Study Monster Cultivation System-Chapter 321: Look, that rocket, I made it.

After confirming the route, Institute No. 17 commenced its final 46-day march toward the ultimate goal.

Though it was a guess, it was a well-informed one, with plenty of experience and lessons to draw upon.

Decades of battling vibration issues with liquid engines all resurfaced.

Li Zheng then connected with the engineering computation lab at Harbin Institute of Technology, attempting to identify the root cause from a different angle and to substantiate it through computational experimentation.

He hadn’t anticipated this himself. Wasn’t he here to build rockets and engineer? Somehow, he found himself increasingly leaning towards mathematics...

In fact, addressing his weaknesses and finding his unique strengths was exactly in line with his collaborative instincts.

The institute also acknowledged the significance of this route through a series of events, so even though the current workload was already intense, they still assigned Liu Rui to Li Zheng.

On one hand, they hoped to enhance the plan with sophisticated engineering calculations.

On the other hand, they wanted Liu Rui to continue leading this work group after Li Zheng’s departure, preserving this dimension for future efforts.

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhenhua was making a significant comeback.

Clearly, after pinpointing the root problem as sub-synchronous rotation, he became more active, especially in lobbying the group’s leaders, nearly succeeding in repackaging Yellow 2, even promising a reliable improvement plan before the end of the year.

Under his persistence (and smooth talking), an increasing amount of resources began shifting back towards Yellow 2.

Though the development of events mainly adheres to macroscopic laws, it must be said that occasionally, certain individuals can forcefully change the situation within a given period.

Currently, the outcome of Yellow 2’s gamble remains unknown, yet this old gambler has indeed put everything on the line.

From personal reputation to career, from old bosses to former subordinates, he utilized everything he could, not even leaving a single pair of underwear behind.

Meanwhile, the person in charge of Project 927, Liang Xinping, consistently avoided clashing heads, trying not to compete for resources with the Yellow 2 project, a relatively neutral stance that undoubtedly offered Zhao Zhenhua a lifeline.

If Liang Xinping were twenty years younger, or any leader under fifty, he probably would have openly challenged Zhao Zhenhua for resources.

But now, he really had no desire for power or personal glory.

If anything, he simply hoped to see the aerospace industry advance along a more correct and vigorous path.

On November 1, after a video conference with the bigwigs from Harbin Institute of Technology, Lin Yujing organized her materials and prepared to leave work as usual, while Li Zheng and Liu Rui opened the restaurant menu, pondering whether to dine in or order out.

In the office, Lin Yujing slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned to say, "I’m leaving now."

"Hmm, see you tomorrow."

"Um..." Lin Yujing lowered her head, walked to the door, and threw it open forcefully. "Really leaving now."

"What? Do you also want to work overtime today?"

"Scum Chap..." Lin Yujing muttered a curse, grabbed her backpack strap, and ran out.

She was sulking all the way home.

Sulking on the subway.

Sulking while riding her bike.

Sulking once home.

Sulking while opening the door for the courier.

Sulking as she unboxed a parcel.

Picking up the catalog inside...

Suddenly, she wasn’t angry anymore!

This was a hand-drawn catalog, its cover featuring an exquisitely detailed image of a sleeping figure drooling.

Still drooling.

Beneath it was the title—

"45° Behind the Left"

On opening the first page, she saw a standard dedication page in Li Zheng’s style—

"Happy 19th Birthday!"

"—From your friend, Li Zheng"

Lin Yujing chuckled at this, tossed aside the packaging, and sprawled on the bed, kicking her legs and flipping through the pages.

It started with the sleeping image, but without the lonely text typical of "45° Behind the Left"—

"We’ve known each other for a long time, and you’ve always been like this."

Then suddenly, it became more impassioned, featuring tense grips on exam papers—

"Until the first time I was on top of you."

"Humph!" Lin Yujing, clutching the catalog, revealed an expression just like the one in the catalog, irate as she turned the page.

Next, she saw an image of pretending to sleep in class while secretly observing from under the left armpit—

"Ye Gucheng finally encounters Ximen Chui Xue."

Followed by a dispute during the Chem Competitions preparation—

"Since then, we’ve studied together."

Experiments playing house during the Jinghua training—

"Causing trouble together."

Massive block during basketball—

"Playing around together"

Leaning against each other on a cliff at Wenhai’s peak, watching a starry launch—"Look at what we adore."

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In Shen Tinglan’s office, each dominating a corner—

"Do what we want to do."

The scene then flashed to an observatory, where Lin Yujing was squinting professionally at the telescope—

"Become who we want to be."

Li Zheng was in the classroom, pointing and gesturing at the blackboard.

"Maybe one day we will go our separate ways."

The scene flashed again, this time to a laboratory where both had aged a bit and were wearing lab coats, laughing and posing for a photo together.

"But please always remember—"

"Whoosh" a close-up shot focused on the badges on Li Zheng’s and Lin Yujing’s chests.

