Chapter 597: No Time Left

For those two cases of wine, Lu Cheng broke into a sweat from behind.

When he finally saw Yang Yin, the girl was so disdainful she wouldn't let him hug her.

"What should we do? How about we go to Qinghua Pool for a bath? I know there's a private room there, we could take a lovers' bath together."

Yang Yin pinched Lu Cheng's face: "I'll wash your big‑head ghost; tossing you into the North Sea for a wash would be about right."

With no one around, Lu Cheng opened his coat, pulled Yang Yin into his arms, and held her gently for a while.

"Where do you want to go later?"

Unlike in summer and autumn, when there are boats on the North Sea, winter is much more desolate.

She seemed to be thinking; after a while, a soft voice finally came from within the coat.

"Hmm? First let's go to the hospital to visit your Captain Lei; I feel he values you highly and definitely wants to see you."

"Then, let's head to the research institute. I'll work with you; it wouldn't be right for you, the director, to go out and play while others have to work overtime—people would gossip…"

Lu Cheng moved aside, unexpectedly looking at Yang Yin, whose fluffy head rested against his chest.

"What?" Yang Yin blinked her eyes.

"Why are you so sensible today? I thought you called me out because you wanted to go somewhere for fun."

Yang Yin nestled in his arms and giggled: "Because… I like you, so… I'm willing to consider for you."

Lu Cheng nodded: "Since you're so sensible today, I must reward you."

"What reward?" Yang Yin asked, just as Lu Cheng bent forward, bringing his face close, clearly intending to kiss her.

Yang Yin hurriedly pressed back into his arms: "No, you'll just bully me…"

Lu Cheng held her tightly; the girl in his arms would occasionally burrow deeper, as if searching for the safest corner in the world.

Whenever he was with Yang Yin, Lu Cheng always felt his heart calm; there was nothing to think or do, just holding her quietly made his whole body feel relaxed.

Together with Yang Yin they visited Captain Lei, and indeed, as Yang Yin said, Lei Zhan'ge was eager to see Lu Cheng.

At that time, Lei Zhan'ge's health was bleak, as if he had endured a whole winter, draining all his bodily functions.

They asked the doctor, who said Captain Lei's condition was deteriorating rapidly.

Lu Cheng could feel it too; sitting beside the sickbed, Lei Zhan'ge clearly had many things to say, but could no longer communicate properly.

He never managed to finish a sentence before a tight chest and shortness of breath took over.

Lu Cheng wanted to stay longer, but feared disturbing Captain Lei's rest.

"Captain Lei, you don't need to speak. The team is running normally; I will assist Director Tang to get the work done…"

Only by saying this could Lei Zhan'ge's emotions gradually calm.

Even this old man, at this point, still thinks of the country.

Before leaving the hospital, Lu Cheng specifically consulted a doctor, asking how long Captain Lei could still hold on given his current state.

The answer made Lu Cheng's heart tighten for a moment.

It turned out… even four months would be hard to endure.

This is because of Lei Zhan'ge's position as a Chief Hall Official Rank official in the Railway Department, so the hospital poured all medical resources into him.

On the way back to the research institute, Lu Cheng's mood was heavy, and Yang Yin unusually fell quiet.

Inside the research institute, everyone was busy in a tense yet orderly manner.

Lu Cheng wanted to urge everyone again to finish the New Type Internal Combustion Engine Development before June.

But seeing everyone's exhausted faces—no one even went home for the New Year—people had already mustered all their strength, desperately completing the task.

Lu Cheng could no longer add more pressure on them.

At the institute entrance, Lu Cheng ruffled Yang Yin's head: "Student Xiao Yang, I may not be able to see you for a while; I need to stay here and fight alongside everyone."

Yang Yin obviously understood what this mission meant to Lu Cheng and how important it was.

It wasn't for Lu Cheng's personal glory; it was more to avoid leaving Captain Lei with regrets and for the nation's Railway Industry.

Yang Yin nodded obediently: "Okay, I'll study hard at school. When you finish the mission, we'll meet again; by then, the lotus flowers at Jin Chun Yuan's Lotus Pond should be in full bloom, and we can watch the Lotus Pond Moonlight."

Yang Yin looked reluctant; after saying that and leaving the institute, she kept looking back step after step, her eyes clearly reddened.

Only after watching the girl's silhouette disappear did Lu Cheng turn and re-enter the institute.

"Comrades, from now on I'll fight side by side with you; please hold on, victory will eventually be ours…"

Lu Cheng boosted morale, and the weary gazes of everyone gradually began to shine again.

But morale is only mental; bodies don't gain strength from it, so Lu Cheng approached a comrade whose steps seemed unsteady.

He told him to rest properly; everyone would rotate shifts, enforce rest, and not just push on without sleep.

Lu Cheng also took over part of the work, collaborating with these researchers.

Only by immersing oneself in this work can one truly feel how much it drains the spirit.

During this period, Lu Cheng was in a daze every day, even secluding himself in his room, forgetting what day of the week it was or which month.

Everyone was in the same state; their sense of time came solely from calculating a set of data and finishing a drawing.

Beyond that, no one paid any attention to anything else.

During this time, Lu Cheng's sister Lu Ying visited once.

At that moment, mother Chen Xianglan, seeing her son not even returning home, felt both worried and heart‑torn.

But she knew her son was engaged in a great undertaking.

Even though she felt heartache, she couldn't hold him back, so she had her daughter Lu Ying bring several kilograms of braised pork to the institute for the comrades to replenish themselves.

Lu Cheng felt the braised pork arrived just in time; clearly, everyone had visibly lost weight over this period.

Especially Deputy Director Zheng Guoping, who not only shouldered the institute's duties but also coordinated drawings with technicians from Shencheng Vehicle Factory, constantly running back and forth, his body almost emaciated.

The sister did bring good news: a joint venture with the Railway Department to run a factory.

Because of the electric heating blankets produced, statistics showed 12,000 units sold, though that wasn't the actual sales figure.

During the whole winter, about five thousand units were actually sold, and the remaining seven thousand were pre‑ordered.

It was Lu Ying who took the samples to the major State‑owned Store, including the Supply and Marketing Cooperative of the nearby Commune, to promote them.

Whether counting only the actual sales or adding the pre‑orders, the profit reached fifteen thousand yuan, which made the Railway department very satisfied with the young lady.

Achieving such results in just one winter was something the Railway leadership never even dared to imagine.

In the end, the Railway department agreed to set up a plant with Lu Ying.

As previously discussed, we need to produce a product that can earn Foreign Exchange; while we're here to see the younger brother, we might as well bring it up.

But Lu Cheng now has a more important mission to complete, so this matter can only be postponed for the time being; Lu Ying understood and simply told the younger brother to take better care of his health.

In mid‑May, the final set of data calculations was completed, and Wei Shu led two people to manually double‑check it.

As long as this set of data contains no errors, it means the New Type Internal Combustion Engine has been successfully developed and can enter the production process.

Watching Wei Shu and the other two hunched over the desk rechecking the data, no one dared to breathe loudly; even the Comrades who had been sleeping had no desire to rest and rushed over to watch.

After half an hour and still not finished, Zheng Guoping, who was wearing a cross‑strap vest, grew a bit impatient.

"How's it going, Lao Si? Is the recheck done, is this final set of data correct?"