Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 420 The He Family's Daughter's Wedding
May 19th.

The night before He Ningxue's wedding, at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang, He Ningxue sat in her room, looking at the wedding dress hanging to the side, somewhat lost in thought.

Xiaoman pushed open the door and came in, carrying a small bowl in her hand.

"Mom." He Ningxue came back to her senses.

"I have to get up early tomorrow and have some lily bulb and lotus seed soup to calm my nerves." Xiaoman sat down next to her and handed her the bowl.

He Ningxue took it and ate it in small bites.

The room was quiet for a while.

"In the blink of an eye, you're about to get married," Xiaoman said softly, reaching out to smooth the stray hairs at her daughter's temples. "Zhixing is a reliable child. May you two have a good future together."

He Ningxue put down her bowl, nestled into her mother's arms, and her nose tingled with emotion: "Mom."

Xiaoman put her arm around her and gently patted her back like when they were little: "When you get there, don't be too impulsive. Discuss things together. If you're wronged, come home."

"Mmm," He Ningxue's voice was muffled.

The mother and daughter talked intimately for half the night.

The next day, before dawn, the courtyard was already bustling with activity.

He Ningxue let others do as they pleased, combing her hair, applying makeup, and combing her face.

Wearing a bright red wedding dress, her face looked as radiant as a peach blossom.

As the auspicious hour approached, firecrackers crackled and popped.

He Yuzhu stood at the entrance of the main house, wearing a brand-new Zhongshan suit.

He watched as his daughter, surrounded by a crowd, walked out, adorned in a phoenix coronet and wedding gown, step by step toward him.

According to traditional customs, a daughter must kowtow to her parents before getting married.

He Ningxue knelt down on the laid-out red cushion and kowtowed three times to He Yuzhu and Xiaoman.

When she looked up, her eyes were already red.

"Dad, Mom"

He Yuzhu bent down to help her up, his throat tightening slightly. He simply squeezed her hand tightly and said, "Go on!"

Xiaoman turned her head away and quietly wiped the corner of her eye.

The sounds of gongs, drums, and firecrackers outside the wedding hall grew closer. Gu Zhixing, dressed in the robes of a top scholar, was stopped outside the hanging flower gate by the He brothers and their two sisters-in-law, and was smiling as he dealt with their various "difficulties."

Finally entering the courtyard, he solemnly bowed to He Yuzhu and Xiaoman, and then looked at He Ningxue, who was covered with a red veil.

He Yaozong squatted down: "Little sister, your second brother will carry you out the door."

He Ningxue lay on her second brother's broad back, letting him carry her step by step out of the house.

Firecracker debris littered the ground, like a red carpet.

Reaching the car, He Yaozong carefully put her down and whispered, "Ningxue, be alright."

He Ningxue, who was under the veil, finally couldn't hold back her tears and they fell down.

She quickly wiped it off, took a deep breath, and was helped into the bridal sedan chair.

The car window rolled up, the car started, and slowly drove towards the entrance of the alley.

He Yuzhu and Xiaoman stood at the door, watching the wedding car drive away until it turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

"Let's go to the restaurant," He Yuzhu said softly, putting his arm around his wife's shoulder.

After the wedding, the house seemed much quieter.

Lu Shuyi's due date was in July, and her belly was already quite large, making it somewhat inconvenient for her to move around. However, she still went to He Yuzhu's study every day to handle some documents.

That day, as she was summarizing a market analysis report from the North American branch, He Yuzhu's dedicated phone on her desk rang.

He Yuzhu picked up the receiver: "It's me."

The call was from Bai Yifeng in Hong Kong.

“Boss, we’ve made several contacts with GLONASS, but they’re tight-lipped, and we haven’t been able to get the core information.” Bai Yifeng’s voice was apologetic. “However, we’ve obtained some other things, called ‘Don-2N’ and ‘N-011M,’ which are related to radar. The data has already been sent to Beijing through special channels.”

He Yuzhu didn't ask for specifics; he figured he'd understand once he got the documents back.

"Understood. Tell our people over there to be careful."

"clear."

After the data was returned, He Yuzhu made a copy, altered it, and sent it to the radar research institute that was with Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group. The original was taken back to Hong Kong by Gu Yuanheng. The person in charge of the research institute on the Yellow River side was replaced.

As for the original person in charge, He Yuzhu was punished quite severely; he was sent back to work as a researcher.

At the end of July, Lu Shuyi gave birth to a boy, named He Shi'an, weighing 6.8 pounds. Both mother and child are safe and sound.

He Yaozong rushed back from the Special Economic Zone, holding his son and beaming with joy.

