A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"Jiang Xia, why do you need to add a water tank to this return air furnace you mentioned?"

"Duh, without this water tank, it's just like a regular stove. If you're too close, it'll burn like crazy; if you're too far away, it won't do any good."

Li Tiejun scratched his head. "Well, I feel like your stove is just for boiling water, isn't it?"

As he spoke, he picked up the simple diagram he had just drawn and gestured: "This is the stove, this is the water tank, and a main water pipe extends from the water tank, with the auxiliary water pipe connected in parallel with the main water pipe."

"That's right. In more technical terms, it means storing the heat from combustion in water to improve the efficiency of heat energy utilization."

"To put it simply, it's boiling water."

Jiang Xia lay lazily on the bed, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

After discussing literature with Li Tiejun for a long time, Jiang Xia felt like his brain was about to explode again.

Engineering students shouldn't be into arts and culture, pshaw.

Drawing mechanical diagrams is the way to go!

Jiang Xia, who wanted to get Li Tiejun back on track, recalled the unbearable winters in Beijing and simply steered the conversation to the topic of using a stove for heating.

He guided Li Tiejun to draw a basic schematic diagram.

"Don't look down on boiling water. You've always liked trains, haven't you? Then tell me, are locomotives running nowadays because they're made by boiling water?"

"You've always thought power plants generating electricity was amazing, haven't you? But how do the generators even turn? They just boil water!"

"Even a car engine is just a machine that turns water into oil."

Listening to Jiang Xia's words, Li Tiejun's mind was in complete turmoil.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Ah, boil water! Boil water! Then why are we still bothering with all this? Let's all boil water together!"

"How about we talk about how to deal with that guy who can handle things?"

Jiang Xia looked at him with pity, not wanting to tell him the cruel truth.

That is, the nuclear power plant that looks impressive to later generations.

Then fucking boil! Boil! Water!

Hey, speaking of boiling water, that engine I was thinking about yesterday, could it be modified to be steam-powered? That would probably reduce the material requirements for the cylinder block by a lot, right?

Thinking of this, Jiang Xia chuckled. This actually came in line with Li Tiejun's suggestion that everyone boil water together.

"Great news! Great news!"

"The Hongxing water pressure well, developed and manufactured by our Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, has been selected as a National Day gift project! At that time, the Hongxing water pressure well will be displayed to the people of the whole country during the National Day parade!"

"The Hongxing water pump well is an innovative product jointly developed by our factory's technical staff under the leadership of Factory Director Yang Youning and Chief Engineer Li Chengfu. It has a sophisticated structure and excellent performance, bringing great convenience to the vast rural areas and fully demonstrating the wisdom and creativity of my country's working class..."

The loudspeaker that was taken from the machine factory started blaring again.

Jiang Xia and Li Tiejun looked at each other, their mouths agape.

"Jiang Xia!" Ma Weihong ran over with Ma Zhendong.

The usually eloquent Ma Weihong had completely lost her quick wit, stammering, "Present, present, present a gift! A gift!~~"

"What we designed can be presented as a tribute to the parade!"

Ma Weihong let out a scream, then began circling Jiang Xia's hospital bed, gesturing wildly with her hands as she went.

Ma Zhendong held Jiang Xia's hand tightly, refusing to let go, and kept thanking her profusely. He was so excited that he didn't even know what he was saying.

Jiang Xia felt as if he was calling out to a ghost.

"Jiang Xia, Xiao Jiang, brother~~" Li Tiejun grinned at Jiang Xia, unconsciously muttering to himself.

No wonder these people were so excited.

National Day celebrations refer to a series of activities undertaken by the government, enterprises, institutions, and individuals during the National Day holiday to celebrate the nation's birthday.

Even if you're just an old farmer, you can point to the newly harvested rice and say it's your National Day gift.

But the National Day parade display that followed was different.

They'll be following behind the soldiers in the parade, passing through the main gate of the Forbidden City!

There will be announcers giving clear and articulate introductions, and the presentations will also be reviewed by high-ranking leaders.

