Siheyuan (traditional courtyard house): Starting with the Korean War, returning home to take charge

The letter was written in the middle of the night.

He Yuzhu sat at his desk, spread out a sheet of paper, and held his pen, not writing for a long time. The moon outside the window was bright, making the stack of satellite data on the desk appear white. He stared at the words for a long time before finally starting to write.

"Boss, I have an idea, but I don't know if it'll work out. I've been thinking about something lately, something about artificial satellites. Could we make one too? I've compiled some preliminary thoughts, which I've attached below. Please take a look when you have time."

Just these few lines. After he finished writing, he looked at them once, folded them up, and put them in an envelope.

He walked to the window; the moon was still in the same spot, making the poplar leaves in the yard shine. He stared at the moon for a long time—the things he would send up later would hang there.

He sealed the letter and affixed a seal.

The next morning, I had someone deliver it to him.

The reply came faster than expected.

Three days later, He Yuzhu was in the workshop watching the tanks being calibrated when the communications officer ran over, holding a manila envelope.

"Dean, your letter. It's from Zhongnanhai."

He Yuzhu took the letter and tore it open.

The letter was very short, just one line:

"Come to my office at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Bring your documents."

He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

Ma Yuejin, standing nearby, asked, "Dean, what's the matter?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "It's nothing. You guys continue."

The next morning at nine o'clock, He Yuzhu stood in front of that familiar door.

The door opened. It was the same sofa, the same table, and the same person.

The high-ranking leader was sitting on the sofa, holding the stack of documents he had sent, and was flipping to a certain page. He looked up when he saw him enter.

"sit."

He Yuzhu sat down.

The senior leader put down the documents: "How long have you been working on this?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "It's been a while. After the tank project was finished, my mind had some free time, so I started thinking about these things."

The high-ranking leader looked at him: "You've figured it out?"

He Yuzhu nodded: "I've come up with something."

The top leader leaned back on the sofa and remained silent for a while.

"Xiao He, do you know what the current situation is with satellites internationally?"

He Yuzhu nodded: "I know. Both the Soviet Union and the United States are working on it, and the Soviet Union may be close to success."

The top leader nodded in agreement: "Yes. They're almost there, while we haven't even gotten started."

He stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to He Yuzhu.

"I had some experts look at your work. They said it makes sense. In some aspects, they've thought things through more deeply than they have."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

The senior leader turned around: "But satellites aren't something one person can build. It requires money, manpower, and equipment. How big is your lab now?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "More than three hundred people. Four floors underground, and three rows of factory buildings above ground."

The top leader nodded: "Is that enough?"

He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment. The voice in his head didn't ring. This time, it was his own heart that made a sound.

"You mean...?"

The high-ranking leader walked back to the sofa and sat down: "What I mean is, I'm assigning this task to you. Rename your place to Chengshan Research Institute. It will be directly under the National Defense Science Department. If you don't have enough people, we'll add more. If you don't have enough money, we'll allocate it."

He Yuzhu tightened his grip on his knee.

The high-ranking leader looked at him and asked, "What, you're afraid to accept it?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "Dare."

The top leader laughed: "I knew you'd dare."

He stood up, walked over to He Yuzhu, picked up the stack of documents on the table, and handed them to him.

"Take it back. When the experts come next month, you can explain it to them."

He Yuzhu took the documents; the pages were still slightly warm.

"Go back and prepare. A group of experts will be going over next month to work with you. Also, the security needs to be upgraded. Is one regiment enough?"

He Yuzhu was taken aback: "A whole regiment?"

The top leader nodded: "Satellites are more coveted than tanks."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

The high-ranking leader extended his hand.

He Yuzhu stood up and grasped it.

"Do a good job."

As He Yuzhu emerged from the courtyard, he stood at the doorway and looked up at the sky.

The sun was blazing, making him dizzy. He squinted, looking at the unnaturally blue sky.

satellite.

He remembered the phrase from the system—"looking up at the stars."

Back when I was on the battlefield, lying in the snow, I looked up at the sky. At that time, I was thinking about whether I could make it back alive.

Now I'm thinking about whether we can make things from this country fly into the sky.

He got into the car and drove towards Seongsan.

By the time I got back to the lab, it was already dark.

He Yuzhu called Ma Yuejin, Lin Jianguo, and a few others to his office and explained the matter.

After hearing this, Ma Yuejin was stunned for a long time: "Dean, we're going to develop a satellite?"

He Yuzhu nodded.

Lin Jianguo, standing to the side, adjusted his glasses and said, "Dean, we haven't even gotten our hands on satellites yet."

He Yuzhu looked at him and said, "That's why you have to touch it."

Lin Jianguo fell silent.

Ma Yuejin scratched his head: "So what do we do now?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "Wait for someone. Experts will be coming next month to work on it together."

He stood up and walked to the window.

"From now on, this place will be called Chengshan Research Institute. It will be directly under the National Defense Department."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Lin Jianguo whispered, "Dean, have we been promoted?"

He Yuzhu did not answer.

He looked out at the pitch-black night, thinking about what the senior leader had said during the day.

The strength of a regiment.

Satellite pre-research team.

He turned around and looked at the group of people.

"Before the experts arrive next month, you should organize all the data from the past few years. List out what's usable and what's not."

Ma Yuejin nodded: "Okay."

Lin Jianguo stood up: "Dean, I have a question."

He Yuzhu looked at him and said, "Speak."

Lin Jianguo thought for a moment: "What exactly is the purpose of us developing satellites?"

He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment.

He looked at Lin Jianguo, at Ma Yuejin, and at the other people in the room.

"When I was a child, I looked up at the sky and saw the stars, and I thought they belonged to someone else."

He paused for a moment.

"In the future, when our children look up at the sky and see things flying in the sky, they must know that those things belong to us."

No one spoke inside the room.

Lin Jianguo lowered his head, then raised it again after a while.

He Yuzhu stood still, waiting for the sound to ring out.

It rang.

[Side Quest: Gazing at the Stars - Activated]

[Mission Objective: To assist in the completion of the initial satellite design]

[Mission Reward: +6,000,000 points]

He closed the interface. This time, he didn't find the sound annoying. He even felt a little grateful for it.

Outside the window, the moon had risen sometime earlier. It was the same moon as always.