Lin Qiaozhi walked out of the classroom.
Qian Ming immediately followed after her, grinning from ear to ear. “Sister Qiaozhi! Sister Qiaozhi!”
“How can you say we’re not close? We’ve known each other for years! Didn’t we used to run to the river together to swim and play war games? Back then I even played the soldier and got beaten to death by you. Remember? I felt so wronged that I went home and cried my eyes out.” Qian Ming’s words poured out like a string of beads, one after another, as he hurried after her.
To Lin Qiaozhi, he looked like a monkey hopping around in front of her, desperately waving his hands and shouting, Look at me, Sister! Look at me, Sister!
He was the complete opposite of Zhou Shu, that taciturn blockhead.
Lin Qiaozhi: “…”
Did she really spend her childhood running around everywhere with people like this?
Lin Qiaozhi felt even more put off. “Stop following me.”
She missed Zhenzhu, missed A Shui, missed Wanwan. Girls were much more lovable.
Qian Ming clutched his chest dramatically, looking utterly heartbroken, but immediately changed tactics and began flattering her. “Sister Qiaozhi, I never expected you to be just like when you were little. You’re still so smart and so skilled with your hands. Taking apart a lathe is so difficult, and you succeeded on your very first try! You’re absolutely brilliant, unmatched in the world…”
He stumbled for a moment, then started counting on his fingers as he chased after her, rattling off idioms. “Without equal, um… gifted beyond measure, a master strategist, uh… displaying miraculous abilities!”
The vein on Lin Qiaozhi’s forehead twitched twice.
She kicked at him. “Qian Ming, have you no shame?”
Qian Ming had been prepared and dodged, but still exaggeratedly sucked in a breath through his teeth with a dramatic “Hissss!” before wailing, “Sister Qiaozhi! If you don’t save me, it won’t be a matter of having no shame anymore. My legs are going to get broken!”
Lin Qiaozhi hadn’t even hit him!
He was still the same shameless rascal he’d been as a kid, pretending as if he’d suffered some terrible injury.
Lin Qiaozhi followed up with another kick.
“Ow!”
That felt much better.
Qian Ming bared his teeth in pain, then leaned over pitifully with his hands pressed together in front of his chest. “Please, please. Sister Qiaozhi, you don’t know how Engineer Wang does things. If the problems he writes down in that little notebook aren’t fixed by the next time he comes, we’ll really be punished to death!”
The upperclassmen’s lessons had been painfully unforgettable!
“You’re good at the technical stuff, and more importantly, you’re good at teaching. Please have mercy! How about this? Until Engineer Wang’s next inspection, the few of us will take turns bringing you breakfast from the cafeteria. Think of it as apprentices honoring their master.”
As soon as Qian Ming finished speaking, the few people behind him nodded repeatedly. It was obvious that Qian Ming had been chosen as their representative.
Lin Qiaozhi glanced at him. “You’re that certain you can actually learn from me?”
She still hadn’t forgotten the disaster where she’d almost turned a score of fifty-five into five.
“I was watching what you wrote just now. I think I can understand it. It feels like once I read it, my hands will know what to do.” Qian Ming looked excited. “Besides, didn’t quite a few classmates who got in through make-up exams get taught by you?”
Just by reading it?
Lin Qiaozhi was skeptical about that claim. Was he sure he wouldn’t end up ruining everything the moment he started practicing?
After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiaozhi said, “Teaching you the way I did before isn’t possible anymore. At most, I can lend you my notes to copy.”
Practicing her own technical skills was her top priority now. She couldn’t afford to spend so much energy teaching other people.
“That’s fine too!” Qian Ming immediately seized the opportunity and clasped his hands together pleadingly. “Sister Qiaozhi! If there’s anything I don’t understand, could you give me a few pointers?”
Lin Qiaozhi couldn’t bear to look at him. With skin that thick and a mouth that slick, couldn’t he put those talents to better use?
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and she gave Qian Ming another once-over.
