Gao Family Village, main village.
Mo Family Electric Fan Factory.
The Mo Family Electric Fan Factory was founded by the graduate student Mo Li. After a period of early development, the business gradually stabilized. Production, management, and operations had all entered a stable and orderly stage.
Technically, the factory director should have been Mo Li.
However, after the company stabilized, Mo Li rarely appeared in public anymore.
Instead, his wife Hou Lan appeared frequently, personally handling both financial management and the duties of factory director. The workload exhausted her greatly.
Naturally, this situation sparked a great deal of speculation.
---
Recently, Hou Lan's former coworkers—female workers from the textile factory—had started gossiping about her again.
"Have you heard? Mo Li is sick. He hasn't been able to show up to run the factory lately. Big matters, small matters, everything is handled by Hou Lan now."
"I heard Mo Li isn't sick at all. Someone saw him going out shopping a few days ago. He looked perfectly healthy. Maybe Hou Lan is greedy—she's controlling her husband and seized his authority."
"What the hell? Why would she seize her husband's authority? Aren't husband and wife the same family?"
"She might be planning to divorce him and take the factory for herself."
"Why would she dump such a good husband? He invented the electric fan—he's a great scientist!"
"What's the point of a good husband? No matter how good he is, she's still only the wife of the factory director. She's not the director herself. Only by kicking her husband out can she become the real director. That must feel great."
"I also heard the electric fan factory earns a lot of money, but there isn't much money on the books. Apparently Hou Lan, who manages the finances, has been transferring funds somewhere. Nobody knows where the money went."
"It's a private factory anyway. It belongs to their family. If she moves money around, the village committee can't interfere. Only her husband Mo Li could stop her—but Mo Li seems completely unaware."
"Wow… she can do that?"
"Shared marital property is fine, but having it all for yourself is better, right? Hou Lan is quite a formidable woman."
---
A place full of women could be terrifying when gossip started spreading.
Sooner or later, some of those rumors reached Hou Lan's ears.
After hearing them, she simply smiled and shook her head. She didn't even bother explaining.
After finishing her financial duties at the factory, she also completed the work that should have been her husband's responsibility.
Only then did she drag her exhausted body back home.
---
By then it was already evening.
The sun had set.
Hou Lan's stomach growled with hunger, but when she returned home there was no meal waiting for her.
She still had to light the stove and cook herself.
Yet she showed no resentment.
She simply leaned her head out from the kitchen and glanced toward her husband's study.
The study was brightly lit.
Mo Li sat at his desk, drawing and writing something intently.
A gentle smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
"Husband, you must be starving, right?"
Mo Li's voice came from the study.
"Huh? Wife, you're back? I didn't even notice the time. It's already this late? Oh no… now that you mention it, I really am a bit hungry. If you hadn't reminded me, I would've forgotten to eat."
Hou Lan smiled softly.
"Look at you, working so hard you forget food and sleep. I'll cook right away. Just wait a moment."
"Thank you, wife."
They only exchanged two sentences.
Then Mo Li returned to his drawing.
Hou Lan continued cooking.
---
Night had already fallen.
Every household had long finished dinner.
Only their home lit a fire at this late hour.
The rising smoke blended into the night, hiding Hou Lan's efforts and hard work from the world.
After a while, she placed two simple dishes on the table.
"Husband, come eat."
"Can't right now… ah! Just one more moment. I'm almost finished drawing. Just a little more."
Hou Lan shook her head with a smile.
Then she carried the food into the study and placed it beside Mo Li.
Mo Li held a spoon in his left hand while still drawing with a pen in his right.
---
Hou Lan glanced at the drawing on the desk.
She couldn't understand it at all.
With a sigh she said,
"Husband, it's my fault for being uneducated. I never studied at Gao Family Village's schools. I can't help you with any of this."
Mo Li replied,
"You taking care of all the mundane matters is the greatest help you can give me."
Then he made a final stroke with his pen.
Several lines connected together.
He quickly added a few numbers beside the lines.
Then he grabbed the paper and shook it open with a loud flutter.
The large sheet spread out.
On it was drawn a massive hot-air balloon.
And behind the balloon's tail was something strange—
a giant electric fan.
---
Mo Li burst into laughter.
"It's done! Hahaha! My design is finally finished!"
"This time we won't just succeed in the civilian market."
"We'll also make a huge contribution to Gao Family Village in the military field."
"Dao Xuan Tianzun will definitely praise our husband-and-wife team."
Hou Lan's eyes widened with excitement.
"It's finished? I can't understand any of it."
"It's finished!" Mo Li laughed.
"Our previous hot-air balloons in Gao Family Village could only rise into the air and hover. They couldn't be controlled."
"They couldn't move forward or backward, and they couldn't turn."
"So every time the militia launched a hot-air balloon for reconnaissance, they had to attach a long rope to it and drag it forward from the ground to prevent it from drifting randomly."
---
"But now," Mo Li said excitedly, "while studying fans, I discovered something."
"When a fan blows a strong wind forward, it produces a reverse force."
"So I designed several jet vents on the hot-air balloon."
"In the future, the pilot will control these vents to release hot gas in specific directions."
"When the gas sprays in one direction, the balloon will move in the opposite direction."
---
Mo Li was as happy as a child.
"From now on, our hot-air balloons won't need ropes anymore."
"They can move freely in the sky, following the army."
"They can even float directly above the enemy's heads and drop hand grenades down on them."
"Hahaha!"
He grabbed Hou Lan's hands.
"The materials I asked you to buy using the factory's profits—are they ready?"
Hou Lan nodded.
"They're ready."
"I transferred quite a lot of money to prepare everything."
"People outside are spreading rumors saying I used my position in finance to embezzle our shared marital property for myself."
She giggled.
---
Mo Li laughed loudly.
"Those gossiping fools can be ignored."
"This time, husband and wife will strike together."
"A great aeronautical invention!"
"It will leave everyone speechless."
Then he began eating quickly.
"Hurry up and finish dinner. Tonight we'll start building it."
Hou Lan nodded.
"Alright!"
She had been busy all day and was already exhausted.
But now she was filled with energy again.
---
The couple quickly finished their meal.
Carrying a thick stack of blueprints, they rushed out of the house and headed toward a warehouse that Hou Lan had prepared earlier.
Inside were piles of materials,
all intended for building the self-propelled flying balloon.
Hou Lan had even submitted an application to the Gao Family Village Committee in advance and received their approval and support.
Now they only needed to notify the committee.
Soon afterward, Chief Engineer Li Da arrived with the core technical team.
That very night, they began rushing to manufacture the Flying Balloon.