Chapter 9

Lin Qiangsheng stood next to Chen Bing, watching him draw lines on the hood of a 212 car with a pen.

"Is the grille like this?" Chen Bing asked, looking at the blueprint on the table.

Lin Qiangsheng nodded with a smile and said, "Almost, just make sure to leave the middle strips a bit wider, so they can be folded in later for a better look!"

Chen Bing laughed loudly and said, "Alright! I didn't expect it to be so simple. I'll go get the cutting machine and make the grille."

Lin Qiangsheng nodded and turned to walk towards the parking area, checking if there were any other cars that needed repair. He didn't want others to gossip, so he was still very proactive about his work.

Lin Qiangsheng walked around and saw some young people chatting together, so he joined them.

"Do you think the factory can really make cars?" one young man asked.

"Maybe! Other factories are sending us parts, right? When has our factory ever been so prestigious!" another laughed.

"What's so prestigious? It was better when we could freely repair cars. Now, every day is so busy!" Gu Hongliang said discontentedly.

Lin Qiangsheng glanced at Gu Hongliang, who returned a slightly hostile look.

He smiled and said, "If you don't want to be busy, just stick to repairing cars. Those who want to be busy can do so, and those who don't can do as they please."

"Why? All the work is done by me, while you guys play inside!" Gu Hongliang jumped up and shouted.

Lin Qiangsheng said, "You can report it to the factory leadership!"

Gu Hongliang immediately deflated and said, "The leaders are on your side! I don't understand why a good auto repair factory needs to make cars?"

Some of the others were indignant at Gu Hongliang's words but didn't know how to counter.

Some people agreed with Gu Hongliang and shouted, "Right! We are an auto repair factory, why make cars? It will end up being nothing."

"Someone just wanders around all day and still gets the same salary as us!" another person said quietly.

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and asked, "Are you talking about me? Li Zheng? When have I ever slacked off? How many cars have I repaired in the past two months? How many have you repaired? You didn't even touch the trucks that came in, why don't you say that?"

Li Zheng was speechless, as he indeed wasn't proactive in his work and hadn't done as much as the new arrival, Lin Qiangsheng.

His face turned red as he stood up and shouted, "Those who can work should naturally do more. You're so good at repairing cars, so you should naturally do more!"

Lin Qiangsheng snorted and turned to look at the young people, saying, "Do you know how much a car sells for now?"

The young people, aged 16 to 17, had no idea, so they all looked at Lin Qiangsheng.

Lin Qiangsheng continued, "A Lada now sells for more than 4,700 yuan! Think about it, if we can make cars, how much could we sell them for? Do you earn 30 yuan a month? Don't you want to increase your salary?"

"Ah?! A car can sell for so much money?" The young people were shocked by the high price of cars. Some were calculating the huge gap between their salaries and the car prices.

Chen Bing asked in surprise, "A Lada can sell for more than 4,000 yuan? How long would it take me to save up for one?"

Lin Qiangsheng looked at Chen Bing and smiled, saying, "Once our factory starts making cars, everyone will have a car to drive, maybe everyone will have one!"

"Right! Why didn't I think of that!" Gu Hongliang exclaimed excitedly.

"Qiangsheng is right! If our factory can make cars, why do we need to buy them? Everyone will have a car to drive!" another young man shouted.

Lin Qiangsheng looked at the young man, Gao Qi, and nodded with a smile.

Lin Qiangsheng turned and walked into the workshop, leaving the young people discussing.

Another half month passed, and it was early June.

The auto repair factory was still busy, but during their free time, people always talked about the new black car in the body shop and how much it was worth.

"Who would have thought we could actually put together a new car!" an old master sighed.

"Right! I never thought it would be so easy to make a car."

"It's not done yet. We still need the dashboard and the bumper. I heard the factory manager and the director are worried about it."

"Ah! The camera factory manager is playing games! What if he ruins our new car?"

"How could that happen? I heard provincial leaders are coming to visit, he wouldn't dare!"

Everyone whispered, hoping the camera factory manager would bring the parts soon.

That morning, Lin Qiangsheng and Chen Bing were adding fenders, bumpers, and a roof to the modified jeep.

The fenders and bumpers were made of thin iron sheets, and Chen Bing had painted them black. The roof was made from a 212 car roof panel, with a black iron sheet added to the back. It looked much more fashionable this way.

The only regret was that the 212 jeep's green paint wasn't bright enough and looked too dull.

"Brother Chen, once we sand off the green paint and spray it red, it will look great!" Lin Qiangsheng said as he finished one side of the fender and stood up.

Chen Bing smiled and nodded, walking around the car and asking the onlookers, "How does it look? Is the car we made okay?"

"It looks good!" Zou Xue and a few other girls said with a smile.

"You're not making a car, you're just modifying a jeep!" Gu Hongliang said from the side.

Chen Bing laughed and said, "Modifying it still looks good!"

Chang Yuanting came out of the office, walked to the car, and looked around the modified jeep, saying with a smile, "After this modification, it really looks good."

Lin Qiangsheng said, "Factory Manager, what if we paint the car red and let the leaders see it when they come? How about that?"

Chang Yuanting laughed and said, "Sure, I was thinking the same thing. This is a collective achievement of our