Quick Transmigration: The Pregnant Little Fairy is Pampered by the Heirless Boss

Chapter 322 Era: XCMG's Simple-minded Wife 26

Spring came exceptionally early in 78.

On a clear morning when the snow had melted, Ji Xiaosong was hanging diapers to dry in the yard when she suddenly heard the postman shouting outside the door: "Registered mail to Xu Weidong's house!"

The four gold-embossed characters "Shangjing University" on the envelope gleamed in the sunlight.

Ji Xiaosong's fingers trembled, and the diaper fell into the basin.

"Physics Department..."

She murmured the major she was admitted to, then suddenly squatted down and covered her face.

The three children were sleeping soundly inside the house. Xu Weidong went to the factory before dawn to oversee the new batch of experimental steel. The piece of paper in her hand would tear this family in two.

"Xiao Song, the pH level of your tears is too high."

Ji Dan appeared silently behind him, handing him a coarse cloth handkerchief. "Do you need me to calculate the optimal family plan?"

Ji Xiaosong shook her head and stuffed the admission notice under the kang mat: "Don't tell Weidong yet."

The steel plant's test workshop was as hot as a steamer.

Xu Weidong stared at the latest test report, his brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a fly: "Still 872 MPa?"

Lin Xiaomei's white coat was completely soaked through: "After the 'layered temperature control' improvement mentioned by Sister-in-law Xiaosong, the strength increased by 22 MPa, but..."

"But it's still far from the 1150 figure recently announced by the United States."

Old Li slammed the anvil down hard, making the thermometer shake violently.

No one noticed that Ji Xiaosong was standing at the workshop entrance, clutching an envelope soaked with sweat.

She heard Xu Weidong's hoarse voice: "Keep trying! Extend the smelting time by another ten minutes!"

The anxiety in that voice felt like molten steel splashing into her heart.

The three children were unusually well-behaved at dinner.

Zhigang held his bowl and drank the porridge by himself. For the first time ever, Zhitie didn't smear food all over his face. Even the youngest, Nian'an, quietly played with the rattle drum that Xu Weidong had made from scrap bearings.

"Today at the factory..." Xu Weidong had just started to speak when Ji Xiaosong said at the same time, "I have something to discuss with you."

The two were taken aback, then simultaneously fell silent.

Finally, Nian'an broke the deadlock by bursting into tears.

Ji Xiaosong picked up the baby to breastfeed and suddenly said, "I've been admitted to Peking University."

The enamel bowl slammed onto the table with a loud crash.

Xu Weidong's lips trembled for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out a sentence: "Great news! When does school start?"

"Next month," Ji Xiaosong said, looking down at Nian'an in her arms, "but the child..."

"Take them all!" Xu Weidong suddenly stood up. "Take them all! I'll go find the factory to get a letter of introduction, and our whole family will move to Beijing!"

Ji Xiaosong raised her tearful eyes: "What about your career? What about 'Great Wall No. 4'?"

The man's shoulders slumped visibly.

Late at night, Ji Xiaosong took out his "Advanced Mathematics" notebook from under the kang mat and gently stroked the words he had written on the title page: "Study for the rise of China."

Suddenly, a note floated out from between the pages of the book.

"Sister-in-law: The young workers in the factory have spontaneously organized a night school and would like to invite you to give a lecture every Wednesday evening. It will be held on the second floor of the scrap yard. Lin Xiaomei"

Clutching the note, she looked out the window; the lights of the steel mill burned all night.

On the roof of a workshop, the trial rolling mill was emitting a dull thud in the night, like the beating of a heart that refused to give in.

On Wednesday evening, when Ji Xiaosong arrived at the scrap yard with Nian'an in her arms, she froze at the entrance.

More than forty people were crammed into a warehouse of less than 20 square meters!

Old fitter Zhang Desheng sat in the first row, his reading glasses wrapped with tape;

On Xiao Wang's lap was a notebook made from discarded reports from the factory;

Even Old Zhou from the security department, who claimed to "hate intellectuals the most," was hiding in a corner secretly taking notes.

Lin Xiaomei was explaining a linear equation in two variables on the blackboard when she saw her arrive, as if she had been granted a pardon: "Sister-in-law! I've explained this problem three times and they still don't understand..."

Ji Xiaosong handed the sleeping Nian'an to Ji Dan and went up to the podium.

She glanced at the question; it was an application problem about the cooling rate of steel billets.

"Imagine steaming buns."

She picked up a piece of chalk. "Why do the steamed buns collapse if you open the lid immediately after turning off the heat?"

