“Here, An’an, have some soda!” Zhao Ming held out a cup of ice-cold orange soda to Shu An.
Shu An didn’t stand on ceremony. She reached out to take it and handed him the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder.
Zhao Ming took it and opened it. Inside were more than twenty watches. He pulled one out and held it up to the sunlight, turning it from side to side. He couldn’t help but marvel.
“An’an, your skills are really something! After you fixed it up, it looks almost exactly like a new one.”
“And for these smaller watch faces, you even put leather straps on them. They’re small, delicate, and really pretty.”
Zhao Ming casually picked up a few more and asked in confusion, “An’an, why did you make so many women’s watches? There are only a few men’s watches.”
Shu An rolled her eyes at him. “Think about it. When it comes to buying things, aren’t women more willing to spend money? Besides, when the time comes, you should specifically promote these to people who are about to get married. I guarantee you’ll be able to sell several a day.”
Zhao Ming’s eyes lit up when he heard this.
“That’s right! An’an, you’re absolutely right! All right, don’t worry. Just wait for my good news!”
The last batch of goods he had sold had already given him a taste of the profits. Those had only cost five yuan each. This time there were more than twenty watches, so he was going to make quite a bit of money.
Thinking about it, he quickly secured the bag.
Looking at Shu An, he said, “An’an, come have lunch at my place today. I’ll give you the money from last time while you’re there. My mom hasn’t seen you in a long time either. She was asking about you last time and said that if you ever came by, I had to bring you home for a meal.”
“All right, then I’ll be troubling Auntie,” Shu An said, nodding.
“Let’s go.”
Zhao Ming took the bag and led Shu An into the factory. When they passed the guardhouse, he greeted the gatekeeper.
“Uncle Zhao, my cousin is coming to my house for lunch today. I’m letting her wait inside the factory first.”
“Mm, all right. Don’t let her wander around,” Zhao Youhan replied.
He made an entry in the register and then stopped paying attention to the two of them.
The automobile factory was filled with the smells of engine oil and steel. With the summer heat on top of that, the odors lingered in the air for a long time.
Zhao Ming still had to go to work.
Recently, he had been following an experienced mechanic and learning some basic automobile repairs. They had developed a new automobile, and before long, they would have to go out for another test drive.
He brought Shu An to the side of a workshop and pointed toward the area.
“You stay here and keep out of the sun. Don’t wander around. When I get off work, we’ll go home together.”
“Okay.”
Shu An obediently nodded and stood there with her soda.
After Zhao Ming left, she looked around.
She had worked in the automobile industry herself, so naturally she was curious about cars.
Not to mention that the automobiles of this era were based on Soviet designs. In later generations, Soviet-style designs had long since been surpassed by German ones. She had only studied some Soviet automobile designs in textbooks before.
Yet now, right before her eyes, she saw an automobile that had been completely dismantled.
The engine, transmission, drive shaft, cylinder block, pipes—all of them had been taken apart. The core components were scattered all over the ground, while four technicians wearing blue work uniforms crouched there picking up the parts.
Two other men who were obviously more experienced senior mechanics stood nearby smoking.
“This is really strange. The blueprint is exactly the same, down to the smallest detail. So why does the car become unstable? The moment you accelerate, it shakes so badly. The original cars made in the Soviet Union have no such problem. How come you changed some of the details and now there’s a problem? Could there be something wrong with the blueprint you modified?”
Zhu Changgeng couldn’t understand how the car could shake so violently once it was driven.
As soon as he said this, one of the technicians crouching on the ground immediately objected.
“Impossible. We compared this blueprint with the original, and hardly changed anything. There’s no way there’s a problem with it.”
“That’s right, Director Zhu. We even polished everything more carefully because of this project. Even the gears and other components were made by experienced master craftsmen.”
Since the technicians were so confident, Zhu Changgeng couldn’t say anything else. He could only look toward Gou Deshun, who was crouching nearby, tapping and examining the parts.
“Old Gou, you’re one of our most experienced mechanics. If even you can’t figure out what’s wrong, then no one here will be able to.”
