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

On his way back to the factory, Ye Bingwen kept thinking about Professor Zhou's words.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Bingwen rode his bike to the factory gate.

He stopped, looked up at the factory sign, and stared blankly, his mind filled with the words Professor Zhou had told him.

Chen An saw Ye Bingwen standing blankly at the factory gate and walked over to him.

"Director Ye, shall we sign the contract?"

Ye Bingwen answered and signed the contract while handing it over.

Chen An glanced at the contract, then at Ye Bingwen, and said.

"Director Ye, Professor Cai called and said that the paper is finished, with our factory name listed as an author, and it will be published in the Journal of Composite Materials next month."

Ye Bingwen nodded upon hearing this, without any further reaction.

Seeing that he didn't react much, Chen An continued...

"Professor Cai said there's a national conference on composite materials next month, and he wants us to give a presentation about our experience in modifying agitators. He said this is an opportunity for people in the industry to learn about what we're doing."

Ye Bingwen did not answer immediately, but paused for a moment before giving instructions to Chen An.

"Let Liu Xiaojun go. He's the one who made this, so he's the most suitable person to go."

After Ye Bingwen finished speaking, he walked into the workshop.

Suddenly Ye Bingwen turned around and continued speaking to Chen An.

"Oh, and tell him to write up his speech, so he won't be speechless on stage."

Chen An nodded in agreement.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, An'an came to the factory after school and ran over as soon as she saw Ye Bingwen.

He ran while holding up the certificate and shouting.

"Dad, look, look at An'an's award certificate!"

Ye Bingwen took it and looked at it; it said "First Prize in HEB City Kindergarten Painting Competition".

An'an pointed to the painting.

"This is Daddy, this is Mommy, this is An'an, and this is the spinning machine."

Ye Bingwen squatted down, patted An'an's head, and praised An'an for being so amazing and wonderful.

Zheng Shuyun walked over from behind, carrying groceries in her hands.

"The publisher's leaders asked about the interview again. I said we would arrange it after this batch of orders was completed, and they said they would fully cooperate with our schedule."

"Okay, we'll make arrangements once this batch of 500 pieces is finished and delivered."

Zheng Shuyun glanced at him and asked.

"Did you pass?"

"Passed."

"The project was approved, but was the score low?"

"Not high, how did you guess?"

Zheng Shuyun thought for a moment and then said.

"The reason for the low score is probably obvious: the content is fine, but the way it's expressed isn't professional enough."

Ye Bingwen looked at her.

"Your technical skills are fine, but you don't know how to market yourself."

"Experts look not only at the data, but also at how you present it. Your test reports are handwritten, your process documents are printed, and your equipment modification records are written in notebooks. If these things were organized into standardized documents with uniform format, numbering, and archiving, it would give people a completely different impression."

Ye Bingwen lowered his head and thought for a moment.

"You're right. Starting tomorrow, you'll be in charge of reviewing all technical documents."

Zheng Shuyun smiled and teased Ye Bingwen.

"I'm not from your factory."

"Since you're a family member, you count as one too."

An'an slid down from Ye Bingwen's arms and ran to the workbench. She stood on tiptoe to look at the parts, asking questions here and there. Ye Bingwen answered patiently. Then Ye Bingwen picked An'an up and said it was time to go home for dinner.

An'an wrapped her arms around his neck, holding the certificate in her other hand, as they walked to the door.

"Dad, this award is for you."

Why?

"Because you work even harder than me."

Ye Bingwen took the certificate, smiled at An'an, and patted An'an's head.

"Okay, Dad will accept it."

The family of three left the factory gate, and An'an leaned on Ye Bingwen's shoulder, whispering.

"Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to give you an award too, the 'Most Awesome Dad Award'."

Ye Bingwen didn't say anything, but bounced An'an up a bit and took Zheng Shuyun's hand as they walked home.

The next morning, when Ye Bingwen arrived at the factory, Liu Xiaojun was already squatting in a corner of the workshop writing something.

Several sheets of paper were spread on the ground, and the pencil stubs were covered in teeth marks.

Ye Bingwen walked over and glanced down at it.

"What should I write?"

"The report draft."

Liu Xiaojun, with dark circles under his eyes, looked up at Ye Bingwen.

"Brother Chen told me to give a presentation at that academic conference. I've written two versions, but neither is very good."

Ye Bingwen squatted down, picked up the two drafts, and looked at them.

Write it exactly as you normally would.

Liu Xiaojun scratched his head.

"I'm not very fluent in my speech normally."

"Then write down why you modified this machine in the first place."

"Write a story, not an instruction manual. Explain why you thought of making changes, how you made the changes, and what the final result was."

Liu Xiaojun chewed on the pencil stub and thought for a long time before finally writing a sentence in his notebook.

"That old mixer had an unstable speed, and the material it produced was all lumpy."

After finishing writing, he looked up at Ye Bingwen.

Ye Bingwen glanced at it and said.

"Okay, keep writing like this."

Liu Xiaojun wrote another sentence.

"I went to the junkyard to look for an electric motor. The owner recognized me and said, 'Xiao Jun, you're here again.'"

Ye Bingwen smiled.

"Yes, write it like that, and everyone will love to hear it."

Zheng Shuyun arrived at the factory at nine o'clock in the morning.

"I've reorganized all your technical documentation."

She placed the folder on the table and opened it.

There are four categories: test reports, process documents, equipment ledgers, and raw material inspection records. Each category has a unique number. New documents should be filled out according to this format.

"When did you do this?"

"Last night."

Zheng Shuyun sat down.

"I did this after An'an fell asleep."

Ye Bingwen looked up at his wife, wanting to say something but ultimately held back and said nothing.

Zheng Shuyun took out another notebook.

"When and where is your academic conference?"

"In Beijing in the middle of next month."

"Has Liu Xiaojun finished writing his manuscript?"

"That's all, I'm writing it now."

"Let me see it when you're done writing it."

"I made the slides for him. The publisher has a ready-made template, which is clearer than the last one."

In the afternoon, Liu Xiaojun finished writing the manuscript.

Four pages, the handwriting was crooked, but the content flowed smoothly.

My name is Liu Xiaojun, and I am a technician at the Hongqi Machinery Factory.

The text in the middle says that the factory was conducting carbon fiber toughening experiments, and the stirrer they used had an unstable speed, resulting in lumps in the stirred material. I want to change that.

"I went to the scrap yard and found an old motor, from the Shenyang Motor Factory, it was about 70% new. The owner said it was free, but I said no, and gave him 20 yuan."

"I carried the motor back, removed the speed controller, and rewired it. When I tested it, it would vibrate when the speed was high. I added four rubber pads, and then it stopped vibrating."

"This machine now runs at 1,500 revolutions per minute, it's very stable, and the material it mixes is no longer lumpy. Professor Cai's lab tested it and found that the impact strength has increased by 34 percent."

The conclusion is: I'm not an engineer, just an ordinary worker, but I think that whether it's imported or domestic, as long as it works, that's fine.

After reading it, Ye Bingwen handed the manuscript to Zheng Shuyun.