Chapter 55 Encountering a Difficult Problem

The winter sea breeze already carried a chill, swirling with salty, damp air, relentlessly battering the construction site in Black Stone Bay.

The construction of the tidal energy cold storage facility has been progressing smoothly since its commencement. Yesterday, Zhao Zhenhai led the workers to install a simple water turbine and conducted a final test.

Today, Jiang Suining and Zhao Zhenhai were in a makeshift control shed, intently watching the simple instruments connected to the water turbine. When Lü Aiguo arrived, it was the time of highest tide and fastest current, the perfect opportunity to test the maximum output power of the water turbine.

"The RPM is up!" Lu Aiguo suddenly exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "The torque is stable, and the power generation is close to expectations!"

Zhao Zhenhai's tense jawline finally relaxed a bit. He listened intently to the rhythmic and powerful sound of the water turbine turning, and a rare smile appeared on his bronze face.

He crossed his arms, nodded slightly, and expressed his approval of the current operating status.

Jiang Suining unconsciously clenched her fist. At this moment, all the hard work and preparations of the past few months seemed to have been worthwhile.

The instrument pointers in the control room suddenly bounced back, swung violently a few times, and then limply dropped back to zero.

The shed fell into a deathly silence, with only heavy breathing audible.

"What's going on?!" Lü Aiguo was the first to react, rushing out. Zhao Zhenhai cursed and followed closely behind. Jiang Suining's heart tightened, but she quickly calmed herself, hurrying after him while shouting to the workers waiting nearby, "A few people come to help!"

Reaching the rocky outcrop where the water turbine was located, the sight before them sank everyone's hearts. The turbine's impeller had stopped turning, stuck firmly to its base.

"Get out of the way!" Zhao Zhenhai ripped off his coat, revealing his muscular arms, and stepped into the icy seawater without hesitation.

Lu Aiguo hurriedly followed, oblivious to the mud splattering all over his clean face. Jiang Suining quickly sent a worker to the office to get a towel, and then to the kitchen to make ginger soup. She also directed the workers on the shore to pass tools and pull ropes, her calm eyes fixed on the underwater operations.

After a great deal of effort, they finally disassembled the crucial transmission shaft component. When the sturdy bearing was lifted onto the shore, a collective gasp rippled through the crowd.

The bearing surface, which should have been smooth and shiny, was covered with dark red rust. The corrosion was particularly severe at several key load-bearing ball contact points, where the metal surface was pitted and uneven, and there were even obvious signs of peeling and jamming.

The salty smell of seawater mixed with the peculiar odor of rusting metal permeated the air, making it suffocating.

"It's rusted to death!" Zhao Zhenhai took a towel from the worker and wiped the seawater off his face. Whether from the cold or anger, his face was ashen. "Damn it, this seawater is too corrosive! And it's only been a few days?!"

His voice betrayed frustration and disbelief; his meticulously calculated formulas and theories seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the harsh natural environment.

Jiang Suining looked at the broken bearing, then at the angry and dejected expressions of the two key technical personnel, and felt a huge weight pressing on her heart. She knew the project would encounter difficulties, but she never expected the first problem to be so thorny, directly hitting the core power component.

"What do we do now?" Jiang Suining forced herself to calm down, her voice as steady as possible. "We must solve the corrosion problem, otherwise this water turbine will be nothing but a decoration."

Zhao Zhenhai straightened up, his tone carrying the decisiveness of a veteran engineer mixed with a hint of anger: "Change it! Change it to the best stainless steel! I'll go and find out, even if we have to use materials from warships, we have to get it!" He knew the importance of materials, but that meant costs would rise sharply, and the channels and approvals for special steel were major problems.

Lu Aiguo suddenly stood up, impatiently brushing aside the strands of hair that had blown his forehead by the sea breeze: "Engineer Zhao, using only high-grade stainless steel is unrealistic! The cost is too high, and the procurement cycle is too long; we can't afford to wait!" He tried to solve the problem with a technical solution, "I think we should focus on the sealing structure, designing a completely sealed lubrication chamber to isolate seawater and air..."

"Isolation? You make it sound so easy!" Zhao Zhenhai interrupted him, his tone somewhat sharp. "This is submerged in seawater! With the ebb and flow of the tide, the pressure and temperature are constantly changing. What kind of seal can guarantee absolute safety? Engineer Lü, that's an ideal scenario! In actual engineering, especially when dealing with seawater, if the materials aren't up to standard, no matter how ingenious the design, it's all for naught!"

"Engineer Zhao, we can't just blindly pursue superior materials; we need to consider cost and feasibility!" Lü Aiguo was also anxious, his face flushed red, arguing forcefully, "My design has been based on rigorous calculations!"

