Sold into a ghost marriage? Four-year-old and his thuggish father go on a killing spree.

The large iron plate from the truck bed crashed into the muddy water with a clang.

The splashed yellow mud flew two meters away and landed on the corner of the worktable that the machine repair station had just repaired.

The truck bed was filled with green wooden crates, all painted with large red characters: Provincial Capital's No. 1 Agricultural Machinery Parts Factory.

Chen Jianhua slammed the car door shut, his leather shoes sinking into the mud.

He straightened his black leather jacket, pulled out a piece of cardboard stamped with a large red official seal from his pocket, and slapped it on the wooden table in front of Master Sun.

"Station Chief Sun, look carefully."

Chen Jianhua raised his voice so high that it echoed through the courtyard in the early morning.

"The newly improved assembly was transferred overnight from the old factory in the provincial capital. It's a legitimate batch from a major manufacturer, and each set comes with a red-stamped certificate of conformity from the original factory's technical department."

He pointed to the row of boxes in the truck bed, raising his chin.

"The last time a tooth broke, it was because the purchasing agent below mistakenly brought the inland plain version. This batch is a heavy-duty part specially modified for water-rich areas; the tooth surface has been high-frequency hardened, and the tooth root has been widened."

Chen Jianhua took a main drive gear out of the wooden box and placed it on the side of the porcelain plate with a clang.

"A full twenty sets are in stock. This is a special consignment price approved by the old factory in the provincial capital, 20% lower than the original price. You don't need to pay cash upfront in Haifeng; payment will be made after you've tested and approved them."

The young machine operators who gathered in the yard immediately stared wide-eyed.

"Genuine products from the No. 1 factory in the provincial capital?"

"It even comes with a red-stamped certificate of conformity. I heard that parts from Factory No. 1 are high in hardness and wear-resistant."

"If the price can really be reduced by 20%, the team can save a lot of money on mechanized farming this year."

A murmur rippled through the crowd.

An older deputy captain of the mechanized farming team squeezed up from behind, rubbing his hands as he walked to Master Sun's side.

"Station Chief Sun, how about... we give Manager Chen a chance? We have a lot of machines out of commission at our station; having another supplier will make the autumn planting process more secure."

Master Sun didn't reply, and tapped his pipe twice on the corner of the table.

He looked at the repair shed in the yard, half of which had been destroyed by the rainstorm, and then at the mud and water all over the ground.

Many people at the station witnessed the spare parts being smashed. Now, the industrial park only has those two old vehicles that are still running. If one of them breaks down today, no one can fill the gap in autumn planting.

Zhao Qiming stepped forward, his face darkening.

"The second car broke its tooth last night; even the welded-on limit ring couldn't hold it up. Now they're just changing the packaging and trying to fool people again?"

"Who's fooling people?"

Chen Jianhua sneered and shoved the certificate into the deputy captain's hand.

"The official seal is on it; the reputation of this old factory in the provincial capital speaks for itself. It's much better than some small workshops trying to fool people with waste rubber and rough blanks, isn't it?"

Master Sun took a puff of his pipe, and the smoke he exhaled was dispersed by the sea breeze.

"Manager Chen, what do you want?"

"Simple."

Chen Jianhua patted the truck bed.

"Make room in the repair shed, lend me an old light cavalry machine, and install my new parts from the major manufacturer. Today, I'll be running around in the same field as Tianhai's machines for half a day."

He glanced at Gu Niannian sideways, a grin spreading across his face.

"If my shipment succeeds, the order for these thirty sets in Haifeng will go to Huaxing. If it fails, I'll give this entire truckload to the station at scrap metal prices."

Zhao Qiming was so anxious that the veins on his neck bulged.

"The repair shed is only so big. If you block the entrance with your trucks, how are we supposed to do our scheduled inspection on the seventh day? Isn't this blatant sabotage and delays?"

The heavy rain had just stopped, and the two old cars that were being tested had to complete the gap calibration and oil check in the morning.

When Chen Jianhua unloaded his truckload of goods, he completely blocked the only passage to the repair shed.

Just moving boxes and moving old vehicles will take at least half a day of work time.

Gu Niannian walked out from under the shed.

She wore mud-caked rubber boots and held a blue register wrapped in oilcloth in her hand.

"I can give you half of the shed," Gu Niannian said.

Zhao Qiming turned his head sharply: "Factory Director Gu!"

Chen Jianhua paused for a moment, then laughed out loud: "Director Gu is indeed very understanding."

"Don't laugh just yet."

Gu Niannian opened the register and placed it next to the new gear that Chen Jianhua had just put down.

"Running on the same track is allowed, but you must follow the rules of the Haifeng Repair Station."

Gu Niannian pointed to a blank page.

"First, before your new assembly is installed on the vehicle, Lao Feng and Lao Zhou will measure the internal cavity tolerances and end face clearances on the spot, and record the data."

"Secondly, before going into the field, verify the gear position, weld 60% of the throttle linkage shut, and have the Huaxing technician, Haifeng station staff, and our Tianhai team sign off on it."

"Third, measure the box temperature and wear on-site after finishing work. If there is any jamming, oil leakage, or broken tooth, stop the machine immediately and seal it up."

Gu Niannian looked up at Chen Jianhua.

"You sign here, you pack here. Dare you?"

Chen Jianhua's smile froze for half a second.

He looked down at the blue notebook filled with dense data, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

Last night, the car with the broken tooth, number two, was nailed to the spot by this register, leaving no room for excuses.

But when he glanced at the stacked packaging boxes from the provincial capital's No. 1 factory on the truck behind him, his posture straightened again.

He managed to get this batch of goods from the old factory warehouse in the provincial capital overnight through persistent pleading and haggling; they were genuine high-frequency quenched parts.

"Sign it!"

Chen Jianhua grabbed the pen Zhao Xiaoyun handed him and quickly wrote his name in the supplier section.

"Technician Liu, take the men to unload the cargo! Install standby unit number seven!"

Several workers from Huaxing immediately climbed onto the truck bed and started shouting as they unloaded the wooden crates.

Wang Qiang stood in the mud, his hands gripping the toolbox tightly, his fingernails filled with black engine oil.

"Director Gu, their disruption means our two vehicles won't be ready for inspection until the afternoon. The deep-water field test on the seventh day has been completely cut short."

Zhao Qiming also came over, lowered his voice, and gritted his teeth.

"Chen Jianhua deliberately set a trap. The deep mud ditch in Xitan will be flooded this afternoon, making the mud twice as thick as it was this morning. If our vehicles go in this afternoon, the load will be doubled."

Gu Niannian reached out and tugged at the waterproof tarpaulin on the two test vehicles.

The tarpaulin was lifted, revealing two old light cavalry vehicles covered in dried mud.

One chassis was rusted through, and the other had a collapsed exhaust pipe.

The casing still carried the moisture from last night.

"Let him pretend."

Gu Niannian took the cotton yarn and wiped away the mud and sand from the oil filler hole of the transmission box.

"The thicker the mud in the ground, the clearer it becomes which material is made of iron and which is made of mud."

Zhao Xiaoyun stood by the table, writing down the initial data of Huaxing No. 7 machine in the register with a fountain pen.

Old Zhou walked over with his inside micrometer, wedged it onto the end face of Huaxing New Gear, and slowly furrowed his brow.

He turned his head and gave Gu Niannian a wink.