Chapter 7 The Strict Teacher's Wine: A Toast to the Passing Years

Returning from the launch observation point, the sky had turned completely dark.

The cheering crowds dispersed, and a sense of vast emptiness once again enveloped the Gobi Desert.

Li Jianguo led Lin Xi outside.

The dormitory area consisted of several rows of dusty red-brick bungalows.

The corridors were piled high with coal briquettes and miscellaneous items.

Large patches of wall plaster had peeled off due to dampness, revealing the rough red bricks underneath.

"Watch your step."

Li Jianguo skillfully avoided a pool of frozen sewage and pushed open a mottled green-painted wooden door.

"Creak—"

The door opened to a room less than ten square meters in size.

An iron bed frame, a rickety table propped up with wooden blocks, and a washbasin stand with peeling paint.

There was no heating, only a coal stove.

This was the temporary housing area; one to two weeks before a launch, the staff mostly lived here.

Compared to the red star no. 2 from earlier—representing the pinnacle of human technology and costing hundreds of millions—this felt like a product of a different world.

In the livestream room, the netizens were momentarily stunned.

[This is... this is the group leader's dorm? My storage room is more spacious than this.]

[Streamer, are you sure you're on the right set? Can a rocket really be built in this environment?]

[Say no more, it’s heartbreaking to watch. It was truly a bitter time back then.]

Lin Xi remained silent, silently picking up the fire tongs to poke the stove.

Li Jianguo pulled out an old dark-green wooden chest from under the bed; it was a repurposed ammunition box from back in the day.

He fished out a glass bottle without any label, containing half a catty of sloshing transparent liquid.

Then, he pulled a greaseproof paper packet from his pocket, revealing a small handful of fried peanuts.

"Sit." Li Jianguo thudded the bottle of "Shaodaozi" onto the table.

It was a local moonshine brewed by villagers near the base, with an extremely high alcohol content.

Pouring some into two enamel mugs, Li Jianguo raised his mug.

"Drink! I'm happy today."

Lin Xi held the mug with both hands and took a sip.

It was as spicy and sharp as a knife, choking him so hard his tears nearly welled up.

"Cough, cough..."

Spicy!

It felt like swallowing razor blades; he was choked into instant tears, his throat burning with a searing pain.

"Hahaha, you greenhorn, you can't handle even this?"

Li Jianguo laughed heartily and tilted his head back to gulp down a large mouthful.

As the alcohol hit him, the old man's face instantly flushed red.

He exhaled a breath of alcohol fumes contentedly, picked up a peanut with his chopsticks, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Remember what it was like when we first entered the Gobi Desert?"

"There were no birds in the sky, no grass on the ground, and the wind blew the stones around!"

It was as if a fire was burning in Li Jianguo's eyes:

"Where were the workshops back then? We worked in tents!"

"In winter, at thirty degrees below zero, if your hand touched a piece of iron, your skin would stick to it!"

As he spoke, Li Jianguo suddenly rolled up his pant leg.

"Look at this."

Under the dim yellow light bulb, that leg was a shocking sight.

Bluish-black veins, like clusters of earthworms, bulged from the surface of the skin in a tangled mess.

His lower leg was also covered in several hideous dark-purple scars.

Those were permanent mementos left by severe frostbite.

Lin Xi was stunned.

This was the "foundation" of 1980.

That soaring rocket wasn't just burning propellant; it was burning the flesh and blood of this generation.

The bullet chat in the livestream room stalled for a few seconds, then exploded with messages.

[Salute! I don't know what else to say besides that.]

[My grandfather also has varicose veins; the pain keeps him awake all night. How can this old man stand and operate a lathe for over ten hours?]

[That leg... it looks painful just watching.]

Lin Xi's throat tightened. Just as he was about to say a few words of comfort, Li Jianguo suddenly pulled his pant leg down, his expression changing.

"Enough, let's not talk about the past. Let's talk about the present."

"Slap!"

Li Jianguo slammed the enamel mug heavily onto the table, his eyes fixed on Lin Xi:

"Everyone thinks today's credit belongs to me."

"But I know perfectly well that it was your idea, kid."

