1992: Starting with the Second Generation of Shipowners

Chapter 32 Letter

In early February, a letter arrived in the provincial capital.

It wasn't an official document from the Fisheries Bureau; it was sent back by Lin Xiu'e.

The envelope was made of kraft paper, with an eight-cent stamp affixed to it, and the postmark was from the provincial capital.

The recipient was listed as Jiang Haiping, forwarded to all staff of the Moon Island Service Station.

When Ah Guang returned from the post office, he was panting heavily, holding up the letter and shouting, "Sister Xiu'e wrote a letter! Sister Xiu'e wrote a letter!"

Old Fang poked his head out of the workshop and said, "Read it."

A-Guang tore open the envelope, revealing several thick pages inside. He stammered as he read the beginning: "Brother Ping, Master Fang, Master Qiu, Master Ding, Master Song, A-Hai, A-Guang, Xiao Zhou, Hong Xiaobing: I've arrived in the provincial capital..."

She couldn't continue reading, saying that Sister Xiu'e's handwriting was too messy and she didn't recognize many of the characters.

Jiang Haiping took the letter, glanced at it, and said, "I'll read it."

The letter was three pages long.

The first page is about the training.

The advanced workshop had two students. The other was a master craftsman from Yantai Shipyard, who was over fifty years old and had been sewing for thirty years.

On the first day of school, the teacher asked Lin Xiue who she learned from, and Lin Xiue said Qiu Changhai.

The master craftsman nodded and said he knew Qiu Changhai's skills; he was the best at sewing at Binhai Shipyard.

The training course taught something different from what Master Qiu taught. The teacher said to draw a line before grouting and to determine the position of the groove before chiseling.

Master Qiu directly chiseles, relying on his eyesight to judge the depth. Both methods have their advantages, and she is now learning both.

The graduation exam consists of a written theory test and a practical skills test. Those who pass will receive an advanced technician certificate.

The second page describes what I saw and heard in the provincial capital.

The provincial capital is much larger than the coastal city, and there are more cars than bicycles on the streets.

There was a Xinhua Bookstore next to the training center, so she went in and bought a book on shipbuilding woodworking techniques. One chapter in it specifically discussed grouting. She planned to bring it back to show Master Qiu after the training.

The letter included a photo taken at the entrance of the training center.

She stood on the steps, wearing the blue cloth jacket from the service station, with the words "Binhai" embroidered on the left breast. Her hair was cut shorter, just reaching her shoulders. She smiled, with the gray building of the Provincial Fishing Vessel Inspection Bureau behind her.

The third page lists the service station.

Ask Master Qiu if his back is feeling better, and remind him to apply the plaster to the two areas on his lower back when it gets cold.

Ask Ah Hai how his team's maintenance is going.

Ask Ah-Guang how his vertical welding practice is going.

Ask Hong Xiaobing if the filter is installed correctly and remind him to apply a layer of machine oil to the sealing ring.

They asked Xiao Zhou if he still had the skill of mortise and tenon joints, and whether he had gone to Lao Huang's place to find old wood to practice carving grooves.

The last paragraph was written to her parents, saying that everything was fine in the provincial capital, with good food and lodging, and that they shouldn't worry about her.

After Jiang Haiping finished reading, he folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.

Old Fang squatted at the workshop entrance, stubbed out his cigarette, and said, "This girl, even while she's away for training, she's still thinking about Hong Xiaobing's air filter."

Ah Hai said, "Sister Xiu'e even remembered that I was leading the team for skincare."

Ah-Guang said, "Sister Xiu-E didn't mention that I was in charge of the old parts."

Turning to the last line of the letter, there was a line of small print in the corner: "Ah Guang, the window of the old parts warehouse is drafty. Nail up the plastic sheeting in winter so you don't get cold."

Ah Guang read the letter twice and said, "It's nailed up now, it was nailed up before the New Year. How come Sister Xiu'e still remembers about the drafty window?"

Qiu Changhai took the letter, but didn't read it aloud. He sat alone in the corner of the workshop and read it.

After reading the parts of the letter that mentioned him, he folded the letter and put it in his work bag pocket, then stood up and walked to the wall of tools.

Two chisels hung on the wall, one of which belonged to him, its blade dulled by forty years of wear.

The one next to it belonged to Lin Xiu'e; she gave it to him for safekeeping when she left. He took both chisels off and wiped them with cotton yarn.

Old Fang squatted down beside him and said, "Missing your apprentice?" Qiu Changhai didn't look up and said, "No. I just wanted to see if her chisel had rusted."

After a while, she said again, "It's not rusty. Take it back and hang it up until she comes back."

Hong Xiaobing squatted at the entrance of the old parts warehouse and read the sentence in Lin Xiue's letter that mentioned him several times.

Hong Xiaobing, did you install the filter correctly? You need to apply a layer of machine oil to the sealing ring.

