Chapter 679: The Unique Skill of Character Decomposition

One hour later, Liu Siman walked into the interrogation room with Qin Jingru, followed by two workers carrying a machine with a unique appearance.

Director Chen's gaze darkened as he looked at Liu Siman and asked, "Are you Liu Siman, the director of the Computer Research Center?"

"I am." Liu Siman handed over her credentials.

Director Chen took the credentials, glanced at them, and then stared at her face for a long moment: "You're very young." He curled his lip, "The Computer Laboratory is a key department of the Military Factory. Why did you recruit a rural girl who knows nothing as a Researcher? Did your teacher force you?"

Liu Siman smiled and said unhurriedly, "Reporting to all leaders, I did indeed recruit Comrade Qin Jingru because of the recommendation of my teacher, He Yuzhu."

Director Chen laughed: "You are the head of the laboratory; do you still need an outsider to make decisions?"

Liu Siman nodded: "My teacher is a Consultant for the laboratory, so it is reasonable and compliant for him to recommend talent to me. Besides, genius also needs to be discovered; not everyone has the eyes to spot talent. I trust my teacher's judgment."

Director Chen seemed to have caught a handle and looked at He Yuzhu: "Factory Director He, it seems the culprit is still you. Are you using your recommendation power to seek personal gain?"

He Yuzhu retorted unceremoniously: "When I founded the laboratory, I didn't establish any rules about seniority. Just like when I discovered Liu Siman; she hadn't even finished elementary school back then, and I transferred her to the laboratory. Yet, ten years later, she became a top-tier Computer Expert who surpassed me. Can't I discover a second Liu Siman?"

Director Chen was provoked and raised his voice: "He Yuzhu, you are quibbling! Qin Jingru was still a rural girl two months ago; how did she suddenly figure out the Chinese Character Decomposition Method?"

Everyone's gaze fell squarely on Qin Jingru.

After a month of devilish training, Qin Jingru was no longer the timid and cowardly rural girl she once was.

She was confident and composed, and facing the group of leaders, she said without fear: "When I was studying as a child, I always felt that Chinese characters were too complex, and I kept pondering how to remember them more simply. From then on, I thought about it every day, and the radicals of Chinese characters started floating around in my head. Suddenly one day, I watched ants moving house, and I instantly figured out how to decompose Chinese characters..."

After hearing this, Director Chen didn't believe it at all and said coldly: "Keep making things up!"

Secretary Zhao suddenly spoke up: "Qin Jingru, why don't you demonstrate it for us?"

"You set the questions," Qin Jingru said confidently.

"Xiao Zhao, find a dictionary!" a city leader ordered.

The shorthand Secretary Xiao Zhao ran out and returned ten minutes later with a dictionary, flipping to a few difficult characters for Qin Jingru to decompose.

Qin Jingru already knew the decomposition method by heart and finished it with ease.

Yet, those present could not understand it at all.

Director Chen sighed: "Who recognizes these symbols you're decomposing? How can you prove it's useful?"

He Yuzhu pointed to the machine: "We can use this machine to verify it!"

That Typewriter was more than twice the size of an English typewriter, with a roller, ribbon, and keyboard all present.

The characters engraved on the keyboard were not English, but strange symbols that others couldn't understand at all, looking a bit like oracle bone script at first glance.

"Are Chinese characters composed of these symbols?" Director Chen asked.

"Yes," Qin Jingru answered quickly.

"This machine was made by me based on Comrade Qin Jingru's decomposition method, drawing inspiration from foreign typewriters. I call it the 'Chinese Five-Stroke Printer'; it can print official documents directly, just like an English typewriter," He Yuzhu explained.

"How is this possible?" Director Chen did not believe it.

"Director Chen, find an article of about three hundred words from the newspaper and let Qin Jingru type it. If I choose it, you'll just say I'm cheating again."

Director Chen pulled a newspaper from a folder and picked a long article: "Just type this."

Qin Jingru took a deep breath and sat down in front of the Typewriter.

The next second, her fingers lifted lightly and landed on the keyboard.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock—"

Her fingers flew up and down, just like playing the piano.

With the final soft sound, she gently pushed the roller, pulled out the printed paper, and handed it to the leaders with both hands.

On the white paper, rows of standard, neat, and clear Chinese characters stood out prominently.

Three hundred words in five minutes; the speed was astonishing, and the characters were impeccable.

The interrogation room, which had been whispering, fell into instant silence.

Everyone passed the paper around, their faces full of disbelief.

If this method was truly invented by the girl before them, it was no back-door deal; it was clearly a rare, once-in-a-century special talent!

Qin Jingru straightened her back and stood quietly to the side.

He Yuzhu looked around at everyone: "Now, everyone should be clear. She was able to enter the Computer Laboratory not because of connections, but because of real ability."

At this moment, a city Cadre walked up to the Typewriter, looked at it for a long time, and suddenly looked up: "He Yuzhu, I have looked at it carefully; the interior of this machine is very complex, and I strongly suspect that it was designed by you single-handedly. You are attributing the credit to Qin Jingru just to resist the investigation and cover up the fact of seeking personal gain!"

He Yuzhu sighed lightly: "No matter how powerful this typewriter is, it is only 'technique'; what is truly remarkable is the set of decomposition methods behind it—that is the 'Dao'. I can build the machine, and others might be able to figure it out too, but this logic of character decomposition is the most fundamental thing. However, I am quite happy that you praise me as a god. But your intentions are impure; regardless, my invention of this machine is a contribution to the country, yet you insist on finding various reasons to suppress me. You don't believe me? Who exactly gave you the guts to do this?"

The Cadre was furious: "How do I know if you are faking it!"

He Yuzhu laughed loudly: "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext. I say it was figured out by Qin Jingru, but you refuse to believe it; then you tell me what is going on?"

The Cadre was speechless for a moment.

He Yuzhu continued: "Actually, using a machine to type Chinese characters is not a new thing. Lin Yutang once invented a similar typewriter that used radicals to piece characters together, but why was it never popularized? It was mainly because his decomposition method was too cumbersome, and ordinary people couldn't use it at all. But Comrade Qin Jingru solved this problem. Shouldn't we be happy for her? Why are you using this as a reason to attack us instead?"

"How did you discover that Qin Jingru had this specialty?" Director Chen asked.

"One time I came in through the main gate and bumped into her teaching my daughter He Jia how to write Chinese characters on the ground; she was teaching symbols that no one else could understand. I asked: 'Sister-in-law, what are you teaching?' She then explained the Chinese Character Decomposition Method to me. She didn't think it was of any use herself, but I saw the value..." He Yuzhu said with no small amount of pride.

Liu Siman stepped forward: "Leaders, let me explain. Our laboratory has successfully developed a Transistor Computer, and we have always used the Pinyin Input Method to input Chinese characters, which is a bit slow. Our research group has made many attempts, but the results have never been ideal. Just when we were at our wits' end, my Siqiang, He Yuzhu, recommended to me that a girl had figured out a completely different way of thinking about Chinese character decomposition. After multiple verifications by my Siqiang and me, we found that this decomposition method is very useful, and it is precisely because of this that we decided to promote Qin Jingru to Researcher."