The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 338 Busy

Liu Hua really didn't want to take on this task, but two departments sent people to persuade him: the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Liu Hua's official position happened to be under the jurisdiction of these two departments, so he couldn't refuse them. He was hoping to get an academician title in the future.

So, with no other choice, he could only become the deputy chief engineer of the new generation of supercomputers, and his three master's students were not going to graduate for the time being.

Without any prior preparation, Liu Hua threw them all into the supercomputer project team and asked them to devise a feasible path for building a supercomputer from the perspective of a chief engineer. Ideally, each of them should be able to come up with one.

These three kids haven't watched "Empresses in the Palace," otherwise they really would have said, "I can't do it!"

Looking at the three students with worried faces, Liu Hua directly scolded them: "What's the big deal? Haven't I taught you enough? Haven't I taught you both software and hardware? They say the master leads you through the door, but the practice is up to you. I've laid a good foundation for you, so you need to strive for excellence. A graduate student who doesn't want to become the chief engineer of a supercomputer isn't a good graduate student."

The three boys originally thought that getting into a top graduate program was an incredible stroke of luck, but now it seems they were committing a terrible sin.

Liu Hua was busy juggling two things at once, wishing he could split himself in two. Today he was talking about ships here, and tomorrow he was talking about supercomputers there. It's only because his brainpower is so strong that he could switch between the two.

Even amidst his demanding work, he still managed to find time to see old friends.

“Mr. Ma, it’s been years since I’ve seen you.”

Liu Hua brewed tea for Mr. Ma and handed it to him. After carefully examining him, she noticed that Mr. Ma seemed more energetic than he had been two or three years ago, as if he had even more black hair and his wrinkles had lessened.

"Yes, it's been years since we last met," Mr. Ma said with a smile. "I'm here to report to the aviation department and take this opportunity to chat with you and give you my report as well."

"I dare not listen to that. Are you here to report on your work? About the Y-10 aircraft?"

Mr. Liu nodded: "That's right, our aircraft will soon enter the mass production stage, probably in the first half of next year."

"That's truly something to celebrate!"

Mr. Ma nodded: "Back then, it was really thanks to your persistence that our Y-10 project was able to continue and achieve such great success today. I plan to mention it to the leadership and see if we can award you a science and technology progress award."

"No need," Liu Hua waved his hand. "I'm not qualified enough. There are many older scientists who have made great achievements. What am I?"

“You are absolutely qualified. Also, I would like to tell you about that McDonnell Douglas plane.”

What happened to McDonnell Douglas?

Mr. Ma shook his head: "It's a complete mess. It's been three or four years, and McDonnell Douglas has only given us less than a tenth of the drawings. Luckily, because of your reminder, we were careful and didn't focus our main efforts on it. Otherwise, our project would probably have been doomed."

"The Americans backed out, which was expected," Liu Hua said with a smile. "This is a place that treats its own country's reputation like garbage. They wanted to cooperate with me, but they had no good intentions at all. They just wanted to destroy our own aviation manufacturing industry."

Mr. Ma said with a smile, "You're dreaming. Our own aircraft will soon be in mass production, and in the future, we will design a long-range mainline passenger aircraft to compete with them in the international market." "My suggestion is to put the mainline passenger aircraft on hold for now," Liu Hua shook his head. "We estimate that we won't be able to get airworthiness certificates from Europe and the United States within the next twenty or thirty years. Even if we design it, we won't be able to fly it there."

Mr. Ma nodded: "Your consideration is correct. This requires a clever opportunity. Airbus was only able to develop after it reached an agreement with the big US."

"I wish our large aircraft a bright future."

Mr. Ma laughed heartily: "That's for sure, but what surprised me was that Liu Hua, you're such a jack-of-all-trades! You can design ships in the sky and ships at sea. I only found out after I came here to inquire that you're now the deputy chief engineer of LNG carriers. That's amazing."

"It's all a matter of being forced into a task," Liu Hua chuckled. "I'm in charge of researching hull materials and propulsion systems, which happens to be areas I'm quite familiar with."

"When we study mainline passenger aircraft next time, we'll make you the chief designer. You'll be in charge of the materials for the aircraft cabin and the engine."

Liu Hua waved his hand: "I'm not going to take on such a heavy responsibility. New talents will emerge in every generation. When we start researching trunk line technology, even younger talents will naturally emerge."

Mr. Ma was sincerely grateful to Liu Hua. Without him, the Y-10 aircraft project would probably have been canceled. He chatted with Liu Hua for half an hour before leaving, citing work as an excuse.

He could tell that Liu Hua was even busier. In the short time they were chatting, Liu Hua had received three or four phone calls, from the research institute below, Tsinghua University, and his factory.

After talking about Liu Hua's office, he exclaimed, "He's truly like a roc soaring ninety thousand miles high in a single day! Back when he first came to our Y-10 project, he was just an engineer in charge of avionics design. Now he can be in charge of such a large project. His future is limitless."

Mr. Ma's assistant nodded: "Yes, who would have thought? This private enterprise can actually produce the carbon fiber that our aviation department needs, which has reduced the cost and weight of our Y-10 transport aircraft by a lot."

Mr. Ma nodded: "So, I'll try my best this time and do everything I can to get him this award."

Mr. Ma really took this matter to heart. At first, Liu Hua thought he was just being polite, but he never expected that he would actually receive the award. When Liu Hua received the notification, he was completely astonished.

Before the Chinese New Year, Liu Hua took two days off to eat and shop for New Year's goods with his wife.

As a result, he noticed that people could be seen practicing kung fu on the streets and alleys. At first, he thought it was just old men and women practicing health preservation, but after seeing more and more, he found that there were also quite a few young people among them.

He asked his wife curiously, "What's going on?"

"Qigong."

His wife said it as a matter of course. In his opinion, this was all commonplace, just like he had seen it since he was a child, as common as those old Beijingers walking their birds and calling pigeons.

"Why are there so many people practicing Qigong? If it were old men practicing Qigong to prolong their lives and improve their health, I could understand it. But why are there so many young people practicing Qigong?"

(End of this chapter)