Chapter 26 Zhu Suosi
The Gobi Desert is desolate, and the horizon is like a huge canvas. A red sun hangs over the distant sand dunes, slowly descending and gradually sinking into the end of the Gobi.
The vast sky was dyed a warm red, wrapped in a faint orange-red. The boundless gravel dunes lost their daytime heat, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on this Gobi Desert, giving the desolate Gobi a gentle coat, and even the fine grains of sand shimmered with a gentle light.
The afterglow cast long shadows as Zheng Jinbu stood guard at the entrance of the experimental workshop. When he saw Engineer Zhou come out, he immediately went to greet him.
The young man, around eighteen or nineteen years old, had a tanned wheat-colored complexion, and his single-eyelid eyes revealed a resolute determination. He grinned, showing off his bright white teeth, and said, "Engineer Zhou, a letter has arrived from the south."
Before he could finish speaking, several young men caught up with him.
"Teacher, these are the data from today's experiment. I calculated them again, but the frequency of combustion oscillation still doesn't match the theoretical calculation. Why is that?"
The newcomer had a furrowed brow, was holding a large notebook in his arms and a pen in his hand, his face full of thirst for knowledge, and his eyes were fixed on Zhou Yue, filled with a desire for knowledge and an indomitable spirit to overcome difficulties.
The tall and burly Guan Jue pushed past Lin Wei, took his notebook, and stepped forward. "Teacher, regarding the problem of heat insulation and burn-up during rocket reentry into the atmosphere, you mentioned last time that we need to consider the distribution of thermal stress inside the material. We went back and looked through the materials, and we thought about it for a long time. The amount of calculation is just too huge!"
"I just got to the beginning with Cong Nan, but I don't know if we were going down the wrong path, because it seems like we can't keep going..."
Several other students, Guo Congnan, Xie Minjing, and Liu Yanyu, also gathered around, their eager eyes fixed on the teacher, making the most of every minute.
Unable to leave, Zhou Yue said to the guard next to him, "Xiao Zheng, put the letter in my dormitory first."
"clear!"
Zheng Jinbu immediately understood, but instead of acting immediately, she stood by quietly, remaining completely unnoticed.
Until the distant red sun completely disappeared, the wind gradually picked up outside, and the wind, carrying sand and stones, hit them. The temperature began to drop noticeably, and Zheng Jinbu had no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward to interrupt them.
"Engineer Zhou, it's getting late. You haven't had dinner yet. Commander Zhang instructed me to make sure you eat on time."
"Oh dear, it's already this late!"
Tall Guan Jue raised his arm to check his watch. "Hurry, hurry! Let's go to the cafeteria. Teacher, your health is the most important thing. Dr. Wen said last time that your stomach can't have any more problems."
The others then focused their attention on the time. They looked up and saw that the sun was setting, casting its last rays, but in the blink of an eye, the sky had darkened, and the moon had already risen in the vast sky.
Everyone closed their notebooks and crowded around the teacher as they headed to the cafeteria. They didn't stop on the way, sharing their opinions on the question and asking the teacher for feedback on whose approach was correct and more feasible.
Zheng Jinbu followed them at a distance, not too close, until he saw Engineer Zhou enter the cafeteria, then he turned and left with peace of mind.
The sky in the northwest is exceptionally vast, and at night it is filled with countless stars, with the bright moon hanging high, like an endless sea of stars.
After finishing his class, Zhou Yue left the building and returned to his dormitory under the stars and moon.
After quickly washing up, I sat down at my workbench and worked late into the night, with a pile of drafts on my hands, covered with densely packed, incomprehensible formulas.
After a long while, Zhou Yue put down his pen, raised his hand to rub his temples, closed his eyes to rest for 10 seconds, and turned off the desk lamp.
The room was plunged into darkness in an instant. The man got up and went to bed.
After a while, the person on the bed suddenly sat up, reached out and pulled the power cord, and the warm yellow light illuminated the room.
The man seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the bright lights; his sharp, deep eyes narrowed slightly as he surveyed the dormitory room.
The next second, the man suddenly stood up, walked to the small coffee table opposite the sofa, bent down to pick up the envelope, and sat back down at the desk.
When the man picked up the envelope, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. He squeezed the envelope with his fingers; it was much thicker than usual.
He opened the envelope, and six or seven sheets of paper fell out. Zhou Yue glanced at them briefly, then picked up the letter and read it quickly, reading ten lines at a glance.
His brows furrowed and relaxed at times, and a gentle smile gradually appeared on his handsome and aloof face.
His gaze was fixed on the few crooked characters on the letter, and he couldn't help but imagine his wife holding his daughter's hand as she wrote, her eyes gentle.
Then, he put down the letter and picked up a few paintings next to him. He was immediately captivated, and his fingers couldn't help but caress the little figures in the paintings, depicting his daughter's features with every stroke full of tenderness.
Xiaoxiao has grown so much?
My wife is a very good painter. She captured the struggle and indecisiveness on our daughter's face so vividly that it seemed to appear right before our eyes.
Zhou Yue was somewhat surprised by his wife's exquisite painting skills, but then he thought about how his wife had been raised by Grandma Su, and it didn't seem so strange to him.
A deep sense of guilt welled up inside him. He knew so little about his wife, and he had been absent from the roles of husband and father for far too long.