The He family was filled with joy once again.

He Daqing and Chen Lanxiang were overjoyed to see their fourth-generation grandson, for only a large and prosperous family can last.

Another baby has joined the family; the No. 95 courtyard is almost as big as a kindergarten now.

He Yaozong only stayed at home for half a month before hurriedly returning to the Special Administrative Region.

August 1994, Special Administrative Region.

Inside the Yellow River Communications Data Center server room, indicator lights flashed regularly. He Yuzhu stood in front of the server racks, listening to the technical manager's report.

"The root server stress test has been completed, and all indicators are normal. The integration with the postal and telecommunications system is going smoothly, and dial-up access service is expected to be officially available at the beginning of next month."

He Yuzhu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the buzzing equipment: "How are the user-side preparations going?"

"The modems have rolled off the production line in small batches, with the first batch of 5,000 units. The installation manual and dial-up software have been tested and are ready."

What about the pricing plan?

"Billed per minute, half price at night. Initially set at ten yuan per hour, including a certain amount of free time."

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment: "The price is acceptable, let's try it out first. How's the website and forum progressing?"

"The beta version of Yellow River News Network is now online, mainly including Xinhua News Agency press releases and self-collected science and technology and financial news. The BBS forum is divided into three main sections as requested: technical discussion, lifestyle and leisure, and business information. The chat room supports multiple rooms, and all the basic functions are available."

"Security?"

"There are dedicated personnel to review the content, and a keyword filtering system has also been installed."

"Okay." He Yuzhu took one last look at the machines. "Proceed according to plan."

In early August 1998, dial-up internet service was first launched in six cities, including the Special Economic Zone and Beijing.

Initially, users were mostly universities, research institutions, and some foreign-related enterprises. After the jarring dial tone, the characters on the screen slowly scrolled, and it took nearly a minute to open the plain text homepage of the Yellow River News Network.

He Yaozong brought back a modem from the Special Economic Zone and installed it in He Yuzhu's study.

"Dad, give it a try. It's a bit slow, but it's enough for sending and receiving emails and reading the news."

He Yuzhu sat in front of the computer, watching Lu Shuyi demonstrate how to log into the BBS forum. After a short rest following childbirth, she resumed her auxiliary work in the study and quickly adapted to these new things.

"You can post questions here and reply to others," Lu Shuyi typed. "In the technology section, many colleagues from the microelectronics research institute are discussing chip design issues."

When Lao Fang and Lao Zhao came over to play chess, they were also attracted by the computer in the study that could be "connected to the outside".

"This little box can read foreign newspapers?" Old Fang leaned closer to the screen, watching Lu Shuyi open a Reuters news report.

“It’s a translation, Grandpa Fang,” Lu Shuyi explained. “The original version is also available, but it loads slowly.”

Old Zhao watched the technical discussions on the forum with great interest for a while: "This is convenient, people from all over the country can get together and talk."

One month after the launch of dial-up internet, the number of users slowly increased.

At first, it was just a novelty for a small circle of people, but as several newspapers reported on the experience of "knowing the world without leaving home," the number of inquiries gradually increased.

In mid-September, the number of concurrent users in the Yellow River Chat Room exceeded one thousand for the first time. The tech section was especially lively late at night, with discussions about programming and hardware often continuing until the early hours of the morning.

Soon, followers appeared.

First, a forum called "Mingzhu Forum" appeared in the south, with an interface similar to the Yellow River BBS.

Following this, some universities in Beijing launched their own BBS sites.

News websites imitating the Yellow River News Network also began to appear, although most of their content was reprinted. He Yuzhu looked at the competitor report compiled by the Strategic Development Department and was not surprised.

"Have someone keep an eye on them. As long as they don't infringe on any rights, we don't need to worry about them."

In late September, He Yaozong received a call from a ministry in Beijing, asking him to attend a special meeting on cybersecurity.

He Yaozong first reported the situation to He Yuzhu.

"Is it about the root server?" He Yuzhu asked.

"Well, they've put pressure on us from abroad, saying that our root server is 'self-contained' and incompatible with international standards, and they've also restricted several component suppliers from supplying us." He Yaozong's voice was filled with helplessness.

"Then let's deal with it as it comes."

The meeting was packed the next day.

The front row consists of ministry leaders, and the back row consists of heads of several domestic telecommunications and electronics companies.

"The industry associations in North America have sent a letter saying that our wide area network is 'closed' and demanding that access be opened, otherwise they will jointly restrict the supply of chips and modems." The leader got straight to the point, "I invited everyone here today to hear your opinions on how to respond."

