Governing the country, enriching the people, an unparalleled imperial tutor

The next day, not long after dawn, Lin Yanzhou arrived at Haozi's factory.

All the lights in the workshop were on, with fluorescent lights hanging from the sheet metal ceiling, casting a uniform white light on the concrete floor. The prototype had been moved to the center of the workshop, surrounded by a row of welded steel frames and several open parts baskets; the second round of disassembly and inspection had been completed last night.

Haozi was squatting on the side of the frame, adjusting the meshing clearance of a set of gears, with a vernier caliper and a Phillips screwdriver beside him.

Haozi didn't look up when Lin Yanzhou approached. He inserted the screwdriver into the fixing groove on the side of the gear and turned it half a turn, then pulled out calipers and clamped them on the edge of the gear, squinting at the reading: "This machine made three more trips yesterday afternoon, one empty, one half-loaded, and one fully loaded. When it came back, we took it apart and checked it. The drive shaft wasn't worn off, the bearings weren't overheating abnormally, and the welds weren't cracked."

He put down the calipers. "I'll make another trip to the muddy field this afternoon. If there are no problems, we can finalize the design." He stood up, walked around the frame, and patted the side of a crossbeam when he reached the back of the frame. "The iron used is one size thicker than what's written on the blueprints. The overall weight is about eighty pounds more than the original design, but it's durable. Farmers won't be as careful with things as they are when testing machines in a factory. As long as it can withstand rocks, that's fine."

Lin Yanzhou followed him to the side of the machine frame, bent down to look at the angle between the plow teeth and the ground, and then ran his fingertip along the ridge of the weld: "How many can be produced in batches next month?"

"The first batch will consist of thirty units. The molds have already been sent for heat treatment and will be back in three days. The remaining materials are enough to supply parts for another twenty units. We'll check the inventory after the first batch is assembled."

Lin Yanzhou straightened up and casually asked, "Did your previous company ever take on ship repair work?"

Haozi paused for a moment: "Repairing ships? Take over." He put down the screwdriver in his hand, turned his head to look at Lin Yanzhou, "I used to take over the power conversion of old ships, which were all old fishing boats discarded from the Goose Country, and converted into solar power."

During those years, the government subsidized new energy fishing vessels, and many coastal fishing companies were upgrading them. Our factory received several orders, mainly for replacing motors and control panels.

He quickly reviewed the power conversion systems of those old ships in his mind, as if he were retrieving old data that had been archived for a long time to check its usability: "To be honest, those ships weren't bad in terms of their foundation. The hulls of the ships from the Goose Country are thick and the structure is stable. It's just that the power systems are old and the fuel consumption is high, which fishermen can't stand. After switching to solar power and electric propulsion, the range is a bit shorter, but the cost is much lower. If you want to buy those old ships, there are still quite a few in the ports of the Goose Country."

Lin Yanzhou didn't respond immediately after hearing this. He leaned against the side of the frame, watching Haozi squat back down beside the gear, the vernier caliper re-clamping onto the edge of the gear, turning it one and a half times before releasing it.

He had previously considered going to England to find shipbreakers, but that was an unfamiliar path, and he would have to start from scratch once he got there. The old fishing boats that Haozi just mentioned, which were being phased out in China, had thicker hulls, and their conversion had already been done domestically; their power systems could also be upgraded to a combination of solar and fuel power.

More importantly, he knew a Moscow-based import and export company from his previous tower crane export business. The company specialized in trade of machinery and equipment between China and Russia, and the two sides had cooperated several times. They had familiar channels and could communicate quickly.

He paused for a moment, mentally juxtaposing the old route with the new one, before turning his gaze back to Haozi's side: "Do you still have the blueprints for the power conversion of those old ships? The ones you used for the refit back then."

Haozi stopped what he was doing: "The blueprints should still be archived. You can find them on the computer. What do you need them for?" Lin Yanzhou didn't answer, but when he left the workshop, he had already placed the outline of the port of the Goose Kingdom and the hull of the ship waiting to be repowered side by side in the same room, with the lights falling evenly from above.

In the afternoon, I called Hu Dahai: "Boss Hu, do you know anyone in China who does import and export trade?"

