Chapter 19

The car drove into the Dongshi Mechanical Foundry. Chang Yuanting first greeted the guard, and when the car stopped in front of the factory office, the factory manager Hou Chunlin was already waiting at the door.

"Manager Chang, hello, hello!" Hou Chunlin was very enthusiastic. Seeing Chang Yuanting get out of the car, he smiled and shook his hand.

"Old Hou, you're too polite! You even wait at the door to greet us, really..." Chang Yuanting said with a smile.

"I heard about your car factory. You've made a small car! I even saw it, it's beautiful!" Hou Chunlin gave a thumbs up and smiled.

Chang Yuanting smiled and said, "It's all thanks to the support of our city's brother units. Otherwise, we couldn't have done it on our own!"

"Come, let's go to my office to talk about business." Hou Chunlin nodded and led Chang Yuanting into the factory office.

Lin Qiangsheng got out of the car and walked around the foundry. The factory was quite large, and the foundry workshop was a spacious old-style building.

After a short while, the two managers came out smiling.

Chang Yuanting said to Lin Qiangsheng, "Qiangsheng, come, meet Manager Hou."

Lin Qiangsheng walked up and said, "Manager Hou, hello!"

Hou Chunlin smiled and asked, "You're the young man who designed the car, right?"

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "Yes, Manager Hou."

Hou Chunlin patted Lin Qiangsheng's shoulder and said, "Ah! If we had young people like you in our factory, we could make cars too! Kid, would you like to come to our factory?"

Chang Yuanting quickly laughed and said, "Old Hou, don't be so difficult. Do you ask like this?"

Hou Chunlin smiled and said, "How is this being difficult? I'm serious!"

Lin Qiangsheng chuckled, scratched his head, and said, "I think I won't come. It's too far from home!"

Hou Chunlin laughed and patted Lin Qiangsheng, saying, "If you come, I'll send someone to pick you up every day!"

Chang Yuanting pulled Lin Qiangsheng behind him, protectively, and glared at Hou Chunlin, saying, "Old Hou, he's our factory's treasure. How can we let him go to you? Don't even think about it, or I'll be upset!"

Hou Chunlin laughed and said, "Ah! Just a joke. Alright, Old Chang, let's settle it. The next batch of cars must include our foundry!"

Chang Yuanting nodded and said, "No problem, as long as your factory can produce the stamping dies we need. Then you can have as many cars as you want!"

Hou Chunlin nodded and smiled, "Alright! Where are the blueprints?"

Lin Qiangsheng quickly opened the back door of the jeep and carried out a large stack of blueprints.

The three of them went to the office, and Hou Chunlin called an old master from the factory.

The old master flipped through the blueprints and asked, "Who drew these?"

Lin Qiangsheng said, "I did. What's wrong?"

The old master adjusted his thick glasses and looked at Lin Qiangsheng, asking, "When did you graduate? What projects have you worked on? You're so young, it doesn't seem right!"

Lin Qiangsheng shook his head. The old master with thinning hair was looking at him strangely, giving him an inexplicable feeling.

Hou Chunlin was taken aback and asked, "Master Dong, do you know this young man?"

The old master shook his head, looked at Lin Qiangsheng carefully, and said, "I've never seen him!"

Hou Chunlin whispered to the surprised Lin Qiangsheng and Chang Yuanting, "This is Master Dong Fang. He used to be a professor at our city's university, but he's here for practical training!"

"Oh!" Chang Yuanting nodded. Now he could see that the old master had an extraordinary presence, not like an ordinary worker.

Lin Qiangsheng then realized that Master Dong was here because of his status, sent for practical training.

So, Master Dong, or rather, the old professor, must be very knowledgeable!

The old master waved his hand stubbornly and said, "Don't call me professor, I still have issues! I'm just an ordinary worker now!"

Hou Chunlin, knowing the old man's temper, didn't argue but just smiled.

The old master looked at Lin Qiangsheng and asked, "Young man, did you copy the design from foreign machinery? Which one?"

