Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

Long Lifan, accompanied by the brigade leader and carrying the address given by Uncle Qiu, finally found Qiu Dongdong's home after asking around.

"Comrade Long!"

Long Lifan knocked lightly on the door a few times, and then a series of hurried footsteps came from inside. Who else could it be but Qiu Dongdong who opened the door?

Qiu Dongdong was delighted to see that the visitor was Long Lifan. She had heard that Long Lifan was coming, so she had come specifically to wait for her at home.

"This is Lin Guodong, the captain of our Dongwan Brigade. He was a little worried about me coming to the county town, so he came along."

"Captain, this is Qiu Dongdong, the one I told you about!" Long Lifan quickly introduced the two to each other. The two also greeted each other.

"Uncle Qiu isn't home?"

"Okay!" Qiu Dongdong nodded. "My dad went to work. Knowing you were coming today, he specifically asked me to stay home and wait for you."

“My dad said he’s already mentioned your situation to the factory manager, and he’ll let me take you there directly.”

"Okay, let's go right now..."

The county machinery factory, the factory director's office!

Seven or eight people sat upright at the desk, but a middle-aged man stood at the very top. He was tall and broad-shouldered, and although his belly was slightly protruding, his whole body still maintained the upright posture of his youth.

His face was covered in wrinkles, his eyes deep-set yet tinged with anxiety, but he still exuded the authority of a superior. He was Xu Tiansheng, the director of the county machinery factory.

He had served in the army in his early years, but was later wounded and discharged, and was assigned to a machinery factory. At this moment, his gaze was somewhat unfocused, sometimes looking at Qiu Yuansheng, sometimes looking out the door.

"Deputy Director Qiu, is the person you mentioned reliable?" A man below spoke up; it was Yang Ming, the director of the production department.

Qiu Yuansheng, as the deputy director of the production department, should have been his subordinate. But the fact that he wasn't informed beforehand, and that the matter was directly addressed to the factory director, made him somewhat uncomfortable.

Now things have gotten complicated. Because of Qiu Yuansheng's words, the factory director has gathered all the cadres from their machinery factory here, waiting for the person Qiu Yuansheng mentioned.

As soon as he spoke, everyone else turned their gaze to Qiu Yuansheng. Even Xu Tiansheng, who was sitting at the head of the table, turned his attention to him. Yesterday, Qiu Yuansheng had approached him saying he had a way to solve the current predicament of the machinery factory.

Qiu Yuansheng also emphasized that this person had connections with the Shanghai Machinery Factory, which made him take it very seriously. The Shanghai Machinery Factory was a large factory with thousands of employees, something their small county-level machinery factory couldn't compare to.

As the head of the machinery factory, no one understood the predicament it faced better than him. He had heard that higher authorities were already discussing solutions for dealing with the county machinery factory.

He knew perfectly well what this news meant. The machine factory faced either bankruptcy or merger.

He had poured so much effort into this machine factory, and he couldn't bear to see it go down the drain.

That's why he attached such importance to it. He shared the same thought as Qiu Yuansheng: this man had connections in Shanghai and might be able to help them secure orders. If that happened, wouldn't their machinery factory survive?

“I haven’t known Comrade Long for long, but I don’t think she’s someone who talks nonsense.” Qiu Yuansheng recalled the confident look on Long Lifan’s face when he talked to her that day, paused, and continued, “Besides, what good would it do her to lie to us?”

"Who knows!"

Yang Ming scoffed, "Maybe they're just making a fool of you. Besides, even if he says he knows people at the Shanghai Machinery Factory, you haven't seen it with your own eyes. How can you be sure he's telling the truth?"

"All right!"

Seeing that Yang Ming was going too far, Xu Tiansheng stopped him, saying, "Director Yang, please sit down and talk things out. Don't resort to personal attacks."

"It's best not to jump to conclusions before things are completely clear." He was skeptical of the person Qiu Yuansheng had mentioned, but what if it was true? This could be an opportunity to save their machinery factory.

