Chapter 263 An Embroidered Shoe Is this my retribution for slacking off? ...

The No. 3 production workshop of Shangpu Textile Factory was the oldest and most critical facility, with a strong smell of machine oil, cotton wool, and the fishy smell of old, decaying rust in the air.

The oldest machine was an "imported product" from the Republic of China era, which was once the "pride" of the textile factory. The five Hans looms were like old men walking on a tile floor with canes, making a heavy and ear-piercing clanging sound with each step.

Workers have to shout to speak in the workshop, and it's common for older workers to have hearing problems.

Qin Xiangxiang frowned, thinking: What kind of zombie machine is this? It's turned into a hairy zombie.

What's the point of fixing this? Should we just scrap it?

However, no matter how old the machine is, it is still the old partner of the textile factory workers and a good friend that has been with them for many years. How could the old workers, led by Master Ge, bear to throw it away?

But if they are not scrapped, it will seriously delay production.

Qin Xiangxiang had only been there a short while when the second machine, which had the most serious problem, stalled. Master Ge and several apprentices worked around it for a long time, sweating profusely, but the machine was merciless, showing no regard for their hard work, and just kept shutting down to slack off.

Qin Xiangxiang: "..."

Did you say the workers worked hard? Yes, they certainly worked hard.

Did anything actually happen? It was practically a waste of time.

"This foreign machine—ugh, get it back to normal right now!" Master Ge kicked the machine.

Despite his harsh words, Qin Xiangxiang could sense that they were very "gentle" when repairing the machines, even with a sense of reverence. Perhaps in their memories, these machines were not old relics on the verge of death, but the pride of the factory.

They valued these machines too much and dared not dismantle or modify them too much, always trying to find ways to keep them as they were.

Older workers have an emotional attachment to the old machines, while younger, newer workers yearn to replace them with advanced new machines. This is the contradiction between the old and new machines, and also the contradiction between the old and new workers.

Master Ge taught his apprentice how to maintain old machines—but it was no longer necessary.

It was all in vain.

Someone has to be the bad guy. Either we need to completely rectify the situation or scrap the project altogether. We can't let this continue and waste the workers' energy.

"Master Shi, you're in charge of modifying this machine! I'll take responsibility if you mess it up." Qin Xiangxiang gestured for Shi Kaibei to give it a try.

Master Ge and the others were stunned, their faces flushed with insult and anger. "Director Qin, what are you doing? This is no child's play! This is a high-precision machine! He's here to repair it? Which factory is he a senior technician from? What level is he?"

"He has no rank whatsoever! He's a complete novice!"

The usually quiet and reserved Master Shi ignored Master Ge's words, gazing with a sense of awe at the complex machine before him. He crouched down, opened his toolbox, revealing a jumble of odds and ends he had collected: files, calipers, small gears…

"These things can fix machines?" Master Ge's apprentice scoffed from the side. Although they repaired old machines, their toolboxes were all new. "Just like those people who assemble bicycles themselves, they don't think it's as simple as assembling a bicycle."

Master Shi ignored him, carefully inspected several key locations, tapped them with his knuckles, and listened quietly to the sounds. Then, he bent a wire into a hook and, like a surgeon performing an operation, pulled out clumps of oil-stained cotton thread from deep inside the machine.

Master Ge was stunned. Was there something wrong here? They hadn't noticed it before.

Looking at the complex machine in front of him, Master Shi thought of Qin Xiangxiang's requirements for the machine: to reduce noise. Since there was no way to replace all the parts, he decided to install a buffer and shock absorption device on the machine.

There was also a worn-out gear that couldn't be replaced with a suitable size. Master Shi found a copper gear in his toolbox that he had picked up somewhere, and slowly polished it with tools. Finally, after measuring with calipers, he replaced the worn-out gear with the modified "new gear".

...

After repairs, the machine was restarted, and the loud clanging noises were replaced by muffled thuds, with the noise level dropping dramatically.

After starting the machine, Master Shi put his ear to it to listen to the sound, and adjusted the tightness of the screws several times. The sound of the machine running became more and more stable and even.

"This...this...the machine is working?"

Master Ge's apprentices looked at each other in disbelief. The machine that they couldn't fix before had actually been repaired by this unassuming master.

Where did this expert come from?

All eyes turned to the new factory director, Qin Xiangxiang, who was leaning against the door, seemingly reading documents in his hand.

"Factory manager! Factory manager!"

Qin Xiangxiang didn't have the patience to watch Master Shi repair the machine, but she didn't want to leave the factory either, so she used the excuse of watching the machine repair to slack off.

She wasn't slacking off to sleep; instead, she was slacking off by reading novels.

Many handwritten novels were popular in the 1960s and 70s. One of the more famous ones is probably the copy of "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes" that Qin Xiangxiang has in her hand. This is a handwritten story that was widely circulated among the people and is particularly thrilling and exciting.

