Chapter 351: Ribbon‑Cutting Ceremony II

As the four people on stage cut open the red silk brocade and courteously let each other pull down a bit of the red cloth, the Rotary Snow Removal Machine's shape was revealed.

The crowd couldn't help but burst into a series of low murmurs.

They opened their mouths, unable to describe it in words, only feeling it was huge—very huge.

Each component was several people tall, standing there, looking like a gigantic beast.

"My dear mother, such a big iron lump—can it run?"

"Obviously it can't run; why would anyone make this thing, but it will definitely consume diesel."

"How much fuel does this thing drink? It's way too big; those blades look like there's a whole cow in front of them, it could suck it in."

"With this thing, when heavy snow falls again, efficiency will definitely improve a lot."

When the covering red cloth was pulled back, Lu Cheng felt the same as everyone else.

He had seen the full view of the snow removal machine on the blueprints before, but seeing this gigantic beast with his own eyes still gave an indescribable shock.

The people standing in front, the weak ones, looked like ants.

It looked like just an iron lump on the outside, but Lu Cheng knew how complex the precise mechanical components inside were.

But ordinary citizens don't need to understand; just seeing the exterior is enough to shock them.

The venue fell silent for a moment, everyone staring at the snow removal machine.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Pan Jihai felt very proud; as the Director of the Production and Manufacturing Department, in his lifetime he had overseen such a huge project and finally succeeded.

The factory has already decided to promote him to Deputy Factory Director.

The several leaders exchanged congratulations, and finally Pan Jihai spoke loudly into the microphone.

"We believe everyone is curious about this Rotary Snow Removal Machine; now, please welcome the Speaker of this conference, also the person in charge of this project, Comrade Lu Cheng, to give the final introductory speech."

Lu Cheng again? When the name was heard again, the crowd stirred up.

The kid's hype is too great today; he even gets to be the final Speaker.

As the other leaders sat back, Lu Cheng took the microphone from Pan Jihai.

Pan Jihai gave a reminder, telling him not to be too nervous; after all, this is a conference of thousands, with many leaders seated, he only needs to read the draft smoothly.

Lu Cheng nodded; he originally intended to pull out the Speech Draft, but because he urgently needed to revise it last night and wasn't satisfied, he decided not to look at it, delivering an off‑script speech, as long as he expressed his thoughts.

When Pan Jihai saw that Lu Cheng had no Speech Draft at all, he became a bit nervous, but it was too late to remind him; he could only pray that Lu Cheng wouldn't make any mistakes due to nerves.

Facing everyone, looking at the sea of dark‑clad people, Lu Cheng felt not a hint of nervousness but a suppressed heroic spirit yearning to be released.

"Comrades, hello everyone, today I stand here representing the Beijing Railway Bureau. You may not know me, nor need to know me; what you need to know is this Rotary Snow Removal Machine, and the countless hardworking revolutionary comrades behind it!"

"Compared with everyone's contributions, I am just an insignificant person, but I am honored to represent you here today; the honor does not belong to me alone, but to every hardworking person present."

"Alright!" The crowd began to applaud; with a few sentences, Lu Cheng ignited the atmosphere.

This eased Pan Jihai's lingering worry; at least Lu Cheng didn't get nervous as he feared, but instead seemed excited.

Lu Cheng, as if infected, said: "Thank you for the applause. I know everyone has many questions about this snow removal machine—like how it was made? Have other countries produced such a complex snow removal machine?"

"Today, here, I can answer them one by one. First, we are not the first to make it, but because other countries have it, we must have it too; this is not only a great‑power industrial competition, it also concerns whether we can produce it without relying on other nations."

"The facts are in front of us: we have the ability to make it, and we can make it even better…"

The crowd erupted in applause again.

"In creating this snow removal machine, we indeed put in great effort, toiling through countless days and nights, but we always had confidence—confidence that we could make it, confidence that we could surpass other countries, and more importantly, confidence that humanity can conquer destiny!"

This time the crowd did not clap again; instead they were shocked by Lu Cheng's words, feeling a surge of power throughout their bodies.

It was unclear who in the crowd suddenly shouted "Human can conquer destiny," followed by countless voices that gradually merged into one.

"Human can conquer destiny…"

"Human can conquer destiny…"

"……Human can conquer destiny!"

The uniform chant roared like thunder, as if to break through the heavens.

Pan Jihai opened his mouth, muttering in his mind, "This kid's speech is overly inspiring."

Seeing such a united scene, he feared that if Lu Cheng raised his arm and called, they'd be sent to the frontier to fight, and this crowd would, without a word, grab their spades and march off.

Even several leaders couldn't help but frown, wondering why the kid's words were so rehearsed.

A sensible leader had already begun taking notes.

But looking at those words in the notebook, they seemed ordinary, yet this young comrade delivered them with such force.

Seeing the atmosphere being built up, this was the moment to empathize, Lu Cheng began to lower his tone.

"Why is it so difficult, yet we still need to build this snow removal machine?"

"Because we know that everyone suffers from snow disasters year after year, which greatly hinders our Railway work; during this time, manual snow removal has always played a leading role."

"I know many workers' hands have frozen and cracked, their feet swollen, yet they still persist on the front lines; their spirit deserves our eternal remembrance…"

Lu Cheng's words left many workers silent.

The leaders earlier hadn't mentioned these, only praising how wonderful the snow removal machine was; only Lu Cheng remembered their past hardships.

"This is why we spare no effort to build the snow removal machine—to let machinery free our hands, to lessen everyone's hardship; this has always been our steadfast goal."

"So regardless of difficulty, to make travel convenient for everyone, to ensure everyone can return home for the New Year on time, we swear to bite the bullet and produce it, just to give the common folk an answer."

The crowd erupted in applause again; such words for the common people moved everyone deeply.

Only a few leaders still frowned; the kid stole the spotlight of today's conference.

The audience no longer remembered what the leaders had said, only the words of this young comrade.

"Finally, I want to mention another person; everyone only knows that many people contributed to making the snow removal machine, but there is a special comrade you don't know, that is our Comrade Tan Kaiping…"

Hearing Lu Cheng suddenly mention the name, several leaders on stage panicked.

Director Liu of the Revolutionary Committee couldn't help but frown: "Secretary Song, what's going on? Didn't we agree not to mention this person at the conference?"