Chapter 43

The two seconds of silence on the other end of the line felt like two hours to Feng Yan.

His palms were sweating, and a hundred possible responses from the other party flashed through his mind.

—From "Not interested" to "Get lost."

Finally, that slightly hoarse voice with a bit of an accent sounded again, without much emotional fluctuation:

"I read the message. The third reinforcement rib on the drawing of that 'Spider-2' joint you sent, the design is reversed."

Feng Yan: "???"

He was so stunned he didn't react, subconsciously replying: "Ah? Master Zhao, which one are you talking about?"

"The drawing, the one sent in the private message." Zhao Fusheng's voice remained steady.

"The force direction is seen backwards. If you build it like that, at best there will be abnormal noise, at worst it will crack directly."

A "buzz" went off in Feng Yan's brain.

He hurriedly scrambled to dig out the heavily censored partial drawing he had sent earlier and zoomed in to look.

Damn! It really was! A very hidden structural detail.

Li Yang and he had both overlooked it before, and the simulation hadn't even reported an error!

"Ma-Master Zhao! You're a god!" Feng Yan instantly forgot about the poaching plan, his professional obsession taking over.

"We ran this simulation a dozen times and didn't find the problem! Your eye for this..."

"Experience." Zhao Fusheng interrupted him, his tone still as bland as plain water. "Nothing else, hanging up."

"No, no, no! Master Zhao!" Feng Yan hurriedly shouted to stop him, his heart pounding.

"Look... can we come and ask for your advice in person?"

"Just for this joint, and a few other places, we've been stuck for a long time..."

There was another brief silence on the other end, and then he gave an address.

It was exactly the old machinery factory family compound Feng Yan had found earlier.

"Saturday afternoon. Bring all the drawings." Zhao Fusheng said, and hung up the phone decisively.

Feng Yan listened to the busy signal on his phone, stunned for a few seconds.

Then he suddenly sprang up from his chair and punched the air hard!

"There's a way! The old man brought up the drawings himself!" He spun around in his office twice in excitement.

He hurriedly sent this good news to the group.

【Dragon Chant Core Group (Original Tie Lang Gong Fang)】

【Feng Yan: Brothers! Alarm cleared!

The old man isn't here to reject us!

He pointed out a hidden error on Old Li's drawing right off the bat!

Our simulations didn't even catch it!】

【Wang Hao: Holy crap?! Really?

The old man can see the problem through the mosaic?

What kind of fiery eyes are these?!】

【Chen Guang: Theoretically, pattern recognition ability formed based on long-term practical experience.

It is indeed possible to exceed the boundary condition settings of existing simulation software.

Old Li, do we need to re-verify the force analysis model for component AS-07?】

【Li Yang: (Sent a re-annotated partial drawing three seconds later) Already modified. He is right.】

【Wang Hao:... I'm convinced. The old man is awesome! (Voice crack)】

【Feng Yan: Saturday afternoon, first official visit! Everyone, get your spirits up!】

Saturday afternoon, Feng Yan carried the carefully organized technical data and...

a box of top-grade Longjing tea strongly recommended by Wang Hao, which was said to "promote technical exchange" (Chen Guang complained it would be better to bring some actual machining problems).

Following the address, he found that family compound full of the sense of the era.

Knocked on the door, and Zhao Fusheng's wife opened it.

Seeing Feng Yan, she smiled: "You must be Feng Yan, right? Old Zhao is waiting inside." Her attitude was gentler than imagined.

Entering the living room that doubled as a workshop, Feng Yan was shocked once again.

The tools were arranged like soldiers lined up for inspection.

The floor was impossibly clean.

Zhao Fusheng was sitting at the workbench, wearing reading glasses.

Holding a small part in his hand, observing it under the light, he didn't even look up.

"Master Zhao." Feng Yan called out respectfully.

"Drawings." Zhao Fusheng said concisely.

Feng Yan hurriedly spread out the full set of "Spider-2" joint drawings he had brought.

(Of course, they were still censored, but the key details were clear) and the list of questions.

Zhao Fusheng put down the work in his hand, picked up the drawings, and only took one look.

His finger pointed to one of the positions.

"Here, the material selection is wrong." His voice wasn't high, but it was as precise as a scalpel,

"The TC4 titanium alloy you used has enough strength, but the fatigue performance is not suitable for this high-frequency micro-motion scenario."

"Change to TA7, or adjust the heat treatment process."

He pointed to another structure: "The mating tolerance here is given too tightly, no assembly allowance left."

"In an ideal state, it won't fit; if you force it in, stress concentration will occur, and the lifespan will be discounted."

Feng Yan felt cold sweat breaking out on his back.

The problems the old man pointed out hit the nail on the head every time.

Some were even places they had argued about before but ultimately compromised on!

The Longjing tea he brought to "promote exchange" didn't even have a chance to be taken out.

The two of them talked for over an hour, focusing on the drawings and the actual parts.

Basically, Feng Yan asked, and Zhao Fusheng answered; every sentence was solid content, without a single wasted word.

During this time, the old man even casually picked up a scrap part on the table.

And used a file to demonstrate how to improve the fit through extremely subtle adjustments; the technique made Feng Yan dizzy with admiration.

Seeing that the timing was about right, Feng Yan took a deep breath, preparing to start the "emotional appeal" he had prepared for a long time:

"Master Zhao, to tell you the truth, our team..."

"Retired, don't want to bother." Zhao Fusheng seemed to know what he was going to say.

