dkrc Chapter 29 Year-End
Chapter 29 Year-End
A few days after the provincial pilot program was approved, a new face arrived at the service station.
He was in his early twenties, wearing a faded military green cotton-padded jacket, carrying a snakeskin bag, standing at the gate of the courtyard looking up at the two wooden signs.
After looking at the new signs, I looked at the old signs for quite a while before finally going inside.
Are you hiring here?
Jiang Haiping came out of the workshop and asked what kind of people he was recruiting.
The young man put down the snakeskin bag and said he was from Hongjia Island, his surname was Hong, and his name was Hong Xiaobing.
Hong Chuandong was his uncle.
His uncle sent him here, saying that the Moon Island service station was short-staffed and that young people who wanted to learn a trade should come here.
Old Fang came out of the workshop, squatted down at the door, and looked him over.
Hong Xiaobing is not tall, but he has broad shoulders and calluses on his hands from farm work, but not the kind of calluses from repairing boats.
"What did you do before?"
"I fish at home. I mended the fishing nets on my uncle's boat. I don't know how to do anything else."
"You won't learn it on the spot. For the first three months, they'll provide meals but won't pay wages."
Hong Xiaobing agreed.
Old Fang told him to put the snakeskin bag inside the asbestos-roofed shed and squeeze in with Master Song.
Master Song was squatting at the entrance of the shed, sharpening his chisel with sandpaper. He looked up at him and said that the bed board was hard and creaked when he turned over.
Hong Xiaobing said that the bed boards on their Hongjia Island also creak, but they're used to it.
In the evening, Ding Haisheng asked Hong Xiaobing to remove the gas cutting nozzle from the nozzle, clean it with a thin steel wire, and then put it back.
Hong Xiaobing disassembled it and fixed it, but when he put it back, he put it crookedly. He tried to tighten it by turning it two turns but couldn't, so he used a wrench to force it, which stripped two threads.
Ding Haisheng looked at it, didn't scold him, took off the cutting nozzle, tapped the threads again, and installed a new cutting nozzle.
He was watching him after it was all set up.
"For ship repair equipment, brute force is useless. The threads must be aligned before tightening; if they're crooked, forcing them will strip them. This cutting nozzle can still be used after being tapped. Next time, make sure it's aligned before tightening."
Hong Xiaobing nodded vigorously.
Ah Guang squatted down and picked up the old, stripped cutting nozzle. He then wrote a line of words on the stone slab with chalk: "Gas cutting nozzle, align it before tightening."
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Lin's mother cooked Laba porridge again. It still contained eight ingredients: glutinous rice, red beans, peanuts, red dates, lotus seeds, longan, walnuts, and Job's tears.
This year's porridge is thicker than last year's. She said there's enough grain, so she added more rice.
When Lin Xiue brought the porridge to the service station, Lao Fang was squatting at the workshop entrance watching Hong Xiaobing disassemble the filter.
Hong Xiaobing removed it, and he did the right thing by removing it, but he didn't put the gasket away properly, and it fell on the ground and got covered in sand.
Old Fang told him to pick them up, wash them clean with diesel fuel, wipe them dry with cotton yarn, and arrange them on a tray.
"All disassembled parts, whether new or old, must be treated as new. If they get sand on them and are put back in, the sand will get into the oil system and cause the engine to seize up."
Hong Xiaobing washed and dried the sealing gasket and placed it on the tray. Lin Xiu'e ladled out a bowl of porridge and handed it to him, which he took and squatted on the rocks to drink.
He took a sip and said that his sister-in-law's porridge was even better than the porridge at home. Lin Xiu'e said it was her mother who made it. Hong Xiaobing exclaimed "Ah!" and lowered his head to continue drinking.
Ahai finished his bowl and went to get more, saying that his aunt's Laba porridge was always this delicious. Lao Fang said, "You say that every year." Ahai replied, "That's because it's delicious every year."
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Master Song returned to Hongjia Island. His father had run out of medicine and needed to go to the town's health center to get a new one.
Lin Xiu'e packed half a bag of the plasters and blood-activating medicine that the service station had prepared for the old fishermen of Hongjia Island and asked Master Song to take it back.
Hong Xiaobing also went back, saying he would go back to help his family with chores for a few days and then come back before the New Year.
Ah Hai also went home; his father's fishing boat engine was emitting black smoke again.
When Ahai took apart the fuel injector, he found it was the same old problem: it was clogged with inferior fuel.
He soaked it in cleaning agent, then turned to his father and said that they shouldn't use oil from the illegal dock anymore, not because of the money, but because of safety. His father said he knew, and that he had said the same thing last time.
Ah Hai asked, "Then why did you add more?" His father replied, "Last time we had to find a temporary dock; there was no other way."
Old Fang happened to overhear this as he passed by, and muttered to himself, "He always says it's not about the money, but it's really just about saving a few dollars."
