Since I didn’t buy anything, I decided to go to the cafeteria for breakfast.

The cafeteria does provide breakfast. After all, there are many workers living at the pharmaceutical factory, and those in the dormitories cannot cook there.

By the time Wen Jiajia arrived at the cafeteria, it was already half past eight, and only cold porridge remained at the window.

“Comrade, are there any buns today?” Wen Jiajia asked, noticing a steamer with a towel used for steaming buns.

“Yes! There are big meat buns. But you came too late. At this time, you can’t even smell the steam from the wok,” the lady at the counter said with a smile.

Wen Jiajia sighed, “There’s nothing I can do. I don’t live in the factory.”

As she spoke, she asked the old lady to scoop her some hot porridge.

“Okay! Just a moment,” the old lady replied. She scooped the cold porridge from the bucket into a lunch box, took it to the back kitchen, and brought it out about four or five minutes later.

The lunch box was very hot, so Wen Jiajia borrowed a rag from the old lady and carried it to a table.

Then she went to serve herself some side dishes.

With the porridge, there was a side dish of pickled cabbage hearts and pickled cowpeas.

Wen Jiajia took out an oil-paper bag from her pocket and carefully sprinkled some meat floss into her porridge.

What is meat floss? It’s a dried, shredded meat product.

Wen Jiajia had bought it from Hao Qingying, but only a small amount, so she kept it for her time at the factory.

She planned to buy more to take home and make it herself.

Enjoying the porridge with meat floss, Wen Jiajia felt extremely satisfied.

There were not many people in the cafeteria. Several logistics staff were tidying up the tables and discussing the latest hot news—the explosion of a boiler at the chemical plant.

“Wow! I heard a loud bang the night before last. I was so scared I jumped out of bed. I thought the place had collapsed. My child was so frightened he cried and wet himself. He didn’t dare to sleep all night.”

“Your home is so far away, and you were scared? My niece works at the chemical plant. She lives in the dormitory next to the boiler room. Her ears were almost deafened by the explosion! She ran to my house that night and cried the entire time.”

“Hey, how did it explode?”

“It seems there was a blockage somewhere. We were working overtime that night, and who knew this would happen. The hospital corridors were packed with people, and even our factory’s infirmary was used to treat injuries. No one died on the spot, but there were several serious injuries. I’m not sure if they can be saved.”

“No wonder the factory leaders went to each workshop for an inspection early yesterday morning.”

“One day of inspection isn’t enough. They said inspections are scheduled for the next three days.”

“If you ask me, we should check every month. We only remember to inspect when something goes wrong. Anyway, we don’t have to worry about such things in the kitchen. We don’t even have gas here; we rely on firewood and coal.”

He said this with a hint of resentment, as he still had to chop wood in the cold weather.

Wen Jiajia listened to the news, washed her lunch box, and returned to the office.

When Sha Yue saw her coming back, she quickly handed her a newspaper and pointed to an article. “Look, there’s an article about our city’s chemical plant in the Workers’ Daily.”

Wen Jiajia took the newspaper and read it. It was well-written, but the author was unfortunately reporting on such a significant event.

Sha Yue touched her belly and said, “I just found out this morning that one of my classmates was injured in the explosion. He went to your hospital, and I don’t know how he is doing. Does your military hospital allow visitors?”

Wen Jiajia replied, “Take a rest; you’re pregnant.” She wasn’t afraid of the slippery roads, even on a snowy day.

“Besides,” she added, “you can visit family members, but not classmates. We can go in freely, but we have to register.”

Sha Yue sighed and sat back in her seat.

Wen Jiajia took her notebook and went to the next workshop. She needed to continue understanding the situation in the workshop.

In the entire sixth workshop, there were at most seven machines, two of which were on the verge of being scrapped.

“In fact, these should have been eliminated long ago. In 1963, two foreigners came to repair them and said they were antiques, suggesting we send them to a scrap yard. Instead, we put a lot of effort into repairing and patching them up, and used them for another 10 years,” Team Leader Wei sighed as he stroked the machine, feeling very emotional.

“As for the other five machines, each has exceeded its service life. I’m most worried that some parts might break down. These are all imported, and there are only so many parts. Once they are used up, they will be gone. That’s why our workshop pushes for new machines every year. Even if new machines aren’t available, we settle for new parts.”

Wen Jiajia thought, no wonder the people in the workshop treated the machines like their own children and cleaned them daily.

She suddenly had an idea and placed her hand on one of the machines.

After a few seconds, she moved her hand to another machine, then finally to the machine in the corner.

The light screen appeared, and Wen Jiajia’s breath caught for a moment.

What is synthesized?

Wen Jiajia was drawn to one of the options—the tablet press.

It was still a ZP-21W tablet press^[1]refers to a specific type of equipment used in various industrial or manufacturing settings..

She hadn’t worked in a related industry in her previous life, so she had no prior knowledge of the ZP-21W tablet press.

But the system was somewhat limited. It had a bracket behind the ZP-21W tablet press labeled “Made in China in 1980.”

In other words, this machine was definitely more advanced than the ones currently in the workshop.

Her breathing quickened. The ordinary golden finger had suddenly performed a powerful move. She was delighted but also a bit frightened.

