Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 357

"for you."

He Yuzhu squinted, reached out to get water, grabbed her hand and held it tightly, not letting go. He then took the teacup with his other hand and pulled her to sit down.

"Come on, talk to me."

Xu Xiaomei's face had already turned red with embarrassment. She struggled to pull her hand away and exclaimed:

"You scoundrel brother-in-law, if you keep doing this I'll tell your sister."

Chapter 261 Going on a Blind Date

Taking advantage of He Yuzhu's momentary lapse in attention, Xu Xiaomei pulled her hand away, glared at him, and turned to leave.

He Yuzhu clicked his tongue, still got a temper!

Drinking strong tea didn't sober me up; instead, I drifted off to sleep in a daze.

When I woke up, I found that I had an extra blanket on me. The only person who could come into the room was Xu Xiaomei, so it seems that she still knows how to care about me.

The next day, Factory Director Niu brought three technicians over, and the two sides began to cooperate. He Yuzhu also took out his own drawings, and they simply copied them.

Next, select one person to examine the existing technical personnel and then confirm what parts the machine factory can produce, while the rest will be produced by the machine factory.

After observing for so long, He Yuzhu found that the two best apprentices were Zhang Peng and Liu Tao.

He would bring the two of them with him when he was making key parts, and he would explain things to them carefully.

While he was in the workshop giving a lesson, Xu Xiaomei came to the workshop door and called out, "Director He, I have your phone number."

"Coming."

He Yuzhu agreed first, then took off his gloves and turned to leave the workshop.

Back in his office, he picked up the phone: "Hello, this is He Yuzhu."

"Master He, I'm Xiao Zhang from the steel rolling mill."

"So it's Secretary Zhang. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Master He, it's like this. Director Yang has returned. You asked about him before, and he said he would give you a call when he gets back."

He Yuzhu slapped his forehead. Director Yang wasn't there at the time, and that was indeed the message he left.

We wanted to ask Director Yang for some assistance, but the situation has already improved significantly.

However, if we could get some mid- to high-level workers from Director Yang, that would be the icing on the cake and would also speed up the production of machine tools.

"Okay, then I'll trouble Secretary Zhang to make the arrangements. I need Director Yang's help with something."

"No problem, is it okay if you can find the time at 4 PM?"

"Of course, I'll be there on time."

He Yuzhu hung up the phone and went back to work. In the afternoon, he arrived at the steel rolling mill a little early.

I chatted with Secretary Zhang for a while, and then was invited into the office inside.

After Secretary Zhang brought the tea, Director Yang asked:

"Master He, I heard that your neighborhood has set up a machine factory that can produce lathes?"

It wasn't surprising that Director Yang knew there was a machinery factory on the street, but it still surprised He Yuzhu that he knew about lathe production so soon after returning.

"I didn't expect you to know this too. It's true that they can produce lathes."

Factory Director Yang looked He Yuzhu carefully, and seeing that he didn't seem guilty, he said after a moment:

"I really didn't expect that you could actually open a machine factory."

Director Yang's words were somewhat poignant, as such a task would have been impossible for anyone else.

Not only have they trained dozens of apprentices, but any master could have independently reverse-engineered the blueprints, completed the verification, and successfully produced the product. This is something that would be very difficult to do without a team.

He Yuzhu completed it quietly on his own. After returning, he heard about it from other sources and then called Director Niu to verify it.

The other party assured him that the rumors Director Yang had heard were true.

This made Director Yang look at He Yuzhu with even greater respect.

In any industry, reaching the top requires putting in 10 times the effort of an average person.

It's quite surprising that He Yuzhu, at such a young age, could become a first-class cook.

What's even more surprising now is that he has an extraordinary talent for mechanics.

"I never thought I could do this."

Factory Director Yang then asked about some details, as well as the matter concerning Li Huaide from last time.

He Yuzhu had already said that he wouldn't tell anyone on his own initiative, but since Director Yang asked, there was no need to keep it a secret for Li Huaide.

Factory Director Yang didn't say much, just said, "Since you can produce lathes, why don't we cooperate?"

He Yuzhu asked, "How would you like to collaborate?"

"Of course we lack lathes, but we also have other machine tools."

