Chapter 194 Cooperation among all parties
Jiang Haitang stayed in the office all afternoon. She had countless homemade bookmarks between the yellowed pages, and she had neatly copied the fluorescent-marked paragraphs onto loose-leaf paper.
The calculator was ticking rapidly at her fingertips. The draft paper was densely packed with blending ratio formulas. A key data was repeatedly corrected, and the ink was stacked to form dark patches.
The dusk deepened outside the window, and the noise in the office area gradually dissipated. Only the rustling sound of her pen could be heard as she detailed the deduction process of the two research directions down to each experimental step.
When she finally put down her pen, the mechanical watch on her wrist indicated eight o'clock in the evening, and the moonlight filtered through the blinds, casting mottled shadows on the data chart.
Remembering that she had not yet invited Comrades Yuan Junfeng and Chang Zhiyan, she hurried to the dormitory area again.
Yuan Junfeng and Chang Zhiyan were recommended by Shu Qihua and Gu Yundi. They had just arrived at the factory, but they were very serious about their work and were very capable.
After returning home, Jiang Haitang listed each person's professional expertise and research direction in detail on paper. She hoped to form a team with complementary strengths.
The next morning at six o'clock, Jiang Haitang was awakened by the alarm clock.
On the kitchen stove, an aluminum pot was bubbling with steam. While she was cooking millet porridge, she wrote down the sudden inspiration on the draft paper beside her. Perhaps she could try blending natural ramie with chemical fiber?
This thought made her even speed up the process of serving the porridge.
Before eight o'clock, Jiang Haitang hurried out with a canvas bag full of information to discuss the appointment in the afternoon. She thought about sorting out the incomplete issues that she had recorded before in the morning.
In the morning light, the poplar trees on the main road of the factory stretch out their tender green branches in the morning breeze.
When she turned into the office building, she found Li Jingcheng and Duan Changhe squatting on the steps eating buns.
When the two men saw her, they immediately gobbled up the remaining buns.
They were holding notebooks and pens in their hands, obviously well prepared.
"You came so early? Today is the weekend, why don't you sleep a little longer?" Jiang Haitang asked the two with a smile.
"Mr. Jiang, we will be there at 7:30!" Li Jingcheng grinned.
"How could I sleep? When I thought about the big things we have to participate in today, we talked for half the night." Duan Changhe scratched his head and said embarrassedly.
However, even though we chatted for half the night, we still had no idea what the topic of discussion today was.
Inviting the two in, Jiang Haitang went to fetch some hot water and poured them some hot tea before saying, "The factory is planning to develop military fabrics and is setting up a dedicated R&D team. This is the topic of our discussion today."
The two of them didn't speak for a long time. Even though they thought about it for half the night and discussed many possibilities, they never thought that they wanted to study military fabrics.
They felt that this was unexpected, but they also felt that it should be expected, but none of them dared to think in this direction.
There was a brief silence in the office, and then excitement flashed in the eyes of the two men.
In the afternoon, the office gradually became lively. Everyone gathered around a long table that was simply put together. Draft papers covered the table like snowflakes, and the red and blue pencil annotations flickered in the sunlight.
The dyeing samples brought by Li Jingcheng showed subtle differences in the sunlight, and Wang Tiezhu was measuring the thickness of the fabric with a vernier caliper.
"The key is the raw materials." Jiang Haitang tapped the blueprint with a pencil. "Ordinary cotton yarn isn't strong enough, and the blending ratio affects the fire resistance..."
There was a sudden knock on the office door.
Everyone stopped discussing vigilantly, and Jiang Haitang quickly covered the samples on the table with newspaper.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a young man in a dark blue Mao suit stood at the door, holding a bulging briefcase. Standing next to him was Zhou Xiaomei.
"Let me introduce you all, this is my cousin Zheng Mingyuan."
Zheng Mingyuan pushed up his black-framed glasses, his eyes sweeping across everyone's faces before landing on Jiang Haitang. "Excuse me, I'm Zheng Mingyuan from the Provincial Chemical Research Institute. It's an honor to be here to participate in your discussion."
Jiang Haitang quickly stood up to greet him.
She noticed that although the expert was young, he already had fine lines at the corners of his eyes and a faint chemical burn scar on the base of his left hand.
Zheng Mingyuan didn't exchange pleasantries. After walking into the office, he found a stool to sit down and took out a brown paper bag from his briefcase. "This is the information approved by the superiors. It is limited to internal circulation within this group."
He paused, then took out a sealed iron box: "And this, a new flame retardant sample, ten grams."
Jiang Haitang took the two things, and her palms were slightly sweaty.
I really didn’t expect that there would be such an unexpected surprise in today’s discussion.
"Comrade Zheng, you're here just in time." She calmed herself down. "We were discussing the raw materials."
Zheng Mingyuan approached the table, glanced at the dye samples, and suddenly pointed at one of them: "This color number is wrong. The military standard is GSB05-1426, and you are using a civilian color card."
Li Jingcheng exclaimed "Ah" and his face turned red immediately. Obviously, he didn't expect this either.
Jiang Haitang's eyes lit up: "Comrade Zheng, are you familiar with military standards?"
