Chapter Seven is All That Glitters Is Not Gold

  On the first day of An Yi's work at "Tai Chang" store, everyone was amazed in the morning. Who would have thought that yesterday's beggar-like young man would look so handsome and elegant today after wearing a deep blue youth uniform? The most interesting thing is his hairstyle, which is completely different from the popular style nowadays. His hair was neatly trimmed, and his originally long hair that covered his eyebrows was cut in half, messy yet natural and smooth. The freshness and vitality emanating from him stunned the only two young female employees in the store.

  Mr. Chen was very dissatisfied, but he couldn't find anything wrong with the new guy. Except for still wearing those yellow plastic sandals, his clothes were of poor quality but clean and tidy. Although he had a haircut that was unpleasant to look at, his long hair was indeed cut short. Mr. Chen looked him up and down, feeling annoyed, and deliberately made An Yi stand in front of his desk for twenty minutes before putting down the newspaper, picking up his teacup, and sipping it with relish, speaking in an official tone: "You, go to the warehouse in the backyard first, if there's a shortage of labor for unloading goods from the waterborne cargo ships, you'll take over. Usually, when there's nothing to do, repair the old machines in Warehouse No. 4. If you really can't fix them, fill out the forms and I'll think of a way to contact the supplier to deal with it."

  "I understand."

  "Go ahead, stay here and wait for me, I'll treat you to dim sum!"

  "I went to the backyard."

  An Yi walked alone through the side door of the shop and into the backyard, where he saw Accountant Jiuzi smiling at him. He quickly went up to greet him. Jiuzi looked An Yi up and down, nodding his head in satisfaction: "Not bad, knows how to save money, good, good! Indeed a talented person, even better than our Guangdong's handsome boy Wang Zhaoming, haha!"

  "Uncle Jiu, who is Wang Zhaoming? An opera singer?" asked Anyi curiously.

  "Are you kidding me or are you really unaware?"

  "I really don't know, how dare I be disrespectful to you, elder?" An Yi replied honestly.

  Ninth Uncle nodded: "It's no wonder, you're a child from a poor family, and even two meals a day are a problem, how can you care about political affairs? Let me tell you, Wang Zhaoming is Wang Jingwei, Zhaoming is his courtesy name, and Jingwei is his given name, do you know?"

  An Yi was startled: "How dare I compare with such a big shot? Ninth Uncle, you scared me to death."

  "Ha ha, it's just a joke! Big shots aren't that impressive after all. But from now on, you need to put in more effort. We businesspeople can't afford not to understand the situation. Take yesterday's incident for example. Those warlords are not to be trifled with - they'd dare open fire and kill people over some trivial matter. I saw things weren't looking good so I secretly called the boss for help, and he immediately rushed over from the foreign concession in Shanghai. It turned out you handled it well, and when he heard you fixed the broken machine in no time, he was even more delighted. So he instructed his secretary to tell Chen the shopkeeper to keep you on, and even generously gave you half a month's salary in advance - something that's never happened in our 'Tai Chang' business in over 20 years! So you'd better do well and not disappoint the boss!"

  An Yi only then knew the ins and outs of the matter, and gratefully said to Ninth Uncle: "Thank you, Ninth Uncle. Don't worry, I will do a good job."

  "Alright, I'll take a good look at you too. Let's go, I'll lead you to the warehouse for a walk-around, get familiar with the place and some people, it will be convenient for us to work together in the future."

  Jiū Shū led ān yì to the backyard and introduced him to the driver, He Shuǐshēng, the warehouse manager, ōu Yǒnghuá, and several employees. Everyone reacted differently, but ān yì was very polite. After Jiū Shū left, he followed the slender manager, ōu Yǒnghuá, who was over 40 years old, to a row of warehouses on the west side.

  Ou Yonghua briefly introduced the goods stored in warehouses one to three, and finally opened warehouse four with An Yi: "All the machines stored here are broken. There are large spinning machine parts, electric sanding wheels, cutting boards, and most of them are sewing machines. The thirty or so on the left are German-made, and the fifty or so on the right are American goods. Our company and seven or eight other foreign companies have been in long-term contact, and we are the largest sewing machine distributors in the province and port area. So after selling them out, the damaged machines will be sent back continuously. These are just a part of what foreigners don't want to take back. If you can fix them, that's best. Make a list of the tools and parts you need, and I'll help you get them back. If you can't fix them, then don't force it, understand?"

  "Alright... Director Ou, I'd like to start working now. I need a complete set of repair tools identical to the ones in the store, as well as some motor oil and a small vice. That's all for now." An Yi said quietly.

  The European manager nodded expressionlessly: "I'll have someone send it over to you later."

  From that day on, whether sunny or rainy, the No. 4 warehouse door in the backyard of "Tai Chang" business firm was always the first to open and the last to close. Every morning at 8 o'clock, An Yi would arrive at 7:50, and after work at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, he often lingered until 7 o'clock before leaving. This was not because he had high awareness or a grateful heart, but because he liked his job and enjoyed thinking quietly by himself.

  For three days, Ou Zongguan came to inspect every day and found that An Yi had dismantled several seriously damaged sewing machines, scattered them all over the place, and stared at the cold spare parts like an idiot, comparing them again and again, without seeing any positive actions or achievements.

  The manager of the European branch sighed secretly, and after that, he didn't think much about it. After delivering the accessories twice, he lost interest in looking at them again. He simply handed over the key to warehouse No. 4 to the old gatekeeper, Qiū Shūgōng, who was over 60 years old, and let him open and close the door for ān Yì. The colleagues in the store almost forgot about ān Yì because they didn't see his shadow, except for the accountant, Jiǔ Shū, who came to visit once and left with a nod of satisfaction.

