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

When the door was kicked open, the pencil tip in He Yuzhu's hand broke.

He looked up and saw Lin Jianguo standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, panting. His face was flushed red, the veins on his neck were bulging, and his eyes were frighteningly bright.

"Dean... Dean..."

He Yuzhu stood up.

Lin Jianguo rushed over and slammed the circuit board he was holding onto the table. He slammed it so hard that a corner of the blueprints on the table slipped off. He quickly reached out to press it down, his hand still trembling.

"It's done. It's really done."

He Yuzhu looked down at the circuit board. It was half the size of the one from Galaxy One, with densely packed lines that gleamed a dark green under the light. The chips were neatly soldered, and every pin was clean.

"Have you taken the test?"

Lin Jianguo pulled a notebook out of his pocket and opened it. His hands were shaking so badly that it took him three pages to reach the right spot.

"Ten minutes. It only took ten minutes to finish what would normally take two days. I stared at it the whole time, from beginning to end, without blinking for a second."

He Yuzhu took the notebook and looked at the numbers once. Then he looked at them again.

He returned the notebook to Lin Jianguo.

"it is good."

Lin Jianguo stood there, waiting for him to say something more.

He Yuzhu didn't say anything and walked to the window.

Outside the window, people were moving things in the research institute's courtyard. Smoke billowed from the chimney of Workshop No. 3, grayish-white, scattered by the wind. Several young technicians squatted on the ground, gesturing to the blueprints. One of them stood up, pointed into the distance, and said something.

Lin Jianguo followed and stood next to him.

"Director, did you know that people have arrived from Lop Nur?"

He Yuzhu nodded.

"Know."

Lin Jianguo remained silent for a while.

"Did they come for this machine?"

He Yuzhu did not answer.

The jeep arrived at 2 p.m.

The car was military green, its body covered in a layer of gray, gleaming dullly in the sunlight. Two men got out, both in military uniforms, their faces tanned dark. Behind them followed a thin man in his early thirties wearing glasses. After getting out of the car, he first looked around the research institute buildings before walking inside.

He Yuzhu was waiting at the door.

The man wearing glasses walked over and extended his hand.

"Dean He, my surname is Zhou, and I come from Lop Nur."

He Yuzhu grasped his hand. The hand was rough, with dirt stuck under the fingernails that couldn't be washed off.

Technician Zhou didn't exchange many pleasantries and went straight to the question.

"Where is the machine?"

The computer was installed in the room at the east end of Workshop No. 2.

After entering, Technician Zhou circled the machine three times. He opened the case and stared at the circuit board inside for a long time. He took out a notebook, turned to a certain page, looked at the circuit board, and then flipped through the notebook again.

Lin Jianguo stood to the side, his palms sweating profusely.

Technician Zhou flipped through it three times before looking up.

"Dean He, there's something I need to discuss."

Lin Jianguo's face turned pale.

Technician Zhou handed over the notebook.

"Your machine doesn't match our power supply voltage. We use 220V, and yours is 380V."

He Yuzhu took the notebook, glanced at it, and handed it to Lin Jianguo.

"How long will it take to fix?"

Lin Jianguo swallowed hard.

"Add a voltage regulator, two... an hour and a half."

He Yuzhu nodded.

"Go and do it."

Lin Jianguo ran away.

Technician Zhou stood there, looking at the machine. He reached out, wanting to touch the circuit board inside, but then pulled back and wiped the sweat from his palms on his clothes.

"Dean He, this thing..."

He paused, as if searching for the right words.

"Our old machine over there takes three days and three nights to solve a single problem, and we have to rotate two teams of people watching it. What about this one?"

He Yuzhu looked at him.

Three hours.

Technician Zhou's hand stopped at the edge of the chassis.

He turned to look at He Yuzhu, staring at him for several seconds. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

In the end, he simply nodded, examined the circuit board again and again, and then carefully closed the case.

An hour and a half later, Lin Jianguo ran back, covered in sweat.

"It's installed."

Technician Zhou went over and checked the machine again. Then he nodded to the two soldiers.

"Load it onto the truck."

Two soldiers carried in a wooden crate, lined with thick straw. They carried the machine inside, sealed the lid, and nailed it in. The hammer struck the nails, thud, thud, thud, each blow solid.

Lin Jianguo stood to the side, looking at the box, without saying a word.

Ma Yuejin arrived at some point and stood beside him without saying a word.

Sun Xiaomei was behind, clutching a handkerchief in her hand. She didn't wipe her eyes, but the handkerchief was crumpled into a ball from her grip.

Two soldiers lifted the boxes onto the truck. The truck was military green, and the bed was lined with tarpaulins. They tied it securely with rope, making sure it was knotted tightly.

Technician Zhou walked over and shook hands with He Yuzhu.

"Thank you, Dean He."

He Yuzhu shook his head.

"We are the ones who should thank you."

Technician Zhou was taken aback for a moment.

He Yuzhu did not explain.

Technician Zhou got into the truck and closed the cab door. The truck started, roaring, and spewed out a plume of black smoke from the exhaust pipe. The smoke was blown away by the wind and drifted over to them, carrying a strong smell of diesel fuel.

The truck drove forward, out of the research institute's gate, and onto the dirt road.

Lin Jianguo suddenly took two steps forward, as if he wanted to chase after him, but then stopped.

"Dean."

He Yuzhu did not turn around.

Lin Jianguo's voice was muffled.

"What else is there in Lop Nur besides sand?"

The wind blew in from that direction, carrying sand that stung his face. He Yuzhu didn't flinch; he just stood there.

He did not answer.

The truck grew smaller and smaller until it became a dot. That dot flickered on the hazy horizon and then disappeared.

He Yuzhu was still standing there.

Behind me, people left one after another. The footsteps faded into the distance, and so did the voices. In the end, only the sound of the wind remained.

He recalled that year at Changjin Lake, when he lay motionless in the snow waiting for the bugle call to charge.

At that moment, all I could think about was whether I could make it back alive.

What are you thinking about right now?

he does not know.

But he knew that the machine would go where it was meant to go.

He stood in the wind and sand.

I haven't done anything for a long time.