A Tale of Two Cities Supporting Xinjiang

Han Jidong had just pressed down the last piece of waterproof tarpaulin with the markings when he heard the sound of a car engine.

He straightened up, rubbed his aching back, and looked up to see the Civil Aviation Administration's review vehicle parked not far away. Team Leader Wang and two team members walked over quickly.

"Team Leader Wang, you've arrived."

Without exchanging pleasantries, Team Leader Wang headed straight for the cotton farmer's passage. "Take a close look here. I heard there was a problem with the signage, so I'm here to check on the rectification."

As he spoke, he walked straight to the sign for the cotton farmers' passage, squatted down, and examined it carefully.

Han Jidong's heart jumped into his throat. He saw Team Leader Wang tug hard at the edge of the sign and then touch the red paint that had been applied.

"The red paint was repaired quite neatly, and it's clear to look at."

Team Leader Wang made a casual remark and then shifted his gaze to the area below the sign.

When he saw the pre-installed expansion joint, his eyes lit up, and he measured its width with his hand: "They even considered low-temperature shrinkage and included an expansion joint?"

"Yes, Lao Xue, who was purchasing materials before, specifically reminded us that if expansion joints are not left at low temperatures, the markings are prone to cracking and falling off," Han Jidong quickly explained.

Team Leader Wang nodded, a look of approval on his face. "The details were handled well; the rectification is satisfactory!"

Han Jidong and his colleagues also smiled with joy, their days of hard work and late nights had finally paid off.

Before Han Jidong could announce the good news, Team Leader Wang suddenly changed the subject: "However, don't be too happy yet. Launching a ship is no small matter; just having the markings approved isn't enough."

Team Leader Wang's tone became serious: "Before the departure, you must complete three full-process simulation exercises, especially the diversion of passengers and cotton farmers' vehicles, which must be done with zero omissions and zero errors."

We will assign dedicated personnel to supervise the entire process; the ship can only officially commence operations if there are no problems.

Han Jidong immediately responded, "No problem, Team Leader Wang. We'll organize the manpower and arrange the drill right away to ensure the mission is completed!"

Watching the inspection vehicle drive away, Han Jidong turned around to gather his colleagues to arrange the drill, but as soon as he opened his mouth, everything went black before his eyes, and a dizzying sensation swept over him, causing his body to fall uncontrollably to the side.

"director!"

Chen Qiang, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and rushed forward to steady him, asking anxiously, "What's wrong? Didn't you get enough rest again?"

Han Jidong leaned on Chen Qiang and it took him a while to regain consciousness. He waved his hand, trying to say that he was fine, but he didn't even have the strength to speak.

Seeing this, Chen Qiang quickly asked the doctor in the infirmary to bring a blood pressure monitor and put it on Han Jidong's arm.

When the blood pressure monitor showed a reading of 190, Chen Qiang's expression changed drastically, and his voice rose several decibels: "Director, your blood pressure has spiked to 190! You need to come to the hospital immediately for a full checkup!"

"No, the drills haven't been scheduled yet..."

"There are still three drills to go, and I need to explain the details of the flow control and the guidance process to everyone. I can't leave."

"We have to go, even if we can't!"

Chen Qiang's tone left no room for argument: "If you collapse, who will keep an eye on Kaihang? I'm telling you, you have to go to this hospital today!"

Colleagues gathered around, all urging, "Director, just listen to Chen Qiang and go to the hospital to get it checked out!"

"We'll cooperate well with Chen Qiang on the drills, and we'll definitely be able to do a good job."

"Health is the most important thing, we can't push ourselves too hard. We'll take care of the launch."

Han Jidong pulled out a crumpled drill procedure sheet from his pocket, stuffed it into Chen Qiang's hand, and repeatedly instructed: "Follow this, and keep a close eye on the diversion of cotton farmers' vehicles."

The guides' gestures and routes must be consistent; make sure the cotton farmers' vehicles don't go the wrong way. Also, have Aikberjan keep a close eye on the herders' area, so they don't panic because of the drill.

"Don't worry, Director! I've got all of that in mind. I'll make sure everything is arranged perfectly and there won't be any mistakes."

After Han Jidong finished receiving his last IV drip at the hospital, the nurse had just removed the needle when he lifted the blanket to get out of bed.

