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

As dawn broke, when Jiang Fan opened his eyes, he heard Meng Tai squatting at the door, slurping down his thin porridge.

Seeing him push the door open and come out, Meng Tai turned his head and paused for a moment, then grinned and said:

"Comrade Xiao Jiang, when did you get back?"

Jiang Fan chuckled and said that there were some things to do back home, and he had been busy too late when he got back last night. He was afraid of disturbing the old folks' rest, so he didn't dare to make any noise.

Meng Tai didn't ask any further questions, since Jiang Fan was arranged to live here by the factory, and his late return must be for important official business.

He quickly finished the porridge in his bowl, put the empty bowl on the stove, and stood up, saying:

"It's good that you're back! But today I have to go keep an eye on Blast Furnace No. 2. You can go to the factory by yourself; you know the way around well anyway."

Jiang Fan responded and watched Meng Tai leave.

He quickly ate a couple of bites and then headed towards the factory area.

After walking about a mile, I saw Zhou Chunsheng squatting by the road fork, smoking silently, with a water bottle at his feet, his eyes as dark as a panda's.

"Engineer Jiang, you've finally arrived!"

Upon seeing him, Zhou Chunsheng quickly stood up and stubbed out his cigarette.

Just as he had predicted last night, he didn't sleep a wink all night. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with that fireball.

Later, he simply climbed back into the workshop in the middle of the night and re-checked the firing angle adjustment data of the launch tube. He didn't get a full hour of sleep until dawn.

"Zhou, what happened to you? Didn't you sleep all night?" Jiang Fan frowned as he looked at his haggard appearance.

"How can I sleep!" Zhou Chunsheng shook his head with a wry smile.

"You slept soundly, but I had something on my mind all night. You specifically told me last night to go to the steel rolling mill this morning to gather the workers and set up the production line."

"I've been waiting here so eagerly, and you're late!"

Actually, Jiang Fan had a selfish motive for getting up so early to come over.

After the successful live-fire test last night, he was thinking of taking the opportunity to mention the profit sharing of the gas cylinders to Director He.

But after calming down and thinking it over, I realized that it's not realistic at the moment.

Although this method was proposed by myself, there is no return on investment yet. The new China is in dire need of reconstruction and its income is insufficient to cover its expenses.

At this point, if one only cares about their own family and not the greater good, it would inevitably seem like they are not a proper person, and it would be difficult to bring it up.

So he decided to settle for second best and thought of using his position to get his great-grandfather transferred to the gas cylinder production team so he could learn this core technology properly.

After all, gas cylinders are a hard currency that will not be phased out for decades to come, and many households will still be using them even in 2026.

Mastering this skill in this era will definitely make you a senior employee in the factory, guaranteeing a steady income.

As for profit sharing, we can discuss that later when we've actually earned real foreign exchange.

That's why this scene happened.

"Alright, alright, let's go. Let's finish this quickly so you can go back and rest."

"Let's go, let's go."

...

A dozen minutes later, Jiang Fan followed Zhou Chunsheng onto the commuter train, which swayed all the way to the medium-sized steel rolling mill.

As soon as he entered the factory area, Jiang Fan's eyes began to wander around.

The workers arrived quite early and were cleaning up the scraps in the corners. Some were wiping down the equipment, while others sat in twos and threes against the wall, smoking and taking a break.

But Jiang Fan carefully scanned the area and couldn't find his great-grandfather, Jiang Daiji, anywhere.

Logically speaking, it's time to start work, and given my great-grandfather's old-fashioned worker style, he would never be late or leave early.

With doubts in his mind, Jiang Fan walked straight towards the group of workers resting against the wall and casually asked:

"Masters, is Master Jiang Daiji not here to work today?"

An old worker looked up at him, shook his head, and replied:

"You mean Old Jiang? I haven't seen him at the factory for several days. I heard it's an emergency at home."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan was startled, but he remained outwardly calm, suppressing his doubts, and nodded.

"Okay, then, you can get back to work, thank you."

He spoke lightly, but his mind was in turmoil.

Haven't been here for several days? What happened? Are you sick, or have you encountered some other trouble?

Jiang Fan couldn't wait to rush to his great-grandfather's house to find out what was going on.

Right now, forty or fifty workers in the steel rolling mill are eagerly waiting to start work, and Zhou Chunsheng is also waiting for him to give orders. He can't let public and private matters interfere with each other.

Jiang Fanshen had no choice but to suppress his eagerness and turn to walk deeper into the workshop.

After carefully inspecting the workshop and confirming that there were no major problems with the machinery and equipment, Jiang Fan asked Zhou Chunsheng to gather all the workers from the steel rolling mill.

The news spread quickly, and before long, workers from inside and outside the steel rolling mill had gathered in a wide open space.

There were young men in their early twenties and older workers in their fifties, a total of forty or fifty people, standing in rows, crammed together.

Everyone's faces were filled with barely suppressed curiosity and anticipation, after all, they were the first batch of medium-sized steel rolling mill workers on whom the entire factory placed high hopes.

A buzzing sound arose from the crowd, with people whispering among themselves.

"I heard they're really going to start production, but I wonder what kind of large items they'll be making?"

"Who cares what it's doing? I've been looking forward to this day for ages. If this machine doesn't stop moving soon, it'll rust."

"I wonder if they'll be electing a team leader and a foreman today. If they are, I'll see if I can win one..."

Jiang Fan stood on the high platform at the front, while Zhou Chunsheng stood behind him and took out the roster from the initial registration, calling out names one by one.

Once the murmurs from the crowd below had subsided, Jiang Fan cleared his throat and spoke loudly:

"Masters, I've gathered you all here today to announce just one thing."

"Our steel rolling mill will officially start production starting today."

"The first core product we're going to make is called a gas cylinder."

"This is related to our country's subsequent export earnings and support for frontline operations."

"The political task is extremely heavy, but everyone can rest assured. As long as we strictly follow the production procedures, there will be no shortage of work, and everyone will be paid what they are owed."

"A gas cylinder? What's that?"

"Who cares? We'll just go wherever the officials tell us to go!"

As soon as Jiang Fan finished speaking, the crowd below erupted in chatter, discussing this novel gadget.

Just then, a burly middle-aged worker immediately raised his hand and shouted in a loud voice:

"Boss, now that we're starting work, shouldn't our workshop first select a few team leaders and foremen?"

"Even fighting a war requires platoon leaders and company commanders; we need someone to lead us. We can't expect the leaders to personally direct everything, big or small, can we?"