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

The day Lin Jianguo returned from Shanghai, Beijing had its first snowfall of the winter. He stood at the entrance of the research institute, carrying his old leather bag, a layer of snow covering his shoulders—I didn't take a picture. He Yuzhu saw him through the window and went downstairs to meet him. One of the corridor lights was broken, and the green light from the emergency exit illuminated his face, making it appear grayish-white.

"Dean, we have enough chip production in Shanghai. It's time to get our Starship IV going."

He Yuzhu led him into the office and poured him a glass of water. Lin Jianguo took the glass, but didn't drink it, placing it on the table. He pulled a stack of papers from his briefcase, unfolded them, and revealed the design plan for Galaxy-4; the corners were curled up, and the pages were yellowed.

"I want to double the computing speed."

He Yuzhu picked up the paper and looked at it. He recognized the numbers, but he couldn't keep up with Lin Jianguo's train of thought over the dense formulas.

"The design specifications are already ten times faster than No. 3. If we double that, it'll be twenty times faster. How confident are you?"

Lin Jianguo didn't answer immediately. He lowered his head, his finger tracing a line on the edge of the table, then tracing it again.

"We have enough chips, but we still need to improve the cooling system. Water cooling won't work; we need oil cooling. I've calculated it, and it should work."

He Yuzhu looked at him. There was a scratch on Lin Jianguo's glasses, he didn't know when it had been rubbed off. He remembered that when this man first arrived, he had never even touched a computer. Now he was standing in front of him, saying he wanted to build a computer that was faster than imported machines.

"What kind of people do you need? What kind of equipment do you need? Write down a list."

Lin Jianguo nodded, picked up the papers on the table, and stuffed them back into his bag. He walked to the door, then stopped.

"Dean, if we can't figure it out..."

He Yuzhu interrupted him. "We'll talk about it if you can't figure it out."

Lin Jianguo didn't say anything more, pushed open the door and left.

For the next six months, the lights in the computer lab never went out. He Yuzhu checked on it every few days. For the first month, Lin Jianguo and his team were drawing blueprints; the piles of paper on the desks almost reached the ceiling. The second month, they started making experimental boards. The smell of solder wafted out from under the door, filling the entire corridor. Once, He Yuzhu pushed open the door and saw Lin Jianguo hunched over his workbench, a magnifying glass in his hand, inspecting a freshly soldered circuit board. His fingers had several blisters, some broken and covered with bandages.

"What happened to your hand?" He Yuzhu asked.

Lin Jianguo didn't look up. "It's nothing. Just burned by the hot iron."

In the third month, the first processor was completed. They plugged it into the test board and powered it on. The indicator light didn't illuminate.

Lin Jianguo stood there, staring at the board for a long time. Then he sat down and began to examine it. He checked each solder joint and measured each wire. He Yuzhu stood beside him for half an hour without looking up. He Yuzhu left.

On the fourth day, when He Yuzhu went back, Lin Jianguo was sitting at the worktable, the board still plugged in. The indicator light was on, glowing green. He was writing something on a piece of paper, and the notebook beside him was filled with numbers.

"Is it done?" He Yuzhu asked.

Lin Jianguo looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "A loose address line. Resoldered it, and it runs again."

"What about speed?"

"Slow. It's far from meeting the design specifications."

He stood up, walked to the blackboard, and picked up the chalk to draw. He explained as he drew: clock circuit, data path, control logic. He Yuzhu didn't understand, but he didn't leave; he stood there listening. When Lin Jianguo finished, he put down the chalk and turned around.

"Dean, there's a problem with the clock circuit. It needs to be fixed."

"change."

In the fifth month, the newly manufactured processor started running. When He Yuzhu arrived, Lin Jianguo was squatting next to the computer case, his ear pressed against the cooling fan, listening to the sound. Several technicians stood nearby, but no one spoke. After listening for a long time, Lin Jianguo stood up and brushed the dust off his ear.