Chen Qiang, who was standing nearby, quickly stopped him, "Director, the doctor said your blood pressure has just stabilized, you need to rest a little longer!"

Han Jidong waved his hand as he put on his coat, "We can't rest. This third simulation exercise is the last one, so we have to keep a close eye on it. If something goes wrong and affects the departure, the herders' cotton will be delayed."

Chen Qiang knew his temper and couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he could only sigh and say, "Fine, I'll send two colleagues with you to follow you the whole time. You have to promise me you won't push yourself too hard, and you'll rest when you're tired, or I'll call my superiors directly."

When we arrived at the airport, the first two drills had just ended, and everyone was squatting down to rest.

Han Jidong asked, "How's the triage process going? No problems, right?"

"The first two went smoothly."

Chen Qiang pointed to a spot not far away, "The guiding gestures aren't quite right, the movements are a bit unsteady. We're about to start the third and final round, so we need to keep a close eye on these details and not make the slightest mistake."

Everything went smoothly at first, with guides directing vehicles to pass in an orderly manner and traffic diversion proceeding smoothly.

But just as the cotton farmers' vehicles were about to enter the designated lane, an accident suddenly occurred.

A young colleague wearing glasses, in his haste, somehow managed to lead a group of vehicles carrying cotton toward the passenger passage.

The cars behind didn't follow the instructions, and chaos ensued instantly, turning the originally smooth line into a complete mess.

The young colleague froze on the spot, his hand still in the guiding gesture.

Chen Qiang's temper flared up immediately, and he raised his leg to step forward and criticize him.

"etc."

Han Jidong reached out to stop Chen Qiang and quickly walked to his young colleague's side. "Don't panic, it's okay."

It's normal to be nervous participating in such an important drill for the first time. Everyone makes mistakes. Just correct them.

Han Jidong smiled, pulled him to the fork in the passage, and stretched out his arm to demonstrate, "Look, the red arrow points to the left, this is the cotton farmer passage; the blue arrow points to the right, this is the passenger passage."

The hand gestures must be steady, and the directions must be clear and unambiguous; otherwise, the driver will not be able to see clearly and will easily become confused.

He thought for a moment and came up with a simple and easy-to-remember rhyme: "Red arrow points to the left, cotton farmers' passage stays on track; blue arrow points to the right, passenger passage runs smoothly."

After reading it twice, he turned to his young colleague and asked, "Is it easy to remember? Read it after me once."

"Director, easy to remember. I've got it; I'm sure I won't make a mistake this time!"

The drill restarted, and this time it went smoothly without any further mishaps.

After the last vehicle successfully passed through the diversion lane, Chen Qiang announced the end of the drill; it was already dark.

The temperature dropped sharply, and my colleagues quickly wrapped their coats tighter, their breath coming out in plumes of white vapor.

Han Jidong took out a stack of hand warmers from his bag and distributed them to everyone.

When he walked over to the young colleague who had made the mistake earlier, he personally placed a hand warmer on the young man's back, patted him, and said, "It's cold, put these on to warm yourselves up."

"Let's warm up first so we have the energy to work and ensure the herders' cotton can be transported out smoothly."

The next morning, Han Jidong arrived at the airport an hour early.

As soon as I reached the door, I saw several familiar figures carrying large and small bags of things walking this way.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the cotton farmer uncle who had led the argument with the security guard at the gate earlier, followed by several herders, all carrying cloth bags.

"Director Han, I've finally found you."

The uncle spotted him immediately, quickly came over, and without saying a word, stuffed the cloth bag in his hand into his arms, his tone particularly warm: "I know you've been working hard these past few days, day and night to meet the deadline, it's been too hard."

These are naan breads that we baked ourselves, and freshly brewed milk tea. They're all hot, so please try them.

"Uncle, you're too kind. This is really too much."

Han Jidong quickly declined, saying, "It's our duty to work; we can't possibly accept your things."

"What's unacceptable!"

"We were too anxious before. When we heard there was a problem with the markings, we were afraid that the departure would be delayed, so we got angry with you. Now that I think about it, we really shouldn't have done that."

Later we found out that in order to meet the deadline, some of you had frostbitten feet, and you even had your blood pressure spike to 190 from exhaustion, but you still kept working.

We felt really bad about it. This is nothing, just a small token of our appreciation.