Chapter 19: Suspicion? A Test?!
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Guo Changjiang found running to the power plant too slow, so when he reached the main gate, he stopped a tractor and had it pull them along.
Huang Jian and the others who arrived later were a step behind and could only follow on foot.
The tractor quickly arrived at the power plant.
The farm’s power plant was not large, consisting only of two seven-shaped buildings enclosing a space.
To the right upon entering was the office area; directly opposite the entrance stood a long, single-story building housing the generators.
At this moment, both inside and outside the factory gates, crowds had gathered—original power plant staff, a few mechanics and apprentices from a repair shop hastily brought over but powerless.
Everyone wore anxious expressions, their faces marked by panic.
Could they not be panicked?
The generator had exploded, yet no one could determine the cause. They didn’t dare touch it now, because earlier, during their investigation, a wrong wire connection caused a second explosion.
Though no one was injured, the damage to the generator worsened, and smoke now filled the factory.
“...Director Guo is here!” someone called out.
The crowd turned toward the voice, their faces lighting up with hope.
But then they thought again—Director Guo’s arrival wouldn’t help.
Guo Changjiang was merely the head of the farm’s labor and personnel department, managing staffing and transfers, not a mechanic.
The power plant director, Zhu Weimin, ran over with a distressed look. “Director Guo, last time you said you’d recruit mechanical talent from the provincial city. Where are they? Have they arrived?”
“Please save the power plant. If it’s not fixed soon, I’m done for.”
Guo Changjiang: “...”
Why did these old-timers always threaten him with quitting?
“Go, go. You and Lao Yang are the same,” Guo Changjiang said as he strode toward the factory gate, when suddenly a wave of thick smoke hit him, making his brow twitch. “Is it on fire?”
“No, no,” Zhu Weimin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “It exploded again and is smoking.”
Guo Changjiang drew in a sharp breath. “You have so many people here, and no one’s watching it?”
His gaze fixed on the repair shop workers, who all lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact.
Finally, Young Li stepped forward, shamefaced. “We—we did watch it. But we’ve never repaired anything this difficult before. With the two master mechanics absent, during inspection it exploded again.”
“But it didn’t break completely.”
Guo Changjiang staggered a bit, wanting to ask what exactly counted as “completely broken.”
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It’s already smoking, brother.
Guo Changjiang felt he couldn’t stand it any longer, grabbed Guo Letian, and said, “Go to the office and get Director Zhou here immediately.”
Guo Letian hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll go now.”
After giving the order, Guo Changjiang pinned his hopes on Fang Yinnian. “Comrade Fang, are you confident?”
Fang Yinnian looked toward the factory. “I need to inspect it before I can give you an answer. Are there tools?”
Guo Changjiang: “Xiao Li, give all the tools to Comrade Fang.”
The apprentice Xiao Li didn’t know Fang Yinnian but obeyed and hurriedly handed him the tools they had brought, mentioning there were more inside.
Fang Yinnian took some tools and moved inside. Mu Wanwan, after surveying the power plant and seeing no greenery around, followed him in.
No one else knew what to say; everyone stared at one another silently, afraid to speak.
Inside the factory, Fang Yinnian gestured as he moved toward the area thickest with smoke—the site of the explosion.
Finally reaching the faulty machine, Fang Yinnian exhaled in relief.
At the time of the explosion, he had feared widespread mechanical damage. Now, seeing the diesel engine smoking and overheating, with external parts cracked but not completely destroyed, he concluded the explosion was caused by internal mechanical failure.
It was still repairable.
Fang Yinnian began disassembling.
Mu Wanwan entered and saw Fang Yinnian removing his jacket, rolling up his sleeves, and taking up tools to dismantle the diesel engine.
The diesel generator, fueled by burning diesel, was naturally grimy, and after the explosion, the machine and its surroundings were coated in pungent, black oily grime.
Though the place was filthy and chaotic—and she had once gotten a little mud on her when pulling weeds, which this man had disliked—now...
He no longer seemed to mind her.
Was this a double standard?
Tilting her head, Mu Wanwan watched the man moving deftly amidst the smoke and pursed her lips as she approached. “Aren’t you a weapons researcher? Can you really fix this?”
“Why are you here?” Fang Yinnian didn’t look up, continuing his work.
“You came in, so naturally I came too.”
“Hand me a wrench... do you know what a wrench is?”
“Who are you underestimating?” Mu Wanwan squatted by the toolbox. “What size?”
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Fang Yinnian reached out. “Size two wrench.”
After receiving the wrench, he smirked slightly. “I heard from my teacher that you grew up in a factory?”
Mu Wanwan blinked, glancing at the damaged, smoking diesel engine and thinking for a moment. “Not really. Just from two to five years old. Then... my mother saw me so dirty and took me to the hospital.”
Mu Wanwan’s biological father, Mu Yuanzhou, was an expert in mechanical engineering and physics. While studying abroad, he and his wife Gong Wanzhen, a medical student, unexpectedly had Mu Wanwan.
Because it was unplanned, Gong Wanzhen had to pause her studies to give birth. When Mu Wanwan was two and could walk, she resumed her education.
During that time, Mu Yuanzhou took care of Mu Wanwan and often brought her to the factory due to his research work with his advisor.
Fang Yinnian’s vague memories suddenly flashed vividly before him, as if he had personally experienced them.
Complex human emotions involuntarily clouded Mu Wanwan’s delicate features.
“Screwdriver.”
Mu Wanwan snapped back and accurately picked up a screwdriver to hand over.
“Did you learn to give injections when you went to the hospital?” Fang Yinnian teased with a half-smile.
Mu Wanwan finally regained focus, rolling her eyes and grabbing another screwdriver, pointing it at Fang Yinnian. “Yeah, want me to give you a shot now?”
She made a stabbing motion.
“No, thank you.” Fang Yinnian had just finished unscrewing all the bolts and removing the diesel engine’s casing to begin internal inspection.
Mu Wanwan leaned closer to watch for a while and said, “The rotor’s damaged.”
“Mm.” Fang Yinnian dismantled more parts and inspected carefully. “More precisely, the rotor winding and iron core are burnt.”
Returning to the earlier topic, Fang Yinnian asked, “You said you learned mechanics from your parents and had some medical exposure—why do you like... plants?”
“Have you mutated or something?”
“Fang Yinnian.” Even with her limited understanding of ancient Blue Star human customs, Mu Wanwan sensed something was off.
Moreover, Fang Yinnian asked so bluntly.
She stood up and looked down at him, still inspecting the machine. “Do you have some kind of class prejudice against botany? Or are you suspecting... or testing something?”