Courtyard House: Starting as an eighth-grade worker, with too many wives.

Chi Cheng opened the door. He was holding a child in his arms and paused for a moment when he saw Li Jianguo. Then, he hurriedly handed the child to his wife.

"Director Li?" His voice was a little tense. "You've come so late, is something wrong?"

He'd heard the name Li Jianguo far too often. Back in school, because of Jiang Min, he'd practically heard it a million times. Later, when it came to assigning apartments, Li Jianguo had helped him again. He felt both grateful and in awe.

He was extremely nervous when someone suddenly showed up at his door.

"It's getting late," Li Jianguo said. "But I have a question I'd like to ask you. Is it a convenient time?"

He glanced at Chi Cheng's wife, and asked her the same question.

The daughter-in-law smiled: "Go ahead, go ahead, I'll look after the child. Everything that needed to be tidied up is done." She wiped her hands, "I'll get some water for Director Li."

"No need," Li Jianguo said. "Let's go to my room."

Chi Cheng hesitated for a moment: "Wouldn't that be inconvenient? Your room is..."

He remembered that Li Jian's house had been burgled before. Later, it was discovered that the burglar was a spy, which caused quite a stir. The teachers at the school even gave them special classes on secrecy—they were the most educated group, and after graduation, they all did technical work, which inevitably involved classified information.

"It's alright," Li Jianguo said. "I've put away all the documents in the room. Let's talk in the outer room instead of the study."

Chi Cheng nodded and followed.

Once inside, he didn't stop for a moment. First, he grabbed a few pieces of burning coal and lit the stove for Li Jianguo. Then he boiled water in a kettle. After that, he went back to his own house to fetch a kettle of hot water before finally sitting down.

Li Jianguo took some tea leaves and brewed two cups.

"I remember you were assigned to the heavy machinery factory?"

Chi Cheng nodded: "This year, the heavy machinery factory is going to develop large agricultural machinery. I was interested in this when I was in school, so I came here."

Li Jianguo listened and nodded.

He knew about it. He had mentioned it to Director Jiang before, but he didn't expect things to move so quickly; the people had already been recruited. They've set up a front; they're really going to do it.

"So, do you think," he asked, "that their current direction is flawed?"

Chi Cheng hadn't expected him to ask this right away. He hesitated and scratched his head.

"It's alright." Li Jianguo noticed his concern. "Although I'm with Jiang Min, I'm not a gossip. I won't tell everyone everything."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I just heard that the heavy machinery factory has been having some problems lately, and I wanted to ask about it. It would be best if it could be resolved. We can also discuss any future issues."

"I wouldn't dare," Chi Cheng quickly said. "I was just asking Director Li for advice."

He thought for a moment, then spoke:

"I've just arrived at the factory, so I don't know the specifics yet. I only know that the engineers here have been disassembling the self-propelled combine harvesters that were imported from the north—it seems they've encountered some difficulties. Most of these engineers used to work with large machine tools, and now that they've switched directions, they're not quite used to it yet."

Li Jianguo frowned.

He hadn't considered that. Everyone has their own preferred way of doing things, so it's normal that people can't accept such a change.

"That is a problem."

Chi Cheng nodded: "During the meeting earlier, the factory director and Secretary Jiang discussed that they seemed to be planning to split the project into two parts. One part would develop large agricultural machinery, and the other part would continue making the products they've been making before. But the specifics haven't been finalized yet; I'm new here and don't know the details."

It seems that Mr. Jiang and his family have already begun to resolve the issue.

Li Jianguo didn't dwell on that issue, and instead changed the subject:

"I think developing large-scale agricultural machinery is not really suitable for our country's national conditions. If you were asked to develop small or medium-sized self-propelled harvesters, do you think you could do it?"

Chi Cheng's eyes lit up immediately.

"That's a good choice!" He sat up straight. "Director Li, to be honest, my family is from the south. We don't have that much land, so this car is useless where we are. But honestly—farming is tiring no matter where you do it."

