Chapter 1: A Technical School Student Arrived at the Small Factory

  In 1985, Pingyuan County, Beixi City, Anhui Province.

  It was a summer noon, the sun was scorching the earth, and the cicadas were chirping loudly on the paulownia tree. The narrow streets of Pingyuan County were filled with small stalls selling all kinds of cheap industrial products and agricultural by-products. Outside the doors of the street shops, colorful posters of movie stars were pasted, and from the loudspeakers, Su Rui was shouting at the top of her lungs:

  "There is no heaven without earth!"

  No place like home!

  No home without you!

  "Without you, there is no me..."

  Outside the bus station, a tall and slender young man with clear eyebrows and eyes had a luggage roll on his shoulder, a military green bag slung across his chest, and a large canvas bag containing daily necessities and a few books placed beside him. He stood under a big camphor tree, looking at the unfamiliar scene in front of him, with a hint of helpless bitter smile on his face.

  The young man's name was Qin Hai, and in his bag he had a registration certificate that read:

  Qin Hai, male, born in 1967, originally from Jiangshan County, Anhui Province, graduated from the Casting Department of Anhui Agricultural Mechanization School in 1985 with a passing grade, and is now assigned to work at Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory in Pingyang County, Anhui Province.

  The certificate was issued in a regular and proper manner, and it wasn't unusual for a technical school student to be assigned to work at the county agricultural machinery factory. However, no one knew that something out of the ordinary had happened to this ordinary technical school student - a soul from the 21st century had crossed over and taken possession of his original body.

  Before crossing over, Qin Hai was a young postdoctoral researcher at the National Academy of Sciences' Materials Research Institute in the early 21st century. He was known throughout the entire academy system as a "genius". The Materials Institute had many experts and talents, but each person had their own area of expertise, whether it was high molecular weight materials, inorganic non-metallic materials, superconducting materials, or energy storage materials. Only Qin Hai could be considered a versatile talent. It's unknown why this guy's energy was so abundant, after entering the mobile station for several years, he published dozens of SCI papers, and each one was not in the same field. After each paper was published, it would trigger a major academic discussion in that field, and the number of citations was so high that his peers were all envious to the point of being red-eyed.

  Such a talent, if he stays in the lab and produces results, after a few years of hard work, can easily become a Changjiang Scholar or an Outstanding Young Scholar. But Qin Hai is not a man who likes to follow conventions. Just like his unconventional approach to academics, he also lives life on his own terms. During one vacation, he went with some friends he had met somewhere to climb a snow-capped mountain that had never been conquered before, but they encountered an avalanche and were all killed...

  Perhaps heaven couldn't bear to let such a genius created by itself disappear easily, Qin Hai's soul traversed through time and space, arriving in the mid-1980s, and was reborn by attaching itself to a newly graduated technical school student.

  Well, I guess I managed to escape with my life...

  Qin Hai, who had transformed into a technical school student, let out a long sigh and found some psychological comfort for himself. Compared to his previous life, he was much younger in this life, which could be considered one of the benefits of crossing over. Moreover, it was said that the air in the 80s was fresher than in later generations, so shouldn't he enjoy this wonderful life without PM2.5?

  Thinking of this, Qin Hai took a deep breath, but before he could even hold it for one second, he let it all out again.

  What a taste! Sulfur dioxide emitted from the coking plant, Lefu pesticide from the pesticide factory, ammonia from the fertilizer plant, acetylene from the calcium carbide factory... Who would say that this era is not polluted?

  Qin Hai let out two loud "psst"s, picked up his canvas bag and walked forward, asking passersby along the way: "Excuse me, how do I get to Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory..."

  "Go forward, follow this road all the way, pass by the county middle school and walk 800 meters, turn left at the entrance of the pesticide factory, and then go forward for 300 meters, there is a big red iron gate, that's Qingfeng Factory." A bespectacled cultural person on the side of the road pointed out in detail.

  "Thank you." Qin Hai said with a word of thanks and continued on his way.

  After walking a dozen or so steps, there were hurried footsteps behind him. Qin Hai turned his head to look back and it was the enthusiastic cultural worker who had just given him directions.

  "Hey kid, wait up, wait up."

  "What?" Qin Hai stopped in his tracks and asked in surprise.

  The cultural man ran to the front of Qin Hai, panted for a few mouthfuls of coarse air, and then said: "Young man, I made a mistake just now. After passing the county middle school, you need to walk 900 meters to reach the pesticide factory. If you only walk 800 meters and turn left, you will fall into the fish pond."

  "Hmm..." Qin Hai was speechless, do I look like such an idiot? He looked at the enthusiastic person seriously and made sure that he wasn't joking. He could only thank him again in a low voice: "Thanks, master... almost got me killed, not very good at swimming..."