This is such a great opportunity to shine!

Although the introductions are only made in the name of the organization, within the steel rolling mill, wearing a big red flower and going up to the podium are just basic procedures.

In fact, logically speaking, a mere hand pump well shouldn't receive such treatment.

But isn't this just in time?

Motherland is in a hurry too. Beset by internal and external troubles, seeing something that can boost morale, she can't care about anything else right now, she'll just go for it.

After her initial excitement, Ma Weihong pulled out a large apple from somewhere and started peeling it while muttering about Jiang Xia.

What do you mean, "You're a grown adult, you need to learn to take care of yourself and not keep sleeping in the office"? It was fine a while ago, but now that it's getting cold, sleeping there is just stupid of you.

Ma Zhendong chimed in, saying he wanted to find Jiang Xia a caring wife, and that he had a distant niece who, if Jiang Xia was willing, would be brought over for him to meet.

After the apple was peeled, it was cut in half. Jiang Xia enjoyed half of it all, while Ma Zhendong and Li Tiejun shared the other half.

Ma Weihong picked up the apple peel and started crunching it, just like a giant hamster.

Apples are hard to find these days, so not a single one can be wasted.

In Ma Weihong's view, Jiang Xia and Li Tiejun were the younger ones, while Ma Zhendong was the older one. Isn't it normal to take care of the young and the old?

Anyway, that's what she does at home.

The greatness of Chinese women is manifested in the small things.

(You, yes, you! Quickly call your mom and tell her you miss her!)

Li Tiejun finished the apple in a few bites, leaving not even a core. He wiped his mouth and began to tell the two the truth about Jiang Xia sleeping in the office.

Ma Weihong stopped chewing, and her eyebrows furrowed again.

Before she could speak, an angry shout came from behind her: "Such a brat! Unfit to be a human being!"

Everyone turned around, but Jiang Xia didn't need to. He simply raised his hand and greeted the person with a smile.

"Sir, can I remove this IV drip now?"

The doctor, who had just shouted angrily, beamed with joy at the address of "old sir."

The old doctor stuffed the sunflower seeds in his hand into his bag, picked up the IV bottle, and shook it.

"There's still some left! We need to finish dripping it all. This glucose isn't easy to come by."

Jiang Xia stared at the liquid level line, which was already at the bottom of the bottle, his lips twitching. "Sir, you can't be this stingy! If you suck out any blood later, you'll have to put it back in!"

Not only did you not give me a skin test for that penicillin injection, but if anything else goes wrong, believe me, I'll show you!

"You're too kind, kid! You need to stand up for yourself!"

Jiang Xia smiled wryly. "If you can still say that a few years from now, then I'll truly respectfully call you 'Grandpa'."

"You know, in those years, apart from the intellectuals, you were the most miserable old Chinese medicine practitioners."

If someone hadn't spoken up, you might have all been whitewashed.

The old doctor's words did not resonate with Jiang Xia, but they did attract Ma Weihong's attention.

"Sir, you're absolutely right! I never knew our clinic had such a hidden figure! What do you suggest we do about this?"

The old Chinese medicine doctor, with his sage-like demeanor, stroked his large beard.

"In my humble opinion, ~~~" the old gentleman whispered a few words to Ma Weihong.

Ma Weihong's eyes widened: "Huh? You can do that? Please continue!"

……

Their cryptic conversation caught the attention of Ma Zhendong and Li Tiejun. For some reason, the four of them huddled together in a circle. The old doctor even generously shared some sunflower seeds from his bag with them.

"First, then..." the old doctor instructed.

"Oh, oh, oh!" The other three nodded in unison. "Ptooey!" That was the sound of spitting out sunflower seed shells.

Every now and then, Li Tiejun would raise his head.

"That's great! Jiang Xia, you wait and see, I'll squeeze that kid until he shits himself!"

"Hey! No, this one is better..."

Jiang Xia stared speechlessly at the IV drip bottle. It was almost empty. Hey!