fictionpage Chapter 94 The End
Chapter 94 The End
Ahai's diesel engine disassembly and assembly was the last item to be scored.
The diesel engines by the west wall had long been dismantled and reassembled by the team members, leaving a ring of diesel splattered on the ground, making it slippery to walk on.
Ahai squatted down next to Unit 3, put the torque wrench into his tool bag, and wrapped the two copper washers back in old newspapers and stuffed them back in.
He looked up and saw the judges coming out of the competition room with their score sheets. When he stood up, his knees cracked – he had been squatting for too long.
"Moon Island, diesel engine disassembly and assembly, 89 points."
Ahai paused for a moment when he received the rating sheet.
Eighty-nine was not the number he wanted.
He timed the process himself during the simulation at the service station, and the entire disassembly and assembly process was more than a minute faster than the standard time limit.
There were no leaks at any of the oil line joints, and the torque was fully met.
He looked down at the scoring sheet and found the reason in the deduction column: the belt tension was adjusted half a step too late, resulting in a deduction of two points.
It's not a technical problem, it's a problem of timing.
I adjusted the valve clearance before remembering the belt. The order was correct, but I hesitated for a moment.
Old Fang once said that the judges in the competition don't just look at whether you did it correctly, but also how smoothly you did it. Hesitation will result in a deduction of points.
He folded the rating sheet and put it in his tool bag, then wiped the diesel fuel off his hands with cotton yarn.
It's a bit of a pity, but not too bad.
"The belt tension was adjusted too late," he said to Jiang Haiping, who was walking over, his voice tinged with resentment.
"Got it." Jiang Haiping took the rating sheet, glanced at it, and handed it back to him. "Next time, adjust the belt first."
Ahai nodded.
He took the package of copper washers out of his tool bag, unfolded the old newspaper, and saw that there were two left.
It wasn't a waste of time.
The scores for all four items have been released.
Ding Haisheng's overhead welding work was 91; Lin Xiu'e's grouting work was 93; Zhou Haisheng's old parts management work was 92; and A Hai's diesel engine disassembly and assembly work was 89.
Ah Guang squatted at the entrance of the waiting tent, spreading the registration book on his knees.
Copy these four scores onto a blank page, draw four horizontal lines using a ruler, and write your name and score after each line, writing neatly and legibly.
"The four of them add up to 365." Ah Guang put his pen down on the notebook, looked up at Jiang Haiping, and said, "Second place for the group should be a sure thing."
When will the total scores be announced?
"They said it would be before lunch."
Jiang Haiping took the ledger out of his pocket, turned to the blank page on the back, and wrote down the four fractions as well.
After finishing writing, he closed the notebook, leaned against a pillar in the waiting tent, and glanced at the gate of the courtyard.
Director Sun didn't come, and neither did Wang Cunzhi.
He is not surprised.
There are competitions every year, but leaders don't monitor them from beginning to end. They consider it a sign of importance if they show up when the results are announced.
Ding Haifeng walked over from the old parts management area.
He had been watching the other teams compete from outside the competition area, clutching the scoring rules in his hand, the edges of which were wrinkled from his grip.
Zhou Haisheng followed behind him, muttering the model numbers of the old parts he had just seen.
"One team's contestant mistook the bearing housing model, mistaking 206 for 207, and the judges deducted ten points on the spot." Zhou Haisheng wrote a few strokes in the logbook, as if he was making a note of something, "I almost made the same mistake."
"You didn't commit a crime." Ding Haifeng folded up the scoring details and put them in his pocket.
Ahai carried the tool bag into the waiting tent, took out the thermos of cold boiled water that Hong Xiaobing had filled, poured half a mug of it, and handed it to Ding Haisheng.
Ding Haisheng took it, but didn't drink it; he put it on the bench next to him.
He took the welder's mask off his tool bag and wiped the lenses of the goggles again with cotton yarn.
The game was over, but he was still wiping.
"You've already finished the exam, why are you still wiping?" Ah Hai plopped down on the bench, stretching his legs out.
"I'm used to it." Ding Haisheng hung the mask on his tool bag.
Hong Xiaobing turned the bag of sesame candy over and poured it onto the bench. Only a few pieces remained, with candy crumbs and sesame seeds scattered all over the bench.
He gathered the sugar crumbs together and divided them into several small piles. "One pile for each of you, don't fight over them."
Ah Guang didn't take the candy; he was still staring at the score on the register, pointing his finger at the four numbers and muttering to himself for a while.
"We are much better than the service stations in the county town."
"Their diesel engine disassembly and assembly score is one point higher than ours, their welding score is two points lower, their caulking score is one point lower, and their old parts management score hasn't been released yet." Jiang Haiping opened his ledger, which recorded several scores he had glimpsed that morning. "Their overall team score is probably three or four points higher than ours."
He knew perfectly well how he had gotten those extra points.
Zhou Haisheng checked the crack by touching it three times with his eyes closed.
