Chapter 81: Are You Embarrassed?
On the other side, Zheng Yiqian finally saw an opportunity to save face.
"The valve issue was indeed our mistake, but as I said before, this kind of tool and design simply won't work."
"This motor's power isn't sufficient, and its lift is nowhere near high enough. This design is doomed to fail."
Just as he was speaking, Liu Shang disassembled the entire apparatus again.
Then, after taking several measurements with a vernier caliper, he turned to Zheng Yiqian and his engineer, his face flushed with anger.
"Boss Zheng, what in the world is going on with your factory?"
"Did Chunxin send you here just to cause trouble for me?"
"What are the dimensions I gave you on the drawing? Come here and measure this for me. What are the dimensions of the part you made?"
"Where did this extra three centimeters come from?"
Hearing Liu Shang's accusation, Zheng Yiqian personally took the vernier caliper, knelt on the ground to measure the part, and confirmed that it truly did not match the specifications on the drawing.
In front of Song Guangyuan, Mr. Zhong, and the others, he had now made two unforgivable, major mistakes in a row. Zheng Yiqian's face was ashen; he could no longer contain his fury.
"Ugh!"
After a deep sigh, Zheng Yiqian turned his rage-filled eyes on the engineer, Wang Bo, who stood beside him.
Facing Zheng Yiqian's anger, the disapproving frowns of Song Guangyuan and Mr. Zhong, and Liu Shang's cold reprimand, Wang Bo, a man in his forties, became desperate.
"Yes, I admit it! I made a three-centimeter error when machining the tool."
"But so what? It's just three centimeters!"
"Your design and your tool are fundamentally flawed; it's impossible for them to succeed. The power and lift of this motor simply can't reach that height."
"You're just a young man. You can't blame all your failures on my mistake, can you?"
The moment Wang Bo uttered these words, Zheng Yiqian sensed disaster, but it was too late to stop him.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the faces of Song Guangyuan, Mr. Zhong, Xu Tiande, and Li Shaohua all darkened.
But before they could get angry, Liu Shang stood up and walked directly in front of Wang Bo, staring coldly into his eyes.
"Do you even know what your job is?"
"You are to machine the tools exactly according to the drawings I provide!"
"Never mind three centimeters—you're not even allowed to be off by three millimeters!"
"The motor power is insufficient? The design is unreasonable?"
"The core principle of this device is current limiting and self-priming! Do you understand what that means?"
Liu Shang's incredibly sharp words left Wang Bo speechless.
At that moment, Zheng Yiqian rushed over and berated Wang Bo again.
After he sent a dejected Wang Bo back to the car, the expressions on Song Guangyuan and the others eased slightly, and Zheng Yiqian began to apologize profusely once more.
While all this was happening, Liu Shang had already asked a worker to bring out an angle grinder. On the spot, he cut off and removed the extra three centimeters of inner steel pipe from the tool.
About ten minutes later, the device was reassembled, and Liu Shang pressed the start button again.
The next moment, the distinct roar of a powerful flow of water hitting the inside of the dispensing tank could be heard.
A look of disbelief appeared on everyone's faces. Had it really succeeded?
Immediately, Mr. Zhong, who was the most anxious about the experiment's outcome, rushed to the tank first. A look of surprised relief washed over his face.
After Mr. Zhong, Li Shaohua, Xu Tiande, Yang Xu, Zheng Yiqian, and even Song Guangyuan went up to inspect it for themselves.
Next, Liu Shang instructed the workers on-site to try dispensing the chemicals with the new device.
Unsurprisingly, it was a great success, and the dispensing effect was much better than before.
Seeing how effective and easy to use the new device was, the workers were all beaming, as if they were celebrating the New Year.
At that moment, while everyone was equally shocked, their thoughts were quite different.
People like Mr. Zhong and Xu Tiande were naturally happy for Liu Shang and breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But people like Yang Xu, who had gone to great lengths to persuade and lecture Liu Shang just moments before, now felt extremely awkward and embarrassed.
*How is this possible?*
*Can this kind of tool and design really work?*
*Is there any logic to this?*
*Damn it! Just now, I was flaunting my seniority, lecturing that kid Liu Shang right in front of Mr. Song and Mr. Zhong, but the slap in the face came so quickly!*
*I really want to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it!*
He wasn't the only one. Zheng Yiqian's expression was even more unsightly.
He had lived for most of his life, but this was the first time he had been so openly humiliated.
If it weren't for the two massive blunders on his part, the device would have worked perfectly from the start, and the very first experiment would have been a success.
*What the hell was I thinking? I've done nothing but cause problems and make a fool of myself!*
"Oh, goodness, Mr. Song, Mr. Zhong, please don't look at me!"
"Today, I, Zheng Yiqian, have been thoroughly and utterly disgraced. I'm too ashamed to ever face you again!"
"At lunch today, no one is leaving. Even if I, Zheng Yiqian, have to drink myself to death, I must express my apology."
"And Engineer Liu, young Engineer Liu, I am truly, completely convinced by this device! You have my utmost admiration!"
"It's true what they say: there is always a higher mountain to climb, always a stronger person to meet!"
"The new generation surpasses the old. We really can't underestimate young people these days, or we'll be the ones left behind!"
Seeing him like this, Mr. Zhong and Li Shaohua laughed. "It's alright, Old Zheng. Many of us here can understand how you're feeling right now."
"After all, we've all been through it ourselves!"
At this time, Song Guangyuan also let out a long breath, glanced at the people around him, and said slowly:
"Actually, I hadn't planned on coming today."
"But Mr. Li insisted on dragging me here to act as an arbiter for most of you, to ensure you all saw fairness and justice done."
"He was worried some of you held a grudge against Liu Shang, thinking that old experts like Mr. Xu and Mr. Zhong were showing him favoritism."
"But what are the facts?"
"You have all seen it with your own eyes. The facts have proven that Liu Shang's design is a success, and that Professor Xu and Mr. Zhong's judgment in supporting talent was entirely correct."
"It is foreseeable that the innovation of Liu Shang's device will make a great contribution to the company's production and safety."
"Is this the result of what you considered unfair favoritism?"
"So, I hope everyone can use this incident to reflect. While you were feeling jealous and resentful of Liu Shang, what were you doing? Have you made a comparable contribution to the company?"
"I, Song Guangyuan, am here to assure you of this: just as Liu Shang is protected by Professor Xu and Mr. Zhong, from now on, he will also be protected by me."
"And as long as any of you truly have good technology and good ideas, you can come to me with your blueprints and patents, just like Liu Shang did. I, Song Guangyuan, will give you the same opportunity."
"As long as your idea is successful and useful, the company will never treat you unfairly!"
"However, before you do that, stop being jealous and stop targeting Liu Shang."
"Liu Shang is still just a freshman in college. How old is he?"
"You, his elders, feel no shame being jealous of a child and trying to make things difficult for him?"
"Aren't you embarrassed?"
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