latelenovela Chapter 324 Era: XCMG's Simple-minded Wife 28
Chapter 324 Era: XCMG's Simple-minded Wife 28
Three days later, several roommates made plans to visit Ji Xiaosong together.
"This house is really nice!" Su Xiaomei helped wipe the dust off the window frames. "It's much more spacious than the dormitory."
Ji Xiaosong took out an iron can from the dresser: "Thanks to Shen's help. This is wild mountain tea brought from my hometown. Please pass it on to the comrades at the housing management office."
Shen Hongying took the tin can and noticed a piece of fine Huizhou ink wrapped in red paper at the bottom. She immediately understood: "My uncle loves calligraphy the most. This is better than anything else."
Zhou Yawen silently surveyed the furnishings in the main room, her gaze lingering for a moment on the slightly worn Butterfly brand sewing machine in the corner.
Following her gaze, Ji Xiaosong took out a cloth bag from the cabinet: "You mentioned your mother yesterday. I guess she might like sewing? These are imported sewing machine needles from Shanghai. They're durable and won't skip stitches."
"How did you know..." Zhou Yawen rarely showed a surprised expression.
"I guessed," Ji Xiaosong blinked, "I could tell from the stitches on your clothes that it was done by an expert."
"You have a heart."
*
After exchanging pleasantries, Ji Xiaosong got busy at the stove.
She took out the ingredients she had prepared beforehand: refined flour specially supplied by the steel mill, seaweed brought by Xu Weidong's comrade-in-arms from Dalian, and sausages sent by Lao Li from his hometown...
Soon, a steaming pot of three-delicacy noodles was ready.
"It smells so good!" Su Xiaomei sniffed. "It's much better than the cafeteria!"
Shen Hongying had already filled a bowl and was sweating profusely as she ate: "These noodles are so chewy, they're so different from machine-made ones."
Even the usually reserved Zhou Yawen had a second bowl: "The flour is very special."
“These are specially supplied by the steel mill canteen,” Ji Xiaosong said as she distributed noodles to the three children. “They said they’re for frontline workers to replenish their energy.”
After the meal, Shen Hongying took the initiative to wash the dishes, her movements as swift as if she had been trained in a military camp;
Su Xiaomei tells stories to the children with such vivid expression that she looks just like a professional actress;
Zhou Yawen silently checked the children's nails, trimming them neatly with the small scissors she carried with her.
Ji Xiaosong saw it all and kept it in mind.
She took out three brand-new notebooks, each with a different inscription written in pen on the title page.
The book for Shen Hongying reads: "To the most skillful mechanic—may your hands create miracles."
The last page of the notebook also contained a hand-drawn diagram of a precision machine tool structure.
The inscription on the notebook given to Su Xiaomei read: "To a future language artist—words can change the world."
Several exquisite red leaf bookmarks were tucked inside the pages.
Zhou Yawen's book reads: "To rigorous life scientists—truth lies in the details."
A perfect ginkgo leaf specimen was tucked inside the book.
The three girls accepted the gifts with more joy on their faces than if they had received any valuable items.
Unbeknownst to them, Ji Xiaosong had secretly had Ji Dan observe them for several days in preparation for all of this.
In the stillness of the night, Ji Xiaosong was taking stock of her belongings under the lamp.
The 80 yuan monthly salary sent by Xu Weidong, plus the 30 yuan subsidy from the "Great Wall" project, allowed them to live a relatively comfortable life in Beijing.
But more importantly, there are those "rare items" that money can't buy.
For example, precision parts scrapped in the steel mill laboratory, local specialties brought by comrades from all over the country, and small tools made by hand by veteran workers...
"Xiao Song, your interpersonal network has been initially established."
Ji Dan reported in a low voice, "Shen Hongying's father is a retired military officer who is skilled in mechanical repair; Su Xiaomei comes from a scholarly family and has a profound knowledge of classical Chinese; Zhou Yawen comes from a family of doctors and has outstanding scientific research capabilities."
Ji Xiaosong nodded gently: "Remember, sincerity is more important than scheming."
She looked at her three sleeping children and said, "These outstanding girls will all become pillars of the nation in the future."
Outside the window, the moonlight from the capital city quietly spilled onto the jujube tree in the courtyard.
*
After a few days of rest, it's finally time to prepare for formal classes.
The classrooms of the Physics Department at Kyoto University were filled with the fresh scent of ink.
Ji Xiaosong gently stroked the brand-new "General Physics" textbook, her fingertips able to feel the subtle bumps on the paper.
These textbooks were just printed; the ink hasn't even dried yet.