"Calculate? Can calculations tell how much seawater 'bites' iron?!" Zhao Zhenhai's voice rose eight octaves as he waved his arm in the air, pointing to the boundless sea.

The two of them, both soaking wet, argued heatedly, their faces flushed.

Zhao Zhenhai insisted on prioritizing materials, while Lü Aiguo firmly believed that structure could compensate for material deficiencies. The atmosphere suddenly became tense and oppressive. The surrounding workers also stopped what they were doing and looked over with worry. This first major setback since the cold storage started construction seemed to be tearing this newly formed technical team apart in an instant.

Jiang Suining neither spoke nor stopped him.

She listened carefully to their argument, her gaze fixed on the rusty bearing, her mind racing as she analyzed the situation.

Zhao Zhenhai's experience-based viewpoint and Lü Aiguo's theoretical judgment both have merit, but they both go to extremes. Relying entirely on expensive and scarce special materials is unrealistic; the materials are hard to find and would cripple an already strained cash flow. On the other hand, relying entirely on sealing technology is too risky and could lead to recurring problems.

Recalling the knowledge she had learned in later generations, an idea popped into her mind. She suddenly stood up and said, "Engineer Zhao, Engineer Lü, look, the most severely corroded parts are precisely those that have been subjected to the greatest stress and have repeatedly experienced alternating wet and dry conditions."

Her voice was clear and calm, instantly piercing through the noisy argument, attracting everyone's attention, and stopping the two from arguing.

Jiang Suining glanced at the two of them before saying, "Using top-grade stainless steel entirely is too expensive for us; relying entirely on sealing is too risky in a dynamic seawater environment. Can we find a compromise and a more practical approach?"

"A compromise?" Zhao Zhenhai and Lü Aiguo said almost in unison, their faces showing doubt and inquiry.

“Yes.” Jiang Suining’s gaze was firm. “For the core load-bearing components of the bearing, we’ll try to use materials with better corrosion resistance. It doesn’t have to be top-grade stainless steel; perhaps it could be some kind of specially treated alloy steel? Or, do our shipyards on the island have any traditional methods that we can learn from when dealing with propeller shaft corrosion?” She looked at Zhao Zhenhai.

Then, she looked at Lü Aiguo: "At the same time, Engineer Lü, we've put a lot of effort into the sealing structure, using multi-stage sealing, and designing an oil filling hole that facilitates daily inspection and maintenance. Even if there's a slight leak in the seal, we can periodically add special waterproof grease to 'squeeze out' the seawater, creating a dynamic protection!"

Her approach, which emphasizes both materials and technology, was like a ray of light, instantly piercing through the deadlock.

Chen Yongqiang, who had been silent until now, pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Shipyard! That's right! How come I didn't think of that! They have a 'phosphating coating' treatment method, specifically used to enhance the corrosion resistance of ordinary steel. It's much cheaper than using stainless steel all over! I'll go find out about it right away!"

Lü Aiguo seemed to have been enlightened as well, and said repeatedly, "That's right! This idea is brilliant! I can redesign the structure, add a labyrinth seal and a lip seal, and also reserve an oil filling port and inspection hole! This way, both maintainability and reliability can be taken into account!"

The two, who had just been arguing and were red in the face, now seemed to have instantly found a common enemy and a breakthrough point for coordinated operations and each to use their strengths. In addition to the respect they had shown Jiang Suining, their eyes now held a greater sense of trust.

Jiang Suining breathed a slight sigh of relief as she watched their fighting spirit rekindle.

She knew very well that the problem was not yet truly solved; finding suitable materials, performing surface treatments, redesigning and processing parts... all of these required time, money, and repeated trials.

But at least the team did not collapse in the face of difficulties; instead, they worked hard to find solutions.

“Then it’s settled. You two go change out of your wet clothes and go to the kitchen for some ginger soup so you don’t catch a cold,” Jiang Suining said decisively. “Master Chen, please go to the shipyard as soon as possible to ask if we can use the 'phosphating coating' technology. We can pay for it; the price is negotiable. Engineer Lü, let’s hurry up and modify and improve the drawings as quickly as possible based on this new idea. We must process the new bearings for actual testing as soon as possible; time waits for no one.”

When the workers at the construction site found a solution, their worries were somewhat dispelled, and they returned to their work.

However, Jiang Suining was not truly at ease. She knew that this was only the first technical problem to be exposed since the start of the project, and that more and more complex challenges would surely await them in the future.

