With several parties pushing for it, the new issue of the newspaper was quickly published.
Morning in Jiangcheng.
The whistle of a river steamer echoed farther and farther into the distance.
Every dock and port along the Yangtze bustled with activity, a unique clamor and prosperity brought to Jiangcheng by the river’s spiderweb-like network of waterways.
Ship after ship unloaded cargo at the docks.
Team after team of trackers and dockworkers shouted work chants.
Young newspaper hawkers ran through the awakening streets and alleys, their voices loud and piercing:
“Extra! Extra! A sixteen-year-old Second-Grade Worker!”
“Come take a look! A rising star has emerged on the industrial front! Young worker Lin Qiaozhi has proudly made the front page of the Jiangcheng Evening News!”
“In agriculture, learn from Dazhai. In industry, learn from Daqing! Read about Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory’s young worker Lin Qiaozhi, whose name has brought honor to railway transportation, achieving Second-Grade status in just eight months!”
Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory had always been a source of pride for the people of Jiangcheng.
Hearing the cries, people naturally became curious.
The article about Hongqi Factory was printed as the front-page headline, occupying the largest section of the newspaper.
The moment they got their hands on a copy, their attention was immediately captured by the photograph.
Those bright, sharp black eyes burned with fighting spirit, like a beast that had lain in wait in the grass for a long time, finally seeing the perfect moment to strike!
Combined with the brilliant, blazing sunlight shining down from above and illuminating the broad entrance of Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory.
Everyone who saw the newspaper had the same thought: Good grief, the young people at Hongqi Factory were so full of life it looked ready to burst right out of their eyes!
Some people instantly felt goosebumps racing across their skin.
Almost instinctively, they turned to read the article.
As the sun climbed higher into the sky, the newspaper spread into thousands of households across Jiangcheng.
…
Hongqi Factory Residential Compound.
The children who had dashed outside carrying their toys soon came running back in a flurry.
This time, they were carrying several newspapers they had picked up from the factory’s Publicity Department.
They were drenched in sweat from running, their cheeks flushed red.
As they ran, they waved the newspapers overhead and shouted excitedly through the residential compound’s narrow lanes, “Sister Qiaozhi’s in the newspaper!!”
“Sister Qiaozhi is amazing!! Come and look!!”
“Our Hongqi Factory made the Jiangcheng Evening News!”
Heads popped out from one home after another throughout the compound, and people called over the children they knew. “Xiao Lingdang, let Auntie Li have a look.”
Those who arrived a moment too late could only squeeze into the crowd to see.
The elderly who couldn’t read shouted, “Read it! Don’t just stand there looking, read it to us too!”
The same scene was playing out several streets away, where people had begun lining up outside the supply and marketing cooperative in the middle of the night to buy pork.
“Read it out!! It’s so crowded nobody can see! Stop bunching up the line and find someone to read it!”
Today’s prices at the supply and marketing cooperative were ¥0.52 per jin for pork and ¥0.41 per jin for pork fat. As word spread, several streets were thrown into an uproar. People grabbed their meat ration coupons and money and hurried to line up at the cooperative, hoping to seize this rare chance to improve their meals for the month.
After all, each person was only allotted 1.5 jin of pork ration coupons per month. Getting to buy and eat pork was a big deal in itself.
Yet no one had expected the newspaper to carry an even more sensational piece of news than the pork supply.
The line waiting to buy meat erupted in an even greater uproar.
“My goodness, she’s earning a Second-Grade Worker’s wages at just sixteen?”
“That’s a full ¥38.29 a month! That girl’s incredible.”
Many able-bodied adults didn’t even earn that much in a month. Wage grades were standardized, and although pay varied by region according to local economic conditions, everyone in Jiangcheng knew exactly how much a particular grade paid.
“I think I know this Lin Qiaozhi. She’s that girl from Hongqi Factory. She was such a handful when she was little. She finished what took other boys three years to learn in just eight months?”
Amid the noisy crowd, an auntie carrying a bamboo basket nudged the woman in front of her with her shoulder and suggested enthusiastically, “Did you hear that? Why don’t you send your second daughter to study too? Aren’t you always complaining she’s a little troublemaker who takes everything in the house apart?”
“Do you think it’d work?” The woman who had been nudged looked hesitant, but she couldn’t help feeling moved.
“Just look at this!!”
“She’s a girl too, and she’s making thirty-eight yuan a month!!”
Hearing a promotional story and hearing about something that had actually happened to someone nearby were two completely different things. They stirred entirely different feelings. Something so close, something that felt within reach, was enough to set hearts racing.
During those days in Jiangcheng.
No matter where people went, discussions seemed to fill the air.