On the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, two baskets of oranges appeared at the entrance of the service station. They weren't bought; they were brought over from Hongjia Island by Hong Chuandong, who said his orange trees had yielded a plentiful harvest this year and he wanted to share them with the service station.
Jiang Haiping accepted the oranges and asked A Guang to divide them into small bags, one bag for each person at the service station, and to keep one bag for Director Sun.
Wang Cunzhi arrived in the afternoon.
He was riding a Jialing 70 motorcycle with a can of diesel fuel strapped to the back. He said it was from the fishery company's year-end inventory clearance, and the surplus was being distributed to various repair shops. He unloaded the diesel fuel and then took a document from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Haiping.
It was a notice from the county; the province would be organizing an annual assessment of all fishing boat repair stations in the province next spring, and pilot units would be required to undergo inspection. Jiang Haiping read it and then passed it on to Lao Fang.
After reviewing it, Lao Fang asked what the difference was between the annual assessment and the last skills competition.
Wang Cunzhi said that skills competitions are about comparing skills, while annual assessments are about comparing management.
Equipment maintenance, safety production records, customer satisfaction, and financial records—each item was scored. Old Fang returned the documents to Jiang Haiping, saying, "Then just do your job well."
Wang Cunzhi squatted down, took out a cigarette, lit it, and then flicked the match out. "Recently, someone privately asked me if the provincial pilot program offers annual subsidies. I said yes, and asked why they wanted to apply. He said they couldn't apply, they were just inquiring."
Wang Cunzhi tossed the matchstick into the stone trough. "Director Sun asked me to pass on a message. The 50,000 yuan pilot fund will arrive next spring. The county suggests using some of the funds to build a staff dormitory at the service station. With more people coming in, we can't always be crammed into the asbestos-roofed shed."
After saying that, he got on his bike and rode away.
On the afternoon of the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, Hong Xiaobing returned from Hongjia Island. He didn't come back empty-handed; he was carrying a basket of oysters, which his mother had asked him to bring.
The oysters were freshly cracked off the rocks on Hongjia Island; they weren't very big, but they were incredibly fresh.
Lin Xiu'e washed the oysters clean, pried open the shells with a knife, took out the oyster meat, and prepared to make oyster omelets that evening.
Ah Guang squatted down beside him and asked how the oysters grew on the rocks. Hong Xiaobing said that the oysters grew as the tide rose and fell, and it took them several years to grow this big.
Ah Guang said that oysters grow slower than barnacles. Hong Xiaobing said that they definitely grow slower than barnacles. Barnacles are harvested once a year, while oysters take several years to grow after being harvested.
Old Fang squatted at the workshop entrance, smoking, listening from afar, and asked, "What are you two researching?" A-Guang replied, "We're researching which grows faster, oysters or barnacles."
Old Fang stubbed out his cigarette and said that barnacles grow quickly, so the bottom of the boat only needs to be shoveled once a year.
Oysters grow slowly, so the oysters on the rocks get smaller and smaller the more you knock them down. Once they're all gone, there won't be any left to eat.
Hong Xiaobing didn't say anything, but squatted down and stared at the basket of oysters for a long time.
In the evening, a frying pan was set up in the courtyard of the service station. Lin Xiu'e mixed oysters and sweet potato starch into a paste, poured it into the pan, fried it until golden brown on both sides, then cracked two eggs on top, coated it with chopped green onions, and sprinkled it with chopped green onions.
The aroma of oyster omelets filled the entire rocky beach. Old Chen came to collect his stored tools, followed the scent, picked up a plate of omelets, and left, saying before he left that he would have his family send some oysters over the next day.
Old Fang broke off a piece and put it in his mouth, saying that this oyster omelet was better than the ones made in the provincial capital's canteen.
Lin Xiu'e asked if the provincial capital's canteen had oyster omelets.
Old Fang said no, that's why he said it's better than theirs.
The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the Little New Year.
The service station was busier this year, and they made over six hundred dumplings. Lin Xiu'e and her mother were busy all morning, chopping meat, kneading dough, and rolling out wrappers.
This year's fillings are pork and cabbage, and mackerel and chives. The dough is made of wheat flour mixed with a little sweet potato flour. As usual, Old Chen came carrying his iron pot, the bottom of which was blackened and the rim was polished to a shine.
Old Fang bought six jin of pork, three ribbonfish, two bundles of celery, and four jin of tofu from town, along with a plastic bucket of bulk liquor. Qiu Changhai brought a folding round table from his home.
Ah Hai carried a bundle of pine branches from the island. Ah Guang was in charge of moving the stools.
Four folding tables were set up in the courtyard, with enamel basins piled high on them. Vinegar was poured into a rough porcelain bowl, and crushed garlic cloves were thrown in.
It was Hong Xiaobing's first time spending the Lunar New Year at the service station, and he sat somewhat reservedly on the far side.