  The enthusiastic person went back with a peace of mind. Qin Hai wiped the sweat off his forehead and was about to continue on his journey when he was attracted by a dispute not far away from the roadside.

  "It's them, stop them!"

  "Give them their money back!"

  "Cheats! Take them to the police station!"

  Five middle-aged men dressed as farmers, holding various farm tools, surrounded a roadside stall, shouting loudly with anger in their voices. Next, on the stall they surrounded, stood up a fat man about Qin Hai's age, with a waistline at least twice that of Qin Hai's, who refuted them in a loud and clear voice:

  "What are you talking about? We're here selling things every Sunday, how can we be scammers?"

  "Right, if we were cheats, why wouldn't we run away?" Two more young men stood up, one tall and one short, echoing the fat man's words. It seemed that these three people should be together, all of them being the owners of this stall.

  "You say you're not cheating, look at this shovel I bought from you guys, it's only been used for a week and the blade is already curled up! Are your shovels made of paper?" A leading farmer among them thrust the iron shovel right in front of the fat man's nose, questioning him sternly.

  The fat man took a step back, so that his gaze could focus on the shovel head. After taking a look, his tone softened by three points, but he still had some excuses: "Who... who knows what you're using this iron shovel for? Our shovels are made of the best steel materials, and the quality is absolutely no problem..."

  "What else can I do with this iron shovel? Of course, it's for digging! At my age, I've used dozens of shovels, but none as poor as yours! You say your shovels are made from good steel, don't you have any left here? Let us try one!" the leading farmer said angrily.

  Fatso said: "What are you doing taking our stall's iron shovel for testing? If it breaks, who will be responsible?"

  "Your iron shovel broke after one use, and you still dare say there's no problem with the quality!" The peasants started to clamor.

  "Can we eat first and pay later for the vegetables you farmers grow?" The young people retorted.

  "Of course! If it doesn't taste good, you don't have to pay!"

  "...What about the pigs you're raising? Can we slaughter one first and take a look?"

  "Kill if you must, but without the lard I'm giving it away for nothing..."

  “……”

  Both sides spoke in a word, and the air was already filled with gunpowder. Those three young people obviously didn't have enough confidence in what they were selling, and they refused to let the other side take the farm tools from their stall for testing, while insisting that the farm tools bought by the other side were damaged due to improper use. As for the five peasants, who had already been angry after buying fake goods, seeing the other side being so unscrupulous made them even more furious.

  "Hey, hey, what's going on here? Can I, a passerby, help mediate this situation?" Qin Hai stepped forward with his luggage, smiling and addressing the two parties in conflict. He wasn't usually someone who liked to intervene in other people's business, but seeing how fiercely they were facing off against each other, both of them armed with tools, he was afraid that if they didn't calm down, they would start fighting and things would get out of hand, so he quickly stepped forward to try to mediate.

  "Who are you? Mind your own business." The fat man glanced at Qin Hai with a look of dissatisfaction, knowing that his goods were problematic and that anyone could see that they were in the wrong, so he didn't want others to intervene.

  "I'm just a passerby, here to mediate." Qin Hai said with a smile. Seeing that the three young men were unwilling to cooperate with him, he turned his head towards the five farmers and asked: "Gentlemen, what are you arguing about? Can you tell me?"

  Several farmers were honest and had passed the age of liking to compete with each other, and it was not their intention to argue with three young people. Seeing someone coming forward to help reason, several farmers were very happy, and the leading farmer pointed at the iron shovel in his hand and said to Qin Hai:

  "You come and evaluate this reason. This is the iron shovel I bought from them last week, it's also strange that I'm greedy for cheapness, looking at their iron shovels selling for five cents cheaper than Zhang Lao San's blacksmith shop, so I bought it here. As a result, after using it for less than a week, the blade edge is already curled up, what kind of iron shovel would be so inferior!"

  Qin Hai took the iron hoe from the peasant's hand, looked at the blade, and tapped it with his fingernail to listen to the metallic sound. He said, "It's indeed a good piece of steel. If I'm not mistaken, this should be 65 manganese steel. It's rare for anyone to use such good steel to make an iron hoe."

  "Did you hear that, did you hear that!" The three young men heard Qin Hai actually speaking up for them and turned their anger into joy, repeatedly echoing in agreement. The fat one even stretched out his thick and sturdy palm to pat Qin Hai's shoulder, saying: "Brother, you're a connoisseur! You can even tell the steel number."

  "Don't be happy yet." Qin Hai turned his head, still with a smile on his face. "I haven't finished speaking yet. The steel is indeed good steel, but unfortunately it was ruined by you guys. Let me ask you, after you forged this shovel, didn't you quench it in fire?"

  Pangzi's smile suddenly froze on his face, and after a long while, he stuttered: "What did you say? What is this 'war fire'..."