Chapter 40: A Glorious and Arduous Task

  Chen Heqian is a left-hander, but only those who are very familiar with him know about this habit.

  When Chen Heqin was young, he didn't want to appear too different, so when eating in public places, he would always use his right hand to hold chopsticks. Only at home would he switch to using his left hand, which felt more comfortable for him. After becoming an academician, someone revealed his habit, and whenever there were banquets, the hosts who knew him would proactively place the chopsticks on his left side, showing respect through such details.

  Qin Hai had a close relationship with Chen Heqian in his previous life, and they had eaten together over a hundred times, so he naturally understood Chen Heqian's habit. Just now, he helped Chen Heqian move the chopsticks to another position, which was not only out of habit but also to convey a message: stop pretending, I know who you are.

  Whoever encounters such a thing, the shock in their heart will be like Chen Heqian's. A young man who has never met before actually knows about his own secret habit, while he is still hiding and calling himself an engineer of some repair factory, this is really too absurd and laughable. He desperately tries to recall Qin Hai, but can't find any clues at all. The other person's age is really too young, how could he have known him?

  "Little Qin, have you been to the capital?" Chen Heqian asked tentatively.

  "No, I've never been to Anhui Province." Qin Hai replied gloomily. In fact, in his previous life, he had been to every corner of the earth except the North and South Poles, and even his transmigrations had taken place on snowy mountains. But now, he could only say that he was a local turtle, who had never been anywhere.

  "Do you know who I am?" Chen Heqian asked again.

  "Director Chen, Steel Institute," Qin Hai said. Old friend, pretending to be foolish and teasing each other is not very righteous.

  "How did you recognize me?" Chen Heqian asked.

  "This... is a long story." Qin Hai really couldn't think of a reasonable explanation, "Or, you can just assume that I've been admiring you from afar. I've studied all your papers in the Iron and Steel Journal and other publications."

  "No, how can it be written on the paper that I'm a left-hander?" Chen Heqian decided to get to the bottom of this.

  Qin Hai smiled and said, "You are my idol. Our generation of young people chase stars like this. Don't mention left-handedness, a very obvious characteristic. Some celebrities go to the bathroom and either read newspapers or listen to music, and there are fans who want to study these things. Compared to them, I'm not a qualified fan."

  "Uh...... I'm eating right now......" Zhu Chongwu, who was sitting on the other side of Qin Hai, hastily reminded them that the topic Qin Hai brought up seemed to be a bit nauseating.

  Zhu Chongwu's interruption made Chen Heqian stop inquiring about Qin Hai, and he pondered in his heart that it was possible that one of his good friends had taught Qin Hai before, or maybe Qin Hai had read an interview with himself in some newspaper. However, the opportunity to be reported on the newspaper was only a few times, and it seemed that he hadn't said anything about being left-handed.

  Yue Guoyang raised his wine glass and gave a toast, then everyone began to clink their cups together and take turns offering each other drinks, the atmosphere was very lively. Qin Hai was just a young man, he didn't get to enjoy Yue Guoyang's personal toast, but Ge Dongyan ran over and toasted him several times, Zhu Chongwu also symbolically showed him some courtesy.

  After three rounds of wine, everyone began to quiet down. Yue Guoyang pointed at Qin Hai and asked Chen Hegeng: "Chen, do you think what Xiao Qin said is helpful for your work in the repair shop?"

  Chen Heqian smiled wryly and said, "Commander Yue, there's no need to hide it anymore. Xiao Qin has already recognized my identity long ago. In my opinion, there is no one in the entire Anhui Province who knows more about me than he does."

  "What? Such a thing actually exists?" Yu Guoyang was shocked. "How did he know your secrets?"

  Chen Heqian shook his head, indicating that he wasn't clear about it either. However, he did make a rather timely humorous remark, saying: "Who knows how this young fellow found out about the situation? Commander Yue, I think he'd be quite suitable as a scout for your troops."

  "Haha, that's a pity," said Yue Guoyang with a smile. "Alright then, let's open the window and speak frankly. Professor Chen, do you think what Xiao Qin said is helpful to your task?"

  "It's very helpful." Chen Heqian said, "Just now we just roughly discussed it, next, I want to discuss with Xiao Qin seriously, I think if he can participate in our task, he can provide great help for us to solve the problem."

  "Uh-huh, that's right..." Yue Guoyang nodded and turned his head to Qin Hai, asking: "Little Qin, since you know Professor Chen's identity, do you also know what Professor Chen is doing for our troops now?"

  Qin Hai shook his head and said: "I don't know about this, matters involving military secrets, how could I possibly know?"