"The heat escapes too quickly!" the workers exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, just like controlling the cooling gradient during steel rolling..."

Her chalk drew a beautiful parabola on the blackboard, and a chorus of "Oh..." exclamations immediately rang out from below.

It was late at night when get out of class ended.

As Ji Xiaosong was packing up her lecture notes, Old Li secretly slipped her a net bag of apples: "These are from my tree... I heard fruit is expensive in Beijing."

Just as she was about to decline, Old Li lowered his voice and said, "The factory's Party Committee has given special approval. Xu Gong can go to Beijing twice a month on business trips, under the pretext of 'learning from Shougang.'"

The old man winked slyly, "Actually, how can Shougang compare to our technology?"

Ji Xiaosong held the bag of apples still covered in morning dew. Her fingertips touched the rough mesh and she suddenly remembered last winter when Old Li squatted at the workshop entrance, eating cold steamed buns with snow water, just to save food coupons to buy chalk for the night school.

"Uncle Li..."

Her throat tightened, and the fresh scent of apples mixed with the distinctive rusty smell of the steel factory filled her nostrils. "Once I learn something new at university, I'll write back and tell everyone as soon as possible."

Old Li waved his hand, rubbing his chapped hands on his work pants: "Don't worry about us. Go and study hard, and in the future..."

The old man suddenly choked up, turned his face away to wipe his eyes, and said, "Let those American devils see in the future that our kids can also make the most cutting-edge gadgets!"

Moonlight streamed in through the broken window of the scrap yard, illuminating the "blackboard frame" welded from scrap iron in the corner. It was painstakingly built by the workers during their lunch breaks, and Zhang Desheng's weld scars were still visible at the seams.

Ji Xiaosong suddenly shoved the apple back into Lao Li's arms: "Take this back and give it to the comrades at night school as an extra treat."

Seeing the old woman about to refuse, she pressed down on her calloused hands, "Once I'm settled in the capital, I'll send you study materials every month. We..."

Her gaze swept over the greasy notebooks in the storeroom, the compasses made from scraps of rolled steel, and the "Night School Class Flag" pieced together from scraps of red flags on the wall. Her voice was as soft as a sigh:

"The spark that ignites our steel plant will surely start a prairie fire."

Old Li's tears finally fell onto the apple.

He turned around and pulled a cloth bag from the bottom of the toolbox: "I almost forgot, the guys chipped in for you."

Upon unfolding it, it turned out to be a sweater that had been unraveled and re-knitted using work gloves.

A steel school badge was pinned to his chest, bearing the four characters "Red Star Night School," which were milled out bit by bit on a lathe.

"Put this on."

Old Li helped her put on a sweater, his rough fingers carefully smoothing out the wrinkles. "When we get to university, let those city folks see that the daughters raised by us steelworkers are no less capable than anyone else!"

Suddenly, a series of knocking sounds came from outside the warehouse.

Xiao Wang led a dozen or so workers who had just finished their night shift to stand under the moonlight. Each of them held a piece of steel plate that gleamed with a faint light. It was a "mirror" they had made from polishing waste, which was now refracting the moonlight into a galaxy, illuminating Ji Xiaosong's way home.

"sister in law!"

Xiao Wang shouted until his voice cracked, "When you return after completing your studies, our 'Great Wall No. 5' will surely break through 1000 megapascals!"

The night wind swept past the towering chimneys of the steel mill, creating a mournful, resonant sound.

Ji Xiaosong placed Nian'an's small hand on the steel school badge and suddenly understood what Xu Weidong often said:

"The hardest steel in the world is always the hope that is forged in suffering."

*

On the green train bound for Beijing, Ji Xiaosong gazed out the window at the wheat fields rushing by.

Zhigang and Zhitie were shouting and yelling at the car window, while Nian'an was munching on teething biscuits in Ji Dan's arms.

Xu Weidong's steel factory work permit lay quietly in her pocket, with a note tucked inside: "T12 train, 15th and 30th of each month."

The farewell gifts given by the night school workers jingled in the schoolbag.

A compass made from scrap bearings, a pocket watch modified from a blast furnace thermometer, and a "workbook" bound together from steel mill scrap ledgers, with the words crookedly written on the title page:

"Teacher Ji: We will definitely get into night school and wait for you to come back to work on 'Great Wall No. 5'!"

The sound of wheels hitting the rails grew more and more urgent, like countless heartbeats resonating in unison.

Ji Xiaosong hugged her three children tightly, and suddenly remembered the last sentence of her exam essay:

"The hardest steel in the world, and a heart that burns forever."