Chapter 667 Wang Jianguo wants funding
Director Liu closed the tin box, and the metal buckle fastened with a "click", startling the sparrow perched on the windowsill.
He pulled out two photos from the folder. The one on the left showed the scene of manual brick making in 1978: a dozen workers stood shirtless in a mud pool, and the wooden molds were shining damply in the sun.
The photo on the right was taken last month. Wang Jianguo was squatting next to the improved clay-making machine, and the tester in his hand showed the moisture content of the clay.
"Look at Uncle Zhang. When he was breaking the blanks, his back was as straight as a poplar tree trunk. Now he has to support himself with his knees when he bends down to pick up a tool."
He tapped the photo on the right with his cigarette case.
"The machines are not meant to make us lazy, but to let us use our energy where it matters most - for example, researching how to reduce the number of cracks in bricks or how to reduce coal consumption by 20%."
Director Song picked up the photo on the left and stroked his young face in the photo with his fingertips. At that time, he was still wearing a green military uniform, with his trouser legs rolled up to his knees and purple mud on his ankles.
In the distance came the rumbling sound of brick-making machines, the pace of which was more than three times faster than the manual brick-making process in my memory.
He suddenly recalled that he had visited the county brick factory last month and saw the operators sitting in the control room drinking tea and adjusting parameters by staring at the dashboard, as easy as weaving baskets on the kang.
"How about we approve a 'test field' quota?"
He took out a pen and drew a circle on the back of the photo.
"Let's just say we'll introduce two basic models first, without the fancy stuff like automatic loading."
The pen tip hesitated for a moment on the "Expense" column, and then added another line of small words:
"The idle steel frames in the old factory buildings can be used to transform the foundation, saving 30% of the infrastructure costs."
Director Liu smiled, revealing the gap between his teeth where a front tooth was missing:
"When our factory changed to a rotary kiln two years ago, didn't we just knock down the bricks of the old chimney and rebuild it?"
He took three cigarettes out of the box and placed them side by side between the two photos.
"The first respect for the elderly,"
The tip of the cigarette tapped the worker on the left.
"The second team is new guys,"
He clicked on the machine on the right again.
"The third one... when the new brick factory produces the first batch of semi-mechanized bricks, we'll take them to the threshing ground at the headquarters and let the young and old men step on them and listen to the sound."
As dusk drifted into the office, Director Song saw Director Liu's shadow cast on the brick-making process diagram on the wall, with his old shoulder facing the arrow of "automation transformation".
He grabbed the enamel mug and took a sip of herbal tea. The cool tea had a hint of sweetness, just like the frozen autumn pears he had eaten in the snow.
Suddenly, the radio outside the window started playing "Unity is Strength". He looked at the white hair on Director Liu's temples and suddenly remembered what he often said:
"In the Great Northern Wilderness, any seed can take root. It just depends on whether you dare to sow it."
"I'll talk to the secretary tomorrow morning."
He stuffed the photo into the folder, the plastic cover sizzling under the pressure, and said, "Let's add a note to the appendix:
Let the technical team pair up with the experienced bricklayers and teach them how to use the machines when they arrive."
He stood up, and the rattan chair made a harsh sound on the floor.
"If Uncle Zhang could sit and operate the machine, it might be more exciting than breaking the blanks back then."
Director Liu watched Director Song's back disappear at the end of the corridor, then turned around and took down "Introduction to Mechanization of Brick and Tile Industry" from the bookshelf. A piece of yellowed letter paper fell out from between the pages. It was the application for technical transformation he had written ten years ago.
He took out a match and lit a cigarette. The flame illuminated the dust on the spine of the book. The ash fell on the chapter title "Semi-mechanization" like a handful of seeds waiting to germinate.
The brick kiln outside the window was ablaze with fire. The newly-made bricks were stacked in neat squares, glowing a warm khaki color in the deepening night, like the beating pulse in the chest of the Great Northern Wilderness.
Wang Jianguo curled up in a faded rattan chair, the patches on the knees of his overalls rubbing against the chair, making a crackling sound.
His eyes repeatedly swept over the semi-mechanized brick-making machine model on the desk, and his fingers unconsciously pinched the strap of the safety helmet, leaving a light red indentation on the palm of his hand.
The poplar leaves outside the window rustled in the wind. He suddenly straightened up, and the sound that rolled out of his throat was like clay that had been smoldering for a long time from deep in a brick kiln:
"I have to say a few words."
The pen in Director Liu's hand was suspended above the report, and ink dripped into the "Equipment Purchase Budget" column, forming dark spots.
Director Song's enamel pot was suspended in mid-air, with the gap on the edge of the pot facing Wang Jianguo's pale knuckles.
The young man's Adam's apple rolled under the collar of his washed-out work clothes, as if he was trying to swallow something hot:
"I saw that machine in the building materials market in Sijiu City,"
His voice was metallic and hoarse.
"The technicians at the Red Star Machinery Factory said that what the machine eats is mud, and what it spits out is neat bricks, as smooth as a printing factory spits out newspapers."
The enamel pot fell on the table with a thud, and Director Song's brows twisted into the chimney of a brick kiln:
"Jianguo, do you know how expensive that thing is? It's enough to buy twenty bullocks!"
Wang Jianguo suddenly laughed, and there was a fierceness in his smile, just like when he was struggling with the refractory bricks in the brick kiln:
"I came to the Great Northern Wilderness with only half a piece of hard candy and my father's legacy - 'Don't be like me, trapped in the dirt for the rest of your life.'"
He reached out and ripped open his collar, revealing a coin-sized scar just below his collarbone.
"This scar was caused by a wooden mold when I was playing with clay when I was a kid. It took three months for the scar to form. At that time, I thought, it would be great if there was a machine that could take this pain for me."
Director Liu turned his face away, pretending to tidy up the wrenches on the table, but in fact he quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. The old man remembered this scene:
The seventeen-year-old boy curled up in the corner of the shed, his shirt soaked with cold sweat sticking to his back, but he gritted his teeth and refused to cry out in pain.
Wang Jianguo took out a cowhide bag from the pocket of his Zhongshan suit, which contained train tickets, food coupons, and a receipt - that was what he deposited in the bank after coming to the Great Northern Wilderness.
"In the years I've been in Beijing, I've seen too many people using low-quality bricks to build buildings. You can put a finger in the cracks in the walls."
"But the bricks in our Great Northern Wilderness must be hard, able to withstand the Siberian winds and support the beams of people's houses."
As soon as Wang Jianguo finished speaking, Director Song almost lost his grip on the enamelware cup, and Director Liu's hand holding the pipe also stopped in mid-air.
The two looked at each other, their eyes full of surprise. Director Liu took two puffs of his cigarette and said nothing, but Director Song couldn't help but speak:
"Jianguo, there's a knot in my heart that I can't get over. You said that since you came to our Great Northern Wilderness, you used your own money to build the supply and marketing cooperative, and now you want to use money to support the brick factory."
"You are a well-known person in Beijing, living in a western-style house and driving a car. Why do you have to stay in this remote place like this?"