhelm!

Yes, the Khitan—a mystical kingdom from the Far East. 

But the way this world's Prussia refers to that country is quite different from historical records. 

Smith, proficient in German, knew that his homeland's name in German was the same as in English but pronounced closer to *"He-na."* Yet, printed in black and white on the newspaper before him was *KITAI.* No matter how he looked at it, the pronunciation clearly aligned with *"Khitan."* 

"Strange, that doesn't sound very German at all," Smith muttered to himself. He repeated the word under his breath, feeling increasingly certain it wasn't a German term. Then, all at once, the realization hit him like a lightning bolt. 

"Wait a second! *KITAI* is just *Китай*! That's a transliteration from Russian!" 

"This doesn't add up!" Smith felt like he was wandering through a foggy maze. "Could it be that something has already changed in this world's timeline without my knowledge?" 

This was no case of Smith overthinking things. As the Chinese saying goes, "Small details reveal the bigger picture." While the change appeared to be merely a name, who knew how many unseen transformations lay behind it? 

The more Smith thought about it, the less confident he felt, and this uncertainty drove his desire to uncover more information. Luckily, the nearest source of information was the newspaper just a short distance away. In his past life, this distance would have been nothing to him. But now, it posed a challenge. 

Well, not too big of a challenge. All it required was for Smith to cry like a typical baby and gesture dramatically at the newspaper. A simple plan, but one that called for impeccable acting skills. 

Summoning all his emotions, Smith let out a loud, exaggerated wail. His performance quickly caught the attention of Victoria, who had been dozing on the sofa. 

"Oh, what's wrong, my little darling?" 

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Victoria walked over to Smith. She noticed his gaze fixed on a spot and his tiny hands reaching out as if trying to grab something. Following his line of sight, she spotted the newspaper on the coffee table. 

"A newspaper?" Victoria picked it up and waved it slightly at Smith, puzzled. Wasn't this the same child the doctor had diagnosed with "intermittent attention deficit," who needed stories read to him as therapy? And hadn't Smith always shown resistance to those therapy sessions? Why was he suddenly so interested in a newspaper? 

"Do you want Mommy to read this to you?" she asked hesitantly. 

Smith broke into a grin. Though his tear-streaked face was a bit messy, his smile melted Victoria's heart. She gently wiped his face clean with a handkerchief, then sat beside his crib with the newspaper. 

"Alright, let's see where the story section is." 

Her words were met with another round of wailing. Victoria froze for a moment before realizing something extraordinary. 

"You... don't want a story, do you?" 

The crying stopped abruptly, replaced by laughter. 

Victoria was taken aback. She instinctively flipped through the newspaper, trying to identify what Smith was interested in. But with so much content and a child too young to speak, she was at a loss. 

Left with no choice, she decided to read aloud from the headline on the front page. But when she saw the headline, she muttered to herself in disbelief: 

"'Khitan Seeks Diplomatic Ties with Our Nation'… My God, how could a child not yet one year old want to hear this?" 

To her astonishment, Smith let out a laugh at those very words. Slowly lowering the newspaper, Victoria stared at her smiling baby. 

"Is this what you want to hear?" 

Smith's smile remained unchanged. 

In that moment, Victoria realized something. She turned abruptly to one of the guards stationed at the door. 

"Jochen! Fetch my husband immediately!" 

The guard bowed and left swiftly. Moments later, another guard replaced him at the door, and Frederick entered the room. 

"Victoria, what's wrong?" 

Frederick looked tense. Ever since their son's birth, every time Victoria urgently summoned him, it had never been good news. While it didn't diminish his love for his child, it tore at his heart nonetheless. 

"My dear, today little Willy wants me to read this!" Victoria raised the newspaper in her hand. 

"This is..." Frederick furrowed his brow as he took the paper. Suddenly, a realization struck him. 

"My God! Willy recognizes these words?" 

Turning to Smith, Frederick's gaze was a mix of astonishment and joy. Holding the newspaper, he crouched in front of Smith, his voice trembling with excitement. 

"Willy, is this what you want to read? Can you recognize these words?" 

Smith merely smiled. Though he couldn't speak yet, the look in his eyes gave Frederick all the confirmation he needed. 

"Willy, let Daddy read some words from this paper. Can you point to where they are?" 

The truth became evident soon enough. When Frederick read aloud "international cooperation," Smith accurately pointed to the corresponding phrase. That was all the proof Frederick needed. 

"Our Willy is a genius!" he exclaimed, turning to Victoria, who was too overwhelmed to speak. She scooped Smith into her arms, tears streaming down her face. From the hardships of childbirth to the challenges that followed, Victoria had endured immense physical and emotional pain. But this display of brilliance from her son felt like a balm for her soul, a warm fire in winter or a cool breeze in summer. How could she not cry tears of joy? 

Frederick's eyes grew red as well. He embraced his wife and gazed at their son, his emotions swirling like a storm. 

