Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 423 Actually, we're all car repairmen
"Teacher Zhang,"

Chen Luyang spoke frankly and directly.

"I know you're busy, but I really need the images urgently... Could we talk about a collaboration?"

"I'll provide the samples, and you can provide us with some industrial drawings?"

Zhang Diancai did not answer immediately.

He picked up the eroded spark plug and examined it for a few moments, his expression complex.

"You mean you can reliably supply these kinds of service parts? The specific models, operating conditions, and vehicle conditions are all covered?"

"Yes, I have both," Chen Luyang answered readily.

"Nozzles, gaskets, bearings, connecting rods, pistons... we can basically collect any parts that frequently break down on a vehicle. And we also keep disassembly records and analyses."

Zhang Diancai hesitated: "How many blueprints do you need?"

Chen Luyang replied, "Currently, we need spark plugs, nozzle tubes, and rubber gaskets."

"These three items are the most prone to failure. We plan to produce universal parts for these three items within six months and ten parts within a year."

Zhang Diancai pondered for a moment: "The things you brought are indeed needed for our research project."

“But I really don’t have time to draw up individual drawings for you. I can have a senior student help you with a batch of drawings. They are currently practicing structural analysis of industrial drawings. If you can provide a stable supply of samples, I will arrange for them to produce the drawings.”

Chen Luyang was silent for a second.

“Teacher Zhang, of course I trust your student.”

"However, my situation is a bit special."

"What our repair center does is standardized production. The drawings are followed by actual drawing molds, milling blanks, and assembly line production. It's not enough to just draw a picture and call it a day."

"So... could you please provide us with a standard template diagram of a spark plug?"

"A structural diagram is fine too!"

"Add a matching process suggestion diagram, it would be even better if it showed the basic processing sequence... even just a simple illustration of the processing sequence. We'll follow this template from now on."

Zhang Diancai stared at him for a few seconds without saying a word.

The office fell silent for a moment.
After a long while, Zhang Diancai finally sighed:

"Come again tomorrow at noon. I can't guarantee I'll draw it, but I'll try to take a look."

Chen Luyang's eyes shone with barely concealed excitement: "Okay! I'll be there on time tomorrow!! Thank you, Teacher Zhang!"

Zhang Diancai waved his hand: "Don't thank me too soon, this blueprint work is very troublesome."

Chen Luyang was overjoyed: "Your willingness to look at this first one has already been a huge help to me."

"Lin Qiming!"

Zhang Diancai yelled into the corridor.

A moment later, a senior male student wearing glasses pushed open the door and came in.

"Teacher Zhang, you wanted to see me?"

Zhang Diancai pointed towards Chen Luyang: "This is Chen Luyang. Go with him and see what those scrap parts he brought are like."

"If it's suitable and usable, bring it into the lab."

"Okay," Lin Qiming nodded in agreement.

Chen Luyang held up the large iron rod in his hand: "Teacher Zhang, shall I put this pin here?"

Zhang Diancai's mouth twitched.

"Leave it here with me for now, I'll have someone come and get it later."

"Done!" Chen Luyang replied cheerfully, carefully leaning the pin against the wall and clapping his hands.

She then turned around happily to look at Lin Qiming.

"Come on, senior, I'll take you to see the scrap parts."

……

After leaving the Lijiao Building

Chen Luyang carried her empty tool bag, her steps light and cheerful.

Lin Qiming followed him for a while, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, what department are you in? You're not in our mechanics department, are you?"

"Senior, I'm from the Economics Department," Chen Luyang introduced himself with a smile.

"Economics Department?" Lin Qiming looked at him suspiciously. "Then where did you get these scrap parts?"

Chen Luyang smiled and said, "I am a student trained by the provincial machinery factory. In addition to studying at the school, I am also in charge of the work of the Pian'ercheng Automobile Maintenance and Repair Center."

Lin Qiming was taken aback: "Then how did you know that we're in need of this right now?"

"I've audited a few mechanics classes before," Chen Luyang said with a smile.

“I heard that Professor Zhang’s project is stuck on the sample. I was thinking that there are a lot of scrap parts in the factory, which might be useful to you.”

After saying this, Lin Qiming's expression changed.

"...You asked Yu Xia about it, right?"

Um?!!?

Chen Luyang's heart skipped a beat.

Yu Xia shouldn't be asking him, right?!

Lin Qiming knew what was going on as soon as he saw Chen Luyang's astonished expression.

"I was wondering why she suddenly came to ask about the research project; it turns out she was asking for you."

Chen Luyang was a little embarrassed: "It was indeed me who asked Sister Yu Xia to inquire for me. If it weren't for her help, I wouldn't have been able to contribute these scrap parts."

