“If you’re scared, just admit it.”
With a single sentence exposing the thought buried deep inside him, one he hadn’t even realized himself, Zhao Song’s face instantly flushed red. “W-Who’s scared?!”
He stiffened his neck and stubbornly retorted, “Fine, don’t listen then. I was trying to help, and you treat my good intentions like dirt.”
With that, he angrily swung his arm and turned back.
The practical classroom was fairly quiet now. Even the sounds of steel striking steel had faded away, leaving only the occasional scraping of metal from those halfheartedly pretending to work.
Lin Qiaozhi squeezed the knuckles of her right hand with her left. Smiling with fighting spirit blazing in her eyes, she called out loudly, “Zhao Song, you’d better work even harder and put in some real effort!”
She let out an open, carefree laugh. “Because I won’t. I choose to rise to the challenge.”
“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ve been stubborn since I was little. You know that.”
Back down in the face of difficulty?
If she didn’t go crash into that wall herself, could she still call herself Lin Qiaozhi? Would she still be that “wild girl” who had always fought for herself since childhood?
Zhao Song had been fine after hearing the earlier remarks, but when he heard that final sentence, “I’ve been stubborn since I was little,” his back stiffened for a moment. Suddenly, he wanted to smack himself on the head.
He knew. Of course he knew!
How had he forgotten?
His hand pressed down too hard, grinding a visibly lopsided dent into the piece of metal.
…
That weekend, Lin Qiaozhi and her friends sat on the river embankment, laughing so hard they could barely catch their breath. They had arranged to visit the reed marshes by the river.
“He really said that?”
Lin Qiaozhi spread her hands. “Exactly! I have no idea what he was thinking. Did he really think bringing up his father, the years he’d spent learning fitter work, and those graduating students would scare me into giving up?”
To keep the riverbank from becoming muddy, Jiangcheng had planted vast stretches of reeds along the shore. Now that autumn had arrived, the uniform green had begun to turn yellow, weaving together into broad swaths of rich yellow-green that swayed in the breeze.
They climbed the steep embankment and sat high atop the levee, overlooking the endless reed marsh. The river wind set the reeds swaying from side to side, while the white reed plumes glowed warm golden beneath the sunlight. The sight was magnificent.
Behind them, beyond a dirt road, was the steep slope where countless children cheered as they rode down on homemade scooters of every kind.
Before them stretched the vast reed marsh and the mighty Yangtze River.
A Shui bent down, pulled up several foxtail grasses, and handed one to each of them. “No way. His father isn’t Engineer Lu. Just because his father says someone can’t do it doesn’t make it true. His father doesn’t know what you’re capable of. All it proves is that he thinks it’s difficult because he couldn’t do it himself.”
Laughing, Lin Qiaozhi tapped her foxtail grass against A Shui’s. “Exactly! That’s what I think too! And he keeps saying he’s studied for years. But after school he’d only practice for half an hour or an hour before going home. How much time could that possibly add up to?”
How was that some unreachable goal?
He probably hadn’t even kept it up every single day!
Wanwan accepted a stalk and lightly bit the root, narrowing her eyes at its sweetness. “Maybe the total time you practiced over summer vacation already equals a year or two of what he’s done.”
Ning Zhenzhu burst into laughter. “He just doesn’t understand Qiaozhi. She wasn’t even paying much attention to him, and she never intended to compete with him. But the more he talks like that, the more determined she becomes to prove him wrong.” Grinning from ear to ear, she turned and teased, “Isn’t that right, you little stubborn ox?”
“Oh? You’re making fun of me now?” Lin Qiaozhi reached over to tickle her waist. Ning Zhenzhu laughed so hard that she collapsed against A Shui and Wanwan, tears forming in her eyes. “Stop! Stop! It tickles! Save your strength for dealing with Engineer Wang!”
“Don’t worry. I think Engineer Wang’s attitude softened a long time ago.” Lin Qiaozhi leaned back on both hands against the ground and gazed comfortably out over the great river.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to lend the classroom key to the freshmen, nor would he have ignored the fact that she’d been practicing dismantling and assembling the lathe all this time. Sometimes he was even overly picky, but it had helped her improve quickly.
So what if it was the wall she was supposed to back away from?
It was still just a wall built of bricks and stone. It would still crack under the repeated blows of a hammer.
Wang Baiqiang really had begun to change his mind, though the change was subtle. Even he couldn’t say exactly when it had started.
After all, at first he truly had intended to make her back down.
He was looking over the handmade practice pieces the students had turned in for this month’s practical class.
