Siheyuan: Jia Dongxu Wins Them Over with His Skills

In the winter of 1961, a major equipment accident occurs at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill.

A drive shaft weighing hundreds of pounds breaks. It should not only have taken the life of first-grade worker Jia Dongxu, but also sent the Jia family plunging into the tragic fate of a widowed mother and her children, preyed upon by the whole neighborhood.

But before the red light outside the emergency room goes out, a senior heavy-machinery engineer from a later era awakens inside Jia Dongxu’s dying body.

In this life, there is no System and no pocket dimension.

What he has are mechanical blueprints far ahead of their time, an unparalleled understanding of metals, and a sincere desire to change his fate.

With his family:

He is no longer the mama’s boy who blindly obeys his mother. Gentle as jade, he becomes the backbone of his family.

He tells Qin Huairu, “With me here, you don’t have to curry favor with anyone. Just focus on being my wife.”

He tells Jia Zhangshi, “Mom, the Jia family has its dignity. When things get better, we won’t need to take advantage of others for every little thing.”

With the neighbors:

He is humble and courteous, but the light in his eyes earns Silly Zhu’s admiration and wins over First Uncle.

“Zhu, being a good cook is a real skill. The stomachs of all our fellow workers are counting on you.”

“First Uncle, if our skills aren’t good enough, we keep practicing. Becoming a Level Eight worker isn’t the finish line, it’s the starting point.”

For his country:

From repairing an old Soviet steel rolling mill, to improving the converter steelmaking process, to designing the country’s first heavy-duty CNC machine...

With hands stained with machine oil, Jia Dongxu writes a legend for Chinese engineers in an age of burning passion.

“My name is Jia Dongxu. I’m an engineer at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, and I speak for myself.”