Our friendship is truly rare

  Lin Zhenhua and Shen Jiale had a tussle, and it wasn't until Shen Jiale finally managed to make herself clear that things settled down. As it turned out, her problem was quite simple: she had some English materials related to electric welding that she couldn't understand, and she hadn't been able to find anyone suitable in the factory to consult with. Recently, she'd heard that Lin Zhenhua, a young worker who'd stayed on at Hanhua Factory, spoke excellent English and could even serve as an interpreter for foreign experts, so she'd gotten it into her head to ask Lin Zhenhua to help her out with these materials.

  Lin Zhenhua readily accepted the documents handed over by Shen Jiale and promised to help her translate them that night, returning them to her the next day. Shen Jiale blushed and expressed her gratitude, also subtly hinting that in the future, if there were any more matters related to Hanhua Factory, she would take care of them as if they were her own affairs.

  After bidding farewell to Shen Jiale, Lin Zhenhua hadn't walked a few steps when he encountered another acquaintance, He Haifeng. The latter stood in the distance with a smile on his face, seemingly waiting for him on purpose.

  "Where have you been? Didn't you return to Xiangping Province a few days ago? How come they've invited you again?" Lin Zhenhua walked over, taking three steps in two strides, and asked He Haifeng.

  He Haifeng smiled and said, "Yes, your Director Xie said that Mr. Ford's training is about to end and asked if I had time to come over and attend the farewell dinner for Mr. Ford. I was going to say no, but my daughter Lingling was making too much of a fuss at home, so I had to come."

  "What's wrong with Lanlan?" Lin Zhenhua asked curiously, and he couldn't help but smile as he thought of the little girl with a red face.

  He Haifeng said, "Last time I left here and told Lingling that I met you, she insisted that I come again to bring some gifts for you. I couldn't refuse her, so I came."

  Lin Zhenhua waved his hand repeatedly: "He Chang, I don't need any gifts. I'm now well-fed and have no worries about food or clothing. This time, the factory is estimated to give me a big red envelope as a reward for successfully passing the inspection. Unfortunately, I haven't received the money yet, otherwise, I could also invite you to dinner."

  He Haifeng took out a card from his bag and handed it to Lin Zhenhua: "This is the gift that Lanhua sent you, don't you want to accept it?"

  Lin Zhenhua took the card and looked at it carefully, then burst out laughing. It was a hand-painted New Year's card with two people on it, a man and a woman. The man wore a military uniform without epaulets, looking silly, which must be Lin Zhenhua's glorious image; the woman was a head shorter, with a small braid and red paint on her face, naturally He Lan's self-portrait. The most ridiculous thing was that these two people were holding hands, looking very intimate. On the edge of the painting, there was a short poem: Smile, smile, our friendship is really rare.

  "Goodness gracious, what kind of poem is this?" Lin Zhenhua said.

  "Lanlan misses you." He Haifeng said with a loving smile when talking about his daughter, "At home, she often mentions you. The stories you told her, she still remembers and has retold them to her mother several times."

  Lin Zhenhua said, "That's great, He Chang, or else, when she has winter break, you can bring her to Jiangnan Province to play. Let her and my sister live in the same room. I'll make her spicy boiled fish, just don't know if she eats spicy food at her age."

  "Ah, she's a spicy one!" He Haifeng said with a smile. "Let's see if there's an opportunity, if a convenient car comes by, I'll take her to your place to play."

  "Where have you been? You were just standing here waiting for me, and it was all to give this card to Lanlan?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

  He Haifeng took out a small package from his bag and handed it to Lin Zhenhua, saying: "There are some belts, wallets, pens and so on in here. They were all sent by our subordinate units. My wife asked me to bring them over and give them to you. You can keep them for yourself or give them as a personal gift."

  "This I really can't accept." Lin Zhenhua hastily said, in an era of tight supplies, these small things were also worth some money, Lin Zhenhua felt embarrassed to receive these gifts.

  "Take it, we work in the hall and have just a little power, all of which are 'trial' gifts from lower units."

  "Then I'd be too polite." Lin Zhenhua had no choice but to accept it.

  "I just saw you and was about to say hello, but then I saw you chatting with a pretty girl, which made me not dare to come over. How is it, Xiao Lin, have you found a target after staying in the petrochemical plant for a few days?" He Haifeng asked half-jokingly and half-seriously.