Someone immediately said, "We can't open it! If a malicious attack comes in, our network won't be able to handle it."

Some people hesitated: "If it's not open, the supply of components will be cut off, dial-up internet services will have to stop, and universities and enterprises will be affected."

After arguing for half an hour, the leader looked at He Yuzhu and said, "Old He, Huanghe was one of the first companies in China to make root servers. What do you think?"

He Yaozong put down his water glass and said, "What I mean is, we should do it step by step. First, we should open up access to academic and business fields, such as allowing universities to access foreign literature and companies to connect with overseas orders. Other fields should remain closed for the time being. In addition, we must strengthen security before opening up, otherwise we will be letting the wolf into the house."

"How do we build a solid foundation?" the leader pressed.

"First, we need to create an access whitelist that only allows specific IP addresses to access the network; second, we need to have our own people monitoring the network so that we can stop any abnormalities in time; third, we need to thoroughly inspect imported network-related components and equipment to prevent anyone from leaving backdoors."

The meeting concluded with the following decision: at the beginning of next year, access to overseas academic websites and business platforms will be opened to universities and key enterprises. At the same time, a cybersecurity task force will be established, led by ministries and with the cooperation of enterprises such as Yellow River.

These past few months have been a preparation period.

After the meeting, He Yaozong went straight back to the courtyard house, where He Yuzhu assigned him a new task.

"Yaozong, gather top software and hardware experts from both China and Hong Kong to form a team and build the laboratory in the Special Economic Zone."

Do you need to implement cybersecurity measures?

"Yes, it's about network security. First, we'll try to simulate an attack on our root server to find vulnerabilities, and then we'll develop corresponding countermeasures."

"I'll make the arrangements in a bit."

He Yaozong acted swiftly; a week later, a team of technical personnel drawn from mainland China and Hong Kong assembled in the Special Administrative Region. The laboratory was set up in a separate area within the Yellow River Communications Building.

The team is very young, with an average age of less than thirty.

The person in charge was a software engineer from the Hong Kong branch named Li Wenjie, who had participated in early network projects in North America.

He frankly told He Yaozong, "Mr. He, we're good at construction, but we don't have much experience in actively finding vulnerabilities and simulating attacks."

Looking at these slightly inexperienced faces, He Yaozong nodded: "Experience is gained through trial and error. Our root server is the best testing ground. Go ahead and try it out. If any problems arise, I'll take responsibility."

The initial tests were somewhat clumsy because they didn't know what constituted an attack, and they didn't dare to directly kill the root server.

After listening to He Yaozong's report on the team's progress, He Yuzhu sighed inwardly. "This team lacks creativity," he thought. He racked his brains for a long time and then offered a few suggestions.

Ho Yiu-chung brought his father's suggestions back to the Special Administrative Region laboratory.

After studying it carefully, Li Wenjie and his team members' eyes lit up.

"The boss's idea is unique, but it makes a lot of sense!" Li Wenjie said, both excited and apprehensive. "But doing it this way is quite risky. What if..."

"Execute according to the plan, and make backup and emergency measures in place," He Yaozong decided.

The atmosphere in the laboratory suddenly became tense yet full of curiosity.

They began to try some tests that they had never dared to think about or do before—simulating the impact of a data deluge, probing the boundaries of system permissions, and even trying to construct specific sequences of erroneous instructions.

On several occasions, the alert threshold was triggered, and the response speed of core services dropped significantly, giving the on-duty staff a real scare and almost prompting them to activate the emergency plan.

But it is precisely in this almost "destructive" testing that deeply hidden vulnerabilities and weaknesses are exposed.

"Here! The authentication process has a logical flaw and can theoretically be bypassed!"

"And here, the service request queue has no upper limit, which can easily cause it to get blocked!"

The list of problems grew longer and longer, and the workload for repairs and reinforcements increased dramatically.

The existing team quickly ran out of manpower.

Li Wenjie approached He Yaozong with a thick stack of problem reports and reinforcement plans, looking troubled: "Mr. He, just patching the known vulnerabilities will keep us up all night. We also need to design general protection rules based on these vulnerabilities and build an outer layer of interception and filtering system. Our small team simply can't handle it. This is beyond the scope of the corporate lab; we need... we need stronger support."

He Yaozong looked at the shocking descriptions of the loopholes in the report with a solemn expression.

He immediately called the ministry, wanting them to give Huang He the team they had previously assembled, of course, only the elite and those who had passed the vetting process.

The ministry responded quickly, agreeing to transfer some key technical personnel to Yellow River's laboratory to jointly tackle cybersecurity technology challenges, but personnel selection and political vetting would take time.

