Courtyard House: I'm an engineer, and a fairy godmother transferred me to a different position.

A dozen or so wooden tables, some of which were wobbling.

In the dim yellow light of the kerosene lamp, jagged shadows were cast.

Liu Guangqi followed Director Deng into the shed.

As soon as you step through the door, a smell of sand and coarse grains hits you.

In the iron pot on the stove.

The thick barley paste was bubbling and making a slight hissing sound.

The bamboo basket next to it was piled high with dried bread, like a small mountain, each one very sturdy.

The surface still had a few grains of sand clinging to it.

On this Gobi Desert, any food inevitably bears the marks of wind and sand.

When Director Deng saw Liu Guangqi looking at the basket of steamed buns, he couldn't help but grin. He casually picked one up, tapped it twice in his palm, broke it in half, and handed one half over.

"Comrade Guangqi!"

"Try our local specialty, Gobi Desert flavor, all-natural, and we even give you free minerals."

He said it with a hint of sarcasm.

He had already put his half into his mouth.

The cheeks bulged gently as they chewed.

It made a rustling sound when chewed, and it was hard to tell whether it was the coarseness of the dry rations themselves or the sand and dust mixed in with them from the Gobi Desert.

"Limited conditions—"

"The water is salty, and the noodles are mixed with sand, so please bear with it."

Liu Guangqi took the half-cake.

The rough touch from his palm made his heart sink slightly.

He didn't recall the unpalatable taste.

Instead, it was the snow-white steamed buns in the canteens of government offices in Beijing, and the exquisite meals prepared for senior technical personnel in special kitchens.

Look at these people in front of me.

They held their rough earthenware bowls, heads down, eating intently. Their faces, weathered by wind and sand, had eyes that shone like stars in the dark night.

To be honest—

Any one of these people would be highly sought-after by various ministries outside, and their technical allowances alone would allow them to live a comfortable life.

But they insisted on remaining anonymous, swallowing coarse grains that even ordinary workers found hard to swallow in this desolate place.

What kind of choice is this?

Liu Guangqi pondered to himself, knowing that he might not be able to do it.

Thinking about this...

His instinctive aversion to food suddenly vanished, replaced by a profound sense of reverence.

"Director Deng, this is already very good."

Liu Guangqi smiled calmly.

He imitated the other person, breaking off a piece and putting it in his mouth.

The coarse particles rubbed against his throat, but he remained unfazed, picked up the bowl, and steadily swallowed the bitter, salty water.

That faint astringency actually suppressed the thirst in my throat.

"You are truly remarkable for being able to persist in your research in a place like this."

Director Deng had been quietly observing his reaction.

Seeing how naturally he accepted everything before him, a warm sense of approval flashed in her eyes.

A middle-aged researcher wearing glasses at the next table looked up and smiled kindly at Liu Guangqi:

"Comrade Guangqi is a rare find."

"Many engineers who came here for the first time couldn't even swallow their first meal and had to ask someone to bring them dry rations from the city!"

A soft, friendly chuckle rippled through the crowd.

Director Deng smiled too.

He patted Liu Guangqi on the shoulder, his tone conveying a sense of approachability and warmth.

"I'm glad you don't mind."

"Whether it's tough or not, we're used to it."

He paused, his gaze fixed on the unfathomable darkness outside the shed, and his voice softened.

"As long as we can forge the sword the nation needs—"

"Don't even mention eating sand, you'd practically be eating mud..."

"We are willing to do it."

Liu Guangqi didn't say anything more, but quietly finished the remaining pancake in his hand, even scraping off the last bit of batter at the bottom of the bowl.

Who would have thought?

The first meal upon arriving at the Northwest Base.

There were no delicacies, yet it moved him more deeply than any feast he had ever attended.

Until this moment.

Only then did he truly understand what the "backbone" mentioned in the book was made of.

It's not copper or iron, it's not a slogan.

It is the unwavering perseverance of countless people who silently grit their teeth, and the solitary courage of those who willingly bury themselves in their work.

