A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

At that time, the factory's security department was different from the security guards of today; they were directly under the control of the armed forces department.

Machine guns and anti-aircraft guns go without saying; they're standard equipment for major manufacturers.

Even Yang Youning, the factory director, had no authority over Wang Kui, the head of the security department, except for cooperating with work. Wang Kui was the kind of person who only obeyed orders and not directives.

Seeing that Yang Youning was very depressed, Wang Kui took something out of his pocket and gestured with it.

"Don't be angry. If you keep your mouth shut, you'll still be a good comrade. I'll take a couple more pictures of you later!"

"A camera? Wow, where did you get this thing?" Yang Youning looked at it with envy and reached for it with his paw.

Wang Kui slapped it away.

"Hey, that's not fair. Can't I even play with your stuff?"

"My stuff! You really dare to dream! It was just delivered from above!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Youning finally calmed down.

Having gathered enough information, he stopped pretending to be ignorant and began to ponder with narrowed eyes.

The two ministers conducted a joint on-site inspection, plus a camera that was just delivered at the last minute?

Wow... this kind of operation can't be orchestrated by just the Ministry of Agriculture. Could it be...?

…………

In another car, Minister Yang and Minister Xia sat together, looking through Jiang Xia's file.

"21 years old, from Wudaokou Vocational College, a level 9 engineer?"

"This kid put together the truck kit and the hand pump?"

A series of rhetorical questions made Minister Xia roll his eyes.

"The instructor was right, this world still belongs to the young!" Minister Yang exclaimed.

"Hey, what do you think about me transferring this kid to the Ministry of Agriculture? We'll need the inventor to keep an eye on things for the big moves to come."

"Your First Ministry of Machine Building is the big brother, you have plenty of talented people, how about giving this one to me!"

Minister Xia rolled her eyes at him and suddenly asked:

"Hey, how's your sleep schedule lately?"

"Oh? I'm so worried. I can't sleep at night. It's a mix of internal and external troubles!" Minister Yang felt a surge of warmth in his heart. It's still my old comrade who cares about me.

"Here you go," Minister Xia said, pulling out a small white bottle.

"What?"

"Take the sleeping pills, get a good night's sleep, and you'll have all sorts of dreams."

Damn it, give me back my gratitude!

The jeep traveled along and soon arrived at the Red Flag Commune.

Looking at the yellowing crops in the yellowish-brown fields, Minister Yang, who had been dozing off for a while, looked heartbroken again.

Further on, you can see commune members pushing several large water buckets in single-wheeled carts, swaying as they walk to the edge of the field.

An old woman by the field laboriously unloaded it, then led some children to carefully sprinkle water, one ladleful at a time, onto the roots of the wheat.

"This year is going to be tough again! It's the time for grouting right now. Sigh!"

Minister Yang sighed, then suddenly seemed to remember something, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

How much longer until we reach Jiangjia Village?

The driver gave a wry smile: "Minister, I've never been here before either. Should I go ask? There's a fork in the road ahead, and I don't know which way to go!"

The commune members working in the fields watched the little jeep speed by and exclaimed, "Hey! That's rare. We saw a big truck yesterday, and now we see a car!"

"Hey. Where is this car going? Does anyone in our Hongqi Commune still get to ride in a car?"

"The car has stopped!"

Under the old locust tree at the crossroads, Grandpa Wei was taking a break, smoking his pipe.

He had already transported water three times this morning, and the workload was becoming too much for the increasingly elderly man to handle.

A convoy of small jeeps stopped in front of him, and a man got out of the lead car and looked around.

He then helped a cadre with four pockets get out of the car.

"Fellow villager! I need to ask you something. Which road leads to Jiangjia Village?"

Grandpa Wei looked up, then lowered his head to fill his pipe with tobacco, pointing to a road, "Go straight down this road, turn two corners and you'll get there!"

Unexpectedly, the white-haired cadre did not leave immediately, but instead sat down next to Grandpa Wei.

He even handed me a cigarette.

"Brother, where are you taking a rest?"

"That goes without saying!" Grandpa Wei thought to himself, but looking at the cigarette with a filter in front of him, he couldn't help but take it.

Good stuff! I've only ever seen commune cadres smoke it before, I never thought I'd get to try it today.

"When you get old, you need to rest. I've already pushed the cart three or four times this morning!" Grandpa Wei held up three fingers, thought for a moment, and then raised another one.

The white-haired cadre nodded: "There's no other way, the crops need to be tended to, and this is the crucial time. This year's harvest depends on this wave."

Grandpa Wei slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's right! The wheat is filling out, and the water supply can't keep up. That's why the whole production team is transporting water."

"But it's still not keeping up. I worked all day yesterday and only managed to irrigate two acres. Oh, this damn weather!"

"By the way, speaking of water, they said Jiangjia Village got a water pumping machine?"

Grandpa Wei perked up, "Yes, that sounds incredible! They say you can just pump water up from the well with a single press? I don't believe it!"

"Isn't that the Dragon King's method?" Then, Grandpa Wei shook his head.

"These people are getting better and better at bragging. The other day, the commune cadres were saying that some places were producing 3000 jin per mu, and they wanted us to work harder and achieve the same result!"

My old man has farmed all his life, and even in good times, he only harvests about 150 jin (75 catties).

"If it really is 3000 jin, where did all the grain go? How could we not have enough to eat?"

"You really can't believe a word a cadre says these days!"

As he spoke, Grandpa Wei gave the man in front of him a provocative look. He angrily threw down his cigarette butt and kicked him hard.

Anyway, I'm already an old geezer, what can you do to me!

Minister Yang's face was full of bitterness.

Yeah, whose fault is it?

If it weren't for the Russians pressing for repayment, and if the relevant comrades hadn't been more down-to-earth, things wouldn't have come to this!

“Brother, we’ll know whether it’s true or not at a glance. Do you have time to go take a look together?” Minister Xia, who was watching from the sidelines, said as he saw his old friend getting caught up in his dilemma again.

Grandpa Wei flicked his pipe and said, "Fine, I'll go. If it's fake, I'll make sure Grandma Jiang is spitting all over my face!"

"Fellow villagers, these high-ranking officials want me to go and check if that water well in Jiangjia Village is real or not. If I, an old man, don't come back, you must help me get justice!"

After saying that, he resolutely climbed into the jeep.

The two ministers were left speechless, both amused and exasperated by the old man's words.

Amidst the angry stares of the villagers, he repeatedly assured them that he would safely return the elderly man before getting into his car and heading towards Jiangjia Village.

However, they didn't notice that the villagers' eyes held no anger.

Clearly, it was doubt and confusion.

"What's wrong with Uncle Wei? Why is he saying the hand pump well in Jiangjia Village is fake?"

"Yeah, didn't he go check it out yesterday? But when he asked Jiang Xia for it, they wouldn't give it to him?"

"How about we tell the captain that his father was taken to Jiangjia Village by two high-ranking officials?"

"Yes! The captain and the others went to a meeting at the commune early this morning. Go tell them!"