He Yaozong reported this situation to his father.

He Yuzhu paused for a moment on the phone, then said, "Wait. In the meantime, categorize the problems you've discovered and compile them into a draft of technical specifications. Once their people arrive, they can get started immediately."

The focus of the Special Economic Zone Laboratory has temporarily shifted from aggressive attack testing to detailed vulnerability analysis and defense system construction.

Li Wenjie and his team meticulously recorded every discovered vulnerability, analyzed its causes and potential exploitation methods, and developed patching plans and detection rules.

This process is tedious and cumbersome, but the results are remarkable.

A document titled "Guidelines for Basic Security Protection of Wide Area Networks (Internal Draft)" is gradually taking shape.

At the same time, international pressure has not subsided.

The restrictions on component supply are beginning to have a real impact. The purchasing manager of the electronics factory in the Special Economic Zone reported to Ho Yiu Chung that the previous supplier of several special chips used in modems said that "the supplier's eligibility needs to be reassessed" and the delivery cycle has become uncertain.

He Yaozong convened a meeting with senior executives from telecommunications companies and electronics factories.

"Can we find an alternative supplier? Or can we design it ourselves and have it fabricated in a domestic factory?" He Yaozong asked.

The CTO looked troubled: "There are alternative suppliers, but they are much more expensive, and we also need to redo the compatibility testing. Designing it ourselves takes too long, and it's not a quick fix."

“Let’s talk first, try to stabilize the existing channels, and at the same time start the evaluation and testing of alternative solutions. As for the price, as long as it’s not too outrageous, it’s acceptable,” He Yaozong decided. “In addition, notify the research institute to accelerate the reverse engineering and independent design pre-research of relevant chips.”

After the meeting, He Yaozong contacted Chen Sheng himself. Chen Sheng told him that it was no problem, just transfer the goods. He would use other companies' channels, which would involve multiple intermediaries. Huanghe had been using this for a long time, otherwise many factories would have stopped production earlier.

He Yaozong immediately sent a fax to Chen Sheng, instructing him to prepare the goods.

Chen Sheng readily agreed.

After the people sent by the ministry joined the group, Li Wenjie, the original team leader, came to complain directly: "What kind of people are these? Their knowledge is outdated, their technology is outdated, and their thinking is outdated. Isn't this just making the Yellow River train talent?"

He Yaozong felt somewhat helpless after listening to Li Wenjie's report.

He understood Li Wenjie's predicament; the personnel sent by the ministry did indeed have a gap in professional foundation and practical experience compared to the technical personnel trained within the Yellow River system.

“Wenjie, I understand how you feel.” He Yaozong gestured for him to sit down and poured him a glass of water. “But we can’t just look at the immediate situation. The ministry entrusted us with this task, partly to assist us, but also because they hope to use our platform to cultivate a group of people who understand cybersecurity in China. We need to take a long-term view.”

Li Wenjie took the water glass and sighed, "President He, it's not that I'm unwilling to teach. It's just that the task is so urgent right now. We need to check for vulnerabilities, build a defense system, and also teach from scratch. The progress really can't be delayed."

"We need to keep track of progress, but we also need to develop talent," He Yaozong said thoughtfully. "Here's what we'll do: regroup the existing team and adopt a 'mentorship' model, with one of our core members mentoring two colleagues from the department, clearly defining tasks and performance evaluations. The core members will lead the effort to overcome specific technical challenges, while the newcomers will participate in the process and provide support, learning through practice. We'll organize internal technical sharing sessions at a fixed time each week, with you as the main speaker, starting with the vulnerability cases we've already discovered."

"Can't we transfer more people from the group?"

"The software should be fine, but the hardware is a stretch, and we also have tight development schedules for other projects."

Li Wenjie pondered for a moment and nodded: "That's the only way. Hopefully they can catch up as soon as possible."

"Don't put too much pressure on us. Building a security system is a long-term task. Let's build the framework first and then gradually refine the details," He Yaozong reassured him. "Besides people, just tell me what resources you need."

After seeing Li Wenjie off, He Yaozong rubbed his temples.

He knew all too well that this was adding burden to his family, but his father had said that as the Yellow River has developed to this point, some responsibilities must be borne.

He picked up the phone and reported the situation and countermeasures to He Yuzhu.

On the other end of the phone, He Yuzhu's voice was calm: "Go ahead and do what you think is best. We're just a thatched hut right now, so we can rebuild it if it collapses. But I hope to build a wooden house, a stone house, or even a brick house."

"I understand, Dad."

"Go and communicate with the ministry again to try and get some policy support. We can't just be the ones putting in the effort."

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)