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

When the people from the Ministry of Metallurgy arrived, He Yuzhu was lying on the lens module of the lithography machine.

The workshop was quiet. Only the low hum of the air conditioning unit could be heard. He held a cotton swab, carefully wiping away the fine dust from the edge of his lens. Several technicians stood a few meters away, holding their breath, afraid to make a sound.

Footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. They were hurried and chaotic; someone was asking for directions.

He Yuzhu frowned, but didn't stop what he was doing.

Lin Jianguo jogged over and stopped a few meters away, lowering his voice: "Dean, they're from the Ministry of Metallurgy, waiting in the conference room. A vice minister surnamed Zhou and an engineer surnamed Li."

He Yuzhu put down the cotton swab, straightened up, and glanced at the lithography machine.

"Tell them to wait a moment. I'll finish this shot."

Ten minutes later, He Yuzhu pushed open the meeting room door.

There were two people sitting inside. The one in front was in his fifties, with a square face and skin that was a dark reddish-brown from years of working on-site. The cuffs of his Zhongshan suit were worn white, and the buttons were fastened meticulously. He didn't stand up immediately; his gaze lingered on He Yuzhu for two seconds before he stood up and extended his hand.

"Comrade He Yuzhu. Zhou Huaimin."

His hands were rough, with calluses on his palms, and he gripped them tightly.

The younger guy next to him was wearing glasses and carrying a bulging briefcase.

He Yuzhu sat down in the main seat. The tea had already been brewed, and the tea leaves had sunk to the bottom of the cup.

Zhou Huaimin cut to the chase: "This year, the national steel output must double. I've said this at the State Planning Commission, and I've said it at Ansteel and Baotou Steel. They've presented me with difficulties, asking for equipment, time, and experts. Listening to them, my heart bleeds." He slammed his teacup down, staring at He Yuzhu, "I'm not here today to listen to your complaints."

He Yuzhu met his gaze without flinching: "Minister Zhou, the Chengshan Research Institute deals with cutting-edge technologies. High-speed steel, tanks, and semiconductors. Steel smelting is a completely different field."

"Scholarship?" Zhou Huaimin leaned forward. "You build tank armor, isn't that steel? You make lithography machine bases, don't you need high-strength castings? We're like two gourds on the same vine. I can't smelt good steel, and your wafers are just grains of sand soldered onto gold."

These words were like a red-hot steel rod thrust at you. The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds.

The bespectacled engineer next to him cautiously spoke up: "Dean He, the Ministry of Metallurgy doesn't want you to produce steel outright. We'd like to ask you to help us see if there's any possibility of a breakthrough in the existing process. Even a 10% improvement would be helpful."

He Yuzhu looked at him: "Engineer Li, where's the bottleneck?"

Engineer Li pulled a stack of documents from his briefcase and spread them out. They were all data, densely packed: blast furnace volume, converter life, continuous casting speed, rolling efficiency. Each line was dizzying to read.

"The blast furnaces are too small, the largest being no more than 500 cubic meters. The converters have an average lifespan of less than 200 heats, and it takes half a month to replace the lining. Continuous casting and steel rolling don't match up; the steel ingots can only be rolled after they've cooled down." He pushed up his glasses. "To put it bluntly, it's all because the equipment can't keep up. But we can't build the equipment in a short time, so we can only find solutions in the process."

He Yuzhu took the materials over, flipped through them, and put them down.

"Leave the documents, let me take a look."

Zhou Huaimin stood up and reached out his hand again. This time, he gripped it even harder than when he entered.

"Comrade He Yuzhu, the Chengshan Research Institute spent three months developing high-speed steel. I hope that enthusiasm is still there."

He Yuzhu didn't reply, but simply nodded.

That evening, He Yuzhu sat alone in his office.

It was pitch black outside the window, and the lights of the factory buildings in the distance stretched out in a continuous line, like a silent city.

The stack of materials left by Engineer Li lay spread out on the table. He spent half an hour flipping through them, his brow furrowing deeper with each pass. The data was appalling. Two hundred furnace cycles had been completed, while overseas they were already exceeding one thousand. The continuous casting ratio was less than thirty percent, compared to eighty percent overseas. This gap couldn't be bridged with mere patching and repairs.

He put the materials away and brought up the system interface.