These are the people right in front of me.

On this barren Gobi Desert, with coarse grains mixed with sand, they carried the hopes of a nation to hold its head high!

The next seven days.

Liu Guangqi devoted all his energy to assembling the five-axis CNC center.

I go in and out with my colleagues at the research institute every day.

This vast and barren northwestern base.

It became his new battlefield, and also his silent classroom.

Outside the research institute.

It is the ceaseless howling of the wind over the Gobi Desert.

Inside the institute.

On one side was a silent figure, head bowed, using a pen and abacus to work out core data;

On the other side.

It was Liu Guangqi with the precision parts scattered all over the ground.

Without the assistance of skilled craftsmen in Beijing, he was now fighting alone.

Leveling and calibrating the machine tool base.

From welding wires as thin as a hair, everything must be done by hand.

Progress was naturally not fast.

Fortunately, he had a thorough understanding of the entire CNC center, and the assembly process proceeded smoothly without any hindrance.

Everything proceeded smoothly and methodically, like a stream flowing into a canal.

His wrench and calipers never stopped moving, and he also explained the key points to the observers beside him from time to time.

"The parallelism between the spindle and the guide rail must be strictly within the error range."

"Otherwise, vibrations will inevitably occur during processing."

"The wiring sequence for this servo motor must be followed precisely; not a single step can be wrong."

at first.

These researchers simply stood quietly by and watched.

Watching Liu Guangqi accurately pinpoint errors with just a pair of calipers and determine smooth gear engagement simply by listening to the sound of gears turning, the surrounding gazes gradually shifted from curiosity to admiration. Even engineers who dealt with machinery year-round were often awestruck by his profound knowledge.

Liu Guangqi never held back. He imparted his practical experience and accumulated skills, such as the step-by-step calibration method and the triple troubleshooting technique, to everyone present without reservation. Having come to this land, he never intended to keep anything to himself.

Gradually, the onlookers became his assistants. By the fourth day, many researchers were able to complete the routine debugging and operation of most machine tools. By the sixth day, they were even able to work alongside Liu Guangqi to tackle the most challenging core module problems.

On the seventh day at dusk, when the indicator light on the last five-axis CNC machine tool turned a steady green light and the entire CNC center array emitted a deep and steady operating sound, the research institute finally erupted in long-awaited cheers.

Director Deng rushed over and, looking at the words "All systems have passed calibration" on the control panel, tightly grasped Liu Guangqi's hand: "Comrade Guangqi, I really don't know how to thank you! With this complete CNC system, our parts processing cycle can be reduced by nearly half, and the accuracy can be improved to another level."

Liu Guangqi wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled, pointing to the group of researchers beside him: "The key is that everyone has learned so well. These past few days, they've helped me with a lot of the assembly and debugging work. From now on, I won't have to worry about the daily maintenance and operation of the machine."

The setting sun streamed through the workshop's windowpanes, casting its light on the cold-gleaming machine tools and onto every face etched with a sense of accomplishment, giving them an indescribable glow. This was not merely the completion of a CNC center, but the beginning of a spark of technological innovation taking deep root here.

In the days that followed, Liu Guangqi would come to inspect the CNC center every other day, while also guiding everyone on operating procedures. Occasionally, after get off work, he would stay and chat with everyone for a while. This group of researchers, who had gathered here from all over the country, would sit together, sharing interesting stories from their work and discussing their aspirations for tomorrow.

Of course, everyone tacitly guarded that invisible boundary. Once inside the research institute, no one would utter a single word related to that momentous theory.

Until one ordinary day, the most precious "treasure" in the research institute suddenly stopped working.

Inside the computing room, the Type 104 hand-cranked electronic computer acted up again. This wasn't surprising given the machine's delicate nature—the Gobi Desert was rife with sandstorms, far less peaceful than the research institute in Beijing. Even with the computing room's robust protection, the ever-present fine sand could still find gaps and seep into the machine's intricate structure, hindering its operation.

