Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 688 Go eat the exhaust fumes!
As soon as I started work, my secretary, Wan Shen, came over again.

As usual, Director Yang spoke with Li Kailang.

After exchanging pleasantries and warm greetings, they finally let Li Kailang go to work.

"I wonder if Li Kailang will be able to graduate smoothly? I hope he can succeed."

As the end of the semester drew closer, Director Yang was even more nervous than Li Kailang.

As the director of the steel rolling mill, he deeply understands the importance of technical personnel.

Over the years, the factory has relied on technicians sent down from the metallurgical department, but the number actually assigned to the steel rolling mill is ultimately very small.

No one has been assigned a job in the past few years. Li Kailang is a promising talent cultivated by the factory itself. Although he is just a driver, his performance at the night school over the past few years has been remarkable.

He picked up the assessment sheet on the table, which recorded Li Kailang's scores.

Both their theoretical and practical scores were excellent.

"If he passes the assessment, the factory will have one more of its own people, and the technical department can gradually cultivate key personnel instead of relying on the ministry for allocation."

Thinking about this, Yang Jianguo felt both expectant and apprehensive.

He took a sip of tea; the tea had gone cold, and a bitter taste spread across his tongue.

"But what if I don't pass?"

He frowned slightly, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards the office not far away.

The laughter of Li Huaide, the deputy factory director, could be faintly heard, carrying a hint of sarcasm.

Li Huaide was probably just hoping to see a joke.
Factory Director Yang sighed, put down his teacup, and silently pondered:

"Whether Li Kailang can graduate smoothly is not only related to his future, but also to the factory's talent training plan."

"If it succeeds, the workers will have something to look forward to; if it fails, they may never have such an opportunity again."

Li Huaide's office.

Watching Li Kailang enter and leave Director Yang's office, Li Huaide leaned back in his leather chair, toying with a gold-plated fountain pen in his hand, a faint sneer playing on his lips.

"Director Yang is really delusional. He thinks a driver can become a technician after only a few days of schooling? It's ridiculous."

"If it were really that easy, wouldn't a lot of people become technicians?"

He casually tossed the pen onto the table and asked Pei Xin, who was sitting opposite him:
"Not just anyone can get into the technical department. What's the use of just being recommended by the factory if you don't have real skills?"

Wen Peixin nodded in agreement: "That's right, becoming a technician isn't easy. All those veteran technicians in our factory, didn't they all work their way up over a decade?"

Li Huaide slowly lit the cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and looked at it with a hint of disdain.

"I think Director Yang is just taking a gamble, hoping to train workers to become technical backbones."

"But what's the reality? A worker is a worker, and a technician is a technician. You can't just jump over that class distinction."

He paused, then lowered his voice and said, "Besides, those few positions in the technical department were already reserved."

Wen Peixin understood and nodded with a smile: "Don't worry, Director Li, I will make all the necessary arrangements."

Li Kailang never expected that his graduation issue would involve so many people.

If he knew, he would definitely laugh at Li Huaide.

When Li Kailang returned to the truck transport team, several drivers were gathered together smoking and chatting.

Upon seeing him return, Master Wang casually asked, "What did you learn at night school yesterday?"

Li Kailang smiled and gave a brief reply: "It's the same old stuff, mechanical drawing, hydraulic principles."

The others listened but simply nodded and continued puffing on their cigarettes, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.

Old Zhang muttered under his breath, "If Li Kailang really graduates, do you think our own apprentices will also have a chance? Won't we roughnecks like us be able to show off a bit in the future?"

No one responded, but a subtle sense of anticipation seemed to fill the air.

Who wouldn't want their apprentice to make them proud? Didn't you see that their team leader, Zhang Jinwu, sometimes used Li Kailang as an example when he was reprimanding his apprentices?

They were filled with resentment, but also with a burning desire to retaliate.

It's a great source of pride to have a college student as my apprentice.

"All masters without missions, assemble!"

"Old Wang's car overturned on a suburban road. Any drivers with free time should grab their gear and head to help!"

The mechanics, who were leisurely smoking, hurriedly exhaled smoke and rushed to the car, taking all their repair tools with them.

"Xiao Li, go along and take a look. You'll be in charge of overall command," Zhang Jinwu instructed.

Li Kailang, who was inspecting the gearbox, threw the wrench into the truck bed, packed his things, and immediately drove off.

The mentors had no objection to letting Li Kailang take full command, after all, he was a college graduate who had read more books than them and would definitely have more systematic methods.

Suburbs.

The situation was more challenging than anticipated.

