"Boom, boom, boom...!"
The incessant sound of firecrackers outside made it impossible for Ning Xiaowei to sleep any longer, so she had no choice but to get up early.
Outside, Sun Zhengguo practiced a round of boxing to warm up. Just as he was about to practice standing meditation, he saw his wife get up.
"Xiaowei, why are you up so early today? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
"Ugh! I want to sleep, but the firecrackers have been going off non-stop since I woke up. It's so noisy that I can't sleep at all. I might as well get up and move around a bit."
"Squeak!"
As the two were talking, the door to the room next to them opened, and Sun Zhengdong and his wife were also kept awake by the noise.
"Big brother, sister-in-law, Happy New Year! I didn't expect you to be up so early!"
Happy New Year, brother and sister-in-law!
Happy New Year to you both!
"Zhengdong, Aifang, I also wish you a Happy New Year!"
Everyone offered their congratulations, then began to wash up. Sun Zhengguo stood in the stance for a while longer before hastily finishing up and starting to wash up himself.
After everyone finished their work, they rode their bicycles together and headed to the courtyard house.
This was arranged yesterday. Today, Sun Zhengdong and his wife will also come to the courtyard to celebrate the New Year, so that the two of them won't be bored in the small courtyard.
The courtyard was filled with joy. When Sun Zhengguo and his companions returned to the courtyard, many children had already gathered in front of the Sun family's gate, all eager to come and offer their New Year's greetings.
The reason is simple: the Sun family is the richest family in the compound, and the eldest son is the head of the household, so every child receives a red envelope.
Although there wasn't much inside, only two cents, it didn't dampen the children's enthusiasm; they could buy another string of firecrackers to play with.
Moreover, the Sun family gave each of the children two pieces of candy, which is why the children rushed over to wish them a Happy New Year early in the morning.
"Happy New Year, Uncle! Happy New Year, Aunt!"
Happy New Year, Auntie! I wish you a healthy baby boy this year.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Hehehe!
Upon seeing Sun Zhengguo and his entourage arrive, the children enthusiastically offered their congratulations.
Sun Zhengguo responded happily.
One of the young girls, whose teacher it was, directly congratulated Ning Xiaowei on giving birth to a big, healthy boy.
Overjoyed, Ning Xiaowei couldn't stop smiling. She immediately took out the only two milk candies she had in her pocket and stuffed them into the little girl's pocket, making the group of friends next to her extremely envious.
Seeing the children's eyes, how could Sun Zhengguo not know what was going on?
"Alright! Come inside with your uncle, everyone will get some."
"Thank you, Uncle!"
Upon entering the house, Sun Zhengguo saw red envelopes and candies already prepared on the table. He gave one to each child, and the children thanked him before dispersing.
At this moment, Mr. and Mrs. Sun Dajiang also came over from the kitchen, and everyone congratulated them again before they began to eat breakfast.
After the meal, Sun Zhengguo took Ning Xiaowei and visited every household in the courtyard to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
When Sun Dajiang saw his son return from paying New Year's visits, he also took Lin Wencui and visited each household, thus concluding the New Year's greetings activity.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Sun Zhengguo accompanied Ning Xiaowei to her parents' home for another day.
On the third day of the Lunar New Year, a large group of people, carrying grain and gifts, rushed back to the countryside to wish their grandparents a Happy New Year.
When the grandparents saw that both of their granddaughters-in-law were pregnant, they were overjoyed and showered them with care and concern.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Sun Zhengguo, who had returned home from the countryside, visited Professor Wu and several other teachers who had been kind to him to express his gratitude.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Sun Zhengguo stayed at home with his wife instead of going to work at the steel rolling mill.
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Ning Xiaowei also had to go back to work. Early in the morning, Sun Zhengguo first saw his wife off before heading to Tsinghua University.
Chen Lianshan arrived at the university early, but he didn't expect that Professor Wu had arrived even earlier than him.
The two congratulated each other, and Chen Lianshan picked up his water bottle and prepared to go to the boiler room to fetch water.
"Happy New Year, Senior Brother Chen!"
Chen Lianshan had just stepped out when he ran into Sun Zhengguo.
"Zhengguo, Happy New Year to you too! You go in first! Professor Wu arrived a while ago, I'll go get two bottles of water."
"Okay!"
After saying hello, Chen Lianshan headed towards the boiler room.
After Sun Zhengguo entered the room, Professor Wu was taking things out of the storage cabinet.
"Happy New Year, Mr. Wu!"
"Hey! Zhengguo's here! I wish you a Happy New Year too!"
Professor Wu put down his work and said with a smile.
"Zhengguo, about what I told you before the New Year, is your thesis finished? School starts in a few days, so you need to hand it in quickly. We need to get this done as soon as possible."
"Don't worry, Mr. Wu. How could I forget what you asked me to do? I finished writing it before the New Year."
"Oh~!"
Seeing Professor Wu's disbelieving look, Sun Zhengguo remained silent. "Let's let the facts speak for themselves," he said, then took out the paper he had prepared earlier from his bag and handed it to Professor Wu.
Professor Wu was quite surprised, not expecting that Sun Zhengguo had actually finished writing the paper after only a few days of vacation.
He quickly took the paper, placed it on the table, then took out his reading glasses from his pocket, put them on, and began to read the paper.
Professor Wu finished reading the paper in a short time and was very satisfied.
"Zhengguo, this essay, 'On the Transformation and Sustainable Development of Machinery,' is well-written. It doesn't aim too high, unlike previous graduates who talk about manufacturing machinery all the time. It's all empty talk. Are machines so easy to manufacture?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Professor Wu. I'm afraid that the senior students in previous years have been influenced by certain ideologies and don't understand our national conditions very well. With our country's current industrial capacity, it's simply impossible to manufacture machinery. Therefore, we can only start by modifying the machinery."
Seeing that Sun Zhengguo had a clear understanding of himself, Professor Wu was very pleased. It seemed that letting him graduate early and help him modify the rolling mill was the right move.
"Zhengguo, I've already calculated the paper, and I don't think those old guys will object. So, as soon as the semester starts, I'll get it done for you. You should be prepared, okay?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Wu. Ever since you mentioned graduation to me, I've been ready to get back to work at any time."
"Good! That's ambitious."
"Hey! What are you talking about? Judging from Professor Wu's expression, it must be something good, right?"
Chen Lianshan, who had just finished fetching water outside, came into the house and saw this scene, so he asked.
"Lianshan is back. Come and take a look. This is Zheng Guo's thesis. Isn't it much better than those empty and pretentious papers you guys wrote back then?"
Chen Lianshan hadn't expected that he was involved, so he could only awkwardly accept the paper and skim through it.
After reading the thesis, Chen Lianshan was deeply moved. Thinking back to when he graduated, he realized how naive he had been.
They shamelessly boasted that they looked down on modifying machinery and even wanted to manufacture it themselves.
But after graduation, he realized that reality had played a cruel joke on him.
Given the circumstances at the time, even manufacturing a single screw was a struggle, let alone manufacturing machinery.
Ultimately, reality defeated his dreams, and he had no choice but to return to school, where he followed Professor Wu and began to learn how to modify machinery.
Even so, after five or six years, he still hadn't achieved anything.
Only then did he realize how difficult the road was.
Modifying machinery is not an easy task.
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