Ever since he started elementary school, teachers had always emphasized to Li Ye that "our land of Shenzhou was vast and expansive." But what exactly did vast and expansive mean? It was not something a single textbook page or a few lines of introduction could fully convey.
But if you boarded a green-skinned train and rattled clank-clank from Shenzhou's southwest to the northeast, feeling the change from shirts to padded cotton coats within just a few days, then the meaning of the words "vast and expansive" would be etched into your mind for the rest of your life.
When Li Ye took thirty people to the southwest in early December, the matter had been urgent, so they had flown there together. But on the return trip, these dozens of workers no longer met the requirements for flying.
Moreover, Xiahou Xiaoxu's wound had only just healed, so Li Ye simply took the train with everyone else. Along the way, he could talk with Chen Yazhi and the others about Southwest Heavy Truck Company's current state.
As they watched the scenery slowly slide past outside the train windows, Chen Yazhi and the others all talked at once, listing Southwest Heavy Truck Company's faults as though they could complain about it for days and nights without exhausting themselves.
"Factory Director, Southwest Heavy Truck Company only puts on a grand front. It's rotten to the core. Never mind the old factory buildings—the main problem is that there are too many idle hands. Perfectly good equipment is left sitting there to rust and gather dust. What a bunch of squanderers."
"Yes, Factory Director. When we went to the southwest, Minister Zhu first told us to slack off, then told us to study seriously.
"But you don't know this—when it comes to slacking off, they're our