In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Zhang Yong was woken up early in the morning by a knock on the door.

Li Guilan went to open the door.

A middle-aged man in blue overalls stood at the door, carrying a bag of fresh pork wrapped in lotus leaves in his left hand and a bag of four bottles of Beijing Erguotou liquor tied with hemp rope in his right.

"Hello, sister-in-law! I'm from Factory Manager Wei's side in Tongxian County. He asked me to come and thank Master Zhang first!"

The worker's voice was loud enough to be heard halfway down the floor.

"Our delivery team has finished the delivery! We avoided the penalty for breach of contract! All thanks to Mr. Zhang!"

"I've just come to deliver some goods. I'll come back next time when the factory manager is done with his work!"

Li Guilan stood frozen at the door, rubbing her hands back and forth on her apron three times without reaching out to take it.

Zhang Yong came out wearing his coat, took the pork and wine, and chatted with the workers for a few minutes.

The worker also brought a message: "The first truck started shaking when it arrived at the unloading yard. It was okay when it was idling, but it sputtered as soon as it was put into gear, so the driver didn't dare to drive it anymore."

Zhang Yong frowned and couldn't help but clench his fist.

They arrived as expected.

Piston ring wear caused by inferior engine oil has already begun to appear. The oil film is not thick enough, and metal-to-metal dry friction occurs, damaging the rings with each run.

"Go back and tell Uncle Wei not to overload that car, and to avoid driving it if possible. I'll go check on it after my exam the day after tomorrow."

The worker nodded repeatedly, and before leaving, he added, "Oh, by the way, the factory manager's daughter asked me to tell you that the bicycle is a gift for you."

Zhang Yong glanced down at the brand-new old-fashioned bicycle downstairs.

The bicycle bell gleamed in the morning light.

……

The worker rode away on his tricycle.

Zhang Defa peeked back from the balcony, his eyes fixed on the pork and Erguotou liquor on the table.

"I've heard of Wei Dabiao. He runs a winery in Tongxian County, and he has dozens of people working for him." Zhang Defa rubbed his hands together. "How do you two know each other?"

"I helped someone fix their car."

Li Guilan immediately caught up: "You can get two pounds of pork and a case of liquor from repairing a car? And you even gave away a bicycle for free? Just how much of a favor did you do for them?"

Zhang Yong paused for a moment while wiping his face.

"It wasn't a big deal; we just fixed three Dongfeng heavy trucks that had stalled."

"What the heck? My goodness, you can repair heavy trucks? This...this..."

Zhang Defa's mouth couldn't keep up.

Li Guilan was the first to come to her senses. Her eyes darted around a couple of times before she leaned closer and whispered, "Son, that young lady surnamed Wei who called you—is she this Factory Director Wei's daughter?"

Zhang Yong nodded silently.

Li Guilan paused for a moment, her features gradually scrunching up as if she didn't know what to say.

She plopped down on the sofa and started to worry.

"She's the daughter of the distillery manager... Our family... can't reach her... she's a bit too tall..."

Zhang Defa retorted angrily, "What nonsense! Our son is a writer now! Five hundred yuan a piece! Who in the whole building can compare?"

"How can that be the same! He's a boss, we're just a truck driver, we're not even in sync—"

"Mom!" Zhang Yong interrupted her, "It's just a classmate I met while learning to drive. He helped me out, don't overthink it."

Li Guilan said "oh" and stood up to marinate the pork.

As the mung bean cakes marinated, after adding salt twice and chopping two more cloves of garlic, I muttered to myself, "Those mung bean cakes are really well-made... They raise them so carefully... I don't know how to do anything, how am I going to take care of them in the future..."

Zhang Defa tiptoed close to his son's ear and asked in a low voice, "What does that girl look like?"

He heard the sound of Li Guilan patting the back of Zhang Defa's head from behind—

"What are you asking! Go chop your filling!"

……

In the afternoon, Zhang Defa changed into a clean shirt, picked up the bottle of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) that Wei Dabiao had given him from the table, and dragged his son out the door.

"Come on, let's go to the factory. Your dad said he'd take you to touch the engine, let's do it today."

The cotton mill is located outside the East Fourth Ring Road, with an iron sign hanging at its gate that reads "Beijing Chaoyang District Third Cotton Mill".

The old gatekeeper recognized Zhang Defa, and without even offering a cigarette, waved him through.

