Chapter 29: Voltage Can Be Unstable Too

Niu Xiaozhuang tried hard to hold back his excitement and put on a calm face. Playing the good guy, he stepped forward to persuade. “Section Chief Qiu, I think Zhang Yifu is fine now. Getting him to start production work early is better than anything.”

Qiu Ling’s face had already turned ashen. At this moment, he could neither advance nor retreat.

Because he had already lost utterly.

From the first question, he had carelessly shown that his knowledge was not as good as Zhang Yifu’s. And the second and third questions made him seem narrow-minded. Even the meek Little Li was not on his side now.

If he retreated now, he would lose all face.

If he advanced, even a victory would not be honorable. As a Section Chief, someone who had worked in the power plant for nearly twenty years, forcing a harsh, tricky question to stump Zhang Yifu would be criticized no matter the outcome.

Accepting Niu Xiaozhuang’s well-meaning offer and taking a step back for a broader view seemed like the only choice.

But he was Qiu Ling, not an ordinary person. He also had a sour pride in his bones. He did not believe there was such a person, someone who could master all knowledge. He did not believe a kid more than ten years younger than him was better than him.

Since it had come to this, he must, he absolutely must make him feel awe.

Qiu Ling ignored Niu Xiaozhuang’s persuasion and instead walked with heavy steps toward the file cabinet.

The whole room held its breath. This time, Qiu Ling would not stop until he was dead. He was determined to make Zhang Yifu speechless at least once.

Qiu Ling scanned the labels, his mind working rapidly.

Boiler aspect… Couldn’t stump him. The thermodynamics explanation in university should be very thorough.

Steam Turbine? That’s the core of power generation. Zhang Yifu must have studied it deeply.

Generator… Could be considered. This involves knowledge of voltage and the power grid, with many subtle details.

Water circulation? Already asked. Lubrication oil system, he just made a design drawing, so he must have read materials on that.

What else… what else… Absolutely obscure knowledge, stuff that couldn’t possibly be covered in university textbooks. And something unique to the Jibei Power Plant, something no one outside the plant could know.

Fuel!!!

Qiu Ling stopped in front of one label. University thermodynamics textbooks only stayed at the theoretical level. The specific details of coal combustion would not be taught in electric power colleges. Even if touched upon, it would at most stay theoretical. Different power plants varied greatly in details like coal type, coal quality, calorific value, etc., far beyond what a single book could explain. So this was completely practical application skill, things only veteran masters in the Fuel Workshop would know. Zhang Yifu had no chance to know.

A sinister smile appeared on Qiu Ling’s face. He quietly pulled out a document. With a trembling hand, he licked his fingertip and began flipping through it.

Got it! Got it! A question even a ghost couldn’t answer! A question he had never even heard of!

It took a full five minutes for Qiu Ling to find this devilishly difficult question. While secretly rejoicing, he did not notice the scornful looks from the others.

“Well then, I’m going to ask.” Now, Qiu Ling’s eyes saw only Zhang Yifu.

“Go ahead.” Zhang Yifu was also prepared, fully activating his “electric” brain. The question Qiu Ling had worked so hard to find might require a long search even in the database.

“What coal pulverization technology does our plant mainly use? Is the equipment domestic or imported? What is the fineness range for the pulverized coal? How is the pulverized coal fineness controlled? What is the energy consumption of the pulverization? How long is the maintenance cycle?!”

Qiu Ling fired off a series of questions in one breath, staring fixedly at Zhang Yifu.

Coal pulverization was an essential production process in a power plant. Burning large coal lumps directly was extremely wasteful. First, a Coal Pulverizer was needed to grind the coal into powder of a certain fineness. This facilitated more complete combustion and utilization. Then, a conveyor belt continuously sent the coal powder to the Boiler. Although the Fuel Workshop was a very important part of the production process, it was absolutely on the margins. Normally, no one would go there for no reason. People from other workshops only cared if the coal delivered was enough and had no chance to learn about other matters.

Regarding this question, almost everyone present, including Qiu Ling, couldn’t answer even one part of it. Being able to name the pulverization technology would be the limit, let alone the series of parameter questions that followed? If a veteran master from the Fuel Workshop were called over, maybe they could answer more. But the part about energy consumption was impossible to answer.

Testing an Electric Power Department university student on knowledge about burning coal was like asking a bakery owner what brand of pesticide was used on the wheat. This wasn’t just harsh and mean; it was simply unreasonable.

“This… Has Qiu Ling gone mad…” Wen Tianming stared with wide eyes at the frantic Qiu Ling. “How did it get to this point without us noticing?”

“Only Qiu Ling could go this far. Anyone else should have stopped long ago.” Zhen Tian shook her head and sighed. “No one can answer this question.”

While the two were whispering, a steady voice came from behind.

“Not necessarily.”

They turned to look. The newcomer was Chief Engineer Duan Youwei, the man who had affirmed Zhang Yifu’s design in the meeting earlier.

“Chief Duan… Why are you here too?” Zhen Tian quickly stepped aside to let the Chief Engineer move closer.

Duan Youwei gently waved his right hand, declining the courtesy. He just smiled gracefully. “Anyway, I can answer this question, Little Zhen. Beyond the mountains are higher mountains. Among technical people, many dig very deep, very thorough, to a level you can’t understand, and I can’t either.”

“Yes…” Zhen Tian quickly agreed, then looked again at Zhang Yifu, who was sitting with closed eyes in deep thought. “But he… just graduated. If he were a doctoral student, I’d believe he could answer.”

“Let’s wait and see.” Duan Youwei smiled and patted the shoulders of the two young people beside him.

At this moment, Niu Xiaozhuang finally couldn’t stand it anymore. “Section Chief Qiu, let it end here. It’s meaningless.”

“Xiaozhuang, don’t interfere. Zhang Yifu himself said he remembered everything. I’m not giving him a hard time.” Qiu Ling didn’t look at Niu Xiaozhuang at all. His eyes and mind held only one person now.

Niu Xiaozhuang grunted coldly, unwilling to say more to this person. He stepped forward on his own. “Yifu, let’s go. I’ll help you move your things. We’ll go back to the Administrative Office now.”

But Zhang Yifu kept his eyes closed and raised his hand to politely decline. “Wait a bit longer… wait a bit longer… I can think of it.”

His eyelids were trembling violently at a high frequency, but the frequency was so high it was beyond the range of human vision. Just as humans cannot hear ultrasonic waves, to everyone, Zhang Yifu was just sitting there steadily.

Normally, from the perspective of social interaction, Zhang Yifu definitely should have taken a step back for a broader view. Not being able to answer this question would be normal. If he forcefully answered, not only would there be no benefit, but he would be considered a monster, causing unfavorable personal relationships.

But Zhang Yifu was a human, a flesh-and-blood human, not a machine. He couldn’t make every choice following the optimal solution. Just like lightning, voltage is dynamic. There are gentle moments, and there are violent moments.

In his heart, he also felt a stubborn drive. He wanted to make Qiu Ling give up completely. He wanted to make him pay for his narrow-mindedness and arrogance.

Similarly, the opportunity Li Weifeng had sacrificed to give him must not be wasted in vain.