A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Wheat fields in Jiangjia Village.

People were busy at work, as the wheat ears were filling out and the seedlings, having drunk their fill of water, stood tall and straight.

The heavy ears of wheat drooped slightly, and when the breeze blew, the ears of wheat collided with each other, making a rustling sound.

Uncle Jiang stroked his beard and grinned from ear to ear.

"Good, good. Now that we've handed over the grain, each household will have some left over. We won't need to borrow grain from the grain station anymore."

Jiangxia, with his trousers rolled up, had already been working in the fields all morning.

Upon hearing this, he got up and stretched his limbs.

This farm work is really tiring. Jiang Xia felt that hammering the sky hammer in the workshop was easy.

Farmers have a really tough time, especially these days.

Listening to Uncle Jiang's praise and watching the villagers carrying water up the mountainside, I still felt a little regretful.

The fields at the foot of the mountain in the village are all planted with wheat, and the pumped water wells have irrigated all of the dozens of acres of land.

But the corn cobs planted halfway up the mountain also need water.

Unfortunately, the hand pump can't pump water that high; at best, it shortens the distance for carrying water.

"If only we could dig a well on the mountain, we could irrigate the crops that are halfway up the mountain directly."

Uncle Jiang smiled and said, "That's good enough. Originally, the village planned to save the wheat below and let the corn on the mountain grow as it would."

"With your well, we've saved a lot of labor. This way, we've saved both ends!"

Jiang Xia sighed. The farmers of China are always so resilient. They really don't ask for much.

"Uncle, do you think we'll get water if we dig a well on the mountain?"

Seeing that Jiang Xia still couldn't let go of this obsession, Uncle Jiang frowned: "There should be one. When you were in school, someone from the Academy of Sciences came to take a look."

"Back then, they said that digging a well would be enough to help the crops halfway up the mountain. The commune cadres organized our village to dig two meters up the mountain, but that wasn't enough."

"There are rocks underneath the soil, how can we dig?"

"We even used explosives, but there was nothing we could do even if we blew them up, because there was still a granite field underneath."

"The fallen rocks also buried a fertile patch of land, and it took half a month to clear it!"

"After that, no one mentioned digging a well again."

Uncle Jiang sighed and shook his head: "By the way, Dazhu was helping out back then. He hit his leg on a rock and it took him half a year to recover."

Jiang Xia remained silent. No wonder Jiang Dazhu had been limping around for a while, and he wouldn't say anything when asked.

At this moment, Grandma Jiang was carrying a large bucket, followed by two little girls, each carrying a stack of large bowls.

"Come and rest for a bit, I just boiled some water. It's so hot today, don't get too hot!"

Jiang Dong shakily carried over a bowl of water, "Sixth Uncle, here's some water for you!"

Uncle Jiang happily accepted it, praised it endlessly, and then tasted it. Hmm? Sweet juice.

He knew his wife had brought some sugar home yesterday. He had planned to save it so that it could help with breast milk production after she gave birth.

Having lived through the war years, he naturally knew the value of white sugar.

Let's put it this way: if someone is starving, a bowl of sweet soup might sustain them for another day or two.

"Grandma, this!"

"Alright, drink up. There's still some at home. We can't eat that much. It'll help everyone replenish their energy during the busy farming season."

Uncle Jiang sighed. This debt of gratitude could never be repaid.

Jiangxia was drinking a bowl of sweet soup when Wuzhu came bounding down from the mountainside, shouting and yelling.

"Grandpa! I saw three cars coming to the village entrance. Could it be the factory manager and his men?"

Jiang Xia finished his sugar water and nodded: "I think so. Come on, let's go greet them."

No one knows what Grandpa Wei and Minister Yang discussed in the car, but when they got off, Minister Yang readily agreed that if there were any new hand pump wells, they would make sure to install one in their village first.

Even so, Minister Yang was still smug, believing that he had changed the old-fashioned mindset of farmers.

After getting out of the car, the scene before Minister Yang's eyes lit up.

Although the wheat in front of me was still somewhat yellowish-brown, the leaves stood upright. Compared to wheat grown elsewhere, it possessed an extra vitality.

I reached out and pinched a handful of wheat ears; they were plump and full—so nice!

What's remarkable is that this isn't just the case in one acre of wheat field; the entire area in front of us is like this.

"Xiao Jiang! Come quick!" Yang Youning waved repeatedly to a boy at the village entrance.

Hearing the call, the boy started jogging.

Minister Yang squinted and looked over.

She was quite tall, but rather thin. Beneath her messy, tousled hair were a pair of bright eyes.

"Greetings, Factory Director! Greetings, Leaders! Welcome to the joint experimental base of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill and Hongxing Water Pressure Well of the Third Production Group of the Second Brigade of Hongqi Commune!"

Yang Youning was a little confused by the long list of titles Jiang Xia used, but when he heard the name of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill in it, he straightened his back.

It's some kind of base, just a steel rolling mill, that's enough.

While the two bigwigs behind Yang Youning were still trying to recall the long string of terms Jiang Xia had uttered, Yang Youning had already begun his introduction.

"This is the Minister of the First Ministry of Machine Building, and this is the Minister of Agriculture."

"And this one, from our factory's security department, you should be familiar with it!"

"This was picked up by an old man from the village ahead on the way!"

The two bigwigs were about to shake hands with Jiang Xia and exchange some more words.

Suddenly, I was choked up and felt uncomfortable by Yang Youning's introduction, who was "an old man I picked up halfway through the journey".

Minister Xia looked at Minister Yang: Is this the offspring of your Yang family? How did it grow so big?

Minister Yang looked at Minister Xia: This is the factory director of the large factory with 10,000 employees that you chose? You don't need to give me face, really!

Yang Youning felt suffocated by the boss's gaze: Damn it, how am I supposed to introduce him? Didn't you, Minister Yang, pick this old man up halfway through the journey?

Fortunately, Uncle Jiang, who arrived later, eased the awkward situation for everyone.

"Old man Wei, get your hands off my wheat! You knocked over a single grain, and I'll kill you!"

Grandpa Wei sheepishly withdrew his large hand. "What's all the fuss about? I was just checking if the grouting had started. Shouting at the leaders like that, have you no manners?"

"Pah! Rules! You dog, you're the one who breaks the rules the most!"

"They tried to steal our hand pump yesterday, and they dare to come back today? If it weren't for the leaders being there, I'd kill them with a shovel!"

Jiang Xia looked at Uncle Jiang Liu, who was extremely angry, with some confusion.

I went to bed early yesterday. All I know is that Uncle Jiang arranged for people to pump water all night to irrigate these dozens of acres of wheat fields.

What's the story behind this water well grabbing?

Uncle Jiang glared at Grandpa Wei angrily before explaining, "Yesterday, we had people working all night. In the middle of the night, this old bastard came over with his men. He said he wanted to borrow the hand pump well."

"Those hand pump wells are all fixed to existing wells, how can we borrow them? Besides, we haven't even finished working on our own fields, how can we borrow them!"

"When that old bastard realized he couldn't borrow it, he and his men decided to rob it outright! It was only after your grandma fired a volley of shots that he was scared away."

After their conversation, both ministers looked at Grandpa Wei with a different expression.

Wang Kui then stepped forward with two soldiers, shielding the two ministers behind him.