He stood up and ran into the workshop, then disassembled the filter he had installed and checked it again. He applied machine oil to the sealing ring, tightened it diagonally, and the torque was just right. He reassembled it and tested the machine; there were no leaks.

He squatted down next to the cabin and said, "Sister Xiu'e, you installed it correctly. When you come back, the filter I installed myself won't leak."

On the fifth day of the second lunar month, Lin's mother came to the service station to deliver seafood porridge.

Jiang Haiping read aloud the part of Lin Xiue's letter that mentioned home. After listening, Lin's mother didn't say anything, but stood there for a while holding her bowl of porridge, and said, "This girl, I've never seen her write so well when she's at home."

Jiang Haiping said, "I've included a photo in the letter. I'll send it to you later." Lin's mother said, "Let's keep it at the service station for now. The walls at home are damp, and I'm afraid the photo will get damaged."

Jiang Haiping placed the photo under the glass plate on the table, alongside the business license, provincial designation certificate, and pilot project approval certificate.

Ahai moved his group photo from the year he graduated from technical school over and arranged them side by side, then pulled Aguang over to look. Aguang said, "Sister Xiu'e has cut her hair short."

Ahai said, "Shorter is better, it's easier to work."

On the eighth day of the second lunar month, the service station received a message from Hong Chuandong that the two hundred yuan debt would be delivered in the next few days.

Ah Hai found the record in the register: the major repair cost for the fishing boat on Hongjia Island was 2,400 yuan, of which 2,200 yuan had been collected and 200 yuan was owed.

Ah Guang asked, "After collecting the money from Shipowner Hong, how much debt does the service station still owe?"

Ahai flipped through the register and said, "There are more than a dozen entries, big and small, totaling less than two thousand. They were all paid back by fishermen after they finished fishing, and the longest debt was almost a year old."

Ah Guang said, "What if the auditors come?"

Old Fang was changing a filter at the workshop entrance, not even looking up: "Wang Cunzhi said that as long as the records are clear, the Fisheries Bureau will issue a unified explanation. It's industry practice for fishermen to pay on credit for boat repairs, it's not just us doing it."

Despite saying that, Ah Guang still made a separate card for each debt, clearly recording the shipowner's name, the amount owed, the date of ship repair, and the promised repayment date.

Jiang Haiping flipped through the cards; the handwriting was neat and tidy, much better than the first registration book.

He patted A-Guang on the shoulder and said, "Good, even more detailed than A-Hai wrote back then."

On the tenth day of the second lunar month, Xiao Zhou had been independently sewing for almost a month.

In that month, he worked on nine boats, his skill in carving the troughs improved, and his speed increased.

Master Song now only watches from the sidelines for half a day, and then goes back to the shed to sharpen his chisels for the rest of the day.

At lunchtime, Xiao Zhou brought over a plate of oyster omelets. It was brought by Hong Xiaobing's mother through a friend. She said that Xiao Zhou had worked hard teaching Hong Xiaobing how to disassemble the filter, and she brought some of her own oysters for him to try.

Hong Xiaobing pulled Xiao Zhou around and distributed the oyster omelets. Chewing on an oyster, he suddenly mumbled, "Brother Zhou, why don't you go and find a master yourself?"

Xiao Zhou said, "What we learn in Guangdong is sew-making. Our master is a boat repairman from Guangdong, but his skills can't compare to our Master Qiu's."

Hong Xiaobing then asked, "Then why did you go all the way to Guangdong?"

Xiao Zhou leaned against the tool wall, his expression slowly fading: "My father died early, leaving only my mother and me at home. My mother later remarried, but I didn't want to go to my stepfather's house, so I went to Guangdong with a fellow villager when I was sixteen."

I worked at the shipyard for three years. The boss saw my willingness to learn and finally let me work as a seamstress. Later, the shipyard closed down, and I rode back home on a motorcycle.

He paused for a moment and said, "During my three years in Guangdong, the thing I missed most, besides my mother, was the sewing technique my master taught me. Fortunately, I was able to use it again on Moon Island."

Hong Xiaobing nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

Master Song squatted at the entrance of the shed, drinking fish ball soup. He didn't get up to get more soup after finishing the bowl.

Old Fang walked over, glanced into his bowl, and placed his own bowl at the entrance of the shed.

In the afternoon, Master Song handed the sampan to Xiao Zhou and pushed the cart to the town on the other side.

When he returned in the evening, there was a small bundle of old locust wood tied to the back seat. He carried the wood into the shed, tapped it with a hammer, and it made a clanging sound.

Xiao Zhou asked, "Master, when do we need it?" Master Song carefully placed the old locust wood against the wall and said, "No rush, let's store it for now."

On February 12th, the foundation for the new workshop at the service station was excavated.

As Lao Fang had mentioned before, the pilot funds should be used to build workshops first and then dormitories. People can be squeezed in first, but the work can't wait.

