Volume One, Chapter Eleven: The Year the Wind Was Just Right

“Bahe, Adasi, Kawap, and Shamsa!”

Maimaiti bought several skewers of grilled meat and a few baked buns from the town’s only barbecue stall for lunch. After finishing, it was time for a break.

Unwilling to return to the office, he wandered aimlessly along the dirt roads of Dabancheng Town, half a baked bun dangling from his mouth.

He had been here for over a week now. He remembered that on his first day, as soon as he got off the car, the swirling, gritty wind blinded him for a long while before he could clearly see his surroundings.

Yet, the moment he opened his eyes, he felt an almost otherworldly confusion.

If it weren’t for the absence of endless windmill fields and asphalt roads stretching across the horizon—features common in the future—Maimaiti would have thought he had dozed off on the ride and awakened back in his original era.

He still recalled the first time he set foot on this land in his previous life. Dabancheng greeted them with a gust of wild wind, much like now.

Back then, he was a novice in the wind power industry, accompanying his mentor’s inspection team on a study tour of the wind turbine fields, led by the female director of the Wind Energy Research Institute.

He remembered the director, surnamed Zhang, introducing the place:

“Perhaps 99% of people in China know this little town because of Wang Luobin’s song ‘The Girl from Dabancheng.’

“But, the song is an artistic creation. Dabancheng’s true treasures are the ‘three crooked things’—the old man with a crooked beard, Guli with her crooked skirt, and the land dotted with crooked trees!

“And all of this owes itself to the annual average wind speed of 6.2 meters per second here!”

They say that a man’s innate romance lies in machines. It was through that study tour that Maimaiti was captivated by the technical charm of wind turbine construction, leading him to fall deeply in love with this field—not, as some gossipers speculated, because of the director’s allure.

Though the director’s expertise and knowledge later inspired him to the point of reverence, that is a tale for another time.

Just as Maimaiti turned out of an alley, he suddenly heard voices arguing behind a red brick wall.

“Senior brother, you’re overlooking the adverse effects of turbulence intensity on wind turbines. My calculations are accurate: the average turbulence intensity at 10 meters is 0.1421, and at 30 meters it’s 0.121. This data cannot be ignored!”

“Xiaoyan, stop using those foreign figures to confuse people. We must trust the wisdom of the hardworking people. Due to the valley terrain and nozzle effect in Zone I, the turbulence is much less than in your Zone IV-B. This has been verified through practical investigation—you even admitted it yourself. How come after only one morning, you’ve changed your mind again?”

“That’s because we directly used the annual wind energy density data from the meteorological station for calculations, which naturally leads to contradictory results. Besides, senior brother, the turbines you use were invented by foreigners. Can you expect to get accurate results without using their calculation methods?”

“Senior brother here has never been abroad, but I’ve surely seen foreign maps. In those mountainous, maritime, and ocean current-rich regions, they must have many calculation methods.

“Moreover, an orange grows true only in Huainan. If foreign machines don’t follow our local rules, they’re just a pile of junk.

“Of course, if you insist on data, I’ll show you a set myself. Sister, watch carefully—”

As the argument abruptly ended, Maimaiti, hiding behind the brick wall, leisurely circled to the other side, feigning an accidental pass-by and greeting them with feigned surprise.

With the wild wind long passed, Ma Wenbin and his group had already removed their felt hats and helmets, allowing Maimaiti to recognize them at a glance.

“Chief Engineer Ma, Teacher Wang, hello! What a coincidence running into you here.”

After his casual greeting, he saw Ma Wenbin crouched by the brick wall, meticulously calculating a pile of numbers on a sticky note with a pen.

He also noticed the young woman from the earlier dispute leaning over Ma Wenbin, intently watching his calculations.

“Oh? And who might this be—”

Maimaiti politely asked, but neither Ma Wenbin nor the young woman lifted their heads, leaving him feeling awkward until Wang Xiquan, standing nearby, came to his rescue.

“Maimaiti, let me introduce you. This is Zhang Yan, a graduate student from the New Earth Geographic Information Science Department. She’s here helping us with the geographic mapping of the wind farm.”

“Ah, pleased to meet you,” Maimaiti said while furtively studying her.

The girl was clearly a city-born fashionable young lady, with a fair complexion, lively big eyes, and a neat, refined short haircut. Wearing a wool felt coat over a pair of overalls that hinted at a graceful figure, Maimaiti found himself momentarily entranced.

Had Zhang Yan not been fully focused on Ma Wenbin’s papers, she might have noticed the subtly mischievous gaze cast her way.

Realizing he appeared somewhat like a lovestruck fool, Maimaiti was gently tapped on the shoulder by the perceptive Wang Xiquan.

“You came at just the right time. We just finished discussing you. Xiaoyan mentioned that foreign journal you brought up and confirmed your points. Looks like we’re going to save a lot of money.”

After patting Maimaiti’s back to encourage him, Wang explained the root of the disagreement between Ma Wenbin and Zhang Yan.

Apparently, their purpose for coming down from the mountains was that the chosen turbine site and the calculated data differed greatly. They decided to visit the meteorological station twelve kilometers away to collect firsthand data to prove who was right.

Coincidentally, Wang Xiquan held all the wind energy data Maimaiti had compiled.

Upon learning this, the two pounced on the data like starving wolves, each trying to prove their conclusion right.

Initially, they tried to calmly persuade each other, but eventually the debate escalated into a quarrel, culminating in the current scene.

While eavesdropping behind the brick wall, Maimaiti had already grasped the gist of their dispute.

Though he initially wanted to stay out of it, his curiosity about data and calculations compelled him to approach.

Seeing Maimaiti’s focus shift from Zhang Yan to Ma Wenbin’s papers, Wang Xiquan, either out of playful mischief or to test Maimaiti’s abilities, pointed to the notes and teased, “You’ve been staring at it for a long time. Feeling a bit lost? Don’t know what Wenbin is calculating?”

“Ah… yeah, a little,” Maimaiti responded without hesitation. “Judging by these densely written equations, Chief Engineer Ma is probably calculating the Weibull distribution within a certain area. It’s a statistical model used in wind energy resource assessment to describe the probability distribution of wind speeds.”

Maimaiti pondered Ma Wenbin’s calculation approach for a moment, then furrowed his brow.

Something about Chief Engineer Ma’s process seemed off.