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

Commander Chen's office was filled with smoke, and the window was slightly ajar, but the smoke couldn't escape.

When He Yuzhu pushed open the door, he almost choked. The room was dimly lit, the curtains were drawn, and only the desk lamp on the table was lit, illuminating the piles of documents. On the wall hung a 1:50,000 scale military map, marked with red and blue arrows, showing the route of last month's exercise.

Commander Chen sat in the creaking wicker chair, a cigarette between his fingers. The enamel cup on the corner of the table was covered in a thick layer of tea stains that could be scraped off. He looked up and saw He Yuzhu, who stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray—which was already full.

"sit."

He Yuzhu sat down opposite him.

Commander Chen pushed a document over. It was mimeographed and still smelled of ink, with the words "Two Bombs, One Satellite Acceleration Plan" printed in red on the cover.

He Yuzhu took the document and flipped through a few pages. The text was dense, with some parts circled in red pen and words like "urgent" and "priority" written on the margins. He put the document down.

Commander Chen lit another cigarette and took a puff.

"It's been decided from above that the rocket project will be handed over to your Chengshan Research Institute."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

Commander Chen looked at him and waited a few seconds.

"Are you having any difficulties?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment. He remembered the bloodshed that night in Tokyo, the young man's face, and Qin Huairu standing at the door when she saw him off. Those images flashed through his mind, then he suppressed them.

"have."

Commander Chen didn't ask what difficulties he was facing; he just looked at him.

He Yuzhu continued, "We don't have enough people. We don't have a single person working on rockets. We don't have enough equipment. There are only a handful of factories in the whole country that can make rocket parts. And we don't have enough technology either. We haven't even seen many blueprints for this stuff."

After he finished speaking, he waited for Commander Chen to respond.

Commander Chen flicked away the cigarette ash and pointed to the document.

"We don't have enough people, so we'll bring in from all over the country. Aviation professionals, weapons engineers, university graduates—just name your name, and I'll get you people. We don't have enough equipment, so we'll buy it from abroad. I've already submitted a report to the Soviet Union." He paused, then continued, "And then there's the technology..."

He Yuzhu looked at him.

Commander Chen stubbed out his cigarette.

"You guys figure something out."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

He Yuzhu stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open a crack. Outside, the sky was hazy, and in the distance were several buildings belonging to other ministries. A gust of wind blew in, dispersing some of the smoke inside.

"OK."

Commander Chen also stood up, walked to his side, and looked outside.

"Xiao He, if this thing is successfully developed, our people will be able to go into space."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

Commander Chen turned around and looked at him.

"I know you just got back. Your wife is pregnant. But this is something you have to handle."

He Yuzhu nodded.

"I know."

It was already dark when I came out of Commander Chen's place.

He Yuzhu stood at the door and lit a cigarette. He didn't smoke often, but he wanted one right now. The smoke rose and was blown away by the wind. He remembered what Commander Chen had said earlier—"Our people will be able to go into space."

He touched his left breast pocket. There was Qin Huairu's letter there, kept close to his body, never leaving his side.

He put out his cigarette and walked towards the research institute.

Late at night, he was the only one left in the research institute's office building.

He closed the door, drew the curtains, and brought up the system interface. The screen shone brightly in the darkness, somewhat dazzling.

Turn to the rocket technology section.

[Liquid Rocket Engine Design (1959 Adaptation)]

[Includes: Combustion chamber design, turbopump structure, nozzle design, thrust chamber cooling, and control system principles]

[Redeemable Points: 1,000,000]

He pulled it down.

High-Energy Fuel Formula (1959 Compatible Version)

[Includes: liquid oxygen-kerosene blending, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine synthesis, nitrogen tetroxide preparation, and fuel stability testing methods]

[Redeemable Points: 1,000,000]

He looked at the two lines of text and tapped his fingers twice on the table.

Ten million.

That's enough to replace all the equipment in the research institute.

He thought of the warehouse in Tokyo, the mountains of artifacts, and the words that flooded the live stream chat. Those were all things of the past.