***

After several days of working overtime, the anti-corrosion solution for the turbine bearings finally had a preliminary direction. Zhao Zhenhai reached an agreement with the shipyard to pay for phosphating the bearings. Jiang Suining and Lü Aiguo worked day and night to redesign and draw up the blueprints based on the new ideas.

Jiang Suining relaxed a little, and a sense of exhaustion washed over her. She decided to leave the noisy construction site for the time being and go to the clothing store to see her mother and change her mood.

The afternoon sun was just right, warm but not glaring, casting bright spots of light into the interior through the clean glass windows of the tailor shop.

Jiang Suining pushed open the door and entered. She greeted Wang Hai and went to the inner room to find her mother. What she saw was this peaceful scene: Jiang's mother was sitting in the best-lit spot in the room, her head down, intently buttoning a dark blue Zhongshan suit, the silver needle nimbly moving between her fingertips.

Tailor Zhong was standing there carefully ironing a piece of silk fabric. The rising steam, carrying the heat of the iron, slowly ascended and dissipated in the air.

Whether it was the lighting or not, what was originally a very ordinary scene felt strangely warm to Jiang Suining. She remained silent, quietly observing from the doorway.

“Fengying,” Zhong the tailor said in a slightly hoarse voice, his hands still holding the iron and his eyes still on the fabric, “do this buttonhole again with the same color silk thread, make the stitching denser, more durable, and less likely to come undone.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang's mother softly hummed in agreement. After using up all the thread on the needle, she picked up a thread of the same color, threaded the needle, and began sewing again.

After a while, Jiang's mother, probably having sat for too long, gently rubbed her lower back. This subtle movement went unnoticed. But Zhong, the tailor who was working with his head down, put down the iron, took out a cloth bag from the cabinet next to him, and handed it to Jiang's mother: "I made you a back brace and knee pads. Wear them. Although it's not as cold here as your hometown, it's still damp in winter, so you should be careful."

His voice was calm and natural, as if he showed this kind of concern often.

A smile appeared on Jiang's mother's face. She naturally took the cloth bag, opened it, and took out the back brace, her fingers stroking the stitches on it. "Thank you for thinking of me. This old ailment of mine is nothing to worry about." But after a while, she still got up, put on the back brace and knee pads, and went to the table to make a cup of tea. "I noticed your voice has been hoarse these past few days. This is water infused with pangdahai (a type of herbal medicine), soothe your throat."

"Oh, okay, I just felt a bit thirsty." Zhong the tailor took the teacup with both hands, and the deep wrinkles on his face smoothed out with a smile.

Watching this scene, Jiang Suining felt a surge of emotion. There were no excessive words, no deliberate attempts to get closer or flatter, only a natural exchange and care between them.

She knew that Zhong the tailor was living alone. He had been widowed early and had no children. He had never remarried. From the few times they had spent together, she could tell that he was an upright person, even a bit old-fashioned. He was a skilled craftsman but never acted arrogantly because of his age. He always treated her mother with respect in the shop.

She had always assumed that the relationship between Master Zhong and her mother was the polite yet somewhat distant one between a boss and a senior employee. But today's scene made her clearly realize that this was not the case.

Jiang Suining thought about how she had been busy with the cold storage project for the past few months, leaving early and returning late, and had only been to the store a handful of times. Her brother, Jiang Fengnian, was also busy at the construction site and often stayed in the workers' shed.

Most of the time, the mother tended the shop alone, spending her days with the taciturn yet meticulous tailor, Mr. Zhong. This silent companionship and thoughtful care had perhaps already warmed Jiang's mother without her even realizing it.

A thought quietly surfaced in Jiang Suining's mind: Her father had passed away years ago, and her mother had single-handedly supported the family for her and her brother, never considering her own romantic feelings. Now, her brother was about to start a family, and she had Lu Ye as a strong support; life was gradually getting back on track. So, what about her mother? She wasn't even fifty yet. Shouldn't she also have someone to care for her, someone to support her through the rest of her life?

Judging from Zhong the tailor's character, ability, and the close relationship they have built up over time, he seems to be a very good candidate.

Thinking of this, Jiang Suining felt that the two were a perfect match. Without disturbing the two inside, she quietly came out, whispered to Wang Hai not to tell Jiang's mother that she had been there, and then hurriedly left the clothing store.

Outside the door, the winter sun was shining brightly, its warmth comforting me.

Jiang Suining took a deep breath of the cool air, feeling the burden on her shoulders grow heavier. The cold storage needed to be built, the business needed to be developed, and as her daughter, she should also carefully lend a hand to ensure her mother's happy retirement.

***

In the stillness of the night, the winter night on Nan'ao Island is chilly and utterly silent.