  "I dare not speak recklessly." Lin Zhenhua was greatly embarrassed, "She is the golden welder of the petrification machine, and she only asked me to help translate some materials. Besides, isn't she very beautiful?"

  "It's not obvious, but your requirements are quite high."

  "There's nothing, I just don't dare think about it for now."

  He Haifeng didn't pursue this matter any further and instead asked: "Your work is almost done too, right? When are you going back to the factory?"

  Lin Zhenhua said: "I guess tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

  He Haifeng said, "Are you interested in transferring to the Petrochemical Machinery Bureau? I heard that Director Xie of the Light Industry Department has a high opinion of you, and several leaders of the Petrochemical Machinery Bureau are also very interested in you. If you want to transfer over, it shouldn't be too difficult."

  "But why should I come over?" asked Lin Zhenhua.

  "The scale of petrification is larger, the treatment is better, and it's still in the provincial capital. How many people are eager to get in?"

  Lin Zhenhua shook his head: "I'm not interested, this factory is large in scale and has many talented people. I won't get any good results if I come here. Now that I have a bit of reputation at Hanhua Factory, even if I make some mistakes, the factory director will probably turn a blind eye and let me off easy."

  He Haifeng was at a loss for words: "You, Xiao Lin, are really different from others. You have great abilities, but you don't strive to improve, I really don't know what you're thinking."

  The two chatted for a few more sentences, and He Haifeng wanted to invite Lin Zhenhua to attend the banquet hosted by Shi Hua Ji. Lin Zhenhua declined, not wanting to get too entangled with the leaders of Shi Hua Ji. He had self-awareness; now that they needed him, they would reluctantly give him a good face, but in the future, if Ford left, they wouldn't need translators anymore. As an outsider and just a porter from another factory, could he be taken seriously?

  In the next two days, Lin Zhenhua and Ford got along peacefully and waited quietly for a response from Spiegel.

  Lin Zhenhua carefully helped Shen Jiale translate some English materials related to electric welding, and added notes to some of the translations based on his own understanding. When he handed over the translation to Shen Jiale, the beauty's eyes had a complex expression, but Lin Zhenhua was too lazy to decipher it. He thought that he wouldn't have much contact with this Shen girl, and helping her translate materials this time was just because of his appreciation for her learning attitude. People like Shen Jiale who were so persistent in technology but didn't know how to adapt, Lin Zhenhua wasn't very fond of.

  He Haifeng stayed in the petrochemical plant for a day and left, before leaving, Lin Zhenhua went to see him once, brought him a bag of snacks, including popsicles, salted dried apricots, hawthorn slices and so on, which cost several yuan. He Haifeng did not refuse, directly accepted them, he knew that his daughter would be very happy when she received these gifts.

  Two days later, an airmail letter arrived at Shi Hua Ji from Guangzhou, containing the contract between Spichler Company and Lin Zhenhua. Lin Zhenhua signed his name on the contract, then handed over several sets of procedures to Ford. Ford would send these procedures back to the United States, and after successful testing by the American side, they would pay Lin Zhenhua a fee in accordance with the contract.

  Lin Zhenhua doesn't have to worry about the US side betraying him, he has a contract in hand and also grasps the secret of the defects that existed in the MK800 machine tool in the past. The US side is not worth offending him for a matter of over $2 million.

  Ford completed his training on the petrified machine and set off to return to Guangzhou. He will then transfer to Baoan and enter Hong Kong. He promised Lin Zhenhua that after arriving in Hong Kong, he would start arranging the matters handed over by Lin Zhenhua, and they would contact each other again at that time.

  After Ford left, Lin Zhenhua's work was officially over. The petrochemical machine didn't treat Lin Zhenhua unfairly and let him go to the finance department to sign for 30 yuan as labor costs for these few days. This labor cost standard is also unprecedented in the petrochemical machine, but since Lin Zhenhua is a person borrowed from the Light Industry Hall, the petrochemical machine's move is also a favor to the Light Industry Hall, so it makes sense that the standard is higher.

  After receiving the money, Secretary Xiao Wang of the Petrochemical Factory was still very diligent in helping Lin Zhenhua find a cargo truck passing through Fenghua County, and let Lin Zhenhua get on it, which was equivalent to saving Lin Zhenhua a few cents on bus fare. However, Lin Zhenhua handed over a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes to the truck driver as a thank you, and spent those few cents again.