I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

In the corridor, the returned scholars consciously made way for each other.

Chen Zhiyuan watched Jiang Ming's retreating figure following behind Qian Lao, his eyes filled with envy. Those academic high-achievers who usually thought highly of themselves now looked at Jiang Ming with completely different eyes, as if they were looking at a monster who was hiding his true abilities.

Xu Chongwen was still standing there, covered in red wine stains. He clenched his fists tightly, looking like a drowned rat, his back teeth almost grinding to powder, but he couldn't utter a single defiant word.

Jiang Ming followed behind Qian Xuesen, his heart pounding.

Push open the heavy solid wood door of Room 107.

Qian Xuesen took off his coat, which was stained with a little oil, and casually hung it on the back of the chair.

"Sit down," Qian Xuesen said, pointing to the wooden chair in front of his desk.

Jiang Ming sat down obediently, and took out his black lecture notebook and pen. (°Д°)

He thought Qian Lao was going to make him memorize those tedious electromagnetism formulas again, and his head was already starting to throb. After all, he had just shown off at the banquet and been lifted high in the air by the chief engineer in front of everyone, and his brain was still in a state of high excitement and oxygen deprivation.

If they were to randomly check someone's memorization, they would definitely be completely stumped on the spot.

As a result, Qian Xuesen didn't even let him open the lecture notes.

He took out a blank piece of kraft paper and quickly sketched a few lines on it with a pencil.

"Last night in the engine room, the solution you proposed was risky, but effective." Qian Xuesen's voice was calm and composed, without a trace of unnecessary emotion.

A simplified cross-sectional diagram of the engine room quickly appeared on the paper.

High-pressure steam pipes, condenser, oil pan, main bearing. The lines are precise, as if measured with a ruler.

"You said at the time that you would use high-pressure steam to replace the oil pump. In engineering, this is called pressure compensation." Qian Xuesen drew an arrow between the steam pipe and the oil sump.

Jiang Ming swallowed hard, staring intently at the blueprints like an obedient schoolchild.

"But do you know what would have happened if the steam temperature hadn't come down yesterday, or if the pressure had exceeded the oil pan's tolerance limit?" Qian Xuesen raised his eyelids and glanced at him.

"Will it explode?" Jiang Ming asked tentatively.

"It will overturn the entire lower deck, and we'll all be instantly cooked by the steam at over 200 degrees Celsius." Qian Xuesen's tone was calm, but it sent chills down Jiang Ming's spine. (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

Holy crap, I really had a close call with death last night!

"Therefore, the critical value in between is the boundary between life and death." Qian Xuesen picked up a pen and wrote a capital T next to the condenser, and a P in the oil pan.

"You said before that you didn't understand Bernoulli's equation," Qian Xuesen said, pointing to the connecting pipe. "Now, forget those dry definitions. Imagine this pipe as a river."

Jiang Ming paused for a moment, then pricked up his ears.

"Water flows slowly in wide places and fast in narrow places. The pressure also changes accordingly." Qian Xuesen wrote a few simple algebraic symbols on the paper. "Steam is water flow. We need to lower the temperature of more than 200 degrees Celsius within the distance of the condenser tube, while also retaining enough kinetic energy to push the oil."

Qian Xuesen's explanations were very straightforward, without any pedantic or technical jargon.

As Jiang Ming listened, his eyes gradually brightened. (✧◡✧)

The image of the car repair blogger using a makeshift method to press oil in his mind began to strangely overlap with the symbols on Qian Lao's paper.

The car repair blogger was yelling in the video, "The pipe can't be too thick, or it won't be strong enough! And it can't be too thin, or it'll feel constricted!"

Isn't this the relationship between cross-sectional area and flow velocity in fluid mechanics?

The car repair blogger also said, "You have to wait for this gas to cool down a bit before connecting it in, otherwise the engine oil will burn and the engine will be ruined!"

Isn't this just the conversion between temperature and pressure in the laws of thermodynamics?

Jiang Ming felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

The physics formulas that used to make him sleepy at first glance suddenly became vivid, living components in his eyes. They meshed together perfectly, their logic frighteningly clear.

