A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"Squeak~~" Old Wang had been listening to Little Dumb Hair outside, though he didn't know what he was going to do.

So the little jeep just parked brazenly in front of the city gate.

Parking in front of the city gate! An incredible achievement! Luckily, there are so few cars these days, which is why Old Wang was able to pull off such a feat.

However, Little Doe didn't have time to think about these things; he was just staring intently at the middle-aged man carrying the flag.

"Raising the flag, what else can we do?"

“Raise the flag~~” Jiang Xia pointed to the uncle carrying the flag, his fingers trembling slightly.

"Huh? What's up?" Old Wang turned his head and glanced at the middle-aged man. "That guy's from the power supply bureau, I think his surname is Hu, do you know him?"

do not know!

However, this did not prevent Jiang Xia from experiencing a strong sense of contrast with the scene before him.

Why was there only one person raising the flag, and he was just an employee wearing a homespun work uniform?

Just imagine the proud honor guard of later generations; the "clack-clack-clack" of their footsteps seems to echo in Jiangxia's ears again.

Wait a minute... why did this middle-aged man put the national flag on the ground?

He was still pushing the national flag into the white marble fence.

Yeah yeah!

He's climbing the railing at the base of the flagpole!

Jiang Xia stared wide-eyed at the man's actions: "Uncle, if you hold the national flag like that, you'll be caught by the honor guard of future generations and used as target practice! By the time you're buried, you'll probably weigh 300 pounds!"

"I'm going to help!"

Jiangxia couldn't bear to see the bright red flag get stained with the dust on the ground.

You know, the wind in Beijing these days carries a lot of sand!

That's obvious, really. The area around Beijing was completely barren back then, nothing like the lush, tree-lined landscape of later times. You might ask, where did the trees go?

The turtle iron in the Shijingshan warehouse will tell you why.

Old Wang blinked, puzzled, as he watched Jiang Xia hurriedly get off the bus.

"The boss is still waiting for you, what's wrong with you now!"

As he shouted, Lao Wang flashed his identification at the guards who were approaching Jiangxia and preparing to stop him.

Uh, traffic cop, look here~ Old Wang's car is parked in the middle of the road, it's obstructing traffic a bit. By the time Old Wang had parked his car next to the city gate tower, Jiang Xia had already run to the white marble base and helped the middle-aged man lift the flag.

"Hey? Young man. How did you get in?"

The middle-aged man was struggling to pick up the flag when he suddenly felt a lightness in his hand. Looking up, he saw a young man helping him lift the flagpole.

A cold wind blew by, pulling a corner of the flags he had neatly folded out, completely covering the young man's head and face.

The wind continued to blow, and the flags gently swayed against the young people.

The middle-aged man stared at the scene before him, feeling inexplicably dazed...

"You ran in, bro. Why are you the only one raising the flag?"

"Ha~ Well, it's not just me, but there are two today! Perfect, help me hold it up for a bit while I climb up!" The middle-aged man looked at the guards who seemed to be doing as usual.

Without asking too many questions, he used the electrical distribution box next to the flagpole base to laboriously climb up the more than two-meter-high base.

Then he waved to Jiangxia, who had already taken a look at the white marble railing.

"No wonder my brother had to use a flipper; there's no gap in the fence around the flagpole base!"

Seeing the middle-aged man waving, Jiang Xia quickly took a few steps forward and handed the flagpole forward.

The middle-aged man took the flag and used wire to firmly secure it to the flagpole. He then jumped down, solemnly straightened his somewhat disheveled work clothes, and nodded to Jiang Xia.

"It's time to raise the flag!"

Jiang Xia understood, took out the military cap, put it on, and followed the old company commander's instructions on how to properly tidy up one's uniform.

The middle-aged man nodded in satisfaction, then pressed the flag-raising button. He took two steps back and watched the flag slowly rise.

"Arise! Ye who refuse to be slaves..."

Huh?

The middle-aged man tilted his head and glanced out of the corner of his eye at the young people who were singing the national anthem.

Looking back on his past flag-raising ceremonies, there was no music, no national anthem, no applause, no cheers, and no one even paid attention to his ceremony.

But today, accompanied by the high-spirited singing of young people, and watching the flag slowly rise in front of me, it feels different!

"We are united as one, braving the enemy's gunfire..."

Old Wang slowly stood behind Jiangxia, staring at the slowly rising fiery red, and also started singing loudly.

"Forward, forward..."

This is a guard standing nearby. As the song begins, he remains still, but unconsciously starts singing along.

The flagpole was raised slowly; it took two repetitions of the song from Jiangxia before it reached the top.

Looking at the red flag fluttering in the wind, Xiao Daimao seemed dazed. "I raised the red flag in the square?"

I raised the red flag~

Oh my goodness, who would dare to imagine that!

"Big brother, have you always been the only one raising the flag?"

Seeing the middle-aged man climb over the railing, Jiang Xia asked anxiously, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Haha, it's been like this since 51. I've always been alone, so what?"

"Can I help out in the future?"

"Oh! I can't say for sure!" The middle-aged man sized up Old Wang, who was following Jiang Xia. "This task of mine was assigned by the power supply bureau. Why don't you go find our leader?"

Jiang Xia nodded, about to ask further questions.

Old Wang patted him on the head: "This isn't urgent. Don't forget there are people waiting for you!"

Oh, right, I should go and check in with the big boss first.

If the leaders here agree when I get back, and I can carry the flag out of the city gate and personally experience the flag-raising ceremony, wouldn't that be like being on top of the world!

Jiangxia was intoxicated just thinking about it.

Even entering the location of No. 2 West Street couldn't bring him back to his senses.

"Knock knock!"

"Enter!"

"Reporting to the leader! Comrade Jiangxia has been brought here!"

The old man with brown glasses smiled and said, "This kid, did he crawl here? Making so many uncles and elders wait for you, he deserves to be punished by standing in the corner!"

Ok?

The old man looked at Jiang Xia, who was still smiling and looking dazed, and was a little puzzled. "You little rascal, you should say something. Why are you just standing there smiling like an idiot?"

The old man looked past Jiang Xia's shoulder and asked Old Wang behind him.

"I just helped raise the flag in the square, and this is how it is now. I guess it's gone mad." Old Wang shrugged helplessly.

"Do you want me to help him sober up?"

Old Wang grinned wickedly and raised his hand to chop...

Crack, bang!

Ah ~

Old Wang, with several footprints on his backside, limped out of the office.

……

"Alright, everyone's here. Let's all talk about what to do next!"

"After the previous discussion, and with the organization's approval, the export of the 'Rhubarb' product is permitted. However, I believe we should postpone the 'Remote Messaging System'..."

"Hey, the French are really interested in this system; they've proposed that it have to be bundled with other systems before they can import it..."

"Yes, it's really a pity to give away some good things before we've even had a chance to use them ourselves..."

"So, Comrade Jiang Xia, what is your opinion?"

Faced with the gazes of a group of bigwigs, Jiang Xia finally snapped out of the wonderful feeling of the flag-raising ceremony.

"It's not important. What's important is what the other party can give us!"

Little Dai Mao shook his fingers, regretting that he didn't have a feather fan in his hand.

"They couldn't possibly buy it with money, could they? What would they use to exchange it for?"