"What are you ’ah’-ing about? We’re going to sleep!"

Xie Changning shot him an exasperated glare, then lifted her feet out of the footbath.

Yue Yihan effortlessly picked up the towel, dried Xie Changning’s feet, then carried the footbath away to empty it.

...

Perhaps because it was their first night sleeping in the same bed, neither of them slept well. Xie Changning was a blanket hog, and Yue Yihan was too keyed up. In the end, they both went to work the next morning with dark circles under their eyes.

When Yue Yihan arrived at the base, his young recruits all let out a long, drawn-out "Ooooh..."

They were all teasing Yue Yihan.

"What are you ’ooh’-ing about? All of you, go run ten laps! Now!" Yue Yihan snapped, immediately assigning them their training.

This time, the young recruits stopped their "ooh"-ing and let out a collective, mournful "Aaaawww...?"

At the base, Yue Yihan was teased by his fellow officers.

Meanwhile, back at the factory, Xie Changning was being fussed over by her older colleagues.

"Changning, you don’t look like you slept well. If you can’t sleep, you shouldn’t force yourself to stay in the marital bedroom. Just sleep in your old room."

"Your health is the most important thing, you know?"

Faced with everyone’s warm concern, Xie Changning nodded. "Don’t worry, I know." ’It was just that... on their wedding night, it felt wrong not to sleep in the marital bedroom.’

’She had figured that since they weren’t going to be doing anything intimate, she might as well sleep there.’

And the result—

Neither of them got a wink of sleep.

’It looked like they couldn’t sleep together for the time being. They’d have to sleep in separate rooms.’

After fussing over Xie Changning’s health, everyone got back to their tasks. Meanwhile, Xie Changning’s research and development project was already in its final stages.

Construction on the new factory building was also underway.

Of course, before the new building was completed, Director Wang Lisheng gave Xie Changning a daunting task. "Our factory has been selected by Beijing to participate in the Summer Factory Skills Competition. As newcomers making our debut, I want you to represent our Chuncheng Screw Factory."

"Just by myself?"

"No. I’ll be going with you, along with two other Level 5 Machinists."

Hearing this, Xie Changning breathed a sigh of relief. "Brother Wang, you gave me a scare. For a second there, I thought you were sending me by myself!"

’She knew they wouldn’t do that, but the way he’d phrased it certainly made it sound that way!’

"Ah, I’m just so thrilled I can’t think straight!"

The Beijing Skills Competition... That was an event only the major domestic factories could enter, the pillars of the nation’s industry, like the Hongqi plants.

Now that his little factory could participate, how could he not be ecstatic?

And it was all thanks to Xie Changning!

Those titanium alloy screws were just that important!

"Alright, I’ll start preparing. Director, I’ll need information on the competition’s format and schedule from previous years, as well as the specific events for the screw factory category."

"You got it!"

The prospect of competing made Xie Changning feel her blood sing with excitement once more.

’A competition! This was great!’

’Getting a good result would be the perfect way to make a name for herself with the higher-ups!’

Just as Xie Changning was about to dive into her new production work, Director Li from the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory arrived with some men in tow. Carrying a briefcase and pushing a classic roadster bicycle, he stopped in front of Xie Changning. "Xiao Xie, you’ve got to help our factory!"

The moment he saw Director Li, a sense of foreboding washed over Wang Lisheng.

He fixed Director Li with a hard stare. "What problem could you possibly have that requires Xiao Xie’s help? I’m telling you, she’s representing our Screw Factory at the competition in Beijing!"

’The Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory can just forget about it!’

"Old Wang, we’re sister factories! You can’t hog all the good stuff for yourself!"

Director Li just chuckled, completely ignoring Wang Lisheng’s words as he turned to Xie Changning. "Since Xiao Xie is already participating in the Beijing skills competition, she can’t leave our Machine Tool Factory behind!"

"I guarantee that if Xiao Xie competes for us, I’ll give your factory the entire contract for our machine tool screws for the next six months. How about it?"

This was a huge offer—an order worth hundreds of thousands!

His factory had only ever received a handful of orders that large!

It had to be said, Wang Lisheng was tempted. He looked at Xie Changning. "Changning, are you physically up for it? If not, then we’ll just..." ’...pull out of the screw factory competition!’ he thought.

Before Wang Lisheng could finish, Xie Changning nodded.

"I can do it. It won’t be a problem."

Xie Changning didn’t plan on competing hands-on for the machine tool factory; she could act as the overall commander.

"I won’t be doing the hands-on work myself. Director Li, you’ll have to provide me with a team of four to five people. I’ll lead them to the competition." Xie Changning was well aware of her physical limits.

She wasn’t going to overexert herself.

Seeing that Xie Changning had no intention of refusing, Director Li was overjoyed. He nodded eagerly. "Deal! Finding the people is no problem at all!"

Having committed to the two competitions, Xie Changning threw herself into the preparations.

In the mornings, she was at the Screw Factory, supervising the team making molds.

In the afternoons, she would go to the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory to get in sync with her new team members.

The team members weren’t familiar with Xie Changning’s skills. All they knew was that their factory had a young, brilliant technical consultant.

But as for how brilliant, they had no idea. They’d never seen her in action.

"Consultant Xie," the man in the lead said with a grin, "everyone says you’re brilliant, but we’ve never seen it for ourselves. How about you give us a little demonstration?"

’How could they be expected to take orders from her if they’d never even seen what she could do?’

Xie Changning understood what he was getting at. "I don’t have a problem with that. I just can’t move the heavy pieces. I can work on a part of the mold, the section a machinist would be responsible for."

As she spoke, she looked toward a Level 6 machinist from the Chuncheng Machine Tool Factory.

The machinist nodded and brought out his half-finished mold. Xie Changning looked at him. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll slip with my file and ruin your precious mold?"

"Haha, since Consultant Xie is so confident, it’s only right that I have confidence in you too."

Even as he said it, his eyes kept drifting back to his mold.

It would be a lie to say the thought didn’t make him anxious, but he had to see what she was capable of.

The Level 6 machinist wasn’t on the competition team. He was just here to watch the show and test the waters of Xie Changning’s abilities.

"Alright!" Xie Changning looked at the mold and got to work.

The moment she started, it was clear she was a true expert. The angle, the pressure she applied with her file—it all made the machinist nod repeatedly in approval. But most importantly, she was both fast and precise.

With just a few strokes of the file, a perfect arc took shape.

The tolerance was within a hundredth of a millimeter.

The machinist instantly shot up from his seat. He hurried over to the mold. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed this young woman could possess such incredible skill!

’From the looks of it, her skills were on par with a Level 6 machinist, at the very least!’

Director Li chose this moment to step in and smooth things over. "It’s not that Consultant Xie can’t do other types of work. It’s just that Xiao Xie is pregnant, so it’s not convenient for her to be in the main workshop."

At these words, the way everyone looked at Xie Changning changed completely.

"I’m not standing here just to win our country’s prize money," she said. "I’m aiming for the World Skills Olympics!"