"Mr. Qian!" Jiang Ming suddenly stood up excitedly and grabbed the pen on the table.

Qian Xuesen stopped explaining and looked at him quietly.

Jiang Ming's hands trembled slightly, but his eyes were unusually bright. He quickly wrote a formula in the blank space of the drawing.

Instead of memorizing the standard format in the textbook, he followed the thought process he had just been working on.

After writing down the basic Bernoulli equation, Jiang Ming didn't stop; his mind was brimming with ideas.

He incorporated the initial steam pressure, the length loss rate of the condenser tubes, and the viscosity coefficient of the engine oil into the actual conditions of the engine room last night.

The pen tip made a soft, scratching sound on the paper, which was particularly clear in the quiet cabin.

He even included gravitational acceleration, because the bottom groove is below and the main bearing is above, so the oil needs to overcome gravity to do work.

Two minutes later.

Jiang Ming heavily pressed an equal sign on the paper, writing down a specific critical pressure range value.

"Sir, I've figured it out!" Jiang Ming said breathlessly, pointing to the numbers on the paper. "As long as the cross-sectional area of ​​the steam pipe is controlled within four times the oil inlet of the main bearing, and the length of the condenser pipe exceeds three meters, the oil can be perfectly contained, and there will be absolutely no explosion!"

The cabin fell silent.

The only sound was the waves crashing against the ship outside the window.

Qian Xuesen looked at the slightly hasty derivation process on the paper.

Although the format is very irregular, and some symbols are even written like scribbles, the underlying logical chain is so tight that no one can find any fault with it.

This is a formula for the critical value of fluid mechanics that a student who failed even basic materials mechanics managed to write out by hand in just ten minutes!

A flicker of extreme shock flashed in Qian Xuesen's eyes, hidden behind his round metal-framed glasses, before turning into deep admiration.

"Absolutely correct." Qian Xuesen put down his pencil and gave his final assessment.

Upon hearing those four words, Jiang Ming trembled as if he had been electrocuted. (≧▽≦)

Cool!

So cool!

The feeling of thoroughly digesting complex knowledge with your own brain and applying it perfectly is a million times more satisfying than getting a pentakill in a game!

For the first time, he experienced a domineering sense of control amidst the dryness of academic work.

This theory is now truly ingrained in his mind!

"Your intuitive talent is extremely rare." Qian Xuesen looked at Jiang Ming, his tone filled with undisguised expectation. "Many people study physics their whole lives and can only solve the dead questions on exams. You are different; you can see the real world behind the formulas."

Qian Xuesen paused, his voice becoming even gentler.

"As long as you lay a solid foundation, your future achievements will exceed everyone's imagination."

Jiang Ming scratched his head and chuckled foolishly.

He knew he was relying on the information explosion of the future, and the hardcore science popularization provided by short video bloggers. But at this moment, this strange overlap made him completely integrated into this era.

He even had the illusion that he might actually become a science and engineering student who could build big rockets for the country.

"Take a break first." Qian Xuesen stood up and poured a cup of hot tea from the thermos next to him.

He handed the steaming enamel mug to Jiang Ming.

Jiang Ming accepted the gift with both hands, feeling a warm glow in his heart. He was about to say thank you.

Qian Xuesen, however, did not sit down.

He stood by the desk, the dim light of the desk lamp casting a tall shadow on his thin face and the wall.

Those gentle eyes suddenly turned deep, like two sharp scalpels cutting straight into Jiang Ming's eyes.

The atmosphere in the cabin instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Jiang Ming's silly grin froze completely before he could even wipe it off.

"Now," Qian Xuesen's voice was soft, yet carried an irresistible sense of pressure, "tell me."

Jiang Ming's hand holding the teacup trembled violently, splashing scalding tea onto the back of his hand, but he didn't even dare to dodge. (°Д°)

"The cellular network you mentioned last night, and the distributed relay base stations," Qian Xuesen stared intently into Jiang Ming's eyes, pressing him with each word.

"Who taught you that?"