He also came from a rural area. That was one of the reasons he chose to work at the heavy machinery factory.

Li Jianguo nodded.

"I made a suggestion to Secretary Jiang casually before. Now that I think about it, I underestimated it. Agricultural machinery is a big market, which is a good thing. But it has to be suitable for our farmers."

Chi Cheng nodded repeatedly.

"Moreover, there isn't just one type of agricultural machinery. The requirements are different for each crop. Take, for example, the main crops grown in our country—wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes. The requirements for cultivating and harvesting these are all different..."

He couldn't stop talking about these things.

It was clear that he had ideas about this. Li Jianguo talked with him for a long time, until they were both tired before parting ways.

"I haven't thought about these things enough," Li Jianguo said as he saw him to the door. "We can talk more later if there's a chance."

Chi Cheng was also very happy. A single remark from Li Jianguo could keep him pondering for a long time. He'd gained quite a bit tonight.

On the way back, my steps were light.

Li Jianguo lay in bed, but his mind couldn't calm down.

As a modern person, he was used to seeing advanced agricultural machinery. News reports showed drones flying overhead and large combined harvesters operating on the ground. Upon arriving here, he naturally offered his suggestions.

But actually?

He never grew up in the countryside. His suggestions were insightful, but more accurately, they were unrealistic and overly ambitious. He was standing on a mountaintop, talking about people at the foot of the mountain.

Even getting enough to eat is a problem now. Farmers still rely on oxen and manual labor to cultivate the land. A cooperative is considered to be doing well if it has one tractor. Most villages only have a few oxcarts.

He's talking about agricultural mechanization here.

It's truly a case of "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"

I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, I woke up and, as usual, signed in while washing up.

Ding—Reward dropped.

It was the same old supplies: various food items, daily necessities, and a medical kit containing first-aid medicines, alcohol, dressings, and anesthetics. Li Jianguo carefully put it away.

Then you see the last reward.

Mechanization Technology for Major Crop Production

He paused for a moment, then laughed.

It's like my wish came true. Yesterday I was worried about not knowing enough about agricultural mechanization, and today it's been delivered right to my door.

The book is quite thick. It details the mechanization techniques used in the entire process of growing wheat, corn, and potatoes, from land preparation to planting, management, and harvesting. It also covers how modern information technology upgrades agricultural machinery.

Some of the content is no longer needed, but most of it is very practical. It even includes the modification and repair of machinery.

"That's good."

Li Jianguo smiled. His mind felt like it had been cleansed by something, all the information merging into it.

As I went outside, I bumped into Chi Cheng.

The two chatted while washing up in the yard.

"Chi Cheng," Li Jianguo said, "I think you could try studying the entire mechanization process for each crop, based on its characteristics. Not just large combined harvesters, but also smaller ones. You can study them by category. I'll organize some ideas for you later—this isn't something the entire heavy machinery factory should be involved in; one team is enough."

Chi Cheng was stunned.

Last night he was worried that he had talked too much and would upset Li Jianguo. He never expected that Li Jianguo would think about so much after just one night.

"Director Li is right!" he exclaimed excitedly, his voice rising. "He's practically a mind reader!"

After saying that, he realized something was wrong.

His face turned bright red.

Li Jianguo was both amused and exasperated: "You shouldn't use that analogy next time."

He then went to see Jiang Min again, and brought up serious business: "It's not convenient for me to talk to Secretary Jiang directly about this. Why don't you write up a plan and submit it? I can handle the technical aspects in this area from now on. Since you like this line of work, do it well."

He paused, then added:

"We aim to one day achieve full automation in agriculture, where farmers won't need to go to the fields themselves, but can operate the systems remotely."

Chi Cheng's eyes widened: "How is this possible?"

"Why is it impossible?"

Li Jianguo smiled and said, "We already have satellite technology and communication technology. Does that mean it's really impossible to achieve this in the future?"

Chi Cheng was stunned.