He clicked "redeem".

The moment my finger pressed down, a thought flashed through my mind—if I used ten million elsewhere, how much could I get for it?

The system did not give him time to back out.

Two stacks of documents appeared out of thin air on the table, and with a thud, dust flew up.

He paused, then reached out and turned to the first page. Combustion chamber design. The numbers were densely packed, and it took him a couple of seconds to understand some of the symbols. After flipping through a few pages, he stopped and looked out the window.

It was pitch black outside the window; I couldn't see anything.

But he saw another image—that night in Tokyo, the young man kneeling before him, saying, "I've been waiting for this day since I was a child." Blood splattered on his hands, warm.

He suppressed those images and continued flipping through the documents.

The next morning, He Yuzhu called Ma Yuejin, Lin Jianguo, and Sun Xiaomei to his office.

When Ma Yue entered, he was still clutching a wrench, and his face was smeared with engine oil. He put the wrench on the table and sat down. Lin Jianguo pushed up his glasses, holding a notebook in his hand, with a pen tucked behind his ear. Sun Xiaomei followed behind, carrying a glass of water, which she handed to He Yuzhu.

He Yuzhu did not answer.

"New mission."

The three of them were stunned for a moment.

Ma Yuejin glanced at the two stacks of documents, then at He Yuzhu.

"What mission?"

He Yuzhu pushed the document over.

Ma Yuejin took the document and glanced at it. As he looked at it, his expression changed. He handed the document to Lin Jianguo, who read a few lines and nearly dropped his glasses.

"Dean, this is... a rocket?"

He Yuzhu nodded.

Sun Xiaomei whispered from the side, "Rockets... can they go into space?"

He Yuzhu looked at her and said, "Yes, God."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Ma Yuejin scratched his head: "Dean, we've never even worked on airplanes before, and we're jumping straight to rockets?"

Lin Jianguo added from the side, "Where's the data? We haven't even gotten our hands on it."

He Yuzhu pointed to the two stacks of documents on the table.

Yes. It's here.

Lin Jianguo walked over, picked up a page, and looked at it. As he looked, his eyes lit up. He flipped through a few pages, then a few more, until he reached the last page and looked up.

"Dean, where did you get this thing?"

He Yuzhu did not answer.

Ma Yuejin also went over to take a look, glanced at it a few times, and then stopped scratching his head.

Sun Xiaomei, standing nearby, asked, "Will it work?"

He Yuzhu looked at her.

"It can be done."

He stood up, walked to the window, and opened it. The sky outside was gray and overcast, and a few birds flew by.

"From today onwards, the three of you are the core of the rocket team. Ma Yuejin will be in charge of the engine, Lin Jianguo will be in charge of the fuel, and Sun Xiaomei will be in charge of testing. If we don't have enough manpower, we'll bring in people from other teams. If we don't have enough equipment, we'll submit a report."

He turned around and looked at them.

"This mission is more challenging than any before."

Ma Yuejin gripped the wrench so tightly his knuckles turned white. Lin Jianguo put down the document and adjusted his glasses. Sun Xiaomei placed the glass of water that she hadn't yet handed over on the table.

No one spoke.

He Yuzhu walked to the door, then turned back.

Lin Jianguo suddenly spoke up: "Dean, are we building rockets so we can go to space?"

He Yuzhu did not answer immediately.

He looked at the people in the room. Ma Yuejin was still clutching the wrench, Lin Jianguo was waiting for his answer, and Sun Xiaomei stood there, unsure of what to do with her hands.

He nodded.

"Yes, God."

Ma Yuejin paused for a moment, then laughed.

"Dean, if you had said that five years ago, I would have thought you were crazy."

He Yuzhu looked at him.

Five years ago, I also thought I was crazy.

He pushed open the door and went out.

There were three people left in the room.

Lin Jianguo looked at the stack of documents and said softly, "Going to heaven is easy, coming down is hard."

Sun Xiaomei asked, "So, should we still do it?"

Ma Yuejin slammed the wrench on the table.

"Get it done."