Chapter 16: The Bold and Meticulous Niu Dameng

By now, a group of people from the workshop had rushed to the paper mill. Only a few cadres remained in the meeting room. Niu Dameng let out a long sigh of relief, leaned back in his chair, and finally felt more at ease. He sighed deeply and said, “The oil pan… the oil pan… Why didn’t I think of it earlier… We’ve been too stuck in our ways, trapped in our own little circle. From now on, we need to communicate more with other factories, whether they make paper or refine oil. We should go and take a look. There’s always something to gain.”

As he spoke, a female leader with permed hair looked at Zhang Yifu and asked calmly, “Little Zhang, how did you know about the oil pan? Did the factory where you interned have one?”

“Not really. Not having oil pans isn’t just our factory’s problem; basically, no one has them now.” Zhang Yifu scratched his head and made up a story. “It was during my third year in university, while I was reading foreign materials in the library, comparing motor equipment between China and the United States, that I noticed this little extra thing.”

Zhang Yifu couldn’t help but admire his own cleverness. Things like “foreign materials” and “American power plants” sounded impressive, and he had never actually encountered them himself, let alone these folks. He could keep using this to brag for the rest of his life.

“You can read foreign materials? Isn’t that something only English majors can do?” The female leader was startled, then turned to Niu Dameng to praise him. “Director Niu, this time we’ve really struck gold!!”

“Hahahahaha!!” Niu Dameng was overjoyed. He didn’t act like a leader at all, laughing heartily like an old farmer who had dug up gold. “Good, good, good! When we organize the technical safety regulations later, Yifu, don’t hold back. Put in everything you can think of!! Make all the workers in the factory memorize them! I’ll memorize them too!”

To be honest, at that moment, there was only one technical regulation deeply ingrained in Zhang Yifu’s mind:

Do not urinate or defecate anywhere.

After the meeting, Niu Dameng kept a few people behind, including Zhang Yifu.

One was the female leader from earlier, Zhang Lin from the Personnel Section. The other was a young man in blue work clothes named Niu Xiaozhuang, who hadn’t said much during the meeting. Judging by his attire, he was likely from the workshop.

Looking at Niu Dameng and Niu Xiaozhuang’s similarly square faces and rough skin, Zhang Yifu didn’t need to think twice; they were definitely father and son. This factory director really didn’t shy away from promoting his own relatives, directly bringing his son into the factory. In government offices, no one would dare to place their son in their own unit, but here, Niu Dameng did just that. He really was a local emperor!

Niu Dameng smiled and motioned for the three to gather around. He tossed a Yunyan cigarette to his son and another to Zhang Yifu. Niu Xiaozhuang didn’t stand on ceremony. He first went over to light his father’s cigarette, then stepped forward to light Zhang Yifu’s.

Zhang Yifu thought, even if this cigarette kills me, I have to smoke it… so he didn’t refuse.

The three men smoked their post-meeting leisure cigarettes. Zhang Lin didn’t seem bothered by the smoke and sat there quietly. Of course, she didn’t dare to scold the three men about the no-smoking rule in the meeting room.

“Yifu, you’ve really solved a big problem,” Niu Dameng said with a smile, looking at Zhang Yifu. “College students are amazing, even more than I thought. You haven’t even warmed your seat yet, and you’ve already solved a production issue.”

Zhang Yifu humbly replied, “You praise me too much, Director. I just happened to think of the oil pan. There’s no real skill to it.”

Zhang Lin chimed in with a smile, “Not at all. There’s no such thing as ‘just happened.’ It’s because you’ve read a lot and know a lot that you were able to bring up the oil pan, right?”

Being praised like this, Zhang Yifu didn’t know what else to say. The oil pan was something anyone in a power plant decades later could mention. It really didn’t have much to do with reading. Of course, being praised so highly wasn’t because the people in the factory were ignorant; it was one of the extreme traits of this era—worshipping intellectuals.

Factory Director Niu took a drag of his cigarette and said to his son, “Xiaozhuang, arrange a dormitory for Yifu later. Isn’t there an empty bed in your room? I think that’ll do.”

“No problem!” the young man agreed readily, his straightforward nature clearly inherited from his father.

“Once everything’s settled, show Yifu around the factory properly. From now on, learn more from him too.”

“Got it!” Niu Xiaozhuang obeyed his father’s orders and turned to Zhang Yifu. “I live in the workers’ dormitory. I can be a bit messy, so don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Zhang Yifu laughed. “I’m not exactly tidy either.”

“Haha.” Niu Xiaozhuang threw an arm around Zhang Yifu. “I hang around the workshop every day. How could I be cleaner than a college student!”

“Alright, alright, be serious.” Niu Dameng scolded his son with words but wore a smile on his face. He then turned to Zhang Yifu. “Yifu, you understand the situation now. Setting aside the oil pan issue, from your perspective, how should we view the responsibility for this accident?”

Hearing this, Zhang Yifu hesitated. He thought, this rough man is really meticulous. He waited until everyone else left to ask this kind of question, clearly knowing some things should be discussed in private.

“Well… I don’t have much work experience yet. Relying purely on theory would be too one-sided…” So Zhang Yifu started to waffle. He really shouldn’t make hasty judgments so soon after arriving.

Niu Dameng smiled. “Heh, don’t worry. Everyone sitting here is one of us. Section Chief Zhang never spreads gossip.”

Zhang Lin quickly added, “Yifu, during the meeting, everyone kept shifting blame. As the saying goes, the onlooker sees most of the game. We need someone with technical knowledge to provide information now. Since the director asked, say as much as you can.”

Indeed, Factory Director Niu asking such a question to a newcomer showed a lot of trust. This made it hard for Zhang Yifu to hold back.

“Ahem…” He hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m not hiding anything or holding back. Before seeing the accident scene, I really dare not say for sure. To determine responsibility, we first need to check the equipment’s age. If the problem occurred within a year of installation, we should question the design and installation personnel. If it’s been over a year, then weigh the actual situation to see if it was the production workshop’s operational error or the Maintenance Workshop’s carelessness. Director, asking me to say something out of thin air like this, I really can’t.”

Hearing this, Niu Dameng nodded with considerable satisfaction. At this point, it wasn’t waffling; it was mature and steady!

“Good! When you show Yifu around, Xiaozhuang, focus on the Oil Filter Machine of the second unit. I have limited understanding of the specific design and operation details. Let our college student take a good look at the scene and analyze it properly.” Niu Dameng nodded calmly, then changed his expression. “Our factory is about to apply to Meet Standards. Although I talk tough about punishments, I’ll actually handle them more gently. Otherwise, if it affects everyone’s morale, the drawbacks might outweigh the benefits.”

What was Meet Standards? Zhang Yifu looked completely confused.