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

Chapter 320 Era: XCMG's Simple-minded Wife 24

Late at night, the kerosene lamp cast flickering shadows on the earthen bed.

Ji Xiaosong, wearing Xu Weidong's old work jacket, sat at the kang table with a yellowed copy of "Elementary Algebra" open in front of her.

Her fingertips gently traced the edges of the book pages, which were already frayed from being turned so many times.

"Xiao Song, your pupil focus has not changed in the past 37 minutes."

Ji Dan's voice came from the shadows as it adjusted the tightness of Xu Nian'an's swaddling clothes with nanometer-level precision, "Are you thinking, or are you simply daydreaming?"

Outside the window, the faint sound of the steel mill's whistle could be heard.

Ji Xiaosong came to her senses and looked at the three sleeping children. Zhigang's little fists were clenched tightly, Zhitie was sleeping on his back, and Nian'an was as quiet as a kitten.

“Ji Dan,” she suddenly spoke, her voice very soft, “tell me… how much can we actually change?”

The mechanical lifeform's optical lens narrowed slightly: "According to relevant conventions, transmigrators are not permitted to significantly alter the course of history. You have already..."

"I'm not talking about using spiritual power or future technology."

Ji Xiaosong interrupted, her fingers unconsciously drawing function graphs on the pages of the book. "I mean... what can I do as an ordinary person?"

Ji Dan settled the last swaddled baby and walked to the kang table.

Its pupils gleamed with a faint blue light in the darkness: "You mean the college entrance examination that was reinstated in 1977?"

Not a question.

Ji Xiaosong nodded slightly: "Wei Dong risked his life to get 'Great Wall No. 3' to reach 800 megapascals, but the Americans have already broken through 1000."

She repeatedly traced the number "980" with her fingernails, saying, "I want to take a different path... using knowledge."

Suddenly, a loud "thump" came from outside the window.

Ji Dan's hearing sensor instantly locked onto the sound source: "Aunt Zhang's cat knocked over the shovel."

It paused for a moment, then said, "Xiao Song, with your current level of education, you would need to put in 478% more effort to take the college entrance examination."

“I know.” Ji Xiaosong smiled bitterly. “In other people’s eyes, the original owner didn’t even finish elementary school.”

She suddenly looked up, her eyes shining brightly: "But did you know that the Chinese Academy of Sciences would start researching computers in 1980? Did you know that we would have our own semiconductor production line in 1990?"

Ji Dan's processor quickly retrieved historical data: "You want to guide technological development."

“No,” Ji Xiaosong shook her head, “I want to be one of them.”

She picked up a pencil, neatly wrote the words "integrated circuit" on the notebook, and then quickly crossed them out.

This word shouldn't exist in this day and age.

“Look at Wei Dong and the others…”

Her voice choked with emotion, "Knowing full well how big the gap was, I still pushed forward with all my might. I... can't just stand by and watch."

Ji Dan was silent for a moment, then suddenly took out a holographic projector disguised as a button from a hidden pocket in his collar: "I can design a study plan for you. But you need to be mentally prepared."

"Study like a real test taker."

Ji Xiaosong picked up the conversation, a stubborn smile curving her lips, "Starting tomorrow, you will 'accidentally' discover that I have a talent for math, and then 'kindly' teach me to read and do math."

The next morning, when Aunt Zhang came to deliver the eggs, she witnessed an astonishing scene:

Ji Xiaosong's "cousin who fled famine" was drawing all sorts of strange symbols in the yard with a twig.

Even more astonishingly, Ji Xiaosong, who had never been literate, was able to stumble and stammer out the phrase "three-pronged yoke, four-stringed yoke, five-stringed yoke"!

"Oh my goodness!" Aunt Zhang almost dropped the eggs. "Xiao Song, when did you learn this?"

Ji Dan lowered his head shyly: "Last night I taught my cousin to read, and I found that she is very bright."

The news spread like wildfire.

Before noon, the entire residential compound knew that Xu Weidong's wife had "come to her senses" again.

"I heard she's studying late into the night!"

"I knew she was quick to learn everything when we worked at the supply and marketing cooperative, but I didn't expect her to be so good at math too."

