The First Part of Eagle and Hawk Try Wings 141 Mechanical Department Leftover Woman

  Lin Zhenhua stayed in Guangzhou for another two days, inspecting the market situation and experiencing the style of a city at the forefront of reform and opening up. The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone had already been developed, but Lin Zhenhua arrived hastily and did not have a border pass, so he was unable to leave the country and gave up on the idea of going to Shenzhen again.

  When Lin Zhenhua returned to Fenghua, it was already approaching the end of the year. His sister Xiaofang had also returned home from Beijing for the holidays. When Lin Zhenhua walked into the house with his bag, he saw Xiaofang wrapped in a military coat, sitting at the dinner table peeling and eating small tangerines while reading a book. On the table was a pile of tangerine peels, at least the remains of over a dozen tangerines.

  "Brother, you're back!"

  Xiaofang threw down the book in her hand and rushed forward, stuffing a small tangerine that had just been peeled into Lin Zhenhua's mouth.

  "Hmm, the tangerines are really sweet. Xiaofang, do you know that I didn't get to eat any tangerines this year? They were all stored away by Yang Xin, saying they were left for you to eat." Lin Zhenhua said with a chuckle.

  In those years, the technology of fruit storage seemed to be underdeveloped. The oranges harvested in autumn could hardly be stored until winter. The workers at Hanhua Factory learned a method of storing oranges from somewhere, which was to put the oranges in paper boxes, cover each layer with newspaper, and then place more oranges on top of the newspaper. Because the newspaper could absorb the moisture evaporating from the oranges, the oranges stored this way could be kept for two or three months without rotting.

  Lin Fanghua used to love eating the small honey tangerines produced in Fengnan, her hometown. When she went to Beijing for school, she mentioned this in a letter back home. Lin Fanghua only casually mentioned it, but Yang Xin remembered it. In October, Hanhua Factory received two trucks of honey tangerines from Fengnan Machinery Factory and distributed them among the workers. Yang Xin packed up both her share and Lin Zhenhua's into paper boxes, taking them out every few days to flip through them, keeping them until Lin Fanghua returned home, when she finally took them all out for her to enjoy.

  "Hmph, it's still better with my sister-in-law. You, as the older brother, are really not qualified. The first year I came back for vacation, you weren't even at home."

  Lin Zhenhua sighed: "Don't mention it, Xiaofang, I've hardly been home for a few days in the past six months."

  "What's wrong with you, bro? You're even busier than the factory director!"

  Lin Zhenhua simply told his sister about what he had done in the past six months, and Lin Fanghua praised: "Not bad, brother, your business is getting bigger and bigger now."

  "Never mind about me, how are you? Have you adapted to school life?" asked Lin Zhenhua.

  "I've gotten used to it," said Lin Fanghua. "At first, I was quite unaccustomed to coarse grains, but after drinking cornmeal porridge for several months, I got addicted. These past few days back home, without the cornmeal porridge, I'm not used to it yet."

  "Let me see, hmm, seems like I've gained a bit of weight again." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile, "Looks like the northern cuisine is still nourishing indeed."

  "I'm so annoyed!" Lin Fanghua pouted, "This is really too frustrating. In the past six months, I've gained another three pounds. If I keep getting fatter, I'll become a meatball."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "A little fat is good, you've gained weight, which means you're living well in school and haven't been bullied. If you come back skinny as a rake, I'd be worried."

  "I won't be bullied at all." Lin Fanghua laughed, "In the entire mechanical department, I'm the only girl, everyone lets me have my way. Whoever dares to make me angry will become a public enemy, and will be beaten to the ground by everyone, then trampled with thousands of stinky socks until he's thoroughly disgusted."

  "By the way, little sister, you're the only girl in the mechanical department, aren't you a sought-after person? How is it, have you seen anyone who catches your eye? Tell me ahead of time and I'll help you screen them." Lin Zhenhua asked with great curiosity.

  Lin Fanghua dragged out a long sentence: "There isn't any, not even one!"

  "Why?" Lin Zhenhua was taken aback.

  Lin Fanghua smiled and said, "I didn't know at first either. Later I heard that the boys had made a private agreement among themselves, saying that there was only one girl in the whole department, and no one was allowed to monopolize her. So none of the boys dared to pursue me, they called me the 'Holy Girl' of the Mechanical Department."

  Lin Zhenhua also burst out laughing: "It's quite fitting, in that case, you're a typical leftover woman, a girl who's been left over and nobody wants."

  The brother and sister chatted warmly for a while, then Lin Fanghua said: "By the way, brother, I have something to tell you."

  "What's wrong, so serious?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

  "This semester, our department held a mechanical invention competition. We have an upperclassman, yes, it's that Du Xiangyang you've met before, who invented a device for automatic dividing on a milling machine. It looks just like the simple gear hobbing machine you designed for the factory. I'm still wondering if he stole your drawings from somewhere."

  "Is it?" Lin Zhenhua came with interest, "Besides this, are there any other small inventions?"