Lin Xiu'e added an extra line of notes regarding the reverse groove treatment of the twelfth groove.
The judges spent a long time examining the depth of the back weld on Ding Haisheng's overhead weld.
Although Ahai's belt tensioning was delayed, the torque of all the oil circuit joints met the standards. The copper gaskets were not used, but they were still installed.
No service station achieved the highest score in any category, but someone in each category exceeded the standard by a little bit.
The sound of a motorcycle came from the gate of the courtyard.
The exhaust of the Jialing 70 sputtered for a while, then stopped.
Wang Cunzhi got out of the car, a fountain pen clipped to the pocket of his gray Zhongshan suit, and a kraft paper document bag in his hand.
He entered the courtyard and first glanced at the west wall, where he saw Ah Hai squatting on a bench chewing sesame candy. Then he glanced at the sewing room to the south and saw Lin Xiu'e taking walnuts out of her tool bag and turning them in her palm.
He walked to the entrance of the waiting tent and stood still.
"Director Sun has an urgent meeting and can't come. He asked me to bring the team results." He opened the brown paper bag, pulled out a mimeographed results sheet, and handed it to Jiang Haiping. "Second place in the team event. First place in the sewing and old parts management event. You, Moon Island."
There was a moment of silence in the waiting area.
Ahai sprang up from the bench, a sesame candy rolling off his knees. He bent down, picked it up, blew on it, and popped it into his mouth. "Second place in the group!"
Ding Haisheng remained seated on the bench.
He picked up the enamel mug, took a sip of water, and put it down rather heavily, causing water to splash onto his work clothes. He wiped it off with his sleeve.
He looked down at his left wrist, where a small section of the overlapping old and new burn scars peeked out from his sleeve, glowing in varying shades of red in the sunlight.
Zhou Haisheng took the register from A Guang's hand, turned to the page with the scores, and stared at it for a long time.
He spent the night in the used parts warehouse working on old parts until midnight, and his eyes are still dark.
His hand trembled slightly when he returned the register to Ah Guang.
"First place in old files management." His voice trembled.
"No one in the entire venue can judge the cracks more precisely than you." Ding Haifeng placed the micrometer box on the bench.
The box lid was tightly closed, and the ruler itself was free of hand sweat.
Lin Xiu'e took the two walnuts out of her toolbox and twirled them in her palm.
The walnut shells were polished until they were shiny and smooth, reflecting a slight sheen in the sunlight.
She looked down at the walnuts, her lips moved, but she didn't say anything.
She knew that those two walnuts had helped her stay calm twice during the competition today.
Once after the fifth seam, and once before the twelfth seam.
She put the walnuts back into her tool bag and pressed them through the cloth.
Jiang Haiping read through the report card from beginning to end.
Some of the mimeographed words are not very clear, but the words "Moon Island Fisheries Machinery Service Station" after the second place in the group are clearly legible.
He handed the report card to Ah Guang, who took it and looked at it for a while before picking up a pen and carefully copying it onto the last page of the register.
After copying, I put down my pen and smoothed out the page.
"Go back and stick it on your workbench," he said.
Jiang Haiping took the half-sheet of old newspaper out of his pocket and unfolded it.
The first few lines of text are still there: "Hong Laosan, halfway before the Winter Solstice".
"Old Chen, before the New Year..."
"Hong Chuandong, has been cleared."
"Checking the general accounts before the New Year, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month."
"The day after the grand competition, we collected debts on credit."
He added another line at the bottom: Second in group performance, first in stitching, and first in used parts.
After finishing writing, he folded the old newspaper and put it back in his pocket, his hand touching the letter—his mother's letter.
The letter was warm from my body heat.
"Let's go. Go back and tell Lao Fang." He picked up his tool bag.
The three-wheeled motorcycle at the gate of the courtyard is still parked in the same old spot, but there are a few more shoe prints on the old cardboard in the truck bed.
The tool bag and parts box were stacked back on the truck bed, and Ah Hai placed his copper gasket on top, wrapping it again with old newspaper.
The sunlight was directly overhead, and the concrete ground was scorching hot; you could feel the heat under your feet when you stepped on it.
The other teams in the courtyard were also packing up their tools. Someone dropped a wrench on the ground with a clatter, while someone carried a welding machine toward the door, the wheels of the welding machine leaving two marks on the cement ground.
Jiang Haiping was the last to climb into the truck bed and sat down with his back against the tool bag.
He buttoned up the pockets of his work clothes, and the ledger poked against his chest.
The three-wheeled motorcycle started up, the exhaust pipe sputtered for a while, and the front of the vehicle turned out of the farm machinery company compound and headed towards the dock.
There were a few more fishing boats on the sea than in the morning, and the muffled chugging of diesel engines carried on the sea breeze.
A ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds, drying the dew that had long since settled on the stone steps of the dock.
Zhou Haisheng sat opposite him, took out the old bearing housing from his toolbox, and slowly felt the raceway with his fingers with his eyes closed.
This time he didn't miscount the model number.