"Yesterday I saw her writing and drawing in a notebook while she was queuing in the cafeteria..."

When the former factory director visited Xu Weidong in the hospital, he specifically told him this "interesting story".

The man on the hospital bed paused, then his eyes suddenly reddened: "She... has always been very smart."

In the steel plant's test workshop, Lin Xiaomei was calculating new parameters on the blackboard.

The chalk snapped, and as she looked at her calloused hands, she suddenly remembered the scene she had witnessed yesterday.

Ji Xiaosong squatted in a corner of the factory library, engrossed in reading a book called "Fundamentals of Iron and Steel Metallurgy," so absorbed that she didn't even notice her hair had come undone.

"Sister-in-law, are you planning to take the college entrance exam? But you can't take it now, so what's the point of studying?" Xiao Wang leaned over and asked in a low voice.

Lin Xiaomei didn't answer, but instead pressed the broken piece of chalk hard onto the blackboard, leaving a sharp mark.

“980…” she murmured to herself, “We will definitely reach it.”

As night fell and the three children fell asleep, Ji Xiaosong's "special training" truly began.

A holographic projection casts a faint light onto the earthen wall, displaying a knowledge graph that should not exist in this era.

Ji Dan explained in a voice only she could hear: "The 1977 college entrance examination in mathematics focused on functions and geometry, but you need to master those in addition..."

Ji Xiaosong's pencil scratched on the rough paper, and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, forming a water streak on his chin.

"This Bernoulli equation..."

She suddenly stopped, the tip of her pencil poking a small hole in the paper. "Could Wei Dong and his team use their blast furnace?"

Ji Dan's processor flickered: "Theoretically, the air intake design can be optimized, but you can't just give it to them directly."

"I know."

Ji Xiaosong erased the advanced formulas on the draft paper, "I have to find a way to explain it to them using a 'homemade' method."

She redrawn a crooked diagram and labeled it: "Like the direction of steam when steaming buns."

In October 1977, when the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination was broadcast on the radio, the steel plant was shrouded in autumn rain.

Xu Weidong stood in the workshop, leaning on his crutches, with the newly developed "Great Wall No. 3" prototype in front of him.

“It’s still not enough…” Old Li’s voice came through the rain. “The US announced a new breakthrough last year, and we can’t even catch up with them.”

Everyone was silent.

Suddenly, a familiar voice came over the loudspeaker; it was the announcer reading a notice from the factory's broadcasting station:

"...my country has made significant reforms to its college entrance examination system, restoring the national college entrance examination (Gaokao). This year's Gaokao is open to ambitious young people, with an extended age limit; both married and unmarried individuals can apply..."

Xu Weidong suddenly looked up.

Through the rain, he saw his wife standing at the window of the radio station, with formulas densely written on the blackboard behind her.

At that moment, he seemed to see again the day of the explosion, when Ji Xiaosong, heavily pregnant, said, "The data my man risked his life for must not be wasted."

"Sign up," he suddenly said.

Everyone was stunned.

“I said,” Xu Weidong’s voice was hoarse but firm, “everyone who wants to take the exam should register. The factory will issue you a certificate to prepare for the exam.”

The wrench in Lin Xiaomei's hand clattered to the ground.

*

The night before the college entrance examination, after Ji Xiaosong had put her three children to sleep, she found Xu Weidong fiddling with something under the oil lamp.

Only when you get closer can you see that he is making compasses from scrap steel sheets and protractors from remnants of blast furnace thermometers.

"Tomorrow..." This man, who hadn't shed a tear even during the explosion, was now trembling. "Use this."

Ji Xiaosong took the "stationery" that was still warm from her body and suddenly noticed that every part was polished to a smooth finish, without even the slightest burr.

Just like their era, riddled with problems yet still gritting their teeth and moving forward.

“Weidong,” she said softly, “when Nian’an and the others grow up…”

“Let them study computer science,” Xu Weidong suddenly interjected. “Study chip manufacturing, learn those things we can’t catch up with.”

Outside, the north wind whipped snowflakes against the windowpanes.

But the temperature on the earthen bed is enough to melt away the entire cold winter.