One said "Academician Li", the other "Researcher Lin"—

"I’m above you."

"Scum Chap!!" Lin Yujing laughed out loud, lying on her back and kicking her legs wildly in bed.

The next page was just text.

"I know what you’re talking about, so..."

Turn the page.

It’s a melon patch!

This time Lin Yujing was stabbing the melon.

And that melon’s face was Li Zheng—

"To please you."

"Hahahahaha!!!" Lin Yujing laughed nonstop, slapping the bed.

The final image was of two astronauts racing toward the myriad stars in space—

"This story has no end."

"Just as the stars have no other shore."

"Thinking of being above me?"

"Then you better work hard!"

"Happy 19th birthday!"

"—Your friend, Li Zheng."

Lin Yujing closed the book, still wanting more.

So she read it again.

This time, she noticed more details.

Like the left edge of the napping picture, where a little bit of a belly was showing.

Like on the basketball court, where a man with thin, long hair stood at a distance.

In the corner of the lab photo, there was a girl who looked like Xu Mengxi.

After reading it seven or eight times, Lin Yujing reluctantly put it down and sent a WeChat message back—

"~~~~"

...

In the office at Institute No. 17, Li Zheng heaved a sigh of relief.

"Forget it, Liu Rui, let’s leave early today. I’m a bit overwhelmed..."

Liu Rui, who was eating, exclaimed in surprise, "Ah? Even you have days like this?"

"I was up late last night relaxing with some drawing."

"...I don’t quite understand when you put those words together."

"Let’s just leave early... I can’t take it anymore." Li Zheng said, his head down, opening another chat on WeChat.

There, last night’s messages were still vividly visible.

[Zhang Xiaoke: Reminder, little elf Zhang Xiaoke is online! Master, you must strive hard to survive tomorrow!]

[Shen Tinglan: Although I’m in an awkward position... I thought I’d remind you...]

[Xu Mengxi: Tomorrow, Yu Jing, live.]

Luckily...

Luckily he had them...

...

Sometimes, women are just incredible.

In the past, no matter how Li Zheng coerced or enticed, Lin Yujing would never show even slight obedience.

But the next day, she actually... voluntarily made Li Zheng a cup of morning tea.

When Li Zheng picked up the teacup.

He felt.

It seemed he had grasped the knack for controlling Lin Yujing.

So from now on...

I am the king!

He didn’t know that Li Yi had once harbored the same delusion.

It’s like someone who always bullies you suddenly feeds you one day, and you think, wow, this person is so nice, I need to treat them well from now on.

And then, Li Yi ended up like he did today.

This type of Stockholm syndrome PUA is hard to guard against.

Fortunately, work and study diverted Li Zheng’s attention.

Especially the old-timers at Harbin Institute of Technology, with plenty of tools and broad ideas, were quite capable, which soon drew Li Zheng in, preventing him from sinking too deep into the mire.

For such cooperation, they were even happier than Li Zheng; who wouldn’t want to enrich themselves with aerospace data while managing to publish a few awesome papers on the side?

Moreover, this kind of cooperation had funding available.

This vigorous clash, like the tail flames of a rocket, briefly ignited and then exploded instantly.

...

This ultra-saturated supercharged work continued until December 13th.

From start to finish, the whole institute proposed 57 specific improvement points.

After discussions, validations, and mathematical experiments by Li Zheng’s group, 35 of them were reliable improvements.

Considering the current technical capabilities, resource intensity, and work schedule, 21 were feasible.

Combining these 21, they conducted a unified validation, resolved the contradictions and conflicts among them, and consolidated them into 15 points.

Last, they implemented these 15 points back into the engineering drawings, and the final plan was thus produced.

Due to their limited experience and ability, Li Zheng’s group couldn’t propose any improvement points, but they successfully developed several computational models that added a new dimension to the validation of improvements. Although this dimension wasn’t decisive yet, the whole team acknowledged its high referential value.

When the improvement plan was finalized, Zhu Mingyue, along with several key members, immediately rushed to the group headquarters to report to the leaders along with Zhao Zhenhua.

Although it was just a closed-door report and not a large-scale discussion, such critical matters were often decided in these small meetings; large meetings were just for ironing out technical details.

It could be said that the effort of the past month and a half would determine the lifecycle of Yellow 2 that afternoon.

That afternoon, the whole team at Institute No. 17 felt like a race car at full speed suddenly had its engine pulled out.

It was like some sort of work inertia, wanting to find something to busy themselves with, but with nowhere to start.

All they had before them was anxiety, anxiety, and more anxiety...

This anxiety was also present in Li Zheng’s office.

Three o’clock in the afternoon, deathly still.

Li Zheng, Lin Yujing, and Liu Rui, each buried in their own work, dared not even chat.

Suddenly, Li Zheng’s phone rang.

His eyes widened.

Du Songtao.

Li Zheng swallowed.

