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

The smell in the workshop could knock a person over.

Engine oil, metal shavings, and an indescribable burnt smell mingled together, making one's throat tighten. The rocket engine sat on the test stand, its pipes and wiring exposed, like a half-dissected corpse. Ma Yuejin squatted beside it, unconsciously tapping the ground with a wrench in his hand.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

The monotonous sound, one beat after another, was like a restless countdown.

Lin Jianguo stood in front of the control panel, flipping through the stack of data. With each page he turned, his brow furrowed. When he reached the last page, he slammed the stack of papers onto the table.

"It's still not right."

Ma Yuejin stopped using the wrench.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Jianguo didn't answer, he just stared at the engine.

He Yuzhu stood at the door, watching them. Three consecutive test runs had left the entire workshop in a tense atmosphere. Even the row of fluorescent lights overhead seemed dimmer than usual, as if they too were exhausted.

The security guard rushed in from outside, his steps hurried.

"Dean, someone's looking for you. It's the Navy."

He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment.

navy?

A jeep was parked outside the iron gate of the research institute.

The car was covered in dust, clearly having traveled a long way. Two people stood beside it. One was in military uniform, around fifty years old, with three stars on his shoulders. He was scrutinizing the research institute's dusty sign, his gaze heavy, as if weighing something.

The other one was younger, clutching a bulging briefcase, his knuckles white.

He Yuzhu walked over.

The soldier with the star on his arm stepped forward and extended his hand.

"Comrade He Yuzhu, Navy Equipment Department, my surname is Wang."

He Yuzhu grasped his hand. The hand was rough, strong, and held firmly.

"Commander Wang."

Commander Wang didn't exchange many pleasantries, only saying one sentence.

"Find a quiet place."

There were only three people in the meeting room.

Once the door closed, all the noise outside was shut out, and it was so quiet you could hear the second hand of the wall clock ticking. Click. Click. Click.

The young man placed his briefcase on the table and unfastened the clasp. A soft click, but remarkably clear in the quiet room.

A stack of blueprints was pushed in front of He Yuzhu.

Commander Wang didn't speak, but gestured with his eyes.

He Yuzhu opened the first page. It contained a rough sketch of a submarine, the lines thick and the annotations dense. He turned to the second page, then the third. His finger paused on the third page.

Commander Wang keenly caught that pause. He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice.

"Dean He, do you recognize this?"

He Yuzhu did not answer immediately. He closed the blueprints, looked up, and gazed past Commander Wang at the gray sky outside the window.

After a few seconds, he slowly spoke.

"A nuclear submarine?"

Commander Wang neither nodded nor shook his head. He simply gave He Yuzhu a deep look, then stood up, walked to the window, and turned his back to him.

"Our conventional submarines can't even turn around in our own backyard. But their nuclear submarines can circle the earth several times over."

He turned around. The light from the window shone in from behind him, obscuring the expression on his face in shadow, leaving only a clear and heavy silhouette.

"Dean He, our navy is really suffering."

He spoke the last three words very slowly, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

He lowered his head and looked at the stack of blueprints again. His fingertips slowly traced the rough paper, as if measuring its weight.

After a long while, he raised his head and met Commander Wang's bloodshot but still burning eyes.

"Commander Wang, I can take this job. But I have one condition."

Commander Wang's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't speak; he just stared at him.

"Every piece of paper, every number that leaves my possession must be top secret." He Yuzhu's voice wasn't loud, but every word was steady. "Not for me. For that boat, and for the person who will be sailing it in the future."

Commander Wang did not answer.

He stood up, his body ramrod straight. Then he slowly raised his right hand and gave He Yuzhu a standard military salute.

He held the salute for a full five seconds.

He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment. He looked at the soldier in front of him, who was much older than him, at the five stars on the epaulettes, and at the unquestionable trust in the soldier's eyes.

He took a deep breath and slowly raised his hand to return the greeting solemnly.

The ceremony is over.

Commander Wang only said two words.

"rest assured."

The office was quiet at night.

The second hand of the wall clock kept ticking, tick, tick, tick, each step feeling like a blow to the heart. He Yuzhu stared at the semi-transparent screen in front of him, on which was listed a long string of redeemable items.

He scrolled down to the nuclear technology section.

[Basic Design of Nuclear Submarine Reactors]

[Redeemable Points: 1,000,000]

five million.

How many rain-reducing bombs can we buy? How many disaster victims can we save?

Another image flashed before his eyes: the parched, cracked yellow earth of Henan, the fissures wide enough to fit a fist. An old man knelt on the edge of the field, futilely rummaging through the withered wheat seedlings with his calloused hands.

Another image immediately follows: in the murky floodwaters of the south, an old woman clutches a bundle tightly, the water reaching her chest. As the bundle finally slips from her grasp and floats away with the current, her eyes are filled with despair.

He Yuzhu abruptly closed his eyes. The images, however, burned even more intensely, a mixture of charred yellow and murky colors.

When I opened my eyes again, the string of numbers was still there, gleaming with a ghostly blue light.

His finger hovered above the word "Exchange" for a long time without falling.

However, another image surfaced—not a picture, but a gaze. When Commander Wang gave that five-second salute in the conference room, there was a deep sense of entrustment in his eyes that was heavier than any words could express.

He Yuzhu took a deep breath.

My finger landed steadily on the screen.

[Redeem successful. Points consumed: 1,000,000]

A thick stack of documents was retrieved from the system space and placed on the table. The cover was printed with the words "Basic Design of Nuclear Submarine Reactors," and below it was a line of smaller print: "Top Secret."

He turned to the first page. Pressurized water reactor principles, core structure, single-loop system, dual-loop system.

I had just turned to the third page when there was a knock on the door.

It wasn't just ordinary knocking; it was a very urgent knock, like an alarm.

"Come in."

The door was suddenly pushed open. Ma Yuejin practically stumbled in. He Yuzhu knew that expression on his face all too well—it wasn't just simple frustration, but a bewilderment and panic stemming from a problem beyond his comprehension.

His lips moved, but he couldn't utter the first sound. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down before he managed to squeeze out a few hoarse words.

"Dean...the test stand...the fuel has exploded again."

He didn't say "there's a problem." He said "it exploded."

This word was like a pebble thrown into He Yuzhu's heart, which had just calmed down, stirring up cold ripples.

He looked at Ma Yuejin's face, which was covered in sweat and dust, and at the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, which had been bitten from speaking too quickly.

Tonight, another sleepless night.