Courtyard House: My Hidden Wheat Seeds Caused a National Sensation

If he succeeds, it's his good fortune; if he fails, or something goes wrong, then that's your chance.

At that time, you won't need to do it yourself; just let those who need to know know, and that will be enough.

Yi Zhonghai frowned; this method was too slow and relied too much on luck.

The old lady seemed to read his mind and raised her second finger.

"These two things will require some walking."

Go to where he came from, visit him carefully, and ask him slowly.

Every person has a place they come from, and every place they come from leaves traces of the past.

Among relatives and neighbors, in matters of friendship and acquaintance, there may be some loopholes where one can find leverage.

Anything that's not exactly honorable, or any old story that can be told, becomes your weapon.

Yi Zhonghai's eyes flickered; this did seem like a promising approach.

"but,"

The old lady changed the subject, raising her third finger as well, "These people who are relied upon by the higher-ups are mostly clean and honest, and nothing can be found out about them."

So, this last one…”

She paused, lowering her voice even further, "It starts with the most fundamental aspects of human nature."

He is young and not yet married.

Young people have abundant energy and blood, and they are prone to losing control at certain points.

She looked up, her gaze calm and unwavering, yet it sent a shiver down Yi Zhonghai's spine.

"Find a woman who is good-looking and clever, and ask a reliable matchmaker to send her to him under the guise of marriage proposal."

Once he lowers his guard and gives that woman the opportunity to get close... what he says afterward is not entirely up to him.

Even if that woman betrays him, the mere fact that her past is exposed will be enough to stain him with a reputation he can never wash away.

As Yi Zhonghai listened, the slight anxiety in his heart was gradually replaced by a cold calculation.

He carefully considered each word, weighing the risks and benefits involved.

"Remember this."

The old lady gave her final instructions, her tone as heavy as iron: "When you have to do something, you must keep your hands and feet clean."

It's better to fail than to leave any real leverage over someone.

The best course of action is to leave no trace after the storm.

Yi Zhonghai took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, as if he had already absorbed all those sinister plans into his mind.

He nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave the room, which was filled with the smell of age.

The door was slightly ajar, keeping his determined figure outside.

The old woman sat alone in the same spot, her gaze fixed on the flickering embers, motionless for a long time, her face showing no emotion.

Yi Shuihan knew nothing about the conversation between the old woman and the deaf old woman.

He spent the entire night writing furiously at his desk, compiling a series of manuals on crop hybridization techniques—covering methods for cultivating wheat, rice, corn, and high-yield peanuts and soybeans.

These texts were not written casually, but were prepared as reference materials specifically for the scholars at the Agricultural Research Institute.

He has many other matters to attend to and cannot stay by the experimental field all day long.

Therefore, those support personnel must be reliable and dependable.

The morning light easily swept across the window.

The next morning, Yi Shuihan had a quick breakfast at home and then hurried to the machinery factory.

Today he has an urgent task: to turn the blueprints of a portable mobile irrigation device into a physical object.

In his mind, the urgency of this invention even surpassed that of the previously designed integrated plow and tillage machine.

The reason is simple—signs of drought have already appeared.

Upon arriving at the factory, he went straight to Director Yang's office and explained his ideas.

"Another technical seminar?"

Director Yang looked slightly taken aback. "We just finished one yesterday, and we're continuing today?"

"Yes."

Yi Shuihan nodded solemnly, "The topic this time is irrigation machinery."

This matter is of great importance.

Based on my assessment, a severe drought is imminent.

If this irrigation equipment cannot be put into large-scale production, this autumn's harvest is likely to be disappointing.

"Is it really that serious?"

Director Yang was taken aback. "But there has clearly been rainfall recently. How can you be so sure a drought is imminent?"

"Signs of drought have already appeared in some areas."

In my analysis, this is just the beginning.

Yi Shuihan then analyzed the situation meticulously, and his deductions made Director Yang fall into deep thought.

"Understood."

Director Yang finally relented, "Since you are the project manager appointed by the higher authorities, you have full authority to make the decisions."

After a moment's thought, he suggested, "Since this is a matter of great importance, why don't we also bring in the personnel from the auxiliary equipment repair shop? Working together might make things go faster."

"feasible."

Yi Shuihan expressed his agreement.

Although the output of irrigation machines is limited by rubber quotas, increasing manpower is always beneficial.

If there are enough people for the irrigation machine project, some personnel can be assigned to carry out the research and development of the integrated tillage and plow machine at the same time.

"Then let's arrange it this way."

Director Yang smiled and said, "I will immediately contact the head of the repair shop and ask them to bring their technical staff to the meeting."

"good.

I'll go prepare the materials first.

After leaving the administration building, Yi Shuihan quickly returned to the technical office and instructed Liu Mingyuan and others to start setting up the meeting venue.

"Easy work."

Ever since he saw the intricate blueprints drawn by Yi Shuihan, Liu Mingyuan has adopted this honorific title, and his former arrogance has long since vanished—he has been completely impressed by the other party's technical skill.

"What are we going to develop this time?"

"A portable field irrigation device."

Yi Shuihan nodded slightly, then added, "Engineer Liu, I need to go out for an inspection recently, and there are many things to do."

These two projects will likely need to be supervised and followed up by you.

"Leave it to me?"

Liu Mingyuan was taken aback at first, then a look of joy flashed in his eyes.

Being in charge of major projects is a great opportunity to showcase one's abilities to superiors, and it is undoubtedly a rare opportunity.

"Thank you for your trust, Yi Gong!"

He immediately poured tea and served water with great enthusiasm.

Yi Shuihan didn't say much, focusing only on organizing the meeting materials.

Meanwhile, in a rest area in another corner of the factory, Jia Sheng was huddled next to a fellow worker, talking in hushed tones about the new young technician.