After finishing his work for the day, Lu Ye took a stroll around Rose Slope. When he returned home, Jiang Suining was sitting under the lamp, holding a pen in her hand, with blueprints of the cold storage spread out in front of her. However, her eyes were somewhat unfocused, and she was clearly not paying attention to the blueprints.

"What's wrong?" Lu Ye took off his damp coat, walked to her side, and asked in a low, concerned voice.

He was now very familiar with her deep contemplation; it usually meant she had encountered a tricky problem or was making a major decision. "Is there another problem at the construction site?"

Jiang Suining was brought back to her senses by his voice. She shook her head, gestured for him to sit down on the chair next to her, poured him a cup of hot water, and then said softly, "Aye, I went to the shop to see my mother this afternoon."

"Hmm," Lu Ye took the water glass, covered it with both hands, and casually asked, "How is Mother? Is the shop busy? Is everything alright?"

“Mother is doing well, her complexion looks even rosier than before,” Jiang Suining paused, organizing her thoughts, “but I feel that the tailor Zhong seems to treat Mother a little differently.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Ye put down his water glass: "Oh? How is it different?" He wasn't good at observing the subtle and delicate emotions between the women.

Jiang Suining then described what she had seen in the shop that afternoon, and emphasized, "Master Zhong's concern was definitely not just ordinary politeness, but a very natural feeling that he took it to heart. Moreover, I think that the two of them have been getting along like this for more than just a day or two, but I've just been too busy to notice."

Lu Ye listened quietly, his thick, dark eyebrows slightly furrowed, his face expressionless, as if he was carefully processing the information. He was indeed not very perceptive about romantic relationships, and his wife's descriptions were also limited, but he absolutely trusted his wife's intuition and judgment.

“Master Zhong is a man who is honest, upright, and steady,” Lu Ye said after a moment of thought. “I haven’t had much contact with him, and we’ve only met briefly. But from what I’ve heard of him and what I’ve observed of his actions, I can tell that he is a man of integrity and composure. From my mother’s casual conversations, I can also tell that she greatly admires Master Zhong, especially his craftsmanship.”

“Indeed,” Jiang Suining recalled the time when her mother mentioned Zhong the tailor. “To be honest, my mother’s admiration for him was more than just appreciation; she practically worshipped him. But not only is Zhong the tailor skilled, he also has a real talent for design. I’ve been busy at the construction site lately and haven’t had time to draw patterns for the garment factory, so I just told Zhong the style and color scheme. The patterns he drew were even better than I expected.”

"Sui Sui," Lu Ye asked, seeing Jiang Sui Ning's animated expression, "Do you mean you want to play matchmaker for Mother and Zhong the tailor?"

Jiang Suining nodded, her eyes filled with a hint of expectation, yet also a touch of uncertain unease: "Father has been gone for so many years, and Mother has suffered so much for my brother and me, always putting our needs first and never thinking of herself. Now my brother is about to get married, and I've married you, and life is getting better and better, but she's all alone. When I see her like this, I always feel a pang of sadness, a sense of emptiness."

“I understand what you’re thinking,” Lu Ye said, holding her hand. “I also think you’re right. It’s a good thing for Mother to have someone she knows well, who is reliable, and who can take care of her. I support you.”

He thought for a moment and then added, "However, this matter must not be rushed or reckless. Mother and Master Zhong are both people who care a lot about their reputation. After all these years, they must have more concerns than us young people. You have to find the right time, and it would be best if things could be done naturally."

Hearing her husband's words, Jiang Suining's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. She even felt a little grateful. What she feared most was that her husband would not understand or think that she was meddling. Unexpectedly, he not only understood but also analyzed the situation for her so rationally, giving her the strongest support.

“I know,” Jiang Suining grasped his large hand in return, “Don’t worry, I’m not a reckless person, especially not about something like this.”

Lu Ye's heart softened. He reached out his other hand and pinched her cheek, saying, "Our family's life is getting better and better, and Mom will be happy too. You are our lucky star."

The flickering lamplight cast the couple's silhouettes against the wall, creating a particularly warm and inviting scene.

Outside the window, the night was silent, but inside, the room was filled with a warm sense of shared understanding and a beautiful expectation for the future.

The challenges of building cold storage facilities and the琐碎 (trivialities) of daily life still exist, but as long as she has the unconditional understanding and support of the person beside her, Jiang Suining feels that even the most difficult days are full of hope and a sense of purpose.

The mother's happiness became another unspoken goal for the couple, one that they both needed to carefully protect and promote.

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A note from the author: All technical content was compiled based on online research; please do not attempt to verify it.