Along with the voices of little girls who, inspired by what they had heard, now spoke with newfound confidence.
Just like little Qiaozhi had once been inspired.
Time seemed to have come full circle.
As Reporter Zhong walked through the streets and alleys of Jiangcheng, listening to the voices filling the city, she wrote Lin Qiaozhi a letter and enclosed several of the other developed photographs with it.
She loved those photographs. Every one of them bore witness to the spirited confidence of a young soul at sixteen.
In the letter, she wrote: I look forward to seeing my young friend fulfill her dreams. I hope I’ll have the chance to interview you many more times in the future.
By the time the letter arrived.
Lin Qiaozhi was already aboard a train bound for Hunan.
Hunan lay in an inland hilly region.
It was also the closest and most suitable location to Jiangcheng for conducting field research.
Wang Baiqiang led the team.
The five of them shared a sleeper compartment.
There were upper, middle, and lower compartments on each side, with a small table in the middle.
Besides bringing Lin Qiaozhi, Wang Baiqiang had also brought Liu Guoyou, Hu Qing, and Fang Ziqin, three fitters.
Among them, only Liu Guoyou had worked his way up through the fitter ranks. Hu Qing and Fang Ziqin had both been trained by the factory school.
“Engineer Wang, the comrades from the railway have brought us our meal,” Liu Guoyou said as he came in from the corridor carrying several aluminum lunch boxes tied tightly with straw rope.
Lin Qiaozhi was sitting by the small table reading documents. She quickly cleared everything off the table, neatly stacked the papers by the head of the inner berth, then grinned at Wang Baiqiang, who was in the middle of quizzing everyone. “Don’t get grease on the documents! You put so much effort into writing all this. They’re precious.”
Hu Qing and Fang Ziqin secretly gave her a thumbs-up beneath the table, their eyes full of admiration.
For a moment, Wang Baiqiang neither knew whether to praise her nor scold her. He could only keep a straight face and point at her. “All you ever think about is eating.”
“If you’re not enthusiastic about eating, you’ve got a problem with your attitude!” Lin Qiaozhi flashed him a toothy grin, then hurriedly untied the straw binding the lunch boxes and eagerly placed the first one in front of him. “You eat first. You’ll only have the energy to scold us after you’ve had your fill, right?”
Wang Baiqiang nearly choked on the words caught in his chest.
Before the thought I never should’ve brought this girl along could even surface, someone had already stuffed a pair of chopsticks into his hand, and the mouthwatering aroma of stir-fried pork with chili peppers hit him full in the face.
Liu Guoyou, who had swiftly shoved the chopsticks into his hand, glanced at Lin Qiaozhi, and she rewarded him with an approving wink.
How could anyone skip a meal?!
Ever since Lin Qiaozhi got on the train and heard that Wang Baiqiang loved gathering people together to study and do research during train rides, often becoming so absorbed that he forgot to eat, or letting his meals sit beside him until they went cold, she had been completely dumbfounded.
Even the novelty of taking a train on her first long-distance trip had been cut in half by Wang Baiqiang.
Lin Qiaozhi took the lead.
Hu Qing and Fang Ziqin quickly followed suit. The three of them moved with astonishing speed, filling the table in no time. The lids of the aluminum lunch boxes were lifted, and the chopsticks were laid out.
What else was there to do?
Eat!
When Lin Qiaozhi saw the stir-fried pork slices with chili peppers, finely chopped blood duck, and stir-fried cabbage in the aluminum lunch boxes, her eyes widened in delight. Sounding thoroughly inexperienced, she exclaimed, “The food on trains is this good?”
She took a deep breath of the aroma and couldn’t help asking, “Surely they don’t serve food this good every meal on the train?”
After all, she used to eat meat less than once a month, and her family wasn’t an exception. Plenty of families lived the same way.
Liu Guoyou smiled. “Not always. It’s because the railway often asks our Hongqi Factory fitters to help out, and Engineer Wang is a regular.” He shot her a meaningful look.
Lin Qiaozhi understood. So they were benefiting from Wang Baiqiang’s reputation.
Life wasn’t easy for the railway system either. They only had a few thousand locomotives, but the actual demand was said to be well over ten thousand. Whether transporting passengers or freight, the burden was enormous. They had everyone worried, and still got criticized for not doing enough.
Contentedly eating what she suspected had been cooked by a Hunan chef, she found it so delicious she felt she could eat two more big bowls. “Hunan food really is amazing. It’s so appetizing.”
Wang Baiqiang shot her a dark look.
How had he failed to notice over the past year that she was such a little glutton?
He looked down at the food in his own bowl.
Was it really that good?
