Chapter 7

Qingshan Machinery Factory, the main gate.

"Old Qin, what are you up to?" As Qin Jianhua rode out on his bicycle, a person coming toward him on a bike shouted to stop him.

"Principal Niu! My San Shui has been gone for over half a month and still hasn't come back—I'm so worried! I want to go ask at the nearby bus stop."

"Don't worry, San Shui sent a letter back; for some reason it was mailed to our school—go to the school dispatch office tomorrow and pick it up." Niu Guishua said.

"I'll go now……"

"What are you worried about? The dispatch office is empty now—are you going to smash the glass to get the letter? Wait until tomorrow!"

"Okay, okay, Principal Niu, this is……"

"I'm going to see my brother; I have something to do."

Human Resources Office.

"Brother, San Shui's admission notice has arrived!" Although there was no one else around, Niu Guishua still lowered her voice, glanced toward the door, and then handed over an envelope.

Rustle!

Another envelope fell to the ground.

"What is this?"

"It's a letter from San Shui saying he's having a great time in the Capital and plans to stay a bit longer before coming back." Niu Guishua picked up the letter from the floor, the envelope flap having been opened with steam, and it's still not sealed.

Niu Guishan didn't mind: "Well, that's good. While he's away, it'll be easier for us to operate. Next, we'll use the opportunity of handling San Shui's factory employment paperwork to bring over Old Qin's household register……"

In this era, without an ID card, proof of identity is a unit's introduction letter or the household register—and neither of them includes a photo!

As for attending university, you only need three items: the admission notice, the household register, and the student file!

The student file has a photo, but Niu Guishua has already tampered with it, making everything perfect! Only……

"Brother, if we steal Qin Miao's university spot like this, won't……"

"What do you mean 'steal'? Qin Miao is just a bookworm—if he went to college, got a job assignment, and then entered society, how would he adapt? It'd be better for him to work as a laborer in the factory; everyone's watched him grow up, so they'd definitely look after him."

"But…… I heard the state isn't going to manage our third-line factories anymore, wants us to fend for ourselves—our factory…… might go under."

"That's exactly why we need to send Qiangzi to college—once he graduates he'll be a state cadre, and that's how it'll be for our generation; we have to secure a good future for the next generation! Besides, if back then workers, peasants, and soldiers could be recommended for college, would San Shui even get a turn? Qiangzi was supposed to go to college! I say, Hua'er, you're Qiangzi's aunt—if you don't help him, who will?"

"Hmm." Niu Guishua nodded: "This letter San Shui sent back—are you still going to read it? If not……"

"I'm not looking!" Niu Guishan said, taking the envelope, licking the seal with his tongue, pressing it down a few times, and sealing it!

"I'll give it to Old Qin tomorrow—look at how anxious he is! He rides his bike to the bus stop every day, and if he doesn't get a reply, he might just go to the Capital himself to look for someone!"

"Okay."

Niu Guishua left, and Niu Guishan stared at the admission notice, his face full of smiles—Ha Gong Da, a top university; once he graduates, he'll definitely be a key state cadre!

That night, many people slept soundly.

Ha Gong Da, computer room.

"Old Zhou, the president said the whole school should cooperate with your work—just get the paper tape ready and we'll send it over, and we'll process it for you right away!"

"What paper tape? We've got a Z80!" Zhou Ding looked across: "Old Hu, you guys better not keep cooperation just in talk—put it into action!"

In 1956, Ha Gong Da was led by young teachers Wu Zhongming and Li Zhongrong to establish the nation's first computer major, two years before Ha Gong Da's own math department was founded; therefore, the situation where computer majors at other universities are attached to the math department did not occur at Ha Gong Da.

After its establishment, the computer major played a huge role—studying theory, conducting research…… the nation's first analog computer, the nation's first digital computer…… and the computer major was even about to open doctoral enrollment!

Such a computer department, with deep foundations—so when the State Science and Technology Commission imported five hundred Z80 CPU microcomputers this year, it immediately allocated five of them to Ha Gong Da!

Earlier computers all required punched paper tape, ran slowly, and if an error occurred during operation, you had to modify the program—still needing to flip through the tape, locate the mistake, cut it out, and splice in the correct section.

Now the Z80 microcomputer finally has a keyboard! It has a monitor! This is a huge leap forward!

These five computers are the computer major's treasure! Even if the president speaks, they still have to obey outwardly while resisting inwardly!

"Well……" Professor Hu's eyes rolled: "Ah, it's not that I won't let you use it—this Z80 computer is different from our previous ones; it comes with a floppy-disk operating system CDOS, plus compilers for assembly, BASIC, and FORTRAN. If you know those programming languages, I can arrange for you to have one……"

These computers have only been at Ha Gong Da for less than two months! The computer major's teachers are just starting to get familiar with them; by next semester when they teach students, the teachers still can't keep up!

"We've already drawn the program flowcharts—just have the teachers help input them." Zhou Ding said: "Old Hu, this project is of great importance……"

"Old Zhou, let me be frank—our teachers are still getting used to the Z80, and the programs they write are full of errors; we're not refusing to help you, it's just…… we're powerless, because our old computers, although slower to input paper tape and slower to run, at least could still operate……"

"Professor Hu, could you take us to have a look?"

"Alright, I'll take you to see them!" Professor Hu sighed and shook his head: "You still think I'm deceiving you!"

The computer room occupies an entire floor; in one separate room, a row of computers sits, making a pat-pat-pat…… sound—this intermittent noise shows that the computer major's teachers obviously haven't yet become proficient with the keyboard.

The keyboard evolved from early teleprinters; in 1984, BIM's Model M keyboard established the 104-key layout for future generations. Eastern computers long used paper tape for input, but this keyboard input—Ha Gong Da's teachers still aren't proficient; however, before the semester starts, they will certainly practice until they're skilled!

"What's going on? This program keeps having bugs and I can't find where!" Teacher Li Sheng grew anxious, clenching his fists, wishing he could pound the keyboard twice!

"On line 325, did you input the letter L as the number 1?" Just then, a voice came from behind.

"Huh……" Teacher Li quickly moved the cursor to that line, stared for a while but saw no difference; however, when he changed it to L and ran the program again, the debug window below—several lines of error messages—just vanished!

"Really, it really is!" Teacher Li excitedly watched the program running on the black screen, jumping up and down.

"Thank you…… huh, who are you?"