"The oil cooling lines are making a bit of noise. Just adjust the flow rate."

He walked to the control panel and typed a command. The numbers on the screen began to jump rapidly. He stared at the screen, his lips moved, but he didn't utter a sound. The numbers jumped for a minute and then stopped. He turned around and looked at He Yuzhu.

"The speed target has been met."

The technician next to him started clapping. Lin Jianguo paused for a moment, then smiled, his eyes narrowing into slits.

In the sixth month, the entire machine was assembled. Galaxy IV was a size larger than Galaxy III, the rack was painted light gray, and rows of indicator lights displayed red and green hues. He Yuzhu stood at the computer room door, looking at the machine. Lin Jianguo sat at the control panel, his palms sweaty, wiped them on his trousers, and then typed out a command.

The machine started running. The fan hummed, and the indicator lights flashed. The data on the screen jumped rapidly, scrolling up line by line. He Yuzhu walked over and stood next to Lin Jianguo.

"Let's run a big one," Lin Jianguo said, bringing up a weather model. The grid was densely packed with millions of data points. He pressed Enter, and the machine started calculating. The progress bar jumped from 1% to 10%, from 10% to 50%, and in the blink of an eye, it reached 100%.

Lin Jianguo turned around, his eyes reddening.

"Dean, it's done."

He Yuzhu patted him on the shoulder. Lin Jianguo stood up, walked to the machine, and reached out to touch the cabinet. The light gray paint was cold. He squatted down to look at the fan underneath, then stood up to look at the indicator lights on top. He laughed, and as he laughed, tears streamed down his face. He wiped them away with his sleeve and laughed again.

Deputy Director Zhang from the meteorological bureau arrived the next day. He circled the computer room several times, peeking inside before retreating back inside.

"Where does it grow? Can this thing really predict the weather?"

He Yuzhu led him inside. "Give it a try."

Lin Jianguo pulled up the meteorological model and input the data for the Beijing area. The machine ran for three minutes, and the results came out. The screen displayed a map, densely packed with isobars, isotherms, and rainfall areas. Deputy Director Zhang leaned close to the screen and stared at it for a long time.

"This is much faster than drawing it by hand."

He Yuzhu asked, "Is it accurate?"

Deputy Director Zhang didn't answer. He copied down the map and took it back to the meteorological bureau. The next day, he called.

"The forecasts are accurate. The wind direction, wind speed, and rainfall area are all correct. Previously, we could get six or seven out of ten forecasts right, but this time we got nine out of ten right. The accuracy rate has increased by 30%."

He Yuzhu held the microphone. "Then use it."

Deputy Director Zhang said, "I'll send a few people here to learn from Comrade Lin."

Technician Chen from the Geological Bureau arrived two weeks later. He came directly from the oil field wearing a hard hat, and stood at the entrance of the computer room without taking it off.

"Director He, I heard this machine can find oil?"

Lin Jianguo input the seismic wave data into the machine. The tape spun rapidly, the data stream rolling up line by line. After a day and a night, the results came out. The screen displayed a cross-section of the underground rock strata, clearly showing faults, anticlines, and oil-bearing structures. Technician Chen stared at the screen, his finger tracing patterns on it.

"There's oil here, here, and here too."

He went back and drilled three wells. Two of them produced oil. He called, his voice trembling.

"We've found the well. Two out of three wells are producing oil. In the past, when we were looking for oil, we were lucky if we could get two or three out of ten wells. This time, two out of three are producing oil."

He Yuzhu didn't speak. He stood by the window, looking at the sky outside. The snow had stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, shining on the courtyard wall.

Galaxy-4 is up and running. The weather forecast is accurate, and oil has been found. But there's still one thing left to do. In those remote areas, weather station data can't be transmitted back, and oil field exploration data relies on manual delivery of magnetic tapes, which takes several days at a time. If satellite signals could be relayed, one satellite could cover the entire country. He took the list out of the drawer, turned to the last page, and wrote a line in the blank space: Satellite communications, activated.