Chapter 2

Lu Xin went to the personnel department to seek an explanation. Deputy Director Li Qitai glared at Lu Xin with a dark expression and sneered, "You can refuse to follow the company's arrangements, but the company will terminate your contract! Hmph, every year, thousands of college graduates want to join Sanjiang Group. If you don't do it, there will be hundreds of replacements ready to take your place!"

Seeing the anger in Lu Xin's eyes, Director Liu of the personnel department, worried that he might hit Li Qitai, quickly tried to smooth things over: "Comrade Lu Xin, please calm down. There's nothing wrong with being assigned to the maintenance team. As long as you work hard, you can become the team leader within a few years, then the head of the equipment department, followed by the deputy factory manager in charge of equipment, then the head of the equipment department in the business unit, and finally the vice president in charge of equipment. Your future is still very bright!"

Lu Xin wanted to talk to Jiang Xueqing, but he remembered that he had joined Sanjiang Group through her introduction. He didn't want to trouble her over this matter, nor did he want to return home with his head hung low and be ridiculed by his relatives and friends. With no way out, he had to accept the unreasonable adjustment from the personnel department.

As Lu Xin walked out of the personnel department office, the Liu who had played the good cop smiled at Li Qitai, "Qitai, if you think Lu Xin is affecting your cousin's pursuit of Miss Jiang, you can always find a reason to fire him. After all, they are still in their probationary period!" The probationary period for state-owned enterprises is one year.

"If I fire him, Jiang Xueqing will definitely find out and will surely hate Qiming. It's better to let Lu Xin stay in the maintenance team, where he will have no chance of advancement. He was introduced by Jiang Xueqing, which has already caused her a lot of trouble. Now he won't have the face to complain to her about the job adjustment," Li Qitai said with a cold smile. "Once my cousin wins over Jiang Xueqing, I can fire him later!"

Lu Xin, with the transfer order from the personnel department, went to report to the Special Alloy Materials Plant under the Sanjiang Group's Alloy Materials Business Unit.

When he arrived at the plant manager's office, Lu Xin drew a sharp breath. His nemesis, Li Qiming, was the plant manager.

Li Qiming was originally a university alumnus of Lu Xin and Jiang Xueqing, having graduated seven years earlier. He should have been very enthusiastic towards Lu Xin, but because of the issue with Jiang Xueqing, he detested Lu Xin and showed no warmth.

Li Qiming called the head of the equipment department, Liu Jianhui, and the maintenance team leader, Li Li, to bring Lu Xin over. When introducing Lu Xin to his two direct superiors, Li Qiming made no effort to hide his disgust and hatred.

Liu Jianhui and Li Li were both technical school graduates who had worked their way up from maintenance workers. They were shrewd and could tell from Li Qiming's attitude that Lu Xin was a nobody who had offended Li Qiming. Naturally, they didn't show him any kindness.

Liu Jianhui and Li Li took Lu Xin to the small rest room of the maintenance team and introduced him to the six maintenance workers.

Among the six maintenance workers, one was in his fifties, one in his thirties, and the other four were in their forties. Except for the one in his thirties, the others had worked in the plant for over twenty years, just getting by.

Lu Xin was unwilling to spend his life in this small, dirty place, but what could he do? Without any connections, he could only spend his days climbing up and down furnaces and machines with various maintenance tools, often ending up with a sore back and a dirty body.

What was even more terrifying was the constant injuries. Old wounds had not healed when new ones appeared. Lu Xin seriously doubted that he would survive a year in this job.

He gritted his teeth and endured for two months. During this time, he couldn't reach Yang Xiaoli, and Jiang Xueqing was always busy, rarely showing up. She occasionally called him, but her tone was indifferent, clearly treating him as a slightly closer male friend.

It wasn't until late March that Jiang Xueqing called Lu Xin, saying she was going abroad for six months of training and asked him to see her off.

Lu Xin, knowing his place, came to the airport empty-handed, not preparing anything as a shield.

At the airport security checkpoint, Li Qiming handed a large bouquet of red roses to Jiang Xueqing.

Just as Jiang Xueqing took the flowers, she saw Lu Xin appear and immediately threw the bouquet to the ground.

Li Qiming was so angry that he almost spat blood. Seeing Lu Xin, his face turned ashen, and he glared at him, "Get out of here!"

Lu Xin ignored Li Qiming, picked up the bouquet from the ground, and walked straight to Jiang Xueqing, handing her the flowers. "Borrowing flowers to offer to a goddess, I wish you a smooth journey and a safe arrival. Don't run into any Malays!"

