In Bincheng, night has fallen, but the laboratories of Bincheng University of Technology are still brightly lit.

The lab members had been working for more than ten hours straight, and everyone's eyes were bloodshot, but their gazes were unusually bright.

"The oscilloscope waveform is stable!" a girl wearing glasses suddenly shouted.

Wang Wenchuan immediately bent down to check, and saw the green waveform on the screen jumping regularly. He breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his throbbing temples: "Finally, the interference problem with the clock circuit is solved."

It was the spring of 1979 when their team received the task of developing a numerical control experimental platform based on the 8085 microprocessor. In an era when even personal computers were still a rarity, this project represented the latest exploration in the field of microelectronics in China.

"Wenchuan, you record the data." Professor Shen Mubai, the project leader, patted him on the shoulder. "This breakthrough is crucial. All the data must be recorded accurately, and there can be no mistakes whatsoever."

“Okay, Professor.” Wang Wenchuan picked up his lab notebook and neatly wrote: “October 23, clock frequency reached 2MHz, system stability passed 72-hour test.” Before the ink was dry, he drew five stars on the margin to mark important milestones.

A layer of condensation clung to the laboratory windows, and the sea breeze from the coastal city howled outside. But inside, the atmosphere was electric, with everyone's enthusiasm ignited by this tiny chip.

"Do you know?" Professor Shen said excitedly, "this 4-bit microprocessor may change the face of the entire industrial control in the future."

One team member joked, "Are we making history?"

“We are currently catching up with history,” Wang Wenchuan said softly. He recalled a letter from his brother, Wang Wenfeng, mentioning that the CT scanner recently introduced to Haicheng Hospital was controlled by a similar microprocessor. What they need to do now is to bring this technology to fruition in China.

The debugging process was not smooth. Memory addressing problems, instruction execution errors, interface compatibility issues... one problem after another arose. On one occasion, the team worked three consecutive all-nighters to troubleshoot a random fault.

"Why don't we take a break first?" someone suggested.

Wang Wenchuan, however, stared at an abnormal waveform on the logic analyzer: "Try again. I think it's a problem with this instruction pipeline."

Sure enough, after repeated testing, they discovered a design flaw in the microcode controller. This discovery greatly boosted the morale of the entire team.

Late at night, while everyone else went to rest, Wang Wenchuan was still organizing technical documents. He wanted to record every technical detail clearly, not only for the current project, but also to pave the way for those who would come after him.

"Wang Wenchuan, someone's looking for you!" Li Chuang from the team pushed open the door and came in, engrossed in organizing documents. Wang Wenchuan looked up, his gaze sweeping out the window: "Is it dawn?"

"It's almost noon, you're working so hard you've forgotten to eat and sleep." Li Chuang gave him a thumbs up with some admiration. "No wonder Professor Shen likes you. If I had a student like you, doing research every day without eating, drinking, or sleeping, I would wake up laughing in my dreams."

"Come on, you!" Wang Wenchuan put on his coat and walked out. As he passed by, he deliberately bumped into him: "You, you want to be a professor and take me as your student? I'd be the one to take you as my student."

"Hey, what are you saying? You should call me senior brother, you know? I started working with Professor Shen before you." Li Chuang could only shout at Wang Wenchuan's back as he watched the door close and walk away, but Wang Wenchuan ignored him.

Wang Wenchuan walked downstairs, pondering: Who would come looking for him at this hour? When he first entered the university, female classmates would occasionally ask him out, but he was either in class or in the library every day, and had no interest in spending time with them. Especially after joining Professor Shen's lab last year, he was incredibly busy every day, often not even having time to wash his face. Gradually, no female classmates came looking for him anymore.

In the distance, he saw a blurry figure. He habitually pushed up his glasses and realized that his eyes were fixed on the laboratory. But looking at the figure, he guessed it was a girl.

"Boring." Wang Wenchuan had just finished an experimental phase and hadn't even had a chance to rest yet, and someone actually managed to pinpoint his break time? He touched his long hair, which was almost covering his eyes, and said helplessly, "Even looking like this, am I still so charming?"

He didn't want to go over and make a pointless acquaintance with her, so he turned and walked towards his dormitory.

The girl, who was waiting under the tree, saw him suddenly change direction instead of walking towards her. She immediately shouted, "Wang Wenchuan, are you blind? Can't you see me standing here?"

Wang Wenchuan paused in his steps, turned around in disbelief, narrowed his eyes to slits, tilted his head slightly, and carefully discerned the person from the corner of his eye. Although the voice was somewhat familiar, the person was also similar.

The girl got even angrier when she saw that he was still acting so nonchalant. She stepped forward and smacked him on the head: "Did you go back to college? Who taught you to look at people with such disdain?"

His body was more familiar with the feel of the blows than with his appearance; he was somewhat excited: "Mom? What brings you here?"

Ms. Fang Li, however, was not particularly moved. Pointing at his messy, bird's-nest-like hair, she said incredulously, "Wang Wenchuan, how did you end up like this in college? Your hair is so long, but how many years has it been since you washed it? Can't you smell it? Doesn't your scalp itch?"

Wang Wenchuan scratched his head a little embarrassedly: "It has to be Mom, now that you mention it, it really does feel a little itchy."

Looking at her son, who resembled a homeless man, Ms. Fang Li's excitement at not seeing him for so long subsided. She silently distanced herself from him, not wanting others to think she knew him.

Wang Wenchuan was unaware that this was the first time he had seen his family since he came to university in 1977, and he was very excited: "Mom, did you come all this way just to see me?"

Ms. Fang Li was a little stubborn: "No, I've never been here before. I came here for tourism after I retired, and I also wanted to visit you."

"I'm happy too, it's been so long since I've seen you all." Wang Wenchuan wasn't discouraged by her words at all; he knew she must have come to see him.

“I heard from your classmates that you’ve been in the lab for days and nights. Go and rest for a bit. Once you’re rested, I’ll take you out to tidy up. You’re too tired to be seen in public.” Looking at the bloodshot in his eyes, Ms. Fang felt a pang of sympathy. But in this day and age, who isn’t working hard? Everyone is running desperately, trying to catch up with those ahead. Only when everyone on the track keeps up can we have a chance to overtake them.

"Mom, you're disgusted with me." Wang Wenchuan didn't want to be separated from Ms. Fang Li.

"Go quickly, I don't dare take you out in this state, I'm afraid you'll just collapse on the ground." Ms. Fang urged him to go to his dormitory to rest. "I live in the guesthouse next to the school. Come find me after you've rested. I'm retired now, I have plenty of time."

Wang Wenchuan was pushed forward by Ms. Fang Li. He lay down on her arm with a smile and looked at the hazy sky. He felt more relaxed than ever before. He was determined to study hard and never give up until he succeeded. However, the sudden appearance of Ms. Fang Li made him realize that he could not do what he was told. He broke his resolve as soon as a family member came to visit him.