Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 535 Classmate Winter Break Reunion
Watching Cao Qinghang and the workers discuss and research,
Without lingering, Chen Luyang put the notebook in his pocket, said goodbye to Cao Qinghang and the workers, and quickly walked out of the workshop.

There's still a huge pile of materials waiting for him to translate in the fusion workshop. If he doesn't manage to translate a few pages, Xiao Wu will ruin him rotten.

Just as Chen Luyang was walking towards the fusion workshop against the strong northwest wind, Song Liaosha's loud voice rang out from afar.

"Brother Chen!"

Chen Luyang turned around and saw Song Liaosha running towards him, wearing a liberation cap and wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, her skin shivering from the cold.

"This guy, I called you several times, but you didn't hear me once."

Chen Luyang: "What's up?"

Song Liaosha: "I went out this morning and saw our squad leader. He said we'd have dinner with Lao Zhu and Lao Niu tonight."

"The restaurant has been booked; it's in that little alley behind the provincial university."

Chen Luyang's eyes lit up!
Since he came back, he's been eating at the same old restaurant for lunch and dinner.

We ate at the same old restaurant the next day.

Da Xin's menu has more than 30 dishes in total, and I tried almost all of them.

He was really getting tired of it.

I'll go to a restaurant near the provincial university tonight for a change of pace.

"Okay! Let's go together after get off work tonight."

……

As evening approached, the work in the workshop finally came to an end.

Chen Luyang carefully put the translated manuscript aside, wrapped her coat tighter, and went out the door one after the other with Song Liaosha.

It was already pitch black outside, and the north wind was blowing straight into my collar.

The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow, and in the distance, the cries of vendors selling roasted chestnuts could be heard.

"It's so damn cold today. If the class monitor hadn't arranged for us to eat, I really wouldn't have wanted to come out."

Chen Luyang was also so cold that she kept hiding her face inside her thick cotton collar.

"That's right. If you can come out for a meal today, you can be considered as friends who have been through thick and thin together."

The two walked through several alleys and circled around to the back gate of the provincial university.

The alley was brightly lit, with several small restaurants on both sides, their smoke and the aroma of stir-fried scallions wafting out.

The red lanterns hanging at the entrance swayed in the wind, creating a lively atmosphere.

"This is the place!" Song Liaosha pointed and pushed open the door.

A wave of heat hit me, and the room was already bustling with noise.

The glass windows were covered in white mist, and the coal stove was burning brightly.

As soon as I entered, I heard a familiar voice calling from the corner: "Hey! Chen Luyang! Over here!"

Zhou Ying, Zhu Xinghuo, Niu Jiangang, Xiao Wu's grandfather, and two male classmates whose names I still don't know were already sitting at the table.

Bai Xiaofan, also wearing a cotton-padded coat, sat in the corner of the table.

There was a plate of cold dishes and a plate of peanuts on the table.

Steaming hot tea was being brewed in an iron kettle, and bottles of Erguotou liquor were placed to the side.

After not seeing him for half a year, the group of people were like a pot boiling over when they saw him.

"Oh my, Peking University is back!"

Zhou Ying was the first to rush up, and as usual, slapped his arm: "Why are you so thin? Does your Peking University cafeteria only talk about spiritual civilization and not meat?"

Chen Luyang laughed: "I talk about it every day, but I don't really give it to anyone."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Zhu Xinghuo had already stood up and pressed Chen Luyang down to the center of the table.

He casually sat down next to Chen Luyang, separating him from Bai Xiaofan.

"Brother Chen, we're just waiting for you to order the meat dishes!"

Chen Luyang felt somewhat helpless.

Bai Xiaofan's past life is all that; she's already taken.

Even if they were next to Bai Xiaofan, it wouldn't affect the overall situation at all.

The more people try to avoid the topic, the more it seems like they have something going on with Bai Xiaofan.

Chen Luyang sat down and said with a smile, "Then let me order. I don't have to order what I like!"

After saying that, Chen Luyang ordered a plate of sweet potatoes coated in syrup without any hesitation.

Song Liaosha said helplessly, "What are you? I was waiting for you to order meat dishes, and you just gave me a whole sweet potato covered in syrup."

Zhu Xinghuo added naturally, "Brother Chen ordered these dishes for the female students because he was taking care of them!"

Chen Luyang said affectionately, "See? That's why I always say Old Zhu understands me the best!"

Niu Jiangang, who was standing next to him, said, "Old Zhu isn't the same Old Zhu he used to be. He's already been promoted to foreman, and the next step is manager."

"Great job, bro!" Chen Luyang's eyes lit up. "You're doing really well!"

Zhu Xinghuo chuckled, "Don't even mention me, everyone knows you're a celebrity at Peking University now, even appearing on the radio and serving as a judge for the National English Speech Contest!"

As they were talking, the waiter put a bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) on the table and casually started to unscrew the cap.

To everyone's surprise, the bottle cap was firmly held in place. The waiter tried to twist it several times, his face turning red, but it still wouldn't budge.