“Hurry up and eat. Once you’re done, we’re looking over the materials. What did you promise me before we left?”
She had thumped her chest and guaranteed she’d keep up with the schedule. That was the only reason he’d agreed to bring her along!
Otherwise, what business did a complete beginner have tagging along and getting in the way? Wang Baiqiang glanced at the others beside him and felt like they’d all been led astray.
Sensing the big tiger’s gaze, Hu Qing’s scalp tingled. He forced a smile and said, “Engineer Wang, don’t worry. Just think about how fast Qiaozhi learns. She rotated through every workshop, and it only took her half a month before she could work independently. Back then, Ziqin needed almost two months.”
Fang Ziqin didn’t mind being used for comparison. Deeply moved, he silently sobbed inside as he ate the piping hot, fragrant meal.
While picking up a piece of blood duck with his chopsticks, he nodded and said, “You didn’t see it. When we first graduated and entered the factory, learning to disassemble and reassemble a tractor took us at least three to five days. Sometimes we even had to ask the veteran workers to teach us. Lin Qiaozhi watched it twice, and then she could assemble it herself…”
Before he could finish, he stuffed a mouthful of blood duck into his mouth and busily chewed, falling silent.
Hot food really was the best. Thank heaven, thank earth, and thank the bold-as-brass Lin Qiaozhi!
This had always been the practice at Hongqi Factory.
Although every student graduating from the factory school was immediately classified as a Second Grade worker upon joining the factory, they still had to rotate through every workshop first and learn all the basic operations.
For example, operating machine tools and various other equipment to mass-produce qualified parts using molds.
Or disassembling and assembling tractors.
How long this training took varied from person to person. Fast learners completed their apprenticeship quickly, while slower ones could drag it out for as long as six months.
Hu Qing secretly watched Wang Baiqiang’s expression and couldn’t suppress his curiosity. “Engineer Wang, how come you weren’t surprised at all when you heard Lin Qiaozhi could disassemble it after watching twice?”
After all, even if she’d learned to disassemble a lathe, tractors and lathes were still two different things.
It was perfectly normal to get stuck on certain parts that just wouldn’t come off or wouldn’t go back together. He’d gotten stuck himself back then and had needed a veteran worker to teach him.
That old worker had only come after being asked again and again, and he’d even given Hu Qing a look that practically said, “Three years of study, and this is all you’ve got?” It had infuriated him.
“Surprised about what?” Wang Baiqiang replied calmly, looking straight at Hu Qing without the slightest tact. “You think everyone is like you, taking things apart exactly the way the instructor taught them. When Lin Qiaozhi was learning to disassemble a lathe, she thought through every single step. She understood every part and how it fit together. Of course she’d learn it after seeing it once.”
It was like taking a driving test. When reversing into a parking space, some people fixated on the reference points and lines the instructor told them to watch. Take away those points and lines, and their minds went blank. But a driver who truly understood the skill could back into any awkward parking space with a single smooth turn.
At first, there had still been some people in the workshop who doubted whether Lin Qiaozhi really deserved to enter the factory after completing her studies in just eight months. But after this round of rotations, they were all convinced.
They had no choice but to be.
Technical work was like that. If you could do it, you could do it. If you couldn’t, you couldn’t. One glance was enough to tell whether your work was good or bad.
It wasn’t like literature or art, where everyone had their own opinions, each convinced they were right.
Now that the conversation had opened up, after chatting a little more, they inevitably brought up the stir Lin Qiaozhi had caused in the assembly workshop.
After watching the process, Lin Qiaozhi had gone ahead and assembled it herself. Since her method was different from everyone else’s, an experienced fitter pointed out that she was doing it wrong.
Lin Qiaozhi said, “It’s not wrong. This way it goes together just fine, takes less effort, and doesn’t cause unnecessary wear on the workpiece.”
“Nobody assembles it like that.”
“We can take it apart and have a look. It’ll be obvious whether my way is better.” Lin Qiaozhi didn’t get angry. Once they took it apart, any wear marks or scratches would be immediately visible.
The other man stubbornly refused to budge. Since Lin Qiaozhi couldn’t convince him, she invited Chi Min, the director of the neighboring Third Workshop, to take a look.
After examining it, Chi Min made the final call that Lin Qiaozhi’s assembly method really was better.
The veteran fitter, who had insisted his more than ten years of experience proved he was right, immediately found himself unable to save face.
Still sulking, he was about to argue further.
But Lin Qiaozhi spoke first. “Does the spot about two fist-widths below your right shoulder often ache deep inside the joint?”
The man froze on the spot.
