Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 3 I can repair machines

Pong! Pong! Pong! Pong!
A man in a suit was angrily kicking a machine.

"Move! Move the fucking hell! Damn it! It's all my damn fault. I shouldn't have bought these German machines for the cheap price. Four Eyes, Four Eyes! Can you hear me? Don't panic, we'll rescue you now!"

Zheng Yi, who was watching the excitement from the sidelines, saw this and turned to ask Xiao Huan, "Who is this?"

"This is our eldest son's property. We have Taiyou, but it belongs to the eldest son."

"Oh, the young master actually came to the mine."

Zheng Yi couldn't help but feel delighted. He suddenly raised his hand and said, "Master, let me try. Maybe I can fix this machine."

He was quite sure that he could repair the machine because it was he who had broken it the day before.

The eldest young master happened to come to inspect the mine today, which was a pleasant surprise.

The machine had a problem to begin with, and it would have broken down within a month if he hadn't tampered with it. He just made it break down a little earlier.

"You are……"

Upon hearing this, the eldest young master turned around and looked at Zheng Yi in confusion.

"He is the piglet that the young lady rescued half a month ago," Xiaohuan introduced him.

"What's a piglet doing here? Get lost!"

The eldest young master was obviously in a bad mood and could not help but utter bad words. Zheng Yi did not get angry, but said loudly:
"Master, this machine is from Siemens, right? I recognize the logo. I've heard the sound these past few days and know that several pieces of equipment in our mine have sealing problems.
If I'm not mistaken, there must be an oil leak that caused the automatic power outage. If you don't believe me, just open the engine cover and you'll see."

The young master was stunned and looked at him in disbelief: "You also know Siemens? You know German?"

"Understood."

"Do you understand English?"

"got it."

"Outer ear ah oil fermented bean curd angmu"

"I'm from Fuzhou, Fujian."

"Come on, come and try."

The young master didn't say anything and really let Zheng Yi take charge. Now there is a team of four people in the mine. The air inside the mine is supplied by machines. Now the machines are broken, and people may suffocate to death inside at any time.

But there was no time to think about anything else and he could only try his best.

"Master! This is just a piglet after all! If he breaks the machine again, why don't we wait for Mr. Hunter to come..."

"If Hunter comes with Four Eyes, their lives will be over! Let him try!"

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "Do you have a screwdriver? I need to remove the cover of the machine first."

A veteran worker on the side handed him a screwdriver and said, "Hey kid, be careful. This machine is very valuable. If you break it, you won't be able to pay for it in your lifetime."

Hearing this, Zheng Yi returned the screwdriver. "In that case, I won't repair it. I'm the cheapest piglet. The lady bought it for fifty dollars. My life is not as valuable as this machine. As for the four workers trapped in the mine..."

The eldest young master waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and fix it. Rescuing Siyan and the others is the most urgent task. Machines are not important. In my Taiyou, people are always more valuable than machines. If it breaks down, it's my responsibility."

"With your words, Master, I feel relieved."

Zheng Yi didn't put on too much airs, after all, he was still stuck inside, so he simply removed the engine cover.
There was a loud commotion, and all the onlookers exclaimed in unison.

Because inside the machine, you can see that lubricating oil is indeed leaking everywhere, and there is even white foam coming out. It looks particularly messy, and there is dirt everywhere.

At least it seems that the problem is quite serious.

This question is the same as what Zheng Yi just said. Doesn't this prove that Zheng Yi at least really understands something?

"Do you have rubber gloves?"

"Rubber gloves?" Everyone looked at each other, of course they didn't have any.

"Is there anything that's insulatory? There's electricity in it, after all."

"What, what is an insulator?"

"Fuck, forget it, just come straight over, it shouldn't kill you, the power is out."

Zheng Yi got to work right away, started from where the oil was leaking, and used a screwdriver to quickly remove the oil pipe.

The person who had just spoken was the mine manager, and now he couldn't help but speak again: "Boy, you really need to know how to repair this. This is from Germany, the latest imported equipment. The ordinary technicians in the mine don't even dare to take it apart. I haven't heard of any Chinese in Kuala Lumpur who can repair this thing. It's very valuable."

"Then I won't repair it?"

The eldest young master: "Old Wu, shut up! Get out of here!"

"Little brother, go ahead and fix it. If it breaks, it breaks. I trust you."

Zheng Yi nodded and continued to unscrew the screws and remove the pipes. After removing a bunch of things from inside, he took out a sealing ring and said:
"Sure enough, the sealing ring is broken, Master, take a look."

As he said that, Zheng Yi gave the sealing ring that he had secretly ground open yesterday to the young master.

"Are there any spare seals in the mine?"

"No, no, what should I do?"

"No problem, even tape will do."

"Tape? Quick, go find some tape, go find some tape!"

After a while, some tape was brought. Zheng Yi used the tape to barely seal the gap on the sealing ring, then stuck it back on and found some linen to wipe off the leaked lubricant.

"lubricating oil."

An experienced worker quickly brought the lubricating oil, and Zheng Yi refilled it, connected the power supply, and restarted the machine. Then he heard the machine humming and started to work again.

When the miners who were watching the fun saw this, they all jumped up and cheered. This proved that the worker trapped in the mine was safe and sound.

Even the knowledgeable young master couldn't help but have his eyes lit up when he saw this, while Xiaohuan couldn't help but widen her eyes and open her mouth.

"Could it be that he wasn't just boasting that day, but actually had the ability?"

"Master, this machine is only usable temporarily. If you value the lives of our miners, please send someone up quickly and replace the sealing ring before using it again."

"Okay! Okay! Thank you so much, little brother!"

Having said that, the young master didn't mind the dirtiness and simply stretched out his two hands and shook his hands vigorously.

"Master, have you ever had this machine serviced? I heard you say before that these German machines always break down."

"Yes, it has been serviced. We hired a British engineer to do it. This year, this machine has broken down for the fourth time. Sigh~, it's all my fault for being so cheap."

But Zheng Yi shook his head and said, "The problem isn't with the machine itself, but with the maintenance. The seal is a consumable part. When I replaced it just now, I felt that it seemed a bit thick and not very elastic. It doesn't quite match this machine."

"As far as I know, although German machines are cheaper than British ones, their quality isn't necessarily worse. The Siemens brand is reliable, so problems like this shouldn't occur."

"If my guess is correct, the British technician you hired to maintain your machine probably didn't use the original spare parts for this machine. Instead, he used spare parts from a similar model of machine in the UK."

"The difference between the two is indeed not that big, maybe a 99% match. However, in mechanical equipment, even a 1% mismatch can often lead to terrible consequences. Didn't you buy enough accessories when you bought the equipment?"

The young master suddenly realized: "Ah~, so that's how it is, sir, you are truly an expert. May I ask your name?"

"Excuse me, my name is Zheng Yi."

"Sir, please, how about we go to the office to discuss in detail?"

"Thank you, young master."

(End of this chapter)