A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp coolness, dispersed the last vestiges of noise at Tiger Beach, but it couldn't dispel the slightly stagnant atmosphere between the two. On the way back, Old Wang pulled Jiang Xia along at a much faster pace than on the way there, still clutching his enormous revolver, his wary gaze frequently sweeping across the dimly lit street corners.

"I say, do you have to be so nervous?" Jiang Xia said with his hands in his pockets, his tone teasing. "The sea lanterns have been released and the souls have been summoned. You should be calm and collected."

"Better safe than sorry. You're just a burden..." Old Wang scoffed.

"You're just a young calf who's not afraid of tigers. I'm an old sailor, and I know which waves at sea are the most dangerous."

"Tsk tsk," Jiang Xia clicked his tongue, leaned closer, and gleamed with a mischievous light in his eyes: "Even the infamous Old Wang, who has won several first-class merits, has moments of fear? He's just... so-and-so's son, right?"

Old Wang suddenly stopped in his tracks, abruptly turning to look at Jiang Xia, his eyes filled with surprise and doubt: "You know him? You've met him before?"

Jiang Xia didn't answer, but instead gazed at the lights already visible in the direction of the naval base gate, silently adding in his mind: those eyebrows, that unconscious tilt of the chin when looking at people—you can only say the genes are truly remarkable. However, I've never seen one in person…

That young and arrogant face has only been seen in faded historical photographs and controversial chapters of certain memoirs.

Today, I've truly had my eyes opened...

Only when he stepped through the solid gates of the naval base and the sentry saluted with his gun did Old Wang's tense shoulders relax almost imperceptibly. With a flick of his wrist, the murder weapon silently slid back into its holster.

He exhaled a breath of stale air, his tone complex: "It's not that I'm afraid. It's that you have to consider the owner before you beat a dog. You don't know how spoiled this kid is by his father."

His personal chef and 'personal assistants' alone, all added together, could almost form a football team.

Jiang Xia looked at him with amusement, and drawled, "Tsk—Old Wang, this doesn't seem like you're 'disregarding your master,' are you? You're just being stubborn, aren't you? Beating a dog? You probably beat up a big tiger, not a dog!"

Old Wang was taken aback, glared at him, and didn't respond.

Jiang Xia suddenly had another thought. He stroked his chin and asked with interest, "Hey, Lao Wang, tell me, if I really fought with that kid, whose side would you take?"

"There won't be a fight." Old Wang waved his hand, as if to dispel the unrealistic idea of ​​the silly boy.

"That kid is very shrewd. Like his father, he believes in the saying, 'A clay pot will inevitably break when it leaves the well, and a general will inevitably die on the battlefield.'"

People like them can argue and fight, but they would never put themselves at the pointless and undignified risk of street brawls. If they really wanted to deal with someone, they had plenty of methods, and they were far more ruthless.

"Oh?" Jiang Xia raised an eyebrow. "Judging from your tone, you're on his side?"

"All the way my ass!" Old Wang rarely swore in front of Jiang Xia.

Yes, Old Wang's cursing is so vulgar, it's impossible to type it out.

“My father and his father didn’t get along in their early years! Although they could maintain a polite facade, they were fundamentally on completely different paths!”

"Huh? Really?" Jiang Xia feigned surprise. "I heard that person is quite popular?"

"That depends on who you're dealing with!" Old Wang spat.

"There are only two people in my family, both of us are tough guys who take up arms, we don't get involved in those complicated things. His tricks won't fool us."

My father had shrapnel lodged in his lung that couldn't be removed. He risked everything to have surgery with my older brother in the north. He went in the same batch as my brother's father. But as soon as my father's incision was stitched up, he heard that the situation at the border was bad, so he dragged himself back, barely clinging to life...

Where's his dad? He's having a wonderful time recuperating over there!

"Pah!" The old king spat on the ground: "Getting excited, the bug got into my mouth!"

Ah……

You coward!

