Chapter 62 Nobody Dared to Make a Sound

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Deep in the night in Xiangdong City, the roar of machinery still echoed from the workshops of various large factories.
Yet the townspeople had grown accustomed to this noise and slept soundly.
"Bang!" A deafening explosion erupted from the boiler room of a chemical plant.
Scalding hot water surged outward, and steam instantly filled the entire room.
The drowsy workers were scalded, letting out agonizing, miserable shrieks as they fled.
Pieces of cooked skin and flesh fell off along their path—a truly horrific and unbearable sight.
Those who rushed to the scene upon hearing the commotion either fainted or vomited at the sight of the horribly disfigured victims on the ground.
The accident resulted in two workers dead on the spot and three critically injured.
The municipal government attached great importance to the incident. Aside from holding the relevant persons in charge accountable, authorities also demanded that all enterprises and institutions equipped with boilers—including factories and schools—pay close attention to operational safety to ensure such accidents would never happen again.
Yet, scarcely a day later, the boiler in the glass factory's bathhouse exploded as well, leaving two people heavily injured.
Early in the morning, Zhang Ziqiang pestered Cheng Shi to go visit a new client.
Cheng Shi remarked, "Don't you even follow the news?"
Zhang Ziqiang replied, "Your place doesn't even have a television set; what news am I supposed to follow?"
Cheng Shi picked up a newspaper and slapped it against Zhang Ziqiang's chest. "We have cheap newspapers; who needs a television?"
Every morning upon waking up, Cheng Shi would listen to the news on the radio for a while, and then swiftly browse through newspapers across three levels—national, provincial, and municipal—along with economic publications and various internal reference reports.
Zhang Ziqiang said, "I don't get it. Once you've heard the news on the radio, why go through the trouble of reading newspapers? And you read so many different ones, cutting out articles and pasting them into a notebook. You act just like an old man."
Cheng Shi explained, "Different newspapers have different focuses. Besides, whatever you hear on the radio is gone the moment it's spoken, making it easy to forget. If you want to revisit it, you can never find it again. Important news clippings pasted in a notebook make it easy to reference anytime in the future."
Once the internet developed and the functions of mobile phones and computers became powerful, browsing and searching would become so easy that this practice would no longer be necessary.
Zhang Ziqiang lowered his head and glanced at the newspaper. The bold headline read: "Boilers Explode Once Again: When Will These Accidents End?"
He said dismissively, "Hah, just a boiler explosion. It happens every year. Besides, the incidents occurred at the chemical plant and the glass factory, not with the people we're planning to visit today."
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Cheng Shi retorted, "If we go, we'll make a wasted trip. My time is extremely valuable; I can't afford to waste hours on the road."
Zhang Ziqiang argued, "Impossible, we've already made an appointment."
Cheng Shi countered, "Let's make a bet. If I'm wrong, I'll buy a television set for your home. You make a call and check with them. If I'm right, you'll buy breakfast for the entire coming week."
Zhang Ziqiang agreed, "Deal."
He called both enterprises.
Both sides informed him that their factory directors had been called away to a meeting. Because the departure was rushed, they had forgotten to notify Zhang Ziqiang. The meetings could only be postponed.
Zhang Ziqiang had no choice but to reschedule for tomorrow. Hanging up the phone, he wore a look of utter shock. "Cheng Shi, you're practically a god. How on earth did you know?"
Cheng Shi replied, "By reading the news."
Zhang Ziqiang picked up the newspaper and examined it carefully again. "The news didn't say anything about holding a safety meeting," he said.
Cheng Shi explained, "You have to deduce what might happen before and after from the news reports. Boiler accidents happen every year, yet not every single one makes the front page. This shows that the municipal leaders are paying more attention than ever before. Therefore, the city leaders will definitely summon enterprises and institutions for a meeting today."
Zhang Ziqiang sighed, "I never would have imagined—never imagined that the news could be used this way."
Cheng Shi said, "Mmm, you need to learn to read all kinds of news—from policies, public opinion trends, demographic development, and urban planning, to major domestic and international events—to divine the future direction of industries and products."
Zhang Ziqiang muttered, "That sounds a bit mystical."
Pointing to a news item in his clipping notebook titled *"Construction of Haicheng Metro Line 1 Officially Commences Following State Council Approval,"* Cheng Shi asked, "Come, take a look at this. What does this news signify to you?"
Zhang Ziqiang guessed, "Does it mean I'll have a subway to ride when I go to Haicheng in the future?"
Cheng Shi laughed in exasperation. "I really give up on you. Is there only a single groove in your brain? For nearly fifty years, Haicheng has been our economic benchmark and an international metropolis. It is the most important city outside of the capital. Therefore, this piece of news expresses a certain attitude from the higher-ups."
Zhang Ziqiang asked, "What attitude?"
Cheng Shi answered, "The state is about to embark on massive infrastructure development. Do you have any idea how much money each city invests just in a subway system?"
Zhang Ziqiang shook his head. "No idea."
Cheng Shi stated, "Haicheng's Line 1 alone required an investment of over 15 billion yuan."
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Zhang Ziqiang asked, "I suppose this doesn't have anything to do with us, right?"
Cheng Shi replied, "Alright, then let me talk about something that *does* relate. Doesn't a subway need rails? Furthermore, the dimensional tolerance of the height of subway rail bolts must be controlled within ±0.5mm. And this is for a subway with a maximum speed of a little over 110 kilometers per hour. For a high-speed railway running even faster, the requirements for screws will be even stricter. Do you still think this has nothing to do with people like us who work in machinery? Not to mention that subway trains, doors, and various pieces of equipment all contain precision parts. Shouldn't we figure out a way to do this business?"
Zhang Ziqiang nodded vigorously. "Right, right, right. You're still the brilliant one."
Giving him a side-long glance, Cheng Shi said, "Don't forget, you are the hope of China's automotive industry. The independent research and development of future car engines will rely on you. By then, precision casting and precision machinery will all have to come into play."
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Municipal leaders expressed shock over the boiler accidents, demanding the shutdown of all boilers for comprehensive inspection and major overhaul, permitting their use only after safety was thoroughly verified.
At that moment, the city's production safety department had summoned all factory directors and persons in charge of enterprises and institutions, along with several experts, to discuss how to eradicate such accidents.
Municipal Party Committee leaders were also present, wearing solemn expressions.
Neither the factory directors nor the heads of various units dared to take the matter lightly.
The head of the safety department stated, "Boilers are essential equipment for almost every unit. Every year, one or two boiler accidents, large or small, occur. All of you are the technological leaders of various industrial sectors here in Xiangdong City, and many of you are senior intellectuals and engineers. We have called you to this meeting today to pool our wisdom and see if we can diagnose the root causes of such accidents to minimize their occurrence in the future."
Such a task was a thankless one.
If anyone proposed suggestions that put everyone through extra trouble, they would be cursed to death.
Should trouble still arise after all the hassle, they would be blamed by the leadership for offering reckless ideas and made into scapegoats.
Moreover, everyone in their hearts knew that one of the primary reasons enterprises' boilers kept breaking down frequently was simply because the equipment was far too outdated.
Yet nobody dared to pierce that bubble.
Because once punctured, it meant providing solutions, which meant spending money.
Where was that money supposed to come from?!
Consequently, a dead silence hung over the room below; not a single soul dared to make a sound.
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