Scholars in the courtyard

"Yes, welcome to Jin Gao."

Wang Lian appeared beside him at some point and said happily, interrupting Yang Xiaotao's thoughts.

"You must be part of the entourage. It's been a hard journey."

Yang Xiaotao didn't explain either. After all, it was really hard to accept that a young man came out among a bunch of old men.

"good."

The two chatted for a while, and Yang Xiaotao confirmed that this person was from the machinery factory and was the logistics director.

Then everyone came to a truck, threw their salutes into the truck, and then got on the truck.

"We'll have a good rest at the station later. The factory leaders will entertain you in the evening."

"Are you from Forty-Nine City? It's not a short journey."

After getting in the car, Wang Lian spoke to everyone in the car.

Everyone also looked at the unfamiliar environment and looked at the surrounding scenes.

The car started and moved forward slowly.

The bumpy road made people shake from time to time.

Yang Xiaotao looked outside through the gap in his cloak.

Potholes appeared from time to time on the khaki road. When the car passed by, many children ran behind it.

They laughed and shouted, as novel as the children in Sijiu City, with innocent smiles on their faces.

A group of workers wearing blue overalls were chatting and laughing as they walked on the road. Their black and white cloth shoes would always bring up a cloud of dust as they stepped.

In the air, the sound of factory horns could be heard faintly, and passionate slogans kept coming, making the people walking enthusiastic.

This should be an industrial area.

Yang Xiaotao looked at the surrounding buildings. Although they were not high or dense, they were full of industrial atmosphere compared to the scenes along the way.

Skip the house and look up into the distance.

The mountains in the distance are undulating, green and black, and only the outline can be seen.

Like Yang Xiaotao, everyone looked at the unfamiliar environment.

The car went around in circles, passing through the dense factory area, and then walked north for a while. The surrounding buildings began to sparse, until it drove into a factory, and then stopped in front of a three-story building built with red bricks.

After everyone got out of the car, Wang Lian led them upstairs, and then everyone was assigned a room.

Yang Xiaotao walked into the house. There was a room, a living room, a table, a bed, a mattress on the bed, pillows and quilts neatly stacked, an enamel basin under the bed, a white enamel jar and a green iron thermos bottle inside.

After putting the gifts and daily necessities on the table, Yang Xiaotao tidied the bed and got up to go out.

When you come to a strange environment, you always have to take a look around.

On the left side of the door was Liu Daming's residence. He was already lying on the bed and didn't want to move. When Yang Xiaotao went to call him, he waved his hand, showing no interest.

Yang Xiaotao had no choice but to go downstairs alone.

Downstairs, two soldiers stood firm at their posts. The older one saw Yang Xiaotao coming downstairs and stepped forward quickly.

"Comrade, hello, how can I help you?"

"No, I just want to come down and take a walk." Yang Xiaotao said. The man nodded and didn't ask any more questions. He just followed Yang Xiaotao.

Seeing this, Yang Xiaotao walked around the factory area.

Half an hour later.

"Xiao Yang, we were a family five hundred years ago."

"This, I just came to the machine, and it is packed inside. You are not allowed to enter!"

"This is the canteen. Are you hungry? There is ramen in the canteen. I will take you to eat it at noon. Food stamps and steamed buns are the same price."

Yang Xiaotao lit a cigarette and looked at the surrounding buildings. The soldiers who followed him also had cigarettes in their hands and half a pack in their pockets.

That's right, Yang Xiaotao hired a guide with half a pack of cigarettes and walked around the factory area.

"Lao Yang, is there meat in the ramen? Is it beef?"

Yang Xiaotao thought of the "chain stores" that opened all over the country in later generations.

"Well! There's oil and water in the soup anyway."

Well, in later generations there were at least a few pieces of meat in a bowl, but now there is no meat at all.

"What is that place?"

Yang Xiaotao suddenly looked into the distance. There was a row of low factory buildings there. They looked very ordinary, but there were quite a few soldiers on duty at the door.

When asked about this, Lao Yang quickly pulled him away and said, "Xiao Yang, you can't go there."

"Don't ask, don't pry, and don't look for it. Just pretend you didn't see it, do you understand?"

Lao Yang looked serious, and Yang Xiaotao immediately understood that there was a secret inside.

"I know, I didn't see it, I don't know!"

The two of them smoked cigarettes and left quickly. If they were caught as enemies, they would not be able to return home.

"Xiao Yang, is Sijiu City big?"

"Big, big!"

"Are there many people there?"

"Many, many!"

"you……"

The two talked all the way until they returned to the dormitory, and Yang Xiaotao lay on the bed, digesting the news.

This is the largest general machinery manufacturing plant in Jingao and is also a national key project.

Originally there were many furry bear experts here, but after the experts left, some projects fell into a bottleneck. Yang Xiaotao guessed that this might be why they came this time.

I learned from Lao Yang that in order to prepare for accommodation, they cleared out the entire building. There were dozens of houses, and they were obviously not the only ones.

Thinking of Yang Youning saying that the ten best people would come out of Forty-Nine City, then other places would also send people.

After thinking for a while, Yang Xiaotao heard the sound of cars coming from outside again. He leaned against the window and looked, and saw about ten more people came down and walked into the dormitory building under the leadership of Wang Lian.

bang bang bang

There was a knock on the door, and Yang Xiaotao got out of bed and opened the door.

"Liu Gong."

Yang Xiaotao welcomed Liu Daming into the room and sat down.

"I saw people from Beisan Machinery Repair Factory just now, but I didn't expect them to come too."