Scroll down the Industrial Technology section. Metallurgy, Steel, Rolling, Continuous Casting. Each category has points ranging from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions.

Scroll to the very bottom, there's a gray line.

[1999 Comprehensive Technology Package for Iron and Steel Smelting]

[Includes: large-scale blast furnace design, converter slag splashing furnace protection technology, continuous casting and rolling production line, ladle refining technology, and controlled rolling and controlled cooling process]

[Redeemable Points: 1,000,000]

He stared at the line of text and tapped his fingers twice on the table.

Fifteen million. Enough to replace all the equipment in the hospital.

He stood up and walked to the window. In the distance, in the direction of the steel mill, he could vaguely see a few clusters of firelight, the red glow of steel being produced.

Zhou Huaimin's rough hands flashed through his mind.

He walked back to the table and clicked to redeem.

[Redeem successful. Points consumed: 1,000,000]

Current total points: 155,330,000 - 1,000,000 = 154,330,000 points

He retrieved the stack of documents from his system space; it was a thick pile, over a thousand pages long. The cover was printed with the words "1999 Comprehensive Technology Package for Iron and Steel Smelting," and below it was a line of smaller print: "Internal Document, Do Not Distribute."

He turned to the first page. Large-scale blast furnace design. Converter slag splashing furnace protection technology. Continuous casting and rolling production line. Ladle refining technology. Controlled rolling and controlled cooling process. He flipped through page after page; it was all valuable information. Some drawings were so detailed that they specified the specifications of every single bolt.

He picked up the phone and dialed Ma Yuejin's number.

The call connected, and the voice was groggy: "Dean?"

"Call Lin Jianguo, Li Zhiming, and Sun Fulai over at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. There's something new."

The next morning at 7:50, the conference room was already full.

Ma Yuejin, Lin Jianguo, Li Zhiming, Sun Fulai, Zhou Guoqiang, and a few others who worked on materials, surrounded the long table tightly. Several more people stood at the back, craning their necks to look ahead.

He Yuzhu placed the stack of documents on the table.

"It was obtained through special channels. It's related to steel smelting."

There was a two-second silence, followed by the creaking of chairs as everyone moved forward.

He distributed the materials, giving each person a few pages.

The only sound in the room was the turning of paper.

Ma Yuejin read through it the fastest. As he flipped through the pages, his breathing became heavy. Halfway through, he slammed the document shut, looked up at He Yuzhu, and saw that his eyes were a little red.

"Dean, where did this come from?"

He Yuzhu didn't answer, but simply said, "Keep reading."

Lin Jianguo was looking at the continuous casting and rolling section. He flipped through the drawings one by one, and by the end, his hands were trembling a little.

"Dean, if this system can be implemented..." He swallowed hard, "our annual output can increase tenfold."

Li Zhiming chimed in, "More than that. With larger blast furnaces, longer furnace lifespans, and continuous casting keeping up, a tenfold increase is a conservative estimate."

No one spoke.

Everyone was looking at He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu stood up and walked to the window. The sun was shining brightly outside, and people were riding bicycles past on the factory grounds.

He turned around.

"Minister Zhou from the Ministry of Metallurgy personally came to request this technology yesterday. There's a nationwide construction boom, and we don't have enough steel. You all heard that."

Ma Yuejin opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

He Yuzhu looked at them and said, "I've got the technology. The implementation is your job. Within a month, list out everything that can and cannot be implemented. Provide manpower and funding as needed."

Lin Jianguo stood up: "Dean, the successful implementation of this project requires the cooperation of the Ministry of Metallurgy. We can't rely on ourselves alone..."

"I'll handle things with the Ministry of Metallurgy," He Yuzhu interrupted him. "You guys just focus on the technical aspects."

Ma Yuejin scratched his head: "So... are we really going to do it?"

He Yuzhu looked at him without saying a word.

Outside the window, in the distance, from the direction of the steel plant, a few wisps of white smoke rose again—the steam from the cooling towers.

He Yuzhu walked to the door and paused for a moment.

"Minister Zhou will come the day after tomorrow to hear the results. Tomorrow, everyone must stop what they're doing and focus on studying this." He paused. "As for the money, personnel, and whether the Ministry of Metallurgy will approve—"

He turned around and glanced at the stack of documents on the table.

"That's my business."

The meeting room door opened and closed again.

No one spoke inside. Only the sound of turning pages echoed.