Chapter 6

PS: Thank you to Nuanyingguozi for the generous donation of 5888 coins, to Huangliangxiaose for the generous donation of 588 coins, and to Dashifu51035447 for the generous donation.

During the new book period, I'm seeking recommendations and collections!

"Xiaoliu, this is no time for jokes!" The base had just received two numerically controlled milling machines imported from West Germany not long ago.

After Nixon's secret visit to China, Sino-American relations thawed, and China introduced a large number of advanced dual-use military and civilian technologies and equipment from the European Economic Community countries.

Now, the technical personnel sent to Germany for training haven't returned yet. How could Liu Yijiu possibly operate them? If he thought there was nothing in the base and boasted, wasn't he just setting himself up for failure?

How could Wang Shunyi and others not be anxious!

That equipment was obtained through arduous negotiations using precious foreign exchange. The superiors placed great importance on it. To reserve and study for replication, it was transported here. Everything inside the base was strategic, and these machines were also strategic. Due to the limited quantity, even the aerospace system couldn't keep them all.

If anything happened to the equipment, the consequences would be dire, and his entire future would be ruined.

That's state property! The cheapest numerically controlled lathe costs over 200,000 yuan! This was an era when the average salary was only a few dozen yuan! A numerically controlled milling machine costs over 300,000 yuan! They couldn't earn that much in several lifetimes!

"Uncle Wang, I'm not joking. Didn't we already achieve this in the 1960s? It just stopped later. My mentor at Tsinghua University was one of the researchers on that project back then, so..." Liu Yijiu didn't even blink while fabricating this benevolent lie.

"Good, indeed, a young bull is fearless. I'll see how you get out of this! If you mess it up, no one can save you!" Seeing Liu Yijiu agree, Su Mingyi sneered. This risk was definitely worth taking.

He then turned to Doctor Zhao Min, who was bandaging the old men, and said, "Comrade Zhao Min, please treat Comrade Liu's injuries as soon as possible. Talents who can operate numerically controlled machines are hard to find nationwide!"

Although his words were casual, they made Liu Yijiu's hair stand on end.

After Su Mingyi finished speaking, he called his subordinates and left the small open area in front of the hospital, quickly disappearing down the steps...

The base was located in a valley, with the bottom part being factories, and most of the residences built on the slopes.

On National Highway S302, from Wanyuan to Chengkou, from 21 kilometers to 31 kilometers, the Aerospace 002 Base was distributed in several large areas, with dozens of factories and hundreds of workshops. The Ninth Academy Base was even further behind the 002 Aerospace Base.

The buildings in this area were generally laid out this way: as much land as there was, that much was built.

On the slopes on both sides of the valley, scattered were some low-rise houses or three- to five-story red brick buildings. Apart from having more people and more buildings, including some multi-story buildings, there was little difference from ordinary mountain villages.

The houses occupied relatively flat land, and the surrounding spaces were mostly used for growing ginger, scallions, garlic, and peppers, with the rest being stone steps.

"Alright, it's fine now. Everyone, return to your posts," Zheng Hao sighed in relief.

At this moment, he felt the sweat on his back. If things had gone wrong just now, and a conflict had erupted, even the armed internal guards he brought might not have been able to control the situation.

Fortunately, Su Mingyi finally backed down!

These old technical personnel, who came from all over the country for a common goal, were irreplaceable to the state, and even more so to him.

More importantly, the workers who had been transferred from the military to civilian roles and stayed in the base since its construction had not appeared! Otherwise, even with over a dozen internal guards, the situation could not have been resolved!

Wang Shunyi and others, who had clearly experienced such situations multiple times, bandaged Liu Yijiu and, without saying a word, left the hospital after instructing him to rest and recover.

Whether they returned to their posts or their homes, no one cared. The base currently had no tasks, and everyone was idle.

The hospital was located on the hillside at the deepest part of the valley, usually very quiet, as not everyone was injured every day. Liu Yijiu, who came to the base and ended up in the hospital, was the first in over a decade.

During his recovery, Liu Yijiu learned a lot from the young nurse with the long braid, Wu Yue, which helped fill in the gaps in his knowledge about his background. Wu Yue had only been at the base for a short time and didn't know much, but she had overheard many conversations between Zhao Min and others recently.

Wu Yue was a second-generation "third-line" worker, with her father working in the seventh workshop of the aerospace base, which was the tooling workshop. She had only been at the base for a short time, was diligent, and got along well with the two doctors at the hospital.

She knew very little about the internal situation of the base.

Liu Yijiu had no choice.

Liu Yijiu sensed that something was wrong in the base.

Since the incident at the hospital entrance where Wang Shunyi and others were beaten, no one had come to visit him, which was clearly unusual.

Even Zhao Min hadn't appeared for several days. When he asked Wu Yue, she didn't know either. Even after Liu Yijiu recovered and was discharged, Wu Yue helped him get food tickets, meat tickets, and arrange a dormitory, but he didn't see many people.