“How about this. If you can get Engineer Wang to give you the key to the practical classroom at the end of the hallway, then while I’m practicing there, I can teach you a little along the way. But I can’t guarantee any results,” Lin Qiaozhi said.
Qian Ming’s mind immediately started turning. Asking for the practical classroom key would be easy enough. He already had a ready-made excuse, and it would even make him look like he was trying to improve after recognizing his shortcomings. But Engineer Wang would definitely assign a third-year student to supervise. Who would he pick? Most likely those students he’d scolded, the ones ordered to stay behind for extra practice.
Why make life hard for your own people?
But when he thought about Engineer Wang’s next inspection, Qian Ming gritted his teeth. Forget it. Better someone else than me!
He’d go for it!
…
Autumn arrived in Jiangcheng with startling speed.
It was as though after one night’s sleep, all the stifling summer heat had been swept away, and it was time to put on a jacket.
Everywhere in Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory, people wore grayish-blue work uniforms.
The factory had generous benefits and issued new clothes to its employees every year. Many children’s clothes were simply newly issued work uniforms altered down to size.
Adults wore them. Children wore them. Family members wore them too. Looking around the residential compound, grayish-blue work jackets were the most common sight.
Lin Qiaozhi also slipped on a work jacket. She liked the material. It was sturdy, windproof, durable, resistant to dirt, and no matter how much she wore it, it never seemed to need patching.
How could anyone not love that?
Her studies at the factory technical school were going very smoothly.
She had gradually grown accustomed to a life that looked exhausting to outsiders but felt incredibly fulfilling to her.
It felt as though she was being filled up little by little. Everything she learned would become the strength that carried her forward and upward.
That strength accumulated within her, and no one could shake it.
Another school day came to an end.
Lin Qiaozhi packed away her tools and headed for the back door. As she passed Qian Ming’s desk, she tapped it twice with her knuckles.
“Practical classroom.”
Qian Ming shut his eyes, feeling as though he was about to faint.
“Sister!! Can I call you Great-Aunt instead?” His last few words were almost tearful. “Can’t we take a couple of days off?”
At the front door, Zhao Song was packing up his toolbox. He glanced back in their direction, pursed his lips, and said to the people beside him waiting with a basketball in their arms, “You guys go ahead. I’m not going. I’m going to practice my technical skills.”
“You’re skipping basketball again? You’re already the best in our class. Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”
Hearing that, Zhao Song instinctively looked back.
They were already gone.
A pang of panic rose in his chest. Picking up his toolbox, he said, “You guys go have fun. I’m leaving first!”
“Forget it. It’s no fun without you. I’ll go with you instead.”
It was easy to see that among this year’s first-year fitter students, only a handful were heading off campus after school.
The rest either went to the open practical classroom on the east side or to the practical classroom with the lathe at the end of the hallway.
The second-year fitter class, as well as the graduating fitter students, could only stare speechlessly.
“These first-years have all gone crazy!”
Thinking back to their own first year, had they really attended the same school?
Lin Qiaozhi headed first to the practical classroom with the lathe.
After more than a month of practice, she had nearly mastered disassembly. She could completely take apart the machine within the required time, and by observing the third-year students’ techniques, she had learned seven or eight-tenths of their assembly methods.
She glanced at the mechanical wall clock in the classroom. School ended at four in the afternoon, and it was now 4:08:30 p.m.
Lowering her head, she laid out her tools one by one and began disassembling.
When she finished taking everything apart, she checked the time.
Not bad.
After she finished reassembling it, she checked the time again, her brows knitting together.
Qian Ming and the others, who had been squatting nearby watching, also looked at the mechanical wall clock.
“Not bad! That’s another twenty or thirty seconds faster than last time.”
Lin Qiaozhi wasn’t satisfied. Frowning thoughtfully, she said, “Next time, I’ll still have to get Engineer Wang to take a look while he’s making his rounds.”
Qian Ming gave a dry cough and forced a laugh. “Isn’t that just asking to get scolded?”
