Chapter 89: The Soft‑Egg Factory Director of the Red Flag Boiler Factory

Leaving the factory, the young fellow relaxed a lot, pushed his bike and walked a stretch, feeling a bit tired, so he also spotted the stones nearby.

"Come, brother, come over and sit for a rest!" Qin Miao stepped over a few steps, helped hold the other's bike from behind, pushed it to beside the stone, and leaned against the stone.

"Thanks, big brother."

Qin Miao glanced him up and down: he wore a green work uniform, with canvas gaiters on his sleeves.

"Brother, are you a regular worker?"

"Ah, what regular worker? Red Flag Boiler Factory is just a collective enterprise, far behind Harbin First Boiler Factory and Second Boiler Factory! In recent years the factory's profits have been poor; aside from the basic wage, there are no benefits at all!"

"No benefits, so we have to figure things out ourselves?"

"Ah, what can we do? The factory has nothing but scrap iron left; we can pull out a bit to sell, exchange for some coal briquettes—the factory's dormitories and family quarters are all single-story huts, with no heating, so we have to burn and buy our own coal briquettes! If a house lacks warmth in winter, people will freeze to death…"

"Won't the factory sell the scrap iron and buy coal?"

"Sell? How would we sell? Those are all collective assets; if the factory director sold them, higher-ups would investigate later and the director would have to take responsibility. Humph, our Red Flag Boiler Factory has come to this state today entirely because that soft‑egg factory director lacks ability!"

"Soft‑egg factory director?"

"Exactly! What our factory produces is just the old‑fashioned Cockran boiler from decades ago; it used to sell a few units a few years back, but in the last one or two years it won't sell at all! Look at Long March Boiler Factory: in recent years they've rolled out all kinds of new boilers—boiling boiler, chain boiler, reciprocating boiler, oil‑gas boiler… Their workers go to work each day with a string bag, and come back loaded with goods!"

"What does that have to do with the factory director being a soft‑egg?"

"They can produce it, so can we—we brought back a sample, planned to copy it, had just started making it when they showed up, claiming the boiler was their design and forbidding us to make it. You say, what kind of reasoning is that? Workers nationwide are one family; when one side is in trouble, the eight directions help. We didn't even ask for their drawings, we just wanted to copy it ourselves—why is that not allowed?"

"Then what?"

"Then came a fight—we Northeastern folks, if we can swing we don't waste words. The result… the soft‑egg factory director chickened out, watching the two sides face off, he still tried to mediate and promised not to copy, and then… our factory ended up in this sorry state."

"So your factory director has done nothing at all?"

"Not exactly! He led a group of veteran workers in researching a new boiler, but after tinkering for nearly a year they produced nothing. In the first half year the factory workers were supportive, even donating their wages; everyone felt united and put in effort, yet… it never worked out!"

Speaking of this, the young fellow got really angry: "Later the factory even borrowed several hundred thousand from the bank, and to this day nothing has come of it; the debt comes due at year‑end, and if the factory can't repay it will go under… Ah, I won't say more, big brother, give me a hand again. Do it yourself, and you'll have plenty to eat and wear."

Qin Miao helped him push the bike up the slope, then walked back and saw Zhou Ding with his brows tightly furrowed.

"Professor Zhou, what's wrong?"

"We thought Red Flag Boiler Factory was a hot commodity, but it's actually a burden—Harbin Institute of Technology can't take it over! Taking it over wouldn't let us start production right away; we'd first have to plug their losses!" Zhou Ding said, turned and walked back: "Let's go back and call the school leadership; we want Long March Boiler Factory!"

"Professor Zhou, are we planning to make boilers?"

"Of course not…"

"Then why do we want Long March Boiler Factory?"

Zhou Ding blinked in surprise.

"Whatever the city allocates to us is bound to be problematic," Qin Miao said. "Long March Machinery Factory, which is profitable—do you think the city would give it to us? Besides, they're doing fine; suddenly becoming part of Harbin Institute of Technology—do you think they'd accept that? Forced melons aren't sweet."

Zhou Ding nodded.

That's indeed the case, but… we also can't want an enterprise on the verge of collapse!

Look, the workers lack enthusiasm, they're selling off factory assets; a factory like that, once it's in our hands, would probably be hard to manage!

"Come on, let's go in and have a look."

"What to look at?"

"Let's see what product they're developing," Qin Miao said. "Hearing is false; seeing is believing."

Actually, some things aren't convenient to say.

Counterfeiting has no future; copying another factory's product and undercutting it with low prices can only drive good money out by bad, ultimately losing innovative ability.

Of course, Long March Boiler Factory coming over to fight isn't necessarily from such high-minded awareness; they just want to eat the lion's share, while this side being forced to accept may simply be because they couldn't win…

However, the fact that Red Flag Boiler Factory can buckle down and do research also shows the factory still has hope; maybe we can lend a hand?

"Let's go—we're already at the gate, why not go in and have a look?"

So Zhou Ding could only follow and keep walking forward.

Entering through the back door the young fellow had just slipped out of, this place really had no supervision—even outsiders could easily come in to steal scrap iron! Qin Miao glanced at the huge scrap heap, then went around it and headed toward the factory's main building.

The workshop leaked wind everywhere; the temperature inside was even lower than outside, since outside there was still sunshine, while inside it felt gloomy.

Sheet‑metal bending machine, cutting machine, welding machine, overhead crane… the equipment inside the workshop is actually complete; converting it to produce truck cannons poses no major problem, though some precision parts need CNC machines to make—later we'll definitely have to bring the CNC machines over…

In the center of the workshop there is a piece of equipment under manufacture.

Unlike an ordinary cylindrical boiler, its shape resembles a container, with only the top section arched and a ladder on the side; just one glance and Qin Miao knew what it was.

A horizontal boiler is quite common; this isn't much of an innovation.

Some veteran workers stood around it, silently smoking.

"Factory director, we shouldn't bother with this! Long March Boiler Factory can innovate because they've been assigned a few college students, whereas our factory is just a bunch of…"

"Old fogies! If it's about making the old boilers, we're handy, but to develop a new boiler… the highest education among us is at most junior high school—who understands boiler design?"

"That's right, you set the bar high for this boiler—high efficiency, low consumption, energy saving, simple manufacture, good smoke and dust removal; where could that be easy? This horizontal quick‑install steam boiler is certainly not something our Red Flag Factory could pull off!"

Everyone turned to the person in the middle—medium build, slightly frail—he extended his hand, covered in old calluses, and stroked the boiler's outer shell.

"Ah, this boiler… is the heart's blood and hope of our Red Flag Boiler Factory!"

"What hope, what hope—if I may say, let's just copy Long March Factory's product; what's there to fear, worst case we fight!"

"Exactly, that's it!"

In the midst of the excited crowd, a voice rang out: "What problems have arisen in the boiler's development?"