Chapter 47: True Talent Hides Itself

Although the two workers were speaking in low voices, Liao Jingsheng, Li Heshan, and Hu Ping were standing right beside them and naturally heard everything clearly.

Glancing at Li Heshan, whose mouth was agape, Liao Jingsheng couldn’t help but sigh, “Company Commander, I really have to hand it to you. You can just casually find such an impressive college student to give us a lesson. Tsk tsk, looks like there’s no way I’ll be able to get out of that dinner I owe you tonight!”

Though Li Heshan was full of questions, he couldn’t possibly refuse when he heard there’d be drinks. He chuckled, “Old Liao, as long as you know how amazing I am! I—”

Before Li Heshan could finish, something changed over by the quenching station, forcing him to swallow his words.

They saw Zhao Guoyang carefully clamp the red-hot workpiece and gently immerse it into the quenching solution. Then, turning to Ning Xiaohong, he said, “Director Ning, could you adjust the furnace temperature for me? Set it to 625°C, please, we’ll need it soon.”

“All right!” At this point, Ning Xiaohong was completely obedient to Zhao Guoyang’s instructions. Seeing the workpiece begin to cool, she hurried over to adjust the furnace temperature as requested.

Anyone with some technical knowledge knew that steel’s specific heat capacity was very low, only about one-twelfth that of water at room temperature (25°C). In other words, for equal masses of steel and water, the heat absorbed or released per degree of temperature change is roughly in a 1:12 ratio, meaning steel’s temperature changes much faster.

With the added effect of the quenching solution, Zhao Guoyang’s workpiece only needed to be immersed for about a minute before the quenching was complete.

Zhao Guoyang carefully observed the surface of the workpiece, and when it seemed ready, he immediately removed it from the quenching solution with the clamp and handed it to Ning Xiaohong, who was waiting nearby with another clamp.

“Director Ning, the next step is tempering. This might take a while—we can take turns if you like,” Zhao Guoyang said with a slight smile.

“No need, I can manage alone!” Ning Xiaohong replied, though she had no idea what “tempering” entailed, nor how long she’d need to keep turning the workpiece with the clamps. But with so many people watching, how could she admit defeat?

Seeing her stubbornness, Zhao Guoyang couldn’t help but smile. In fact, tempering was no less demanding than quenching; it would last half an hour. The workpiece wasn’t especially heavy, but at around ten pounds, holding it aloft with both hands for so long would be tiring.

But Zhao Guoyang had already gotten a good sense of Director Ning’s character and wouldn’t immediately contradict her; he simply let things proceed.

After about ten minutes, just as Ning Xiaohong’s arms were growing numb and she was reaching her limit, a pair of strong hands supported her arms.

“Director Ning, please prepare a clean table and a high-powered fan—we’ll need air cooling for the second quenching in a bit,” Zhao Guoyang said calmly.

Ning Xiaohong realized Zhao Guoyang was giving her an out. Her cheeks flushed, she nodded slightly and stepped aside.

Half an hour later, the tempering was finally done. Zhao Guoyang steadily placed the workpiece onto the clean table that Ning Xiaohong had prepared, then signaled for her to turn on the fan.

Air cooling is slower than water cooling, but far more convenient.

When all was done, Zhao Guoyang inspected the workpiece, nodded in satisfaction, and called out to Liao Jingsheng, “All right, Director Liao, it’s finished!”

“Engineer Zhao, you’re remarkable—absolutely remarkable!” Liao Jingsheng approached with excitement, gripping Zhao’s hands tightly.

“You flatter me, Director Liao. These are just some basic quenching techniques,” Zhao Guoyang replied modestly. “To be honest, during my university holidays, I spent a long time interning at a large machinery plant in the neighboring province, so I’m fairly familiar with this sort of thing.”

“No wonder you’re a college graduate—you’ve got both theory and practice. Truly talented!” Liao Jingsheng praised, still holding Zhao Guoyang’s hand, then turned to Ning Xiaohong. “Xiaohong, what do you think? Are you convinced now?”

Though Ning Xiaohong had already been won over, she wasn’t about to admit defeat so soon. With her head down, she murmured, “Comrade Zhao is indeed impressive, but it still depends on the actual performance of the workpiece. If it’s really better than our factory’s previous products, then… then I’ll concede!”

“You, always so stubborn,” Liao Jingsheng said with a smile, wagging a finger at her. In truth, it was this very tenacious and inquisitive nature that made her his favorite apprentice. Otherwise, there were other candidates at the factory with higher qualifications; why else would he have chosen to mentor a young woman with only a technical school diploma?

While Liao Jingsheng was “scolding” his beloved student, Hu Ping and Li Heshan came over to give Zhao Guoyang a good-natured hard time.

“Little Zhao, that wasn’t very fair of you. You’ve been a college graduate all along and kept it hidden. What, were you worried you’d scare us old timers?” Hu Ping grinned.

“That’s right, little Zhao, you really kept yourself under wraps. We almost let Old Liao get one over on us! Come on, tell us all your secrets!” Li Heshan said boisterously.

“That’s right, don’t keep anything from us!” Hu Ping chimed in.

“Oh, I’m just an ordinary college student, nothing special,” Zhao Guoyang replied, waving his hand, all the while thinking, Old friends, this is for your own good. If I told you all my secrets, you might be too shocked to speak.

At that moment, the two workers who had been chatting by the fan called out.

“Engineer Zhao, it’s done, the temperature’s completely down!”

“All right, I’m coming!” Zhao Guoyang quickly freed himself from Hu Ping and Li Heshan and hurried over.

“I’ll go have a look too!” said Ning Xiaohong to Liao Jingsheng, leaving him behind to follow Zhao.

Putting on his gloves and picking up the freshly-made workpiece with the clamp, Zhao Guoyang couldn’t help but shake his head. Although the quenching, tempering, and second quenching had all gone smoothly, limited technique meant it still wasn’t perfect.

By Zhao Guoyang’s usual high standards, this piece was only barely qualified. But in the eyes of the two experienced workers, it was flawless.

One stared in amazement at the smooth, spotless surface and exclaimed, “Incredible! Absolutely incredible—not a single blemish!”

“That’s right! And not only are there no blemishes, the surface gloss is so much brighter than our usual products. It could go straight out the door with just a coat of paint, practically no need for polishing!” the other worker nodded in agreement.