The two talked as they walked, and soon turned into the dormitory building, going around to the back floor storage room.

The door creaked open, and a smell of engine oil, rust, and rubber immediately filled the air.

Chen Luyang bent down and pulled out a cloth bag with considerable effort.

Untie the knotted cloth and open it for Lin Qiming to see!
"so much……!!"

Lin Qiming subconsciously held his breath, his eyes wide open.

Burnt spark plugs, cracked gaskets, broken gear rings, deformed valve springs... there are more than twenty kinds of scrap parts at a rough glance.

He quickly squatted down and, without caring about getting dirty, took out each part to check it.

"Senior, will it be useful?" Chen Luyang asked with some concern.

"That's amazing!" Lin Qiming nodded repeatedly, rubbing his hands excitedly. "These are all usable! I'll take them all."

Chen Luyang was also amused.

He couldn't wait for Lin Qiming to take all these things away right now!

As long as they take these scrap parts, they can confidently push open Zhang Diancai's door and pester him to draw blueprints!

Chen Luyang was just figuring out how to tie Zhang Diancai up and kill him.

Lin Qiming retied the cloth bag and was about to carry it away when he realized he was in such a hurry that he almost sprained his arm.

"This is so heavy..."

"I'll go back and get a few people to help me move it."

Chen Luyang quickly grabbed his arm: "Why bother? I'll help you move it, why make such a fuss?"

Lin Qiming felt a little embarrassed.

Chen Luyang didn't stand on ceremony with him, untied the cloth bag again, and grabbed one end.

“We’ll carry it together, you take the other side, it’s just a few steps.”

"Row!"

Seeing this, Lin Qiming and Lin Qiming each grabbed one side and together carried the cloth bag out of the dormitory, all the way to the laboratory building.

Just as I went up the stairs,

Exhausted, Lin Qiming put his bag on the ground and shouted, "Wang Wei, Sun Jing! Come out and lend a hand!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, two students ran out of the laboratory.

Upon seeing the large cloth bag at Lin Qiming's feet, the two men quickly came to his aid.

"...What's so heavy?"

The two of them carried out the weights and dragged the bags into the laboratory.

"The sample!" Lin Qiming exclaimed, panting. "The sample has arrived? That's great!" The boy perked up immediately.

"Our research project has been stuck for half a month, and this is what we've been waiting for!"

Several people worked together to carry the cloth bag into the laboratory and placed it on the central workbench with a "thud".

"What's inside?" the boy asked eagerly, opening the cloth bag.

"We have everything," Chen Luyang said with a laugh from behind.
"Spark plugs, nozzles, gaskets, gear rings... everything is here, all taken from the car."

Seeing the boy's puzzled expression, Lin Qiming explained, "This is Chen Luyang from the Economics Department. He's also the manager of an auto repair shop off-campus. These scrap parts are supplied by his shop."

"The samples we agreed on haven't arrived yet, so Professor Zhang told us to use these for now."

The owner of a car repair shop?!
The people in the lab stared wide-eyed at Chen Luyang.

"Do you have any other parts in your factory?" a girl asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes! Our repair shop may not have much else, but we have plenty of these things."

Chen Luyang laughed and said, "It's just that I really can't handle it all by myself."

"Oh, you should have said so earlier!"

Upon hearing that Chen Luyang still had scrap parts, the girl couldn't help but roll up her sleeves.

"Next time, just call us and we'll go help carry it!"

“Yes, don’t take it yourself next time,” another person chimed in.

"Okay! I'll take you to visit my place next time."

Chen Luyang was more than happy to pass on this hard labor to someone else.

Last time, he rode back exhausted from riding all day long, and almost ruined his legs.

Now, when he squats down and stands up, the pain in his legs makes him feel like his soul is about to fly into the sky.

As they were talking, several students who had been working with their heads down in the lab also gathered around and began to sort, number, and register the pile of parts.

Chen Luyang asked curiously, "Senior, what's the use of modeling fatigue cracks in these connectors?"

“It has many uses!” Lin Qiming replied.

"If this model can be made, it will be much easier to predict the maintenance of rail transit, heavy vehicles, and even military equipment in the future. Just by looking at the trend of crack changes, we can know in advance which shaft is about to break and replace it in time, which will save a lot of trouble."

"To go deeper,"

"Once the modeling parameters are mature, we can provide feedback to the factory. This way, we can not only optimize the structure, modify the assembly, adjust the materials, extend the service life, but also save money and materials."

"To put it bluntly, we're both car mechanics."

Lin Qiming smiled and said, "It's just that you're waiting for the car to break down before you fix it."

"We didn't wait for the car to break down; we just wanted it to stay in that state."