Gou Deshun ignored the deputy director’s words.
Instead, he carefully examined the various components in front of him, reconstructing the design of the automobile in his mind.
He had been in this line of work for so many years that he could recognize the model of a Soviet car simply by touching its components with his eyes closed.
There shouldn’t be anything wrong with any of these parts.
The more Shu An listened, the more curious she became.
Before she knew it, she had wandered over and stood beside them, sipping her soda. After standing for a while, she crouched down with them to take a look.
She glanced at the piston in the man’s hand, then at the automobile.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind, and she blurted out instinctively,
“Could it be that the problem isn’t with the car or the blueprint?”
“Hmm?”
In an instant, everyone turned to look at her, staring at the female comrade who had appeared beside them at some point.
Shu An froze under their gazes, then murmured,
“I-I… Did I say something wrong?”
One of them spoke up.
“Who are you? Which department are you from? How did you get in here? Where’s your work uniform?”
Shu An was just about to explain that she wasn’t from their factory when Gou Deshun spoke up.
“Go on. What you just said—if it isn’t a problem with the car or the blueprint, then what is the problem?”
He had a vague flash of insight in his mind, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t grasp it.
Seeing his expression, Shu An took another sip of soda and said,
“I’m just saying what I think. If I’m wrong, don’t blame me.”
As she spoke, she pointed at the parts scattered across the ground.
“There’s nothing wrong with copying the Soviet method when designing your car. But the original Soviet cars leave relatively large gaps between their components. They’re designed to allow for some looseness. Their strength is in their ruggedness and durability.”
“You copied the design exactly, so you kept those large gaps between all the components. At low speeds, you can’t see any difference. But once you reach high speeds, the parts will shift back and forth against one another, so naturally the car will shake violently.”
As soon as she finished speaking, one of the men became unhappy.
“Wait, who are you? Just because you say this is the problem, does that make it the problem? We have so many experienced mechanics here, and so many people have worked so hard researching this blueprint. Are you saying all of us are inferior to you?”
“Do you even understand automobiles? If you don’t, then stop giving us random orders.”
Hearing an outsider criticize their automobile blueprint, the man immediately became angry.
Shu An wasn’t offended by his tone. Instead, she simply asked,
“Then since you understand, what do you think the problem is?”
“I… I…”
The man was rendered speechless by her question.
If he knew what the problem was, would he still be crouching here?
Seeing that he had nothing to say, Shu An added,
“At least I dared to suggest an answer. You can’t even come up with one, yet you claim you understand automobiles.”
“You… you…”
The man’s face immediately flushed red from Shu An’s words, and he couldn’t come up with a response.
Seeing this, the people around him began looking at him differently.
Indeed, the young woman had at least offered an explanation. He should at least come up with something himself.
“Yes, yes, that’s exactly it!”
Gou Deshun completely ignored their argument. He was still thinking about what the girl had said.
Suddenly, he slapped his forehead.
“We’re developing an innovative model this time, so we overlooked this point. We focused only on following the Soviet structural design and neglected this detail.”
“Girl, go on. Keep talking.”
At this moment, Gou Deshun’s eyes were shining brightly, as though he had discovered a treasure.
Shu An continued,
“You don’t need to change the overall design. Keep the car’s original foundation of being sturdy and durable. When you assemble it later, just reduce the gaps between the various components and make the assembly tighter and more compact. That will reduce the shaking, and these problems should naturally be solved.”
“Mm, yes! That’s right, that’s exactly it!”
Gou Deshun immediately turned to the technicians.
“Come on, Xiao Xu. Follow this girl’s suggestions and revise the blueprint. Remove what needs to be removed and tighten whatever needs tightening.”
“Yes, Master Gou.”
The technicians immediately ran back to the office to revise the automobile blueprint.
After giving them his instructions, Gou Deshun turned around and looked at Shu An, who was still curiously staring at the components.
“You little girl, you understand automobiles?”
“Mm.”
Shu An instinctively nodded.
Then she immediately shook her head.
She understood automobiles, but the original owner didn’t.