He Yuzhu said, "No problem, we can cooperate in production."

They were able to cooperate with the Beijing Machinery Factory for production, and of course, they could also cooperate with the steel rolling mill.

He Yuzhu is currently short of intermediate and senior skilled workers, and only by cooperating with steel rolling mills can he have enough manpower.

Factory Director Yang said, "Okay, you can have us produce some of the more critical components, and then you can assemble them."

The main business of the steel rolling mill is steel production. Although it also has various machine tools, they are not its main business.

They had no interest in producing machine tools for resale, so they didn't need to ask He Yuzhu for that set of blueprints and equipment.

The two parties only need to cooperate in producing some lathes, and the steel rolling mill can purchase a batch.

He Yuzhu and Factory Director Yang finalized the lathe deal, and then He Yuzhu produced a list of raw materials to be purchased.

Factory Director Yang signed the list and handed it over to Secretary Zhang for arrangements; these were all minor matters.

He Yuzhu was relieved. With a stable supply from the steel rolling mill, he no longer had to worry about the steel and other raw materials he needed.

The next day, He Yuzhu went to the street to report to Li Hongying.

"So, we currently have partnerships with three large factories: a heavy machinery plant, a machine plant, and a steel rolling mill?"

"Yes, we mainly produce some minor parts, while the majority of core components are still produced by them."

"This is not bad. Producing lathes is not our main purpose. After all, our strength is still not enough. As long as we have new machine tools, we will focus on producing diesel engines."

Li Hongying saw it clearly: the machinery factory had only been established for a short time, and it was indeed a bit too ambitious to start producing machine tools at this stage.

After all, apart from He Yuzhu, the other workers only had the skills of a level 2 worker, and there were simply not enough workers to produce anything.

This is the reality. Everyone is relying on He Yuzhu to produce them himself. It takes at least 7 to 10 days to make one lathe.

Only by cooperating with the three major factories can the machinery factory rapidly expand its production scale.

"In that case, we need to speed up the construction of the factory."

He Yuzhu nodded and said, "We can get a new machine tool in about three days. That means we can expand our machine tool fleet to more than 100 units in a year."

The lathes produced cannot be supplied only to ourselves; they also have to be distributed to the three other companies. This pace is already quite fast.

After securing the lathe partnership, He Yuzhu began researching other machine tools.

With an assistant this time, the speed is much faster. Many tasks can be delegated to the assistant, and I only need to keep track of the progress.

In the blink of an eye, the milling machine was developed. After testing, the factory manager, Mr. Niu, confirmed that it met the original design and began cooperating with the lathe in production.

He Yuzhu has shifted his focus to the machinery factory, and only visits the cannery occasionally. However, He Yuzhu is still in charge of canned food sales, and that remains unchanged.

In the blink of an eye, 57 years have passed, and the machine factory has undergone tremendous changes. There are now as many as 150 machine tools and more than 300 skilled workers. Of course, many of them are apprentices, but some have already emerged with intermediate-level skills.

Looking at the calendar for January 58, He Yuzhu couldn't help but sigh. It was safe to say that from this year onwards, life would be tough.

"Why are you sighing? Is something wrong?" Xu Xiaomei asked as she came in with the documents.

Of course, she remained the same as before, standing opposite He Yuzhu and not crossing the desk.

"Come over here and I'll tell you."

"No way!" Xu Xiaomei said, biting her lip.

She both loved and hated He Yuzhu, her secret brother-in-law. Her sister had given birth to a son for He Yuzhu, and he kept trying to take advantage of her.

He'd seize any opportunity to hold my hand, and sometimes he'd even hook his arm around my back; who doesn't know what he's up to?

But I can't tell my sister about these things, let alone anyone else.

However, her job inevitably meant she was with He Yuzhu every day, so she could only grit her teeth and try her best to prevent him from succeeding.

He Yuzhu didn't say much, took the form, looked at it, signed it, and gave it to her.

But Xu Xiaomei didn't leave; she was still standing there. He Yuzhu asked:

"Is there anything else?"

"I have something to do tomorrow and need to take a day off."

He Yuzhu asked, "What's going on tomorrow?"