78: Bringing his wife and children to Harbin Institute of Technology

"Whether it's too late or not, it has to be enough."

Ye Bingwen sat down, picked up his water glass, and took a sip.

"Xiao Jun is back. Chen An is overseeing the formula, and Master Li is in charge of pressing. We have enough manpower; now it's just a matter of whether the process can be completed successfully on the first try."

"Your school starts next week, how will you attend classes?"

"I told Professor Zhao I wouldn't ask for leave for my lab class on Wednesday afternoon. I'll try to reschedule other classes if possible, and if not, I'll have a classmate take notes for me."

Zheng Shuyun shook her head, a smile playing on her lips:

"You treat going to school like you're visiting relatives."

"As long as I can graduate, that's fine."

Ye Bingwen stood up and went to the inner room to check on An'an.

My daughter is sleeping soundly. Her face is no longer pale, and her lips are rosy. Her cough should be gone.

He gently tucked her in and returned to the living room.

"Did An'an cough today?"

"No cough. I took him to kindergarten during the day, and the teacher said he didn't cough at all."

Zheng Shuyun picked up her cup and took a sip of water.

"Her health condition came quickly and went quickly."

"Whatever you want. You're in good health."

"Whatever you want. You're tough."

Ye Bingwen smiled but didn't reply.

The next morning, when Ye Bingwen arrived at the factory, Liu Xiaojun had already cut the carbon fiber cloth.

Neatly stacked black cloths were placed on the worktable, with resin buckets and hardener bottles next to them.

Chen An also arrived and squatted in front of the press to check the temperature controller.

"Brother Chen, is the PID tuned yet?" Liu Xiaojun asked.

"It's adjusted. 180 degrees, fluctuation ±0.5 degrees." Chen An stood up and clapped his hands. "Even more stable than last time."

Master Li took the mold off the shelf, wiped it with acetone, and then dried it with a dry cloth.

"Xiao Ye, the mold is ready."

Ye Bingwen glanced at the carbon fiber cloth laid out on the worktable, then at the mold and press, and took a deep breath: "Let's do it."

Liu Xiaojun put on rubber gloves and began laying the layers.

He laid the cut carbon fiber cloth layer by layer on the work clothes, pressing each layer down with a roller.

Chen An watched from the side, occasionally reminding him, "There's a wrinkle here," or "The bubbles over there aren't cleaned up properly."

Liu Xiaojun didn't say anything and pressed it again as he was told.

After laying eight layers and pressing the last layer, Liu Xiaojun carefully removed the laid material from the tooling and placed it into the mold.

Close the mold and place it on the press.

"The temperature is rising," Chen An said.

Master Li rotated the knob on the temperature controller and set the temperature to 185 degrees Celsius.

Professor Cai said that the curing temperature of modified phenolic resin can be between 180 and 190 degrees Celsius, with 185 degrees Celsius being a compromise.

The heater started working, and the pointer on the temperature gauge slowly moved upwards.

"How long should it be kept warm?" Liu Xiaojun asked Chen An.

"Let's try seventy minutes first. Ninety minutes last time was indeed too long, and the resulting board was a bit brittle." Chen An pressed the stopwatch and said, "The impact resistance data last time looked okay, but Professor Cai thinks there's room for improvement in toughness. If we shorten the heat treatment time slightly and the resin doesn't fully cure, the board's toughness will be even better."

Ye Bingwen stood to the side, listening quietly without saying a word.

When the seventy minutes were up, Chen An immediately stopped the stopwatch and shouted.

"Mold making".

Mr. Li immediately pressed the start button, and the upper crossbeam of the equipment slowly rose.

Chen An put on his gloves, reached in and took out the board, examining it several times before saying, "The surface is in good condition, no bubbles, and no delamination." He then handed the board to Ye Bingwen and said softly, "Director Ye, please take a look at the results."

Ye Bingwen took the board and flicked it lightly with his finger.

"Take a look at the dimensions," Ye Bingwen said, handing the board back.

Chen An used calipers to measure several key locations one by one and reported the data: "Thickness three millimeters, tolerance plus or minus 0.05, all dimensions meet the standards." He wrote the data down in his notebook and said with a smile, "Director Ye, the first batch can be considered a success."

Liu Xiaojun stood up from beside the press, took off his gloves, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "Uncle Ye, my palms were sweaty the whole time, I was so nervous."

"That's normal, me too." Ye Bingwen patted his shoulder and said, "Make a second batch tomorrow, adjust the keep-warm time to seventy-five minutes, and compare the results of the finished product with which parameter."

"no problem."

On the other side, Mr. Li began to wipe the mold clean and put it away properly.

Chen An wrapped the finished board in newspaper, put it in a canvas bag, and said, "Director Ye, I'll take this one back to Professor Cai for testing. We'll have the test data tomorrow."

Be careful when riding your bike on the road.

Ye Bingwen patted him on the shoulder and gave him some instructions.

Afterwards, Chen An rode his bicycle away from the workshop.

Ye Bingwen returned to his office and took out his textbooks.

School starts next week, and he hasn't had time to preview Professor Zhao's class yet.

I had just turned two pages when the office phone suddenly rang.

"Xiao Ye, it's me, Engineer Zhang."

"Hello, Mr. Zhang."

"Our project has been approved, but I have something to tell you. There's a high chance that someone from above will be sent to conduct a spot check. The exact time hasn't been set yet, so you should be prepared at any time."

What are the main things to check?

"They'll check your equipment, processes, and on-site management. Your factory is affiliated with Harbin Military Engineering Institute, so there are people watching it all the time, just to see what your true capabilities are."

Ye Bingwen gripped the receiver tightly, his voice steady: "Understood. No matter when they come, we can handle it; we are prepared."

"I'm relieved to hear that." With that, Mr. Zhang hung up the phone.

Ye Bingwen put down the receiver and walked to the workshop door, instructing, "Master Li, Xiao Jun, the provincial military region might send people to inspect. Everyone, clean the equipment thoroughly, arrange the materials neatly, and make sure the workshop is absolutely not messy."

Master Li nodded, picked up a rag, and began wiping the control box of the press.

Liu Xiaojun swept the carbon fiber debris off the worktable and then arranged the molds on the mold rack according to their size.

Ye Bingwen stood at the door for a while, then turned and went back to his office.

The phone rang again.

This time it was Zheng Shuyun who called.

"Bingwen, An'an's kindergarten is having a parent-teacher meeting tomorrow. Are you going?"

"What time is it?"

"Two o'clock in the afternoon."

Ye Bingwen glanced at the class schedule on the wall.

He said, "I don't have any classes tomorrow afternoon."

"I'll go. I'll go."

"Didn't you say that people from the provincial military region were coming to inspect?"

"I didn't say I'd come. We'll talk about it when I get here."

Zheng Shuyun chuckled on the other end of the phone and said, "Okay. Tell An'an that she said last time, 'Dad has never attended a parent-teacher conference.'"

"I told her."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Bingwen looked at the calendar.

He closed his notebook, locked the office door, and prepared to leave work.

As he passed by the workshop, he saw Liu Xiaojun still wiping the equipment, and went inside to say something.

"Xiao Jun, let's call it a day and finish the rest tomorrow."

"Okay, Uncle Ye, I'll leave as soon as I finish wiping this up," Liu Xiaojun said, without stopping his work.