“How did you know?” Hu Qing asked curiously as he brought it up. Then he pressed on, “I heard quite a few workers from the assembly workshops later carried gifts to your house to ask you about the pain around their shoulder blades. Is that true?”
The moment he shared that bit of gossip, everyone at the table, those eating with tense expressions, those happily digging into their fragrant meals, and even the steady ones who had barely spoken at all, all turned to look at Lin Qiaozhi.
Lin Qiaozhi, who had been quietly enjoying her meal while trying her best to stay unnoticed: “…”
Fortunately, she’d been focused on eating and was almost finished.
She quickly scraped the last few grains of rice in the aluminum lunch box into a little pile, scooped them up in one bite, finished chewing, wiped her mouth, then turned to Hu Qing and asked, “Where did you hear that?”
She realized Hu Qing seemed to know everything. He was practically a gossip expert. As for her, she had no idea what Hu Qing had been up to lately.
Hu Qing raised his eyebrows proudly. “My mother’s the queen of the family housing compound. People call her the ‘Sunflower Intelligence Officer.’ You know the slogan, ‘Every sunflower turns toward the sun,’ right? That’s what it’s talking about.”
Lin Qiaozhi understood.
It ran in the family!
“It turns out your mother is Aunt Jinhua.” Lin Qiaozhi sighed with feeling. Everyone said that if Aunt Jinhua had lived during the War of Resistance against Japan, she would definitely have been an expert intelligence operative.
“You still haven’t answered me. Is it really true? How do you know where they’re hurting?” Hu Qing pressed curiously.
“Not completely true, but pretty close.” Lin Qiaozhi explained, “It’s nothing special. I grew up watching my father rub medicated oil on people. After seeing it enough times, you just know. I get the feeling some people in the assembly team don’t really know how to use technique or apply force skillfully.”
Then Lin Qiaozhi asked in confusion, “I remember our factory organizes training every year, doesn’t it?”
Liu Guoyou, who had come up through the ranks after being hired externally as a fitter, felt this deeply. “That’s true, but a lot of people enter the factory as apprentices and learn from their masters. Once they’ve learned, they’re too lazy to change.”
After all, they could already do the job, and they were already used to doing it that way. Why bother spending the effort to learn something new? There wasn’t any real benefit.
“All right, you’ve finished eating.” Wang Baiqiang cut off the idle chatter.
He put the lid back on the aluminum lunch box. Threading the straw rope through the handle and tying it, he bundled the lunch boxes together into a string. Liu Guoyou picked them up and headed outside. “I’ll take these back. Qiaozhi, make the most of the time and read through more of the materials.”
Lin Qiaozhi, who had really wanted to go see the dining car: “…”
How was Brother Liu so quick on his feet?
Her eyes followed Liu Guoyou toward the door, as though they wanted to go with him.
Everyone said Liu Guoyou was a thoughtful and steady big brother figure, but why did she feel this big brother was taking the opportunity to avoid Engineer Wang’s after-lunch questioning?
This time, however, Wang Baiqiang actually showed some mercy.
He didn’t start their “post-meal digestion” the moment they’d finished eating.
Instead, he said to Lin Qiaozhi, “Although we’re going to conduct inspections and field surveys, that’s not how we’re presenting it. Officially, we’re technicians from Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory, representing the factory in providing maintenance and repairs for the villagers’ tractors and diesel engines.”
Lin Qiaozhi nodded.
She wasn’t foolish enough to ask why.
The difference was obvious. One would be unwelcome, while the other would be warmly received.
If you kept going around inspecting people over and over, they’d only think you were getting in the way and delaying their farm work.
But repairs were another matter entirely.
For all they knew, every village for miles around would be beating gongs and drums to welcome them.
“I understand.” Lin Qiaozhi stayed remarkably composed. With a confident grin, she said, “Besides, diesel engines and tractors are both core subjects at our school. We get plenty of hands-on practice too. I’m very good at them.”
Wang Baiqiang knew that wouldn’t be difficult for her, but he still reminded her, “Repairing them out in the countryside isn’t the same as repairing them in class. There’s a principle called the ‘Three On-the-Spot Principles’: use locally available materials, repair on site, and put it back into service on site.”
“For example, rust preventive grease is something basic in our factory. But what if the production brigade doesn’t have any? What do you do?”
Lin Qiaozhi: “…”
How could they not even have rust preventive grease?
Didn’t the brigade or commune buy some to protect their diesel engines and tractors? Weren’t they supposed to treasure them?
But she reacted quickly.
Since Engineer Wang had asked the question, there were probably quite a few brigades and communes that really were in that situation.
She said, “…Find some oil and coat it with that? It could serve as a substitute.”