Qiao Yuan carried over a thermos and topped off his tea mug with hot water. Glancing at the workpiece Wang Baiqiang was examining, he asked, “You think pretty highly of Lin Qiaozhi, don’t you?”
Wang Baiqiang set the workpiece down and picked up his mug. “She’s good. Just look at the quality of this.”
He pushed the workpiece toward Qiao Yuan and took a sip of tea before continuing, “More importantly, she uses her brain when she works. That’s rare.”
“Oh?” Curious, Qiao Yuan picked it up for a closer look, surprise flickering across his face. She’s improving awfully fast.
Only recently had Wang Baiqiang realized that Lin Qiaozhi had an exceptional knack for teaching others. Whenever someone brought a problem to her, she could pinpoint exactly where the issue lay and explain how to fix it.
What did that mean?
It meant that when she learned a skill, she’d thoroughly thought through every aspect of it until she completely understood it.
That also confirmed the theory he and Old Qin had discussed before.
To put it bluntly, a lot of people worked by guesswork.
Their masters taught them how to do something, and they simply copied it without ever thinking about why.
Last year, there had been a batch of tractors produced by their factory. Everyone knew that those units required two additional procedures where the longitudinal frame beam connected to the rear axle housing, but quite a few people probably didn’t know why.
For many people, laziness wasn’t reflected in their bodies, but in their minds. They still did the work, but they couldn’t be bothered to think, to summarize and reflect, or to learn anything new.
That’s when people who were willing to use their brains truly stood out.
And that was also the foundation for becoming a senior engineer.
Qiao Yuan pondered for a moment. “In that case, she really might carve out a path for herself.”
“Just watch. She’s got the grit for it.”
…
After finishing the inspection of this batch of practical class assignments, Wang Baiqiang took a sip from his tea mug.
“Isn’t Master going to help the Railway Bureau next week and conduct some training while he’s there? Let’s add three students, one from each year. Let them get out and broaden their horizons.”
Qiao Yuan chuckled. “Master loves giving live demonstrations during training. Aren’t you afraid he’ll skin you alive if the students embarrass him?”
Wang Baiqiang’s face darkened. “If Master skins me alive, can’t I turn around and skin them alive afterward?”
After returning from the river embankment, the four of them had only just entered the family housing compound when Aunt Wang, who was sitting at the entrance picking vegetables, called out to them, “Hey, Qiaozhi! Everyone rushed off to the school. Why didn’t you go? Engineer Lu is personally leading them!” Her voice was full of admiration and amazement. “Engineer Lu!”
Lin Qiaozhi’s eyes flew wide open. She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard and hurriedly asked, “What school? What do you mean Engineer Lu is personally leading them?”
Aunt Wang waved the vegetable stem in her hand. “Those parts you all make every month. They picked one outstanding student from each grade.”
Lin Qiaozhi’s face lit up with delight. She was so happy she almost jumped into the air!
“Thanks, Aunt Wang!”
She spun around and bolted off like a rabbit, calling excitedly, “Come on, come on! Go with me and take a look!”
She sprinted all the way to the school gate.
Sure enough, there were crowds of people!
The air was filled with noisy discussions, and everywhere she looked people were lamenting, regretting, and sighing over missed opportunities.
Every one of this generation of children from Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory had grown up listening to stories about Engineer Lu.
The practical training assignment, submitted once every month, was graded, and the scores were posted on the wall outside the school.
Seeing her name firmly at the top of the rankings, Lin Qiaozhi threw her arms around Zhenzhu and the others in excitement, tears shimmering in her eyes. “It’s me. It’s really me!”
She had stumbled forward for so long, clutching tightly to that single ray of light Director Meng had shone into her life. Filled with hope, she kept walking toward it, enduring countless injuries and endless scoldings. At last, at long last, she had reached the crack where the light broke through.
Not enough. Still not enough! Lin Qiaozhi lifted her chin and blinked hard, forcing the tears from her eyes. No matter how difficult it was, she would keep moving forward.
The practical training assignment, submitted once every month, was graded, and the scores were posted on the wall outside the school.
Seeing her name firmly at the top of the rankings,
Lin Qiaozhi threw her arms around Zhenzhu and the others in excitement, tears shimmering in her eyes. “It’s me. It’s really me!”
She had stumbled forward for so long, clutching tightly to that single ray of light Director Meng had shone into her life. Filled with hope, she kept walking toward it, enduring countless injuries and endless scoldings. At last, at long last, she had reached the crack where the light broke through.
Not enough. Still not enough! Lin Qiaozhi lifted her chin and blinked hard, forcing the tears from her eyes. No matter how difficult it was, she would keep moving forward.