Qian Hongming’s love for his wife and daughter was put into action. He had felt his parents’ love since childhood, but they had willing hearts but insufficient means, making his childhood torturous. Now that he had the ability, he naturally wanted to make up for those deficiencies with concrete actions for his daughter, not letting her growth be filled with regrets, too. Qian Hongming had thought he’d made the best preparations for the child’s birth—his mother-in-law had said the things he bought for his daughter were enough to fill a guest bedroom. He hadn’t expected that even more needs would emerge after his daughter was born. Well then, he continued pulling out his wallet—buy!
Soon after his daughter’s birth, Qian Hongming went on a business trip to Hong Kong. He was usually particular about his appearance, but this time, for his daughter’s sake, he went out with almost empty luggage and returned with full suitcases—most of the contents were for his daughter, the rest for his wife, while his things were relegated to a carry-on bag. Jiali liked the beautiful, practical little clothes and baby food like formula and fruit puree, but when she asked about prices, she complained that her husband shouldn’t be so extravagant. Qian Hongming told her simply not to ask—he wasn’t the type who didn’t know how to live within his means. Fortunately, Jiali was also someone who liked to delegate, so since asking made her heart ache, she simply chose not to see, and promptly put the new things her husband bought to use for their daughter.
While enduring Jiali’s grumbling, Qian Hongming struggled to assemble the multi-functional baby stroller bought in Hong Kong. But no matter how he assembled it, several parts remained unused. Common sense dictated that this undoubtedly meant his assembly was wrong. He read the manual over and over but couldn’t see where the error was, so he simply packed it all up and took it to Liu Jun’s house. Liu Jun had been discharged after his finger stitches were removed and was now recuperating at home with his ribs.
Liu Jun opened the door and poured the tea. If Qian Hongming hadn’t always known Liu Jun walked as if he had springs in his feet, outsiders wouldn’t be able to tell that under Liu Jun’s sweater was still a tightly bound, injured body. What surprised Qian Hongming was the temperature in the Liu house—such a large room was filled with overwhelming warmth, warmer than his own house with elderly and young family members, and very luxurious. Indeed, Qian Hongming found at least three electric oil heaters. But he also saw that the ping-pong table-sized table in the living room was covered entirely with work materials. He had thought he was already diligent enough, but unexpectedly, there was another workaholic here.
This workaholic had a phone to his ear, and while confirming data with a design institute, he quickly disassembled the baby stroller into components, then casually sorted the parts by category on the table. He picked up a structural component, glanced at it, then got up and went to a guest room for tools. Qian Hongming followed and saw that one wall had iron shelving over three meters long in two rows, with countless black and shiny tools inserted in the racks. Against another wall was a workbench with a vise and drilling press. The entire room was practically full. Liu Jun casually pulled out two screwdrivers, and since he couldn’t bend over, he directed Qian Hongming to get two packages of assorted files from the third drawer of the wall tool cabinet.
Qian Hongming didn’t know what assorted files were. Opening the small drawer, he couldn’t help exclaiming “Wa!”—”Hidden weapons!” He saw a palm-sized transparent plastic package containing a row of over ten files, all no thicker than chopstick tips, some with pointed heads, some rod-shaped, others flat or square, each with different shapes, looking like unique hidden weapons from martial arts novels. Looking further down, there were even curved and curved-surface ones that seemed more appropriate for the Tang Sect of Sichuan. Qian Hongming couldn’t put them down and simply took out three packages of different shapes.
Liu Jun muttered to himself, “Hidden weapons?” Looking again, indeed they were. Since he’d been exposed to them since childhood, he’d never thought of assorted files as hidden weapons, but now he couldn’t help covering his chest and laughing along with Qian Hongming. “Your baby stroller seems to have been bumped—there’s a plastic bushing that’s slightly inwardly convex. A few file strokes will fix it.”
“Oh, I couldn’t take the baby stroller on the plane, so I had to disassemble it for luggage. Just give guidance from the side—I’ll assemble it myself. These hidden weapons are fun.”
“Back when choosing majors, you refused to study mechanical engineering. Fun, right? There are even more fun things. I still say the same thing—playing with machinery is what makes a man.”
Qian Hongming smiled without speaking. Did he have a choice back then? No. So he could only choose computer science, which was supposedly the most promising and lucrative major. But through twists of fate, after graduation, he didn’t work in his professional field either. Had he known this earlier, he didn’t even need to attend university—the trade work he now did required no professional knowledge, yet he did no worse than foreign trade majors.
