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

In the afternoon, the workshop fully resumed normal production.

The workers returned to their respective posts.

Ye Bingwen stood in the workshop, looking at the vibration isolation trench, the mixer, and Liu Xiaojun's certificate of merit on the wall.

Chen An walked over at that moment.

"Director Ye, who exactly is this Engineer Sun?"

"have no idea."

"That project he made today, he said the research institute hadn't been able to finish in a month, and he made us finish it in two hours. Isn't he deliberately making things difficult for us?"

Ye Bingwen thought for a moment and then spoke.

"It's not that I'm trying to make things difficult for you."

"What is that?"

"It's a test."

In the evening, Zheng Shuyun came to pick up An'an from school and stopped by the factory on the way.

As soon as An'an entered the workshop, she ran up to Liu Xiaojun.

"Little Jun, where's your panda?"

Liu Xiaojun patted An'an's head and then took out a small cloth panda from his pocket, which Ye Bingwen had brought back from Beijing.

An'an took it and hugged it.

"Brother Xiaojun, what did you do today?"

Liu Xiaojun squatted down and boasted:

"Today, my brother did something big."

"What's the big deal?"

"I made a very, very difficult part."

An An tilted her head, paused, and then asked.

"So, are you good at it?"

"sharp."

On the other hand, Zheng Shuyun felt relieved to see An'an playing with Chen An.

Zheng Shuyun turned around and went to find Ye Bingwen. As soon as she entered the office, she saw the charred wooden mold.

"What is this?"

"Wooden mold".

"What is it used for?"

"Today, people from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense came to inspect the project, and we added an extra task: to create a component using this wooden mold."

"Is it finished?"

"It's done."

Zheng Shuyun looked at the wooden mold, which still had traces of carbon fiber on it.

"You people really can come up with all sorts of methods."

Ye Bingwen placed the wooden model on the cabinet, smiled at his wife, and said nothing.

Just then, An'an ran in, holding up the little panda.

"Dad, Brother Xiaojun said he did something big today."

"Yes, we did something big."

"Did you reward him?"

Ye Bingwen smiled, pretended to think for a moment, and then said to An'an:

"Yes, I'll treat your brother Xiaojun to dinner tonight."

An'an clapped her hands with joy upon hearing this.

Liu Xiaojun poked his head out of the doorway, making a funny face, and asked:

"Uncle Ye, is it true?"

"Really, invite your Master Li and Chen An as well."

"Where is Old Hu the carpenter?"

"Call them all, call them all."

In the evening, a few people sat together in a small restaurant next to the factory.

Master Li took a sip of wine.

"Xiao Ye, do you think that Engineer Sun will put in a good word for us when he gets back?"

"have no idea."

"I doubt it. That guy had a straight face the whole time, like someone owed him money."

Liu Xiaojun picked up a piece of meat but hadn't even had a chance to eat it before speaking.

"Master Li, don't say that. He said before he left that he would write it in the report."

"What's wrong with writing it in the report? It doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing."

Old Hu, the carpenter, put down his chopsticks, looked at them, and said...

"You people, all you do is worry about things that aren't your business."

Then he turned to look at Ye Bingwen.

"Xiao Ye, let me tell you, I could tell when I was carving the mold that the piece I made today wasn't an ordinary piece; it was a test piece."

Ye Bingwen looked at him, somewhat incredulous that the carpenter could tell.

"Master Hu, how did you know?"

"I've been a carpenter for forty years. I can tell at a glance what kind of work is easy and what kind of work is difficult. Today's shape has many curves, many holes, and strict dimensional requirements. It wasn't drawn casually; it was specially designed to test you."

After finishing his sentence, Old Hu the carpenter picked up his cup, took a sip, and continued.

"That guy surnamed Sun hasn't said much since he came in, but his eyes have been constantly scanning you. He's assessing your strength and your ability to adapt."

"You did a great job today. I'm not exaggerating, but in other factories, it might not even take two days to produce something like this, let alone two hours."

Master Li, somewhat excited and proud, nodded and said:

"Old Hu is right, you did a great job today."

Chen An hadn't spoken until now, but he finally spoke.

"Director Ye, I think Master Hu is right. That Engineer Sun isn't here to inspect; he's here to select people."

Ye Bingwen put down his chopsticks.

"Choosing people?"