He didn't even look up, interrupting directly, "Those factories outside, they want fast, they want cheap. My way, it's outdated."

The first visit, the technical exchange was a huge success, but the poaching plan was snuffed out as soon as he opened his mouth.

On the way back, Feng Yan was a little depressed, but more excited.

The old man wasn't uninterested in technology; on the contrary, he was very interested!

He just didn't believe they could stick to that kind of "die-hard" standard.

The second visit, Feng Yan learned his lesson, didn't mention an invitation, only brought problems.

This time he brought a series of even trickier machining problems organized by Li Yang.

Especially regarding the manual fitting of micro-shaped structures.

Seeing those problems, Zhao Fusheng's eyes clearly brightened.

He even spoke a few more words than usual, talking about the old days in the factory.

The past of machining high-precision molds entirely by hand and with crude methods, without CNC equipment.

"At that time, a mold was repaired repeatedly, relying on hand feel and eyes."

"Off by a hair, and the product was scrap." The old man's tone carried a bit of nostalgia.

"Now, the equipment is better, people's hearts are floating, no one is willing to grind like that anymore."

Feng Yan hurriedly followed up: "Master Zhao, we are willing to grind!"

"Look at our 'Spider-1', it was rubbed out by Li Yang using barbecue skewers and micro-motors!"

Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng looked up at Feng Yan, his eyes a bit strange.

Seeming to want to laugh, but holding it back, he finally just shook his head:

"Small-time stuff, it's different from the things that truly go into battle."

The second time, the relationship had drawn much closer, but that door of the old man's remained tightly closed.

Feng Yan wasn't discouraged; instead, he became more determined with every setback.

He pondered that relying only on his tongue and drawings clearly wouldn't pry open this great god; he had to come up with something harder.

The third visit, Feng Yan carried a laptop.

"Master Zhao, not talking about technology today, I want to show you something."

He opened the computer and clicked on an encrypted folder.

Inside wasn't a report PPT, but the most primitive, even somewhat rough, recorded footage:

Li Yang in the warehouse, his eyes streaming with tears from welding sparks;

Wang Hao testing a thruster, chased all over the mountain by the smoke he had created;

Chen Guang hugging laser equipment, pulling all-nighters in the hallway, warned by the dormitory auntie knocking on the door;

And in the bee-driving operation, the silly look of "Iron Wolf" holding a self-made spray tube.

And the clumsy crawling figure of "Spider-1" at the barbecue stall.

No editing, no soundtrack, only the focused, stubborn, and even somewhat disheveled faces of young people.

Zhao Fusheng watched silently, the two steel balls he habitually played with in his hand.

Stopped without him realizing it.

At the end of the video, after "Iron Wolf" completed tactical movements in front of the inspection team.

Li Yang coming out of the armor, looking at his creation, that look in his eyes mixed with exhaustion and a huge sense of accomplishment.

Feng Yan turned off the video, and the room went quiet.

He looked at Zhao Fusheng, his tone unprecedentedly sincere:

"Master Zhao, our group of people, we don't have much talent, we just have a bit of that reckless spirit; we think this thing is cool, so we want to make it."

"We know the road is hard, and we know we are immature in many places, even a bit 'wild'."

He pointed to the image frozen on the screen, full of rough power:

"But we don't want to settle, we don't want to compromise."

"We want to make every part the best it can be."

"We want to turn our 'unprofessional' hobbies into 'hard power' that can truly be shown off, and even protect something."

"We know your craftsmanship is a treasure tempered over decades."

"We don't dare say we can fully inherit it, but we truly want to learn."

"We want to keep your skills from gathering dust in this little room."

He took a deep breath and threw out his final "trump card":

"We won't talk about empty things. If you are willing to come, you don't need to sit in the office, don't need to write reports, just manage our 'Insect Workshop'."

"There are the best materials there, and the hardest bones to chew."

"Li Yang, that kid who built the exoskeleton, he respects you."

"Wang Hao, Chen Guang, they all rely on your craftsmanship to turn their whimsical drawings into solid, durable, working objects."

"We are not asking you to come and work for us," Feng Yan looked into Zhao Fusheng's eyes, word by word.

"We are asking you to come and tighten the strongest, most precise screw for the dreams of us young people."

"To lay the most basic foundation for the 'heavy weapons' we want to build for this country."

The room fell into a long silence. Only the faint noise of daily life drifted in from outside the window.

Zhao Fusheng lowered his gaze, looking at "Iron Wolf" frozen on the screen.

And then slowly swept over the old tools on his workbench that had accompanied him for decades, their luster warm and gentle.

On that face carved with the frost of time, it was as if the frozen river surface began to show subtle cracks.

After a long time, he sighed long and silently.

He raised his calloused hand and gently stroked the cold handle of the old-fashioned hand-cranked milling machine beside him.

As if stroking the shoulder of an old comrade-in-arms.

He raised his head and looked at Feng Yan.

In those eyes that had been somewhat cloudy, it was as if dry wood had been thrown back into a long-extinguished furnace.

Suddenly bursting with a scorching light.

"These old bones of mine..." Zhao Fusheng's voice was still hoarse.

But it carried a heavy power, as if metal had landed on the ground, "If I can still tighten a screw for the country's 'heavy weapons', then I guess... I haven't lived in vain."

Feng Yan felt as if his heart had been gripped hard by something.

Then, ecstasy, like the shockwave of an explosion, instantly swept through his whole body!

It's done!