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

Jiang Fan hurried to the gate of the machining workshop.

His eyes quickly scanned the workshop, but he couldn't find Zhou Chunsheng at all.

"Comrade!" Jiang Fan grabbed a passing worker and asked urgently, "Have you seen Engineer Zhou? Where is he?"

The worker looked up and saw it was "Engineer Jiang," the factory's rising star these past few days. He shook his head憨厚ly.

"Zhou? I haven't seen him. He did come by this morning, carrying that silver tin can that was made yesterday, and left in a hurry."

Jiang Fan thanked him, but couldn't help feeling annoyed that he couldn't find anyone at such a critical moment!

He turned around to look for other workshops when he bumped into Song Ningyi, who was carrying a stack of documents.

Seeing Jiang Fan's hurried and sweaty appearance, Song Ningyi couldn't help but laugh and call out:

"Engineer Jiang, what's wrong? You look like you're in a real emergency, what are you looking for?"

Jiang Fan was running too fast at first and didn't see her. He only stopped abruptly after being called out and blurted out urgently:

"Comrade Song, do you know where Engineer Zhou went?"

Seeing the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, Song Ningyi knew he was truly anxious. Without further ado, she immediately pointed in a direction:

"Engineer Zhou is in the small white building. I just saw him carrying a big iron can in; he said he was going to show it to Factory Director He. You'd better hurry..."

Thanks!

Before Song Ningyi could even finish saying "go," Jiang Fan had already dashed several steps away.

Song Ningyi stood there, stunned, watching his hurried figure disappear in a few quick steps, and couldn't help but mutter to herself:

"It's strange, Engineer Zhou is rushing around like a madman this morning, but Engineer Jiang is acting like he's in a hurry to be reborn..."

She shook her head, hugged the documents tightly again, and went back to work.

Jiang Fan ran back to the Little White Building in one breath.

The oppressive atmosphere of yesterday, with its heavy guns, had completely dissipated in the second-floor corridor, and the guards standing at the door had also disappeared.

It seems that Chief Li did not change his itinerary after receiving the news.

Jiang Fan strode to the factory director's office door, and before he could knock, He Xiying's laughter came from inside:

"...Zhou, Comrade Jiang just returned from abroad and hasn't adjusted to the time difference or the change in environment yet. You all stayed up late last night, so let him rest first. Once he's awake, you can discuss the next steps of the plan..."

Jiang Fan didn't bother to listen carefully and pushed open the office door.

"Factory Manager... Engineer Zhou..."

The two people inside the room turned their heads at the same time.

He Xiying sat behind her desk, a cigarette between her fingers. When she saw Jiang Fan's appearance, her eyes showed a hint of surprise.

Zhou Chunsheng stood by the table, with the silver-gray tin can between them.

This is the first gas cylinder sample that was welded just yesterday.

"Hey? Engineer Jiang!" Zhou Chunsheng greeted him with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why are you here? I ran into Master Meng this morning, and he said you didn't go home until almost dawn. What were you doing last night? Didn't we leave work together?"

Jiang Fan finally caught his breath and stood up straight:

"It's nothing. I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about that chemical extraction process. So I went back to the third floor of the Little White Building and wrote the whole process on the blackboard."

"Mr. Zhou, do you have time now? Come upstairs with me quickly, I need to explain this to you in person."

Seeing Jiang Fan's flustered and red-faced appearance, He Xiying couldn't help but say:

"You, Comrade Jiang! It's good that young people are energetic, but you can't push yourself to the point of exhaustion."

"No matter how big the problem is, you have to take care of your health first. Sit down and rest, have some water and then we'll talk."

Jiang Fan waved his hands repeatedly:

"Director He, I'm really fine. I'm just worried that things might get complicated if I delay!"

"Think about it, Chief Li said yesterday that we'll have results within a week. If we do find an oil field, but our extraction technology isn't up to par, wouldn't that be a complete waste?"

He then turned to Zhou Chunsheng and said, "Engineer Zhou, let's go, we really can't afford to be delayed any longer!"

Zhou Chunsheng and He Xiying exchanged a glance.

Seeing the young man's stubborn and unyielding demeanor, He Xiying knew she couldn't persuade him, so she nodded to Zhou Chunsheng:

"Alright, since Comrade Jiang is so concerned, Engineer Zhou, you go up with him. You young people can do your thing. But let me make it clear, you must be there on time when the canteen opens."

"Yes, factory manager."

Zhou Chunsheng was somewhat helpless; he simply couldn't understand why Jiang Fan was in such a hurry.

But since the factory manager had spoken, he had no choice but to take his bag and follow Jiang Fan out the door.

The two walked quickly up to the third floor, one after the other, and pushed open the door to the literacy class classroom.

The chemical process diagrams and formulas that Jiang Fan had worked on last night are still on the blackboard.

The moment Zhou Chunsheng entered the room, his gaze was instantly fixed on something.

He squinted, scanning himself from head to toe. The more he looked, the more his brows furrowed. Finally, he scratched the back of his head in frustration.

"Engineer Jiang, what...what are all these things?"

Without wasting words, Jiang Fan walked straight to the blackboard, picked up the chalk, and slammed it heavily onto the drawing:

"We made the tank yesterday, that's right, but the tank alone is useless. When people buy it, they need fuel inside to start a fire. This blackboard shows the whole process of how to use the oil absorption method to extract liquefied gas from associated gas in the oil field."

With time running out, Jiang Fan immediately began to explain the principles in detail.

However, chemical engineering was a fatal weakness for Zhou Chunsheng, a pure mechanical engineer.

He had never even heard of alkanes, dew point, or absorption and desorption, let alone understood them.

But Zhou Chunsheng knew the strategic value of this thing.

He abandoned his casual attitude, took out a pen and notebook from his pocket, moved a stool to the front, and listened while rapidly memorizing the text, occasionally looking up to interrupt and ask questions.

"Engineer Jiang, is the absorption tower you drew a packed structure or a plate structure? What's the ideal ratio of diesel fuel as the absorbent to the feed gas?"

These technical questions startled Jiang Fan slightly, but he tried his best to answer them in the simplest, most mechanical language:

"A packed plate will do. Our current machine tools can't produce overly complex distillation plates. Don't be too strict about the ratio; start with a 1:1 volume ratio. If absorption isn't complete, fine-tune it gradually. Just control the temperature well. If it's too high, the gas will escape too quickly; if it's too low, the diesel fuel will freeze and won't be able to be absorbed!"

The two of them were like this: one was talking frantically on stage, and the other was taking notes frantically offstage.

In the blink of an eye, more than four hours had passed.

Zhou Chunsheng's notebook was filled with notes, and he marked every operational point Jiang Fan mentioned and every potential pitfall with a star as a note.

As soon as Jiang Fan finished speaking the last word and Zhou Chunsheng closed his notebook, he felt a throbbing sensation in his temples, and all he could see when he closed his eyes were blurry chemical formulas.