The cube was nearing completion. Liu Li held the fine-toothed file as if it were a fragile porcelain doll, slowly refining the last two edges. Her eyes were fixed on the workpiece, her breathing even shallower; with each movement of the file, fine iron filings fell to the ground. The flatness and perpendicularity of the six faces had long since met the standards; now she just wanted to grind it to its perfect, uniform shape.
Several sheets of scrap paper were spread out on the workbench, with a diagram of a cube drawn on them, and neatly marked with the dimensions of each measurement, the amount of error, and how to fix it. This was a habit she had subconsciously developed: to calculate clearly before starting, which was quite different from the way the experienced workers in the workshop worked by feel.
"Comrade, excuse me."
The gentle voice pulled Liu Li out of her concentration. She looked up and saw a young comrade in clean cadre uniform and black-rimmed glasses, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with a refined and polite demeanor, holding a blueprint in his hand.
"Is technician Liu in the workshop?" he asked, his gaze fixed on the nearly finished cube and the scrap paper next to it, unable to look away.
Liu Li recognized him as the technical staff member she had seen at the workshop entrance a few days ago. She put down her file, wiped her hands, and said, "Master Liu went to the warehouse to get materials. He should be back soon."
"Okay, thank you." The young cadre nodded, but didn't leave. His eyes were still fixed on the scrap paper. He couldn't help but ask, "Your annotation method is quite clear. Did you figure it out yourself?"
Liu Li's heart tightened—she feared she had revealed something she shouldn't have. She quickly explained, "No, I just learned a little from reading and was afraid of confusing it, so I just doodled." As she spoke, she moved the scrap paper to the side.
The young cadre laughed: "No need to be modest. Using a reference plane to draw dimension lines and clearly marking tolerances is a very scientific method that can reduce errors. Many experienced workers rely on their sense of touch, but this kind of quantitative control is very useful for ensuring the quality of mass production."
These words struck a chord with Liu Li, and she felt a bit more favorably toward this person.
"I'm Fu Jingchen from the Technology Department." He introduced himself, then looked at the cube. "It's not easy to achieve this level of precision by hand. Your ideas on dimensional analysis and error control are quite unique."
"Hello, Technician Fu. My name is Liu Li, and I'm Master Wang's apprentice," Liu Li replied politely, surprised that he had noticed her so much.
As the two chatted about cubes, Fu Jingchen casually mentioned a problem he was facing—the assembly tolerances on one of the drawings were somewhat contradictory, and he was worried about potential issues during manufacturing. He briefly explained the situation.
Listening to this, Liu Li subconsciously replied, "If we change the positioning datum of the hole to the other end face, or tighten the length tolerance of the shaft, will there be no interference?"
Fu Jingchen's eyes lit up: "That's right! Change the reference plane! How come I didn't think of that!" He excitedly tapped his palm with the rolled-up blueprint. "Comrade Liu Li, your spatial imagination and logical ability are truly strong!"
The two were engrossed in their conversation and didn't notice that Sun Peng was watching them from behind the drilling machine not far away. Seeing Fu Jingchen—one of the few college graduate technicians in the factory—chatting and laughing with Liu Li so enthusiastically, Sun Peng felt a pang of jealousy and his face darkened.
Fu Jingchen found a solution and happily went to find Technician Liu. Liu Li had just picked up the file when she sensed something was wrong with the atmosphere around her—several female workers were giving her strange looks and whispering among themselves. When she looked up, they quickly dispersed.
At lunchtime, Zhang Shulan stormed over to the cafeteria with her lunchbox, yelling, "Lily, Sun Peng has gone too far!"
Liu Li's heart sank: "What did he say this time?"
“He said you look down on the workshop workers and want to get close to the technical department cadres to climb the social ladder!” Zhang Shulan lowered her voice. “He also said that men and women don’t care about their image, and several older women heard it!”
Liu Li's grip on her chopsticks tightened—they'd only exchanged a few words about technology, how could they be talked about like this? Sun Peng's words were too vicious; not only did they ruin her reputation, but he was also trying to sow discord between her and the other female workers. In this day and age, matters of conduct were no small matter.
She looked up and saw that the female workers she had chatted with earlier were deliberately avoiding her gaze; Sun Peng, sitting at another table, even glanced at her provocatively with a sneer on his lips.
"Ignore him! Technician Fu is just a tech enthusiast, he can chat with anyone!" Zhang Shulan hurriedly defended her.
Liu Li took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down—getting angry was useless, and trying to explain would only make things worse.
When she returned to the workshop in the afternoon, the feeling of isolation was even more pronounced. When she went to get the measuring tools, two female workers were talking, but they immediately stopped when they saw her; when she went to the washroom to wash her hands, the people chatting in groups quickly dispersed.
Master Wang had obviously heard the rumors, but he didn't ask anything. He only glanced at Liu Li's tense profile for a few seconds while she was busy filing the cube, and his brows furrowed slightly.
As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the workday, Liu Li was the first to pack up and leave. The evening breeze brushed her face, but her heart felt heavy—she just wanted to learn a skill and earn a living through her own abilities, so why was it so difficult?
Does this mean I can't communicate normally with the technical staff anymore in order to avoid suspicion? But learning technology is inseparable from theory, and communication with technicians is unavoidable.
Should we take a step back, speak less and cause less trouble, and shut ourselves off? Or should we stick to our path, using strength and rules to suppress the rumors?
Liu Li stood by the roadside, gazing at the factory buildings with their lights on, feeling both lost and conflicted. She knew that when she went to the workshop tomorrow, those strange looks and gossip would still be waiting for her.
How can we break this invisible predicament?
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