Chapter 1925 - Not A Life Secretary

During a casual chat, Dr. Zhong remarked that USB ports had no technical complexity and could likely be produced locally. Feng Nuo dismantled several damaged ports and found Dr. Zhong was right. Almost all damage stemmed from frequent use causing wear and oxidation of the copper electrodes and mechanical destruction of the plastic tongue. Damage to chips and cables was rare. As for the port itself, perhaps they could try manufacturing it themselves, using wood or similar materials for insulation.

But Feng Nuo wasn't confident whether such an "austerity" version would actually function. Some work still required professional expertise.

He drew a so-called "design blueprint" of his own on paper. Feng Nuo hadn't formally studied related design, so this blueprint was based entirely on the USB port he had disassembled, sketching out what materials and processing methods should be used to fabricate each component.

Near noon, Feng Nuo's student, Feng Shan, walked into the room carrying two lunches.

When the first two batches of life secretaries were distributed, Feng Nuo—who had high aesthetic standards—had gone to draw lots for an A-class assignment but never won one. Later, when he was called to substitute a class at Fangcaodi, he had taken a fancy to a little girl in the class: Feng Shan.

In that class, Feng Nuo assigned an expository essay, asking students to freely write based on the curriculum content they had learned in school. Yes, Feng Nuo was actually substituting for a Chinese class. Given his professional background, teaching Chinese was the most realistic option. However, he found this girl's Chinese wasn't particularly strong. Seeing the title "The Chicken and Rabbit in the Same Cage Problem," he frowned. This was a top student in the "fast track group." Feng Nuo felt puzzled, but upon reading more closely, he found the content the little girl had written was actually quite good—the problem was explained clearly, and the solution method was rigorous and standard.

He couldn't help but look at the girl with renewed interest. Though she had a thin frame and a somewhat pale complexion, her features were delicate, her eyes lively, and her smile gentle. The classical phrase "Her artful smile is captivating, her beautiful eyes look with longing" rose unbidden in Feng Nuo's mind, and he felt some strange switch flip in his heart.

A few days later, Feng Nuo seemingly casually mentioned this girl to Yuan Ziguang and learned that her mathematics grades were extraordinarily striking. She had not only completed most of the junior high school math content from the old timeline but could also teach the entire curriculum to the regular senior elementary classes. Though Yuan Ziguang didn't show anything unusual when discussing this girl, Feng Nuo sharply detected a scent similar to his own in Yuan's expression and tone.

The little girl looked about eleven or twelve at the time, but Feng Nuo knew that girls in the new timeline suffered from poor nutrition, so he estimated she should be about fifteen. He decided to act quickly to avoid being beaten to the punch. Initially, Feng Nuo planned to take the roundabout route of "sponsorship" to get close, but later, thinking of President Wen's teachings, he steeled his heart and brazenly went to cultivate rapport with her. It didn't take much effort to win the little girl's quiet affection. After all, how many girls at Fangcaodi could resist an Elder's goodwill?

But Feng Nuo was soon dumbfounded. He checked the student register at Fangcaodi and found this girl really was only twelve! She was a refugee bought from human traffickers in Guangzhou in the first two batches and was also one of the earliest students of the National School. Perhaps due to adequate nutrition at Fangcaodi in the first two years, she had grown relatively tall for her age.

Not good. Feng Nuo felt deeply uneasy. He had taken a fancy to a twelve-year-old girl. If this news got out, he would be labeled a "shameless beast," "subhuman worse than dogs and pigs." Though many Elders harbored "Hikaru Genji" fantasies, he hadn't heard of anyone daring to pursue them openly.

The key problem was that the General Office would never approve transferring this little girl to be a life secretary, not even to the Maid School.

After thinking it over, Feng Nuo had to brace himself and discuss this matter with Hu Qingbai. Old Hu was well-connected and presumably had some leverage. Maybe there were even "case studies" or insider knowledge to reference.

After listening to him hesitantly explain the whole story, Hu Qingbai grinned. "Your guess isn't wrong. I do know of... precedents involving National School female students transferring to the Maid School. But you really are setting a new low."

Feng Nuo nodded like a chicken pecking rice, squeezing out a few awkward smiles, looking attentive. But Hu Qingbai didn't reveal more details about the "precedents," only saying, "The age is indeed a bit young, but that's not an insurmountable problem. The Maid School has girls her age. But according to the rules, the allocation standard for life secretaries is at least sixteen full years of age. Even if she transfers, you'd have to wait four years before allocation."

"I'm not in a hurry for that..." Feng Nuo quickly cleared himself of implication.

"There's another point. She's currently a student in the fast track group. Female students at Fangcaodi originally aren't allowed to flow into the Maid School, let alone elites from the fast track group. The few precedents were older students with relatively poor grades. Even then, they had to transfer to the vocational training department first and become administrative trainees..."