My wife sent over three drawings by our daughter. Although they were naive and unskilled, they were full of childlike innocence and fun, revealing the pure and straightforward nature of a child. Every stroke was brimming with vibrant spirit.
Zhou Yue stared at it for a long time, reluctant to look away. After a long while, the wind outside grew stronger and stronger, howling with sand, gravel and broken branches, as if another sandstorm had started.
Zhou Yue picked up his pen to write a letter, first patiently answering his daughters' questions. He had seen their letter late at night, long after he had eaten dinner. He wondered if they were seeing this letter during the day or at night, and whether they had already eaten.
Zhou Yue wrote this letter for a long time, and it was quite long. In it, he patiently answered his wife's various doubts and responded to her excitement and joy at the fact that their daughter was a genius...
The whistling wind blew for more than an hour, then stopped at some point. Zhou Yue put down his pen and waited for the ink to dry before picking it up again to write down tomorrow's schedule.
The first task is to go to the communications room to make a phone call. The second task to be completed is to go to Commander Zhang to report on the work and to apply for another leave to visit relatives.
...
"Hello, who is this? Who are you looking for?"
"grandmother."
Upon hearing her grandson's voice, Qin Youyi's face immediately lit up with joy, and she quickly called out to her husband, "Old Zhou, Yue is on the phone!"
A short while later, an elderly man with a brisk pace came in from outside, carrying a water jug in his hand.
"Grandpa, Grandma, how are you both feeling?"
"Your grandfather and I are in good health! Don't worry about things at home, everything is fine!"
"Ah Yue, how are you over there? Are you busy with work? No matter how busy you are, you must take care of your health..."
"You old woman, you keep nagging. Your grandson doesn't have time to listen to your rambling. Give me the phone, I want to talk to A-Yue for a bit!"
"Ah Yue, everything is fine at home, don't worry about home! Focus your mind on important matters and serve the country well!"
Qin Youyi snatched the phone receiver back and scolded the old man: "You say I'm long-winded, but aren't you just as long-winded? Does A-Yue need you to tell him anything?"
"My dear grandson, don't listen to your grandpa. You should work hard and take good care of yourself. Health is the foundation of everything."
"Grandma, I know." Zhou Yue always reported good news and never bad news, so he changed the subject. "Grandma, can you buy crayons in Beijing? Cheng is teaching Xiaoxiao to draw recently, can you help me find out where I can get crayons?"
"Okay, Grandma understands. Leave this to us. You focus on your work..."
After exchanging a few words, Qin Youyi hung up the phone, but before putting the receiver down, she made another call.
Zhou Jianying looked unhappy. "I said I would bring Xiao Cheng and Xiao Xiao to Beijing and leave them alone in the south. We just wanted to take better care of them, but it's inconvenient."
Qin Youyi sighed and didn't refute the old man. Did he think she didn't want to?
She could tell that her granddaughter-in-law didn't like living here. When she first came, she was a bright and lively girl, but after a short time, she became like a withering flower, sullen and unhappy.
With her grandson A-Yue not around, and her husband getting old, there are bound to be places they can't take care of, and they might not even know if they've been wronged.
Having grown up in a small town, far from the center of power, their perspective was limited, and their own abilities were insufficient to cope with the gaps brought about by changes in their surroundings.
Ninghua, I wonder if you regret your decision back then?
...
"Okay, you keep an eye on it for me."
Cheng Cheng frowned and said, "If only we could get a camera and take a picture."
The person on the other end said, "Let me think of a way."
Cheng Cheng looked up at the young man and said, "It would be best if you could get it, but it's okay if you can't. Just do your best."
She readily paid the fee, watched the young man walk away, and then turned and left as well.
As she pondered the information the other party brought, she had to admit that the "bastard" introduced by her second brother was quite capable, tight-lipped, and reliable. He would do things for money and wouldn't ask any questions.
She likes this kind of cold, money-based transaction, the exchange of benefits, taking money to do things, and then having no further interaction.
This money was well spent; she reckoned there wouldn't be a good show to watch for long!
Ding Manman is no pushover. She will stop at nothing to make money, even if it means abandoning her dignity. Once she sets her sights on someone, she will not give up until she achieves her goal.
She wanted to see how Chang Wenbin would get away this time. Anyone who walks by the river all the time is bound to get wet, especially since he had enjoyed the benefits and was even having fun with them.
No wonder Ding Manman hasn't come to see her lately; it turns out she's changed her target, clinging to men and getting really close to Chang Wenbin!
According to He Sinian, Ding Manman would go to the single dormitory every noon to meet with Chang Wenbin, and she was late for work several times in the afternoon because of this.
In a single dormitory, a man and a woman are having a clandestine rendezvous, and doing so secretly. It's hard not to think the wrong thing. You can't expect a man and a woman to be discussing poetry in a private space with a bed, can you?
Nobody would believe that!
Judging from the frequency of their rendezvous, she might already be pregnant. If she remembered correctly, condoms in those days were usually distributed free of charge to married couples of childbearing age by their work units and communes.
Chang Wenbin, being unmarried, certainly wouldn't ask his workplace for it. As for Ding Manman, she had her own ulterior motives. Both of them had their own agendas, but isn't this also a kind of mutual pursuit?
Wishing you a locked-in future!
Not long after Cheng Cheng returned home, a commotion came from the neighboring yard, this time much bigger than before!
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Author's note: I went to a banquet today, so that's all for now [poor face]. Goodnight, my darlings~
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