A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

At dawn, a ray of sunlight awakened Jiangxia.

As I climbed up from the sofa in my master's living room and looked at the bright red sunrise, I really wanted to utter a short sentence of praise.

Unfortunately, after struggling for a while, I came up with: "A bright red fried egg."

Tsk, no one's praising me. If Tie Jun were here, the two of them would praise each other, and their spirits would be much higher.

"Little rascal, hurry up and wash up, we're busy today. Did you bring those certificates with you?"

Jiang Xia responded to his teacher's wife's voice from the inner room. He then turned into the restroom with practiced ease.

My toothbrush was neatly placed by the sink. I took out the toothpaste and applied a layer of foam to my teeth.

The mint flavor is really good.

Master's apartment isn't big; it's just one bedroom, one living room, and a small balcony, about 50 square meters.

But they have their own bathroom with a flush toilet.

After Jiang Xia finished washing up, his teacher's wife came out wearing a 58 uniform.

A white brimless cap with a red star in the middle, and two bright red collar badges on a white jacket.

She wore dark blue trousers with thick bright red stitching along the sides of the legs.

So handsome!

"Let's go!"

"Uh, Master's wife, are you abandoning Master?" The old man drank quite a bit yesterday, spouting nonsense about how people's hearts have changed. He was thoroughly drunk.

"You're still worried about him? That senile old man, he said he'd take care of you, but he's only gone astray!"

"Never mind him, he said he's going to the Ministry of Machine Building to freeload later."

Alright, listen to your master when you're out in the world, and listen to your master's wife when you're at home, no problem.

I went downstairs and found a breakfast shop. Four fried dough sticks and a poached egg. My teacher's wife treated!

He rode a bicycle with his teacher's wife to the neighborhood office where the courtyard house was located.

On the way, Jiang Xia thought about yesterday's topic and felt a little itchy. He really wanted to know how Director Yang had been tricked. Just thinking about Yang Youning's embarrassed face made Jiang Xia chuckle.

Indeed, people's happiness is built on the suffering of others.

"Master's wife, tell me exactly how Factory Director Yang got tricked?"

"Yang Youning, let me think. Tsk tsk, isn't he just like you? Someone else dug a hole, and you just plunged right in."

After gathering her thoughts, the teacher's wife said, "Doesn't your First Ministry of Machine Building have an annual selection of advanced units?"

"Yes, I remember Master said he was elected a few years ago and received grain and pork. He even got a watch voucher. But he had to return it."

"Don't interrupt!" The teacher's wife gave him a light twist.

"That advanced unit title was actually won by Li Huaide!"

It turns out that Li Huaide was just a junior logistics director back then, while Yang Youning was a factory director parachuted in from the ministry.

At the time, Yang Youning was focused on making a name for himself and was extremely strict in managing production. Although the steel rolling mill's capacity had increased that year, making it eligible to participate in the selection process.

However, someone filed a complaint against him, accusing him of exploiting his coworkers and demanding they work overtime. Although the investigation eventually cleared him of the charges, he was still disqualified from the selection process.

The following year, Yang Youning regrouped and prepared to fight again. Li Huaide stepped forward, taking on the task of applying for the job himself, implying to Yang Youning that he had connections.

Yang Youning was already impatient with welcoming and seeing off guests, so he went along with it and handed over all the matters.

Li Huaide was very proactive at the time, personally handling everything from receiving leaders to submitting reports.

Even at the "Ensuring Quality and Promoting Production" conference, he broke down in tears, showing his colleagues how much weight he had lost.

That year, the steel rolling mill's output surged by 15%, earning unanimous praise from higher-level leaders and securing the title of "Advanced Unit" in the competition.

Whether it was Li Huaide or his superior who played a role, or whether Yang Youning's hard work impressed the ministry, all of this is a matter of process.

What's more important than the result?

For a time, everyone in the factory knew Li Huaide, but not Yang Youning. After all, in the eyes of the workers, compared to Yang Youning, who only knew how to urge production with a stern face, Li Huaide, who was as soft as dough, could bring them meat to eat.

Before the ministry's commendation meeting, Li Huaide also held a staff meeting. After another round of sob stories and boasting, and after everyone shed a few tears, everyone except Li Changfu unanimously decided to let Li Huaide attend the ministry's commendation meeting.

The workers didn't care who showed up; getting the meat as quickly as possible was the only important thing.

Yang Youning, who was easygoing, had no objections. Although he sensed something was amiss, he ultimately agreed for the sake of the factory and his coworkers, demonstrating his strong sense of the big picture.

Taking advantage of this commendation, Li Huaide was promoted directly to deputy director of the steel rolling mill, breaking with precedent. He firmly controlled personnel and logistics, and openly began a power struggle with Yang Youning.

After hearing the story, Jiang Xia outwardly expressed deep sympathy for Yang Youning's plight, but in reality, he was secretly delighted.

This Factory Director Yang is really a simpleton; he even gave up the chance to go on stage and wear the big red flower to others.

Then I thought about it again, and realized that this was exactly what happened to me.

Jiangxia's smiling face turned into a crying face.

Without my master's wife, would the things I create in the future bear the surname "Li"? After all, they wouldn't even have a registered household.

Jiang Xia touched the two newly pulled-out blueprints in his pocket and stuffed them as far inside as possible.

…………

Following the master's wife's directions, we made several turns and arrived at the entrance of an alley.

As we ventured further in, the view suddenly opened up. Red flags had been planted early on both sides of the road, creating a vibrant red scene.

"Rendaokou Subdistrict Office!"

The teacher's wife gave him a sharp rap on the head, "That's Jiao! Jiaodaokou! Such a big kid, and he can't even recognize all the characters."

Jiangxia felt wronged. The plaque was handwritten, and the upper part of the character "交" was so blurred that no one could recognize it.

Instead of leading Jiang Xia directly inside, his teacher's wife had him park his bicycle in front of a three-story building across the street.

Jiaodaokou Supply and Marketing Cooperative

This time I finally didn't mispronounce it.

Upon entering the building, you'll see a small sales hall with a long row of counters in front and a row of shelves behind them.

Several sales clerks were sitting behind the counter. When they saw their teacher's wife leading Jiang Xia in, they stood up and asked, "Comrade, what would you like to order?"

The teacher's wife smiled and nodded: "Comrade, take two pounds of hard candy and two cans of milk powder."

The sales clerk hesitated for a moment: "Sir, hello. We have hard candy, 2.3 yuan per jin, but you need a coupon. We only have one can of milk powder left, 8 yuan a can, but you need two special coupons!"

The master's wife nodded and was about to take out her money. Jiang Xia quickly stopped her and hurriedly took something out of his bag.

"Master's wife, I have money!"

A large wad of banknotes was mixed together, including ten-yuan, three-yuan, and ten-cent coins. Jiang Xia picked through the pile and found a candy coupon, but what was a special supply coupon? He'd never seen one before.

While Jiang Xia was looking for tickets, his teacher's wife had already paid for them.

He tugged at Jiang Xia's ahoge (cowlick) again.

"Keep this safe, keep it until you get married. Young girls these days have very high standards."

Everything was packed in the mesh bag, with a milk powder can taking up most of the space.

Jiang Xia looked it over and was surprised to find that it was actually a French product.