Returning to 1949, I decided to hand it over to the state.

At this, everyone in the room sat up straighter.

The technical staff member's expression changed slightly. He reached out and took the instruction leaflet, looked down and read it again, seemingly a little incredulous.

Jiang Fan didn't stop; his finger continued to move down the drawing:

"And here too. If you keep focusing on the bearings and spindle, you might easily miss the alignment issues between this coupling and the transmission gears."

"When the load is applied, it vibrates, makes abnormal noises, and heats up. It's not just a simple malfunction, but rather a problem with the assembly sequence or clearances."

"To put it bluntly, it's not necessarily that it can't be fixed; it's possible that it was fixed incorrectly from the beginning."

After those last words were spoken, the people in the conference room looked around.

Some people started talking in hushed tones, some simply got up and leaned closer to look at the blueprints, and others looked at the bespectacled technical officer with obvious surprise in their eyes.

Commander Li, with a cigarette between his fingers, squinted at Jiang Fan and remained silent for a long while.

He didn't understand these technical terms, but he could tell that the little kid wasn't making things up.

At least, the explanation was systematic, and the questions touched on the symptoms.

The technical staff member finally couldn't help but speak up: "So you mean, we should leave the main spindle as is and check the linkage and clearances first?"

"Yes." Jiang Fan nodded. "Don't disassemble it too much yet. First, recalibrate this linkage assembly, coupling, gear meshing, and axial clearance. Also, check if you installed it in the wrong order."

As he spoke, he turned to the next page of the drawing and pointed to an inconspicuous label in the corner:

"And this is another place. It says here that the parts should be disassembled and then reassembled one by one, not that the whole set should be reassembled at the same time. If you put it all back together at once, even a slight misalignment will cause an accident when the load is applied."

This time, even the round-framed bespectacled cadre who had initially questioned him remained silent.

The room was unusually quiet.

A moment later, Commander Li slammed his hand on the table: "Let's go! To the scene!"

At this sound, everyone stood up.

Jiang Fan was also taken aback, not expecting things to progress so quickly.

Chief Li looked at him, and for the first time, a genuine sense of appreciation appeared in his eyes:

"Little kid, let's see what you're made of. Take you to the workshop and put your skills to the test. If you're right, then today's meeting won't have been a waste."

……

By the time the group reached the factory area, it was already getting dark.

The factory buildings were tall with mottled walls, and white smoke billowed from distant chimneys. The ground was littered with steel slag, gravel, and hurried workers.

Jiang Fan followed the others through several doors and arrived at a repair workshop where the noise was slightly less.

In the center of the workshop, a huge piece of machinery lay quietly, its outer shell partially disassembled, with tools, parts, and disassembled components placed beside it.

Several workers and technicians were waiting nearby. When they saw the leader arrive with so many people, they immediately stood up straight.

"Do as he says!" Chief Li didn't waste any words, pointing at Jiang Fan, "First check the coordination, the gaps, and the reassembly sequence!"

The workers in the workshop looked at each other, and finally, the bespectacled technical manager gritted his teeth and nodded: "Disassemble!"

A series of clanging and clattering metallic sounds quickly followed.

Jiang Fan stood to the side, appearing calm on the surface, but his palms were actually sweating again.

His reasoning was logically sound, but he hadn't actually touched the equipment himself.

If you really break it down and it goes completely against your own judgment, then you'll be in big trouble.

A dozen minutes later, an experienced worker suddenly exclaimed "Hey!"

"Engineer Zhou! Something's not right here!"

Everyone immediately gathered around.

Jiang Fan squeezed forward to take a look and saw that there was a noticeable wear mark in the linkage structure, with a slight deviation from the assembly position. The meshing problem caused by the deviation could explain the vibration and abnormal noise under high load.

The engineer, Mr. Zhou, who was the bespectacled technical staff member, immediately changed his expression.

He reached out and touched it, then carefully compared it with the blueprints, his breathing becoming more and more rapid as he looked at it.

"It really is..." he muttered, "The assembly sequence was wrong by one step, and the gaps weren't aligned properly..."

An older, experienced mechanic standing nearby widened his eyes: "No wonder we couldn't get it right no matter what we did; we went down the wrong path from the start!"

The workshop was silent for a moment, and then a dozen pairs of eyes fell on Jiang Fan.

This time, the gaze was completely different from that in the conference room.

Jiang Fan stood still, trying to appear calm, not expecting that this was indeed the problem.

Who says reading more books is useless?

Chief Li stared at the disassembled parts for a few moments, and when he turned to look at Jiang Fan, his eyes lit up considerably.

"Good for you." He patted Jiang Fan's shoulder heavily, his laughter finally becoming more hearty. "Little kid, you do have some real skills!"

The pat made Jiang Fan's shoulder go numb, but it also relieved the tension that had been building up inside him.

Song Ningyi, standing outside the crowd, could hardly hide the surprise in her eyes.

I didn't misjudge him.

"Sir," Engineer Zhou looked up, his voice no longer filled with the doubt he had shown before.

"If we adjust it along this line of thinking, the machine will most likely be able to handle the load again. However... there are still some fine details to work out, which may take some time."

"Spending time is not a problem," Chief Li said decisively. "What's worrisome is having no direction."

He turned to look at Jiang Fan, his tone completely different:

"Comrade Jiang Fan, from now on, don't go out. Just stay at the factory. The factory will arrange your food and lodging. You can work with Engineer Zhou and the others to figure out this machine."

Jiang Fan was taken aback, then immediately nodded: "Yes, sir!"

"Also," Chief Li thought for a moment, then added, "Xiao Song, go to the logistics department and ask them to arrange accommodation for Comrade Jiang Fan. Something close to here will make it easier for him to come and go."

"Yes!" Song Ningyi answered very quickly.

At this moment, the daylight outside the workshop gradually dimmed.

On the other side, Jiang Daiji, who had just finished work, glanced back in the direction of the factory and was still wondering about something.

"The young master of the Tie Zhu family..."

"It is a bit strange."

"But those eyebrows, those manner of speaking... they look so much like my son!"

He thought about it all the way, but couldn't figure it out.

Just as they were about to reach their doorstep, they bumped into Aunt Su, who was carrying a basin of water and splashing it out.

"Hey, Lao Jiang, why are you only getting back now?" Aunt Su asked.

Jiang Daiji hummed in agreement and casually said:

"I ran into a young man at the factory today. He said he was from Tiezhu's family next door. The commander told me to go and check him out."

"The one from Tiezhu's family?" Aunt Su's eyes lit up. "Is he the one who's fair-skinned and knows how to get along with people?"

Jiang Daiji was taken aback: "You've seen him before?"

"Of course I've seen him. He even came to my house for a while this morning," Aunt Su said, slapping her thigh.

"This child has such a sweet tongue, calling me 'Aunt Su' all the time, it warms my heart."

Jiang Daiji was even more puzzled upon hearing this.

"That's strange..." he muttered.

"What's strange?" Aunt Su asked.

Jiang Daiji shook his head, thought for a long time, and finally managed to utter a sentence:

"I always felt that this child looked...something I couldn't quite put my finger on."

Aunt Su was also taken aback for a moment, then chuckled: "You old thing, everyone looks familiar to you. Maybe he looks like his father."