Chapter Ten: Running Forward, Unafraid of Cold Eyes and Mockery

  "Old Liu! When did you and everyone arrive?!" Liang Sanping was startled, and immediately rushed to get up.

  "We arrived just when you were complaining about the price not being cheap." However, Liu Lao smiled and waved his hand, sighing: "The disasters of those years took away many things from us. Now we are far behind others..."

  Liang Sanping couldn't help but smile when he heard this. He said to Old Liu, "You're too pessimistic! We are indeed far behind them now, but we've already started catching up. As long as we humble ourselves, learn modestly and work hard, we can still catch up with them!"

  "It's not that easy... Liu Lao looked at the energetic Liang Sanping and sighed: "The difference between us and others is not one or two years, but thirty years, fifty years! How can we catch up just by saying so?"

  Liu Lao's words caused the other elderly scientists present to sigh. Although they were unwilling to admit it, wasn't that indeed the case? The struggles of those years only widened the gap between us and them, who had been ahead of us from the start.

  This gap is enough to make people who have gone out and taken a look at the outside world despair. They feel that they may not be able to catch up with others in this lifetime.

  In fact, it was precisely this mentality that was prevalent and normal back then. Many people who went abroad rarely chose to return home again. Because their subconscious had already told themselves that the country could no longer be glorious. They comforted themselves with the idea that leaving was the wise choice.

  "Run forward, and we will always be able to catch up. Perhaps for a while, we can't catch up, but this gap will get smaller and smaller." Liang Sanping smiled and said: "Instead of using time to lament and regret, it's better to use this time to work hard and catch up."

  "Roads are made by people walking on them. With efforts and moving forward, we at least have goals and hopes. But if we give up, then we will always be left behind!"

  Liang Sanping smiled and said to Liu Lao and others: "When we first established the country, what did we have? We had nothing, almost the entire country was beaten to pieces..."

  "The warlords' infighting is over, and the Japanese have come to attack. After fighting the Japanese, we fought Chiang Kai-shek. From the late Qing dynasty until now, how many times have we fought?! What has our country been reduced to?! I believe you elderly gentlemen are clearer about this than I am."

  "But we still stood up! Not because of anyone's charity, but with our own fists and feet! What about the United Nations forces?! We'll still make them catch us and hold a sports meeting!"

  "What about the White Tiger Regiment?! What about the Polar Bear Regiment?! Their military flags are still on display in our museum!" As soon as Liang Sanping said this, a fierce glint flashed across his eyes.

  "When we were poor and white, we dared to charge forward. Why is it that now when we can independently develop nuclear weapons and launch our own satellites, we have doubts about ourselves?"

  Liang Sanping looked at Liu Lao and others, with an unshakeable determination, threw down this powerful sentence: "I firmly believe in one thing, as long as we are willing to charge forward, no one can stop us!"

  Everyone was stunned, no one had expected this young man to utter such earth-shattering words in one breath. Upon reflection, isn't that the truth?!

  In those days we were poor and weak, who could look down on us? But we still came through, for our dignity we fought against the coalition forces of more than a dozen countries.

  That time, the blood of over a million volunteer soldiers made the world look at us with different eyes for the first time since the late Qing dynasty. We used to be "not allowed to cross the 38th parallel" and were ridiculed by them.

  But after the struggle, we once again say "do not cross the 17th parallel" and they finally began to respect us. This respect is not obtained through charity, but through the blood of those soldiers who fought for their country that year.

  For the sake of dignity, we also had a fight with that old big brother. On Treasure Island, the arrogant old big brother lost a T-62 and more than 50 lives, and retreated in disarray.

  The blood of over thirty martyrs is what allows us to stand on that island without taking a step back.

  Thinking of this country that has been through so much hardship and adversity, which time was it not facing bloodshed and challenges?! Which time was it not for the sake of dignity and survival, roaring with fury and charging forward?!

  "Great!! Haha...…!" Liu suddenly burst out a cheer, and saw him laughing and patting Liang Sanping's shoulder: "We old men are indeed timid! Not as good as you young people! Good! Good!!"

  "After all, we've all grown old. As the First Leader said, this world ultimately still belongs to you young people. With young people like you and Xiaxia around, it's not in vain that our comrades back then made sacrifices and struggled..."

  He paused, but then saw Liu Lao smile and say: "However, big words are easy to say. My little comrade Liang, why don't you tell me how you plan to solve the situation with this heat fog machine?!"