This is a suspenseful spy thriller novel about fighting against spies. The protagonist confronts the spy organization "Plum Blossom Party". Although it is a spy novel, the plot is particularly bizarre and scary, with a strong Chinese horror style.

For example, the embroidered shoe. Of all places to hide the list of spies, it had to be hidden in an embroidered shoe. People fought to the death for this shoe. The corpse in the coffin disappeared, but an embroidered shoe was found inside.

Wherever exquisite and eerie embroidery appears, it is accompanied by bizarre and grotesque corpses.

This book, "A Pair of Embroidered Shoes," is not a single story, but rather a collection of many independent yet interconnected thrilling tales. In addition, it is in handwritten form, consisting of many unit books, such as "The Plum Blossom Gang Series," "The Green Corpse," "The Secret of the Crematorium," and so on.

Qin Xiangxiang had seen some of these before on the island, but none were as complete as the ones she had found in Shanghai. Shanghai had a large number of educated youth who had returned to the city, and these handwritten copies were the most complete. Qin Xiangxiang planned to fill in the gaps and read them all.

In addition... this old factory, old workshops, and old production facilities are simply the best place to see this kind of story.

She was called a few times by the workers, and a chill ran down her spine; it terrified her!

"Factory manager, where did you find this mechanic? He fixed the machine so well! The noise is much less now."

Qin Xiangxiang closed the "handwritten" notebook in her hand and nodded with feigned profundity—actually, she was still in shock and hadn't quite come to her senses.

When Master Ge and the others realized that she hadn't taken the opportunity to ridicule or mock them, they felt even more favorably toward her, realizing that they had been judging her with their own petty minds.

"Director Qin, I'm impressed... Where did you find such a master? I... I'm willing to become his apprentice!"

Qin Xiangxiang glanced around in confusion, then looked at Master Shi's face and then at Master Ge and his apprentice in front of her. Still shaken, she waved her hand and said, "Oh, as long as the machine is fixed, that's fine. Don't talk about how great someone is. In the future, we'll all be workers in the same factory, brothers, and buddies. We'll help each other and solve problems together."

"Now that you've found a way to fix the machine, I'll be going now."

Qin Xiangxiang wrapped her coat tighter around herself and left the workshop calmly amidst a sea of ​​awe, gratitude, and disbelief.

The aftermath of this incident made many workers admire Factory Director Qin greatly: "Factory Director Qin has a unique vision; the experienced gatekeeper she casually found can repair imported machines!"

"Our Factory Director Qin has the discerning eyes of Sun Wukong! He can easily see through your abilities."

...

As for Qin Xiangxiang herself, when she returned home she would snuggle into Li Jianzhi's arms, holding him tightly even in the middle of the night, and even calling her husband to watch the door when she got up to go to the bathroom.

"Li Jianzhi, you scared me to death!"

Qin Xiangxiang couldn't help but marvel at how powerful the aftereffects of reading suspense and thriller novels in an old factory were!

It always made her feel like an embroidered shoe would suddenly appear from the corner.

Li Jianzhi: "I give up. What exactly do you do at the factory?"

"I read the novel, and it was about those embroidered shoes."

Li Jianzhi: "An embroidered shoe? The Plum Blossom Files? Didn't you see it on the island before?"

Li Jianzhi watched the TV series about this story when he was a child, and indeed... if you didn't know better, you would think it was some kind of ghost movie. It was filmed like a horror story and was a childhood nightmare for many people.

“I used to feel safer living in the naval family compound, where I could hear bugle calls every day.”

Singing military songs is a way to boost courage when you feel scared.

"That old factory now has such a strong Republican-era atmosphere, it's scary."

"Even with the sun shining so brightly at noon, I still felt a sense of gloom."

Li Jianzhi: "..."

"It was cloudy in the afternoon. I turned on the light in the factory manager's office. The light bulb was old and worn out. It flickered because of the unstable voltage, and there were eerie shadows all over the wall."

“And the corridors of old-fashioned buildings,” Qin Xiangxiang lowered her voice, “the embroidered shoes of spies, making a 'tap, tap, tap' sound in the empty corridors…”

Li Jianzhi's face remained expressionless: "..."

What do you call this? This is called scaring yourself.

Qin Xiangxiang had a nightmare that night. She dreamt that she was trapped in an old factory. It was empty, deserted, and filled with the gloom and ghosts described in novels.

An embroidered shoe was hidden in a dark corner.

The bride, dressed in a red wedding gown and walking on tiptoe, followed beside her, watching her intently…

"Is this the retribution for my slacking off?"

Qin Xiangxiang stood in the factory, determined to do something to dispel this damned atmosphere of terror.