The construction team was the same group that built the service station last year. The foreman, surnamed Zheng, knew Lao Fang.

When digging the foundation, they unearthed a large rock. Foreman Zheng said, "This rock is too big; we'll have to blast it open."

Old Fang said, "Don't blow it up. The vibration will be too great, and the boats in the stone trough next to it won't be able to withstand it. Use a jackhammer."

Foreman Zheng said the pneumatic drill was too slow. Old Fang said, "Slow is slow. The service station can't damage other people's boats just to speed things up."

After three days of using a pneumatic drill, the reef was broken into several pieces and carried out.

Qiu Changhai squatted down beside him and said, "This rock is a good stone, made of granite. It would be a pity if it broke."

Old Fang said, "Even the broken pieces can be used; they can be used as foundation stones under the western rafts."

Qiu Changhai nodded. The two squatted by the foundation pit, looking at the excavated rock fragments, chatting idly about the new workshop.

When discussing what equipment to put in the workshop, Lao Fang said he wanted to put a new lathe, because the tool post of the current lathe was loose and the precision was not enough.

Qiu Changhai said not to throw away the old machine either, use it to roughly machine the blanks, and then use the new machine to finely machine the mating surfaces.

Ding Haisheng happened to be passing by, stopped to look at the planning drawings, and told Lao Fang that after the welding area was moved to the new workshop, the old AC welding machine should be replaced and given to the students for practice, and a DC welding machine should be purchased. He also suggested adding two fire extinguisher racks to the welding area.

Old Fang wrote them all down.

On February 15th, Wang Cunzhi delivered a box of canned loquats by motorcycle.

He said it was given to him by his wife's workplace, and they couldn't finish it all at home.

Ahai took it and asked whether canned or fresh food was tastier.

Wang Cunzhi said that fresh ones taste better and have a loquat flavor.

Ahai gestured towards the two loquat saplings in the yard, saying that they had bloomed quite a few flowers in the spring and should bear some fruit.

Wang Cunzhi squatted down and looked at the loquat seedlings, saying that he had simply stuffed the pits into the crevices of the rocks, not expecting them to survive.

Who would have thought that after growing so big, it would also sprout a smaller one?

He stood up, dusted off his hands, and added, "There's been some progress on the old outboard motor thing you asked me to inquire about last time. There's a decommissioned speedboat at the saltworks on the other side; the Yamaha outboard motor was submerged once but it's still usable."

The saltworks manager said that if the Moon Island service station can be repaired, they'll take it away as a form of support.

Jiang Haiping said the service station had repaired Yamaha outdoor units before and could fix them.

Wang Cunzhi said okay, he'll have someone tow it over in a couple of days, and once it's fixed, he'll keep the service station for himself.

Ahai chimed in, asking who would operate it after it was towed over. Wang Cunzhi smiled and said, "Can't a mid-level marine engineer operate a speedboat?" Ahai replied that he could, having learned in technical school.

On the day the speedboat arrived, Ahai and Hong Xiaobing unloaded the outboard motor from the trailer and inspected the spark plugs, carburetor, and cooling system.

I replaced both spark plugs, disassembled and cleaned the carburetor, and found salt crystals in the cooling water channels, which I rinsed with fresh water for almost half an hour to clear. After reassembling and testing, it started immediately.

Days passed by at the service station.

Every day at the crack of dawn, Lao Fang would be the first to arrive, wipe the three wooden signs clean, and then squat at the workshop entrance to smoke a cigarette while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Qiu Changhai arrived second. His back was bad, so he walked slowly, and the stretch of road on the rocky beach would take him quite a while. Old Fang didn't rush him. As soon as he saw the figure turn the corner from the seawall, he stood up and put out his cigarette.

Hong Xiaobing and Master Song came out of the shed, one sharpening a chisel and the other disassembling a filter. A-Guang went to the old parts warehouse, spread out the register, and added the previous day's entries and exits.

Ah Hai took the maintenance schedule and checked the engines and gearboxes of the ships waiting for repair one by one.

Jiang Haiping organized the acceptance forms from the previous day, preparing to submit them to the county for filing at the end of the month.

At noon, Lin's mother or Lin Xiu'e's sister would deliver the food to the entrance of the service station. They would come out as soon as they smelled the food, without even being called.

When they finished work in the evening, Lao Fang counted all the wrenches on the tool wall one by one. If one was missing, no one was allowed to leave until it was found.

As darkness fell, the boat in the stone trough rocked gently, and the wooden signboard occasionally rattled in the sea breeze.

The leaves of the loquat seedlings gleamed a dark green under the moonlight.

The service station was still lit up; some people were still sharpening their chisels, some were still registering old items, and some were sitting on the rocks watching the sea.

The waves gently lapped against the rocks, one after another, without rushing.