"Class, please be quiet."
Professor Chen, the department head with a full head of silver hair, walked onto the podium, the morning light reflecting off his glasses. "Today is our first class. Let's start by introducing ourselves."
Forty young faces in the classroom looked up at the same time.
Ji Xiaosong noticed the boy in the front row wearing a patched shirt; his finger joints were as thick as old tree roots.
The girl on the right with pigtails has a notebook on her lap filled with densely packed formulas.
"My name is Zheng Aiguo, and I come from the Northwest Production and Construction Corps."
The boy in the patched shirt stood up, and the bench creaked. "I spent ten years repairing tractors in the Gobi Desert, just to figure out how an internal combustion engine works!"
Amid applause, a tall, thin man wearing glasses took over the conversation: "I am Wang Wenyuan, an educated youth from Shanghai. When I was working in the countryside in the north, I assembled a radio from scrap metal."
He pushed up his glasses. "I want to study electromagnetic waves."
When it was Ji Xiaosong's turn, she took a deep breath and stood up: "I am Ji Xiaosong. I used to be a sales clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative. I studied and passed the exam to get here."
The classroom suddenly fell silent. "My wife is an eighth-level technician at the steel factory, and we... have three children."
The rustling of voices was like the wind sweeping across the wheat field.
Ji Xiaosong noticed the surprised looks exchanged among the girls in the front row, but she continued:
"I want to study materials science because our special steel is decades behind that of the United States, and I want to change that!"
This statement is like throwing a red-hot piece of iron into cold water.
Suddenly, a dark-skinned young man stood up from the back row: "Well said! I'm Zhao Bo, a driller from the oil field. The imported drill bits we use are ten times more durable than the domestic ones! I was so angry back then, how could our country's level be so far behind!"
Professor Chen's eyes welled up with tears.
He turned and wrote "1978 - 1982" on the blackboard, chalk dust falling in a flurry.
"Students, these are your four years of catching up with the world."
*
The afternoon lab class allowed Ji Xiaosong to truly witness the dedication of these special college students.
In the physics lab, the old-fashioned oscilloscope made by Big Brother suddenly stopped working, and Shen Hongying crawled under the table to fix it without saying a word.
"Give me a screwdriver!" she said, holding out her oil-covered hands.
Ji Xiaosong quickly handed over the set of miniature tools specially made by the steel mill.
Shen Hongying suddenly stopped: "This...this is made of special steel?"
Her fingertips traced the fine lines on the tool. "It's even more precise than the D-country products we import to our factory!"
"Shh..." Ji Xiaosong blinked, "The laboratory's scrap."
The moment the oscilloscope lit up again, the whole group cheered.
Li Min, the female class monitor with short, ear-length hair, took out a small notebook: "Let's record the experimental data in groups. I suggest we set aside two more hours each day for review."
"I agree!"
Zhang Jianjun, who once served as a medic in the Production and Construction Corps, raised his hand wrapped in duct tape and said, "Our group is on average five years older than the recent graduates, so we must work twice as hard!"
Ji Xiaosong opened her notebook and suddenly found a note tucked into the title page: "Meet me at the back entrance of the library tonight at seven o'clock. —Shen Hongying"
At the back door of the library in the twilight, a dozen or so physics students gathered together like spies making a rendezvous.
Shen Hongying opened the toolbox, and inside were several mimeographed volumes of "Collection of Exercises in Advanced Mathematics".
“I got it from a fellow student in the Mechanical Engineering department,” she said in a low voice. “It’s a translated textbook from MIT in the US.”
Everyone gasped.
Wang Wenyuan, who came from a background of being sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, immediately pulled out a cloth bag: "I have a copy of 'Introduction to Quantum Mechanics' here. I kept it hidden in the chicken coop during the house raid."
Books bearing the marks of time were passed around under the moonlight.
As Ji Xiaosong took the charred-edged copy of "Solid State Physics," he suddenly remembered something and took out an oil-paper package from his bag:
"This is internal material from the steel plant's technical department, titled 'Analysis of Metal Crystal Structure'."
"Oh my god!" Li Min almost shouted, then quickly covered her mouth. "There's even a note about the M country's patent number on it!"
“My husband made these notes.” Ji Xiaosong stroked Xu Weidong’s familiar handwriting. “He said… science has no borders.”
The night breeze swept through the treetops of the sycamore trees, and young people squatted in the corner, eagerly passing around these "forbidden books," with someone occasionally looking up warily.
Ji Xiaosong suddenly realized that the figures standing in a circle at this moment might be the backbone that will support the technology of China in the future.