"Yes, Factory Manager!"

Seeing that the factory director looked somewhat displeased, Yang Ming quickly agreed and sat down.

……

Unbeknownst to them, the person they were waiting for was being stopped at the gate by the security guard.

"Yang Bin, why won't you let them in?" Qiu Dongdong glared at the doorway and roared.

"I've already said, the factory is hosting important guests today, and no one else is allowed to enter," Yang Bin said with a mocking smile, wearing a security guard uniform, while pointing to Long Lifan and Lin Guodong behind her.

"What important person were we receiving? How come I didn't know?" Qiu Dongdong pouted angrily, thinking to herself that her father was too unreliable. Why didn't he tell her about this beforehand?

“You’re not an employee of our factory, of course you wouldn’t know!” Yang Bin chuckled twice. “If it weren’t for your father’s influence, you wouldn’t be able to get in.”

Long Lifan was surprised that she couldn't even get through the gate, and then awkwardly turned to look at the somewhat helpless Lin Guodong. At this moment, Qiu Dongdong stepped forward and said, "What should we do? He won't let me take you in!"

Her tone was somewhat frustrated; she clearly hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

"How about this, you go in and ask Uncle Qiu what's going on? If it's really inconvenient today, we'll come back another day." Long Lifan didn't want to come for nothing and planned to have Qiu Dongdong go and ask about the situation.

"Row!"

Qiu Dongdong nodded in agreement and then walked into the machinery factory.

"This..." Lin Guodong was clearly encountering this situation for the first time, and his expression was somewhat flustered and nervous. Long Lifan, on the other hand, was much calmer. In her previous life, she had been rejected at least eighty or a hundred times when trying to negotiate business deals.

She's shameless and eats her fill. So, these things are nothing new to her.

When Qiu Dongdong arrived at the factory director's office, she finally found her father. Qiu Yuansheng immediately stood up and said, "Dongdong, what happened? Comrade Long didn't come with you!"

"You're here!" Qiu Dongdong pouted and said angrily when she saw her father blaming her instead. "But the security guard wouldn't let us in, saying you were going to receive some important person."

"Hey! This isn't..." Qiu Yuansheng didn't know what to say for a moment, and turned to Factory Director Xu, saying, "Factory Director, I'll go and bring Comrade Long in right away."

Upon hearing this, Xu Tiansheng nodded. Only then did Qiu Yuansheng lead Qiu Dongdong towards the gate.

"Haha, Comrade Long, I'm really sorry, I messed up." As soon as Qiu Yuansheng stepped out, he smiled and apologized to Long Lifan, explaining, "I mentioned you to the factory director yesterday, and that's why I'm here today to welcome you."

"I may not have explained things clearly, please forgive me!"

"Come in with me, all the managers at our machinery factory are waiting for you!" He said to the gatekeeper and led the two into the machinery factory.

"My God?" Yang Bin was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and muttered to himself, "Could it be that the person who just went in was the one the factory manager was going to receive?"

"I hope I'm not that unlucky!" Yang Bin thought to himself, praying that he wouldn't be punished later.

Qiu Yuansheng led the group ahead. It was Lin Guodong's first time entering the machinery factory, and he found everything inside fascinating.

In contrast, Long Lifan appeared much calmer. In her later life, she had visited large factories, many times larger in scale and far more advanced than these modern machinery factories.

Qiu Yuansheng noticed her composure and thought to himself: No wonder she's from Shanghai.

"Comrade Long, let me introduce you. This is Factory Director Xu Tiansheng, this is Factory Director Zhao, and this is Director Fang..."

Upon entering the office, Qiu Yuansheng introduced the people present to Long Lifan. He then addressed the group, saying, "This is Comrade Long Lifan."

It was only then that they realized that the person Qiu Yuansheng was talking about was actually a little girl, and judging from her appearance, she was probably not even seventeen or eighteen years old. They had been waiting for so long only to find this little girl.