While Qian Hongming concentrated on operating the assorted files, Liu Jun took another call, equally busy even on Sunday. It was still the design institute calling. They had delivered blueprints for briefing the day before yesterday. Though Liu Jun didn’t understand, he could look up materials online overnight to verify the design, sending the design institute a long email of questions that very day. The design institute was very responsible and had no concept of Sunday, constantly calling to provide explanations and corrections. This call was to tell Liu Jun why they designed steel reinforcement density greater than the standard Liu Jun had looked up. After listening, Liu Jun was speechless but more convinced of the design institute’s conscientiousness. He hung up and said to Qian Hongming, who was concentrating on assembling the baby stroller: “Would you believe that the design institute says steel reinforcement bars available nationwide are generally softer than standard? The reason is that reinforcement bars mainly come from small steel mills, and small steel mills have insufficient smelting capabilities or are cost-conscious, so reinforcement bar hardness generally doesn’t meet standards. The same applies to steel strips, angle steel, and products derived from these steels. My God. So, is the firmness of my steel structure roof questionable? Should scaffolding for future factory construction also be reinforced? Should my standard fasteners also be made thicker? Why is there corner-cutting everywhere?”
Without thinking, Qian Hongming said, “That’s why I buy foreign-made baby strollers for my daughter. Uh, you haven’t heard of strip steel yet, have you? I read in newspapers that many reinforcement bars are made from strip steel, which is even worse—basically brittle.”
“Are there any reliable brands?” Liu Jun said, immediately thinking of the difficulties of processing at Shi Yiji, and answered his question: “No. Even if there are, they’re rare as phoenix feathers.”
Qian Hongming smiled: “Right, so for any product I make, I always personally oversee quality control, never feeling comfortable leaving it to others. But even so, unpredictable incidents often occur. The foreign customers I deal with are also often uneasy and come to see for themselves.”
“I already have deep experience with this. So, after construction begins, will all procurement and all on-site supervision require my involvement?” Thinking again of the workers’ incomprehensible attitudes when processing at Shi Yiji, Liu Jun answered himself again: “Must be. Sigh.”
“There’s something very strange. Yang Li asked if I could arrange for Shi Yiji’s new general manager to meet with you. She said that the manager wants to talk with you after seeing Shi Yiji’s products.”
“Indeed strange, but as long as he offers a good price, I think there’s no need to even talk—I’ll sell to him. Anyway, I’ve long lost my temper… No, try that one, the one next to the hook. The one in your hand is the wrong size by visual estimate.”
Qian Hongming looked at the component in his hand, then took the one Liu Jun pointed to on the table for comparison. The two components, each about a foot long, differed by less than a centimeter. “Damn, you are naturally suited for machinery.”
“Common people all have scales and rulers in their hearts.” Liu Jun half-reclined in a rattan chair. Hearing the front door sound, he saw his father coming in with food and supplies to check on him. “Uh, Hongming, don’t turn around.” He quickly went over to block his father at the door, asking him to go home first. Liu Shitang was unhappy but couldn’t resist his weak son covering his chest and gesturing, so he had to leave. Currently, Liu Jun couldn’t move around, so much of the paperwork and site visits were being done by Liu Shitang. Therefore, father and son had to sit together daily for good consultation, keeping each other informed of progress. Precisely because of this, Liu Shitang’s sense of loss was somewhat alleviated. He even intentionally accelerated his work pace, always exceeding his son’s schedule, making his son increasingly value and depend on his abilities. Deep down, he simply refused to let go.
But Liu Shitang didn’t leave—instead, he sat in the underground garage waiting for Qian Hongming. He didn’t believe that Qian Hongming, who had just become a father, would stay long at his son’s house.
Indeed, Qian Hongming soon came down carrying the baby stroller. Liu Shitang started his car and followed, rolling down the window: “Xiao Qian, you just saw—my son can disregard me as his father for your sake. You’re also a father now, so put yourself in my shoes and think about it. You’re also a man who lives it up outside—I’ve seen you with hostesses in KTVs plenty of times. What else don’t you understand? Why drive a wedge between us, father and son?”
Qian Hongming said nothing, stuffed the baby stroller into the back seat, closed the door, and drove away, treating Liu Shitang’s words as background noise.