Hu Dahai picked up his teacup, took a sip, and put it down. "I dealt with a Moscow-based machinery export company once before, when we were discussing antiques. The owner was named Sergei, and they traded in Chinese machinery. But we haven't been in touch for several years. So, you're going there?"

"When I was exporting tower cranes, I knew a Moscow-based import/export company that specialized in Sino-Russian machinery trade. We've cooperated a few times, and we're familiar with each other's channels. I'll contact them separately later to see how things go."

Hu Dahai nodded: "Then you'd better hurry up and get your passport. Business visas for Canada are easy to get, but it still takes about half a month."

"Are you free now? It's inconvenient for me to go out, so I'd appreciate it if you could come over. There's a shipment of gold and silver that I need to ship."

Hu Dahai replied readily: "Okay, I'll be there in a bit."

Less than half an hour later, Hu Dahai's black minivan turned into the villa area of ​​Emerald Garden.

The barrier at the entrance didn't lift automatically. He honked the horn, and a young man in a dark gray uniform emerged from the guard booth. He wasn't the usual security guard; he stood straight, with broad shoulders and a thick back, and walked with a steady weight. He walked to the side of the driver's seat, bent down, and glanced at Hu Dahai: "Visitors need to register first. Please state your name and the purpose of your visit."

Hu Dahai gave his name through the car window. After hearing this, the young man didn't return to the guard post. Instead, he picked up the walkie-talkie and whispered a few words before the barrier slowly rose: "Go straight inside, it's the third house on the right. When you get to the gate, please ring the doorbell, someone will answer." Hu Dahai closed the car window and drove in, his eyes scanning the yard. Between the two villas, someone was walking a dog, and gardeners were mowing the lawn; everything seemed normal.

But he didn't notice that there were several seemingly ordinary manhole covers every so often on both sides of the road, with almost identical positions and spacing, as if they had been measured with the same ruler and calibrated according to the same location map.

He also failed to notice that the canopy of a roadside tree at the intersection ahead was significantly taller than that of the same species next to it, with a thicker canopy and a denser internal structure than normally growing trees. It was as if there was another layer of material, not belonging to the plant itself, inside the canopy, using the bark and branches as cover to continuously monitor it.

When he parked his car at the gate, the once peaceful villa area was now deserted. He rang the doorbell, and someone answered quickly, unlocking the door. He pushed the door open and walked in, his gaze falling on the corner of the wall as he approached the entrance—a tiny camera was embedded inside the door frame, its lens facing outwards, perfectly covering the entire staircase area.

Lin Yanzhou walked out from the inside of the living room, carrying nothing in his hands: "You're here? Sit down." Hu Dahai sat down on the sofa, his gaze lingering on the coffee table for a moment: there was no ashtray or water glass on the table, but there was a tiny black base with an indicator light in the corner. The indicator light was off, indicating that some kind of detection program had just been completed and it was in standby mode, waiting for the next trigger.

He took an old leather bag from his waist, placed it on his lap, and unzipped it: "I brought the invoices and contracts today. I've checked your goods. If there are no problems, we'll sign them on the spot." Lin Yanzhou carried a tin box up from the basement stairs and placed it next to the coffee table. After opening the lid, he found silver ingots and gold nuggets inside.

Hu Dahai didn't rush to inspect the goods. Instead, he said something he had already thought through and decided to say now: "This villa complex—the guy in the gray uniform at the gate isn't a security guard. The trees in the yard are taller than normal, and there's probably something hidden in the canopy. That security camera in the corner was installed specifically for you. I'm not here to ask those questions, but I need to confirm one thing: what exactly do you do?"

Lin Yanzhou sat on the single sofa opposite him, sunlight streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a long, slanted strip of light across the floor between them: "I just run a small business. It's just that what I'm doing is a little bigger now."

Hu Dahai looked at him and didn't press the matter further. He reached into his old leather bag, took out the receipts and contract, placed them on the coffee table, and pushed them toward Lin Yanzhou's side: "Then sign it. In the future, if you need to send anything out, I can pick it up anywhere. But next time before you come, you have to tell me in advance what color clothes you're wearing so that people won't stare at you at the door."