Chapter 203: Automatic Watering Breaks the Drought·Programming Skills Initially Awaken

When Zhao Jianguo pushed open the courtyard gate, the sky was just faintly light. He still gripped the phone in his hand; the screen had gone dark, but his fingertips could feel residual warmth. The events of last night weren't over, yet the commotion in the courtyard first caught his steps.

Around the flowerbed stood a circle of people, their voices low but urgent. Jia Dongxu squatted before the controller, a screwdriver in his hand, sweat beading his forehead. The sprinkler head lay askew, water pooling on the ground, yet few plants looked healthy. Their leaves were scorched yellow and curled, as if singed by fire.

"Old Jia, did you install this thing backwards?" Sha Zhu peered over the flowerbed brick edge, "Watering at high noon, the sun turns droplets into magnifying glasses—of course the leaves get scorched."

Jia Dongxu didn't look up, "I set the timer for six a. m., but it insists on activating at noon. I've checked the wiring repeatedly; the program is correct."

"That's just a brain problem." Sha Zhu muttered, turning to see Zhao Jianguo, "Hey, Jianguo's here. Take a look at this gadget—it's harder to handle than my wok."

Zhao Jianguo approached, staring at the controller for two seconds. Its shell was a modified tin sheet, the interface askew, the display only palm‑sized. He tapped the power key; the screen flashed a line: 【Task Executing｜Current Time: 12:03】.

He frowned, "Is it twelve now?"

"Right," Jia Dongxu wiped his face, "I calibrated the time yesterday; it should be accurate."

Zhao Jianguo lowered his gaze to his wristwatch; it showed 6:07 a. m.

He suddenly felt something stir in his mind, like a line being pulled straight. Before his eyes appeared a string of unfamiliar characters—neither Chinese nor numerals—but he understood each symbol's meaning. The string swirled around the controller and finally halted on a red dot.

【Light Intensity Detection Not Enabled｜Trigger Condition Error】

He blinked; the line remained. He rubbed his eyes, and it vanished.

"What did you see?" Jia Dongxu asked, looking up.

"This program," Zhao Jianguo pointed at the screen, "doesn't know whether there's sun outside."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it only recognizes time, not weather. Even under blazing sun, if the time hits, it sprays. Water droplets land on leaves; sunlight heats them, and the leaves burn."

Jia Dongxu stared, "Can we still change it that way?"

"Yes." Zhao Jianguo squatted, "Take the main control board apart; I'll tweak the logic."

"Can you program?"

"No." Zhao Jianguo shook his head, "But I now know where it's wrong."

Jia Dongxu hesitated, then handed over the tool.

The two moved to the stone table, laying the circuit board on paper. Zhao Jianguo closed his eyes; the string of symbols rose again in his mind, clearer this time—like a diagram in three layers: time on top, sensor signals in the middle, action commands below.

He picked up a pen and drew a box on the paper.

"Add a condition," he said, "if the light is too strong, don't activate the sprinkler."

Jia Dongxu stared at the sketch, "Then you have to tell it what 'too strong' means."

"Use a value." Zhao Jianguo opened his eyes, "You have a light‑dependent resistor, right? If the voltage reads over two volts, judge it as strong light."

"This…" Jia Dongxu's eyes shifted, "How do you know we're using this standard?"

"I don't know." Zhao Jianguo said, "But I just know it now."

He began writing code—not typing, but handwriting. Each line seemed to well up from his body; when finished he himself couldn't read it, yet Jia Dongxu grew more excited the longer he looked.

"This structure… is too clean." He whispered, "No extra steps, pure necessary logic. Our factory's technicians, when they write something, at least have to loop three extra times."

Zhao Jianguo said nothing, kept writing. Soil‑moisture detection, night‑priority mode, sudden power‑outage memory recovery… each functional module surfaced on its own; he merely copied them down.

After writing the final line, he pushed the paper over.

"Try this."

Jia Dongxu took the paper, flipped it back and forth several times, then sprang to his feet, "I'm going to change the crystal now."

He ran back inside, hauled out a refurbished burner made from an old recorder, connected the wires, and plugged it into the control board. Zhao Jianguo sat on the stone bench, staring blankly at the flowerbed.

That feeling in his head lingered, a faint warmth, like a light current brushing over.

