Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 134 Things That Won't Be Eliminated by the Times
Although Xu Xuejun's sleeping place was in the inner room of the messy workshop, it was still relatively tidy.

This place is about 30 square meters. Apart from a bed and daily necessities, most of the space is occupied by huge bookshelves, each with more than five shelves, displaying all kinds of books.

"Modern Mechanical Design Handbook", "Gear Transmission and Control", "Electrical Engineering, Circuits, and Power", "Signals and Systems", and "Engineering Cybernetics".
These are all because the books are thicker and have wider spines, making them easier to distinguish. The thinner ones are not visible, but they are densely packed with text.

Zhai Da thought to himself that this old man had quite a wide range of interests.

He knew that Xu Xuejun was quite skilled, after all, he was someone who could handcraft home appliances, but he still didn't hold him in too high a regard.

Such a space would be more fitting for Shen Rui, not for an old man who rides a tricycle around collecting scrap and then makes and sells his own products.

Xu Xuejun rummaged around in the corner for a moment and pulled out an empty paint bucket filled with miscellaneous items, mostly small tools like brushes and rulers.
When I was doing some light renovations for "Utopia" before, I asked Fan Junwei to buy some tools. Now that the work is finished, I'm returning them to Zhai Da.

Zhai Da took the empty bucket, but his attention wasn't on it. Instead, he asked curiously, "Did you read all these books?"

Xu Xuejun nodded indifferently and shooed Zhai Da out.

"I didn't expect you to be so cultured."

Xu Xuejun closed the door to the inner room and, as usual, sweared, "What's wrong? Are students like you who are lazy allowed to be cultured? But working people like me aren't allowed to be cultured?"

He knew Zhai Da was eyeing his things, and subconsciously glanced at the workbench, but this time Zhai Da didn't pull out the drawer.

He said, "Besides, this isn't culture, it's knowledge! Culture is only a part of knowledge. Alright, let's go, I'm going to sleep."

Old Xu was used to chasing people away, and Zhai Da was already used to it, so he walked out half-heartedly.

But then Xu Xuejun muttered to himself, "Intellectuals need to be made more like laborers, and working people need to be more knowledgeable. Knowledge is needed in all sectors, including agriculture, industry, and commerce! Otherwise, we won't even be able to farm properly."

Zhai Dadong paused for a moment after taking one step out.

Xu Xuejun, carrying a thermos, seemed to be getting ready for bed when he saw Zhai Da stop and urged, "What's wrong? Trying to steal my pocket watch again?"

Zhai Da raised an eyebrow: "No, I've just seen that phrase elsewhere."

"Which one?"

"Intellectuals should be made more like laborers, and the working people should be made more knowledgeable."

Xu Xuejun was taken aback, and even a little surprised: "You've heard of this? Do school teachers still teach it this way?"

Zhai Da shook his head: "No, it's in my grandfather's notebook. I thought it made a lot of sense at the time, and it left a deep impression on me."

"Pshaw, I thought school teachers were this enlightened these days."

With a "whoosh," the roller shutter door closed smoothly, and Xu Xuejun's shop was closed again.

The last spark of light on this quiet street has disappeared.

Zhai Da looked at Lu Wei and shrugged: "Let's go home and get some sleep."

A "swish" sound.

The roller shutter door was opened again, startling Zhai Da.

Xu Xuejun looked a little strange, and asked an even stranger question.

What kind of notebook did your grandfather have?

"Uh, metalworking notes? My grandfather used to work in a wool mill."

"What's his name?"

Yu Lihua

Xu Xuejun's mind went blank for a moment, as if he felt a huge absurdity.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Thirty-eight years ago, in 1970.

"Master, aren't all the training slots at the factory already filled? How do you have such influence?"

The tall, slender, square-faced middle-aged man shook his head: "This spot doesn't belong to the factory. I got it through a friend. Actually, your skill level is still far from perfect, but it's good to go out and broaden your horizons, so you won't always think you're the best."

Standing before the middle-aged man was a young man, only seventeen or eighteen years old, but already a top-notch technician in the wool mill. He grinned and said, "I'm definitely not the best. My master is first, and I'm second. Are there subsidies for going to Tianjin for further training? That's a big city!"

The middle-aged man sighed: "Nine cents a day, the factory will arrange accommodation there."

"Oh ho! Jiu Mao? Doesn't he eat meat every day?"

"Eat meat as you please, but absolutely no more alcohol. If you want to get promoted to engineer when you come back, alcohol will do you no good and will affect your skills."

The young man grinned and said, "I've heard that Russian engineers drink while they work."

".roll."

The middle-aged man raised his foot to kick, but the young man took off running.

But after running two steps, she turned back and asked, "Master, when I come back, can I call you 'Master'?"

The second 'fu' is heavier.

Having lost his parents at a young age, he seems to have an unusual attachment to this title, mentioning it every few days.

The middle-aged man smiled and shook his head: "I don't do that. It's too much trouble."

