Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill, downstairs from the factory office building.

The Jeep's engine was already roaring, its headlights piercing the dark night.

Factory Director Yang, wearing a military overcoat and with a livid face, was about to open the car door.

"Old Yang! Old Yang, calm down!"

Deputy Factory Director Li chased after him, panting, and grabbed Factory Director Yang's arm:

"What are you doing? Are you really going to personally go to the courtyard to invite that Su Zheng? You're the director of a factory with tens of thousands of employees! If you go, what will become of our factory committee's reputation?"

"Face?"

Factory Director Yang turned around abruptly, his eyes flashing with a murderous glint.

"Now that the machines are broken, we won't be able to meet our military production targets tomorrow. How will we face anyone then? We won't even be able to keep our heads, let alone our reputation!"

"I know it's urgent! But we can't do it like this!"

Deputy Factory Director Li gripped the car door tightly, his mind racing:

"Think about it, Su Zheng is young and arrogant. He warned us in the workshop before, but Lao Zhang and the others didn't listen. Now that something's happened, if you go to beg him, won't he just act all high and mighty? If he makes unreasonable demands, will you agree or not?"

Factory Director Yang paused.

Although Deputy Factory Director Li's words were driven by personal motives (his relationship with Yi Zhonghai and the others had always been quite good), they did indeed hit a nerve.

As a leader, the worst thing is to be "manipulated" by subordinates.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Factory Director Yang gritted his teeth: "Are we just going to wait here like this?"

"Send Xiao Liu (the secretary) there! Take your car!"

Deputy Factory Director Li came up with an idea:

"Pick him up and drop him off; that's already a high-class gesture, giving him plenty of face. We'll wait in the office, adopting a 'let bygones be bygones for the sake of the bigger picture' attitude. This way, we can get him here without losing the leader's authority."

Factory Director Yang hesitated for a few seconds, glanced at the direction of the workshop where the machine was still emitting smoke, and finally sighed heavily.

"Alright! Whatever you say!"

He turned to his terrified secretary and yelled:

"Xiao Liu! Get in the car now! To the courtyard house! Make sure you bring Su Zheng back! Tell him that if he can fix the machine, it will be a great achievement for him!"

"Yes! Yes!" Secretary Liu was overjoyed and got into the car.

The jeep kicked up a cloud of dust and roared out of the factory gate.

……

The courtyard house, the middle courtyard.

It was very late at night, and most people had turned off their lights.

A dim yellow lamp was still lit in Su Zheng's room.

He didn't sleep; instead, he sat at the table, holding a pencil, sketching on a piece of white paper.

The drawing on the paper was the spindle structure diagram of that M1320 grinding machine.

Although he had long anticipated tonight's outcome, as a tech fanatic, he wasn't just thinking about "slapping them in the face" and "establishing his authority," but more about how to use this opportunity to completely overhaul that flawed German machine.

"The original hydrostatic bearings lack rigidity; if we replace them with hybrid hydrostatic bearings..."

Su Zheng muttered to himself, the tip of his pen drawing a graceful arc on the paper.

Just then, a screeching sound of brakes came from outside the courtyard, followed by two beams of light sweeping across the window, illuminating the walls inside the house.

"squeak--!"

The gate of the courtyard house was pounded loudly.

"Mr. Su! Is Mr. Su home? This is Xiao Liu from the factory office!"

The commotion woke up the entire courtyard.

Yan Bugui, who came out wearing a coat, rubbed his eyes and opened the door, only to be blinded by the jeep's headlights:

"Who...who is this? In the middle of the night..."

"I'm the secretary to the steel rolling mill manager!"

Secretary Liu, sweating profusely, shoved Yan Bugui aside and rushed to the Intermediate People's Court:

"Engineer Su! Engineer Su, help me!"

This shout woke up Qin Huairu, Sha Zhu, and the others who were pretending to be asleep inside the house.

"The factory manager's secretary? Driving a Jeep?"

"This is a major incident!"

