PDLP Chapter 115 Viewpoints
Chapter 115 Viewpoints
The waveform is stable, with consistent peak heights and no abnormal attenuation. Each peak is roughly the same height and neatly arranged, like a dotted line drawn on paper.
"The bonding strength is up to standard," he said.
Chief Engineer Chen walked over, looked at the waveform, and then at the blades. A faint expression finally appeared on her face—not a smile, but a relieved, slight relaxation. Like someone who had walked along the edge of a cliff all day, finally sitting down to rest, taking off their shoes, and letting their toes breathe.
"This blade will be sent for thermal cycling testing," she said. "One thousand thermal cycles, simulating the engine's takeoff and landing process. After one thousand cycles, we'll check for any peeling or cracks in the coating. This test will take two weeks."
Jiang Cheng nodded. Two weeks, fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty-six hours. He didn't know if he could wait that long.
The day the true blades were sent for thermal cycling testing, it rained in Beijing. Not a heavy rain, but a fine, dense drizzle, like needles pricking your face, cool and refreshing, not painful, but invigorating. Jiang Cheng stood by the lab window, watching the raindrops slide down the pane, one after another, like tears. There were no windows on the basement floor, so he went upstairs to the window in the first-floor corridor and looked at the rain outside.
The locust tree in the yard had leaves washed clean by the rain, glistening with a vibrant green, each one looking as if it had just been pulled from the water. The locust blossoms had already faded, leaving a layer of petals on the ground, whitish from being soaked in the rain, soft and yielding underfoot like a wad of damp paper. Raindrops pattered on the petals, splashing up tiny droplets before the petals sank to the ground.
He touched the letter in his pocket. It was still there, the edges of the paper softened by sweat, the handwriting somewhat blurred. He took it out, glanced at it, and put it back. The letter was folded three times, the edges were frayed, and it was about to break at the crease.
"Brother Jiang."
He turned his head, and saw Sun Deming standing at the other end of the corridor, holding two bottles of soda. They were Arctic Ocean sodas, orange in color, with a layer of water droplets condensed on the bottle walls, as if they had just been taken out of the refrigerator.
"Want some or not?"
"drink."
Sun Deming walked over and handed him a bottle of soda. The cap had already been pried off, the soda was bubbling, and there was a hint of orange flavor from the bottle opening. Jiang Cheng took it, took a sip, and found it very sweet and cool. The carbon dioxide exploded in his mouth, stimulating the back of his tongue and giving it a spicy kick.
"Brother Jiang, do you think it will pass that thermal cycling test?"
"have no idea."
"What if we don't pass?"
"If it doesn't pass, just redo it. Adjust the parameters, spray again. Keep spraying until it passes." Jiang Cheng's tone was flat, as if he were talking about something insignificant that had nothing to do with him.
Sun Deming was silent for a moment. He held the soda bottle up to his eyes, watching the bubbles rise from the bottom in strings, like pearls. "Brother Jiang, have you thought about what to do if this project fails?"
Jiang Cheng took a sip of his soda and thought for a moment. "If it can't be done, it can't be done. It's not like we haven't failed before."
"You've never failed." Sun Deming looked at him earnestly. "Everything you've done, you've succeeded. The rolling mill, it succeeded. The hydraulic press, it succeeded. The landing gear, it succeeded. The diesel engine factory, it succeeded. Every single one of them succeeded. People say you're lucky, that you have powerful connections. But I know that's not true. You're truly capable, truly talented. But this time, it's different. This time it's too difficult."
Jiang Cheng was taken aback. He wanted to retort, but opened his mouth and no words came out. Sun Deming was right. In other people's eyes, he had indeed never failed. He had accomplished everything, repaired every machine. But only he knew how many failures lay behind those "successes." He had hidden each failure, not letting anyone see it. Not out of vanity, but because it was unnecessary. Failure was his own business; success was everyone's business.
"That's because I hid my failures," Jiang Cheng said. "You just didn't see them."
Sun Deming looked at him without saying a word. He took a sip of soda, held it in his mouth for a while, and then swallowed it.
The rain was still falling. The puddles in the yard reflected the sunlight, shimmering as if someone had laid a mirror on the ground. A sparrow landed on the windowsill, shook off the raindrops from its wings, and the water splashed out, leaving a trail of tiny watermarks on the windowsill. It glanced at them with its head tilted, then flew away, the rustling of its wings quickly drowned out by the rain.
"Brother Jiang, do you think Chief Engineer Chen is a particularly difficult person to deal with?"
"It's not that they're difficult to deal with. It's that they like to take things seriously. People who are easy to deal with aren't necessarily not serious. But serious people are often difficult to deal with."
Sun Deming thought for a moment and nodded. "That's true. Master Huang is not easy to deal with either. But Master Huang's difficulty is different from Chief Engineer Chen's."
"What's different?"
"Master Huang is... he's difficult to deal with, but you know what he's thinking. If he scolds you, you know why he scolds you. If he's unhappy, you know why he's unhappy. Chief Engineer Chen, on the other hand, you don't know what she's thinking. She doesn't say, and you can't guess."
Jiang Cheng didn't respond. He knew what Sun Deming meant. Huang Deqing's "difficult to deal with" was superficial. What he was thinking was written all over his face; a frown meant displeasure, and a nod meant agreement. Chief Engineer Chen's "difficult to deal with," however, was ingrained. She didn't express herself easily, didn't readily agree, and didn't easily believe.
Once such a person gives their approval, it's genuine. It's not just politeness or perfunctory gestures; it's a judgment made after careful consideration.
"Deming, remember this. You don't need to make Chief Engineer Chen like you. You only need to make her respect you. Respect is harder to gain than liking, but it's more valuable. You can fake liking, but you can't fake respect."
Sun Deming nodded. He placed the soda bottle on the windowsill, leaving a round mark on the windowsill from the water stain at the bottom of the bottle.
The rain stopped. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, shining brightly on the wet ground. The puddles in the yard glistened in the sunlight, like shattered mirrors reflecting the sky, the clouds, and the locust tree. Water droplets were still dripping from the locust tree, falling one by one onto the petals, making a soft, pattering sound, like someone gently clapping.
Jiang Cheng placed the soda bottle on the windowsill, turned around, and walked back to the laboratory.
The news that the thermal cycling test had been passed spread throughout the research institute.
But the news didn't spread with cheers or congratulations; it spread in a more subtle way—someone in the cafeteria glanced at Jiang Cheng more often, someone in the corridor nodded to him, and the lab technicians no longer hesitated when handing him tools. These changes were small, like the first wisp of wind thawing in winter; they didn't feel warm on your face, but you knew the ice was melting.
Chief Engineer Chen's attitude also changed. Not that she became more enthusiastic, but rather more "normal." She no longer looked at Jiang Cheng with a scrutinizing gaze, nor did she always preface her words with "You're just a fitter." She began to treat Jiang Cheng as a colleague with whom she could discuss issues. Although her tone was still firm during discussions, that firmness was no longer "You're an amateur," but rather "I disagree with your point of view."