A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill has a total of 3 staff canteens, plus a small canteen hidden inside the main canteen, commonly known as the "small kitchen"!

Jiang Xia only received special treatment at the welcome party that year.

For the rest of the days, Jiang Xia spent most of his time eating at the second canteen, which was far from the office building.

There's no other reason than that Jiang Da's nephew and his group of production team members are used to eating here.

Ever since Jiang Xia saw what kind of food his relatives had gotten, he started treating the second canteen as his regular dining hall. He would often force his nephews to eat more, citing reasons such as getting too much rice or the dishes not being to their liking.

Since we're doing extremely heavy work, whether there's any extra profit or not is irrelevant; filling our stomachs is the most important thing.

I walked to the window and greeted the lady serving the vegetables. Being a familiar face, I picked up seven or eight large steamed buns, a small bowl of stir-fried cabbage, and stir-fried white and green radishes.

However, the aunt was in a good mood today and dug out a lot of oil residue, feeling quite pleased with herself.

The problem was that they forgot to add salt to the vegetables, though the cabbage was okay.

I really can't eat stir-fried radish, not even stewed radish!

I took out a bag of salt and added some to the solution, which made me feel much better.

Hey, you can use anything!

Jiang Xia felt a little more favorably disposed towards the unreliable system. Come to think of it, everything's scarce these days; getting it is a win!

While munching on a steamed bun, he greeted his nephew who had just arrived and told him to come quickly.

Jiang Da's nephew and his companions were still the same as before. Each of them went to the window and got two steamed buns and some pickled vegetable scraps before sitting down with Jiang Xia.

"Uncle, great-uncle, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather," they called him all sorts of things, leaving Jiang Xia speechless.

The complicated family relationships made it a headache for Jiang Xia to deal with them.

I don't know how these people can greet each other so readily upon meeting.

Jiang Xia had already finished eating. "You guys eat quickly, then I'll tell you something. Just listen and don't make a sound, understand?"

The group munched on their steamed buns, but their ears were perked up.

"There's been a change in the matter of converting agricultural workers to urban residents. The factory is probably going to merge with several other factories according to the ministry's notice."

"I've been working on a few gadgets lately, I'll report them to the authorities. There should be opportunities for large-scale production. Then we can just go through the recruitment process!"

Jiang's nephew and the others didn't change their movements, but they slowed down their pace of eating the steamed buns.

They looked at each other, then quickly buried their excitement deep in their eyes.

Jiang Xia continued:

"Dazhu, I reckon that kid surnamed Zhao will say the fees for changing rural residents to urban residents have decreased in the next few days, and then he'll start ripping people off!"

"These next few days, all of you should find out who has done it. You don't need to do anything else, just know their names!"

Jiang Dazhu nodded, knowing that his uncle was about to start settling accounts.

That kid surnamed Zhao has been riding on their necks for so long, it's time to teach him a lesson.

"Alright, that's all the important stuff. Let's talk about something cheerful!"

"I passed the engineer assessment, and the factory gave me three courtyard houses. Whenever I have free time on Sundays, I come with me to familiarize myself with the place."

After listening to Jiang Xia finish explaining the important matter, the group relaxed.

Since my uncle and great-grandfather have said so, then it's definitely going to be done.

With their biggest worry resolved, Jiang Dazhu and the others even had more energy to eat steamed buns.

They each agreed to accompany Jiang Xia to look at houses, to bring good luck.

“Young Master, you haven’t been back lately. A couple of days ago, we had a fight with the First Brigade.”

The youngest, Jiang Wuzhu, picked up a piece of fried pork fat and crunched it in his mouth.

It's interesting how the relatives who came to the factory as migrant workers lined up from Jiang Dazhu all the way to Jiang Wuzhu. But they didn't all have the same father.

Jiang Wuzhu is the youngest, but he's almost 24.

Jiang Xia scratched his head: "Are you hurt? Is it because of the water again?"

"Of course! One group said we blocked the riverbank and wouldn't let the water flow, so we blew their sticks!"

"Pah! We have no intention of stopping them. Besides, Xiaoqinggou has been without water since spring, they know that!"

"Nothing serious, just got scratched by an old woman!"

Jiang Sizhu chimed in, "That group has a lot of ulterior motives; they've actually set their sights on our Lao Kan Well!"

"They want to use the water from our old well to irrigate their fields!"

"What?!" Jiang Xia slammed his hand on the table. "What the hell! How dare they be so bold? They know the rules of Jiangjia Village!"

The Jiang family has a rule: the sweet dew from the well is reserved for people to drink, and should not be wasted.

Most of the children in the village, including Jiangxia, have become godfathers of Lao Kanjing.

The reason is simply because Lao Kan Well is a blessed well, a well that saved the lives of the Jiang family ancestors. It is also the only well with sweet water within a ten-mile radius.

Moreover, there isn't much water in the well. The people of Jiangjia Village usually only use it for drinking; they fetch their domestic water from Xiaoqinggou.

"It was those Qin family members from the first production team. They saw that their well water was running low, so they came to ask for water to drink."

We're so generous! We think about how hard everyone has it, so we'll drink less so they don't die of thirst.

But after all that, their well was almost dry. So they set their sights on our old Kan Well ancestor!

They even said that our worship of Lao Kan Well as a godparent was feudal superstition, and that we had to go to a "study class" to learn about it!

"Damn it," Jiang Xia cursed under his breath.

I hate people like this who don't know their place. I'm trying to help them, but they turn out to be ungrateful!

"No guns were used, right?"

"He didn't hit anyone!"

"Sigh," Jiang Xia sighed. "This era is just that fierce, especially between villages. When fighting gets heated, all sorts of light and heavy machine guns will be used."

The village also has quite a few militia members, skilled in everything from the "three-three system" to digging trenches and building fortifications. They're all well-trained and extremely experienced.

"Are my grandma and sister alright?"

"It's alright! Those two shots were fired by my great-grandmother. As soon as the shots were fired, the commune cadres arrived."

Okay, that's fine then.

Jiang Xia was not surprised at all that his grandmother could fire a gun; she was a formidable figure who had personally killed two Japanese captains.

"Is there enough food in the village?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Jiang Xia wanted to slap himself. Wasn't that just obvious?

How much is possible?

He immediately took out several large black ten bills from his bag and stuffed them into Jiang Dazhu's hands.

Tell him to go and find some more food to take back, just like he always does.

He then headed towards the maintenance department office.

The fight in the village served as a wake-up call for him; this time it was just pushing and shoving, but next time it could easily escalate into a full-blown brawl.

If a fight really breaks out, Jiangjia Village will definitely suffer losses.

Although the population is not small, most of them are elderly, young, sick, or disabled. The few able-bodied men who can manage the household are mostly around him.

A distant solution won't solve an immediate problem; we need to address the root cause.

What is the root cause?

Water shortage!

But Jiangxia isn't the Dragon King, so where would he conjure water from?

Back in his office, Jiang Xia buried his head in his hands and began to think hard.

…………

The maintenance department was operating quietly.

Jiangxia turned on the desk lamp, and the dim yellow light dispelled the surrounding darkness.

a long time.

The cigarette butt burned quietly in the ashtray, wisps of smoke rising. Several blueprints lay open in front of Jiang Xia, who had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.

An elderly man with gray hair quietly pulled out a bill and sat opposite Jiangxia, slowly flipping through it.

The drawing clearly states: "A concept based on a device for lifting groundwater using atmospheric pressure."