Wang Baiqiang nodded and continued teaching her. “In the countryside here in Hunan, tung oil and tea seed oil are fairly common. Those two are better choices. They’re both traditional local products, so they won’t have all kinds of strange things mixed into them.”
He went on to point out various precautions and details.
Lin Qiaozhi quickly took out her notebook and wrote everything down.
If she didn’t write it down now and forgot later, there definitely wouldn’t be the same gentle patience the next time he taught her. More likely, he’d glare at her and tear into her without mercy.
Hu Qing and Fang Ziqin carried up the materials. Not daring to fool around, they buried themselves in studying.
After finishing this little private lesson, Lin Qiaozhi also immersed herself in the stack of materials, all of which concerned hilly and mountainous terrain and tractor technology.
As soon as they got off the train, people from the local production brigade and commune came to meet them.
The commune official’s surname was Zhang. He was the Party secretary of the production brigade.
Secretary Zhang enthusiastically drove them toward the village in a tractor, puttering along as he said with simple frankness, “This tractor runs on fuel, and fuel’s expensive. We only brought it out today to pick up you technicians from Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory. Otherwise we’d always use ox carts!”
Ox carts were great. Oxen only ate grass.
It was just a pity that, in the end, anything that ate grass couldn’t compare to something that ran on fuel. An iron ox could accomplish an enormous amount of work in a single day.
“I heard you’re the ones who build these tractors. Do you think you could make an iron ox that eats grass?” the old man driving the tractor asked boldly, indulging in a little daydream.
Fortunately, the tractor’s puttering was loud enough to drown him out.
From the back, all Lin Qiaozhi and the others caught were something about oxen and eating grass.
As they got off, Liu Guoyou introduced the place to her. “I arranged this commune. It has thirteen villages. The terrain in the first few is suitable enough for tractors, but the ones farther in are classic hilly and mountainous country.”
Now that the puttering had stopped, there was no longer any need to shout to be heard.
Secretary Zhang first warmly invited them to eat at the brigade commune headquarters and rest for a while.
As they ate, more and more people gathered in the courtyard of the brigade office.
There were two additional tractors and more than a dozen diesel engines. Every machine had people gathered around it, with no fewer than two or three people and as many as six or seven.
The slightly different local accents mingled together. Since Hunan bordered Jiangcheng’s province, they could understand them without much difficulty.
Embarrassed, Secretary Zhang and the others smiled apologetically. One of them stepped outside, put on a stern face, and said, “What’s the rush? Our guests haven’t even finished eating. Since when does Xiangxiang treat guests like this?” As he spoke, he waved people away.
Secretary Zhang smiled apologetically. “The villagers are just anxious. They heard technicians from Hongqi Factory were coming to inspect and service the machines, so… they got a little too excited.” As he spoke, he poured himself a cup of sorghum liquor. “I’ll drink this one.”
After finishing it, he tried to pour Wang Baiqiang a drink as well.
Wang Baiqiang didn’t drink alcohol.
The factory strictly required all senior technicians not to drink. Whether others drank in private was another matter, but Wang Baiqiang never did.
He covered the rim of his cup with his hand. “The villagers’ concerns can’t wait. It wouldn’t be right to keep them waiting. We’ve eaten enough. Let’s get started.”
The group headed outside.
Secretary Zhang introduced the situation to them, subtly pointing out that the other two tractors had been driven over from neighboring brigades and communes, while their own brigade only had one. He also identified which diesel engines belonged to their brigade.
In short, repair Hewan Brigade’s equipment first!
After explaining the situation before them to Lin Qiaozhi’s group, he enthusiastically introduced them to the villagers. “These are technical personnel from Jiangcheng Hongqi Agricultural Machinery Factory. They’ve come to our Hewan Brigade specifically to help us solve our problems. Everyone, let’s welcome them with a round of applause!”
The applause that followed was warm and vigorous.
Wang Baiqiang roughly divided the tractors and diesel engines among everyone, then said, “Get to it.” He also gave them a meaningful look, telling them to build good relationships with the villagers so later communication and their work would go more smoothly.
Lin Qiaozhi was assigned three diesel engines.
She walked toward the nearest one. Just as she approached, she heard someone among the group surrounding it say, “There’s even a girl?”
Then the man turned toward Wang Baiqiang’s direction.
Apparently intending to ask if he could be assigned someone else.
Lin Qiaozhi pulled on her work gloves and cut him off before he could speak. “Don’t look down on girls.” Her gaze fell on the diesel engine. “Your engine has an unstable RPM, doesn’t it? And when it’s running, there’s a clanking sound coming from inside. The heavier the load, the more obvious the sound becomes.”
“H-How did you know that?”