Sent to Intern at the First Ministry of Machine Building, You Became the Chief Engineer?

In 1958, China stood at a critical crossroads. It was an era defined by fervent passion yet plagued by severe technological scarcity. With Western nations imposing strict blockades and the Soviet Union withdrawing its experts, the nation faced the urgent challenge of strengthening its industrial backbone. Amidst this turmoil, Chen Weidong, a standout student from Northern University of Technology, forsakes the comfort of staying on as faculty to plunge directly into the heart of the First Ministry of Machine Building. Driven by the belief that knowledge must be forged like molten steel into the furnace of national construction, he commits himself to the gritty reality of industrial development. Facing a lack of high-precision equipment, Chen relies on his exceptional skill and ingenuity to manually craft high-precision heating elements. When deprived of core technologies, he single-handedly reverse-engineers the Soviet Union’s most advanced boring machines. His journey transforms the landscape of domestic industry, progressing from the creation of the first electric heating element to the development of China’s first domestically produced CNC machine tool, and ultimately contributing to the breakthrough of the ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press. By injecting forward-thinking expertise into a resource-poor environment, Chen powers the nation’s industrial engine. While his neighbors in the Red Star apartment complex remain preoccupied with trivial daily disputes, Chen’s name is quietly added to the state’s top-secret scientific research roster, embodying the vital mission of turning textbook theories into workshop machinery and agricultural prosperity.