"Have you heard? A new level 13 technical expert has been transferred to the factory..."

"It's already spread everywhere!"

The other party smacked their lips in response.

The man curled his lip, his voice laced with disdain: "I heard that he's a special favorite of the higher-ups!"

"Absolutely!"

Jia Dongxu nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"But you definitely don't know as much as I do."

He lowered his voice, a smug satisfaction in his grasp of the secret, "I also found out that he's a first-level researcher, and his monthly salary is this—"

He held up four fingers and shook them.

"Four hundred yuan?!"

The other person was instantly stunned, their eyes widening in disbelief. "This...how is this possible! He's that capable? Where did you hear that?"

"I live in the same courtyard as him!"

At this point, Jia Dongxu became even more enthusiastic, his eyebrows dancing with excitement. He knew the most important sentence was about to be uttered: "There's something even more amazing, you probably won't believe it—he's actually just a country bumpkin who's only been in the city for a few days! Impressive, right? Even I have to admit I'm impressed."

If I hadn't already taken a master, I'd be eager to join them and become their apprentice right now!

"A country bumpkin?!"

The coworker was stunned, as if he had been hit over the head with a blunt object. He had never heard of this news before.

Then, disbelief and shock filled his face. "No way! He's always been like that. I thought he was a proper college student!"

"That's why I admire you! Well, I have something to do here, let's talk later!"

Jia Dongxu cut his sentence short and quickly turned and left.

He learned this trick from Yi Zhonghai; the best way to spread rumors is to be elusive and distant.

He was secretly delighted, and his steps became lighter.

"This is going to be interesting. Once this storm blows, the factory workers will unite as one and see if he can still hold onto his position!"

He could almost picture the scene: humming an off-key tune, he skipped and hopped into the workshop.

Upon seeing Yi Zhonghai, Jia Dongxu couldn't wait to share the good news: "Master! I've already spread the word!"

"Hmm, it went alright."

Upon hearing this, Yi Zhonghai smiled with satisfaction.

He came up with the idea himself, and he felt that it was no worse than the ideas that the deaf old lady in the backyard had come up with.

"Now that the wind has been blown out, let's just wait for it to slowly catch fire on its own."

Yi Zhonghai said slowly and deliberately, "I think we'll see the outcome in a few days."

Dongxu, remember these next two days, don't say another word about Li Jianye. Just watch.

"Don't worry, Master!"

Jia Dongxu answered loudly, then suddenly remembered what happened yesterday and said with a hint of boasting, "By the way, Master, what did you think of my performance yesterday? The one where I knocked down the clapper!"

"Well..."

Yi Zhonghai's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. "Where did you learn this skill?"

"I learned it by chance from someone chatting; they said it's a story from 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'!"

Jia Dongxu perked up, "In the original book, Liu Bei threw Zhuge Liang away! Then he cried and said, 'For you, I even lost a great general!' It is said to be a trick to win people's hearts."

Master, I think I've learned it pretty well, haven't I?

"Well……"

Yi Zhonghai's lips twitched again.

The idea that Liu Bei threw Zhuge Liang is utter nonsense.

"Dongxu, you can't believe everything other people say. You have to see for yourself, and look carefully."

The person being thrown in the book wasn't Zhuge Liang at all.

"Ah, yes! Yes, yes!"

Jia Dongxu slapped his forehead. "I also felt something was off. I vaguely remember it being a two-character name... Oh! I remember now! It's Liu Bei throwing Cao Cao! That's it!"

"..."

Yi Zhonghai waved his hand weakly, feeling utterly exhausted. "Weren't you going to see your mother? Go quickly, I've already asked for leave for you."

"Okay! Thank you, Master!"

Jia Dongxu ran off happily.

As Yi Zhonghai watched his jubilant figure disappear, the forced smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by a lingering worry.

He stood there alone for a long time before letting out a soft sigh and muttering to himself, "Was it... really better to listen to the old lady and let Sha Zhu take care of me in my old age? That would have made things easier for me."

Once the thought popped into his head, it weighed heavily on his heart.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the factory area, Liu Feng, the director of the machine repair shop under Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, had already led several skilled technicians from the factory into the gate of the steel rolling mill.

With a gentle smile on his face, Director Yang turned to Li Jianye and gestured to the composed-looking middle-aged man beside him.

"Jianye, this is Factory Director Liu Feng, whom I mentioned to you before."

Li Jianye extended his hand: "Director Liu, hello."

Liu Feng immediately grasped his hand, his tone sincere: "Researcher Li, it's been a long time since I've heard so much about you."

The moment their hands clasped, Li Jianye felt a strange familiarity about the other person's features, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind—could it be a character from that play called "Man is Iron, Rice is Steel"? The association came abruptly, but he didn't delve into it; now was not the time to ponder such trivial details.

Seeing that all the responsible persons had arrived, Li Jianye led everyone into the conference room.

"Now that all the leaders are here, let's get straight to the point."

He stood at the long table, his gaze sweeping over every face present.

"Today I would like to report to you on our newly developed small mobile sprinkler irrigation machine."

Sprinkler irrigation involves using a special device to project pressurized water into the air from nozzles, where it is then evenly distributed to nourish crops like a natural drizzle.

During dry seasons with little rain, it can effectively alleviate the thirst of farmland.

He paused briefly and continued, "Currently, there are only fixed sprinkler irrigation systems in China, which are not only expensive and bulky, but also extremely inconvenient to use."

Inspired by consulting the latest technical information from abroad, I attempted to design this small, easily portable sprinkler irrigation machine.

Next, I will explain in detail how it works—the key lies in the coordination between the water pump and the traveling mechanism.

Li Jianye's explanation was clear, logical, and easy to understand.

Liu Weiping listened with exceptional focus, taking copious notes.