Siheyuan: A Peerless Patriot Begins by Handcrafting a Machine Tool

I transmigrated to 1953 and became Gu Yan, an orphan in a Beijing courtyard compound. The First Master and the Jia family were “looking after” my parents’ compensation money. If I didn’t fight back, I’d starve to death!

Mission One: “Survive Against All Odds”

Faced with the only broken radio in the entire compound, I took one look and pinpointed the problem.

I made a capacitor by hand using the foil from a cigarette pack, and it worked even better than the original!

Mission Two: “Outwit the Ungrateful”

After receiving a reward from the subdistrict office, I praised the First Master in public: “Thank you for ‘looking after’ my compensation money and forcing me to get ahead. Now I can earn money. Could you give some of it back so I can buy a chicken?”

Yi Zhonghai’s old face turned beet red!

Mission Three: “Make a Name for Myself at the Steel Mill”

When the Second Master tried to suppress me with his technical know-how, I quietly drew up an improved blueprint, and it got the factory director’s attention right away!

While the courtyard vultures were still scheming over my meat coupons, my sights were already set on the stars and the sea.

Later, a clear-eyed female engineer asked me, “Engineer Gu, just how much is there in that head of yours?”

I smiled. “Not much. I’m only about fifty years ahead of my time.”

(Thinking to myself: Qin Huairu, who’s always eyeing my lunchbox, get lost!)