Lin Qiangsheng was taken aback, widened his eyes, but quickly shook his head and denied, "I didn't copy anyone's design. I've never even seen it."

Hou Chunlin and Chang Yuanting looked at the old and young men curiously, with Chang Yuanting looking at Lin Qiangsheng.

Lin Qiangsheng looked at Chang Yuanting and shook his head.

Dong Fang smiled and pointed at the blueprints, saying, "The equipment in this design has a distinct German flavor. Although there are some changes, it still shows German style. Can you deny it?"

Lin Qiangsheng opened his mouth, but then shook his head and said, "Maybe my design just happens to match the German style!"

Dong Fang laughed heartily, wanted to say something, but then shook his head, closed his mouth, and let Lin Qiangsheng off.

Lin Qiangsheng sighed in relief. He didn't expect these old guys to be able to identify the country of origin just from a blueprint!

It made sense, these old guys had participated in the country's major industrial construction and had also replicated foreign equipment. They must have handled hundreds of foreign machines! They could probably tell the country and manufacturer just by a glance!

"Damn! I forgot about this! It's just a simple manual machine, and the blueprint is so basic, yet it still has a German flavor! I need to be more careful in the future!" Lin Qiangsheng thought to himself.

Seeing that the old man had nothing more to say, Hou Chunlin smiled and said, "Alright, I'll keep the blueprints. I'll produce the equipment for you, and you'll give us two car quotas. Manager Chang, this is a great deal for you!"

Chang Yuanting smiled and said, "You make it sound like we're not paying for the equipment. In fact, we're paying for the equipment and giving you two cars!"

The two men laughed, discussed a bit more, and then Chang Yuanting and Lin Qiangsheng left.

Lin Qiangsheng looked back at the old professor and said, "Master Dong, goodbye!"

Dong Fang's eyes brightened, looked at Lin Qiangsheng, and nodded.

Lin Qiangsheng sighed inwardly, thinking that the old man must be very aggrieved, even depressed.

Having seen so many new things in his previous life, Lin Qiangsheng observed the old man's reaction and guessed that the old man's mental state was very poor, a clear sign of depression!

Chang Yuanting drove, glanced at Lin Qiangsheng, and finally asked, "What did Master Dong mean by asking about the German style?"

Lin Qiangsheng frowned inwardly. Once a lie was told, more lies had to be made to cover it up, something he really didn't like to do!

He said helplessly, "Manager Chang, I have a question for you."

Chang Yuanting nodded and said, "Go ahead."

"Is the Soviet Union close to Germany?" Lin Qiangsheng asked.

Chang Yuanting thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be far. The Soviet Union is huge! In Europe, they should be close."

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and said, "In the European part of the Soviet Union, it's indeed close to Germany, which is now West Germany."

Chang Yuanting nodded and said, "I know that. Germany is now divided into East Germany and West Germany."

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "That's it! East Germany is actually controlled by the Soviet Union, which forced the division. Soviet tanks are on the border of West Germany, and they have a group army in East Germany. With a sudden attack, they could occupy West Germany!"

Before Chang Yuanting could nod, Lin Qiangsheng quickly added, "Since the Soviet Union has such a strong presence in East Germany, they naturally took over a lot of East German industrial equipment. My design has a mix of styles, including Soviet and East German. East Germany is still part of Germany, so it's normal for Master Dong to see a German flavor!"

Lin Qiangsheng's roundabout explanation finally made Chang Yuanting nod in understanding.

Chang Yuanting smiled and said, "That's right! No matter what country's style it is, as long as we replicate it for our own use, it's ours!"

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and said, "Exactly! No matter which country made it, we can use it!"

The two men laughed for a while. Lin Qiangsheng turned to look at the quiet street and thought to himself, "Soviet, Japanese, German, American—replicas are still replicas. No matter how much we replicate, we can't develop our own style!"

"Or perhaps, in my previous life, Chinese-made equipment already had its own style! Those machines, cheap and abundant, were very popular in the world."

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