Chapter 27: The Memorization Maniac

For a moment, Niu Xiaozhuang was caught in the middle and couldn’t say much. Emotionally, he definitely wanted to help Zhang Yifu, but he also couldn’t be too harsh with Qiu Ling. Even if his father came, it wouldn’t be appropriate to directly interfere with departmental management. Logically speaking, Zhang Yifu was indeed too arrogant. It was normal for a newcomer to spend a few days reading materials to familiarize themselves with the power plant. But with his pride, he couldn’t stand this boring task. Zhang Yifu was in the wrong.

“How about this,” Qiu Ling curled his lips. “Let’s call everyone from our department. Each person will grab a stack of materials and ask you a question. If you answer them all correctly, we’ll consider that you’ve memorized everything. You’ll have completed the task and can naturally move back to the office.”

“Fine,” Zhang Yifu nodded directly.

“We should also lay out the unpleasant truths upfront,” Qiu Ling added in a sinister tone. “If there are still things you can’t remember clearly, I’m afraid you’ll need to stay in the Archives Room and study for a while longer.”

“Naturally. Please allow me to also state the unpleasant truths upfront,” Zhang Yifu stood up calmly. “If I pass, I hope the Section Chief will not assign such tasks again. I respect the Leader’s management and the Leader personally, and I hope the Leader will also give me sufficient respect.”

“What kind of talk is that? When have I not respected you?” Qiu Ling’s face darkened, and he quickly explained to Niu Xiaozhuang, “Xiaozhuang, Zhang Yifu is being overly sensitive. I treat everyone equally.”

“I understand, I understand,” Niu Xiaozhuang frowned. “Yifu, are you sure about this?”

“No problem,” Zhang Yifu smiled at Li Weifeng, who hadn’t dared to speak. “Weifeng, go call Lao Wang and Zhao Jie over.”

Li Weifeng looked at the Section Chief. Only after seeing Qiu Ling nod did he set off.

With Niu Xiaozhuang present, everyone from the Technical Department came. The usually quiet Archives Room became lively. Even people from several nearby offices were drawn in. Word spread quickly, and eventually, even people from the Administrative Office and Production Department rushed over from different floors. Old friends Wen Tianming and Zhen Tian were among them. The crowd surrounded the Archives Room, leaving no room to move.

Qiu Ling didn’t mind. He was certain Zhang Yifu would fail. This kid needed to be embarrassed once. He needed to pay for his arrogance.

With everyone gathered, the assessment began.

“Lao Wang, you go first,” Qiu Ling motioned to the veteran staff member with his chin. “Pick anything.”

“Alright,” Lao Wang was relatively composed. He didn’t forget to say to Zhang Yifu, “Yifu, technical matters are hard skills. There’s no room for compromise. I’ll take whatever materials I get and ask questions based on them.”

“No need to be difficult. Just be fair.”

So, Lao Wang walked over to a cabinet with his hands behind his back. Without much thought, he randomly pulled out a stack of files, flipped to a random page, and began asking:

“Hmm… this section is about the water circulation system. Please briefly explain how many methods our plant uses to prevent scaling in the cooling water, and briefly describe their principles.”

Upon hearing this question, before Zhang Yifu could answer, the onlookers’ minds started working.

In a Thermal Power Plant, generating electricity requires heating a large amount of water to produce steam that drives turbine blades to generate power. After the steam has done its work, it can’t simply be wasted. Most of it needs to be reintegrated into the water circulation system. It must be cooled, purified through the cooling water system, and fed back into the Boiler to be heated again. During this process, due to factors like temperature, PH levels, and trace elements, scaling inevitably occurs in the cooling equipment and pipes. Since the water circulation volume in a Power Plant is enormous, without preventive measures, scale would accumulate very quickly. Maybe in just a few days, the equipment would be ruined, and the pipes would be blocked.

The question Lao Wang randomly flipped to was about scaling treatment. In Power Plant technology, this was a relatively peripheral topic, and it was rarely, if ever, mentioned in Power System textbooks.

Among the people present, perhaps only thirty percent could answer this question. But that was understandable, as this was, after all, an office building. As for the three from the Technical Department, probably only Lao Wang was confident he could answer this question without looking at the materials.

Lao Wang’s choice of question was also fair, testing a basic concept that wasn’t too simple.

But in most people’s eyes, it was unlikely Zhang Yifu could answer it perfectly.

It was simple. Zhang Yifu might have read about this in school. Zhang Yifu might be a freakishly good student who had memorized all this. But so what? Lao Wang’s question was clear. This time he wasn’t only asking about the concept, but also the practical application. He had to answer what specific measures Jibei Power Plant actually used. Regarding this question, unless you were a veteran master specifically from Jibei Power Plant, it was impossible to answer accurately.

Wen Tianming clenched his fists, feeling injustice in his heart. He whispered to Zhen Tian beside him, “I’ve talked with Yifu. He knows a lot, really a lot… But this kind of question… he hasn’t had time to learn about it yet.”

“Let’s just watch,” Zhen Tian had a bystander’s attitude. “I heard Qiu Ling intentionally kept Zhang Yifu in the Archives Room to read materials. Newcomers always have to endure this first. You endure until the Leader is satisfied, then he assigns work. But Zhang Yifu couldn’t take it after just one day. He insisted he had memorized everything. With such arrogance, he caused this whole scene. If he gets embarrassed, he can’t blame others, right?”

“That may be so…” Wen Tianming said unwillingly. “But this much material… how could anyone memorize it? I couldn’t do it even if I had a year.”

The spectators had their own thoughts. Some who understood the technology had already started silently answering the question in their minds.

Zhang Yifu didn’t think for too long and soon replied, “We use the blowdown method and internal treatment method.”

Hearing this answer, Qiu Ling immediately waved his hand. “Be more detailed. Anyone could answer with something so general.”

“Being detailed would mean reciting from memory.”

“Then go ahead and recite if you can.”

“Then, everyone, please stop me when you’ve heard enough.” Zhang Yifu cleared his throat and began loudly, “When the water source is sufficient, after the makeup water is concentrated, if the carbonate hardness is lower than the limiting carbonate hardness of the circulating cooling water, and the wastewater can be fully utilized, the blowdown method is prioritized. Since our plant is located near… the wastewater can… therefore, we mainly use this method. However, considering the dry season and potential water shortages, during the design phase, our plant also had specifications and equipment for the internal treatment method. In fact, we are using it now when cleaning equipment. Common methods for this include adding acid additives… PH value between 7.2 and 7.8… phosphates… ethylenediaminetetramethylene phosphonic acid… mercaptobenzothiazole with negative divalence…”

Unconsciously, three minutes had passed. Zhang Yifu’s mouth, like a mad torrent, showed no sign of stopping. At the beginning, some people could occasionally understand what he was saying. The more he spoke, the more it sounded like gibberish. Whether it was correct or not no longer mattered. Just being able to instantly come up with these magical words was worthy of admiration.

After about four and a half minutes, Zhang Yifu felt he had said enough. He looked up and around at the stunned faces and scratched his head, asking, “Do I need to continue? Continuing would involve the design drawings, and that would take a long time to draw.”

A monster. This was a monster. A memorization maniac. How could an electrical engineering student even memorize chemistry books?!