For Frederick and Victoria, this was an unforgettable moment of parental pride. But for Smith, it wasn't nearly as significant. What mattered to him was uncovering the full story behind the "Khitan Seeks Diplomatic Ties with Prussia" headline. During Frederick's reading exercise, Smith had taken the opportunity to skim through the article. 

The brief and concise nature of front-page news meant it only conveyed the core facts, leaving out many details. Still, Smith had managed to extract one crucial piece of information: 

To demonstrate sincerity in establishing friendly relations, Khitan had dispatched an envoy to Prussia. The delegation had already arrived in Berlin, led by a representative named "Holingin." 

Clearly, "Holingin" was a transliteration of a typical Chinese name, suggesting that this world's "Khitan" shared the same linguistic and cultural traits as Smith's homeland. 

But this thought also filled Smith with unease. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of 19th-century history would know the immense suffering endured by his homeland during that era. Were those same events unfolding in this world as well? 

Smith didn't know. Emotionally, of course, he hoped for a negative answer. Yet, his rational mind told him the answer was most likely affirmative. 

"Ah, the course of history is not something that my individual efforts alone can change," Smith consoled himself inwardly. Still, this was his homeland. Asking him to simply let it go was unrealistic. 

"Speaking of which..." Since he couldn't let it go, he might as well distract himself. Smith recalled the name he had seen during his earlier reading: 

"Who exactly is this 'Holingin'?" 

Smith began to draw on his knowledge from his original timeline and quickly sifted through the records and memories left by "Smiling Willi" in his mind. However, before he could find any clues, a wave of unbearable nausea surged up, forcing him to stop abruptly— 

—If he started vomiting again at this juncture, those half-witted doctors might pin yet another bizarre diagnosis on him! 

So, Smith slowed his thoughts, trying to use only the knowledge he had already digested and organized for analysis and deduction. In this era, the modern Hanyu Pinyin system that he was very familiar with from later generations did not exist. Even the influential Wade-Giles Romanization was still absent. It was likely that "Holingin" was a term the German journalist had constructed using German phonetics based on the person's name. 

For that German journalist, this method posed no issue. However, given that foreigners inevitably speak Mandarin with a peculiar accent, even if they managed to achieve clear pronunciation, German phonetics couldn't possibly simulate it perfectly... 

As expected, after a long struggle with the awkward pronunciation, Smith still couldn't figure out which Chinese characters "Holingin" corresponded to. 

Since this approach hit a dead end, he decided to switch tactics. Smith began recalling historically notable figures from this era. Unfortunately, as a science major, his knowledge of historical figures from this period was already limited. Besides, even in any given era, the number of people who leave their mark on history is in the hundreds. Moreover, the history of this world surely diverged from that of his original timeline. What if this "Holingin" turned out to be a previously obscure figure now gaining prominence? How could he possibly identify them? 

Smith quickly realized that solving this puzzle was beyond him for now. He decided to stop worrying about it and instead focus his limited energy on organizing and absorbing the materials "Smiling Willi" had left him. His goal was to internalize this information into his own knowledge base so that he could recall it directly from memory without having to endure the nausea of "last-minute cramming." 

This did not mean, however, that Smith ignored the matter altogether. On the contrary, he kept a close eye on it, and he now had better resources to do so. 

Ever since Smith displayed a keen interest in reading, Friedrich and Victoria had begun to regularly provide him with newspapers and books. The content read aloud to him during the obligatory "treatment" sessions also shifted from fairy tales to current affairs. This made it much easier for Smith to stay updated with the latest news: 

According to the newspaper reports, the "Khitan" nation had historically been relatively closed to external interactions. Only about two decades ago were they forced to open their doors due to a war. Fortunately, this nation responded to external influences with remarkable agility. After being compelled to open up, they actively began exploring the wider world— 

—Their decision to establish diplomatic relations with Prussia was undoubtedly a carefully considered one! 

This much Smith could understand. In later discussions of Prussia and Germany, there was often a misconception that these regions were historically among the more advanced in Europe. The reality was quite the opposite. Prussia, and the German states as a whole, had long been relatively backward in Europe. Even by the mid-19th century, after several generations of "Frederick Williams" working to catch up, Prussia was still more of a follower of modern trends than a leader. 

Take industry as an example. When Napoleon's army swept across Jena, Prussia had little in the way of modern industry. It wasn't until the 1840s that Prussia began to adopt steam engines on a relatively large scale in its production sectors. Even so, by the time of the 1848 revolutions, there were still very few "large-scale mechanized factories" in Prussia. Modern railways and mines were equally sparse, presenting a pre-industrial-revolution landscape. 

But in just 11 years, Prussia had achieved significant progress: it now boasted a considerable number of large-scale factories, and its railway mileage and output of coal and iron had doubled compared to 1848. While it still couldn't compare to the industrial leaders of the time, such as Great Britain or even France, these achievements were impressive— 

—This miraculous pace of development would undoubtedly make a deep impression on the Khitan people, wouldn't it?