From a distance, a Jiefang brand truck loaded with steel was overturned on the side of the road, with more than a dozen steel bars as thick as bowls scattered all over the ground, some lying across the middle of the road and others diagonally stuck to the side of the dirt road.

Seeing that the overturned vehicle's tires were stuck in the mud, it seemed that this was the cause of the accident.

Li Kailang looked around at the surroundings; this was a route that some people would inevitably take.

"Send a few apprentices to direct traffic from a distance, and make the approaching trucks take a detour."

"Master Li!" Master Wang, his face covered in dust and his shoes muddy, ran over: "The steel cable suddenly snapped!"

"Are you alright?" Li Kailang asked first.

"I'm fine, I don't have any injuries at all."

Upon hearing this, the surrounding workers breathed a sigh of relief, as long as the person was alright.

"what happened?"

"I was driving perfectly fine, and suddenly it all stopped like this. I've been driving this road for years, it's not a problem with the road itself."

The drivers listened to the explanation while observing the truck's condition.

"Look!" Mr. Zhao pointed to the truck's hydraulic system, "Oil has leaked all over the ground!"

Li Kailang squatted down and found that the cast iron hydraulic pipe under the car had a three-inch-long crack, and hydraulic oil was still bubbling out of the crack, pooling into a black pool on the ground.

"Soviet experts said these old-fashioned hydraulic hoses are the most prone to failure! This is really bad luck."

Li Kailang spat and jumped out of the car. "We need to move the steel first, otherwise the whole road will be blocked!"

"Everyone, follow my orders!"

Li Kailang's loud voice attracted everyone's attention.

"Master Zhao, Master Zhang, you take some men and move the steel off the dirt road first! Don't worry about the other places for now."

"Alright!" Without Li Kailang needing to say anything more, the two masters called out a few names and went to handle it together.

He took all the tools he had prepared from the car, including steel cables, triangular wooden blocks, crowbars, and so on.

Not knowing what's going on outside, people usually try to bring their belongings with them if something happens, regardless of whether they'll be needed.

Li Kailang tried to repair the broken hydraulic pipe when he suddenly heard a crisp "crack"—the cast iron crack in the pipe wall was extending.

Okay, no need to fix it.

The two foreman and his men used crowbars to pry the steel, which made a screeching sound as it scraped against the muddy ground.

In the distance, other trucks were approaching, but fortunately, an apprentice was directing them.

The drivers peeked out and, seeing that they couldn't force their way through, all chose to take a detour. Given the situation, trying to force their way through would only cause more delays.

If everyone works together, we can first gather all the senses on the dirt road together; the rest will be the real trouble.

The steel that gets stuck in the dirt road is the real problem.

"Come on! One, two, three!"

Master Wang, along with six strong laborers, pried up the most troublesome piece of steel, at least a quarter of which was embedded in the soil.

Li Kailang saw the veins bulging on his arms, and his canvas shoes had dug deep furrows in the mud.

Suddenly, with a "crack," Mr. Wang's crowbar broke, and he stumbled and almost fell.

“Use this!” Li Kailang handed over his crowbar, a double-headed crowbar given to him by Factory Director Yang, with Cyrillic letters engraved on the steel blade.

Half an hour later, everyone worked together and used steel cables and crowbars to drag the last piece of steel onto the truck.

"Phew~" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Some leaned against the side of the car and panted, while others slumped on the ground, panting heavily.

Li Kailang suddenly noticed that his left hand was bleeding. He didn't know when he had been cut by steel, but who would care about such a minor injury?

At this moment, Mr. Wang hurriedly came over: "Mr. Li, the tractor factory urgently needs this batch of steel, it needs to arrive today, but now that something has happened, what should we do?"

"Use it today? That's impossible!" Li Kailang retorted.

"Hey, isn't it because the workshop production is slow? They dragged their feet and only let me deliver it today, saying that this batch is very important and that I'll have to pay compensation if I don't deliver it. I told them I was in a hurry," Mr. Wang said helplessly.

The workshop always finishes producing materials two or three days ahead of schedule.

One aspect is to prevent production from failing to be completed.

On the one hand, it also allows sufficient scheduling time for the transportation team.

Unless it's an urgent mission, the goods transported by the transport team are generally not scheduled for same-day delivery.

"Damn it, these people in the workshop lied to us again. It's clearly their own fault," Master Zhao cursed.

'What if we can't complete the mission? There are three batches!'

Li Kailang looked at the damaged steel and gave it a cursory inspection.

Some only have minor scratches that don't affect their use, but they're less aesthetically pleasing; others are completely broken.

