paranoianovel Chapter 158 The First Waves of Wheat, Hidden Reefs Lurk
Chapter 158 The First Waves of Wheat, Hidden Reefs Lurk
The spring planting season had just ended, and the wheat fields around Zhangcheng were already rippling with waves of green and yellow. Lin Chen, holding a roll of kraft paper covered with drawings, squatted on the edge of the field for the entire morning. His trouser legs were covered in mud, but he didn't notice at all—his gaze was always fixed on the farmers bending over to harvest wheat not far away, and his pencil kept marking dimensions on the sketch.
"Deputy Factory Director Lin, the sun's already high in the sky. Have some dry rations before you look at it," said Uncle Wang, a farmer, straightening his aching back and handing over a rough cloth bundle containing two cornbread buns and a pickled radish. He looked at Lin Chen's blueprints covered in symbols, his calloused fingers gently stroking them. "This 'mini-harvester' you're talking about, can it really be faster than us with sickles?"
Lin Chen took the cornbread and took a big bite, pointing to the cutting device on the blueprint: "Uncle Wang, look here. Gears drive the blades to cut back and forth, and the harvested wheat is sent directly to the basket behind via a conveyor belt. One person can operate it, which is faster than five or six people using sickles." He squatted down and drew a simple transmission diagram on the ridge of the field with a twig. "The key is that the height can be adjusted, so it won't damage the stubble and can even leave some to fertilize the field."
Uncle Wang leaned closer to examine it intently, but his brows gradually furrowed: "This sounds good, but the wheat fields here are uneven, and there are stones hidden in some places. Won't the blade get stuck? Last year, my son cut his Achilles tendon because the sickle hit a stone." These words made Lin Chen's heart sink. He thought of the old cutting machine in the workshop, which did indeed have the problem of jamming when it encountered hard objects. This was the first obstacle on the road to research and development.
Back at the factory, Su Qing was standing anxiously at the workshop entrance, clutching a crumpled telegram. Seeing Lin Chen return, she hurried to meet him, her hair still ruffled by the breeze: "A telegram from the neighboring county's agricultural bureau! It says the region is holding an agricultural implement innovation competition. Registration closes on the 15th of next month, and the first-place winner will receive a 500 yuan prize and an imported precision lathe." She handed him the telegram, her eyes sparkling. "If our small harvester can participate, it'll be a perfect opportunity to expand our sales!"
Lin Chen unfolded the telegram, his gaze falling on the words "imported precision lathe"—the key to upgrading the existing equipment and solving the problem of blade jamming. He revealed his discovery in the wheat field, pointing to the cutting mechanism on the blueprints: "The current problem is the lack of an overload protection device. When encountering hard objects like rocks, the blade either breaks or jams the spindle. To make this device, we need a high-precision lathe to machine the spring assembly."
Su Qing took the blueprints and drew a small circle next to the cutting mechanism with her fingertip: "My father used to work as an accountant in an arsenal. He saw a kind of 'centrifugal overload protector,' which would automatically disengage when encountering excessive resistance." She pulled out an even more worn-out "Mechanical Design Handbook" from her canvas bag, turned to a page with a folded corner, and said, "Look at this structure, using a spring and a centrifugal block. Can we simplify it and use it on a harvester?"
The diagrams in the manual were densely marked, and Lin Chen's eyes lit up as he looked at them. He grabbed a piece of chalk and quickly sketched on the blackboard: "We can change the centrifugal block to a fan shape, and make the springs from high-carbon steel. When the blade encounters resistance exceeding the set value, the centrifugal block will overcome the spring force and disengage, cutting off the power transmission." He turned to look at Su Qing and found her intently recording the key parameters. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a soft halo of light on her hair. "However, the springs require very high precision. The number of coils and the wire diameter cannot be off by even a fraction. It's impossible to make them without a precision lathe."
"Perhaps we can try the regional agricultural machinery factory." Su Qing closed the manual, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes. "I have a distant cousin who is the workshop director there, but last year their factory competed with us for an order for water pump parts, so our relationship isn't very good." Lin Chen immediately made the decision: "For the sake of the harvester, we have to go even if we run into obstacles! Tomorrow we'll go to the region together, bring our gear samples, and let them see our technical capabilities."
