Chapter 159 Housing Allocation for All Employees and the First Prize of the National Technological Progress Award

Forty-eight million... US dollars!

This number was like a heavy hammer, smashing ruthlessly onto everyone's skulls.

The base leaders in the front row looked at each other, seeing deep shock in one another's eyes.

How was this an enterprise?

This was clearly a giant beast!

The livestream also exploded, with dense bullet chats flying so fast they were almost unreadable.

[Holy crap!!! 48 million USD? In 1982? Streamer, are you printing money?!]

[Fun fact: In 1982, our country's foreign exchange reserves were only a few billion. The Streamer basically saved up one-thousandth of the national treasury in one go?]

[The person above has a small perspective! Back then, a courtyard house in the capital only cost a few thousand yuan! This money could buy half of the Inner City!]

[I'm kneeling! I work in foreign trade, and given the market conditions back then, I wouldn't even dare to imagine this!]

However, Lin Xi's next words were what truly broke the Red Star Technology employees' composure.

“The money is earned, so how do we spend it?”

Lin Xi pulled a square-folded blueprint from his pocket, unfolded it, and waved it toward the audience below.

“With the approval of the base's Party Committee, construction on Phase I of ‘Red Star Garden’ will begin after the New Year.”

“Brick-concrete structure, independent kitchen and bathroom, centralized heating.”

Lin Xi spoke one word at a time, each carrying immense weight:

“Distribution will be based on seniority and contribution.”

“Every formal employee present, whether cadre or worker, will have a house!”

Dead silence.

A full three seconds of dead silence.

In this era where three generations of a family were squeezed into ten-square-meter tenement buildings and had to queue just to use the toilet.

The terms “independent kitchen and bathroom,” “centralized heating,” and “housing for all”...

...were far more lethal than forty-eight million US dollars.

This was dignity.

It was the smiling faces of wives and children.

It was the decency of not having to run to a public toilet in the dead of winter.

“Long live Manager Lin!!!”

Someone was the first to shout out.

Immediately following, the entire auditorium boiled over.

Some jumped onto chairs, some hugged their heads and wept, and even more stamped their feet like they were crazy.

Over a thousand pairs of large feet in labor insurance shoes stamped the ground simultaneously, making the entire auditorium floor tremble.

Dust fell in showers, as if an earthquake were happening.

At the same time, when the words “housing for all” landed, the tone of the livestream changed too.

[I'm breaking down... 45 years later, I'm still paying off a mortgage, while the worker grandpas of the 80s were already being given houses.]

[Don't even talk about it, I want to cry. Houses were actually given back then, and with independent kitchens and bathrooms—that was a luxury mansion at the time!]

[The Streamer's move is the killing blow! This is what it truly means to treat workers as human beings!]

A long while later, when things had quieted down slightly.

Chen Yu straightened his collar and stepped onto the stage as the employee representative.

This once thin, self-deprecating illegitimate son had now grown into a tall and upright young engineer.

He held the microphone, his hands shaking slightly, but his voice was surprisingly steady.

“Two years ago, me, Big Cannon, Erga...”

Chen Yu pointed at several glowing young men below the stage.

“We were trash in everyone's eyes.”

“We were hoodlums idling away our days at the base Service Center.”

A burst of good-natured laughter came from below the stage.

“Back then, no one looked us in the eye.”

“Even I felt that my life would just be like this, rotting away in the gutter.”

“It was Manager Lin who stuffed the blueprints into my hands.”

“He told me: ‘Your brain isn't meant for mush; it's meant for the stars and the sea.’”

“Last year, Big Cannon became a gold-medal lecturer, able to teach Eighth-Grade Workers how to operate CNC machine tools;”

“Erga went to the Canton Fair and could haggle with foreigners in English;”

“Big Sister Liu manages accounts worth tens of millions, sharper than a bank president.”

“And me...”

Chen Yu took a deep breath.

“Together with the team, I designed the circuit diagrams for the M1 and the red star - mainstay.”

“We are not trash.”

Chen Yu said with a choke in his voice,

“We are the engineers of Red Star Technology!”

“We are the soldiers trained by Lin Xi!”

Wang Bin, below the stage, suddenly lowered his head.

