Chapter 36

Early the next morning, everyone gathered in a factory building that had been cleared out in advance. Around them, several large crates were already piled up.

Officer Li divided the group into teams and handed each team a stack of papers. These papers contained drawings of the main types of parts they would be sorting. Their task was to take the mixed-up parts from the crates and categorize them according to the diagrams, organizing them properly.

Wu Xiaoxiao and her team took their assigned papers and stood in front of their designated crate, inspecting its contents.

The wooden crate, about two meters long, was a chaotic mess of various parts—nuts, washers, and other metal components whose purposes weren’t immediately clear.

“This huge pile of stuff all mixed together… How long will it take to sort everything?” Tian Zhuang muttered under his breath.

“And these are all foreign goods,” Gu Zhenghong said angrily. “Yet they were shipped here like garbage, all thrown together.” He wanted to kick the crate in frustration but held back.

Seeing the expressions of indignation on the young workers’ faces, Officer Li couldn’t help but feel the same way. How could they not be upset? This was outright mistreatment. These parts had been purchased through difficult negotiations, with great effort from both the factory and provincial leadership.

But this was the reality they faced. Despite having their own agricultural machinery factories, they still couldn’t manufacture many critical components domestically and had to rely on imports.

What counted as a critical component? It wasn’t just engines or precision bearings— even essential screws and nuts required specialized steel to be effective.

Without the right materials, machines that should last ten years might only function for three. That’s why even seemingly minor components needed to be imported.

Lacking the necessary technology, they had no choice but to rely on others. Without a complete industrial chain, they had to seek external support. This was the situation they faced.

These parts had been exchanged for large quantities of agricultural products—money saved from people’s mouths to earn the foreign exchange needed to buy them.

Yet even so, the suppliers hadn’t taken care in handling the shipment. Whether by neglect or deliberate sabotage, the parts had been casually packed into flimsy cardboard boxes without waterproofing or shock protection. After traveling across the ocean, the contents had become a jumbled mess.

Initially, at least some parts were still in their original boxes, but customs workers, unaware of the situation, discarded the damaged packaging as waste. As a result, all the components were now completely mixed together.

When the crates arrived at the factory, everyone was stunned.

Sorting through these parts was a daunting task. The workers didn’t even know what many of them were for. The manuals were entirely in a foreign language, and even the most experienced factory workers could only make partial guesses based on their knowledge.

The factory had struggled with this problem for a long time before hearing that an agricultural machinery expert, Professor Lu, was currently assigned to manual labor in Wujia Village.

Yesterday, as soon as Professor Lu arrived at the factory, he went straight to the drafting department. Today, the parts in these crates had been pre-selected by him as the easiest to sort. Officer Li felt a sense of relief.

With Professor Lu’s guidance, this batch of agricultural machinery parts would be put to good use and not go to waste.

While Officer Li was lost in thought, the young workers had already started sorting. No matter how frustrating the situation was, the work still had to be done.

But they quickly realized that sorting the parts was much harder than they had expected.

Unlike photos, the diagrams on their papers were technical drawings. Dozens of different parts were illustrated on the sheets, but the workers weren’t familiar with them. When they pulled a part from the crate, they had no idea where it belonged.

Comparing it to the diagrams wasn’t easy either. One part looked similar to another—how could they tell which one it was?

Some workers even started arguing over which category a particular part belonged to, unable to convince each other.

They had never been trained in technical drawing and had no concept of translating a 2D diagram into a 3D object in their minds.

Amidst the hesitant group, Wu Xiaoxiao stood out.

She had carefully studied the diagrams earlier, memorizing the shapes of the dozens of parts.

Now, as she pulled each part from the crate, she could instantly identify its category.

She took a piece of chalk from the windowsill and drew labeled boxes on the floor. Each part she found went into its corresponding box.

The others watched in astonishment. She was so confident—was she really getting everything right? And how could she do it so quickly?

Gu Zhenghong was the first to ask, “Xiaoxiao, you really understand these diagrams? Why is this one a number 3?”

He pointed at a connecting rod Wu Xiaoxiao had just placed.

Wu Xiaoxiao took his diagram and explained, “There are five similar connecting rods on this sheet—numbers 3, 7, 12, 17, and 25. You can see that they have distinct differences.

“Three of them are short connecting rods, but number 17 has a forked structure—clearly not this one. Number 25 is much longer, and this one is definitely not the longest in the crate.

“That leaves three possibilities. Numbers 7 and 12 have a locking mechanism at the ends, which this one lacks. That means it must be number 3.

“And if we double-check, the full structure of number 3’s drawing matches this part exactly.”

She handed both the part and the diagram to Gu Zhenghong for him to study further.

Tian Zhuang sighed, “I don’t get any of this. This is way harder than telling crops apart in the fields. I’ll just be your assistant, Xiaoxiao. That way, you don’t have to run around so much. Just tell me the number, and I’ll place it for you.”

“Me too! I’ll help!” two others chimed in. Just looking at the diagrams was giving them a headache—they’d rather assist Xiaoxiao than struggle on their own.

Wu Xiaoxiao nodded. “Alright. Tian Zhuang, mark a separate box as ‘miscellaneous.’ Some parts don’t seem to be listed in these diagrams, so we’ll set them aside.”

She wasn’t shy about accepting help. With others running back and forth, their sorting speed would be much faster.

And so, with her calling out part numbers and the others placing them accordingly, the first crate was quickly sorted.

Meanwhile, Gu Zhenghong was still comparing the part with the diagram. He was naturally bright, and he didn’t want to just follow instructions—he wanted to understand how to classify the parts himself.

Wu Xiaoxiao’s explanation had given him valuable insights. But even with that guidance, he wasn’t quite able to apply her method on his own just yet.