The next morning, the two, carrying carefully packaged gear samples, boarded a long-distance bus to the region. The bus was packed with people. Lin Chen gave Su Qing his window seat, while he stood in the aisle, tightly clutching the wooden crate containing the samples. The bus bumped along the dirt road, and Su Qing, suffering from severe motion sickness, turned pale, but still managed to rehearse the story they had told during their visit with Lin Chen. "After we meet my cousin, you talk about the technology first. I'll smooth things over and try not to mention the previous order dispute." She took a small piece of ginger from her pocket, sniffed it, and said, "If they propose cooperation, we can agree to give them priority in supplying gears."
The regional agricultural machinery factory was much larger than the Zhangcheng agricultural implement factory. A dozen brand-new machine tools were lined up in the tall factory buildings, and the workers, dressed in uniform blue overalls, operated the equipment in a standardized and orderly manner. Su Qing's cousin, Zhang Jianjun, a middle-aged man in his forties with a forehead covered in fine wrinkles, looked noticeably cold when he saw Su Qing bringing Lin Chen over: "Xiao Qing, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but your factory's actions regarding the order-stealing incident last time made our factory manager very unhappy."
Lin Chen quickly handed over a gear sample: "Director Zhang, we're not here for old matters, but to ask about some technical issues. This is a high-precision gear we just produced, with a tolerance of only 0.01 millimeters. We'd like you to take a look at our craftsmanship." Zhang Jianjun took the gear, carefully measured it with calipers, and his expression gradually softened. He placed the gear on the machine tool table and had the technician test it with professional instruments. When he saw the pass rate on the test report, he finally nodded: "Your craftsmanship is indeed excellent, even better than the batches we just produced in our factory."
"We want to manufacture a batch of spring assemblies for overload protection devices on small harvesters." Lin Chen pressed his advantage, producing simplified blueprints of the protector. "If we could borrow your precision lathe, we'd be willing to pay the processing fee, or even accept gears as payment." Zhang Jianjun stared at the blueprints for a long time, then suddenly laughed: "You guys are developing a harvester? You've got some nerve. Here's the deal: you can borrow the lathe, but I have one condition—once the harvester is successfully developed, you must give our factory priority production rights."
This condition made Lin Chen hesitate; licensing production rights meant sharing core technology. Su Qing quietly tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Let's solve the immediate problem first; we can talk about the future later." Lin Chen weighed his options for a moment, then extended his hand: "Okay, but we need to co-sign the agreement, and the core overload protection technology must belong to us." Zhang Jianjun readily grasped his hand: "Deal! Tomorrow I'll have someone arrange lathes for you and send the best technicians to assist you."
On the way back, Su Qing fell asleep leaning back in her chair. Lin Chen gently draped his coat over her, gazing at the wheat fields flashing past the window, his heart filled with energy. He pulled out his notebook and began planning the harvester's development schedule: complete spring processing and overload protector assembly in the next two weeks, conduct overall machine debugging in the third week, and strive to complete the prototype before the evaluation. The telegram in his pocket was crumpled from his grip; the reward for the imported precision lathe had become his driving force.
In the days that followed, the workshop transformed into a bustling battlefield. Lin Chen, along with Wang Xiaohu and Uncle Wang, were responsible for assembling the mechanical structures, while Su Qing oversaw material procurement and progress control. Every day, she would go to the scrap yard before dawn to scavenge for usable parts, and at night she would check the accounts until late. To meet the deadline, the workers voluntarily worked overtime, the canteen prepared chicken soup every day, and Factory Director Zhou Ming even vacated his office to serve as a temporary drafting room, with the walls covered with various parts drawings.
Assembling the overload protector is the most crucial step. When the first batch of springs arrived from the local agricultural machinery factory, Lin Chen discovered that five springs had substandard elasticity coefficients and could not provide overload protection. "What can we do? Reworking them will take three days, which will delay the overall machine debugging." Wang Xiaohu was so anxious that he stamped his feet, and the wrench in his hand clattered to the ground. Lin Chen picked up the wrench and carefully inspected the substandard springs: "Don't panic, we can adjust the elasticity coefficient using heat treatment."
