A domineering country girl flirts with her son, and Commander Huo can't resist.

"The problem wasn't with this machine at all; it was your own people who indiscriminately shifted the blame onto it."

Zhao Zhengang knew the problem couldn't be there, so he quickly asked, "Comrade Xiao Qiao, do you already know what happened?"

Qiao An nodded. "If this has to be charged separately, Secretary Yu, is that acceptable?"

Yu Linzhou dared not disagree. He had wronged them for no reason, and now that they were willing to help find the cause of the malfunction, he was already giving them face.

"Of course, of course, we certainly won't treat Comrade Xiao Qiao unfairly."

Seeing how polite Yu Linzhou was to Qiao An, the workers who followed Sun Xiwang stopped talking and instead turned to stare at Qiao An.

I want to see how she finds the faulty part of the production line.

Last time she relied on listening, but this time the production line has stopped working, so how can she find it?

Everyone was curious.

Joan walked along the production line with her hands behind her back, and everyone followed behind her.

Zhao Zhengang whispered to her, "Are you really confident? It's okay if we can't find it. I know this problem is quite tricky."

"Chief Engineer Zhao, this time the salary may double, so be prepared," Qiao An said with a smile.

Zhao Zhengang was amused by her confidence. "Don't even mention doubling it. As long as you can get out of this mess completely, I guarantee you'll be able to walk around the machine tool factory with your head held high from now on."

Walking sideways?

That sounds pretty good.

Joan stopped at a certain place.

Yu Linzhou immediately jogged over, "What's wrong? Is there a problem here?"

Everyone rushed forward and gathered around.

Qiao An glanced at everyone and noticed that Li Tao, Sun Xiwang's apprentice, had a strange expression.

She became even more certain that something was amiss with the production line malfunction.

Joanne pointed to the top panel of a piece of equipment, "Tear this down."

Zhao Zhengang personally took to the field wearing gloves.

After removing the cover, he looked at it but didn't find anything unusual.

Before he could ask, Joan pointed her index finger downwards, "Keep dismantling."

"Chief Engineer Zhao, don't you smell anything strange?"

This reminded Zhao Zhengang. He leaned closer and sniffed carefully. "It does seem to have a smell, but it's mixed with engine oil, so I can't be sure."

Zhao Zhengang continued disassembling the parts, and soon a cable was exposed.

At this moment, Li Tao, standing next to Sun Xiwang, had a flicker in his eyes and his hands clenched involuntarily.

Zhao Zhengang carefully inspected the cable and rubber seals. After a while, he suddenly looked up and stared at Qiao An in disbelief.

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

Yu Linzhou walked over and looked at it for a while but couldn't figure it out. "Chief Engineer Zhao, please tell me quickly."

"The rubber seals and cable insulation melted, causing a short circuit as soon as the machine was turned on. No wonder it broke down."

"But the production line is brand new, how could it melt? Could it be that those foreigners did it too? They're really bastards."

It's rare for Zhao Zhengang, who is usually so polite, to use such foul language.

"These foreigners are taking advantage of us! They really know how to bully people!" Li Tao angrily grabbed his hat and threw it on the ground.

Upon hearing this, many workers began to curse and swear, and Sun Xiwang's face turned very ugly.

It was installed by Qiao again.

"Comrade Xiao Qiao, do you have a solution?" Yu Linzhou asked anxiously.

"You can just replace the sealing ring; dealing with the cable is more troublesome."

"Five thousand...five thousand, is that alright?" Yu Linzhou asked in a voice that sounded like only two people.

"It's troublesome, but it's not unsolvable." Joan grinned.

Chief Engineer Zhao didn't understand these foreign-made equipment either, and the labels were all in German, which he couldn't read.

They don't understand, but Joan does. In her past life, there were people from all over the world in the shelter, and since she had nothing to do, she actually learned a lot of foreign languages.

Qiao An asked Zhao Zhengang to bring over a domestically produced cable of the same model. He quickly replaced the cable and made some adjustments.