"We are 'comrades,' you are the 'young comrade,' and I am the 'old comrade,' that's fine."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Xu Xuejun felt stiff all over, and even trembled slightly.

That absurd feeling of having memories right beside you, yet not recognizing them.

"Your maternal grandfather is Yu Lihua, how could that be? Your maternal grandfather shouldn't be about the same age as me."

"Oh right. Oh right, he was almost 40 when he had his child, that matches up. That matches up. Your mother's name is Yu Xiaoli, right?"

Zhai Da was quite surprised: "Yes, you know my maternal grandfather?"

Xu Xuejun pursed his lips for a long time, unsure of where to begin.
Finally, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Why isn't your surname Yu?! If your surname were Yu, I would have recognized you much sooner!"

He stared at Zhai Da's face for a long time: "He does look somewhat like him. He does look somewhat like him, but Master Yu isn't as slick."

Zhai Da:
People sometimes smile when they're speechless.

That's called cool!

Xu Xuejun subconsciously took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, but his hand holding the cigarette was shaking violently.

This magnitude was far beyond what was normal, and Zhai Da thought it must be due to excessive excitement.

"You used to work in a wool mill too?"

Xu Xuejun took a drag of his cigarette, barely managing to calm himself down, and his tone returned to its previous calm: "Decades ago, before you existed, no, when I first joined the factory, your mother was still a little girl."

Zhai Da caught the blind spot: "You just realized it because of what was written in the notes, right? Did you mean my grandfather's notes are with you? There were four notebooks back then, how many do you have?"

Xu Xuejun nodded and said, "Phew, there were four books, but I only managed to retrieve three. I thought the other one was lost forever."

Zhai Da's eyes lit up. All three books were with Xu Xuejun? That completes the set!
He had absolutely no clues, which was the best-case scenario; otherwise, he'd be scattered across various sources.
"Master Xu, those three books of yours."

"Give me your copy, it'll complete the set. I'm willing to buy it. Name your price, a high price!"

Zhai Da: ? ? ?
Do you know that you're using my words?
"No, no, no, you've got it backwards. Give me those three books, and I'll pay a high price."

Xu Xuejun shook his head: "What do you want to do here? Do you know anything about metalworking? Do you know how to turn, mill, plan, grind, rivet, stamp, weld, and cast? Giving it to you would be a complete waste."

Zhai Da: "Those notes are 20 years old. The technology in them should be outdated by now, right? Are you going to learn from them?"

"You don't understand. Some things won't be swept into the trash heap just because human technology advances."

"for example?"

Xu Xuejun looked at Zhai Da's arms: "Both hands."

Zhai Da sighed: "Those are my grandfather's belongings, so you should understand that I can't sell them or give them to you. There's no point in us staying like this."

"As for my lack of metalworking skills, I remember telling you before that I planned to learn metalworking techniques, right? You were unwilling to teach me then, but now? I want to learn from my grandfather's notes and also master some basic skills."

Ever since that time he polished the [Hardcore Razor], he knew very well that the system had given him the possibility to modify equipment, but to use it, he needed certain skills, rather than just blindly banging and destroying it.

He had mentioned it to Xu Xuejun many times, and even without his maternal grandfather's connection, he felt that Xu Xuejun was the most suitable candidate.

“My tutoring center has also started operating, and I’ll be spending almost every day here from now on, which is perfect for studying.”

Xu Xuejun remained silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

After a long while, he took a pencil from the workbench and handed it to Zhai Da.

Zhai Da was puzzled. He thought to himself, "Could it be that this old man is in such a state that he's giving me a pencil to mock me for being an idiot?"
Xu Xuejun pointed to the half-open, half-closed white roller shutter door: "Draw a straight line."

“Draw it vertically on this roller shutter door, making sure it's as straight as possible and without any breaks.”

Zhai Da took a deep breath, but he also understood that this seemed to be the key to breaking the deadlock.

Reaching the roller shutter door, Zhai Da realized this would be difficult.

First of all, the roller shutter door is perpendicular to the ground, which is the opposite of people's writing habits. Most people will feel very uncomfortable because their wrists have to be bent at nearly 90 degrees.

Secondly, the roller shutter door itself is uneven, with sharp edges and a cross-section resembling the bricks of the Great Wall, and the corners are rounded.

Most importantly, the sheet metal of this roller shutter is very thin and suspended. When you apply force, it deforms and wobbles.

With all three combined, it's inevitable that things will end up crooked and messy, unless someone has received specialized training, but probably no one would be that bored.

Therefore, the first time you do it, it reflects a certain talent.

Zhai Da's talent.

Under Xu Xuejun's astonished gaze, Zhai Da steadily, at a constant speed, and smoothly drew a seemingly simple straight line.

After scaling the iron edge of the roller shutter and traversing the rounded corner at the bend, the straight line was perfectly straight, as if it had been mechanically printed on.

(End of this chapter)