A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

Before dawn, Han Jidong arrived at the airport runway early to begin his day's work. After all, there were only thirty days left, and he had to make the most of every second.

It wasn't enough for him to act alone; he asked everyone else to work overtime as well, so that the place could meet the sea trial standards as soon as possible.

Han Jidong shouted at the top of his lungs at Lao Zhang, who was picking up pebbles on the track: "Lao Zhang, hurry up!"

This runway is crucial for aircraft takeoffs and landings. If an accident occurs because of a little bit of debris, it would be a matter of life and death, and none of us can afford the responsibility!

While continuing to pick up the rubble, Old Zhang replied breathlessly, "Director Han, I'm already going fast enough. This track is so long, I can't manage it all by myself!"

Han Jidong looked around and then called out, "Old Li, stop what you're doing and quickly bring two people over to help Old Zhang pick up the rubble, and speed things up!"

After finishing his work here, Han Jidong rushed to the equipment area to check the wiring. He instructed Lao Li, who was in charge of the inspection, "Lao Li, the wiring must be checked carefully. Don't overlook any detail; even the slightest wear and tear could cause a big problem."

"Director Han, don't worry, I will check it carefully. However, the wiring of this equipment is too complicated, and with only a few of us checking, the progress is a bit slow."

"I know it's difficult, but we have no way out but to work harder. Xiao Wang, come with me, let's connect with resources and see if we can find more manpower to help."

After finishing all that, Han Jidong returned to his office. Before he even had a sip of water, he immediately called his superiors, hoping to request some manpower.

When the call connected, Han Jidong's tone was full of anxiety and helplessness: "Boss, could you please allocate some more manpower for us? With just a few of us, we're overwhelmed with picking up rubble, inspecting equipment, and handling all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. If you don't provide more people, the airport construction schedule will be delayed!"

However, the leader's troubled voice came from the other end of the phone: "Ji Dong, I know you're working hard, but there are limited spots available right now, and people are short of staff everywhere. Just try to persevere and hold on. Once there are spots available, I'll approve yours first."

Han Jidong sighed, feeling utterly disappointed, but could only helplessly say, "Alright, boss, I understand. We'll find a way to overcome this."

After finishing his daytime work, while everyone else went home to rest, Han Jidong still had to stay up all night, working tirelessly on the English instruction manual for the snowplow.

He sat at the table piled high with documents, a dictionary in one hand and scribbling on the instruction manual with the other, muttering to himself, "What does this mean? I've been looking it up for ages and still can't understand it. It's driving me crazy!"

His fingers were blistered from studying for long periods of time.

He grabbed a band-aid and wrapped it around his head a few times, gritting his teeth: "If no one can do it for me, and I don't, this snowplow worth hundreds of thousands will just be scrap metal!"

When he encountered a technical term he wasn't sure about, he would bite the bullet and call his colleague in Dalian: "Dude, I'm really sorry to bother you, it's so late."

I'm translating the snowplow's instruction manual and I've run into a problem: what exactly does "snowplow device pressure threshold" mean? I've looked it up in the dictionary for ages, but I still don't understand.

On the other end of the phone, Expert Wang patiently explained, while Han Jidong listened and kept responding, "Oh, I see, I understand. Thank you so much, Expert Wang! I'm sorry to have taken up your time."

Sometimes, if a question pops into his head late at night, he doesn't care about the time and just dials: "Sorry to bother you in the middle of the night, I just wanted to ask if this is the correct procedure... I'm afraid I'll misunderstand and affect the work later."

After we finished chatting, we checked the time and it was already past midnight.

After all this back and forth, he joked, "When I was a manager, I didn't have to put in so much effort to talk. Now, I'm a technician, and I have to deal with dictionaries and experts every day."

After countless days and nights of agonizing effort, Han Jidong finally translated some of the key operating points. He didn't have time to rest and was eager to strike while the iron was hot, so he personally tried operating the snowplow.

He stood beside the snowplow, checking the key points while muttering to himself, "This is the start button, that's the adjustment button, it should be fine..."

Having come from a management background, he had very little practical experience and was not familiar enough with the button functions. As soon as he touched the button, the snowplow began to shake uncontrollably.

Immediately afterwards, a sharp, piercing alarm shattered the tranquility of the airport.

Just as he pressed the start button, his hand trembled, and he accidentally pressed the emergency stop switch.

Han Jidong stared blankly at the stopped snowplow, muttering to himself, "Damn it! Why did it alarm? What are we going to do?"

Several long-time employees who stayed to work overtime heard the alarm and began to whisper among themselves.

"Oh, I thought he was some big shot in management. Turns out he can't even handle this foreign equipment. He's been messing around for so long, and all that work for nothing!"

Old Li chimed in, "Exactly! He hasn't even figured out his management job yet, and he's already meddling in technical matters. Isn't that just making things worse? Now look how he's going to clean up this mess."

Although Han Jidong couldn't hear the discussions, he still felt uncomfortable seeing everyone gathering around, wishing he could disappear into the ground.

He turned around, opened his mouth, hesitated for a long time, and finally squeezed out, "I have no choice. Nobody knows the technology. If I don't do it myself, am I just supposed to wait around? Will this airport even open?"

After saying that, he walked heavily into the office.

Han Jidong took out his phone to check the time, but the screen suddenly lit up; it was a WeChat video request from his daughter.

He quickly wiped his face, forced a smile, and answered the video call.

On the screen, his daughter, with two little braids, rosy cheeks, and big, round eyes, looked at him and asked, "Daddy, what are you doing? You haven't video chatted with me for days. Don't you miss me?"

Han Jidong's throat tightened, and the grievances he had just held back surged up instantly. "No, Dad is busy with work. There are a lot of things to deal with at the airport, so I didn't have time to video chat with you."

"What kind of work are you busy with? Are you repairing a large aircraft?"

The daughter asked curiously, "Daddy, when will you fix it? You promised me that when the airport opens, you'll take me to watch the planes take off, and you'll take me to the amusement park!"

Hearing his daughter's innocent voice, Han Jidong felt as if his heart was being pricked by needles.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say that his father would fix it soon, but when he thought about how he couldn't even operate a snowplow properly and couldn't even understand the English instruction manual, he swallowed his words.

He could only vaguely say, "Soon, Dad will try a little harder and soon I'll be able to take you to see airplanes."

"Very good!"

The daughter's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter. "Daddy, I drew a picture for you. I'm sending it to you now, you have to see it! There's an airplane in the picture, and a message I wrote for you!"