But after just a few seconds of panic, everything calmed down again.

There was no point in panicking since she couldn’t quietly combine the old machines, nor could she acquire new ones.

So Wen Jiajia’s emotions quickly settled, at least on the surface. Only Xiao Lai next to her noticed something was off.

Xiao Lai looked puzzled. “Jia Jia, are you okay? You look like you can’t breathe.”

Wen Jiajia shook her head. “It’s nothing… I just remembered that the doors and windows at home might not be closed.”

Xiao Lai responded, “What’s the big deal? Don’t you live in the military family quarters outside the city? No thieves would come out there.”

That explanation made sense. With the cold weather, it was less concerning if the door was open, but the window being open was indeed worrying.

Wen Jiajia took her notebook back to the office. Her heart was pounding, and she wasn’t even in the mood to write her manuscript.

She became curious about where the obsolete machines in the factory were stored.

“Where are they? I don’t know. They were taken away when they were eliminated. They should be at the scrap collection station,” Sha Yue replied after thinking for a moment.

“But why do you ask?” Sha Yue added.

Wen Jiajia said, “I’m writing an article and want to see what the scrapped machines look like.”

Just then, Li Haijun turned around.

“Did Director Xue ask you to write it?” he asked.

Wen Jiajia was momentarily speechless and replied faintly, “No, I just like writing.”

Li Haijun seemed relieved. He said, “Some of the obsolete old machines are in the warehouse, while others have been taken away to be melted down and repurposed. The machines still in the warehouse are not entirely useless. If a part breaks down in a workshop, we can use parts from the obsolete machines as replacements.”

Wen Jiajia then asked, “When will the obsolete machines be removed?”

“We’ll have to wait at least two or three years. The last time I checked, it was two years ago. If someone manages to repair them, we might sell them to small factories.”

Wen Jiajia thought to herself that this was truly a case of making do with old equipment, just like mending clothes and passing them on to others.

She resolved to find a way to inspect the warehouse.

For a moment, Wen Jiajia sat with her pen in hand, lost in thought, staring blankly out the window.

In the afternoon, the sixth workshop underwent an inspection by factory leaders.

Wen Jiajia also saw Wei Dai’s friend, Director Song Jiacheng, among the inspecting leaders.

During the inspection, work in the workshop stopped, and all the workers gathered in the open space by the door.

After the inspection, the leader gave a speech.

The speech was straightforward and focused solely on safety, and everyone listened attentively.

About half an hour later, the group left.

Wen Jiajia had a new idea and quickly returned to the office to continue writing.

It took her three days to finish the manuscript, but she didn’t submit it right away. Instead, she applied to visit the warehouse under the pretext of researching for her article.

The warehouse was a restricted area, much like the kitchen, and entry was not permitted without authorization.

The pharmaceutical factory had six warehouses; four were in active use, while two smaller ones stored miscellaneous items like tables and chairs, where people often went to rest. In summer, these two warehouses were cool and comfortable for sleeping.

The warehouse storing machines was the largest and was under strict surveillance.

Wen Jiajia took the application form signed by Director Xue to the warehouse and presented it to the gatekeeper.

“Why do you need to look at old machines for your article?” the gatekeeper asked, puzzled. Nevertheless, he recorded Wen Jiajia’s visit, took the key, opened the door, and instructed, “Don’t touch anything or remove even a single screw.”

“Understood,” Wen Jiajia replied and entered.

Inside was beyond her expectations.

The 500-square-meter room was almost empty.

She finally understood why Director Xue had given her that look—her trip might have been in vain.

“It’s useless if it’s useless!” Wen Jiajia muttered to herself. Regardless, her primary goal was not to write the article.

She walked closer and examined each item.

There were obsolete tablet presses, water distillers, sugar coating machines, and more.

Wen Jiajia tried to synthesize the machines again. This time, she didn’t select a tablet press, so there was no tablet press among the three options, but there was a spray dryer.

This was also a valuable item, and in short supply in pharmaceutical factories.

Wen Jiajia felt a sense of satisfaction. Her golden finger had proved useful once more. She realized that selling production lines could be quite profitable in the future.

After trying all the machine combinations, she left the warehouse content.

The gatekeeper wondered what had made her so happy.

The next day, Wen Jiajia handed the manuscript to Director Xue for review.

By then, the investigation into the chemical plant explosion was still ongoing. Wen Jiajia’s article was of high quality and clearly addressed the hot topic.

Director Xue read it and nodded. “There’s nothing to worry about. Would you like me to send it for you, or do you prefer to send it yourself?”

Wen Jiajia quickly said, “I’ll mail it myself.” She preferred to avoid the mailroom, so she stopped by the post office on her way home that evening to send the letter.

When she got home, Wei Dai had already prepared dinner.

There were large packages next to the sofa. Wen Jiajia was curious and approached to take a look. “Are these from my hometown?”

Wei Dai replied, “They were sent by my eldest sister. She hopes I can get Wenzhu into the art troupe.”

“…Ah?”

Wei Dai explained, “Don’t pay attention to her. She does whatever she wants. The little girl is studying; why would she join an art troupe?”

***

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