Geng Xiangdong's eyes lit up instantly, and he slapped his thigh excitedly: "Brilliant! This move is brilliant! A public competition! In front of the entire military region! If Zhou Huai'an doesn't agree, it means he's guilty! He means he doesn't have confidence in the experts from Beijing! If he agrees, hmph, that's exactly what we want. In front of everyone, would he still dare to claim the technology as his own? Dream on!"
Chen Xue also realized what was happening, her face flushed with excitement: "Team Leader Su, your move is called a 'open strategy'! You put everything on the table, leaving him no way to use underhanded tactics!"
Su Tang smiled, but the coldness of being offended in her heart did not diminish in the slightest.
Of course, she knew that they couldn't just keep their own feelings to themselves; they had to create momentum and put Zhou Huai'an in the spotlight.
Her gaze fell outside the office, and she thought of someone.
That afternoon, Su Tang carried a small bag of milk candy wrapped in oil paper, which was produced in the space, and knocked on Li Xiumei's door.
"Oh, it's Su Tang... no, I should call her Team Leader Su now! Come in, come in!"
Li Xiumei was sewing shoe soles when she saw Su Tang. She quickly put down her work, warmly welcomed her into the house, and poured her a cup of hot malted milk powder.
"Sister Xiumei, please don't make fun of me. Just call me Su Tang." Su Tang put the milk candy on the kang table. "I saw your eldest son was craving it the other day, and I happened to have some. I brought it over for him to try."
"You're too kind, sister!" Li Xiumei said, but her heart was warmed.
The two sat on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) and chatted about everyday things for a while.
Seeing that the time was right, Su Tang sighed, her face showing just the right amount of grievance and helplessness.
"Sister Xiumei, the reason I came here today is because I have something on my mind. I'm feeling really pent up and I wanted to talk to you about it."
Seeing her like this, Li Xiumei immediately put the shoe sole aside and asked with concern, "What's wrong, little sister? Who upset you? Tell me!"
Su Tang didn't beat around the bush and recounted what had happened at the research institute.
"...Sister Xiumei, tell me, isn't this making me feel terrible? Everyone in our project team, from top to bottom, has been working day and night, risking their lives for me. We finally got it working, and everyone was about to have a warm stove for the winter, but then the new Political Commissar Zhou said our technical skills weren't good enough and we had to wait for experts from Beijing to come and guide us. Doesn't that mean he doesn't trust us and thinks we're just a makeshift team?"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiumei immediately flew into a rage, slamming her hand on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed): "What kind of nonsense is this! I've met that Political Commissar Zhou before. He always seemed all smiles, but I never expected him to be so cunning! Isn't this blatant bullying? Why should outsiders be allowed to interfere with the furnaces in our military region!"
Su Tang chimed in, "That's right. So I thought, it's not enough for us to just say it's good; we need to let everyone see for themselves. I suggested to the leaders that when the experts from Beijing come, we should have a public competition between our two sides, a real competition to see who makes the best stove, burns the hardest, and saves the most coal. That's the stove everyone will use. Sister Xiumei, what do you think? Will everyone support this idea?"
"Support! Of course we support it! We absolutely have to support it!" Li Xiumei said without hesitation. "This is a good thing! Let's see what it's really made of! Everyone wants the best stove, right? Don't worry, I'll take care of it! I'll make sure everyone in the compound knows that our Team Leader Su is going to challenge the top experts from Beijing for everyone's benefit!"
Li Xiumei's husband, Wang Fengxing, works in the logistics department. She herself is known in the family compound for being warm-hearted, well-informed, and extremely popular.
Sure enough, no sooner had Su Tang left than Li Xiumei began her lecture in the water room of the family compound.
Sure enough, in less than a day, the news that "Team Leader Su is going to compete with experts from Beijing in building furnaces" spread like wildfire throughout the entire military compound.
In the canteen, by the water room, and downstairs in the family quarters, military wives and soldiers were discussing this matter everywhere.
"Have you heard? Our Team Leader Su is going to compete against an expert from Beijing!"
"Really? Isn't that like throwing an egg against a rock? That's a national-level expert!"
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