Live Stream 1980: Netizens Teach Me How to Make a Rocket by Hand

Dark as ink.

The incandescent light in Lin Xi's dormitory shone brightly.

He was half-lying over the desk.

The large sheet of white paper spread out in front of me was covered with ink stains.

The Red Star Technology Laboratory has been established, and everything is ready except for the "oxen and horses" (engineering equipment)...

No, it's that we're only lacking top talent.

On the live stream screen that only he could see.

The comments section was flooded with messages like a waterfall.

It was a talent selection process that transcended time and space.

[Host, listen to me! Liu Xiaodong! We have to get Liu Xiaodong! This guy may only be 15 years old now, still playing in the mud at the University of Science and Technology of China's gifted youth program, but he's a future Turing Award winner!]

[Stop joking around, upstairs. For something as demanding as CNC machine tools, you need someone with real experience. I recommend Zhao Qiang! He's from Hongqi Machine Tool Factory; his skills are absolutely amazing...]

Don't forget Jiang Jun! He's a god among surveying instruments! I heard he's having a run of bad luck right now, apparently something happened at home...

While watching the comments on the screen, Lin Xi quickly scribbled notes on a piece of paper.

This feeling is like playing "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with a full map cheat.

Those "divine generals" who still sleep in thatched huts and sell meat in bustling streets.

At this moment, everything was completely exposed to his view.

Golden SSR light shimmered above his head.

"Liu Xiaodong... is currently a freshman at the University of Science and Technology of China."

Lin Xi muttered to himself, his pen pausing slightly.

"Zhao Qiang, a third-level worker at the Hongqi Factory..."

"Jiang Jun, a long-haul truck driver?"

Lin Xi frowned slightly upon seeing the word "driver".

But then the comments section opened up, and people circled the name heavily.

For three whole hours, more than a hundred names were mentioned.

If this list were to circulate forty years from now, it would be enough to make those old academicians at the Chinese Academy of Sciences slap their thighs until they were swollen with envy.

This isn't a list.

This clearly represents half of China's industrial sector!

"Stamp collection complete."

Lin Xi blew on the still-wet ink, a sly smile appearing on his lips.

……

The following morning, at the Northwest Base Headquarters.

Zhang Zhengguo had just brewed a cup of high-quality tea, and the tea leaves were still swirling on the surface of the water.

Lin Xi pushed open the door and entered, carrying the document with her.

"Mr. Zhang, I have a plan regarding the staffing of the Red Star Laboratory."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhengguo's old face broke into a wide smile.

Red Star has money and power, but no people.

He was also troubled by this.

"I knew you were full of tricks!"

Zhang Zhengguo chuckled and pointed to the chair opposite him.

"Have you set your sights on some bigwig at a research institute?"

"The Seventh Ministry of Machine Building? Or the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building?"

"Don't worry, I'll risk my reputation to get it for you!"

"Not all of them are from within the system."

Lin Xi gently placed the list on the table. "There are also some... unemployed people."

"Unemployed personnel?"

Zhang Zhengguo was taken aback, picked up his teacup, and took a sip.

"As long as you have the skills, your background is not a problem; we don't subscribe to the sole criterion of class origin..."

His gaze then fell on the first page of the list.

Two seconds later.

puff--!

A mouthful of scalding hot tea turned into a mist and sprayed out.

If he hadn't turned around in time, the list would have been soaked.

Zhang Zhengguo, not even bothering to wipe his mouth, stared wide-eyed, his fingers trembling:

"Lin Xi! You..."

"Is this a job posting or a joke?"

"Liu Xiaodong, 15 years old, a freshman in college?"

"He's not even fully grown yet, and you're asking him to handle machine tools?"

"Zhao Qiang, a level three fitter at the Hongqi Factory?"

"File Notes: Clumsy with hands, often damages workpieces?"

"What do you need a scrap metal manufacturing machine for?"

"And this is the most outrageous one!"

Zhang Zhengguo pointed to the middle line of text, his voice rising eight octaves.

"Jiang Jun, self-employed, long-haul truck driver!?"

"This is a laboratory!"

"It's not a driving school! Nor is it a daycare center!"

Zhang Zhengguo slammed his fist on the table with a deafening roar.

The way Lin Xi was acting made it seem like she was turning the lab into a vegetable market.

The viewers in the live stream were laughing hysterically.

[Haha, Mr. Zhang's mentality has collapsed!]

[That's normal. Who would have thought that the guy driving the truck was actually the father of the laser interferometer?]

[This time, it's like Mr. Zhang is on the first level, while the anchor is in the atmosphere.]

Faced with Zhang Zhengguo's roar.

Lin Xi remained as steady as a mountain, and even poured the old man a glass of water.

"Mr. Zhang, please don't rush to criticize."

Lin Xi lightly touched the name "Liu Xiaodong" with her finger, her eyes sharpening:

"This 15-year-old child."

"Last month, I wrote a prototype of an operating system kernel on scrap paper in the library using a programming language."

"What?"

Lin Xi's finger moved down and landed on the name of "useless fitter" Zhao Qiang.

"Zhao Qiang is indeed clumsy; his lathe skills are terrible."

"But that's his hand, it can't keep up with his brain!"

"His design of a set of 'flexible fixture' drawings was thrown away as waste paper by the Hongqi Factory."

"But I've seen it, and that design can significantly improve the machining precision of parts."

"He's a born designer, not a machine operator."

Lin Xi stared into Zhang Zhengguo's eyes.

"What we need is not hands that can tighten screws, but brains that can design souls."

Zhang Zhengguo's breathing calmed down a bit.

But his brow remained furrowed as he pointed to the third name:

"What about...the driver?"

"This is absolutely ridiculous!"

Lin Xi's eyes darkened when Jiang Jun was mentioned.

This is a tragedy of an era, and also a microcosm of it.

"Jiang Jun, former director of the Laser Measurement Laboratory at the Spring City Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, is one of the earliest top experts in China to study laser measurement."

Lin Xi's voice was deep, yet it struck Zhang Zhengguo's heart like a heavy hammer.

"A year ago, his daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and needed imported drugs to keep her alive."

"One injection costs 1000 yuan, which my company can't reimburse, and my salary is only a few dozen yuan."

"To save his daughter's life, he resigned from his job and became a long-haul truck driver."

"Because you can earn 200 yuan for a long trip of 500 to 800 kilometers."

The office fell silent instantly.

Only the clock on the wall made a "click, click" sound.

Zhang Zhengguo opened his mouth.

The initial anger vanished instantly, replaced by a deep sense of powerlessness.

It felt like there was a wad of water-soaked cotton stuck in my throat, making me feel suffocated.

In this era when making atomic bombs is less profitable than selling tea eggs.

How many heroes have had their backs bent by a single penny?

How many geniuses have had their wings clipped by the mundane realities of daily life?

"Mr. Zhang."

Lin Xi looked out the window at the desolate Gobi Desert.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was deafening:

"To send people who are engaged in cutting-edge scientific research to drive trucks is a disgrace to our industry and a loss to the country."

"I brought him back, not only to save his daughter's life."

"More importantly, we must save our own industrial backbone!"