"Alright!"
*
「Early the next morning」
Yue Yihan came to the courtyard where Xie Changning was staying to pick her up.
"Let's go to..."
"Comrade Changning!"
Before Xie Changning could tell Yue Yihan where they were going, a voice called out from a distance. Hearing it, the two turned their heads to look.
They saw Brother Wang, Wang Lisheng from the Northeast, dressed in a dark blue tunic suit and hurrying toward them.
"Comrade Changning... Where are you two headed?"
"Brother Wang, what brings you here?"
Xie Changning had originally planned to check out the flea market, but upon seeing Wang Lisheng, she felt she no longer needed to go scavenging elsewhere.
A single tour of the factory with Wang Lisheng would be enough for her to bring back a trove of treasures.
Thus, a new eagerness crept into Xie Changning's gaze as she looked at Wang Lisheng.
However, the eagerness in Xie Changning's eyes was subtle. If not for Yue Yihan's sharp observation of her, no one would have known that her attitude toward Wang Lisheng had just improved.
"Sigh, the boiler at our factory is broken!"
A worried expression clouded Wang Lisheng's face as he spoke of his factory's boiler.
Hearing this, Xie Changning's brow furrowed slightly. The relationship between China and the United States was delicate right now; it was perfectly normal that they wouldn't send anyone to help with repairs...
"So, Brother Wang, you mean to say...?"
'He came looking for me. To repair the boiler!'
"Comrade Changning, on the road back to Chuncheng, we chatted about some mechanical issues. You know more than I do. I was hoping I could ask you to come over and take a look!"
The United States wouldn't help, and their factory had no workers who could perform the repairs.
He had to treat it as a last-ditch effort.
'What if it actually works?'
Yue Yihan frowned, subconsciously wanting to refuse. His wife was pregnant and couldn't overexert herself.
Unexpectedly, Xie Changning agreed first. "I can, but as you know, Brother Wang, my situation... I can't work for long periods."
"Of course, that's a given. We have workers at the factory. You'll just need to direct them from the side."
He was already more than satisfied that Xie Changning had agreed to help.
"Deal!"
Xie Changning turned to look at Yue Yihan, who quickly stepped aside to open the car door for her. Wang Lisheng, who had arrived by shuttle bus, got in as well, and they headed for the Chuncheng Screw Factory.
Upon arriving at the screw factory, Wang Lisheng led Xie Changning to the boiler's location.
One look at the boiler, and Xie Changning felt the urge to shake her head.
The Chuncheng Screw Factory's boiler was an old-fashioned carburizing furnace. Just from its exterior, Xie Changning could spot a host of problems, though none of them were major—
"Brother Wang, have the screws coming out of the furnace recently been failing inspection?"
Xie Changning's words made Wang Lisheng's eyes light up instantly.
Exactly!
That was a problem the factory workers had told him about after he got back. He hadn't mentioned anything about the boiler on the way here.
Yet, with just a single glance, Xie Changning had not only seen that the boiler had issues, but even deduced that the screws had been failing inspection?!
"Hmph. Anyone knows that if the screw factory's boiler has a problem, the screws it produces will be substandard," a vice director standing to the side snorted coldly. He was clearly displeased that Wang Lisheng had sought outside help, especially from such a young woman.
And a woman, at that!
He felt Xie Changning was just trying to show off, and failing at it.
Wang Lisheng shot him a look, then said apologetically to Xie Changning, "Sister Changning, don't take it to heart. He's got a sharp tongue but no malice." Sometimes he couldn't stand the vice director's mouth either, but the man's technical skills were top-notch.
It was a flaw he had learned to tolerate.
Xie Changning shook her head, choosing to ignore the man's words for the time being. She simply said to Wang Lisheng, "The boiler has uneven heating, it's missing a backflow prevention device..."
Xie Changning listed several problems in a row.
After speaking, she turned to the vice director who had just targeted her. "Why don't we have this comrade here check it out? See if the problems are what I described."
"And why should I check it just because you told me to?" the man retorted, displeased.
Xie Changning acted unconcerned. "Then have someone else check. Whether you check your factory's boiler or not, no one else is coming to fix it for you. Especially not the experts from the United States."
Xie Changning's words successfully shut him up.
Wang Lisheng frowned, reprimanded the vice director with a few words, and had other workers go perform the inspection.
As they worked, Xie Changning instructed them on how to conduct the checks.
Xie Changning knew that the technology of this era was lagging, that it hadn't caught up yet. She just hadn't expected that when the workers opened the boiler, she would see furnace liner welds that looked like terraced rice paddies...
She turned her head to look at Wang Lisheng. "This machine wasn't new when it arrived, was it?"
From her perspective, the original welds were smooth, with no slag inclusions or undercuts. It was just that the later welding work was subpar, so...
'Ah, times are really tough right now!'
"Huh... How could you tell?" Wang Lisheng was baffled. She hadn't moved from her spot.
Xie Changning sighed and didn't elaborate, changing the subject to have the workers perform other checks. Once it was confirmed that the problems she had pointed out did indeed exist, Wang Lisheng spun around and reached for her hand.
And then—
He grabbed Yue Yihan's hand instead.
"Little brother... you understand this stuff too?" 'This kid is fast!' he thought. He had just turned around when his vision blurred, and the person in front of him had become Yue Yihan!
"I admire you a great deal, Brother Wang. I just hadn't found the chance to shake your hand."
Yue Yihan's expression could be described as utterly sincere.
But Wang Lisheng was in his forties; what kind of situation hadn't he seen before?
He gave Yue Yihan a teasing look and pulled his hand back. "Alright, that's enough. I need to talk to my girl!" With that, he shoved Yue Yihan aside. Afraid he might accidentally grab the young man's hand again, he stood a good two meters away from Xie Changning and asked her eagerly.
"Sis! You know all the problems, so you can fix it, right?"
It hadn't been in vain, his arguing with the leadership!
Black cat, white cat—right now, the factory needed people, and a cat that could find the problem was a good cat!
"I can fix it."
Xie Changning had originally intended to let the factory's own people handle the repairs, but after seeing those welds, she completely abandoned that plan.
Their skills were not yet up to her standards.
She would have to do it herself.
"Tch..." The vice director, who had just been proven wrong, was still questioning Xie Changning's abilities.
Wang Lisheng whipped his head around and berated him. "Li Guodong, will you ever quit? If you're so unconvinced, then you come and fix it! If you fix it, you can have my job as director!"
Li Guodong's face turned red with embarrassment from the scolding.
"I can't fix it, so what makes you think she can? If she can fix it, she can have my position as vice director!"
"Don't go back on your word, Vice Factory Director Li."
If he dared to make the offer, Xie Changning dared to accept it.
Given her current status, she couldn't really look for a job. Now, Vice Factory Director Li's offer had saved her the trouble.
Not that she was short on money, of course.
"Director Wang, please find a few people to act as witnesses. This vice director position—I'm claiming it today!"