  An Yi was also happy to have some peace, every day after work he would return to his narrow room on Chaoxing Street and write and draw with the white paper and pencils he had bought himself. Every other evening he would go to Mr. Lao's house to read and write books like "The Book of Changes" and "Tao Te Ching" in order to recognize characters, and his days passed quite substantially and comfortably, without knowing that the outside world was undergoing great changes and turmoil.

  Until the tenth day, Chen suddenly remembered that he still had a man named An Yi under his command and couldn't bear it anymore. He summoned Ninth Uncle and Ou General Manager to ask a few questions, and then walked towards the backyard in a very angry manner to settle accounts with An Yi who was eating white rice. Ninth Uncle and Ou General Manager were worried that Chen's temper had come, and after driving An Yi away, the master asked about the difficulties, and they hastily followed behind him to the No. 4 warehouse.

  Who would have thought that upon entering, everyone was stunned. Chen, the shopkeeper, who had been grumbling and complaining, couldn't say a word as he looked at the two rows of neatly arranged sewing machines on the long table, polished to a shine. Ninth Uncle walked closer to the machine, put on his reading glasses, and examined it carefully. He discovered that each sewing machine had a paper tag tied to its head, with neat, horizontal characters printed on it, indicating the faulty parts of the machine, the results of the test drive, and the repair time. All nineteen sewing machines had such a card, which moved Ninth Uncle, who was experienced in worldly affairs, to be speechless. Ou, the general manager, whose face was usually as expressionless as a coffin board, showed emotion for the first time, with his narrow eyes shining with excitement, admiration, and appreciation.

  Yi Youzi, covered in grease, was so absorbed that he didn't even notice the arrival of several people. He sat on the ground with his back to the door, staring at a half-dismantled German "Baifu" brand sewing machine, motionless like a wooden puppet. If it weren't for Old Man Chen clearing his throat, Yi would have remained lost in thought.

  "Good morning, Mr. Chen, Ninth Uncle, and General Ou!" An Yi quickly scrambled to his feet, wiping his hands as he greeted them.

  "Are all these nineteen sewing machines fixed?" asked Mr. Chen with a smile.

  "Repairs are done, 19 units of US goods, those tens of German-made ones I haven't had time to touch, estimate about half can be repaired. Thanks to Ou's management, the spare parts were complete, but there are still 11 US 'Shengjia' brand machines that I couldn't repair, the cast iron base for installing transmission parts or shuttle tighteners is severely damaged, unless the manufacturer can take back the entire base for rework, but this way it would be more troublesome than making new ones, so I couldn't do it, sorry Chen." An Yi explained apologetically.

  "Great! You know, the technicians from the American 'Shen Chang' and German 'Lu Lin' companies came to see this batch of bad machines a long time ago. They left after saying 'cannot be repaired', leaving us with a loss of tens of thousands of yuan and no way out. Now you've fixed all 19 machines at once, recovering over 5,000 yuan! You've made a great contribution! I'll report to Mr. Ou and have him reward you handsomely!"

  An Yi laughed happily: "Mr. Chen, actually these machines are not difficult to repair, the foreign technicians said they can't be repaired, probably don't want to repair them, even if the most severely damaged ones can be partially repaired. For example, those electric sanding machines are very simple, as long as you provide me with sufficient spare parts and the same type of enameled copper wire, I have confidence in repairing them well; Those four British-made medium-sized cutting board machines are not too difficult either, after measuring and drawing out the drawings to take to the foundry, let them cast the knife base and roller sleeve according to the drawings, I will come back to process and replace a new set of knives. Also can be repaired; There are also more than ten American sewing machines on that side, if it's a matter of robbing Peter to pay Paul, I have confidence in repairing six of them, but such a big thing I don't dare take charge of, originally wanted to wait until after finishing these easy repairs and then report to you, now you've come just in time, you make the decision, if agreed, I can start working on it the day after tomorrow, after finishing, I will continue to repair the German goods."

  "Agreed! Fully agreed! If it's not repaired, it'll just be left here to rust away for nothing. Who wouldn't want to turn it into money? Haha! An Yi, I didn't misjudge you!" Chen Zhuanggui warmly patted An Yi's shoulder, not minding that he had to stand on tiptoes to do so, and laughed until his eyes became slits.

  Everyone burst out laughing, and An Yi was extremely proud. His work being recognized by his boss and colleagues was undoubtedly a delightful thing. He hadn't experienced such a good mood for a long time, so he felt very satisfied and happy.

  What An Yi did not expect was that after Jiu Shu and Ou Zongguan left, they loudly proclaimed An Yi's incredible abilities, which in their eyes was a shocking and earth-shaking matter that touched the height of national pride. The employees who liked to exaggerate multiplied this several times, blowing up An Yi to be more than ten times better than foreign technicians, even the bosses of the two neighboring shops heard about it afterwards and regretted not hiring that shabbily dressed Sichuan boy themselves, feeling pangs of pain and jealousy.

  From that day on, An Yi won the respect of his superiors and subordinates in the business with his solid knowledge, hard work, honest character and easy-going personality. His status soared rapidly, and in the eyes of the public, he was almost equal to Chen Zhanggui. The astute Chen Zhanggui discovered this treasure and was afraid that he would not be able to keep him from being poached by other businesses, so he rushed to report to Dongjia Ou Yaoting's home that night, causing great attention from this famous rich man in the province and port.