“You’re not the one getting scolded.” Lin Qiaozhi pointed at the lathe in front of her and urged him, “Hurry up. After I finish looking over your problems, I still have to go over there.”
Although Engineer Wang was strict, nitpicking even the smallest mistakes, his high standards also meant rapid improvement. After he criticized everything once, every single problem would be exposed.
In comparison, the teacher who taught the practical class wasn’t nearly as sharp. He pointed out some issues as well, but they were all too gentle, and some comments barely scratched the surface.
After practicing on the lathe for two rounds to maintain her feel, Lin Qiaozhi explained the techniques recorded in her notes to Qian Ming, then headed toward the practical classroom on the other side.
The one used for the factory entrance assessment.
A large workbench stood in the center, open for all students to use.
After entering, Lin Qiaozhi found an empty spot.
She clamped a block of iron onto the vise.
Like the layers of a flaky pastry, she marked the iron with dense, parallel lines.
Then she began practicing, carefully filing it thinner layer by layer by hand.
By the time Zhao Song arrived at the practical classroom from his class, the uneasy feeling in his chest had eased somewhat.
Teachers naturally liked students who stayed after school to practice their technical skills, but the students themselves had mixed feelings about it. Some enjoyed it, while others didn’t. Zhao Song was one of those who did. At the very least, it meant he didn’t have to go home and split the housework with his older sister, nor did he have to listen to his father nagging in his ear.
Instead, at school, standing out among his classmates as one of the best felt pretty satisfying.
He was often called up by the teachers to demonstrate operations in front of the class, and that feeling made him immensely proud.
If the teacher praised him after class and word reached his father’s ears, life at home became even easier. Even when his older sister called him to help with chores, it happened much less often, because his parents would stop her.
“Xiao Song’s tired. Stop calling him all the time. It’s just a little work. We can finish it ourselves.”
Zhao Song walked over to the box containing iron stock.
It was piled high with both used and unused pieces of iron for students to practice on, and the school replaced the supply at regular intervals.
Many students’ workmanship wasn’t very refined, so after they used a piece, someone else could still work on it further. Or they could simply polish it down little by little, filing it flat layer by layer.
In short, until it was reduced to iron filings, someone would always find a use for it.
As Zhao Song rummaged through the box, he spotted a familiar style of workmanship, and his pupils contracted slightly.
Handwork always carried a bit of its maker’s personal style. After spending enough time together, classmates could usually tell whose work was whose.
Like the piece in his hand. Every surface had been polished as smooth and reflective as a mirror. Every edge and every corner had been finished with remarkable precision and neatness, each line crisp and sharply defined.
In the sunlight streaming through the window, the smoothly polished iron cross-sections gleamed brightly.
At a glance, it was obvious they were Lin Qiaozhi’s work.
An indescribable sense of panic welled up inside Zhao Song. She had improved again.
He looked around. No one was paying attention, so he reached into the box and rummaged through it, pulling out three pieces in succession.
They had been placed on top of the pile of iron stock. He held them in his hands, turning each one over and over for a closer look.
“Zhao Song, what are you picking so carefully? What amazing skill are you practicing today?” someone asked, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
“Nothing!”
Zhao Song instinctively jerked his hand behind his back, then quickly forced himself to act as if nothing had happened. With an awkward laugh, he explained, “I’m looking for a piece of iron I like. I’ll pick one for you too.” He reached back into the box, guiltily pushing the pieces he had picked back inside. “Here, take this one.”
He walked over to his workbench.
His mind was still occupied by the practice pieces he had just seen. It wasn’t as though he had never met hardworking people before. Back when he was a student, there were always a few top students who spent all day with their noses buried in books. They studied efficiently and got excellent grades.
But among apprentice fitters, things had always been fairly normal and harmonious. Even someone like Zhou Shu, who buried himself in practice every day, was simply making up for a lack of talent through diligence, wasn’t he?