Jiang Xia nodded, seeing through his intentions but not saying anything, then his eyes lit up and a mischievous thought popped into his head: "Hey, what do you think, if I clash with him, instead of fighting, I could 'accidentally' spill top-secret blueprints all over him?"

"Not good!" Old Wang rolled his eyes. "Your trick won't work on them!"

"The most important thing that enabled them to get to that position is to 'never touch what they shouldn't touch, and never be soft when they need to be ruthless.'"

drawing?

They won't even lift an eyelid; they'll immediately draw a clear line and then try to make up for it in other ways, making you feel even worse.

Jiang Xia thought about it and had to admit that Old Wang was right.

"Hey! Brother Wang, a word from you is worth more than ten years of study! I never knew you had such thoughts!" Jiang Xia took off his military cap, scratched his head, and indicated that he was starting to have a brain.

Old Wang glanced at the hat in Jiang Xia's hand, tilted his head, and didn't reply.

They walked in silence. Jiang Xia began to let his thoughts wander, and after thinking for a long time, he came to a conclusion.

That's true! A family that can get its son to take charge of a key department in his early twenties is not something that can be shaken by ordinary methods.

Can't compare, can't compare.

Forget it, I'll just keep thinking about my "three burrows for a cunning rabbit." I'll have to talk to Li Huaide about it later; we could definitely build a few more branch factories at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

In case... at least we'll have a way out, we can just send the person over there and keep things peaceful.

Upon arriving at the dormitory, nothing was said that night.

...Well, at least things are calm in Jiangxia, and everyone can go to sleep right away.

Meanwhile, the lights in the high-class sanatorium where that Peking University prodigy named Lin Wenxuan was staying probably stayed on until late at night.

After his initial anger subsided, Lin Wenxuan calmed down and began to calculate with renewed interest. After using his connections to confirm that Jiangxia was indeed the mysterious "technical ace" behind several recent "key projects," this proud young man not only had no intention of causing further trouble, but also developed a strong desire to befriend (or rather, recruit) him.

"A technical whiz... and someone who can actually produce something. If I could recruit someone like that, wouldn't my reputation, Lin Wenxuan's reputation, rise along with each 'treasure' he creates? Hmm, that sounds great!"

Lin Wenxuan gazed at the night outside the window, his fingers lightly tapping the table. He could almost see the wonderful prospect of Jiang Xia achieving one dazzling technological breakthrough after another in the future, and his reputation for "having a keen eye for talent" and "being good at uniting technical personnel" rising accordingly.

"Once my dad finishes his research, I'll find an opportunity to have a serious talk with him. With my status, why would I be afraid he won't agree?"

His life philosophy, which he had been exposed to since childhood, told him that instead of suppressing a potentially useful "troublemaker," it was better to find a way to turn him into a part of his own achievements.

“My father only has one son, and he lost his son. Judging from the current situation, if my father ascends the throne, I will be the crown prince!”

"Crown Prince...Eastern Palace...Assembling a team?"

"Haha, not bad, not bad!"

The bolder the people, the greater the harvest...

There's some truth to the idea that family traditions or academic backgrounds sometimes hold true.

Little did he know that the five stars on the military cap Jiang Xia had placed on his bedside table were gleaming with an inexplicable brilliance under the moonlight.

……

The days slipped by quietly in the midst of busyness, and three days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these three days, Jiang Xia not only organized the blueprints for the Zaochao-class submarine, but also kept in touch with Liu Huaqing, inquiring about some basic information about the 021, and told Wang Kui to notify him as soon as the Dahuang II arrived.

Finally, a "Cruiser Dragon" with two cannon barrels on its back crawled into the engine room of the Daryan Naval Base.

The big guy, accompanied by two men in leather jackets, jumped out of the car and greeted Jiang Xia.

Hey, is Old Wang losing his confidence lately? He even brought Big Guy and the others over?

However, it doesn't matter. Right now, Jiang Xia is only interested in the program developed by his senior brother from Yunnan and Guizhou.

"This...this is DOS in action?"

After the little guy lit up Big Yellow, he stared blankly at the interface.