"Beisan Machine Repair Shop?"

"Yes, that's right, the leader, the very arrogant one with a mustache, is Beisan's great master."

"This old boy, huh!"

Liu Daming said with disdain on his face.

But the people who can be remembered by him are definitely not simple.

With Liu Daming like this, Yang Xiaotao suspected that he had suffered from the mustache.

"This time, they are here, we can't lose."

"If you lose, you will lose the face of all your colleagues in Forty-Nine City."

Liu Daming said solemnly.

Yang Xiaotao just nodded and said nothing.

He has his own knowledge, he can judge what is right and wrong by himself, and he will not make wrong choices because of his personal feelings.

However, if it was a competition of skills, he really had no other ideas.

As long as it's done well, that's fine.

Liu Daming again talked about the grievances he had with Beisan back then, which were caused by his disdain for technical skills. Yang Xiaotao just took it as a story.

After Liu Daming left, Yang Xiaotao continued to lie down and rest with his eyes closed.

Outside, bicycles drove in from time to time, and people kept getting off their cars and walking to the house.

Yang Xiaotao and the others came first and lived on the second floor. After the second floor was full, they went up to the third floor. Various dialects were heard in the corridor from time to time, which made Yang Xiaotao very curious. What kind of mission was it to talk like this? Are many people worried?

"Is it really a hand-rubbed mushroom?"

"It doesn't look like it. Mushrooms shouldn't be needed."

Looking at the cement ceiling, Yang Xiaotao fell into deep thought.

At night, everyone came downstairs amidst shouting.

It's still Wang Lian, the capable logistics director, showing her white teeth when speaking, with the unique boldness of a northwest girl.

A group of people walked out of the door, then looked at the unfamiliar faces on the left and right, and asked friendly questions. Then when they saw familiar faces, they smiled, nodded and hugged.

Just like now, Liu Daming held hands with Mustache with a smile on his face, and there was no sign of any displeasure on their faces.

Yang Xiaotao was not surprised. After all, everyone is an adult.

Everyone greeted each other, asked each other where they were, not only bursts of laughter, but also cordial greetings.

Yang Xiaotao counted about forty people, but they were all gray-haired old men.

And he is the only young man.

Everyone was talking, and Yang Xiaotao also knew that people from all over the world were coming this time.

There are people from the north, south, and west. They all speak their own local accents and you can easily tell when you hear them. Some of them speak like Korean, and they don’t even listen to every word. Know what it means.

Even people from the south can understand Korean.

However, language barriers do not prevent everyone from understanding each other.

Everyone knows that everyone who comes here has two brushes.

Yang Xiaotao also met Xiaowu, Tang Shanlin.

An eighth-level master fitter from Beisan Machinery.

However, according to Niu Jianfeng's information, the most outstanding person in the Beisan Machinery selection was a middle-aged man named Wan Jiyuan, who was more skilled than Tang Shanlin and ranked first during the selection.

Similarly, there is Chen Chonghan from the south, who comes from Jinling Manufacturing Factory. He is tall and his skills are no worse than Wan Jiyuan.

Although their fame has not spread across the country, they are also well-known locally.

And they are all in the circle, so everyone knows it well.

Yang Xiaotao was walking among a group of middle-aged and elderly people, and heard conversations from time to time, and someone vaguely mentioned his name.

Wang Lian led the way, and everyone followed them towards the canteen.

The decoration is similar to that of the canteen of the steel rolling mill, with long tables and long stools, which can seat three people at a time, and eight or nine people can sit at each table.

Everyone sat down casually, Yang Xiaotao was guarding Liu Daminghou, and there were a few people from Sijiu City.

In a strange environment, people will always choose to gather with people they know. This is called joining a group to keep warm.

Just as everyone was sitting down, three or five people walked in from outside.

The leader's complexion was sallow, his lean face was covered with wrinkles, his big eyes were about to bulge, and the hair on his head was white and gray.

There were several people behind him, all of whom looked malnourished.

This group of people came over and immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Hello everyone!"

Wang Lian stepped forward quickly and began to introduce.

"This is Secretary Wang from our factory, specially here to welcome everyone."

bang bang bang bang

As he spoke, he took the lead in applauding, and everyone quickly stood up. Yang Xiaotao also clapped his hands.

But he didn't notice that Liu Daming was staring at a person in the crowd in a daze.

"Welcome to Jingao, everyone!"

Secretary Wang spoke with a loud voice.

"This time we have gathered everyone from all over the world to entrust you with an important task. I hope you can overcome all difficulties and ensure the successful completion of the task."

"Do you have confidence?"

"have!"

"Okay, this is the spirit of our revolutionary workers."

Secretary Wang said, patting the person in front of him with his tall and thin fingers, "The conditions here are difficult, so everyone must be mentally prepared. If you have any needs in life, you must tell them and we will try our best to meet them..."

Secretary Wang said something and quickly called the factory service staff to start serving food.

Everyone sat down and waited for the meal to begin.

After a while, the food was ready.

Two plates of vegetables, one of fried peanuts and one of fried cabbage, without meat.

Then each person got a big bowl with a ball of ramen inside and a little green onion floating on it.

Sure enough, Yang Xiaotao saw what hard conditions meant.

If Yang Youning entertained a group of eighth-level master chefs in a steel rolling mill, such dishes would be shabby.

A big factory with tens of thousands of people, just giving this to the guests?

No leader with any brain would do this.

And here, that's exactly the case.

It can only be said that these are the best!