Being contradicted in front of so many people, the Deputy Director looked rather embarrassed.

Noticing his sour expression, the President of the Industry and Communications Office sighed. "We thought you knew. We had no idea you didn’t." ’How could he be unaware of something so important, something that caused such a huge stir?’

’His ignorance meant he hadn’t done his job properly. They couldn’t be blamed for not deferring to him.’

The Deputy Director’s expression was now beyond ugly. He turned to look at Professor Fortes beside him. Professor Fortes had invited him out for drinks last night...

Fortes sensed the Deputy Director’s gaze and turned his head.

He was met with the Deputy Director’s unpleasant look. He frowned slightly. "Qi, why are you looking at me like that?" His tone was not friendly. As the translator standing behind him relayed the words, he couldn’t help but wipe the sweat from his brow.

The previous translator had been bullied into quitting. He had only found out after taking this temporary job that he would have to serve these pampered masters.

The moment he saw them, his first instinct had been to refuse the job as well.

But the Deputy Director gave him no chance to refuse, so he could only bite the bullet and accept.

Now, having to translate what happened yesterday for Professor Fortes and the Deputy Director, he was under immense pressure. ’I don’t want to get beaten up!’

The Deputy Director didn’t answer Professor Fortes. Instead, he first had someone brief him on yesterday’s events. Only then did he sigh and speak to the professor.

"I’m very sorry, Professor Fortes, but what you did yesterday was too offensive to the people of China. We have decided to refuse your appointment as judges for this competition."

After he finished speaking, the Deputy Director had his men politely escort the group away.

Fortes’s face darkened. "Qi, you’d better think this through. Once I walk out of here today, do you have any idea what problems China will face!"

The company he represented was the largest purchaser of machinery in China.

’I hope he doesn’t regret this!’

Deputy Director Qi was indeed worried, but his own countrymen were what mattered most...

He closed his eyes. "Get them out!"

For this mistake, he would go to his superiors and admit his fault as soon as he got back. He could make a mistake, but he couldn’t compound the error! 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"I knew you wouldn’t let him be a judge for our China competition." A satisfied look appeared on the face of the President of the Industry and Communications Office. She didn’t like those foreigners either, but sometimes the country’s development depended on them.

It was something that couldn’t be helped.

"Alright, with that interruption over, let’s start discussing the competition schedule!"

While the Deputy Director remained silent, the President of the Industry and Communications Office took control of the meeting. She began introducing the competition’s structure to the many factory directors and contestants present.

The competition was divided into two stages.

The first was a domestic contest, and the second was a special assignment related to strategic military aircraft.

The contest was to better assess the skill level of the younger generation in the nation’s factories and see if they had the ability to take up the mantle!

The strategic military aircraft task, on the other hand, was to identify young people with the potential to be cultivated as engineers. If any emerged, leaders from the relevant departments would provide technical support and training.

They would be mentored and guided to become top-tier chief engineers!

The meeting was a bit long, lasting over three hours.

With so many factories participating, the higher-ups needed to control every detail, so they emphasized many different points during the meeting.

"Three days from now, we will hold the first round of the competition in this arena. We’ll see you all here. Be there or be square!"

"Meeting adjourned!"

As they left the conference hall, everyone except for Xie Changning—including the two factory directors—was thrilled.

The reason for their excitement wasn’t the competition itself, but the special assignment.

It was a test of the designer’s ability within the team.

And with an all-around designer like Xie Changning on their team, it would be hard not to stand out from the crowd.

"Don’t celebrate too early. There are so many people across the country; there are bound to be many capable individuals," Xie Changning said, feeling no pride, only a sense of gravity.

’For the country to be selecting engineers this way, it means the relevant departments are running out of new ideas.’

’They’ve hit a bottleneck...’

「Three days passed in a flash.」 Early in the morning, Xie Changning, dressed in work clothes, led her two teams to the competition venue.

Unlike the sea of white shirts and green military-style trousers from that day, today the workers were all neatly dressed in their own factory uniforms. Every one of them was full of fighting spirit and vibrant energy.

They were filled with bright hopes for the future.

Xie Changning was infected by the lively atmosphere, and her blood began to burn with excitement. She, too, started looking forward to the competition.

The first event was small-scale mold making, a contest for the machinists from several major factories.

Yes, molds for miscellaneous parts, like screws and other small components.

While they competed in the center of the arena, the other machinists who weren’t participating all crowded around to watch, hoping to pick up a few skills from them.

Even Li Minghe from the Chuncheng Screw Factory was no exception.

He squeezed into the crowd, his eyes glued to the machinists competing not far away.

The young machinists from the big factories were often the children of the workers there. Having learned by observation and osmosis since childhood, their fundamental skills were much better than the average machinist’s.

Even though Li Minghe came from a similar background, he wasn’t willing to pass up an opportunity to learn.

Everyone started cheering for their own factories, and for a moment, the venue became noisy. It wasn’t until a leader stepped in to quiet things down that the cheering stopped.

The machinist competition was a long one. Nearly six hours passed before it finally entered its final stages.

A total of twelve Level 3 Machinists had produced twelve micro-molds, all of them usable products. A leader took on the role of auctioneer. "Factories that need these molds, stand up!"

"Do you want to own these molds!?"

"If you do, then line up for the auction!"

The directors of the factories that needed them all stood up. Wang Lisheng joined in, stepping forward and following the crowd to inspect the quality of the molds.

Everyone examined them with great care.

Because it was an auction where the highest bidder would win, they had to choose the molds they needed carefully.

After everyone had finished their inspection, the experts brought by the leaders entered the arena to compare and score the molds.

The scoring was not made public; it would only be revealed after the auction.

Everyone was eager to see whose mold would sell for the highest price and who would receive the highest score.

The factory directors were mostly from worker backgrounds and understood molds well. They basically already had a good idea of the quality, so the auction went very smoothly.

All the bids were within a reasonable range, with no inflated prices.

After the auction ended, the leaders announced the top three molds. They were all from well-known major factories, with Hongqi, in particular, taking first place.

The second event was the competition between the various machine tool factories. Xie Changning stood up and followed the others to the center of the arena.

Her good looks, combined with her role as a team leader, instantly drew everyone’s attention.