She discovered that the people from Country D had indeed tampered with the cables, which wouldn't cause malfunctions but would reduce production efficiency.

After everything was done, Zhao Zhengang replaced the new sealing ring and reassembled it as before.

The workers switched on the power, started the production line, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the machines running.

Yu Linzhou couldn't stop smiling.

But not everyone was happy, and Sun Xiwang was one of them.

His old face was drooping, and the resentment in his eyes was almost solidified.

His reputation, built up over so many years, was shattered in an instant. The thought of having to read a self-criticism in front of the entire factory at his advanced age filled Sun Xiwang with shame. It was like killing someone's spirit!

Although his apprentice Li Tao was smiling, his smile didn't seem very sincere.

"That's great! Comrade Qiao, you've helped us a lot again." Zhao Zhengang excitedly grasped Qiao An's hand.

"Chief Engineer Zhao, Secretary Yu, this production line is working now, but it won't last more than a month before it breaks down again," Qiao An said calmly.

"What?" Yu Linzhou's smile froze. "Comrade Xiao Qiao, what do you mean by this?"

"Chief Engineer Zhao, now you know what I meant, right?"

Zhao Zhengang remained silent until this moment, when he finally understood why Qiao An had asked Qi Guoqiang to go to the police station to call the police.

"The strange smell I mentioned earlier was probably from a strong paint remover. That kind of stuff is common in repair shops, but why would a machine tool factory have it?"

"Furthermore, such a highly corrosive paint remover can only be obtained through special channels. How could ordinary workers possibly have access to it?"

"This malfunction was caused by human error. If we don't catch him, the production line will break down sooner or later, and even I might not be able to fix it then."

Yu Linzhou looked at Zhao Zhengang.

Zhao Zhengang ran back and lay down there like an animal, sniffing around. After a long while, he walked over with a somber expression.

"Secretary Yu, that's right, it is indeed a powerful paint remover. Because the smell of engine oil is very strong, you have to sniff carefully to smell it."

"Furthermore...our factory has never purchased any strong paint remover."

This is a serious matter; damaging state-owned property is a grave crime.

Yu Linzhou's expression was grave. "We need to report this to our superiors; this matter is extremely serious."

"By the time you report, the enemy agents will have already fled."

His words caused an uproar in the room.

"Enemy agents??"

"What did you say?"

"How could they be enemy agents?"

Joanne stared at them as if they were idiots. "This production line of yours is for manufacturing grinding machine components for the military. Who, besides enemy agents, would sabotage this production line?"

"You can't just say that. Our machine tool factory is a provincial-level advanced unit. How could... how could this be?" Yu Linzhou couldn't believe it and didn't want to admit it.

As they were talking, Qiao An saw a group of people running over from not far away. It was Qi Guoqiang leading Director Jiang and his men.

Qiao An pointed to Li Tao, who was hiding behind Sun Xiwang, "He's the spy!"

Everyone looked at Sun Xiwang, who was so frightened that his whole body went numb.

"No...it wasn't me!" Sun Xiwang waved his hands repeatedly.

The next second, Li Tao, who had been hiding in the back, took off running.

"Chief Jiang! Seize him!" Zhao Zhengang roared at Jiang Yushun.

Huo Jiyun, who had just entered the machine tool factory, heard a commotion and felt uneasy, so he quickened his pace.

Behind him, soldiers in camouflage uniforms followed closely.

Li Tao ran wildly, having already planned his escape route.

Just as he was about to climb over the wall, someone grabbed his ankle and pulled him down.

Li Tao's forehead slammed against the wall, his face covered in blood, making him look ferocious and terrifying.

He turned around and found that the person who had caught up with him was actually Qiao An.

In the distance, the police and workers were about to catch up.

In a moment of desperation, Li Tao pulled out the pistol hidden at his waist.

Qiao An froze, a chill running down her spine.

She never expected that Li Tao would have a gun.

At such close range, there was no way she could dodge.

"You bitch, you ruined my plans!"

"Go to hell!"