Looking at Secretary Liu's frantic expression and then at Su Zheng slowly walking out of the house, the birds felt a mix of emotions.

Su Zheng was wearing an old cotton-padded coat, still holding the half-pencil in his hand, his expression calm as if nothing had happened.

"Engineer Su! You've finally come out!"

Secretary Liu nearly knelt down. "Quick! Come with me! The car is waiting outside! The factory director and the Party Secretary are waiting for you in the workshop!"

"Is the machine broken?" Su Zheng asked knowingly.

"It's ruined! Utterly ruined! Yi Zhonghai... Master Yi has completely destroyed the spindle!"

Secretary Liu said, her voice trembling with tears, "The factory manager has ordered you to go back and save the day!"

Upon hearing the words "Yi Zhonghai has broken the machine," everyone in the courtyard gasped in shock.

Especially in her bangs, her legs went weak and she almost sat down on the ground.

He and Yi Zhonghai are in the same boat. If Yi Zhonghai is finished, how can he possibly be doing well?

Su Zheng didn't move immediately. He looked up at the sky, then at the jeep that represented privilege.

"Xiao Liu, I remember I signed the duty log when I left."

Su Zheng said calmly, "I've said it before, you'll bear the consequences."

"I know! I know you've been wronged!"

Secretary Liu was so anxious he was stamping his feet. "Factory Director Yang said we were wrong before! As long as you're willing to help, anything is negotiable! Engineer Su, this is related to a military project! Please consider it an act for the country!"

If Su Zheng were to continue to act rashly after being accused of such a serious offense, he would appear to lack a sense of the bigger picture.

"Let's go."

Su Zheng didn't waste any words, opened the car door and got in.

The jeep roared away, leaving behind a yard full of dumbfounded neighbors and a pile of shattered hearts.

……

A dozen minutes later, in the third workshop.

When Su Zheng walked through the workshop gate, the atmosphere inside was extremely oppressive.

Factory Director Yang and Deputy Factory Director Li paced back and forth with their hands behind their backs, the ground littered with cigarette butts.

Meanwhile, the maintenance staff slumped dejectedly in the corner.

As for the machine, it still remained in a gruesome state, "blown open," with broken screws and deformed covers scattered around it.

"Su Zheng is here!"

Someone shouted.

Factory Director Yang suddenly looked up and strode over to greet him.

At this moment, he no longer cared about being a factory manager. He grabbed Su Zheng's hand, his palms sweaty.

"Xiao Su! You're finally here! It was Lao Zhang's fault before, he didn't listen to your warning! Now look at this situation... do you think there's any hope?"

Su Zheng withdrew his hand, not answering Director Yang's question, and didn't even glance at the machine.

His gaze swept over everyone present like a knife.

From the anxious Factory Director Yang, to the shifty-eyed Deputy Factory Director Li, and then to Yi Zhonghai, who was huddled in the corner and hadn't been taken away yet (because he was needed to identify the scene).

"Director Yang, before we look at the machine, I have a few questions I'd like to ask."

Su Zheng's voice wasn't loud, but it could be heard clearly in the deathly silent workshop.

"Ask! Ask away!" Factory Director Yang nodded repeatedly.

Su Zheng pointed to the large pipe wrench with a broken handle on the ground, and then to the hydraulic valve cover that had been pried out of shape.

"Who did this?"

No one spoke.

All eyes turned to Yi Zhonghai in the corner.

I don't ask for names.

Su Zheng said coldly, "My question is, who approved this violent dismantling that violates the most basic mechanical common sense? Who allowed the use of pipe wrenches and pry bars on a high-precision imported piece of equipment without blueprints or process flow?"

These three rhetorical questions were like three slaps to the face of all the leaders present.

Factory Director Yang's face flushed red and then turned pale.

It was he who approved it.

Although he was forced into it, he did indeed nod in agreement.

"Furthermore," Su Zheng continued, "why were my shutdown suggestions ignored before I left? If the first malfunction was an accident, then what about this second deliberate act of sabotage?"

"Think...it's an accident."

