Chapter 5

"Did a fat student borrow a set of chisels around ten in the morning and go to the lathe workshop?" When Old Liu strolled to the lathe workshop a little after one in the afternoon, he found that a set of tools was missing. After asking around, he learned what had happened.

The tools left outside were for public use, not Old Liu's personal set. Old Liu's set was specially made for him before he retired, and no one else had the right to use it.

Even so, Old Liu was somewhat surprised. What would a student borrow chisels for? Could it be that the guideways of those lathes had problems, and someone asked the fat student to fetch the tools?

The more he thought about it, the more it didn't seem right. Old Liu decided to go and check. After all, it wasn't far, and he wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. He didn't want the student to do something with the tools.

Just as he was about to get up, Guo Taicai walked in. He had come to return the tools. He had spent the whole morning correcting the guideway of the 1933 Rheinmetall old lathe.

"Fatso, what did you use the chisels for?" Old Liu asked after Guo Taicai put the tools away.

"There was a problem with a lathe guideway, so I chiseled it a bit," Guo Taicai replied casually.

Buzz, Old Liu's mind buzzed. The worst thing he had feared had happened. Was it so easy to chisel a lathe guideway? If it got chiseled wrong, the lathe would be scrapped.

"Take me to see it." Old Liu had been through many things. Even though he was initially startled, he quickly regained his composure.

If it was really chiseled wrong, he would see if it could be fixed. He hoped it wouldn't be scrapped. With this in mind, Old Liu led the puzzled fat student to the lathe workshop.

Actually, Old Liu had already lost hope. It would take a sixth or seventh-level fitter several days to truly repair a lathe guideway. The fat student borrowed the tools around ten in the morning, and it was only a little after one now. Deducting the time for lunch, it was at most two hours. He could only hope that the chiseling wasn't excessive and could be fixed.

Following the fat student into the lathe workshop, Old Liu saw that the fat student ignored the lathes in the workshop and went straight to a small room. Old Liu finally breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't one of the lathes outside, which was good. Inside were only two old antiques, not used for production. The most valuable part was probably the bed, and the loss wouldn't be significant.

If the old antique guideway was really damaged, so be it! It already had problems and was only kept for its memorial value. However, the fat student couldn't get off lightly. How could he dare to chisel the guideway without permission?

"There's a set of top-notch tools in the fitter workshop, but unfortunately, I don't know whose they are, and they're locked up, so no one can use them," Guo Taicai said casually while opening the door, completely unaware of Old Liu's emotional changes. "What a waste of a good set of tools!"

"That set of tools is mine, old man. What makes you worthy to use them?" Old Liu was instantly furious. Why should it be a waste just because you can't use them, fatso?

Guo Taicai shrank back and didn't dare to speak anymore. It was embarrassing to be caught talking behind someone's back. He kept his head down and walked to the 1933 Rheinmetall old lathe he had been using.

Old Liu, with a stern face, walked to the lathe and pushed Guo Taicai aside. He was much more familiar with this lathe than Guo Taicai and knew exactly what the problems were, so he didn't need Guo Taicai to explain.

Lowering his head, Old Liu's eyes widened in shock. How was this possible?

The 1933 old lathe had severely worn guideways. During a move, it had been dropped, causing a slight deformation. Since it was only kept for its memorial value, it was reinstalled.

To correct the guideways, the simplest method would be to replace them, but that was clearly impossible. There were no spare parts for a 1933 old lathe, and there were no new guideways to replace them. After all, the story about German sewers was just a joke, not a fact.

Without new parts, the only option was to grind and chisel the guideways. In simple terms, it meant chiseling them out.

The rough processing of the guideways was done by a grinding machine, but the fine processing was done by hand. A skilled worker would use a fine chisel and a level to identify any uneven areas and chisel them. It would take several days to chisel a single guideway, and the final result would be a guideway covered in intricate patterns, which were actually the marks left by the chiseling.

To chisel a guideway, one needed at least a fifth-level fitter, like Guo Jianjun, who was just at the entry level.

Even an eighth-level fitter, a master, would need several days to chisel a qualified guideway. Besides skill, the process also required precise measurement.

The fat student was a student, and his spare time was all devoted to fitter work. It was impossible for him to become an eighth-level fitter at his age. Even if he was diligent, reaching a second or third level would be impressive.

As the saying goes, it takes three years to become a skilled lathe operator and ten years to become a mediocre fitter. This wasn't just a saying; fitters were the most skill-intensive. From the time the fat student borrowed the tools to now, it had been at most three hours. What could he have done?

But what Old Liu saw now completely overturned his common sense. The lathe bed had a brand new guideway. How was this possible?

No, it wasn't new. Old Liu's experience was too rich. After a moment of surprise, he realized that it wasn't a new guideway but one that had been finely processed and polished.

Instinctively, he reached out and ran his hand from one end of the guideway to the other, closing his eyes and holding his breath. For their generation of old workers, the sense of touch was the most precise measuring tool, sometimes even more accurate than a ruler.

The guideway was straight, uniform, and smooth, with no deviation. At least, Old Liu couldn't feel any deviation. According to his experience, the flatness error of the entire guideway was less than one-thousandth of a millimeter. He couldn't feel any unevenness, which was completely different from the patterned surface of a hand-chiseled guideway.

"An expert!" This was Old Liu's first reaction. The thought that such a young fat student could have this level of skill made Old Liu's body tremble uncontrollably.

Old Liu's reaction made Guo Taicai feel a mix of fear and excitement. What if something happened to this old man?

"Did you have lunch, fatso?" Old Liu suddenly asked a strange question.

"Yes!" Guo Taicai, not knowing why Old Liu asked, quickly replied, "I ate at the ninth cafeteria."

Now Old Liu had a clear idea. From here to the ninth cafeteria, including the time for the round trip and queuing for food, it would take at least forty-five minutes. After deducting the time for disassembling and reassembling the old lathe, it meant that this unremarkable fat student had completed the entire chiseling and polishing of the guideway in just one and a half hours. Was this guy a monster?

"Come to the fitter workshop tomorrow morning and wait for me." Old Liu, suppressing his excitement, left Guo Taicai a message and then left, deep in thought about how to train the fat student, leaving Guo Taicai puzzled, scratching his head, and unable to react for a long time.