  "Of course, there are infrared probes on the punching machine to prevent accidental injury to operators, and a drilling tool that can drill six holes at once. There are also some things I don't understand myself. However, among our first-year students, I'm considered one of the most knowledgeable about machinery - after all, I came from a machinery factory!" Lin Fanghua said proudly.

  Lin Zhenhua continued to ask: "Then does your little invention competition have a prize?"

  "Not at all!" Lin Fanghua said, "Our department teacher said that it's mainly a spiritual reward, and it seems like the first prize was just a diary."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "Xiao Fang, the information you provided is very important. I plan to talk to your department head next semester and have our company, Hanhua Industrial, exclusively sponsor this small invention competition. The first prize will be 1,000 yuan, the second prize 500, and the third prize 300. What do you think?"

  "You're crazy!" Lin Fanghua's first reaction was this, "Our highest scholarship is only 21 yuan a month. Who gives bonuses of up to 1,000 yuan?"

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Don't care if there is or not, I can just send it like this. Xiaofang, tell me, if I really set the bonus like this, will your classmates go all out to make inventions?"

  Lin Fanghua said, "That's natural, especially for those classmates with poor family economic conditions. If they can earn 1,000 yuan, not only will their tuition fees be covered, but they'll also have money to send back home. I reckon everyone will stop attending classes and go make inventions to win prize money instead."

  "Good, this is exactly what I wanted." Lin Zhenhua said with a smile.

  "Our teacher will hate you to death." Lin Fanghua predicted.

  Lin Zhenhua said disdainfully, "They wouldn't hate me, would they? Students need to have more theoretical knowledge to get the mechanical design prize, and that's when their enthusiasm for listening to classes will increase. Your teacher hasn't even had time to thank me yet."

  Lin Zhenhua felt like a miser now, wherever he saw a talented seedling, he couldn't wait to pounce on it and put it all in his own pocket.

  Talent is very important, Lin Zhenhua felt this more and more deeply. In those years, the ones who could be admitted to Huqing University were all top students, if a few of them could be dug out to enrich the technical team of Hanhua Industrial Company, after being honed for several years, they would all become the backbone of technology in the future.

  Han Hua Industrial Company is currently just a collectively owned enterprise, and it's completely impossible to recruit graduates from Huazhong University through normal channels. However, if they start cultivating them during their school days and let them form an understanding of Han Hua company, maybe there will be some who dare to take the plunge and join the company.

  The Spring Festival of 1982 has arrived, and the atmosphere at the Hanhua Machinery Factory is filled with joy and festivity.

  This year's Spring Festival is the most prosperous one for the employees of Hanhua Factory since its establishment. Every household is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the firecrackers that they couldn't afford to buy in previous years are now exploding continuously, making people feel extremely happy and relaxed when hearing them.

  In the past year, Hanhua Factory received a large order for fertilizer equipment from Qinghua Hall and earned a substantial profit. Each worker's year-end bonus was over 100 yuan, and there were also various benefits distributed under different names. The factory's broadcasting system almost every day issued notices, one day asking everyone to go to the warehouse to pick up fish, the next day asking everyone to go to the auditorium to pick up apples. Finally, Qinghua Hall had to solemnly summon Chen Weiguo for a dressing-down, telling him to be more restrained and consider the feelings of his fellow factories.

  The business performance of Hanhua Industrial Company is even more remarkable. In the winter months, nearly 10,000 units of Sleeping Lotus brand electric fans were sold in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan and other markets in the province, earning a profit of 800,000 yuan for Hanhua Industrial Company.

  After discussion, the company decided to use 600,000 yuan of its profits as additional investment to increase the company's fixed assets. The electric fan assembly line built at Zhenyang Bicycle Factory before the end of the year was funded with this profit.

  Another 200,000 yuan was taken out, with 50,000 used as the company's year-end bonus for employees, resulting in each employee receiving nearly 500 yuan, much more than their parents received. The remaining 150,000 yuan was distributed to shareholders, with Hanhua Mechanical Factory receiving 45,000 and Lin Zhenhua personally receiving 45,000, while other employees who had invested in the company also received some dividends.

  This way, the young workers who didn't invest earlier due to various reasons can be said to have regretted it deeply. They never thought that the company would make such a huge profit, and just the dividend alone is enough to cover their initial investment. However, Lin Zhenhua said that in the future, the company will continue to develop other industries, and there will be new opportunities for investment at that time. Everyone just needs to keep their money ready.

  Apart from their economic income, the workers of HuaHua factory talk about the three newly built dormitory buildings the most. Due to sufficient funds, the construction speed of the three buildings is very fast, and the main body has been capped, and the internal water and electricity installation is in progress. It is said that it can be occupied at the beginning of spring. Although the house is still in a rough state, some impatient workers will go to watch every day. They climb up the scaffolding to the suite under their own name, stand among the building materials, and imagine what the bedroom, living room, and kitchen look like.

  As the song says: This year has been pretty good overall, family is fine, friends are fine, and I'm fine too...