The mold was about to be moved into the Third Workshop’s storeroom. If urgent production was ever needed, or if one of the primary molds developed a problem, it could be put onto the production line at any time.
Chi Min, the Third Workshop’s supervisor, came with two lathe operators to carry the mold inside. Early in the morning, before the shift had even started, workers gathered around to have a look.
“Let me see.”
“How long has that girl from the Lin family been learning? She already replaced a mold made by an old master?”
Chi Min immediately put on a stern face and shooed everyone away. “What are you all crowding around here for? Not enough work to do today?”
He had personally inspected the mold before signing for it.
If even a single dent or scratch turned up later, he’d be the one held responsible!
The workers from the Third Workshop laughed and clamored, “Come on, Supervisor Chi. When was the last time we saw a First-Class piece? You give us Qualified all day long, and half the time you even mark them Unqualified and make us redo them. At least let us see what a truly good one looks like!”
“Exactly!”
“Let us have a look! A First-Class rating from Engineer Wang! That’s a rare sight.”
This was Engineer Wang they were talking about.
Every time he came to inspect the workshop, the entire place became so tense that no one dared breathe too loudly under his scrutiny.
Too many unqualified pieces wouldn’t cost someone their permanent position, but they could be reassigned to another job.
None of those jobs were as good as being a fitter. If you could do skilled technical work, who wanted to do manual labor instead? To put it bluntly, it was much harder to move up a grade and get a raise.
Chi Min said, “Fine. I’ll let you all broaden your horizons, so you’ll understand why Engineer Wang is always so picky about the parts you make.”
He had everyone step back. The handcart was padded with a thick layer of straw, and over it lay a heavy coarse cloth cover quilted with straw inside.
He lifted the cover.
A gleaming mold appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“Hiss…”
A chorus of sharp breaths echoed through the workshop, followed by a gradual silence.
Laymen watched the excitement; professionals saw the craftsmanship.
One look was enough for them to tell that this workpiece had been made with meticulous care from the very first operation. Every surface had been painstakingly refined with files, scrapers, and grinding wheels. Even the tiny interior corners and bends had been finished with exceptional precision.
At any point during the mold-making process, if even one step had been done carelessly or if the maker had lowered their standards even slightly, it would have been impossible to achieve a result like this.
Some people were convinced from the bottom of their hearts. Without saying a word, they turned and walked away.
Others stayed gathered around, marveling at the mold.
“That little girl from the Lin family really knows her stuff. No wonder Engineer Wang gave her a First-Class rating. If I were the one judging, I couldn’t honestly give this only a Qualified rating even with my eyes closed.”
Chi Min covered the mold again with the protective cloth. “Stop spouting nonsense. Once she joins the factory, with craftsmanship like this, reaching Third-Grade is only a matter of time. You’d better start calling her Engineer Lin.”
He had to keep the mold well protected.
It might be made of iron, but it was incredibly valuable. One extra scratch could very well lower the quality of every part produced on the entire production line.
After covering it properly again, he added, “Who knows? Someday you might even need to ask her for help, smiling politely while calling her Master.”
The man’s lips twitched as though he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.
After an awkward smile, he finally blurted out, “So… how’s the mold’s precision?”
Chi Min sighed. “Its only shortcoming is the precision. It’s sitting at around six to seven si. If the precision were just another two si better, it could go straight onto the production line. That’d earn another eight yuan a month in skilled-worker bonuses.”
Engineer Lu was a fitter who placed extraordinary importance on mold details and product quality.
The culture he had built at Hongqi Factory naturally reflected that philosophy from top to bottom.
Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory strongly encouraged its skilled workers to continually improve their technical abilities.
A mold made by a mold fitter had to earn at least a First-Class rating before it could be put into production.
Whenever a fitter believed their skills had improved and that they could produce a higher-precision mold than someone else’s, they were free to make a replacement for the one currently being used on the production line.
As long as the mold remained in production, it earned between 0.015 and 0.04 yuan per part, depending on the mold’s complexity and the importance of the tractor component. The factory had its own formula for calculating performance bonuses.
The workers, naturally, had their own rule of thumb. To them, one mold generally meant around five to twelve yuan a month in skilled-worker bonuses.
The whole system existed to encourage everyone to improve their skills and perfect their craft.
Over time, the tractors produced by Hongqi Factory earned an increasingly strong reputation for quality. Their factory-made replacement parts were among the very best, far beyond anything ordinary maintenance fitters could produce by hand. The communes and production brigades weren’t fools. After enough time had passed, they all bought genuine factory parts from Hongqi instead.
Better profits meant better benefits, more hiring, and even new dormitories.
That was how Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory gradually grew into the leading tractor manufacturer dominating the southern market.
Unfortunately, Lin Qiaozhi had no idea any of this existed.
Otherwise, she’d definitely be heartbroken over the eight-yuan bonus that had slipped through her fingers. Was it really just eight yuan? To her, it was hot dry noodles, sanxian doupi, richly oiled shaomai, youtiao, mianwo, and guanjiao!
At that moment, she was reading the newspaper.
Only after finally relaxing did she notice that the tone of the newspapers seemed to be changing ever so slightly.
“Qiaozhi, have some water first. Director Meng has gone to coordinate work with the neighborhood office and the street committee,” Secretary Xu said as he poured her a cup of water.
Lin Qiaozhi accepted it with a smile. “Thank you, Secretary Xu.”
She took a sip, and the ripples stirring in her heart gradually settled.
Lowering her eyes, her gaze fell upon the newspaper.
She wasn’t especially politically perceptive, but judging by the timing of the school closures in her dreams, there were only a few months left.
Reading the articles again with that thought in mind, especially those in official newspapers like the People’s Daily, she could vaguely sense an unusual note of caution woven into the writing.
