King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

Back in Su Wanqing's laboratory.

Su Wanqing went to Department D to follow up on the "Spark" test.

Chen Jianghe took out a red meal ticket, went to the circuit board workshop, and found Master Han.

Please ask him to help make a simple PCB baseboard that conforms to the IBM PC expansion slot standard using discarded circuit boards and connectors.

And a simple logic gate patch panel.

"Jiang He, what are you up to? You finally got to work under Engineer Su, you should cherish this opportunity!"

Master Han is a seasoned technician, and he could tell at a glance that what Chen Jianghe was doing was definitely not a project from the institute.

"Master, please help me out! It's just a personal hobby! Just messing around and practicing!"

Chen Jianghe smiled ingratiatingly and took out the red meal ticket from his pocket, stuffing it into the hand.

Looking at the red meal ticket, and then at Chen Jianghe's longing face...

Master Han sighed, "Alright, fine, I'll get it done for you, but don't let it interfere with your work, and don't tell anyone!"

He knew the value of the red rice ticket and understood that Chen Jianghe had a difficult life.

Chen Jianghe lost his mother at a young age. Three years ago, in the circuit board workshop, a fire broke out due to a chemical storage tank leak, and Chen Jianghe's father sacrificed his life while trying to save his coworkers...

I think I'm like a brother to Lao Chen.

It's a craftsman's job anyway, and the materials are all scraps, so I'll help if I can.

Next, Chen Jianghe worked day and night in a highly intense "dual-front battle".

During the day, he focused on his work in Su Wanqing's laboratory.

Record data and analyze the characteristics of data flow in the "Spark" coprocessor.

As the sun sets, the number of people in the research institute's courtyard gradually decreases.

Chen Jianghe secretly slipped back to the lab and lay down on Lao Wang's small workbench.

Under the dim light, the assembly of the Chinese character card began.

He opened the "Collection of Dot Matrix Diagrams of Chinese Characters" and used "1" and "0" to draw the dot matrix diagram of each Chinese character bit by bit on the manuscript paper!

With the perseverance of this life and the ability to encode memories from his previous life, Chen Jianghe memorized the structure of nearly 4000 characters in the first-level character set.

The character pattern order is matched one-to-one with the GB2312 area code position code.

Then, based on the dot matrix diagram, a data file is manually created to specify the storage location in the ROM for each Chinese character.

The manuscript was densely covered with writing, filling dozens of pages!

It's like manually writing a small font library for the BIOS!

After several days, it was finally time to burn the chip!

Using the old Soviet-made EPROM programmer in the laboratory, Chen Jianghe carefully burned the character library data he had written into the three 2764 chips bit by bit!

Programming a chip can take several hours and is extremely prone to failure!

But he was lucky, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.

The next step is physical assembly.

On the simple baseboard prepared by Master Han, the burned EPROM chip, logic gate chip, and several resistors and capacitors were carefully soldered on with the thinnest wires!

There was no circuit design software involved; it all relied on personal experience and repeated testing!

I've been pulling all-nighters in a row, even working day and night during the National Day holiday...

Chen Jianghe's eyes were sunken and bloodshot, but his gaze grew brighter and brighter!

When the last fly wire was cut…

When he held this "ugly freak" Chinese card, riddled with chips, covered in a spiderweb of exposed wires, and exuding a strong pine scent, in his hands...

It took Chen Jianghe a long time to calm down from his excitement!

What I saw was not a Chinese character card, but a large stack of Chinese characters.

One morning in the second week of October, Chen Jianghe arrived at the lab early, preparing to conduct final tests on the PC…

Suddenly, hurried footsteps and a familiar voice came from outside the door:

"Engineer Li! Section Chief Zhou! It's him! Chen Jianghe!"

Sun Yuanchao appeared at the door with Li Gong, the head of the computer group, and Zhou Qidong, the head of the equipment department.

Sun Yuanchao's face was twisted with smugness.

Pointing to the flying wire Chinese character card in Chen Jianghe's hand and the several dot matrix font manuals spread out on the table.

"Chen Jianghe! You stole the institute's scrapped chips! You stole confidential technical data!"

"They bribed Master Han in the workshop to make Chinese character cards, engaging in speculation and profiteering!"

"This is a serious violation of the rules and regulations! You're undermining socialism!"

Sun Yuanchao's voice was sharp with excitement, and his face was full of the pleasure of revenge!

Mr. Li looked somewhat embarrassed and helpless, but he didn't say anything.

Zhou Qidong stared coldly at Chen Jianghe: "Comrade Chen Jianghe, please put down what you're holding immediately! Explain yourself clearly!"

"Don't think that just because your father is a martyr, you can do whatever you want!"

"Also, what's with the font manual? Your project doesn't need it at all! Why are you borrowing it?"

Chen Jianghe was completely stunned!

His business plan had just started to take shape, and now it's about to be nipped in the bud!

Just when you find a way to make money, you get labeled as "poaching" or "speculating" and thrown into the abyss.

I've only been working as a worker and then transferred to an assistant technician position for less than a month, and I might be forced back to my old job!

Holding that ugly Chinese character card that embodies my hard work...

Chen Jianghe's heart sank to the bottom, and he didn't know what to say...

Just then, a cool, aloof female voice rang out from outside the door:

"I asked him to do it."

It's Su Wanqing!

She appeared at the laboratory door wearing a beige trench coat and carrying a silver instrument case over her shoulder.

His eyes carried an imposing, dignified air.

His gaze fell on Zhou Qidong's face.

"Section Chief Zhou, Engineer Li,"

She walked over to Chen Jianghe and glanced at the Chinese character card in his hand.

His tone was calm yet undeniably authoritative: "This board is a concept proof board for the peripheral Chinese character interactive interface of our 'Spark' project."

"During the production process, GB2312 character set data is needed to simulate the localization effect."

"This will facilitate our subsequent graphical user interface prototype design."

"The existing Chinese character cards in our institute are not compatible with our target system bus standard."

"I asked Chen Jianghe to use his spare time to make experimental samples from scrap materials to verify the feasibility."

"The chips came from a compliant end-of-life disposal area, and the font manual was borrowed with my consent."

"What? Is there a problem? If the process needs to be corrected, I'll sign it again."

Su Wanqing's words directly characterized the evidence of "speculation and profiteering" as a necessary peripheral technical verification for a key national scientific research project!

Sun Yuanchao's complaint was instantly turned into a complete joke!

Li Gong's expression visibly relaxed.

Zhou Qidong immediately forced a smile: "Is that so? Engineer Su, you should have said so earlier... It's good that you have a clear purpose for the project..."

"However, the procedures for requisitioning scrap materials and borrowing manuals still need to be complete..."

Sun Yuanchao looked at Su Wanqing in disbelief.

He had been tracking Chen Jianghe for over ten days, meticulously planning his conspiracy, and thought victory was within his grasp.

Unexpectedly, they were so vulnerable in the face of Su Wanqing's absolute technical authority and core position in the project!

Su Wanqing never glanced at Sun Yuanchao.

Her gaze fell on Chen Jianghe's tired face, which was now filled with renewed hope because of her presence.

His expression held a hint of reproach, along with a touch of inexplicable heartache.