Did this guy get the news before everyone at the institute?

Regardless, he still anxiously answered the call.

"Panicking?" Du Songtao blurted out as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Damn..." Li Zheng sighed, "just spit it out if you have news..."

"Got some awesome news, just called to tease you, have you heard that comedy skit, just~teasing~you~"

"Beep beep beep..."

Li Zheng hung up, turned to Lin Yujing and Liu Rui, who were looking at him dumbfounded, and said, "Du Songtao is asking for it..."

"Blacklist!" Lin Yujing cursed.

Just as she finished speaking, Du Songtao sent a message.

[Just kidding, got news.]

Li Zheng’s eyes widened, and he cheekily called back.

This time, Du Songtao didn’t play coy and spilled everything.

Facing the new improvement plan, the group’s leadership also seemed indecisive.

Had it been any other time, they wouldn’t hesitate like this; so much resource had been poured into Yellow 2 already, this was just a small addition.

The problem was that Project 927 was about to start as well.

At this critical juncture, making seven or eight institutes and factories rush work for Yellow 2 meant Project 927 would be delayed by several more months.

Moreover, betting big could overdraw one’s credibility.

No matter how Zhao Zhenhua pounded his chest in assurance, the leaders couldn’t wholly trust him, although they also wouldn’t wholly deny him.

So, they temporarily called a few experts for a meeting to discuss.

Among them, Liang Xinping, Shen Tinglan, Du Songtao, and others were rushing to the group.

Worth mentioning is that they had invited purely technical experts this time, leaving Chen Hongbing out once again.

This news quickly spread throughout Institute No. 17.

It had no effect in relieving anxiety, it only made it worse.

At times like this, vouching for the YF-87 was a matter of responsibility...

Even the internal review at the institute wasn’t likely to solve the problem with more than a 90% probability.

For aerospace, that was a very low probability.

Why would outsiders help you stake your ground?

Especially Liang Xinping, who was outright oppositional...

That day, even Lin Yujing did not clock out cheerfully on time.

Instead, she waited silently with everyone else...

8 p.m., night fell.

9 p.m....

10 p.m....

Still no news whatsoever.

Nobody knew what was happening in the corporate meeting room.

In this atmosphere of maxed-out blood pressure, many even felt discomfort in their hearts.

11 p.m....

Midnight...

At precisely 12:47 a.m.

Li Zheng’s WeChat rang.

[Du Songtao: ]

[The pulling and tugging is over, Liang Xinping personally handed you the win.]

"!!!!!" Li Zheng slammed the desk and leaped up, "There we have it!!!!!"

Almost simultaneously, the same shouts erupted from the office area outside!

"There we have it! There it is!"

"The plan passed!!!!"

"Seventeen factories and institutes!!!! Construction starts tomorrow!!!!"

"Ah!!!!!"

Everyone was practically crying as they shouted.

It had been too tough, this journey had been damn hard.

In the office, Lin Yujing also burst into tears, overwhelmed to even chant.

"Fucking awesome... Fucking awesome..." Liu Rui, with tears streaming down his face, clenched his fists, "Let’s do this... Let’s do this!!"

Soon, everyone received a public email from Zhao Zhenhua.

[To all comrades who’ve fought tirelessly for Yellow 2, my brothers and sisters: ]

[Our efforts have finally paid off!]

[Thank you everyone, thanks to each and every one of you!]

[I am proud of you all!]

[But I am sorry, we are still carrying a heavy burden, and it is not yet time to rest.]

[The next three months will still be relentless, day and night.]

[These are the hardest moments before dawn, we must muster our final breath to endure and fight through!]

[Victory or defeat, honor or disgrace, all depend on this very battle!]

[I am confident that one day, each of us can point to the starry sky and tell our children.]

[Look, that rocket.]

[I built it.]

The tears from this email had not yet dried when they received a challenge from Chen Hongbing.

The most significant piece of good news came up first—Shen Tinglan was back in her role!

She would continue to oversee the design of Yellow 2, optimizing the overall structure to better adapt to the new engine.

Meanwhile, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing would also return to Institute No. 1, as their roles in Institute No. 17 would be very limited during the next stage of production and assembly.

From the lines, it was clear that having a heavyweight expert like Liang Xinping vouch for Yellow 2 had accepted the result of delaying Project 927 by three months and even released Shen Tinglan along with several key members of the Yellow 2 team.

One could imagine that given Liang Xinping’s status, Yellow 2 could not have gotten such a golden opportunity without his slight opposition.

Regardless of which side one was on, everyone was filled with respect for this academician who had been with China’s rockets for generations.

When it came time to part, Li Zheng could not hold back his tears as he embraced several comrades.

He felt very fortunate to have such a challenging and vigorous experience.

Everyone else felt lucky to have encountered such an unreasonable, inexplicably acting Li Zheng.

At this moment, the charge was fully on.

Yellow 2 must succeed!