Chapter 3: Was This Cheating

“Oh, this isn’t as easy to answer as I imagined…” Hao Shuai, on the other hand, thought for a long time before starting to write.

Zhang Yifu shook his head, cleared his mind of outside distractions, and stared straight ahead to gather his thoughts. Although he knew everything, he needed to simplify his language and description, focusing only on the key points. After all, the person grading the papers was a Leader from human resources; if he wrote too technically, the Leader might not understand it. Some people in the room had even started drawing diagrams and writing formulas, trying to show off how much they had memorized, which was obviously not scientific.

On the podium, the old Professor smiled slightly and said to Liu Jianwang beside him, “Everyone has started writing, Director Liu. Is this question too simple?”

“Haha, I’m not from this major, so I couldn’t come up with anything too difficult either.” Liu Jianwang scanned the room and happened to see Zhang Yifu, who looked dazed. He lightly pursed his lips and whispered, “Professor Chen, isn’t there one over there who hasn’t started writing?”

The old Professor looked in that direction and sighed when he saw it was Zhang Yifu. “You mean Zhang Yifu. His entrance exam score wasn’t low, but he slacked off afterward. Yet, he always barely passed his exams. He has plenty of cleverness but not enough effort. When it comes to crucial moments, you can’t just scrape by anymore. What a pity.”

“Truly a pity…” Liu Jianwang sighed as he looked at Zhang Yifu, who was quite good-looking. He had seen too many people like this—clever enough but unwilling to work hard, lacking ambition. Even in the ministry, there were people who just coasted along. For such individuals, you absolutely could not give them a comfortable environment; you had to push them to strive.

Zhang Yifu had no idea that the brief conversation between the two big shots on the podium had essentially pronounced his sentence. The only thing that could get him out of this predicament was probably the paper in his hand.

After pondering for about half a minute, Zhang Yifu finally started writing. He used the simplest words he could to describe the working principle of a Thermal Power Plant:

[A Thermal Power Plant generates electricity through the combined action of a Boiler, Steam Turbine, and Generator.]

[1: Coal is fed into the Boiler via a conveyor belt and burned to produce high-temperature, high-pressure steam that drives the Steam Turbine to rotate.]

[2: The Steam Turbine drives the Generator to rotate. The Generator produces electricity based on the fundamental principle of cutting magnetic field lines.]

[3: The three-phase alternating current generated by the Generator is sent out through terminal leads to the power grid, completing the power generation process.]

[4: The used steam is purified and liquefied through chemical means like condensation and deoxygenation, then returned to the Boiler to be reheated into steam, creating a cyclic work process.]

[Supplement: Depending on the energy source, Thermal Power Plants are further divided into oil-fired Power Plants, natural gas Power Plants, etc. The principle remains the same; only the Boiler structure differs according to the fuel.]

It took less than three minutes to finish answering this question. Zhang Yifu glanced around from the corner of his eye. Most people were still writing furiously; he didn’t know whether they were drawing thermodynamic formulas or Generator circuit diagrams.

While spacing out, he only heard a cough. He looked sideways and saw that Xia Xue had also finished. She deliberately pushed her paper slightly toward him, bringing it into his line of sight.

So she was repaying a kindness.

But Zhang Yifu just cleared his throat softly and shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn’t need it at all.

“It seems he has given up on himself,” Xia Xue murmured. She withdrew her test paper, thought for a moment, and began making some necessary additions.

On the podium, Liu Jianwang looked down at his watch and heard the sound of some people tearing off a second sheet of paper. He helplessly shook his head. No one had asked them to draw circuit diagrams; even if they did, Liu Jianwang wouldn’t understand them. Technical people could be somewhat pedantic and stubborn.

He couldn’t help but look again at Zhang Yifu, whom he had been particularly watching. This kid was the complete opposite—the last to start writing and the first to stop. He didn’t know whether Zhang Yifu had nothing in his head or had instantly grasped the purpose of this assessment. He would have to take a good look at his paper later.

Exactly five minutes in, Liu Jianwang stopped paying attention to the classmates who were burying their heads in writing. He said clearly, “Alright, it’s fine if you didn’t finish. This isn’t an exam; it’s just to get a bit of an understanding of everyone.”

After speaking, he directly posed the next question: “Please listen to the second question—Suppose a city is facing a power shortage. Propose a solution and briefly explain the reasons, advantages, and disadvantages.”

Everyone’s minds hadn’t yet jumped out of the framework of basic power generation when the second question hit them. Unlike the first question, the second one didn’t seem to be in the textbooks at all. It was more like a common-sense question or a management question rather than a specialized one. Maybe you could answer it even if you hadn’t attended a single class; on the other hand, even if you studied desperately every day, you might still give a mediocre answer.

Some people quickly picked up their pens, while others fell into confusion.

On the surface, Zhang Yifu seemed to be one of the confused crowd, but he was actually thinking about more things. People of this era were quite straightforward; when someone posed a question, they would only try their best to think of the steps to solve it. But Zhang Yifu understood that Liu Jianwang worked in human resources; he didn’t seem like someone who would obsess over technical details. To solve his question, one should think from the perspective of the examiner’s purpose rather than the technical specifics.

For the first question, Liu Jianwang’s goal was to see if you understood the basics and if your mind was clear, nothing more.

The second question was to see if your common sense was up to par—whether you could easily handle practical application knowledge not covered in textbooks. It seemed simple, but there was actually a hidden question within it. Liu Jianwang had made it clear at the end: “Please briefly explain the reasons and advantages/disadvantages.” Advantages and disadvantages arise from comparison—meaning there was definitely more than one way to solve a power shortage. Several methods needed to be integrated and compared to make a judgment.

At this level, it was actually a specialized question, a real-world work-related professional question focusing on management direction and overarching perspective. Even for electrical engineering students, giving a perfect answer would be very difficult. On the other hand, an old electrician who only graduated from primary school might answer it with ease.

Zhang Yifu suddenly felt rather embarrassed. He had worked in a Power Plant for so many years, yet here he was back answering such questions alongside clueless students. Was this cheating?

[There are three conventional solutions:]

[First, increase power supply capacity by building new Power Plants to make up for the electricity shortfall. The advantage is that it provides a permanent solution, directly increasing power generation capacity. Excess electricity can also be fed into the grid to help other cities in urgent need. The disadvantage is that Power Plant construction takes too long; it cannot solve the immediate problem and would delay production and daily life in the power-deficient city.]

[Second, regional power transmission. The advantage is quick results; once high-voltage transmission lines are set up, electricity can be immediately obtained from surrounding Power Plants. The disadvantage is that the national power supply is already tight overall, making it difficult to favor one area over another.]

[Third, orderly power usage, balancing power supply by staggering peak usage times and implementing rolling blackouts, especially to suppress electricity consumption during peak hours. The advantage is that no external forces are needed; the city can solve the problem internally and immediately. The disadvantage is that it treats the symptoms, not the root cause, which is unfavorable for economic development and greatly disrupts production and daily life order.]

[In summary, any single solution has its flaws. Combining all three methods—building Power Plants while also increasing transmission and limiting some power usage until the new Power Plants are completed—can steadily resolve the power shortage problem.]

After finishing his answer, Zhang Yifu still had a lot of time left before the allotted duration ended. He started to become narcissistic, worried only that he had used too many essential, specialized terms, making it too highbrow and possibly incomprehensible to the Leader.