"I interned at the Military Materials Research Institute for half a year." Zheng Mingyuan's tone was calm, but it made everyone present stand in awe.
The discussion continued until sunset.
When the others left one after another, Zheng Mingyuan deliberately stayed until the end: "Comrade Jiang Haitang, there is something I must talk to you alone."
Jiang Haitang's heart tightened.
Zheng Mingyuan pulled a letter from his inner pocket. "I've received approval from the relevant leadership to join your project. According to my superiors, this project is codenamed 'Green Shield.' I must report progress to Director Li of the Military Region every Wednesday."
The red-headed document on the letter paper made Jiang Haitang's fingers tremble slightly.
She didn't expect the task to be so high-level.
Moreover, experts were specially arranged to assist them in completing the task.
"I understand." She took a deep breath, "Please rest assured, Organization."
"Director Li specifically instructed that the analytical balance you need is already on its way."
When I walked out of the office, there were only a few rays of sunlight left in the sky.
Jiang Haitang hugged the briefcase filled with documents tightly, and suddenly saw Lu Liangchen standing not far away with a net bag hanging on his back. The net bag was filled with vegetables, a piece of pork belly and a big carp.
"The supply and marketing cooperative brought in fresh fish today. I grabbed one and gave it to our worker Jiang to nourish his body." He naturally took the bag from Jiang Haitang's hand.
Jiang Haitang felt warm in her heart.
The two walked side by side in the twilight. Lu Liangchen suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "Zheng Mingyuan is here?"
Jiang Haitang looked at him in surprise.
Lu Liangchen smiled and said, "This afternoon, the factory office received a call from the Provincial Chemical Research Institute, saying they would provide technical support to our factory."
"You..." Jiang Haitang hesitated to speak.
"I don't know anything." Lu Liangchen blinked, "But the factory just approved a large office for your group. You can use it tomorrow."
Jiang Haitang suddenly understood, and a warm feeling surged in her heart.
I wonder how much thought Lu Liangchen put into this seemingly casual arrangement.
After dinner, Lu Liangchen started planting flowers in the yard. He got two rose seedlings from somewhere. Jiang Haitang studied the information brought by Zheng Mingyuan under the lamp.
The documents detailed a new blending process that was exactly what they needed.
But one key parameter was blacked out in ink, apparently for confidentiality reasons.
Jiang Haitang bit the tip of her pencil and suddenly remembered the book "Special Textile Materials" in the study in her dream.
She closed her eyes and tried to recall, and sure enough, she remembered several key data sets. When she couldn't wait to write them down in her notebook, she found that these numbers matched perfectly with the unblacked-out parts of the document!
"Good morning!" She ran towards the yard excitedly, "I may have found a solution!"
Lu Liangchen put down the shovel, looked at the little girl's shining eyes, and suddenly reached out to touch the top of her hair: "Don't get too tired."
These three simple words made Jiang Haitang's nose sore.
The next morning, Jiang Haitang woke up early.
She steamed a pot of buns, cooked porridge, and fried three poached eggs.
"What day is today?" Lu Liangchen was very surprised when he saw the sumptuous breakfast.
Jiang Haitang stuffed the hot steamed bun into his hand: "Celebrate our team's move to a new office!"
She paused, "And...thank you."
"Just want to say thank you?" Lu Liangchen asked mischievously.
Jiang Haitang suddenly raised her arms, put her arms around Lu Liangchen's neck, and gave him a light kiss on the face.
Lu Liangchen was stunned and almost dropped the steamed bun in his hand.
He stared blankly at Jiang Haitang. The little girl actually...
Lu Liangchen looked at the little girl's pretty face and moist lips, and finally couldn't help but kissed her.
The new office is located in the quietest northwest corner of the factory. It was originally a warehouse and now has six desks and a large laboratory table.
Duan Changhe was leading a few workers to install water pipes, saying that he wanted to connect a simple water sink for an experiment.
"Engineer Jiang!" Li Jingcheng pointed excitedly at the corner of the wall, "Look what this is!"
He lifted a canvas to reveal a brand new analytical balance.
Jiang Haitang stroked this precision instrument in amazement, as it was a rare item at that time.
She turned her head to look at the door, Zheng Mingyuan was leaning against the door frame and smiling: "It's not for you, I can only lend it to you for three months."
The group's first plenary meeting was held in the new office.
Jiang Haitang combined the data recorded in his dream with the information provided by Zheng Mingyuan and proposed a new research and development direction.
She drew a diagram on the blackboard. "Comrade Duan Changhe, along with Comrades Yuan Junfeng and Chang Zhiyan, will be responsible for the loom modification. Comrade Zheng, Comrade Wang Tiezhu, and I will focus on the material formula. Comrades Li Jingcheng and Xiaomei will be responsible for data recording and standardization."
Everyone was eager to get started, but Zheng Mingyuan frowned slightly. "Team Leader Jiang, I have a problem. Asbestos, the main raw material for the new flame retardant, is in short supply throughout the province."
The conference room suddenly became quiet.
Jiang Haitang remembered the second half of the book in her dream, which mentioned some kind of alternative material...
"Maybe we can try using other products as a substitute..." Before he could finish the rest of his words, a cough was suddenly heard outside the door.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