"Yes, he has a project and needs someone to complete it, but he can't say it outright, so he uses this method to test it out. Whoever succeeds will be the one he uses."

After hearing this analysis, the dinner table fell silent.

After a short pause.

Liu Xiaojun swallowed the meat in his mouth.

"Brother Chen, you're right. The materials he uses aren't available on the market; they're for their own project. The fact that he's carrying those materials around shows that he's already looking for someone who can do it."

Mr. Li suddenly slapped the table.

"Xiao Jun is absolutely right. Those materials were specifically prepared for that project; they weren't just taken from somewhere."

Ye Bingwen didn't say anything, he just took a sip of water.

Zheng Shuyun had been listening the whole time, and she only spoke up when Ye Bingwen didn't say anything.

"Whether he came to pick people or not, you did a great job today, and that's enough."

She glanced at Ye Bingwen, and seeing that he still showed no intention of speaking, she continued:

"There's no use thinking about it now, just wait for news."

Ye Bingwen then reacted and nodded.

"Have a meal."

Seeing that Ye Bingwen was not in a good mood, the group stopped discussing and started eating.

An'an sat next to Zheng Shuyun and used the little panda to add food to the panda.

"Brother Xiaojun, have some."

"An'an, that's a panda, it doesn't eat this."

"So what does it eat?"

"It eats bamboo."

An An thought about it.

"But there are no bamboos here."

"Then we won't feed it."

An'an picked the food back up and put it back on her plate.

After the meal, the group dispersed.

Ye Bingwen and his family of three returned home.

On the way, An'an fell asleep on Ye Bingwen's shoulder.

Zheng Shuyun walked beside her.

"Are you sure about what happened today?"

"What bottom?"

"That matter concerning the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense."

Ye Bingwen thought for a moment and then spoke.

"No, but I think Chen An is right. That Engineer Sun doesn't seem to be just here casually."

"So what do you plan to do?"

"wait."

"Are you just going to wait and do nothing?"

"Everything that needed to be prepared has been prepared, and everything that needed to be done has been done. All that's left is to wait."

Zheng Shuyun didn't ask any further questions after hearing this.

After arriving home, Ye Bingwen put An'an on the bed and covered her with a blanket.

He went to the guest study, sat down, and took out the notebook to write down everything that had happened that day.

[Engineer Sun, irregularly shaped parts, wooden mold, two hours.]

After finishing writing, I turned off the lights and went back to my room to sleep.

Ye Bingwen lay in bed unable to fall asleep, his mind filled with thoughts of the day's events.

I remember every detail clearly: the charred wooden mold, the weaving method of the special material, the layering of the curved surface.

If they're really here to select people, then Hongqi Factory's performance should be passable.

Insects were chirping outside the window.

Ye Bingwen turned over, trying to stop thinking about the day's events, and closed his eyes to sleep.

the next morning.

As soon as Ye Bingwen arrived at the factory, he saw Liu Xiaojun squatting in front of the two mixers.

"Xiaojun, what are you doing?"

"I need to take care of it; I haven't applied it back on since I used it yesterday."

Ye Bingwen walked over without saying anything, but squatted down and wiped it with him.

"Uncle Ye, do you think that Engineer Sun will come back?"

"have no idea."

"I think he'll come again."

Why?

"Because when he left, he glanced at our blender."

Ye Bingwen smiled and teased Liu Xiaojun.

"Looking at your crappy machine?"

"That's not a broken machine, that's a treasure."

Liu Xiaojun wiped the protective cover of the backup machine again.

At this moment, Chen An came out of the office with a document in his hand.

"Director Ye, Director Wang is calling."

Ye Bingwen stood up, looking very nervous.

"What did you say?"

They said they returned to Beijing yesterday afternoon and told us to wait for news.

"That's all?"

That's all.

Ye Bingwen took the document and looked at it. It was the process record of the irregular part compiled by Chen An. Every step was written clearly, with parameters, time, and operator all included.

"Well done, this archive will become our technical data in the future."

Chen An nodded.

Ye Bing'an watched as the workshop resumed production as usual.

Master Li stood in front of his old milling machine, still with that unhurried demeanor.

Old Hu the carpenter didn't come; he's probably still sleeping in at home.

Ye Bingwen stood in the middle of the workshop, watching all of this as if nothing had happened yesterday.

Everything remains the same.

But Ye Bingwen felt that something had changed compared to before, that things were different.