A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Chapter 198 Swollen and red hands, holding up half the sky

Balizhuang.

Textile factory workshop.

The simply dressed female workers busied themselves back and forth, the spinning machines in front of them making a noisy sound.

"The workshop is special; we can't light the furnace for fear of a fire; and we can't wear gloves either, because if we put them on, we can't connect the wires!"

Workshop director Xu Jinhua sighed.

"The little girl's hands are like radishes, but she can't stop connecting wires. Some of them are so swollen that blood comes out as soon as the wire ends are wrapped around them."

"We're not afraid of bleeding, but if it gets stained with blood, that section of thread won't work, which is a waste!"

Jiang Xia glanced at Xu Jinhua's equally swollen hands and gritted his teeth.

After quickly measuring the workshop dimensions, it was discovered that a stove couldn't be placed inside, so it had to be placed outdoors. This resulted in insufficient pressure, necessitating the use of a pressure pump.

Once you install a pressure pump, the issue of sealing arises. Then there's the design of the pipe fittings and radiators—wow, it's not an easy task at all.

That's how mechanical products are; a small change can have far-reaching consequences, especially fluid dynamics design, which is the most troublesome.

The small heater that Tie Jun made definitely needs to be reworked.

After measuring this piece, move on to the next.

This workshop is a weaving workshop, where female workers move back and forth like butterflies flitting among flowers, a sight that is pleasing to the eye.

However, every female worker's head was covered with a dense layer of sweat.

Xu Jinhua pointed to a machine that had suddenly stopped: "It's stopped menstruating! What are you waiting for?!"

He ran straight to the loom, fiddled with it for a while, and then reconnected the broken threads one by one. The loom started working again.

A little girl finished working on the machine next to her and ran over, covered in sweat.

"Oh dear, this old machine is from my grandfather's generation. It broke the cord without me even noticing. I hadn't finished fixing the first one, and now the second one has broken..."

Xu Jinhua gave her a sharp tap on the forehead: "Others can tie 26 knots a minute, but you can only tie 14! Serious criticism!"

"You need to practice more when you get back!"

"Oh no, that was in the summer. In the summer I could hit 18! My fingers are swollen now, so it's hard to split the lanes!"

The little girl muttered to herself as she ran to another machine to fix the broken wire.

Jiang Xia stared at the little girl's hand, somewhat lost in thought.

What amazing hands these are!

The young girl was only in her early twenties, but her hands looked like the roots of an old tree weathered by time, red and swollen. Her fingers had long lost their original slenderness and dexterity, and the joints were like little bulging buns, red and shiny, with a shocking red color.

The fingertips, calluses formed from long-term contact with yarn and machines, now gleamed from the swollen skin. The edges of the calluses curled up due to dryness and cracking, resembling fragile scales.

As the thread ends were joined, the blood from the fingers stained a section of white thread red. With the back and forth movement of the loom, this slightly reddish thread was woven into the fabric.

"Oh dear!" the little girl exclaimed, quickly put her fingers in her mouth to suck them, and then ran to the other side to continue tying knots.

Xu Jinhua frowned. "Quickly mark the bloodstained areas. This batch of cloth is being sent to Big Brother's place, and the requirements are very strict!"

After Jiang Xia finished taking the measurements, several female workers gathered around and quickly cleaned up the bloodstained parts.

"Director, this won't do. The blood-stained areas are getting more and more numerous, but it's difficult for the girls to apply the medicine."

Xu Jinhua pursed her lips: "Wrap it with white tape. This batch of fabric needs to be delivered tomorrow, we can't wait!"

As she spoke, she took out a roll of duct tape, grabbed her daughter's hand, and put her fingers in her mouth to warm them.

Then, steeling her heart, she directly bound her daughter's arms. The little girl struggled a couple of times, but she couldn't resist her mother's strong binding.

"Mom! It hurts so much to tear off the tape!"

"Who told you to have so much blood? Go ahead and spill your blood, you know how strict Big Brother's testing procedures are!"

Looking at her hands, now completely wrapped in tape, the little girl shook them off and hurried towards another idle loom. "Foreigners are all bad!"

Wrapping the wound directly with adhesive tape? Why not use a gauze pad instead? How painful will it be to remove it?

Jiang Xia asked.

Xu Jinhua sighed: "It's too thick if it's wrapped up, there's not even a single loose thread to connect!"

"You can't even apply medicine?"

"Yes," Xu Jinhua replied calmly, "If it has a smell, an entire piece of cloth will be stained. This batch is all for export, so the requirements are high!"

"So, Comrade Jiang, can this heating system be installed?"

"Yes! Absolutely! Can I use the phone?"

Xu Jinhua nodded at the little guy with red eyes, "There are some in the office, go get them. I'll help out in the workshop, I won't keep you company!"

Without hesitation, Jiang Xia went to the textile factory office and called the technical department directly, explaining his requirements one by one.

Ma Zhendong, who was left behind, received a call, recorded the data, and scratched his head: "Xiao Jiang, everything else is easy to handle, it's just that there's a problem with this pressure pump."

"The newest one has been put into use on the 300-type rolling mill. The one that was replaced is no longer worth repairing; the blades are all deformed."

"It's alright, I'll figure something out. Pay attention to the sealing of the pipes and the thickness of the radiators. The batch that Tie Jun worked on earlier was a bit too thin; I'm worried it might cause problems. Let's just use the punch press; we urgently need it!"

"Alright! Let's go right away. The convoy from Quancheng hasn't left yet, so we can use the punch presses assigned to them first!"

"Okay! Let the factory manager coordinate and allocate some manpower first."

"Hey, right, weren't they in a huge hurry? Why haven't they set off yet?"

"Deputy Factory Director Li somehow got hold of a batch of liquor and got all the drivers drunk—it seems to be some kind of first-press liquor?"

Jiang Xia was awe-inspiring. Li Huaide, you're amazing, you actually dared to drink this.

However, it can be considered a meritorious deed. If these punch presses had been taken away, the production speed would definitely not have been so fast.

After finishing the call, I dug out the jar of badger oil from my storage space.

Upon arriving at the workshop, he shoved the oil into Xu Jinhua's hands, saying, "Auntie, this oil is great! Give it to all the older women. Although it has a smell, it's still better than ointment!"

"If it works well, I'll help you find some more."

This isn't just boasting. Wang Tie, who's currently drilling holes all over Northeast China, wrote to Jiangxia a few days ago. He first praised the durability of the small steel cannon, and then casually complimented the regular version of the pressure cooker, saying that this pot allows them to have a hot meal in the wild, which makes them feel incredibly happy.

“Even badger meat can be stewed until tender!” These are Wang Tie’s exact words.

"And get some more of those heat-generating bags, we don't have enough!" That's what they said.

If we've already eaten badger meat, how could we not have badger oil?

Since animals don't have animal rights these days, they can be abused as much as they want.

After delivering the goods, Jiang Xia grabbed Wang Kui and rushed to the Sijiucheng Pump Factory to see what problem had stumped the people there. He wanted to solve it so he could bring back the spoils to install the heating furnace.

It's possible to request a pump through the equipment department, but the process is too slow. If the manufacturer tells you that production capacity is limited, then you'll just have to wait.

Anyway, Jiang Xia couldn't wait a moment longer when he thought of those swollen, red hands.

Install it today, absolutely!