Returning to 1949, I decided to hand it over to the state.

Indeed, those who have courage will have opportunities.

As soon as Chief Li finished speaking, Jiang Fan's heart, which had been hanging in his throat, finally settled back down a little.

If you can strike up a conversation, the deal is already half done.

He glanced around at the crowd, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible, and began to speak:

"Distinguished leaders."

Before discussing specific product solutions, I would like to give you leaders a lesson.

These words instantly created a subtle atmosphere in the room, which had been filled with anticipation and encouragement.

A look of surprise flashed across the eyes of many of the veteran cadres.

Attend class?

To teach veteran revolutionaries like Chief Li and Factory Director He, who had crawled out of piles of corpses and were used to storms, a lesson?

Isn't this young man a bit too bold?

But only Jiang Fan himself knew that this was by no means an act of arrogance or audacity.

He's a modern working man, and he understands all too well the essence of "reporting upwards."

He simply felt it was absolutely necessary to first make the leaders aware of a fundamental logic:

Why is this worth doing, and what are its prospects?

If you suddenly and abruptly introduce the concept of a "gas cylinder" without establishing a basic understanding of it, then in the eyes of these older comrades, this thing is at most a "big iron canister for storing gas".

They could hardly see at a glance what necessary connection this iron can had with the recovery of Anshan Iron and Steel Group and the future of China's industrial economy.

If you don't set a high bar first, your practical skills will easily be underestimated later on.

However, the leaders obviously didn't take the phrase "class" too seriously.

An older colleague from the technical department chuckled and shook his head slightly, probably thinking that this young man who had just returned from abroad was a bit arrogant and naive, but also kind of cute.

But Chief Li didn't smile. He looked intently at Jiang Fan, nodded slightly, and his tone remained encouraging:

"OK."

"Then tell me."

With that reassurance, Jiang Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He turned to look at Zhou Chunsheng standing beside him and asked in a low voice:

"Mr. Zhou, do you have a lithograph in your toolbox? Can I borrow it?"

Zhou Chunsheng was stunned for a moment, wondering what kind of show they were going to put on now.

However, he still deftly pulled a small, finger-length white slate pencil from his bag, handed it over, and whispered a reminder:

"Be careful, don't break it, there's only this piece left."

"rest assured."

Jiang Fan took the stone pen, said nothing more, squatted down, and looked at the ground.

The floor of this workshop was not the smooth epoxy flooring of later generations; it was made of pure cement, and due to its age and the weight of heavy objects, some areas were even pitted and uneven.

However, it's more than enough for writing with a slate pencil.

Holding the slate pencil, he quickly wrote three large characters on the gray-black cement floor:

"Added value!"

After writing those three words, he stood up and met everyone's gaze with a calm expression.

"Distinguished leaders, what I want to say boils down to these three words."

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

The cadres, who had been wearing casual smiles, all craned their necks, their eyes fixed on the three white characters on the cement floor.

Clearly, this term, which leans towards modern economics, is still somewhat unfamiliar to most of the people present at the time.

Zhou Chunsheng, who was standing next to him, lit up slightly when he saw those three words.

He certainly knew what "added value" meant, but he never expected that Jiang Fan would throw out a core economic concept right off the bat during an industrial inspection.

Chief Li remained calm. He looked at the words on the ground, but didn't rush to comment. He waited for Jiang Fan to continue.

Seeing that everyone's curiosity had indeed been piqued, Jiang Fan began to speak slowly and deliberately:

"This added value is the increase in value of something through effective labor."

"Our Ansteel is currently engaged in steelmaking and ironmaking, which is the foundation and the basis of our heavy industry, that's right."

"But simply producing molten iron and steel billets is far from enough, because those are just raw materials, not finished products. Selling raw materials alone is not worth much money."

"The value of raw materials is limited, but if you process them into something that can be used directly, its value changes completely."

He paused, looked up at the crowd, and tried his best to explain the originally abstract concept in a more accessible way.

"Let me give you the simplest example."

"For example, a piece of fabric might only cost a few cents to make, but if you put in the effort to cut and sew it into a beautiful garment, it can sell for several dollars more."

"What are those extra few dollars? They're added value!"

"This is how technology is monetized, turning a piece of cloth into a wearable garment. This is the new value created by adding our labor, skills, and technology."

Jiang Fan spoke slowly and clearly, trying his best to make sure these veteran leaders understood him perfectly.

Sure enough, the cadres, who had been somewhat confused and frowning in thought, gradually relaxed a bit.

Oh... to put it simply, it means deep processing!

Chief Li remained silent, but shifted his gaze from those three words back to Jiang Fan's face, nodding slightly to signal him to continue.

Seeing this, Jiang Fan continued down the line:

"Therefore, if we want Ansteel to truly make money and truly develop on its own, we cannot be satisfied with just being able to produce steel and iron."

"We must use our brains to develop high-tech end products, so that every ton of steel we produce can generate higher added value during processing!"

As he spoke, he squatted down again and drew an upward arrow above the words "added value" with a slate pencil.

"Only in this way can we turn steel into money, and then turn that money into new equipment, new technologies, and new production capacity. And then turn that production capacity into even more money."

"This is a virtuous cycle that allows Ansteel to continuously grow stronger!"

After saying this, he stood up, secretly glancing at the expressions of the leaders out of the corner of his eye.

The veteran cadres all frowned, clearly processing Jiang Fan's words rapidly in their minds.

Even Director He, who had been quite calm, turned his head slightly, gently stroking his chin with his fingers, revealing a thoughtful expression.

The scene was quiet for about seven or eight seconds.

Seeing that the atmosphere was somewhat tense, Zhou Chunsheng spoke first.

"Mr. Jiang, what you just mentioned is something I encountered when I was studying abroad."