After securing the iron stock, Zhao Song couldn’t help sweeping his gaze around the classroom. Seeing that Lin Qiaozhi hadn’t arrived yet, he instinctively let out a sigh of relief. Good.
He interlaced his fingers to loosen his hands and wrists, took a deep breath, and decided to start practicing immediately.
It would be fine. Before, he had just been too preoccupied with having fun. As soon as school ended, he would go play basketball or fool around. He just needed to settle down and put his heart into learning the craft. He had already been training for several years. There was no way he would be surpassed that easily.
He lowered his head and scraped away for quite a while.
He wiped the iron filings off the workpiece with a rag, then looked at the result of this round of practice with satisfaction.
When he looked up again, he saw a familiar figure.
His eyes instinctively went to the iron stock in her hands and the straight, densely packed scribed lines covering it. Zhao Song’s expression immediately darkened.
He straightened up, pretending to stretch his waist and neck, while secretly watching Lin Qiaozhi’s movements out of the corner of his eye.
The standard of her practice had become even higher.
Suppressing the panic in his heart, Zhao Song unconsciously tightened his grip on the iron stock in front of him.
The only sounds filling the workshop classroom were steel striking steel: scraping, cutting, grinding, filing…
Together, they sounded like a sonorous symphony.
Lin Qiaozhi had long since grown accustomed to it. She even found it relaxing, as though it immersed her in the world of heavy industry. They were all working hard, striving to become the new generation that would uphold the backbone of New China’s industry.
She set down the file and gently ran her hand over the iron stock.
“Using Teacher Qin’s method to train your touch?” Zhao Song seized the opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Lin Qiaozhi gave him a somewhat puzzled look. Zhao Song had only chatted with her on the first day, asking a few questions about how she had snapped the steel rod and why he hadn’t received full marks. After that, they had never spoken again.
In fact, she had even felt that Zhao Song had been deliberately avoiding her.
So why was he taking the initiative to come over today?
She gave a quiet “Mm.” “I’ve tried several methods the teachers mentioned. I think this one’s the most useful. It’s especially effective for developing tactile sensitivity.”
Taking a closer look, Zhao Song nodded. “Teacher Qin mentioned it, didn’t he? As you gradually file the iron thinner and thinner, you keep rubbing and feeling it with your hands. I’ve practiced it too. It’s really useful for helping your hands and eyes develop a sense of thickness.”
It was his father who had taught him the method, but it was simply too exhausting. After filing layer after layer away, his fingers would become stiff, and both his hands and arms would feel as heavy as lead.
After practicing it a few times, he had given up.
He hesitated for a while before finally asking, “Are you really planning to graduate early?”
Without pausing, Lin Qiaozhi gave the iron another stroke with the file. “Doesn’t everyone already know that?”
“But why go to all that trouble? Graduating a few months, or even half a year or a year earlier, doesn’t make much difference. The teachers will only demand more from you, and you’ll just wear yourself out.” Zhao Song spoke for a while, feeling that the more he talked, the more reasonable he sounded, and the straighter his back became.
“To tell you the truth,” he lowered his voice, “my father told me that when Engineer Wang set those conditions, he never intended to let you graduate early. He just wanted you to give up after realizing how difficult it was. That engine side cover mold simply isn’t something a student can make.”
Lin Qiaozhi stopped what she was doing and fixed him with a piercing gaze. “Why did you come over here just to tell me that?”
Startled by her direct stare, Zhao Song felt as though she had seen right through him. His heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively defended himself. “I’m only saying it for your own good.”
Sensing that the atmosphere had turned awkward, he hurriedly tried to smooth things over. “Look, I’ve been studying for years, and there are so many third-year students too. They all think it’s impossible. Isn’t that obvious?”
Looking at his expression, Lin Qiaozhi suddenly let out a soft laugh. “Even when we were kids, you couldn’t stand anyone stealing your spotlight. I didn’t expect you to still be this childish after growing up.”
“If you’re scared, just admit it.”
“Don’t drag everyone else into it and pretend it’s for my sake.”