“What? Old Gou—Master Gou, you’re not joking with me, are you? You just randomly brought in some young girl and now you want to arrange a job for her? Do you think jobs are cabbages that you can just hand out whenever you feel like it?” Zhu Changgeng was so shocked by Gou Deshun’s words that he nearly jumped out of his seat.
“You said I don’t take apprentices, didn’t you? Can’t I train a master mechanic for the factory? This girl is my newly accepted apprentice. I guarantee she’ll become a master mechanic here in the future.”
“No, no, no, Old Gou, stop joking around. That girl said yesterday that there was something wrong with the vehicle. Fine, that could have been a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. But you’re saying she’s going to become a master mechanic? Aren’t you afraid you’ll choke on those words?”
“Ha! I’ve never choked on my words. I don’t care. I’ve taken a liking to this girl. If I’m going to take an apprentice, I’ll take her. Don’t even think about getting me to take anyone else.”
After saying that, Gou Deshun plopped himself down opposite Zhu Changgeng, grabbed the sunflower seeds on his desk, and started cracking them.
Outside, Shu An listened to the argument inside. She looked up at the sky, then down at the ground, and glanced around curiously. She was also extremely nervous inside.
Would Master Gou really be able to get her a job?
“Ah, Old Gou, stop fooling around. How can a job just be handed out like that? If you want an apprentice, there are those new college graduates—the ones with impeccable backgrounds, and they even studied mechanical engineering. Isn’t that exactly what we need?”
“Look at you. You’ve got perfectly good college graduates available, yet you refuse them and insist on taking an outsider. What exactly are you after?” Zhu Changgeng earnestly tried to persuade him.
“All right, all right. I admit she has some skills, but no matter how you look at it, those skills can’t compare with someone who received formal training, right?”
“Enough, enough. Don’t mention those ‘impeccable-background’ college graduates in front of me. College graduates are nothing special. They can’t even calculate a simple angle formula correctly! I can’t train them. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Give them to whoever you want. Just don’t stuff them on me.”
As soon as Gou Deshun heard him mention the college graduate, he immediately waved his hands dismissively.
“Old Zhu, just give me one answer. Are you giving her the job or not? I’ve decided on this apprentice. If you won’t give her a job, fine. I’ll go somewhere else.”
With that, he turned around and lifted his leg to leave.
“Hey, wait, wait, wait! Old Gou, Old Gou! Oh, my dear Master Gou, tell me, how many years have you worked at this factory? If you go to another factory, do you really think they’ll tolerate you the way we do?”
Zhu Changgeng immediately understood what he meant. So that was his plan—just quit and walk away!
“Look at how old you are. Why are you still pulling this stunt? The moment things don’t go your way, you threaten to walk out! Fine, fine, fine. A job, a job! But I don’t have the final say either. I have to go ask the factory director.”
“Then hurry up and go,” Gou Deshun urged, waving his hand impatiently for him to leave.
When Zhu Changgeng walked out, he glanced at Shu An standing outside and looked her up and down. He really couldn’t figure out what this girl had done to make Gou Deshun take such a liking to her that he was even willing to use his own position to pressure them into letting her join the factory.
“What? You’re saying Gou Deshun wants to take on an apprentice?”
“Yes, Director. He wants to take an apprentice, but that apprentice isn’t from our factory, so he wants us to arrange a job for her.”
“No way. What kind of precedent would that set? He can take an apprentice if he wants, but now his apprentice needs a job too? Absolutely not. Once we make an exception, everyone else will use the same excuse to come to me. What am I supposed to do then? Am I supposed to stop doing my job?”
As soon as Qiu Zhenghong heard the request, he immediately waved his hands, making it clear that it was impossible.
“Oh, Director, I know it’s impossible too, but Gou Deshun said that if we don’t arrange a job for his apprentice, he’ll go to another factory.”
“Go to another factory? How dare he!”
Qiu Zhenghong stopped halfway through his sentence and lost his confidence. Gou Deshun was the master mechanic of their factory. If he went to another factory…
The director wasn’t an idiot.
So he simply couldn’t bring himself to say, “Let him go wherever he wants.” Because he knew that the moment word got out, the other factories would come rushing over, beating gongs and drums to snatch Gou Deshun away.
He said irritably, “Who is that female comrade to him? I refuse to believe that out of the entire factory, he can’t find a single person he likes. Our factory has tens of thousands of workers! Could it really be that there isn’t one comrade he considers suitable as an apprentice? Didn’t we recently have several technicians transferred here?”
“Oh, Director, don’t even mention it. I already told him all of that, but you know what Master Gou is like. He simply won’t agree. He insists on taking this girl. She’s standing in my office right now. He just wants an answer—yes or no. If we say no, he’ll leave.”
“This, this, this… isn’t that just blackmail?” Qiu Zhenghong was hearing someone pull such a stunt for the first time, but even so, he didn’t dare make any harsh statements.
“First, tell me about that female comrade. What kind of background does she have that makes Gou Deshun so determined to take her as his apprentice?”
Zhu Changgeng quickly told him how Shu An had spotted the problem with the blueprint, as well as how she had discovered the crack in the intake manifold that day.
After listening, Qiu Zhenghong frowned.
“That alone isn’t enough to prove she has real skills. What if this girl turns out to be all show after we bring her in? I’m the factory director, yet just because he says so, I arrange a job for her and bring in someone who’s all style and no substance. What would that look like if word got out?”
“And if everyone starts doing what he’s doing, the other master mechanics will follow his example. Are we even going to be able to run this factory anymore?”
“I know that too,” Zhu Changgeng said helplessly. “But you know what Old Gou is like. He’s as stubborn as a mule. He’s never been wrong about someone he’s taken a liking to.”
“But what if he misjudged this time? We can’t go around turning every dung beetle into a nugget of gold, can we?” Qiu Zhenghong irritably tapped his desk.
Gou Deshun had a temper as stubborn as a mule. If things really didn’t go his way, he genuinely would quit and walk out.
Why had the previous deputy factory director left?
Wasn’t it because he had gotten into a confrontation with Gou Deshun?
Thinking of this, Qiu Zhenghong said, “Old Gou claims his apprentice has real skills, right? Saying it isn’t enough. Have him take that girl to the repair workshop. Find a few vehicles with problems and have her inspect and repair them.”
“If she can actually identify the problems and repair the vehicles, I’ll say nothing more and arrange the job for her. But if she can’t figure them out, then don’t blame me for refusing to give him face. She can go back wherever she came from.”
Zhu Changgeng immediately nodded.
“All right. I’ll go back and tell him.”
After hearing this, Gou Deshun slapped the sunflower seed shells onto the desk and shot to his feet.
“Let her inspect them! What’s there to be afraid of? When has I, Gou Deshun, ever been wrong about judging people? Let’s go!”
With that, he walked out of the office and waved at Shu An standing by the door.
“Girl, come with me.”
“Okay!”
Seeing this, Shu An immediately followed him. She jogged along behind Gou Deshun as he passed through several repair bays before arriving beneath a large shed.
Quite a few workers were repairing vehicles there. When they saw Gou Deshun approaching, they all greeted him.
Then they noticed the female comrade accompanying him, and curiosity immediately spread among them.
Whether someone had deliberately spread the news or word had genuinely traveled that fast, everyone seemed to know that Gou Deshun was going to take a female apprentice—and that the factory director wasn’t convinced and wanted to put the newcomer to the test.