Chen Luyang was stunned.

Are all science students so straightforward in their speech?
That grammatically incorrect sentence was caused by his rambling.

After the scrap parts were properly disposed of, Chen Luyang finally had time to take a look at the laboratory.

The laboratory was small, at most twenty square meters, with old-fashioned iron-framed lamps hanging from the ceiling.

The air was filled with the smell of welding mixed with metallic dust, like a workshop, yet not quite.

On the left is a row of drawing tables against the wall, stacked with various industrial drawings. Pencils, rulers and rolls of detached adhesive tape are pressed down on the edges of the transparent tracing paper.

A young man sat at a drawing table, intently drawing a blueprint.

Chen Luyang walked over curiously and took a peek.

The image shows a cross-section of a shattered and deformed fuel injector.

The internal channels, outer shell layers, and crack directions are all drawn clearly. Even the areas of heat loss and deformation are marked with different dashed lines. The strokes are crisp, the drawings are clean, and there is no ambiguity whatsoever.

hiss……!
Chen Luyang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

No wonder you're a student from Peking University, this drawing is really good!
Despite his previous conversations with Zhang Diancai where he seemed to think the students' drawings were subpar, he didn't take them very seriously.

But you know what, this person's drawings are really good!
"Who is this person?"

Chen Luyang secretly pulled Lin Qiming aside, gestured to the boy drawing the picture, and asked in a low voice.

“His name is Zhang Nan,” Lin Qiming replied in a low voice. “He’s the top student in our graph theory department.”

"Tsk..."

Chen Luyang clicked her tongue softly, saying nothing but feeling even more agitated inside.

If the students are this good enough, what would happen if the teacher attacked them?!
Thinking of this, the desire to tie up Zhang Diancai and kill him became even stronger!

"Senior, you guys go ahead with your work, I won't bother you any longer," Chen Luyang said.

“I live in Building 24, Room 421. Come find me anytime if you need anything.”

Lin Qiming nodded and said, "Okay, I've got it."

……

After leaving the lab, Chen Luyang hummed a song and walked briskly.

Although it hasn't come to fruition yet, at least it's not hopeless.

Thanks to Yu Xia's help, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to get into Zhang Diancai's office!

Thinking of Yu Xia, Chen Luyang went to the convenience store and bought fruit cookies, preserved plums, and two cans of food before heading towards the student affairs building, satisfied.

Carrying her things up to the fourth floor, Chen Luyang knocked on the door of the Literature and Art Department.

"Please come in."

Chen Luyang pushed open the door and saw Yu Xia and several students from the Literature and Art Department painting on a large table made up of three tables pushed together. There were also watercolors and several sketches spread out next to them.

"Chen Luyang?"

Yu Xia looked up, somewhat surprised, put down her pen, and walked out of the office.

"How did you come?"

"I brought you some things." Chen Luyang handed over a bag full of food and said with a smile.

"I haven't had a chance to thank you for helping me with the research project last time. I was planning to treat you to a meal, but since I'm on my way today, I thought I'd buy you something to eat."

Yu Xia vehemently refused: "No, no, it's just a simple question, why would you buy me something for no reason!"

"You might think it's just a casual question, but it's a big deal to me!"

Chen Luyang shoved the things into her hands.
"Senior, please accept this. It's just some food, it's not worth much. If you don't accept it, I'll feel embarrassed to talk to you again."

Yu Xia laughed at his words: "How could you be embarrassed?"

Chen Luyang chuckled and scratched his head: "Why not! I'm so shy."

"Okay, I'll take it, thank you~" Yu Xia smiled at him.

"Oh, right," she remembered something important, "how's the situation on your end?"

"That's good." Chen Luyang said in a relaxed tone.

"Although Teacher Zhang didn't agree, he didn't say no either, and told me to go see him again tomorrow. It's a good start overall."

"That means there's hope!" Yu Xia was happy for him and encouraged him.
"Just keep going, Teacher Zhang is a soft-hearted person."

"Then I'll wait until he softens his heart tomorrow~~"

After Chen Luyang finished speaking with a smile, she waved to her, "You go ahead with your work, I won't bother you anymore."

Yu Xia watched Chen Luyang walk into the External Relations Department, then turned and went back to her office.

"Who is that? He came looking for you last time."

"A junior student asked me for some questions about his major."

They picked up their pens again and continued their discussion around the poster.

What do you think about placing the words "Spring of Science" right in the center of the drawing?

"The center is too rigid and easily looks like a slogan."

"How about making it look like tree branches growing? The bottom is soil, and a series of patterns grow out of it, along with some symbols, calculation diagrams, or something?"

"Combining technology and nature? I think it's a good idea!"

……

(End of this chapter)