Seeing him speaking in circles without giving a straight answer, Feng Nuo felt impatience rising, but since this matter wasn't exactly glorious, he forced himself to endure and listen to the end.

"I think you should just register directly with the General Office, but don't transfer her to the Maid School. First, that violates the system. Second, it's a waste of talent." He sighed. "This girl is a math prodigy and was originally on a full scholarship." There was genuine regret in his voice. "Given her grades and learning ability, going to high school won't be a problem. Maybe later she'll be one of our first college students..."

Feng Nuo hurriedly guaranteed that it would absolutely not affect the girl's studies. She didn't need to go to the Maid School, didn't need to perform maid duties, and could continue living in the dorms and eating in the cafeteria—everything the same as before. But he needed a guarantee that this girl wouldn't be "snatched away" by other Elders.

"Don't mention college student—even graduate student is no problem," Feng Nuo patted his chest in assurance. "I absolutely won't delay her future because of my own preferences."

"You, ah, are too impatient." Hu Qingbai smiled. "Alright. How about this: You go register at the General Office first. You'll cover her tuition—or to go a step further, just take her as your student. After all, you're in a technical profession. Efficient and legal. At the same time, declare that you guarantee this girl's studies at Fangcaodi and future work won't be affected."

Feng Nuo nodded in agreement.

"We will also issue a supporting explanation here, verifying that the girl..." He paused, weighing his words carefully. "...is willing."

The General Office didn't make things difficult for Feng Nuo, and the matter was settled. The girl's life was almost entirely unaffected, except her name was changed by Feng Nuo to "Feng Shan." She continued attending school at Fangcaodi. When she had no classes, Feng Shan would come to the Computing Center to help clean and inspect equipment, learning computer and network knowledge along the way. However, Feng Nuo could see she had no real interest in hardware but was genuinely interested in the mathematical theories underlying computer applications. For this reason, Feng Nuo started giving her private lessons, sporadically lecturing on topics from higher mathematics.

She was now sixteen years old. Not only had she entered middle school, but she also undertook some math teaching tasks for senior elementary classes and had even begun participating in the planning of the Senate's mathematics education system. Though it was basically copying the math education of the old timeline, students' acceptance capacity had to be considered, and Feng Shan served as an upper limit benchmark. Combined with her part-time work at the Computing Center, she was extremely busy—at least busier than Feng Nuo.

In situations like today, Feng Nuo would have her bring food back from the Fangcaodi cafeteria for the two of them to eat.

"Teacher, time to eat."

Hearing Feng Shan call him Teacher, Feng Nuo always felt a pang of guilt. After all, teacher-student romance carried the taint of forbidden love. But if she changed to a formal "Chief," it sounded unbearably distant to him.

Feng Shan laid out the lunch boxes on the table. Having lived a collective life at Fangcaodi for so long, Feng Shan naturally couldn't cook, nor was she as "understanding" and "considerate" as the graduates of the Maid School. Though she roughly understood what would happen to her in the future, she still maintained a respectful student's distance from Feng Nuo, which made him somewhat discontented.

What the two discussed at the dinner table was almost entirely academic problems. Growing up in Fangcaodi, Feng Shan had no entertainment activities and no hobbies to speak of. The only thing she could talk to Feng Nuo about was her studies. Such table conversations either ended with a spirited discussion of a math problem or concluded with an awkward silence when they had nothing to say.

This girl is really not cute, Feng Nuo secretly complained.

After lunch, Feng Shan went to the General Affairs Office of the General Manufacturing Plant to collect replacement desiccant, while Feng Nuo began his routine inspection of equipment operation.

After Xu Laowu became the director of the Data Center a few years ago, he had put great effort into infrastructure improvements, which greatly reduced Feng Nuo's maintenance workload. Originally, every summer and typhoon season had been a time of fear and trembling for Feng Nuo. High temperatures, heavy rain, and typhoons worsened conditions for the data center housed in shipping containers and elevated factory buildings. Every year before summer, he had to spend enormous effort on various protective measures.

This month the Computing Center was in a shutdown state, while the Data Center was running. No major inspection was needed today. Feng Nuo just checked the health status indicator lights of every hard drive in the cabinets one by one, and that was it. Yesterday he had replaced a hard drive whose indicator light had turned yellow. Though post-detection showed it could still be used in a pinch, Feng Nuo sincerely hoped there wouldn't be any more problems today. The spare hard drives he had on hand were left over from canceling a RAID group, and there weren't many left.

For the yellow-light hard drive, he routinely ran a disk detection program to check the damage. Generally, hard drive problems involved bad sectors, so he would have to either shield the bad sectors or perform a low-level format based on the extent of damage to extend the hard drive's lifespan as much as possible.

(End of Chapter)