"In that case, everyone, please do your part a little more and move the bad steel to another truck, while leaving the good steel for now."

After saying that, he turned to look at Master Wang.

“Master Wang, I’ll go to the tractor factory with you in a bit. We’ll explain the situation and see if they want it. If not, we’ll bring it back.”

Master Zhao suddenly said, "Xiao Li, let me deliver it. The steel is all in my truck. I know this truck and the road well. You go back and tell Lao Zhang about the situation."

"I can also curse out the workshop staff a bit while I'm at it. They're so inhuman, doing things like this."

"Alright, then I'll trouble you, Master Zhao." Li Kailang nodded.

"Thank you all for your hard work!"

At Li Kailang's direction, everyone hauled away all the severely damaged steel, leaving only the slightly intact pieces.

After a flurry of activity, the steel was finally separated, and Mr. Wang habitually checked the truck's securing ropes.

"Alright, Mr. Zhao, I'll leave it to you. Mr. Wang, just tell them the truth. If there are any problems, the factory will take responsibility. This won't be our fault."

Before parting ways, Li Kailang offered a few words of comfort to Master Wang.

"Okay." Master Wang nodded, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes.

Everyone went their separate ways. Li Kailang took Master Wang's broken-down truck back to the steel mill for repairs; there was a lot to do this time.

As Mr. Zhao drove into the Changchun Tractor Factory, the factory's towering chimneys were spewing out sparks like red stars.

Upon seeing the truck, the inspector quickly waved vigorously to signal its arrival.

Mr. Zhao then drove the truck to him.

The inspector complained, "What's going on with you guys? Why are you so late? It's already 2 a.m. Is this how slow and inefficient you steel rolling mills are?"

"Our factory needs it urgently, and this is how you do things? Believe me, we won't be buying from your factory next time."

Neither of them were happy to be told that right away, but they held back because they were in the wrong first.

Let's deal with this first.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Mr. Wang smiled and immediately jumped off the truck, explaining, "There was a slight accident during transport; some of the steel was scratched, but most of it is still usable."

"What do you think, should I accept it or not?"

After saying that, he led the inspector to the carriage for a look.

He looked at the scratched steel and his face immediately darkened: "You call this 'still usable'? Does your factory think we tractor factories accept any kind of junk?"

"It's so badly damaged, it's practically scrap metal! What kind of work is your steel mill doing?"

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." Master Wang, with a hunched back and a forced smile, said, "Could you please accept this?"

"Take it? Take it my ass! You wait, I'm going to ask the boss."

The inspector, seeing the damaged steel, didn't dare to do anything rash and turned to find his supervisor.

A moment later, a middle-aged man in neat work clothes walked over. He glanced at the steel and his expression turned even more unpleasant.

"You still sent it over in this condition?" the leader said coldly. "You've delayed our production; can you take responsibility for that?"

"Do you think our tractor factory is just a garbage hauler? This is how you shoddy your work, bringing in all this garbage."

Mr. Zhao, who had been leaning against the car door smoking, suddenly sat up straight upon hearing this: "Take it or leave it! What a load of rubbish!"

"Master Wang almost died to bring this to you, what do you want! What looks like a dog? I'm not serving you anymore!"

"Old Wang, let's go!"

The leader was taken aback by the retort, then burst into a tirade: "Is this the attitude of your Red Star Factory? Don't even think about delivering goods to us again!"

"I don't even want to be given away!"

Mr. Zhao sneered, jumped into the driver's seat, and slammed on the gas pedal. Mr. Wang followed closely behind.

"Boom!" The truck roared, and the black smoke spewing from its exhaust pipe rushed toward the two like a giant dragon.

"Cough cough cough~" The two were choked by the black smoke that hit their faces and coughed repeatedly, then moved away from the smoky atmosphere.

"Damn it!" the two men cursed as they chased after the truck.

"Haha~"

"Make a call! Call Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill! How do their people do their jobs?!" the leader roared in a fit of incompetent rage.

"Old Zhao, is what we did wrong? What are we going to say to the factory this time?" Master Wang asked worriedly.

"What are you afraid of! It was the workshop's fault to begin with; they lied to you about rushing the delivery!"

"When you go back, you'll see. Because the workshop lied to you, you rushed to deliver the goods, caused an accident, and almost killed someone. Let's see what the people in the workshop have to say then!"

"If someone dies, do you think they'll take responsibility?! They definitely won't! Do we have the right to be afraid of them?!"

Master Zhao comforted Master Wang with just a few words.

"That's what you said."

At this moment, the transport team was arguing with the workshop.

(End of this chapter)