Liu Shitang also stopped there, coldly watching Qian Hongming leave. He only needed to throw those words at Qian Hongming—if the boy wanted to play respectable in front of him and his son, he was still too green. But before Liu Shitang could turn off the engine and raise the window, he heard a “crunch” from the garage exit. He quickly turned to look—wasn’t that Qian Hongming’s car scraping the garage exit wall? On such a wide road, how could he hit the wall? Liu Shitang gave another cold laugh, watching Qian Hongming drive away unsteadily. People with guilty consciences—what respectability are they putting on? If they were going to pretend, they should have done it earlier. Why didn’t they pretend when they were taking his money before?
Liu Shitang turned off the engine, locked the car, and went back upstairs to talk with his son. Recently, Old Huang kept pursuing him, saying he refused to transfer to Shi Yiji and wanted to enter the new Soaring company. He also said if Liu Shitang didn’t agree, it meant he looked down on old brothers and was abandoning old brothers. Liu Shitang thought to himself, when he used to chase Old Huang with kind words, where were those old brothers? But Old Huang also said if he didn’t agree, he’d go find his son, so he had to relay Old Huang’s request to his son.
Liu Jun naturally refused. If not for properly sending away Uncle Huang, Uncle Xu, and others, why would he submit to Yang Xun’s humiliating conditions? Moreover, after Uncle Huang visited Shi Yiji’s branch factory, wasn’t it clear that at his age, facing German imported equipment, he wouldn’t just be useless? Why ask for suffering? But he didn’t adopt his father’s approach of calling everyone “old brother”—he directly called Uncle Huang and told him that Soaring Company wouldn’t have traditional processing equipment, so there was no place for Uncle Huang to use his skills.
Unexpectedly, Old Huang was also very direct: “I can manage quality and attendance for you.”
Liu Jun still wouldn’t budge: “Soaring’s future quality management personnel must understand English and master several foreign standards. Uncle Huang can’t handle it.”
“According to you, should I just stop trying to make a living?”
“No, traditional processing will still exist. Soaring will also need traditional processing in the future, but it will all be outsourced. Uncle Huang will have plenty of opportunities.”
“Tell me, does Germany still have factories like Forward Factory?”
“I don’t understand all of Germany’s industry deeply. From the company where I worked, because labor is relatively expensive, some standard parts requiring only conventional processing have already been outsourced to countries with cheaper labor, like Eastern Europe.”
“Well, that’s exactly the point, very clear. I don’t have many years left to make a living—don’t deny it. So I can’t go to Shi Yiji to continue muddling along until I reach a dead end. I must enter Soaring. No matter how hard or tiring, I must learn.”
Liu Jun listened dumbfounded. Seeing his father spread his hands at him, he guessed Uncle Huang had also spoken to his father this way. He had to patiently say, “Uncle Huang, don’t be so pessimistic. China’s development isn’t that rapid. At least until your retirement, you’re still a pillar at the lathe.”
“You just returned to the country and don’t understand. You can ask your father, people like us from the old neighborhood factories have no retirement. When hands stop, mouths stop. When we can’t move anymore, that’s retirement, and that’s when we can die. At Shi Yiji, I don’t have many years to muddle through. A’Jun, you must leave Uncle Huang a way out. You father and son can’t have people when there’s work and dump burdens when there isn’t.”
Liu Jun didn’t know how to answer for a moment and could only promise to consider it before hanging up. When he asked his father, it was indeed so. Only then did he begin to understand Uncle Huang’s initial attitude toward him. Since Uncle Huang had future worries, of course, when he could work, he had to strive to maximize benefits. The prerequisite for maximizing benefits was naturally finding every way to preserve bargaining power with the boss. When he came up and immediately clipped Old Huang’s authority, how could Old Huang not give him a show of force? Liu Jun truly hadn’t expected things to be so complex, with such deep origins.
But could Soaring leave a position for Old Huang? The father and son’s answer was clear: No! Liu Jun didn’t think he was dumping burdens. The reason he agreed to Yang Xun’s conditions was precisely because Yang Xun was willing and able to take on Forward Factory’s workers. Though he could understand Old Huang’s deep sense of crisis, what virtue and ability did he have to carry Old Huang’s entire lifetime? Moreover, with Old Huang’s character, was he easy to carry?
From his father’s mouth, Liu Jun learned there were more people like Uncle Huang working in various factories without social insurance or medical insurance—those people were called migrant workers. With wolves ahead and tigers behind, unable to guarantee their future, how could such people work with peace of mind? Liu Jun gradually learned from various examples and began thinking about how to establish his new Soaring’s corporate culture.