Jiang Xueqing took the bouquet, wrinkled her pert nose, and sniffed it, smiling. "So fragrant!"

Li Qiming was fuming. He didn't dare to lash out at Jiang Xueqing, so he roared at Lu Xin, "Get out of my sight, or I'll fire you!"

Lu Xin smiled and looked into Jiang Xueqing's bright eyes. "Xueqing, if the plant manager fires me, I might never see you again. I'll miss you!"

Jiang Xueqing's face turned red with anger, and she glared at Li Qiming. "If you fire Lu Xin, I'll have my father fire you!"

Li Qiting shrugged, unconcerned. He was the approved future son-in-law of Jiang Xueqing's parents.

Lu Xin looked at Jiang Xueqing's beautiful face, thinking about how, because of this stunning, wealthy beauty, he had lost in both love and career, and ended up as her backup and shield. Unwilling to accept this fate, he made a bold move.

He gently wrapped his arm around Jiang Xueqing's slender waist and leaned forward, lightly kissing her rose-petal-like lips. "Take care of yourself abroad. I'll wait for you to come back!"

Jiang Xueqing was stunned by Lu Xin's sudden kiss. When he turned and walked away, she came to her senses, wiped her lips, and shouted, "Lu Xin, you bastard, come back and pay for my first kiss!"

It turned out that in Jiang Xueqing's mind, she had always seen the mild-mannered Lu Xin as a reliable and trustworthy friend, classmate, and male confidant, or perhaps just a backup. But this kiss gave her a completely new perspective on him.

Lu Xin's body trembled. He never imagined it was her first kiss. But how could he repay it? Should he pout and let her kiss him back? Dream on. He would probably get a beating from her, as she knew Wing Chun. Better to make a quick escape.

Li Qiming stood to the side, trembling with rage. He glared at Lu Xin's retreating back. This bastard dared to kiss his future wife right in front of him. He must be tired of living. Firing him would be too lenient. He would make sure to kill him!

Around 4:00 PM that afternoon, the maintenance team leader, Li Li, found Lu Xin and forced a rare smile. "Lu Xin, come with me to the high-entropy alloy laboratory. The temperature control is broken."

Lu Xin, who was always met with a long face from the team leader, felt a bit puzzled and reluctant to cooperate. But since Li Li was his team leader, he had no choice. He picked up his toolbox and followed Li Li into the high-entropy alloy laboratory.

The laboratory was empty, which seemed strange to Lu Xin. At this time, the four metallurgy PhDs should have been there.

In the center of the laboratory was a vacuum arc furnace, containing gold, silver, copper, iron, aluminum, tin, titanium, zirconium, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and dozens of other metals. The researchers were trying to melt these metals into a special material in the form of a high-entropy alloy.

Traditional alloys are usually composed of two or three metals, with one element typically making up more than 50% of the atomic percentage. High-entropy alloys, on the other hand, are made from five or more elements, with the atomic percentages of the main elements being roughly equal, giving them some superior properties that traditional alloys cannot match, such as high strength, high hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, soft magnetic properties, high thermal resistance, and high electrical resistance.

Li Li pointed to the temperature control device above the furnace and said with a fake smile, "Go up and fix it!" Then he turned and left.

Lu Xin saw that the furnace lid was closed and the furnace was only about two meters high, so he climbed up without worry.

As soon as he climbed up, Li Li, who had gone outside, smiled coldly and pressed a switch. The furnace lid suddenly opened, and the step where Lu Xin was standing was coated with lubricating oil, making it extremely slippery. Lu Xin lost his footing and fell into the boiling high-entropy alloy furnace with a splash.

Li Li, outside the door, heard the splash and smiled smugly. He took out his phone and dialed a number. "It's done!"

Li Li returned to the maintenance team rest room, stayed for an hour, and then called two maintenance workers to go to the high-entropy alloy laboratory. He wanted them to witness that he was innocent in Lu Xin's death.

When they pushed open the door, Li Li was stunned. Lu Xin, who should have been completely dissolved in the metal solution, was standing unharmed next to the furnace.

Not only was Lu Xin unharmed, but he had also gained the superpower to control all metals, making him the world's only metal-element ability user.

With such a power, Lu Xin began to have some confidence in his bleak future in the state-owned enterprise. Perhaps he could really rise from the lowest maintenance worker to the group's vice president in charge of equipment, or even become the chairman of Sanjiang Group, managing this vast industrial group.