"The bottle cap is too tight. I'll go to the kitchen and get a bottle opener."

"Hey! It's no big deal! Give it to me, I'll take care of it."

Niu Jiangang reached out and grabbed the bottle.

After saying that, to everyone's astonishment, Niu Jiangang held the bottle with one hand, gripped the cap with the other, twisted his wrist, and pulled his waist and back.

With a crisp "pop!", the bottle cap was forcefully twisted open.

The aroma of wine immediately filled the air.

"Ah!" Chen Luyang's pupils dilated in shock!

"How come you still have so much strength!"

"I spend all my time in the lab, moving medicine bottles and stirring reaction vessels. How can I manage without strong physical strength!"

Niu Jiangang laughed heartily and pulled him to sit down. "Come on, come on, have some drinks and let's have a good chat!"

As the dishes were served one by one, the atmosphere at the dinner table became lively.

Niu Jiangang was the first to raise his glass: "Brothers, it's been half a year since we last got together. Luyang is back today, let's have a toast!"

"go!"

Everyone stood up, clinked their glasses, and happily took a big gulp.

After finishing his drink, Chen Luyang asked Niu Jiangang curiously,

"Old Niu, are those things in the chemical industry really that difficult? Can you figure them out?"

Niu Jiangang exclaimed from the bottom of his heart, "To be honest, it was quite a struggle!"

"A huge stack of textbooks, formulas one after another, every day it's either heat transfer or fluid mechanics calculations, sometimes it's really hard to understand."

Instantly, Chen Luyang felt empathy.

"What if you don't understand?"

Niu Jiangang said, "There was no other way but to grit my teeth and learn! Sometimes I would stay up all night working out formulas. Just one mass transfer equation could keep me working until midnight, filling up three sheets of scratch paper. My head was spinning!" "And the teacher was very strict. If I didn't finish, I wouldn't pass. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and learn."

After a pause, Niu Jiangang said, "If we're talking about who's the best, it has to be our squad leader!"

"The class monitor is a well-known iron lady in their department. She always sits in the first row in class and takes notes that are more detailed than the textbook."

Zhou Ying immediately glared at him, feigning anger: "Don't try to flatter me!"

"Hehe, that's the truth." Niu Jiangang wasn't lying at all; on the contrary, he laughed even harder.

Seeing that she couldn't avoid it, Zhou Ying had no choice but to change the subject: "We in the electrochemistry department really have a lot of experiments. Every day we have to deal with electrodes and corrosive solutions. Once our gloves are torn, our fingernails turn white from being soaked in water, and our clothes are covered with acid and alkali spots."

"Our teacher required us to do polarization curves, which meant staring at the ammeter and recording the readings one by one. Sometimes we had to stare at the ammeter for more than ten hours to complete a single experiment, and our eyes would get sore from staring at it."

"During the final month of the semester, I stayed up all night in the lab just to measure the corrosion rate of a nickel electrode. I was so tired that my eyes were seeing stars, but luckily, when my professor checked it the next day, he found that the curve was quite regular and even showed some interesting inflection points. Maybe I can write a short paper about it."

But Chen Luyang sensed something was wrong.

"How can gloves break? What if they burn your hand?"

Zhou Ying didn't take it seriously: "The gloves we use in the lab are just thin rubber sheets. If they get rubbed against the rim of a glass tube or scratched by the edge of an electrode, they'll tear immediately."

"Besides, acid and alkali solutions are used every day, and over time, the gloves themselves become brittle."

She raised her hand and shook it: "Sometimes when I'm busy, by the time I notice a little liquid seeping in, my nails are already soaked and turned white."

"Fortunately, most of them are dilute solutions, so rinsing them with water will solve the problem."

"If it were a strong acid or alkali, the teacher would never dare to let us students handle it so casually."

She was carefree and didn't feel bitter at all; on the contrary, she was beaming with joy.

"That won't do!" Chen Luyang said, frowning.

“You’re conducting an experiment, not risking your lives. Relying on that thin layer of rubber for protection, if you encounter any powerful reagents, something bad will happen sooner or later.”

Zhou Ying waved her hand: "It's okay, we do this every day, and I've never seen anyone actually burn their hands."

Chen Luyang didn't laugh.

His gaze fell on her swaying fingertips.

Sure enough, there were faint white marks showing through the edges of the clean, white nails.

The Department of Electrochemistry deals with acids and bases every day, and yet the gloves are still so unreliable.

If this had happened in a workshop, it would have been considered a safety accident long ago.

"Squad leader, when I get back to the workshop, I'll adjust the raw material formula, see if I can add some corrosion-resistant filler to the gloves, and improve the mold so I can make a pair of special acid and alkali resistant gloves for you."

Zhou Ying was startled, and almost dropped the wine glass she was holding.

"Hey, you actually took it seriously? I was just saying it offhand!"

Chen Luyang said seriously, "This matter cannot be taken lightly."