Under the guise of adjusting his glasses, he wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes.

Applause rang out again.

This time, it wasn't for money, but for the dignity of having struggled to stand up from the mud.

The atmosphere of the celebration reached its peak at this moment.

“Next, please welcome Elder Qian!” the host said.

As soon as those four words were spoken, the entire audience stood up.

A white-haired old man, wearing a grey zhongshan suit, slowly walked onto the stage.

He walked very slowly, but every step was very steady.

Elder Qian did not give a long speech.

From the tray in the host's hands, he solemnly picked up a purplish-red certificate.

In the center of the cover, the golden national emblem shone brilliantly under the lights.

Below it were only two lines of gold-stamped characters—

National Technological Invention Award... First Prize.

The bullet chats in the livestream exploded instantly:

[Holy crap! First Prize! This is currently the most prestigious award, right?!]

[Do you even understand its weight? The Grand Prize is for things on the level of atomic and hydrogen bombs; First Prize is the peak of civilian and industrial technology!]

[Streamer is awesome! This status is maxed out!]

The base leaders below the stage gasped.

They understood the weight of this certificate all too well.

With this, Red Star Technology was no longer just a simple enterprise, but an important piece on the national strategic board.

Elder Qian walked up to Lin Xi and handed over the certificate, his eyes full of gratification:

“Little Lin, this is the nation's recognition for you.”

Lin Xi took the certificate with both hands.

It was heavy.

He looked at the certificate, then looked at the audience below.

Suddenly, he made a move that caught everyone by surprise.

Lin Xi didn't turn to face the audience to display the honor, nor did he give an acceptance speech.

He walked straight down from the rostrum, through the aisle.

Passing through those surprised gazes, he walked all the way to a seat in the third row.

It was Li Jianguo.

Lin Xi stood still in front of his master.

“Master,” Lin Xi called out softly.

“Li... Little Lin, what are you doing?”

Li Jianguo had never seen Lin Xi like this.

He had never been stared at by so many people in his life, and he didn't even know where to put his hands.

Lin Xi didn't speak; he solemnly forced that purplish-red certificate, representing the nation's highest honor, into Li Jianguo's calloused hands.

“Keep it.”

“This... this won't do!”

“This is yours!” Li Jianguo tried to push it back as if he had been burned.

Lin Xi held his hand down firmly, his eyes slightly red.

“Master, this certificate doesn't just belong to me.”

“It also belongs to you, and to all the old workers like you who have dedicated their lives to the country.”

“Half of this belongs to you.”

Lin Xi's voice trembled slightly, but it was exceptionally firm.

“Keep it for me; this is your apprentice's show of filial respect.”

The auditorium was so quiet one could hear the wind.

At this moment, time seemed to freeze.

On one side was the high-spirited transmigrator, and on the other was the skilled Eighth-Grade Fitter.

The hands of two generations of industrial workers were tightly gripped on that certificate.

Li Jianguo looked at the national emblem on the certificate, his lips trembling, wanting to smile.

But tears fell uncontrollably.

Taking this apprentice... was worth it!

It was damn well worth it!

“Good! Good!”

The old man pressed the certificate tightly to his chest.

“Master will keep it for you! Keep it for you!”

The whole audience stood up.

There were no cheers, only long-lasting applause.

In the livestream, only four characters remained on the screen in unison, like a white torrent covering the entire frame:

[Salute! Great Country's Craftsman!]

[Salute! Great Country's Craftsman!]

[Salute! Great Country's Craftsman!]

Interspersed in the torrent were the sighs of countless netizens:

[This is a true idol! Look at those hands, full of scars and callouses; they are the foundation that props up the country!]

[Wuwuwu, I miss my grandpa. He was also an Eighth-Grade Fitter. He never won a big award in his life, but he said the parts he made could go to the sky...]

[The Streamer's perspective is too grand! This is more shocking to me than earning a hundred million US dollars!]

[Tears in my eyes, brothers. Without the desperate efforts of these old men back then, how would we have our current aircraft carriers and Dongfeng missiles?]

[What is inheritance? This is inheritance! What Lin Xi took over wasn't just a certificate, but the soul of that generation!]

Just then, the host's voice came through:

“Alright, next we move to the lucky draw segment.”