Sha Zhu came over with a pancake, handing him one, "You two have been tossing all night?"

"No sleep." Zhao Jianguo took a bite, "The matter isn't finished."

"I can see Dongxu's eyes are red." Sha Zhu grinned, "But your trick is truly divine—can you really rewrite a program out of thin air?"

"Not out of thin air." Zhao Jianguo said, "It's given by the system."

"Which system?"

"The sign‑in one."

Sha Zhu choked slightly, "You actually believe that?"

Zhao Jianguo didn't answer. He pulled out his watch; the screen lit up, popping a prompt: 【Primary Programming Skill Activated｜Can Parse Simple Electronic Device Operation Logic】

He stared at it for two seconds, then turned it off.

The night air was cool; the three stood by the flowerbed, nobody leaving. Jia Dongxu repeatedly debugged, swapping out three crystals, and finally pressed the confirm key at three a. m.

The new program loaded successfully.

They didn't go home; instead they sat on the stone bench waiting for dawn.

At 5:58, the controller's screen flickered.

【Environmental Monitoring……｜Light Intensity: Low｜Soil Moisture: 18%｜Executing Irrigation Task】

At six o'clock sharp, the sprinkler head turned slowly; a fine mist rose, evenly sprinkling the parched earth. Not a drop fell under the scorching sun, nor was any leaf bent by a water droplet.

Zhao Jianguo exhaled in relief.

Jia Dongxu grinned, leaned against the stone table, and closed his eyes.

Sha Zhu held the empty pancake box in his mouth, gazing at the leaf tips gradually turning green in the mist, and muttered, "This is more exacting than my stir‑fry heat control."

The sky lightened bit by bit.

Zhao Jianguo lifted his wrist; his watch vibrated once. A new prompt popped up: 【Smart Irrigation Module Unlocked｜Reward Stored in System Warehouse】

He didn't rush to look; instead he fixed his gaze on the label on the controller's back. There a small line read: 【R&D Unit: Red Star Machinery Factory｜Person in Charge: Jia Dongxu】

He suddenly spoke, "Old Jia."

"Huh?" Jia Dongxu replied, half‑asleep.

"Next time we build something, hook up all the sensors. We can network the whole courtyard's water and electricity."

"Network?"

"It means letting them know each other's status," Zhao Jianguo said, "For example, when the bathroom light is on, the Kitchen knows someone wants hot water; when the clothes rack is retracted, the window closes automatically."

Jia Dongxu opened his eyes, "Can this work?"

"It can," Zhao Jianguo nodded, "I'll write the code."

He stood up and moved his wrist. The tingling sensation was still there, but steadier than before, as if a new pathway had formed inside his body, gradually leading somewhere.

Sha Zhu yawned, "You tech guys really can't stay idle. I'm going back to catch up on sleep; I still have to cook a Meal Ticket at noon."

He staggered away.

Zhao Jianguo stood motionless at the edge of the flowerbed. The morning mist had thinned, revealing soil that was already soaking up water and darkening. A rose bush, half withered, sprouted a tiny new bud on its branch.

Jia Dongxu leaned against the stone table and fell asleep, still clutching the control panel.

Zhao Jianguo lowered his head to look at his watch; the interface switched, displaying a new option: 【Create Custom Module | Please Enter Name】

He thought for a moment and entered four characters: Home Smart Control.

The instant he pressed the confirm button, the thread in his mind jolted sharply.

Code streams resurfaced before his eyes, longer and more complex than before. No longer simple conditionals and loops, but layered calls, multithreaded responses, data caching mechanisms…

His fingers moved unconsciously through the air, as if grasping something.

Suddenly, the watch emitted a soft chime.

【External Signal Scan Detected | Source: Unknown】

Zhao Jianguo immediately halted his actions.

A red dot flashed in the lower right corner of the Screen, marking a location outside the Siheyuan east wall, about fifteen meters away.

He squinted, looking toward that direction.

The alley entrance was empty, save for an abandoned coal basket leaning against the wall.

He said nothing, slowly turned his watch over, covering the Screen.

Then in a low voice he said, "Old Jia."

Jia Dongxu shifted his head slightly.

"Don't wake up," Zhao Jianguo said calmly, "Someone's outside."