"That probe, those turning parameters—that was your doing."

Lin Xi's heart tightened. He was just about to say something humble.

"Shut up!"

Li Jianguo slapped the table, making the few peanuts jump.

"Do you have any idea how close you came to causing a disaster!"

The old man's roar echoed in the narrow little room:

"Fixing a probe with insulating tape? Is your head filled with mush!"

"That's a first-stage engine! The vibration frequency is thousands of hertz!"

"What if the tape came loose? What if the probe fell into a gap in the piping and jammed a connecting rod?"

"If the rocket exploded, how many heads do you have to be executed?"

Lin Xi was stunned, cold sweat immediately pouring down.

The situation had been urgent then; he had only considered whether it could take a measurement, completely ignoring the risks of such a makeshift fixation.

Thinking back now, it was indeed dangerous.

"And the lathe!" Li Jianguo pointed at Lin Xi's nose.

"You're all talk!"

"You speak logically and clearly, but if you actually tried it, you'd ruin it with the very first cut!"

"You think 'feel' is something you can just talk about? It's nurtured through tens of thousands of scrapped parts!"

"Great ambitions but little skill! These four words describe you perfectly, and you deserve them!"

This sudden, fierce scolding was like a bucket of ice water, completely waking Lin Xi from his "savior" delusion.

Even the viewers in the livestream room, who had been praising Lin Xi as a "genius" or a "max-level account slaughtering the starter village," were stunned by the scolding.

[To be fair, the old master is right. Industrial work allows for no luck.]

[The Streamer did get ahead of himself; if something had really gone wrong, it would have been game over.]

Lin Xi did not argue.

He lowered his head, looking at the low-quality liquor in his cup; that sense of superiority from 2025 had completely vanished.

Li Jianguo was right.

The technology of 2025 gave him a "God's-eye view," but it also bred arrogance in him.

In this era without CNC machine tools and without a margin for error, a tiny oversight meant the destruction of the machine and loss of life.

After the scolding, the room fell into a heavy silence.

Only the occasional crackling from the coal stove remained.

Li Jianguo took a few heavy breaths, picked up his chopsticks, and swept the last few peanuts from his bowl into Lin Xi's.

"The tree that stands taller than the forest will be the first to be toppled by the wind."

The old man's voice lowered:

"Interpersonal relationships are very complicated here. It's not a good thing for you to stand out too much."

"Regarding that probe business and the parameter changes, I'll tell the higher-ups they were my ideas. Don't go blabbing about it."

"Solidify your basic skills first. Only when others respect your craftsmanship will I be able to protect you."

Lin Xi suddenly looked up.

So... this scolding was teaching him how to survive.

In this era that emphasized seniority, background, and collectivism.

If a newly arrived Intern performed too miraculously, they wouldn't necessarily be met with flowers, but likely with endless scrutiny, jealousy, and hidden daggers.

His master was acting as a shield for him.

"Master..." Lin Xi's throat felt a bit tight.

Li Jianguo ignored him, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag:

"What? Scolded into a daze?"

Lin Xi said nothing.

He stood up, respectfully holding his cup with both hands, and bowed, keeping his cup's rim lower than Li Jianguo's.

"Master."

Lin Xi's voice was a bit hoarse:

"You were right to scold me."

"I had great ambitions but little skill, and I didn't know the rules."

"This cup of wine, your disciple toasts to you."

Li Jianguo was taken aback, seemingly unaccustomed to this sudden solemnity.

He grinned, revealing a row of teeth stained yellow by smoke:

"Alright, cut that flowery crap."

"Give me three years, and I'll pass everything I know to you."

Li Jianguo drained his cup and waved a large hand:

"By then, the position of Maintenance Group Leader will be yours."

Lin Xi remained silent.

This was the master-disciple inheritance of the older generation: simple, crude, yet burning with passion.

But Maintenance Group Leader was not the destination he desired.

Lin Xi was still pondering how to tell his master.

Suddenly—

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

Rapid knocking came from the door.

"Engineer Li! Comrade Li Jianguo!"

An urgent shout came from outside:

"I'm from the Security Department! Is that Intern Lin Xi in there too?"