He led Master Li into the heat treatment workshop, where they repeatedly adjusted the temperature of the springs inside the furnace. "If the elasticity coefficient is insufficient, increase the tempering temperature to reduce the spring's hardness and increase its toughness." Lin Chen stared at the temperature gauge, measuring the spring's elasticity every ten minutes, while Su Qing recorded the data, her notebook filled with the corresponding values of temperature and elasticity coefficient. After two days and two nights of repeated testing, all the springs finally met the design requirements. When the last spring was installed, Lin Chen and Master Li collapsed to the ground, exhausted, their faces covered in soot.
Just as the machine was about to be assembled, Factory Director Zhou Ming brought bad news: the Hongxing Agricultural Implements Factory in the neighboring county had also developed a small harvester, and had already completed a prototype ahead of schedule, even registering it with the regional agricultural bureau. "I heard their harvester is a copy of a Soviet model, using imported blades, and it's even faster than ours." Zhou Ming slammed a Hongxing Agricultural Implements Factory brochure on the table, which featured a beautifully designed harvester. "Their factory director, Zhao Hongliang, declared that they're sure to win first place in this competition."
The atmosphere in the workshop instantly became tense. Uncle Wang slammed his pipe on the table: "So what if they have imported blades? Our overload protectors are more advanced than theirs and less prone to failure." Wang Xiaohu chimed in: "That's right, our gears were better than theirs last time, we'll definitely win this time too." Lin Chen frowned. He picked up the brochure and looked at it carefully, discovering that the harvester from Hongxing Agricultural Implements Factory had a clear advantage—it could be folded and stored for easy transport, while their harvesters were too bulky for farmers to pull with oxcarts.
"The design must be modified to add a folding function." Lin Chen picked up a piece of chalk and drew a sketch of the folding mechanism on the blackboard. "Divide the frame into two sections and connect them with hinges. When not in use, it can be folded up, reducing the width from 1.2 meters to 60 centimeters." This idea stunned everyone. Zhou Ming quickly waved his hand: "There are only five days left until the evaluation. There's simply no time to modify the design!" Su Qing, however, supported Lin Chen's idea: "There's time. We can split into two groups for construction. One group will modify the frame, and the other group will debug the other parts. I'll contact the blacksmith to rush-make the hinges."
Without further ado, the workshop immediately split into two groups. Lin Chen, along with Wang Xiaohu, modified the frame structure, changing the original one-piece frame into a foldable two-section design connected by high-strength hinges. Su Qing, meanwhile, led the purchasing department to search every blacksmith shop in Zhangcheng, finally finding one willing to work through the night to produce the hinges. To speed things up, Lin Chen moved his own bed into the workshop, sleeping on the blueprints when he was tired, and continuing to work when he woke up. Su Qing brought him two steamed buns every day, her eyes filled with heartache as she looked at his increasingly thin face.
On the day the folding mechanism was installed, Lin Chen specially took the prototype to Uncle Wang's wheat field for testing. As the harvester swiftly moved through the field, the cut wheat fell neatly into the basket behind it. When it encountered stones on the field ridge, the overload protector automatically disengaged with a "click," and the blades immediately stopped rotating, prompting cheers from everyone. Uncle Wang ran over to try folding the harvester; with just a gentle pull, the originally massive machine shrunk to half its original size. He excitedly exclaimed, "This is great! This is great! It's much easier to haul it to the field, much better than the one from the Red Star Factory!"
After the test, Lin Chen discovered a small problem with the harvester: the cut wheat easily got tangled on the blades, requiring frequent cleaning. Looking at the tangled wheat straw, Su Qing suddenly had a brilliant idea: "We can attach a rotating straw-removing rod behind the blades, like a comb to remove the straw." She picked up a twig and gestured behind the blade model, "Using gears to drive the straw-removing rod to rotate at the same speed as the blades will prevent tangling."