The logistics department, to save trouble, gave Liu Yijiu a bunch of tickets and had Wu Yue take him to the dormitory.

According to Wu Yue, the dormitory was for single men, and based on their length of service and rank, they were divided into new and old single men, who did not live in the same area.

Wu Yue took Liu Yijiu to the dormitory door, pushed it open, and blushed, turning and running away, cursing the men for being shameless!

This left Liu Yijiu, who was following behind, somewhat at a loss.

It was a three-story brick building without concrete load-bearing columns, with a prefabricated roof and no waterproofing. The walls, covered in moss, told Liu Yijiu that the building was quite old. The front of the building had a narrow space, and the outside was a stone retaining wall. The terrain was fully utilized!

Liu Yijiu's dormitory was next to the staircase. Inside, there were two old wooden bunk beds, and three young men, bare-chested and with paper strips on their faces, were playing poker at a small table in the middle of the room.

When the door was pushed open, the three men playing poker saw Liu Yijiu, who was carrying a green military blanket, a mesh bag with a lunch box and a cup, and a green military bag. They immediately welcomed him warmly.

They were the newest arrivals, and now that a new person had come, their seniority had increased!

...

"No computers, no internet, no alcohol, no meat, how can I live like this?"

Liu Yijiu still didn't know what was happening in the base. He wanted to find out but didn't know who to ask. When he met Wu Yue, she told him that Zhao Min was still missing.

He wanted to find Wang Shunyi or Zheng Hao to understand the situation, but he didn't know where they lived or where their offices were. His roommate seemed equally unfamiliar with the base!

To enter the workshop, he needed a work permit.

During the days waiting for the work permit, Liu Yijiu always felt something was wrong, thinking he must have been in a long dream and couldn't wake up! He thought he had fallen asleep from exhaustion while working on the electromagnetic cannon.

But in this dream, he couldn't wake up, and everything felt so real.

Especially the rumbling hunger in his stomach and the restlessness of his roommates told him that everything was real.

Leaving the hospital, he no longer had the special patient meals. The base, which had always been well-supplied, was now short of food!

Over ten days of idleness, with the canteen unable to fill his stomach, made Liu Yijiu unable to adapt.

His roommate told him that the base rarely supplied meat. They hadn't had meat for over ten days. Even at the commissary, the meat tickets were useless!

Liu Yijiu didn't know how Wu Yue managed to bring him the work permit, and she didn't explain. With the work permit, he still didn't know where the workshop was.

His roommates, besides going to the canteen for meals and fetching water, spent their days playing poker and sticking paper strips on their faces. Liu Yijiu lay in bed, thinking about his own problems.

It wasn't that they didn't want to go out, but the base required everyone to stay in the dormitory, with no activities allowed, and the loudspeaker emphasized this every morning!

"I want to eat meat!" The hunger in his stomach made Liu Yijiu unable to bear it. He had two cornmeal buns for dinner, with no oil or meat, and couldn't sleep through the night.

He never thought that the meat he least liked would one day make him so desperately crave it.

On his first night in the dormitory, he couldn't sleep due to hunger. His roommates, who hadn't yet formed a deep revolutionary friendship, silently shared half of their buns with him every night.

Liu Yijiu didn't know what was happening. Even if he ate ten buns, he would be hungry again soon.

"Comrade Xiaojie, who doesn't want to eat meat? You should know that all the supplies in the country are being sent to the disaster areas. Having cornmeal buns is already quite good. You're no longer a patient, so don't think about it. Drink some water, and go to sleep. Maybe the leaders will remember us and send a trainload of pork and eggs tomorrow morning!" Qin Huaibao, who slept above Liu Yijiu, was also hungry and restless. Hearing Liu Yijiu's complaint, his hunger became even stronger, so he sat up.

They had heard about Liu Yijiu's situation but didn't know about Su Mingyi's trouble with him.

Initially, they thought they could make Liu Yijiu fetch water, meals, and wash socks, but since Liu Yijiu did everything without resistance, and considering he was still recovering, they felt embarrassed to assert their seniority and instead lost half a bun each day!

"Xiaojie, stop complaining. How many people in the base aren't hungry?" Luo Tong, who slept across from him, also sat up.

Luo Tong pulled the light cord attached to his bed, and the dark dormitory instantly lit up.

"In a year of disaster, we in the base are fortunate. People outside might not even have cornmeal buns. Be content..." Yang Shan, the oldest in the dormitory, also sat up.

They didn't know the situation outside. In the past, even if the base lacked meat and eggs, it never lacked food.

They didn't know if another natural disaster had struck.

"Brothers, why don't we go into the forest tomorrow and find something to eat? Xiaojie just recovered, and he's still growing. Didn't Comrade Wu Yue say we should take care of this new comrade? He's a treasure to our base..." Qin Huaibao's eyes twinkled, and he had an idea.

The base was deep in the Daba Mountains. After over a decade of construction, this base, unknown to the outside world, was completely hidden within the majestic Daba Mountains.

"You're crazy! That's a serious crime! You could be shot!"