  "Let me tell you something, Professor Chen and his team are helping our troops solve a material problem with some advanced equipment. Professor Chen thinks you have some unique insights in materials science that can help us with our work. I'm formally asking for your opinion now: are you willing to join this glorious but arduous task?"

  Qin Hai was not intimidated by Yue Guoyang's seriousness, he smiled and said: "Supporting national defense construction is the responsibility of every citizen, as long as Commander Yue trusts me, I am willing to contribute my strength to the troops."

  "It's not that I don't trust you, but rather whether the organization can trust you," Yue Guoyang corrected. "We've already investigated your situation, and your family background is fine. During your time in middle school and technical school, you didn't participate in any illegal activities, so overall, you're politically reliable. However, if you want to join this project, you'll need to undergo further review by the political department, and then sign a confidentiality agreement, promising not to disclose the project's situation to unrelated personnel in the future. Are you willing?"

  "No problem, I'm honored to work with Teacher Chen and learn from him," Qin Hai said.

  Chen Heqian hastily said: "Where, where, we learn from each other. Little Qin, what you just said has also been very enlightening to me. How did you think of these principles? Let's discuss them further when we have time."

  "Alright, let's drink this cup together and wish our project mission a successful completion soon." Yue Guoyang raised his glass and clinked it with Chen Heqian and Qin Hai one after another.

  After dinner, Yue Guoyang asked Qin Hai to stay at the base and left with Zhu Chongwu and Ge Dongyan. Later, several people who claimed to be from the Provincial Military District Political Department came and took Qin Hai to an office, where they had a serious conversation for about an hour, asking him in detail about his family background, political appearance, social relationships, personal resume and other issues.

  Qin Hai had been transported over for several days, and he hadn't had the chance to properly digest the memories in this body. Now that things were settled, he didn't want to digest them either, but he took advantage of the opportunity to familiarize himself with his situation once again.

  It wasn't until now that he clearly remembered that the body he occupied was originally from Bahe Town, Jiangshan County, Anhui Province. His parents were farmers and his family also had an elderly grandmother and two younger sisters who were still in school. The family's financial situation was not rich, and besides farming, his father also worked part-time in a nearby coal mine to supplement the family income during the slack season. Every day, his family looked forward to him graduating as soon as possible, so that he could not only reduce the burden on the family but also earn a salary and repay his family.

  It's time to go back home and take a look, with my current abilities, at least I can make life better for my family. Qin Hai answered the political department staff's questions while secretly pondering these trivial matters in his heart.

  "Alright, Comrade Qin Hai, you have passed our review and can enter the base's project. Now I will announce to you the confidentiality rules, please record them carefully and remember them at all times." The political department's cadre said seriously to Qin Hai.

  "Uh-huh, go ahead, I'll take note." Qin Hai put on a serious face and took out his pen and notebook to record the confidentiality requirements. In fact, these confidentiality requirements were very familiar to him, as he had participated in countless confidential and top-secret projects in his past life, and the national defense secrets stored in his brain could easily intimidate this pretentious little official if he revealed just one of them.

  After completing the confidentiality agreement and signing the confidentiality protocol, Qin Hai was finally taken to Chen Heqian's temporary office and met the research team of the missile tail wing performance project.

  "Little Qin, welcome to join our team!" Chen Heqian saw Qin Hai brought by the political department staff, beaming with joy, came forward and held his hand, and began to introduce the people in the team: "This is Engineer Li, this is Professor Zhang, this is..."

  "Everyone is a senior, I am here to learn from seniors." Qin Hai slightly bowed to the crowd, showing a humble expression.

  "Oh, welcome to the new blood! Do a good job, if you don't understand anything, just ask, don't worry." A group of experts all showed their care and protection towards Qin Hai like seniors showing love to juniors.

  Qin Hai nodded in response to everyone's encouragement, looking like a newly graduated master's student. However, after Chen Heqian introduced the experts and briefed Qin Hai on the previous work situation, Qin Hai's fangs were revealed. He pointed at the formulas written by Chen Heqian on the small blackboard with his hand, saying:

  "To be frank, our previous work progressed slowly due to problems with our approach. The traditional way of thinking about high-temperature and high-strength materials no longer meets the requirements of new equipment. We must break away from traditional thinking and fully draw on foreign advanced experience. For example, the Americans, based on traditional 4340 steel, added silicon elements to significantly improve both the strength and toughness of the material, developing 300M steel, which we can reference."

  "A loud crash", and the experts' glasses fell to the ground.

  "Who is this, how dare you speak so arrogantly!"

  "He was just acting humble earlier!"

  "Brat, dare you debate with me for three hundred rounds?"

  Qin Hai this eel, successfully stirred up the entire project team.