This improvement was simple and effective, and Lin Chen immediately led the workers to add straw-removing poles. When the modified prototype was tested again, the problem of straw entanglement was completely solved, and the harvesting efficiency increased by 20%. Uncle Wang did the math: harvesting one acre of wheat with this harvester only takes one hour, while harvesting one acre with a sickle would require six people a whole day, and the loss rate is also much lower. He held Lin Chen's hand and said, "If we can demonstrate it live during the competition, it will definitely impress the judges!"
On the day of the evaluation, the courtyard of the regional agricultural machinery station was crowded with representatives from agricultural implement factories in various counties. Zhao Hongliang from Hongxing Agricultural Implement Factory stood in the most conspicuous position with their prototype machine. When he saw Lin Chen's harvester, he laughed disdainfully: "Your machine looks so rudimentary. You even added a useless weeding pole. It's just superfluous." Lin Chen ignored him and carefully inspected every part of the prototype machine. Su Qing was preparing the wheat sheaves for the demonstration, holding a thick test data manual in her hand.
After the competition began, the Hongxing Agricultural Implements Factory gave the first demonstration. Their harvester was indeed very fast, and the wheat it cut was very neat, earning nods of approval from the judges. Zhao Hongliang proudly said, "Our harvester uses advanced Soviet technology, with imported, sharp, and durable blades. It can harvest two mu of wheat per hour." Just as he finished speaking, a "click" was heard, and the harvester's blades suddenly jammed. No matter how the operator tried to fix it, it wouldn't turn anymore.
"It must have hit a rock. Their machine doesn't have an overload protection device; the blades must have broken," Wang Xiaohu whispered to Lin Chen. Sure enough, after the technician disassembled the machine, he found that not only were the blades broken, but the main shaft was also bent. Zhao Hongliang's face instantly turned bright red, and he hurriedly explained, "It was an accident; it was working fine during the test." The judges' expressions, however, darkened. Director Zhang from the Agricultural Bureau said, "It's inevitable that there will be rocks in farmers' fields. Without an overload protection device, it's completely impractical."
When it was Lin Chen's turn to demonstrate, everyone held their breath. Lin Chen personally operated the harvester, weaving back and forth in the agricultural machinery station's test field. When it encountered pre-buried stones, the overload protector precisely disengaged, stopping the blades from rotating. He only needed to gently reset it, and the machine continued operating. After the demonstration, he also showed the folding function; the originally massive harvester quickly shrunk to half its original size, drawing a crowd of judges who marveled at it.
"This harvester is not only highly efficient, but also very practical. The folding function solves the transportation problem, and the overload protection device is a thoughtful feature." Director Zhang picked up the test data manual, looked at the detailed test records and farmer feedback, and nodded in satisfaction. "Moreover, all your parts are manufactured in-house, so the cost is much lower than imported ones, making them affordable for farmers. This is truly good equipment that puts farmers first."
When the competition results were announced, the small harvester from Zhangcheng Agricultural Implements Factory won first place with an absolute advantage. When Director Zhang handed Lin Chen the 500 yuan bonus and the transfer order for the precision lathe, the entire room erupted in enthusiastic applause. Zhao Hongliang walked over with a livid face, saying unwillingly, "Your overload protection device is indeed better than ours; I admit defeat." Lin Chen smiled and extended his hand: "Actually, we can cooperate. We'll provide the overload protection technology, and you'll be responsible for production. Together, we'll promote the harvester to more places."
On the way back, the setting sun cast long shadows of the combine harvesters. Su Qing sat on the truck loaded with parts, toying with the certificate of honor in her hand, and suddenly asked Lin Chen, "Now that we have a precision lathe, what's our next step in developing?" Lin Chen looked at the golden wheat fields in the distance, his eyes filled with anticipation: "We'll develop a threshing machine so that farmers won't have to thresh the wheat by hand after harvesting; it will be a one-stop process from harvesting to threshing."
The truck bumped along the field ridges, the combine harvester's metal gleaming in the setting sun. Lin Chen and Su Qing leaned against each other, discussing the development plan for the threshing machine. Their occasional laughter was carried away by the wind, falling into the golden waves of wheat. They both knew this was just a milestone on their entrepreneurial journey; many more technical challenges awaited them. But as long as they worked hand in hand, no obstacle was insurmountable. Just like this small combine harvester, they would eventually reap even more dreams and glory in the fields of hope.