Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

The leader cleared his throat twice and threw out a joke: "Comrades, don't worry, Comrade Gao Jianguo isn't going to fly away, haha."

The audience burst into laughter, and the leader continued, "Comrade Gao Jianguo is one of the top scientific and technological talents in our Beijing Third Steel Rolling Mill. A while ago, he led everyone to tackle a very difficult problem in about twenty days."

Is it twenty days?

It's not actually that long, but nobody's really taking it seriously right now. As long as it doesn't exceed the total number of days Gao Jianguo has been working at the factory, it's fine.

"In the process, Comrade Gao Jianguo not only served as the technical backbone, but also demonstrated his excellent management skills, making the whole job run extremely smoothly. Therefore, we specially invited him to this seminar so that he could share his expertise with everyone."

These lines were made up on the spot; there's no truth to them at all.

"Looking at it now, the results are really good. If anyone still wants to chat, take turns, don't fight over it. He's really established himself in Beijing now, there's no way he can escape."

Laughter broke out again, and the meeting room quieted down. The leader handed the stage back to Gao Jianguo, who stood behind the podium and answered the questions thrown his way one by one.

Seeing that it was almost time, Gao Jianguo made room for the next person. On his way back, his colleagues on both sides looked at him with admiration.

After the meeting, as usual, they had a meal together. Gao Jianguo made connections with many people from other factories. Most of them came to learn from him, while others simply wanted to get to know him. He also exchanged addresses and phone numbers with a bunch of people.

The name Gao Jianguo caused a minor stir on the territory of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building.

If this were in a game, a message like "Seventeenth Ministry Reputation +100" would probably float across the top of the screen.

After finishing his meal, Gao Jianguo returned to the courtyard house under the cover of night. The early winter sky was pitch black.

Stepping into the courtyard, Gao Jianguo saw two dark figures standing there whispering to each other. He squinted and saw that it was Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui.

The two noticed someone coming in and immediately fell silent, wondering what they were up to. Gao Jianguo casually greeted them and pushed the cart into the yard to go back inside.

He didn't have much to say to Liu Haizhong. The messy affairs about the strange wind in the courtyard were roughly divided equally among Xu Damao, Liu Haizhong, and the rest of the people in the courtyard.

If Xu Damao was someone who crawled out of a dark hole, then Liu Haizhong was practically someone who only knew how to absorb light; he was willing to put his face in his pocket just to indulge in his official ambitions.

Back in the house, I suddenly felt a sense of emptiness. You know, once someone is on your mind, your thoughts become cluttered.

He had considered using two cell phones as walkie-talkies, one for himself and one for Lou Xiao'e, but then he thought better of it and put them down. Walkie-talkies these days were quite bulky, and more importantly, those guys in charge of communications, those who were good at radio direction finding, were no pushovers.

Alright, let's get down to business. Gao Jianguo took out paper and pen and started to list the things he needed to do.

Thermocouples: We should be finishing up in the next few days. [Progress is normal] [Most important]

ESR: Currently digesting the materials. [Progress is normal] [No rush]

Transistor computer system: The documentation is being copied (halfway done). The input/output components are in hand, but the operating environment hasn't been written yet. [Most important]

The ANSI C compiler implementation remains unchanged. [No rush] This thing can only be used once the basic environment's compilation compiler is working, so he's not worried at all right now.

The orders for 3z-591 and special materials have been settled. Gao Jianguo checked these two items off the list. A sample of the special materials and a test report are quietly lying in his storage room. He personally wrote that report.

Staring at the order, he decided to work on the input/output of the transistor computer first. The old man Yi Zhonghai had already modified it according to the typewriter, and also sent over the extra frame and shell.

Gao Jianguo spread out paper and pen and started drawing circuits. One was a bunch of circuits for converting a typewriter into a keyboard, and the other was a bunch of circuits for converting computer images into television signals. He had to work on both.

Early Tuesday morning, on his way to work by bike, Gao Jianguo, who had been drawing for half the night, still had his eyes shining. You have to admire him; the body tempered by the system is truly resilient.

Around 10 a.m., he was finishing up the thermocouple work with everyone when someone came to call him and asked him to go to Chief Engineer Chen's office.

Upon entering Old Chen's room, Old Chen looked up at him and, without uttering a single unnecessary word, bluntly stated: "Jianguo, the 17th Ministry of Machine Building has assigned you a new job."

Gao Jianguo took out his notebook and pen: "Master, please speak."

"Your report yesterday caused quite a stir, and everyone's been asking the ministry for materials. Although the conference organizing committee has the written copy of your report, they don't have the pictures from your slides. You should reassemble this document and have someone deliver it to the ministry. The ministry plans to add pictures to your report and print a special issue, hoping to distribute it before everyone leaves."

After Gao Jianguo finished taking notes, Old Chen asked him again, "The leader just called me specifically to ask if you had more detailed information hidden in your head, and whether you couldn't reveal it all because the meeting time was too tight?"

Gao Jianguo sighed inwardly, "A leader is a leader, his eyes are sharp." He nodded, "Yes, the report given at the meeting was indeed limited in its presentation; many things were not explained clearly."

After listening, Old Chen added, "The leader's idea is that you should reveal all these ideas, turn them into a book, and take it to the Machinery Industry Press. He will have them handle the publication for you, so that more people can see your stuff."

Gao Jianguo felt a little uneasy. He was under a tight schedule. Not to mention the thermocouple that was about to be finished, he also needed to work on the 3Z-591 project, which required a lot of effort to connect and prepare for production. Not to mention his private projects that couldn't be made public yet, such as computer projects.

Unexpectedly, Old Chen followed up with a remark that immediately dispelled his concerns: "The factory has also thought about it. You still have a lot of things to take care of in your section. So, it's decided that you pick a few people, form a group, and you become the group leader. Let them relieve you of some of your daily chores. The department won't interfere, just so you can finish this task quickly."

This is equivalent to taking the matter that Old Chen and Factory Director Yang discussed last time about Gao Jianguo leading the group and using the pretext of the ministry urging him to write a book to smoothly put it into practice.

With the higher-ups having made such arrangements, Gao Jianguo naturally had no choice but to agree. Moreover, this matter would only benefit him. In the future, not only the 17th Ministry of Machine Building, but everyone in the entire machinery industry would be able to recognize him through this book. The Machinery Industry Press is not just a publishing house of the 17th Ministry of Machine Building.

Imagine that in the future, any exam on project management will include this sentence in the general introduction: "In 1959, Gao Jianguo's book 'Project Management System' marked the formal beginning of the systematic research and development of project management in my country."

Then those poor students had to memorize what he wrote, cursing as they went, wiping their faces afterward and continuing to memorize.

When Gao Jianguo figured this out, he almost couldn't help but laugh.