After settling things with the experts, Director Li brought the two back to his office. "Thank goodness for Comrade Xiao Xie. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have known what to do."

He sighed.

He had almost completely offended the experts from the United States. If that had happened, wouldn’t the United States have washed their hands of our machines in the future?

’At that point, I would have become a traitor to China!’

Xie Changning shook her head. "It wasn’t your fault. Someone just didn’t translate correctly."

The mere mention of the translator made Director Li fume.

He had specifically instructed Vice Factory Director Lin to find the best possible translator. And what did he get?!

"I’ll get to the bottom of this. If he wasn’t worth the price, I’m going to ask Old Lin just where the money for the translator went!" Director Li’s expression darkened.

’I absolutely cannot allow parasites like that in my factory!’

Once that matter was settled, Director Li turned to Xie Changning. "I heard that Comrade Xiao Xie’s field is aeronautics, with a focus on military preparedness. I never expected you to be so knowledgeable about machine tools as well."

Of course, Xie Changning wasn’t about to tell them that she had majored in three different subjects in her previous life.

In this era, schools didn’t allow students to have minors; everyone could only focus on a single major.

"Well... the underlying principles are more or less the same, so I just happened to stumble into it." Xie Changning offered a vague excuse. To her, they really were more or less the same.

But her excuse meant something entirely different to Director Li.

He came from a technical background. While the principles might seem similar, the slightest difference could affect a machine’s performance!

Director Li looked at Xie Changning with the expression of someone who had just discovered a rare talent.

"I recall that Comrade Xiao Xie is mainly in charge of R&D at the Chuncheng Screw Factory, is that right?"

The moment Director Li spoke, Wang Lisheng sensed something was up. ’He’s after something!’

Wang Lisheng immediately stepped between them, pushing them apart. "That’s right! Xiao Xie is exhausted from her R&D work every day. If I hadn’t dragged her along, she wouldn’t have even known about this."

"So, you really ought to thank me."

’If you really have a conscience, don’t you dare try to poach our factory’s treasure!’

Director Li gave Wang Lisheng a faint smile, the corners of his lips curling up slightly. "Lisheng, we’re sister factories, aren’t we?"

Wang Lisheng grew even more vigilant.

"And sister factories should help each other for their mutual benefit. Now that your factory has such a talented person, you should help out your sister factory, shouldn’t you?" Director Li said, stepping around Wang Lisheng. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Xiao Xie, would you be interested in becoming a technical consultant for our Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory?"

With Xie Changning as a consultant, he was certain she could solve eighty percent of the machine-related problems in the factory.

’Don’t ask me how I know. It’s just a gut feeling!’

"Is there a salary?" Xie Changning asked curiously.

’I want to expand my personal ’space,’ and the screw factory alone isn’t enough. Now that the machine tool factory is offering me a consultant position, how can I refuse?’

So, she cut right to the compensation.

"Of course! The technical consultant gets a monthly salary of 42.68 yuan. What do you think...?"

"As long as you can convince Director Zhao, I have no objection."

Wang Lisheng turned his head and gave Xie Changning a mournful look, as if staring at a heartless woman who’d just betrayed him.

Xie Changning gave him a reassuring smile. After finishing her conversation with Director Li, she left the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory with Wang Lisheng.

The moment they were out of the factory, Wang Lisheng put on a stern face. "I’m mad!"

"Brother Wang, which factory supplies the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory with its screws right now?" She remembered seeing some contracts, and none of them were with the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory.

Hearing this, Wang Lisheng’s eyes instantly lit up.

’A fresh mind really works wonders!’

The Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory’s demand for screws was actually huge. They always worked with large screw factories in neighboring provinces. His screw factory was only a small-to-medium-sized operation, so it couldn’t meet the demand...

But things were different now!

Even if he couldn’t meet the full demand, the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory would still give him a portion of their screw orders. After all, Xie Changning was the vice factory director of the Chuncheng Screw Factory.

’If not for our sake, they’ll do it for hers!’

Wang Lisheng cheered up. "Changning, you’ve really got a sharp mind! You know just how to revitalize our factory. Big brother is no match for you!"

"Not at all. I owe my success today to you, Brother Wang!"

Wang Lisheng was the one who first discovered Xie Changning’s talent, so she was more than happy to help him out in return.

This wasn’t just something Xie Changning said to make Wang Lisheng feel better; she genuinely intended to do it.

The two got in the car, returned to the screw factory, and went back to work.

When the two returned to the factory, Li Guodong grabbed Wang Lisheng and couldn’t help but ask about what happened at the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory. "How did it go? Did the experts calm down? We absolutely can’t let them hang up while they’re angry! If they hang up angry, they’ll definitely wash their hands of us!"

’The repercussions are too great. We can’t afford to offend the experts!’

"No, no, don’t worry. Changning handled everything." Wang Lisheng then explained to Li Guodong what had happened at the Machine Tool Factory.

Li Guodong was dumbfounded as he listened.

He never imagined Xie Changning had that kind of skill.

"I always thought Changning’s specialty was just the stuff for our factory. I had no idea she also knew about machine tools! That’s incredible!"

Wang Lisheng nodded and gave a thumbs-up in admiration.

While the two were talking, Xie Changning was in her lab, conducting experiments.

She didn’t emerge from the lab until the end of the workday.

Stepping out of the lab, Xie Changning carried some scrap metal toward her small courtyard.

Xie Changning did this often, so everyone was used to it and didn’t find it strange.

When she got inside the small building, she immediately pushed the door open and announced—"I am your father!"

The scrap metal in her hands automatically transformed into refined iron materials and piled up to one side.

Her second crop of rice had also ripened, but unfortunately, she had no place to store it. She could only put off harvesting it for now. Thankfully, leaving it unharvested in the space wouldn’t have any negative effects.

Walking over to the workbench, Xie Changning looked at the screw options on it.

Under the premium screw options, there were two items: Torx T10-T40 and Titanium Alloy AN Series Bolts.

Of these two, Xie Changning had already developed the latter. In the future, when the aerospace sector had a need for them, their factory would be listed as a partner manufacturer.

The former model was one Xie Changning needed to develop next.

This type of screw was mainly used in car transmissions and camera bodies.

Of course, there was another model Xie Changning was preparing for the screw factory to put into production later: the Dacromet M10 bolt.

The more types of screws the factory could produce, the more partner companies they would have.

...

"These are... the screw models our factory needs to produce in the future?" Wang Lisheng asked, looking at the plan Xie Changning had written.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make these screws, but they didn’t have the molds for them in the factory!

Sensing what Wang Lisheng was thinking, Xie Changning spoke up, "I can make the molds. We can put them into production after that."