Live Stream 1980: Netizens Teach Me How to Make a Rocket by Hand

"Staying put on the old slate isn't wrong."

Lin Xi's gaze was like a knife, piercing directly into Xue Jianhua's eyes.

"The mistake is assuming the world will never change."

"Plasticization, lightweighting, and modularization are irreversible industrial trends."

"Your proud all-steel fan will be nothing more than expensive scrap metal in the future international market."

"As for your point about not being able to buy screws in Shanghai..."

Lin Xi smiled, a radiant smile.

"Director Xue, Shanghai is a big city, and it's not just Hua Sheng's family that has the surname 'Gong'."

After saying that, Lin Xi turned and left without any hesitation.

"see a visitor out!"

A furious roar came from behind.

"I'd like to see which factory dares to accept this kind of plastic waste!"

......

Stepping out of the Huasheng factory gate, the sunlight outside was so bright it hurt my eyes.

Wang Weidong looked utterly dejected, and could barely walk.

"Manager Lin, Brother Lin!"

"You're being too impulsive!"

"This is Watson!"

"If we offend them, we really won't be able to survive in Shanghai's light industry circle!"

"Even discussing a joint venture would have been fine..."

"A joint venture?"

Lin Xi lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and let the nicotine calm her down.

"Partnering with this kind of company is like waiting to go to your grave together."

He wasn't angry at all. He even felt a little amused.

Arrogance is good.

The more arrogant a competitor is, the larger the market gap left for him.

"But...where are we going to find a factory now?"

Wang Weidong looked at the street in despair.

"If this deal falls through, the Foreign Affairs Bureau will skin you alive."

Lin Xi exhaled a puff of smoke and watched it dissipate in the air.

"Xiao Wang." Lin Xi turned to look at Wang Weidong.

"Is there a poor relative of ours in Songjiang?"

Wang Weidong paused for a moment, then seemed to remember something, and his expression turned strange.

"You mean...?"

"Hongfeng Machinery Factory?"

"Yes, it's the one that makes rocket fairings." Lin Xi nodded.

"Oh my Lin-ge!"

Wang Weidong slapped his thigh.

"That's a living hell!"

"That factory used to manufacture military equipment, but now it has fewer military orders."

"They didn't do a good job of transitioning from military to civilian production; what are they doing making bicycle chains?"

"The quality was too good and the cost was too high, so we lost everything!"

"We can't even pay the workers' wages now!"

"That's right."

Lin Xi threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it out with the toe of her foot.

His eyes gleamed.

"Is the quality too good, and the cost too high?"

"This shows that the technical foundation is still there, but the mindset hasn't quite caught up."

"Unable to pay wages? That means the workers are starving."

"A hungry wolf is easier to handle."

Lin Xi said calmly.

"Let's go to Songjiang."

"Go and visit our poor relative."

......

Hongfeng Machinery Factory, on the outskirts of Songjiang.

Apart from the listless announcements coming from the loudspeakers, the entire factory area was so quiet that the only sound was the wind rattling the metal doors.

Lin Xi stood under the peeling paint of the "Hongfeng Machinery Factory" sign, while Wang Weidong behind her kept wiping away sweat.

"Manager Lin, is this...is this going to work?"

Wang Weidong looked at the old man, who was peeking out of the gatehouse with sleepy eyes, and his heart pounded with anxiety.

"This place is so poor that even rats would find it too poor to build fans."

Lin Xi didn't speak, but just stared at the Seventh Ministry of Machinery Industry emblem on the factory roof, which, though faded, still stood proudly.

"As long as the skeleton remains, the soul remains."

......

Ten minutes later, in the factory manager's office.

It's called an office, but it's really just a large warehouse partition.

The only electrical appliance in the room was a non-rotating table fan.

On the enamel mug on the table.

The words "Serve the People" have been yellowed by smoke.

Factory director Zhao Dagang was wearing a faded blue work uniform with frayed edges on the cuffs.

He was holding a half-smoked cigarette in his hand, his fingernails filled with black engine oil.

"What? An export order?"

Zhao Dagang's hand trembled, and the cigarette almost burned his lips.

He suddenly stood up, knocking over the broken wooden chair behind him with a loud crash.

"24000 units? Or are we making money in US dollars?"

Zhao Dagang stared wide-eyed, his eyes bloodshot.

He stared intently at Lin Xi, like a person dying of thirst in the desert who suddenly saw someone carrying a bucket of chilled soda walking towards him.

"As long as you can build it."

Lin Xi placed the dark blue ABS mesh cover on the table covered in cigarette ash.

"Red Star Service Center provides the technology."

"Hongfeng Factory is responsible for providing personnel and facilities."

"I'll take $10 for each typhoon fan, and the rest are yours."

"No, no, no!"

Zhao Dagang shook his head vigorously, then eagerly grabbed Lin Xi's hand.

"Manager Lin, you can take all the profits!"

"As long as it pays the brothers to eat!"

"There are over 800 people in the factory now, and the boiler room doesn't even have the money to buy coal briquettes."

"If we don't start production soon, I'll have to take the deputy factory manager to beg for food along the Huangpu River!"

"What I want is quality."

Lin Xi withdrew her hand without saying a word. "Let's look at the workshop first."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dagang straightened his back considerably.

"Want to see the workshop? Sure!"

"I can't boast about anything else, but when it comes to my work skills..."

"In the entire Songjiang area, if my Hongfeng Factory claims to be second, no one dares to claim to be first!"

……

Workshop No. 1.

Under the dim light, dozens of old-fashioned belt-driven lathes were humming.

Most of the workers were in their forties or fifties, working silently with their heads down, and no one spoke.

Lin Xi walked up to a C618 lathe and stopped.

The operator was an old master craftsman with gray hair.

Wearing reading glasses, he was carefully turning a steel bar about the thickness of his little finger.

With a light touch of the blade, iron filings curled up like silk, the movement as steady as carving jade.

Lin Xi leaned closer for a look, raising an eyebrow slightly.

The tolerance of this steel bar is visually controlled to be within 0.1 millimeters.

"What are you doing here?" Lin Xi asked.

"Bicycle chain pin".

Zhao Dagang stood to the side, rubbing his hands together with a bitter expression.

"We wanted to supply parts to Phoenix Bicycle Factory, but they complained that our prices were too high. It was a hard-won order."

Lin Xi picked up the pin, weighed it in her hand, and suddenly smiled.

"Use the precision required to manufacture the tail fin servo of the Red Arrow-2 missile to machine a bicycle chain?"

Zhao Dagang was stunned, then an embarrassed and helpless expression appeared on his face:

"Manager Lin has a good eye..."

"These veteran technicians did indeed work with servo mechanisms before."

"I'm used to it, I can't let go of my grip. Even if it's just a pin that's slightly off, I feel uneasy."

In the live stream, the chat was instantly flooded with comments.

I'm devastated! This is like using a dragon-slaying sword to trim your toenails!

Is this the tragedy of master craftsmen? Possessing dragon-slaying skills, yet only able to forge chains.

[Hey streamer! Check this out! This factory is practically a gold mine buried in the ground!]

Lin Xi put down the pin, turned to look at Zhao Dagang, and for the first time, her eyes showed warmth.

"Let everyone stop."

"Huh?" Zhao Dagang didn't react.

"Don't do this kind of work that ruins your skills anymore."

Lin Xi looked around; her voice wasn't loud, but it echoed in the empty workshop.

"That would be the greatest insult to your hands."