Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

In the corridor, Academician Li Difeng exchanged a few pleasantries with Professor Xu, then turned around and patted Song Xingye's shoulder with his thick, calloused hand.

"Old Xu, your student is quite good. He's quick-witted, clever, and most importantly, he's incredibly bold. He dared to speak his mind and draw his sword in front of so many leaders!"

Professor Xu laughed and said, "When it comes to scientific truth, what does leadership matter? Even Dean Lu has to listen to you, the chief expert."

Listening to the two old men's self-aggrandizing flattery, Song Xingye stood aside, looking down and feeling utterly speechless.

Fortunately, the topic quickly shifted back to him.

"Xiao Song, come visit the Eighth Hospital more often when you have free time, and get some experience here."

Song Xingye was stunned for half a second before Lao Xu nudged his elbow and he realized that Academician Li was indirectly taking on a disciple.

He nodded vigorously, "No problem, Academician Li!"

Professor Xu then revealed a smug look on his face, as if he had high hopes for his son's future success.

Li Difeng was not tall, but he walked with a powerful stride and exuded a commanding presence.

He led the two of them out of the department building and into a research complex.

The building is clearly newly built, with white walls and gray floors, spacious and bright, and a large, brand-new glass curtain wall on the outside, exuding a modern scientific research atmosphere.

Academician Li wrote a letter of introduction and slipped it, along with his business card, into Song Xingye's hand.

"Go to the HR department and get your access pass and meal card. Also, pick up a key to my office. You can come over and help me organize documents and do some odd jobs when you're free."

As if he had thought of something, he added:

"I might not come here often. If you don't see me, you're probably at the Aerospace Building on Caoxi Road. You can find me in the academician's office on the 20th floor, but I have a dedicated academician assistant there, so you probably won't be of much help."

Song Xingye nodded and wrote them down one by one.

Anyway, Li Difeng has two offices: one on Caoxi Road in Xuhui District and another on Yuanjiang Road in Minhang District.

I can work as a junior assistant on Yuanjiang Road. It's not far from Jiaotong University; it only takes about 20 minutes by mountain bike.

After giving his instructions, Li Difeng picked up his briefcase, got into a black Passat, waved, and drove away.

The master and apprentice drove the beat-up Accord back to Jiaotong University.

After getting out of the car and returning the keys to Professor Xu, Song Xingye said goodbye to his teacher.

It was getting late, so Song Xingye went to the second canteen and got a serving of roast duck rice, which he took back to his dormitory for dinner.

……

The next morning.

Song Xingye first went to see Chen Xin, a junior from the mathematics department, and reviewed his CTOC competition paper, pointing out several points that needed improvement.

Chen Xin was still eager to discuss the gossip about "Little Chen Jingrun" with him, insisting that Song Shen judge whether he or Jiang Mian was better at mathematics.

But Song Xingye really didn't have time to chat with this kid; there were just too many things to deal with once the semester started.

First, we need to sign the tripartite agreement, the household registration acceptance letter, and the job placement intention letter, and then submit them to the human resources department of East China Institute to reserve a Shanghai household registration quota.

I also need to apply for a passport. Although I don't need to submit it for now, it's something I'll have to do sooner or later anyway, so I'll take advantage of this free time to do it all at once.

Song Xingye also went to the counselor's office twice to prepare to submit his application to join the Party, hoping to be recognized as an activist as soon as possible.

Seeing him running so enthusiastically, his counselor, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, couldn't help but push up his glasses and smile:

"You've suddenly become more proactive lately? You weren't this enthusiastic before. You only remembered to submit your application now that you're in your fifth year of PhD studies?"

Song Xingye could only laugh awkwardly, thinking to himself that he used to be a hothead.

The counselor carefully reviewed the application, and after confirming that there were no problems, waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'll submit it to the branch secretary for you later. We'll recommend you next time the branch recommends outstanding members. Go back and wait for our news."

"Okay, thank you, teacher!"

Stepping out of the office, Song Xingye breathed a long sigh of relief, another worry finally put to rest.

……

These days I've been busy with a bunch of trivial things, and before I knew it, it was the end of September. In between, I also had to go to Academician Li's place from time to time to check in.

Although Academician Li did not explicitly state that he would accept apprentices, judging from the original intention of the Starry Sky Summer Camp, it was to select the most outstanding talents and have academicians and chief designers personally mentor their apprentices.