The two walked through the warehouse piled high with cotton yarn bales, bypassed the noisy textile workshop, and walked all the way to the row of red brick bungalows inside.

This is Old Zhao's small, one-man workshop.

This old man has been working in the factory for thirty years. He's a rigid, inflexible person who lives and eats at the factory.

He had already completed his retirement procedures, but the factory couldn't find anyone to replace him, so he was rehired to continue working.

He was squatting on the ground, sanding an iron rod with sandpaper.

A Jialing 70 motorcycle stood beside me, its engine running, the exhaust pipe covered in rust, clearly indicating its age.

"Son! This old Zhao has a bad temper. Don't say anything later, watch your father."

Zhang Defa cleared his throat, put the bottle on the workbench, and said with a grin, "Master Zhao, my son wants to learn a few tricks from you, what do you think..."

Old Zhao raised his head.

His cloudy eyes swept over Zhang Yong from head to toe, his tone full of impatience.

"Hey, another one wants to learn car repair."

Old Zhao exhaled a puff of smoke and waved his hand in refusal.

"I'm not teaching you anymore. I've been training apprentices for forty years, and not one of them has lasted more than six months. You're clearly not cut out to learn car repair."

Zhang Defa quickly smiled apologetically: "Master Zhao, my son is different; he's talented—"

"talent?"

Old Zhao snorted coldly.

"You're the one who can really brag, Zhang Defa. Repairing cars isn't about talent; having a keen eye for the job and the strength in your hands is the real skill."

Old Zhao didn't look up at the two of them again: "You two shouldn't waste your time here on the weekend. Go back to where you came from."

Zhang Defa couldn't save face, so he quickly picked up the Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) and stuffed it into Old Zhao's hand.

While the two were arguing, Zhang Yong's gaze had already settled on the Jialing 70 in the corner.

He walked over and listened quietly for two seconds.

"Master Zhao, is the right cylinder of your motorcycle idling unsteadily?"

"I overheard it when I first came in," Zhang Yong said calmly. "The exhaust sound was intermittent; the left cylinder was normal, but the right cylinder was leaking a beat every three or four seconds."

Zhang Yong squatted down, put his ear close to the exhaust pipe, and listened for a few seconds.

He stood up again and sniffed the exhaust vent.

"The exhaust smell is off; it's not the normal gasoline smell. Could coolant have seeped into the combustion chamber?"

Zhang De stood there stunned, his hand still in the gesture of pushing the wine.

Old Zhao was stunned for a moment, then threw the sandpaper on the ground, strode over to the motorcycle, bent down and unscrewed the spark plug on the right cylinder.

The spark plug was pulled out—it had a layer of white crystals on it.

It's residue from the burning coolant!

Old Zhao held the spark plug and stared at the layer of white frost for a while.

I've ridden this bike for eight years.

Old Zhao's voice carried a hint of joy.

"The right cylinder has been missing for about half a year. I always thought it was because something dirty got into the carburetor float chamber, but I couldn't find the cause even after taking it apart once."

Old Zhao slowly turned around and looked at the 18-year-old young man in front of him again.

"Young man, you have a sharp ear! Where did you learn that?"

"I figured it out by reading books and figuring it out myself."

What Zhang Yong said was half true and half false.

Old Zhao chuckled upon hearing this and circled around Zhang Yong a few times.

So long that Zhang Defa thought the matter was off.

Until Old Zhao gently patted the young man on the shoulder.

"Your dad mentioned you to me, saying you're taking the special driving test. How about this, come find me after you've finished the test."

Old Zhao turned and walked deeper into the workshop, his voice drifting out from behind the pile of scrap metal parts.

"There's a scrapped 130 diesel engine in that corner of the warehouse."

"Good apprentice, I've saved it for you."

......

night.

Zhang Yong closed the bedroom door, lay on the bed, and glanced at the control panel.

[Driving Lv.5: Progress 35%]

[Writing Lv.4: Progress 19% (Fixed)]

[Auto Repair Lv.0 - Entry Level: 30%]

Good, the basics of auto repair have improved again. I listened to the sounds in Lao Zhao's workshop this afternoon, and it seems to be effective practice.

Driving is currently at Lv.5, just one level away from starting auto repair training.

If the beginner progress is unlocked together, you can just leave it running in the background!

I'll be offline tomorrow, and in the exam hall the day after.

Get your special driving license in one go!