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

Ye Bingwen stopped and looked for a while.

Captain Zhang shouted something to him.

"Director Ye, we've dug down to 1.8 meters, but the soil is still soft! We'll have to keep going down tomorrow!"

Ye Bingwen waved to him and continued riding forward.

When we got home, An'an was hunched over the table practicing calligraphy.

Zheng Shuyun was cooking at the stove when she heard the door open and peeked out.

"You're back? How was your day?"

Ye Bingwen took off his coat and hung it behind the door.

"The provincial department's report is in. It's unacceptable."

Zheng Shuyun paused for a moment while holding the spatula.

"What should we do then?"

"Think of a way."

An'an held up her calligraphy practice book for him to see.

"Dad, is my writing of the character '人' (person) good?"

"Okay. An'an can write whatever she wants."

An'an smiled with satisfaction and continued writing with her head down.

Zheng Shuyun brought the dishes to the table, and the three of them sat around the small table to eat.

An'an ate very quickly, and then went to watch cartoons.

While Zheng Shuyun was clearing away the dishes, she asked a question softly.

"What if the factory really gets shut down?"

Ye Bingwen took a sip of water from his enamel mug.

"It can't be turned off."

"Are you that confident?"

"I'm not sure."

Ye Bingwen put down the jar.

"We can't let it close. If it does, we won't even have a place to live."

Zheng Shuyun didn't ask any more questions.

She wiped her hands on her apron, walked over to Ye Bingwen, and sat down next to him.

"An'an fell asleep at the construction site that day. When I carried her back, she called out 'Daddy' in her sleep."

Ye Bingwen's throat moved slightly.

"I know."

"Just so you know."

Zheng Shuyun stood up and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Ye Bingwen sat at the table, took out his notebook, and wrote down the events of the day one by one.

The quality inspection report is out.

Liu Deben helped submit the materials to the Provincial Department of Education.

The foundation has been dug to a depth of 1.8 meters and the old soil layer is still not visible; the budget is going to be exceeded.

Ma Li is holding back on the equipment approval.

Zhao Jianguo's people are trying to intercept military orders.

Each one is an obstacle.

He closed the notebook and leaned back in his chair.

An'an climbed onto his lap and rested her little head against his chest.

"Dad, you haven't told me a story today."

Ye Bingwen reached out and touched her hair.

"What would you like to hear?"

"The Big Bad Wolf and the Little White Rabbit".

"Okay. Let's talk about the Big Bad Wolf and the Little White Rabbit."

He held An'an in one arm and opened the comic book with the other, reading it page by page.

An'an fell asleep quickly.

Ye Bingwen carried her to the bed and covered her with a blanket.

Zheng Shuyun came in after washing the dishes and tucked the blanket in.

"You should go to sleep early too. You have things to do tomorrow."

Ye Bingwen nodded.

He lay down and stared at the ceiling.

I don't know how much time passed before I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, before he even arrived at the factory, Liu Yongqiang called.

"Old Ye, have you found out?"

"explain."

"That report was drafted by Gu Ming, reviewed by Ma Li, and signed off by a deputy director of the Industrial Department surnamed Zhou."

"Deputy Director Zhou is from the same hometown as Zhao Jianguo."

Ye Bingwen held the receiver.

"There's one more thing."

Liu Yongqiang's voice lowered even further.

"Zhao Jianguo has said that your factory won't last until next month."

"We need to have the province, city, and district governments form a three-tiered blockade to completely cut off your sales channels, raw materials, and facilities."

He also said, "Does a country bumpkin like him even deserve to run a factory in the provincial capital?"

Ye Bingwen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Yongqiang, please make an appointment with Director Fang for me. The sooner the better."

"What do you want to do?"

"I wanted him to know that no one but me could secure his military orders."

After hanging up Liu Yongqiang's call, Ye Bingwen didn't rush to go out.

He sat at his desk and read through the provincial industrial department's report on non-compliance again.

"Measured insulation resistance is 0.8MΩ"—behind this line lies Gu Ming's "technical error" of measuring without discharging.

But Ye Bingwen knew that this kind of "mistake" had a specific technical name: false data.

In his previous life, he reviewed no fewer than a hundred papers at Peking University and witnessed various methods of data fabrication.

The worst approach is to only select readings that are advantageous to oneself and discard data obtained through proper procedures.

But no matter how clumsy it was, once the official seal was affixed, it became the official conclusion.

Ye Bingwen took out a stack of blank letter paper from the drawer and began to write.

Instead of writing an appeal, he wrote a technical analysis report.

He didn't write it for the Provincial Department of Industry; he wrote it for the people who could control the Provincial Department of Industry.

After he finished writing the report, he put it into his canvas bag.

Then he went to the workshop.

Mr. Li was working on the new machine tool when he heard footsteps and looked up.

"Xiao Ye, are you going out?"

"Go to the provincial military district. I need to go to Director Fang's place in person."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No need. You keep a close eye on your work. Ma Li is stuck with the approval process, and we can't afford any mistakes with our existing equipment."

Ye Bingwen walked over to the machine tool and glanced at the workpiece being processed.

"Master Li, once this batch of work is finished, please compile a list of all the process parameters for me."

"What do you need that for?"

"it works."

Ye Bingwen turned around and pushed his bicycle out of the factory gate.

It takes more than 40 minutes to cycle from Nangang District to the provincial military compound.

Ye Bingwen turned up the collar of his cotton-padded jacket and pedaled hard.

A thought was racing through his mind—why should Director Fang help him?

Based on technology.

Only technology.

Director Fang is a military officer, and reliability is paramount in military procurement.

Whoever's generators can operate flawlessly on the battlefield has the final say.

The people in the Provincial Department of Industry don't understand technology, but Director Fang does.

Therefore, Ye Bingwen went today without asking for favors or playing the emotional card.

He only did one thing—to convince Director Fang that his motors were better than anyone else's.

At the entrance of the provincial military district compound, a sentry stopped him.

"Who should I look for?"

"Equipment Department, Director Fang. My surname is Ye, we made an appointment beforehand."

The sentry went in to make a phone call, and came out more polite.

"Go inside, the second building, the third floor."

Ye Bingwen parked his bicycle downstairs and went up to the third floor.

The door to Director Fang's office was open.

Director Fang sat behind his desk, a stack of documents spread out in front of him.

Engineer Zhang sat on the chair next to him, holding a set of blueprints in his hand.

"Xiao Ye is here? Have a seat."

Director Fang pointed to the chair opposite him.

Ye Bingwen took the technical analysis report out of his canvas bag and placed it on Director Fang's desk.

"Director Fang, this is what I wrote. It's the technical explanation for the quality inspection report from the Provincial Department of Industry."

Director Fang picked it up and glanced at it a few times, then frowned slightly.

"Are you going to sue the Provincial Department of Industry?"

"It's not about suing. It's about clarifying the technical issues."

Director Fang put down the report and leaned back in his chair.

"Xiao Ye, to be honest with you, there's nothing wrong with the quality of that motor. I know that about myself."

"But the quality inspection report from the Provincial Department of Industry is an official document, while our Provincial Military Region is an independent system."