Love in the Courtyard: Starting with Engineers

Two months later. At the Longxing Factory's rocket test site, the sky was high and the clouds were light, the wind was calm and the sand was flat.

Unlike the previous sandstorm, the test site was spotless today, and the silver-white Longxing-2 carrier rocket stood steadily on the launch pad.

Inside the command center, the atmosphere remained tense, yet a sense of certainty had crept in.

Every parameter displayed on the screen has been verified hundreds of times; the core components of the rocket, from sensors to landing gear, are all developed and produced in-house by Longxing Factory, with not a single screw coming from the West.

Li Yu stood in front of the main control console, his eyes sharp as an eagle's. The bloodshot eyes from days of travel had not yet faded, but his spirits were exceptionally high.

He glanced at his watch and said in a deep voice, "Attention all units, final system self-check!"

"Powertrain self-test normal!"

"The recycling system self-test is normal!"

"Satellite payload self-test normal!"

Reports came clearly as Bai Ling, pregnant, sat in the rest area, her handkerchief soaked with sweat.

Nannan was held in Zhang Lianchang's arms. The little girl covered her mouth and stared intently at the big screen, afraid of missing a single moment.

"Ten minutes to go!"

"Five minutes!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! Ignition!"

As the commander's shout subsided, a dazzling orange-red flame erupted from the bottom of the rocket, and the enormous roar made the earth tremble slightly.

Longxing-2, trailing a long tail of flame, shot straight into the sky like an arrow, breaking through the clouds and disappearing into the azure sky.

In the command center, no one cheered; everyone stared intently at the screen, their hearts pounding with the rocket's trajectory.

"First stage separation successful!"

"Secondary separation successful!"

"Satellite successfully entered orbit! It is currently orbiting the Earth!"

When those words were spoken, Li Yu's tense shoulders finally relaxed.

Immediately afterwards, a clear photo of Earth appeared on the big screen.

This is the first image of Earth taken by a microsatellite carried by Longxing-2 in low Earth orbit.

"Great! Great!" The technicians could no longer hold back, cheering and hugging each other, tears streaming down their faces.

Even more exciting moments are yet to come.

"Rocket has entered the recovery trajectory!"

"Landing engine ignition!"

"Posture adjustment normal!"

"One thousand meters above the ground! Five hundred meters! One hundred meters!"

On the screen, the Longxing-2 rocket slowly decelerated and landed precisely at the designated landing point.

Finally, with a soft thud, the rocket landed steadily on the recovery platform, its support structure deployed and remaining perfectly still.

"Recycling successful!"

A deafening roar of cheers erupted in the command center, followed by thunderous applause that lasted for a long time.

Li Yu watched the rocket land steadily on the screen, a bright smile spreading across his face.

he made it!

The news caused a nationwide uproar.

Major media outlets rushed to report on the news, with headlines all featuring the successful launch and recovery of Longxing-2.

When aerospace experts learned that all the funding for this launch came from Longteng Electronics' own funds, rather than government appropriations, the entire industry was in an uproar.

An elderly academician, reading the report, exclaimed, "He's gone mad! Li Yu has truly gone mad! A private company achieving such success in rocket recovery—this is unprecedented globally!"

"Longteng Electronics is incredibly confident! Their investment exceeds the space program budgets of some countries!"

"This is true patriotism through science and technology! Achieving remarkable feats without government funding!"

Amidst the exclamations of praise, Li Yu had already begun the next step of his operation without stopping.

He personally led his team to submit an application to the International Telecommunication Union, requesting orbital positions for 2000 near-Earth orbit communication satellites in one go.

This completely alarmed Western aerospace giants and communications alliances.

At an emergency meeting of the Western Communications Alliance in New York, executives stared at the application reports in their hands, their faces ashen.

"2000! What is he trying to do? Does he want to fill up low Earth orbit?"

"Once these satellites successfully form a network, they will monopolize the global communications market! Our base stations will all become piles of scrap metal!"

"No! We absolutely cannot let him succeed! We must find a way to stop him!"

The meeting room was in chaos, and the former arrogance had vanished completely.

They then realized that Li Yu's goal was never ground-based base stations, but rather the control of communications throughout space.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, the area surrounding the Longxing Machinery Factory residential compound was quietly undergoing changes.

When Li Yu got off work and returned home, he noticed with keen insight that several houses near the neighborhood that had been vacant for years had recently been quietly occupied by strangers.

These people were dressed in ordinary clothes, but they always seemed to be staring at the gate of the family compound, their eyes filled with vigilance and a desire to spy.

He paused, about to take out his phone to contact the military region, when he saw one of the strangers nod at him subtly, his eyes showing no malice but rather a hint of invitation.

Li Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly understood what was going on.

Sure enough, that very evening an officer from the military region came to his door with a smile on his face: "Chief Engineer Li, did you notice? Those are people sent from above to protect you secretly."

"Those Westerners will definitely not let this go. They won't dare to act openly, but they might resort to some underhanded tricks in secret. With them around, we can have an extra layer of protection."

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief, her heart finally at ease: "So that's how it is. No wonder he didn't seem like a bad person."

"The military region has already made arrangements, and the security level of the family compound has been raised again."

Li Yu sat on the sofa and spoke softly to Bai Ling, his tone filled with reassurance.

"When you go out these days, make sure your bodyguard accompanies you. But don't worry too much, those strangers in the neighborhood are actually there to protect us."

Bai Ling nodded: "With them here, I feel much more at ease. You also need to be careful; those Western forces definitely don't have good intentions."

"Don't worry, they won't dare to make any rash moves. Right now, I not only have Longteng behind me, but also the nation. Besides, you know my strength. Unless they use missiles, they can forget about it."

Meanwhile, on a farm in Northwest China, Xu Damao's life took an "unexpected" turn.

That day, a farm cadre suddenly approached him, handed him a certificate of release from prison, and said in an unusually polite tone: "Comrade Xu Damao, your sentence is over, you can go home now."

Xu Damao was stunned.

He still had six months left in his sentence, so how did it suddenly become full? Looking at the smile on the cadre's face, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he still hurriedly packed his things and boarded the train back to the city.

I had just arrived at my parents' house back in Beijing and hadn't even had a chance to say hello to them.

A letter was shoved into his hand. He opened it and its contents sent chills down his spine.

The letter instructed him to assassinate Li Yu, promising him not only a large sum of money but also a chance to live in the United States.

Xu Damao's face turned pale and then flushed after reading the letter. His hands trembled as he held the letter. Assassinate Li Yu? What a joke! Who is Li Yu now? He's a big shot who developed rockets and satellites, surrounded by bodyguards, with sentries even watching his doorstep. Forget assassinating him, it would be difficult to even get close!

But he gritted his teeth, stuffed the letter into his pocket, and pushed open the door to go inside.