News that the factory was renting a car spread quickly. Everyone knew their factory had finally made it—it even had its own dedicated driver!

When the R&D team heard the news, they secretly resolved to work even harder.

They would build an extra machine to get the Factory Director her own car!

The children started school, and life at the factory returned to normal. 「A month later」, when Xie Changning was seven months pregnant, a call came from Mr. Wang and Director Zhao.

"The foreign junk has finally returned home from its trip abroad!"

’The things I wanted are finally here!’ Xie Changning was thrilled.

"Xiao Xie, you’d better prepare a large space. Otherwise, you won’t be able to fit all of this!"

Director Zhao’s words overjoyed Xie Changning. She immediately had people clear out the yard behind the Anong County Machinery Factory.

’This foreign junk is all treasure to me!’

As truck after truck rolled into the yard, the workers were too distracted to focus on their jobs. The technical deputy director simply gave them a half-day off and told them to help organize the backyard instead.

They were to sort all the scrap metal and stack it neatly.

Around twenty truckloads of scrap metal were unloaded in the backyard of the Anong County Machinery Factory.

Director Zhao, who had followed in his car, said to Xie Changning in high spirits, "This is just the beginning. There’s a lot more on the way! Probably another forty or fifty truckloads of scrap. I hope you don’t mind all this junk!"

Some countries thought China was just collecting garbage, so they joined in and sold some of their scrap metal as well.

Even though their scrap might not be useful, Director Zhao operated on a "just in case" principle and accepted it all.

"Of course, Director Zhao! I’ll ’digest’ all this scrap metal as fast as I can and turn it into one big machine after another!" Xie Changning said, her eyes fixed on the huge, rust-mottled hulks, unable to look away.

’This is all the treasure I need!’

’With all this junk, I can save so much on labor!’

"Excellent!"

"Director Zhao, I won’t keep you. I’m going to have the workers start sorting this scrap metal for me!"

The sight of all this material made Xie Changning so absorbed that she completely forgot about Director Zhao, throwing herself heart and soul into the piles of scrap metal.

Hearing this, Director Zhao wasn’t offended. He simply told her to go about her business; he would leave when he was ready, and she shouldn’t worry about him.

Director Zhao stood at the yard’s entrance, watching as Xie Changning directed the workers to sort various items and set them aside.

Then, she had a few people haul several large pieces into a vacant workshop.

The workers were like obedient drones, doing exactly as Xie Changning commanded. In no time at all, a small section was already sorted.

Seeing this, Director Zhao felt reassured and turned to leave.

After Director Zhao left, Xie Changning breathed a sigh of relief. "With him here, I felt I had to be a bit more restrained when giving orders."

"Sort these few items out and help me get them to my house. I’m going to assemble a small section at home tonight."

Her words left the workers a little surprised.

’Who would’ve thought? Our Director is such a workaholic she even takes machines home to assemble!’

Wang Guofu frowned and glanced at Xie Changning’s belly. "Changning, you... your belly is so big now. You really must take better care of yourself!" ’She can’t just lose herself in work like this!’

Hearing this, Xie Changning shook her head. "It’s fine. I know my limits."

In truth, the items she was having moved to her house were all things she planned to repair in her personal space.

Her space had changed dramatically. Although the laboratory itself was still dilapidated, the workbench had reached Level 4 and could now be used to repair and assemble some machine components.

The parts she was having sent to her house were all damaged components.

Only after being repaired on the workbench could they be used again.

Wang Guofu couldn’t change her mind, so he could only watch as Xie Changning had the components for three tricycles hauled to her home.

Once the components arrived at her house, Xie Changning promptly skipped out on work to go home and start repairs.

She left Wang Guofu in charge of everything at the factory.

Wang Guofu exclaimed, "Aren’t you going a bit too far?! You’re the director!"

"Uncle Wang, to the able go the labors. I’m counting on you!"

Xie Changning couldn’t wait to see what the components would look like once they were repaired!

What others didn’t know was that Xie Changning’s family ate white rice every day. The rice was milled from paddy she grew in her personal space; it was sweet, delicious, and nutrient-rich.

Pollution-free and with zero additives.

Having eaten rice from her space for some time now, Xie Changning clearly felt her body had become more resistant to fatigue.

She had boundless energy every day!

Especially when paired with the space’s Spiritual Spring, even though she was pregnant, both she and the baby in her womb were incredibly healthy and strong.

Back home, Xie Changning eagerly had the workers place everything in the spare room she had cleared out for herself—or, as she called it, her "workshop!"

Seeing how passionate their director was about her work, no one else dared to ask any more questions.

They were afraid she might ask if they had workshops in their own homes.

Once the components were in place, Xie Changning sent the workers away. She then entered her workshop and, with a casual wave of her hand...

...the components in the workshop vanished instantly, teleported directly into the laboratory in her personal space.

She walked to the door and silently recited a phrase: "I’m your daddy!"

The scene shifted, and Xie Changning found herself in a verdant green space. On a nearby lawn, chickens, ducks, geese, cows, and sheep grazed freely. To one side of the pasture were the farmlands she had neatly arranged.

Directly across from the lawn stood her laboratory, warehouse, and other buildings.

Xie Changning had a wealth of assets in her space, but with the current strict social climate, she only ever took things out stealthily.

She didn’t do it often, so taking out an occasional item wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

After all, she was from Shanghai, was said to come from a well-off family, and was a university student. It was perfectly normal for someone like her to have a few rare things.

(This was all part of the workers’ self-rationalization: as long as they didn’t know, their director would be safe!)

Xie Changning followed the path to the laboratory. Pushing the door open, she saw the components resting in the items area.

In high spirits, she maneuvered a component onto the workbench.

[Repair damaged component 1?]

Below it were two options.

Because all the components were damaged, the laboratory had simply and crudely named them 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.

Only after a successful repair would they receive a proper name.

Xie Changning clicked the "Yes" button. A misty light flared, and a repair countdown appeared on the screen: 4:59.

Xie Changning sat down on a chair and waited patiently.

As time ticked by, she grew bored and went over to organize the design table.

The blueprints on it were for a computer prototype that Xie Changning had designed the previous night.

While she was tidying up, she heard the chime of completion. Turning around, she saw a brand-new component sitting on the workbench. Its surface was smooth, completely free of mottled rust, and bore the words [Honeycomb Core Structure].