Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

Inside the smelting workshop, Li Yu stared at the smelting furnace with a furrowed brow.

The alloy ratio has been adjusted to the seventh version, but the high-temperature creep test is still just one step away from being completed.

He repeatedly sketched on the drawing paper with the tip of his pencil, muttering to himself, "The timing for adding is still wrong. I need to go slower and be more steady."

Old Wang squatted by the stove, his notebook filled with dense writing, glancing up every now and then at the numbers flashing on the thermometer.

Zhou Qiming was in the stamping workshop, repeatedly adjusting the mold gap, sweat dripping down his face and soaking the collar of his work clothes.

The only sounds in the workshop were the roar of the machines, and the workers were each performing their duties in an orderly manner. Unbeknownst to anyone, hundreds of kilometers away on the Bohai Bay, a silent standoff was unfolding.

At the same time, in the Bohai Bay area.

Two R-country vessels painted with the words "Fishing Operations" are furtively lingering close to our territorial waters.

The fishing nets on both sides of the ship were just a cover; the hidden antennas below the deck were buzzing and frantically trying to capture the electromagnetic signals of the coastal defense radar.

Not far away, two gunboats of my country's coastal defense forces cut through the waves and quickly approached.

A stern warning blared from a loudspeaker, the voice cutting through the salty sea breeze: "This is Chinese territorial waters. Leave immediately! I repeat, leave immediately!"

The R country ship pretended to change course, but at the moment of the turn, it suddenly released several chaff and flares.

White smoke rose up and quickly covered a small part of the sea area, instantly turning the signals on the radar screen into a chaotic mess.

The roar of fighter jets ripped through the sky as two fighter jets swooped down from the clouds, their wings skimming the sea surface and creating gusts of air that churned up the waves at the bow of the ship.

The pilot's voice was calm and powerful as he transmitted back to command center via radio: "Target is releasing jamming; requesting further instructions."

On the sea, the gunboat slowly raised its main gun, aiming the muzzle at the two hesitant fishing boats.

In the workshop, after repeated calculations, Li Yu finally finalized the new formula.

"The temperature has dropped to 1450℃!" The technician's shout broke the silence.

Li Yu's spirits lifted, and he strode to the stove: "Follow the new plan, add the ingredients slowly, and observe the changes carefully!"

Old Wang personally took charge, carefully putting the materials into the furnace.

The molten steel was churning and bubbling, reflecting a scorching light throughout the workshop.

The workers' faces were full of focus, and their hands moved even faster. All they knew was that this batch of steel was for the development of more advanced engine blades.

It was for the long-term plan of national defense, but little did they know that on the distant sea, someone was coveting the peace of this land.

Meanwhile, the classrooms at Hongxing Elementary School were bustling with noise.

Yan Bugui stood on the podium, cleared his throat, and tapped the blackboard, shouting, "Today we're learning the words 'country' and 'home'! Remember, only with a country can there be a home. You must study hard!"

The children in the audience seemed to understand but not quite. The chubby boy clenched his fist and shouted, "When I grow up, I want to be a soldier and fight off the bad guys!"

Yan Bugui waved his hand: "Quiet! Now it's time to focus on the lesson!"

As he spoke, Yan Bugui reverted to his old habit of being stingy.

He took out a stack of vocabulary notebooks from the drawer, which he had specially replaced with a new lock on, and the key was always tied to his belt.

When distributing the notebooks, he handled each one as if it were a gold bar, carefully cutting it in half, giving only half to each student, while muttering to himself:

"Not a single sheet of paper can be wasted! I'll fill both sides, and then lock up the remaining half. At the end of the month, I can collect them and sell them as waste paper for a little money!"

Nannan pouted, cursing Yan Bugui's stinginess eight hundred times in her heart.

As soon as the school bell rang, Nannan grabbed Xiaopang and hid under the locust tree behind the classroom. After Yan Bugui locked the door, she hummed a little tune and swayed away.

As soon as the two returned to the classroom, Little Fatty took out a sharpened wire and pried open the new lock in no time.

Nannan tiptoed and took out the half-full vocabulary notebook from the drawer, pieced it together to make a complete notebook, and put it in the desks of each of her classmates.

"If Teacher Yan is stingy again, this is what we'll do!" Nannan said, hands on her hips, as proud as a little rooster.

Little Fatty had just nodded when he heard an angry scream from behind him: "You two little brats! You dared to steal my notebook!"

Yan Bugui returned, still clutching the pickled vegetables he had bought at noon. When he saw the scene in the classroom, his face instantly turned a deep purplish-red.

He rushed over in three strides, but his hand, which was about to be raised, froze in mid-air. When he realized that the girl in front of him was from the Li family, his calves suddenly cramped up, and his anger subsided considerably.

But looking at the empty drawers and the broken lock lying on the floor, he felt as if a piece of his heart had been ripped out, and the pain was excruciating.

"You, you all..."

Yan Bugui pointed at the two children, his lips trembling as he squatted down, picked up the lock from the ground, and fiddled with it.

"This lock was brand new, I bought it for fifty cents! And those notebooks, I saved them up for half a month, I could sell them for three cents at the end of the month! Now it's all gone!"

He muttered to himself as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve—not from crying, but from feeling sorry for the five-cent lock and the three-cent scrap paper.

Nannan, neck stiff and unafraid of him, retorted, "Who told you to only give us half a notebook!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Bugui felt even more distressed, but he could only swallow back the words "compensate me for the lock."

In the end, he could only glare at the chubby boy and then force a smile that looked worse than a grimace at the girl.

He lowered his voice: "Next time, next time, don't pick the lock! As for the vocabulary notebooks... if you want them, just tell the teacher, and the teacher will give you the complete set!"

After saying that, he glanced at the empty drawer with a pained expression, muttering to himself, "A five-cent lock... a three-cent scrap of paper... What a loss, a huge loss..."

Finally, he yelled at the two children, "You're going to have to collect scrap metal for three days! And bring it all to school! Otherwise... otherwise I'll tell your parents!"

As evening approached, the surface of the Bohai Bay finally returned to calm.

Under the threat of fighter jets, the R country's ships slunk away from my country's territorial waters.

A deafening cheer erupted from the workshop of Longxing Factory.

The seventh edition of the alloy has finally passed the high-temperature creep test! It can withstand temperatures exceeding 1800℃ and fatigue cycles exceeding 1200, far exceeding the original targets.

Li Yu held the test report, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

In the family compound, Nannan was excitedly telling Bai Ling about picking the lock and dividing the notebooks, and at the end she proudly said, "Teacher Yan doesn't dare to scold me at all!"

Bai Ling was both angry and amused, tapping her forehead: "Don't be silly next time!"

In the alley, neighbors squatted at their doorways, bowls in hand, chatting about the factory's production progress and their children's studies. From Yan Bugui's home, one could faintly hear him muttering to his wife, "Five cents...it breaks my heart..."