Normally, for these minor malfunctions, people would simply call the Beijing Computing Institute and request remote guidance from experts on the other end of the line. But this time, just when everyone was at a loss, someone suddenly whispered a reminder:

"By the way... I remember Comrade Guangqi's name. Wasn't he listed in the research and development team of the second-generation transistor computer? He was also a technical contributor, and he might not be any less capable than a full-time computer engineer."

These words were like a lamp suddenly lit. There was an expert right before us; why bother seeking help from elsewhere?

So, following the principle of seeking help from the nearest available source, the computing lab quickly located Liu Guangqi and explained their purpose directly. Upon receiving the message, Liu Guangqi was also taken aback for a moment—computer repair? How did this come to him? But he didn't ask any questions, nor did he refuse, and quickly followed them to the core data computing group.

Upon entering the computing room, he saw the Model 104 hand-cranked computer, a colossal machine that was the only one of its kind in the research institute. Clearly, this was completely different from the Model 107 small general-purpose computer he had previously collaborated with at the institute. Simply put, the Model 107 was lightweight and flexible, but its computing power was limited, unable to handle such vast amounts of core data; the real heavy-duty computing task was handled by this large general-purpose computer before him, whose floating-point operation speed could reach ten thousand times per second.

The entire machine resembled a massive cast iron object, its casing covered with various dials and markings, while a thick, sturdy crank on one side gleamed with a cold metallic sheen. Beside the machine, piles of calculation papers were covered with densely packed formulas and numbers.

"Comrade Guangqi," the accompanying researcher said in a low voice, "this machine is our lifeline, but it's just too slow..."

The researcher sighed with a wry smile, making a grasping motion in the air with both hands, mimicking the action of a crank: "It would take several of us taking turns cranking for over ten hours to calculate a set of fluid dynamics parameters."

He paused, his voice tinged with helplessness: "That's not even the worst part. The machine throws tantrums every now and then; if it miscalculates even one number, the whole day's work is wasted."

He gently rotated his wrist, demonstrating the slow, mechanical movement. The numbers on the dial jumped lazily, and after each rotation, he had to stop and carefully record the result with a pen.

The young man watched quietly, his mind racing. He had spent countless hours working with the old Type 107 transistor computer at the Institute of Computing Technology to design that five-axis CNC system. He already had a clear blueprint in mind for how to improve computational efficiency through subtle adjustments to the mechanical structure.

Ultimately, he was a PhD specializing in mechanical engineering, so he was extremely familiar with the combination of mechanics and electronics. In his view, while the electronic part of this first-generation vacuum tube computer was indeed the core, the underlying logic of the entire computing system still heavily relied on those precise but cumbersome gears and linkages.

Using his ahead-of-his-time knowledge to optimize the computing devices of this era is like using a key from the future to unlock a lock from the past.

If it weren't for the limitations imposed on him before, he would have started long ago. Now that even a five-axis CNC center has been established from scratch, improving the vacuum tube computer in front of him is not a big problem in his mind.

"This machine," Liu Guangqi pondered for a moment before speaking, "I might not only be able to repair it, but also try to make it run faster."

He glanced at everyone in the room and said calmly, "While it's impossible to leap directly from vacuum tubes to transistors, significantly increasing its computing speed should be achievable."

"Upgrade it from the current Type 104 to... we can call it Type 104B."

After he finished speaking, the entire computing room fell into a brief silence.

Director Deng, who happened to be passing by, stopped upon hearing the commotion, immediately turned around, and looked sharply at Liu Guangqi: "You say you can modify it? And even increase its computing speed?"

Liu Guangqi nodded, walked straight to the blackboard by the wall, and picked up a piece of chalk. White lines began to flow smoothly across the blackboard: "Change the current single-stage gear transmission to a double-gear interlocking structure. Also, add an automatic return spring to the carry mechanism—after these modifications, the calculation speed will at least triple."