  Liu Lao is not someone who can be fooled by a few boastful words, what you said sounds good, Liang Sanping. But to actually do something, that's the real skill. Who can't brag?

  All talk and no action, this is what Liu Lao and others despise the most.

  "Buy!" Liang Sanping smiled wryly and spread his hands, saying: "What else can we do?! Our domestically produced humidifiers are simply unusable."

  "The spray height is definitely not achievable, and the temperature cannot be controlled. If used forcibly, it may damage the medicinal properties of the powder. Therefore, for now, the best solution is to purchase excellent products from abroad. However, as soon as domestic production produces qualified products, we will immediately switch to domestically made hot fog machines..."

  Liu Lao and others listened, at first they were stunned, then burst into laughter.

  "Haha... I thought our Comrade Liang would have some new ideas! Turns out we still have to go buy imported machines after all!"

  Li Sanping helplessly looked at the group of old men teasing him, shrugged and said: "No way, who made our domestic machines can't meet the usage requirements?! Otherwise, I'd definitely be willing to switch to a domestic one..."

  "Let us finally idealize, let us face reality!" Liang Sanping said with a very cool tone, quoting Che Guevara's famous words to Liu Lao.

  Suddenly, another burst of laughter erupted, and almost everyone was from that era. Che Guevara's famous quotes are naturally known to some extent. This sentence used here is self-deprecating, and it has to be said that it's just right.

  "Xiao Liang, after all, you're still too young, it's normal to not think things through." Liu Lao said with a smile, picking up Liang Sanping's report and taking a look.

  "Recently an American business delegation came to inspect, did you know?!" Liang Sanping nodded upon hearing this, as Xia Zhendong had already mentioned it to him earlier.

  "Our hot fog machine is going to land right on the heads of these Americans!" But then Liu Lao smiled and said, "This time I've put my reputation on the line, I made a guarantee to the department that we can definitely solve the problem of Bai Fenbing."

  "So after discussion in the department, they decided to fully support me. Director Guo went to Tokyo this time just to run back with this project..."

  Xia Zhendong smiled and didn't say a word, but in fact, from Liu Lao to any employee of the two institutes, everyone knew that Director Gou's mind was not on research at all.

  What others are more concerned about is how to climb up rather than making achievements in the two academies of South China. Since Director Gou joined the two academies, he hasn't made much achievement but has received a lot of complaints.

  Sometimes he complains that the two hospitals are located in a remote area, not as prosperous as other areas. Sometimes he complains that the experts at the two hospitals have not achieved any results and let him "waste his time" here without promotion.

  While playing the role of a bully, putting on airs and speaking in an official tone, Director Gou is very skilled. He even takes the opportunity to strike back at some employees who secretly oppose him, and he does it with ease.

  The only thing is that when he does things, basically everything he gets involved in ends up being a mess. Perhaps also knowing that he's not welcome anymore, Director Gu hurriedly went to the Imperial Capital to seek help.

  He finally took himself out of the two hospitals and rushed towards what he thought was "greater glory". And everyone in the two hospitals, from Old Liu down to the workers, couldn't wait for him to get lost.

  As for whether he is rushing towards his ideals or jumping off a cliff, nobody cares.

  "Director Guo has already sent a telegram, and the day after tomorrow he will bring one of the agricultural machinery manufacturers from the business delegation to have a face-to-face talk with us." Liu Lao smiled and said: "As long as the price is not too outrageous, we'll first take a few units back for testing."

  "It's effective, I believe the General Administration and the Ministry will allocate funds for us to purchase a batch of such agricultural machinery...". Liu Lao couldn't help but sigh: "After all, it's because our skills are not up to par! We're far inferior to them, otherwise why would we have to wait for American machines?"

  It's no wonder that Liu Lao and others are sighing like this, China is indeed far behind other countries in the world at this time, whether it's industrial level, agricultural production or light industry.

  The gap with the whole world is not just one level, but a difference of decades. This huge gap sometimes really makes people feel disappointed, even desperate.

  But Liang Sanping was different, he came from a later generation and was very clear that the country would soon grow at a rate of 10% per year. And this period of growth lasted for decades.

  Under the circumstance of astonishing the world, this country slowly moved from 134th place in per capita GDP to 89th place. Even at that time, China's footsteps never stopped.

  Under the gaze of terror or jealousy from all over the world, still walking forward firmly...

  We only need some time, as long as this time is enough. We will be able to rise up and find back that lost glory! Liang Sanping said so in his heart.