If nothing unexpected happens, Li Difeng should be the 'mentor' assigned to him by the East China Institute.

Song Xingye also diligently helped Academician Li with some odd jobs.

Another expected thing was that Academician Li told him that the failure reproduction test of the "secondary mobile machine and servo mechanism" that he had proposed at the high-level meeting had made significant progress.

After repeated testing, it was confirmed that the recurring fault was one of the culprits behind the Long March 2C launch failure!

Although the specific details differed from Song Xingye's predictions, the general direction was accurate.

This made Academician Li look at him with new respect.

To reward Song Xingye for his contribution to clearing the obstacles in the Chang'erbing, Li Difeng asked Dean Lu to submit a report and arrange for the young doctor to have a desk specially set up for him to work at.

This is an absolutely unique honor, almost a tacit admission of the academician's determination to personally mentor his apprentices.

Academician Li has a large, independent office in the research complex of the institute's main building, which is a suite with an inner and outer room. Song Xingye's new workstation is in the outer room.

His workload has also increased. He is no longer just doing odd jobs, but has also started to be responsible for the preliminary review of some technical reports, and occasionally he has to "shield" Academician Li.

However, most of the time, Li Difeng works on the 20th floor of the Aerospace Building on Caoxi Road in Xuhui District.

Only when faced with a major failure that brings the project to a standstill or during the final sprint of a project will he slip into his office in the headquarters building to hold a seminar with the heads of various research institutes.

Therefore, Song Xingye was quite free.

Even when there's no work to do, I won't slack off, because there's simply no time to be lazy.

As a management trainee in the Star Project, not only do I have to start my internship early, but I also have to complete my graduation thesis at school.

Song Xingye's graduation thesis has been in a half-dead state.

Even a reborn old monster felt a headache coming on when faced with a doctoral dissertation starting at 100,000 words.

Fortunately, Academician Li didn't assign much work. Song Xingye would come to sign in every day without fail, and then sit at his workstation in the outer room, tapping away on his keyboard.

The old computer provided by the hospital is really a pain to behold; it works sometimes and it doesn't work at all, and copying data is a hassle.

You can't use your own USB drive; you have to go to the security office to get a special encrypted USB drive, transfer the written data to someone else's computer, and then copy it to yourself.

Song Xingye had no choice but to treat the computer like a precious treasure.

Especially after discovering that the old thing would automatically shut down when the temperature exceeded 70 degrees Celsius, I coaxed it even more frequently.

Although it's already autumn in September, the computer case gets hot after running for a while.

Song Xingye had no choice but to stop writing every now and then and fan the old man.

I don't mind being a little tired, but if the computer shuts down, it would be a disaster!

From the end of September to the end of the National Day holiday, Song Xingye lived a life of constant chaos.

I wish I had three heads and six arms like Nezha, so I could quickly type out my 100,000-word thesis.

He drank can after can of coffee, using it to energize himself every day.

Sometimes Qin Rui would get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and when he looked at the clock, it was already three o'clock. He would find that the person in the bunk across from him was still working late into the night, writing a paper on a laptop.

Qin Rui felt a little sorry for this guy: "Hoshino, is it really necessary to push yourself so hard? You just need to finish your dissertation before the end of the year, why are you in such a rush? Besides, with your grades, your doctoral dissertation is just a formality, you can just slap something together!"

Song Xingye, however, disagreed.

Based on his understanding of Professor Xu, he had high expectations for his eldest disciple.

If the first draft of the thesis is poorly written, I'll definitely get a severe scolding, and they might even call Dean Lu directly to drag me back from my internship at the East China Institute to finish the assignment.

Moreover, Song Xingye has his own plans for the future and doesn't want to waste an entire semester writing a thesis.

It's good to put this matter aside as soon as possible and get away to do something else.

Fortunately, despite the tight schedule, he was able to finish the first draft quickly thanks to his solid skills and the ability to anticipate malfunctions.

In the end, it turned out that he had written a paper of 15 words!

However, Song Xingye had truly burned out completely.

After burning the midnight oil for a whole month, when he finished typing the last word, he vomited so badly that he felt dizzy and his intestines were breaking.

From then on, whenever Song Xingye saw Han Han, the spokesperson for Nestlé coffee, riding a motorcycle at high speed, he would subconsciously feel nauseous.