The wording was no longer as bold as it had been in previous years.
Everything was extremely rigorous and restrained.
She went on to read several more of the latest newspapers.
“What are you looking at? You look so serious.”
Director Meng walked in through the door and found Lin Qiaozhi sitting there with a deeply furrowed brow, staring intently at the newspaper on the table.
Lin Qiaozhi looked up.
Director Meng smiled at her.
Lin Qiaozhi’s heart skipped a beat, and for some reason she suddenly felt nervous.
Her palms had grown slightly damp with sweat. She simply stood up, took the thermos from the cabinet against the wall, and poured Director Meng a cup of hot water. “You just got back. Have some water and take a break.”
Director Meng took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair.
After taking a sip of water and relaxing a little, she smiled at Lin Qiaozhi. “I’ve already heard the news. I never imagined Engineer Wang would give that mold you made a First-Class rating. Back when you said you wanted to graduate early, and Engineer Wang laid out his conditions, everyone said it was impossible. And how long has it been? Just over eight months?”
“You’ve really brought honor to us women.” Director Meng turned and joked with everyone else. “You’ve made this year’s publicity work a lot easier for us too, haven’t you?”
The office filled with cheerful laughter and agreement.
Lin Qiaozhi blushed slightly from the praise, and even her ears felt warm.
The atmosphere was pleasant, so she explained why she had come. “Right now I’m only waiting for the results of a few remaining exams, but the factory still hasn’t given me any news.”
She was getting anxious.
She wanted to fight for it more proactively.
So she hoped Director Meng would help push things along. “Once I’m officially assigned a grade after joining the factory, especially since I’ll have reached it in a shorter time and with better results, I can become a model for Hongqi Factory’s women’s work, both internally and externally.”
“Many highly skilled jobs with good opportunities for promotion are automatically excluded from many women’s considerations because they think they’re not strong enough, that they’re men’s work. But in reality, plenty of women are strong too. There are countless women in the countryside who carry shoulder poles into the fields every day with tremendous strength.”
“And tractor driving. All the young people recommended by the communes and production brigades to come here and learn to drive tractors are young men.”
She could become that model for Jiangcheng!
Just like when she had read in the newspaper as a child about Tian Guiying, New China’s first female train driver.
She, too, could walk ahead and blaze a trail!
She didn’t believe the other girls in the family compound didn’t admire and look up to Engineer Lu. Nor did she believe there weren’t women in the countryside who dreamed of driving tractors.
Driving a tractor was such a respectable, honorable job. During the busy farming season, villages across an entire commune would compete with one another, saying every flattering word they could to persuade the tractor to come to their village first.
The sooner she joined the factory, the more weight her example would carry.
Look. A girl could outperform every boy in the entire school.
Then, when someone else wanted to follow this path in the future but was told she couldn’t, Lin Qiaozhi wanted to be able to say loudly:
“Who says she can’t? Lin Qiaozhi can!”
Director Meng understood why she had come. She was a little surprised, but also a little moved.
After thinking for a moment, she said, “Right now you’re still a student. School is actually a fairly simple environment. Once you really start working, you’ll encounter far more difficult problems.”
Lin Qiaozhi straightened proudly and smiled. “I’m not afraid!”
“I knew you’d say that. Reminding you is useless.” Director Meng rubbed the top of her head. “Our Qiaozhi has such a beautiful smile. You look so bright and full of spirit when you smile. You should smile more often.”
Lin Qiaozhi knew that early-entry job placements had to be brought up at a factory-wide meeting.
She needed to find more people to support her!
She didn’t like sitting around anxiously, waiting for fate to show her mercy. How much more reassuring it was to seize her own fate firmly in her own hands.
After speaking with Director Meng,
Lin Qiaozhi went to speak with the factory leaders in charge of production and quality inspection.
This time, she took a different approach. If she graduated early and joined the factory ahead of schedule, it would definitely be a good thing for the factory!
Though they would never admit it openly, many male comrades actually couldn’t accept the idea of a woman being more skilled than they were. They would find it humiliating.
“Let me tell you a story. It’s said that in ancient times, there was a fisherman whose fish were always half-dead before they even reached the market. Then one day, he accidentally tossed a catfish into the barrel. Catfish are fierce, energetic, and incredibly resilient. It stirred up all the other fish, and by the time they reached the market, every single one was still lively and flopping about…”
“And your point?”
“I’m that catfish!”
The person in charge of production was a capable, straightforward female leader. She burst into laughter on the spot. “All right, I’ll help push things along. The school too, honestly, why are they dragging their feet so much?”
Lin Qiaozhi truly had no idea.
In reality, it wasn’t because anyone had reservations, nor because graduating after only eight months was unprecedented.
It was because she was too outstanding. People were competing to get her.
“Here’s the thing, Baiqiang. I asked you to come today because there’s something I’d like to discuss with you…” Engineer Lu glanced at the several apprentices in the room, leaned back slightly in his chair, and spoke to Wang Baiqiang.
“Just tell me what you need,” Wang Baiqiang replied cautiously. What technical problem could possibly require Engineer Lu to discuss it with him?
Even though he was now only one step below Engineer Lu in rank, he still fell well short in terms of experience, technical foundation, and achievements. Besides, everything he knew had been painstakingly taught to him by his master, practically hand over hand.
Meeting Wang Baiqiang’s gaze, Engineer Lu cleared his throat twice. “It’s about what you mentioned to me the other day regarding Lin Qiaozhi.”
Wang Baiqiang froze for a moment. “Didn’t we already settle that? At the commendation ceremony, you said she was quick-witted and happened to be a good fit for our group.”
He noticed Engineer Lu’s eyes shift away ever so slightly.
Wang Baiqiang suddenly looked around at the other senior technicians in the room.