Deputy Factory Director Li wiped the cold sweat from his brow and forced a smile, saying, "Engineer Su, this is indeed a major accident. Yi Zhonghai has been detained, and the matter will be dealt with seriously. But now... shouldn't we take a look at the machine first?"

Su Zheng then turned around and slowly walked to the machine.

He didn't touch it with his hands; he just put his hands behind his back and walked around the machine.

That look in his eyes was like that of a forensic doctor examining a tortured and murdered corpse.

"The spindle is seized, the internal transmission chain is broken, the hydraulic valve group is deformed, and the threads on the rear cover are stripped."

With each item Su Zheng mentioned, Director Yang's heart sank a little further.

"This is no longer a matter of 'repairing'."

Su Zheng stopped and turned to look at Director Yang, his tone so calm it was almost despairing.

"The original precision of this machine has been completely destroyed. Even if the broken parts are replaced, its precision will not be restored to one-tenth of its original level. For military equipment, it is now just a pile of scrap metal."

Scrap iron?

"boom!"

Factory Director Yang felt a buzzing in his head and swayed, but his secretary quickly supported him.

"Scrap metal...?"

Factory Director Yang's voice trembled, "Xiao Su, you...you can't do anything either? You're the technical consultant! You must have a solution, right?"

Deputy Factory Director Li also panicked: "Su Zheng! You can't abandon us now! If this is ruined, our entire factory will be finished!"

Su Zheng looked at them, who seemed to be facing the end of the world, and remained silent for a moment.

"There is a way."

This sentence is like heavenly music.

Factory Director Yang's eyes lit up instantly: "What solution? Tell me quickly! As long as it can be fixed, anything is negotiable!"

"Since it can't be fixed, then..."

Su Zheng's lips curled up slightly, revealing a hint of arrogant smile. "Rebuild it."

"Rebuild?!"

Everyone was stunned.

This is a German machine!

We can't even understand the blueprints, how are we supposed to build it?

"Using the existing bed frame and base, we completely rebuilt the internal core structure."

Su Zheng pointed to the smoking spindle box, "The original hydrostatic structure is too delicate. I will change it into a 'hybrid hydrostatic and dynamic pressure' structure. This will not only solve the problem of seizing, but also improve the machining accuracy by another order of magnitude."

"But this takes time, it takes materials, and even more so..."

Su Zheng paused, then looked directly at Director Yang and Deputy Director Li, his eyes revealing a sharpness that made people afraid to look directly at him.

"Absolute power is needed even more."

"I don't want any 'experienced workers' to give me pointers while I'm working, nor do I want any leaders to urge me to meet deadlines or ask for favors."

Deputy Factory Director Li was a smart man; he instantly understood the meaning behind Su Zheng's words.

This is a power grab.

Under normal circumstances, if a young worker dared to negotiate with his superiors like this, Deputy Factory Director Li would have already slammed his fist on the table and started yelling at him.

But now, that smoking machine is the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

No one but Su Zheng could withstand this sword strike.

"Give!"

Deputy Factory Director Li gritted his teeth and spoke up before Factory Director Yang could, "Su Zheng! As long as you can revive this machine, you can name whatever you want! We'll provide whatever manpower and materials you need! Anyone who dares to stop you, I, Li, will be the first to deal with them!"

Factory Director Yang nodded emphatically:

"That's right! Xiao Su, I'd like to say the same thing. From now on, you're in charge of these three workshops! Everyone, including me, will follow your orders! You tell us what to do, and we'll do it!"

Su Zheng looked at the two factory leaders who were usually high and mighty, bowing their heads and making promises in front of him, but he felt no emotion whatsoever.

All of this was planned.

He wanted more than just to fix a machine.

He wanted to take this opportunity to carve out his own "independent kingdom" within the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill and establish a "technological hegemony" that no one could interfere with.

"it is good."

Su Zheng nodded and held up three fingers:

"Since the leader is so sincere, then I'll make three conditions. If any one of these conditions is missing, I can't do this job."