"Rubber gloves aren't exactly high-tech. As long as you add some acid and alkali resistant fillers to the formula and adjust the thickness a bit, the workshop can pretty much test them out."

"You do experiments every day, you can't expect God to bless you, can you?"

Upon hearing this, Niu Jiangang chuckled, "Oh my, are they going to develop 'specialized equipment'?"

He changed the subject abruptly and shamelessly leaned closer.

"Brother Chen, if that's the case, can our Chemical Engineering Department ask you for some props?"

Chen Luyang was taken aback for a moment: "Is there anything else you need?"

Niu Jiangang lamented, "We're lacking so much!"

"We always run distillation column experiments, and the glass tubes in those columns are thin and long, so they are prone to exploding when the pressure is too high. The teacher said we should replace them with thick-walled pressure-resistant tubes, but the lab is extremely short of funds, and nothing has come of it for a long time."

"If it doesn't interfere with production, could your workshop help us figure out how to make a pressure-resistant shell, or maybe an outer rubber sleeve or something?"

"Even if it explodes, don't let glass shards fly everywhere."

Upon hearing this, the students at the table all laughed.

Song Liaosha patted Niu Jiangang on the shoulder: "Old Niu, are you treating Brother Chen like a magic equipment factory? You've got pressure-resistant shells and rubber sleeves all over you."

Zhu Xinghuo laughed along, "Yeah, the squad leader's gloves haven't even arrived yet, and you've already placed an order!"

Niu Jiangang didn't care: "So what? It's because our classmate is doing so well! Others would want to have these advantages but don't know anyone! Right, Brother Chen?"

Chen Luyang was amused by Niu Jiangang's self-righteous expression.

"Yes! Old Niu has spoken, so we must do our best!"

He paused, his smile fading, and said seriously:

"But what Lao Niu said makes sense. If we could really put a rubber sleeve over the glass tube, even if it bursts, it would at least protect it from some of the shards."

"This isn't too difficult; it's just a matter of figuring out the issues of temperature resistance and corrosion resistance."

"Besides, my workshop usually makes car parts. If I want to make time for you to test the molds, I have to choose a time when there is no opportunity."

"The factory has some urgent work to do right now, so you'll have to wait."

Niu Jiangang immediately picked up his glass: "What's the rush! We'll be thrilled if we can get it done!"

Xiao Wu's third grandson couldn't help but speak up from the side: "I think you guys are treating Chen Luyang like a military factory."

"Ordering food isn't this convenient. If they keep ordering like this, the factory might have to move its workshops right to our school next semester!"

"Hey, that works too!" Zhou Ying chimed in. "Chen Luyang can set up a stall at the school and make experimental props specifically for us students. It'll be a huge hit!"

Chen Luyang said helplessly, "If you really say it like that, I'd have to go from making gloves to protective covers, and then to making distillation tower shells. I might as well just switch careers and become a 'laboratory supplies factory'."

“Okay!” Niu Jiangang slammed his hand on the table.

"We'll be among the first customers, and we'll get special pricing!"

“What kind of client are you?” Zhou Ying pointed at him. “I think you just want to freeload off your classmate’s hard work.”

The crowd was laughing and teasing, saying that Chen Luyang was going to change careers and open a "laboratory supplies factory".

Niu Jiangang composed himself and sighed:

"That being said, our Chemical Engineering department is really tough. Just that one book, 'Chemical Engineering Principles,' almost killed me!"

"Every day I'm either calculating heat transfer or running experiments. Last time I put in too much reagent, and it almost blew the bottle away; even my lab coat was smoking."

Zhou Ying immediately added insult to injury: "We've all heard about what happened to you in our department. Your teacher was almost scared to death."

Niu Jiangang didn't care and laughed heartily: "Hey, isn't this experience gained from real combat?"

"Our group is currently working on 'catalyst improvement,' and the professor said that if we succeed, we can apply for a provincial award. Maybe we can even get into a research institute in the future."

As he spoke, Niu Jiangang raised his wine glass and gave Chen Luyang a deep look.

"Brother Chen, I'm truly impressed! We've been working ourselves to the bone in the lab, practically stretching every day into eight."

"As a result, you managed to go to school, work in the factory, and even become a judge on Beijing Radio."

"How about this! I'll go into chemical engineering, and you can go into automobiles. One in the south, one in the north, and together we'll support two major projects!"

Chen Luyang laughed and raised his glass, replying, "Sure! You provide the plastic, I'll provide the car body, we'll have the whole set!"

Seeing that she and Niu Jiangang were chatting enthusiastically with Chen Luyang, Zhou Ying didn't forget to remind Bai Xiaofan, who was sitting next to her.

"You guys who work on materials and automobiles are great, but we also have someone here who works in aerospace!"

As soon as he said that, everyone turned their attention to Bai Xiaofan.

Bai Xiaofan laughed and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense. How could I be considered someone who works in aerospace?"

"We're just newbies in the lab, helping out."

(End of this chapter)