Old Fang pulled him over and added a set of chopsticks and a bowl, saying that everyone who did the work was family.
Hong Xiaobing held a bowl in one hand and used chopsticks to pick up dumplings with the other. He was a little clumsy with the chopsticks, and the juice dripped down his chin onto the table.
As darkness fell, people set off firecrackers at the Moon Island pier.
Ahai pulled a few firecrackers from his pocket, took a piece of charcoal from the stove with a fire poker, poked it into a firecracker, and threw it out. The firecracker exploded on the rocks, and sparks flew into the seawater and went out with a hiss.
A-Guang also took out one, poked it like him, and threw it far away, where it landed in the stone trough and popped up in a small splash. Hong Xiaobing watched the two of them playing and turned around to say that firecrackers are only set off during the New Year on Hongjia Island.
Old Fang said it's New Year's here too. When the moon rose, Old Chen hung the kerosene lantern at the gate of the courtyard.
The lamp was turned down low, just enough to illuminate the two wooden plaques. One was new, and the other was old. Jiang Haiping sat on the rocks at the entrance of the courtyard wall, and Lin Xiu'e sat down next to him, slowly eating a bowl of dumplings.
As he finished eating the last bite, he suddenly spoke up. "I'm going to the provincial capital next spring. Two months. By the time I come back, the staff dormitories will probably all be finished."
Jiang Haiping remained silent.
"Master Qiu's back is worse this year than last year. Master Song said he has to hold onto the bed frame for a while every morning when he gets out of bed. Hong Xiaobing just arrived and can't even disassemble the air filter properly. Ah Hai can now lead a team independently, and Master Ding, who welds the plates, says they're usable."
She stood up, patted her skirt, and placed the empty bowl on the table. "Brother Ping, I want to settle everything at the service station before I go to the provincial capital."
After saying that, he turned back and walked around the rocks when he was almost at the alley entrance.
The sound of firecrackers on the eve of the Lunar New Year gradually subsided.
The sea breeze blew the table in the yard clean, leaving only the sound of the wooden plaques swaying gently and the sound of waves lapping against the rocks in the stone trough.
On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Qiu Changhai brought a message.
He saw an old keel at Old Huang's timber shop on the island; it was made of locust wood and had been taken from a decommissioned wooden fishing boat.
Old Huang said this keel had been soaking in the sea for countless years and enduring countless rains on the shore, yet it hadn't rotted. He tapped it with a hammer, and the sound was resonant, even sturdier than new wood.
Old Huang said that the dragon bone is a good thing, but nobody wants it. It takes up space in the yard. If the service station needs it, they will take it away.
Qiu Changhai said he could take it away, but not for free; he would charge for it as old timber. Old Huang agreed.
Jiang Haiping and Ahai pushed the cart to Old Huang's timber shop.
That keel was thicker than a thigh and over two meters long. At the end, there were several chisel marks, which were smooth and clean, a testament to the skill of the sewers back then.
Jiang Haiping touched the groove and asked Qiu Changhai how many years this craft had been around.
Qiu Changhai also touched it and said, "Judging from this technique, it's been at least thirty years."
He's either his master or your master's master.
The day the keel was brought back to the service station, Master Song squatted down and looked at it again and again, wiping the dust off the groove with his hand, saying that he recognized this seam.
During the first six months of my apprenticeship at the factory, the first seam my master made was on the bottom of this boat.
That seam followed the ship for more than 20 years, and the groove on the keel is still clean.
Qiu Changhai said, "You still remember?" Master Song replied, "I'd recognize my own seam even if it were burned to ashes."
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the old customer of the batch of wooden-hulled boats from the Guangdong shipyard came to see Master Song again.
Last time Xiao Zhou came, he was asking if Master Song was going back. This time it wasn't Xiao Zhou; it was the shipyard boss who personally called the fishing company, and Wang Cunzhi relayed the call.
The boss said he had a batch of wooden fishing boats to be sewn together, and the customer specifically requested a stencil named Song.
They don't trust anyone else to do it.
Mr. Song answered the phone at the service station.
He stood there holding the microphone for a while, then said, "I'm on Moon Island, I can't leave."
My dad is paralyzed.
After saying something over there, Master Song said he could tow the boat over and repair it at the Moon Island service station.
The shipyard pays part of the freight, and the shipowner pays the rest. He put down the phone, walked out, squatted on the reef, took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit a match.
Old Fang squatted down and asked how it was.
Master Song said that the shipyard wanted to transfer all the work of grouting wooden hulls to the shipyard and set up a special wooden boat repair team at the service station.
He can't answer that right now; he has to discuss it with Jiang Haiping.
Several new faces arrived at the service station.
The news spread that the batch of wooden-hulled boats from the Guangdong shipyard were going to be transferred to be sewn. People from Hongjia Island, the town on the opposite bank, and even the shipowner Fang who had come from Zhoushan before asked if they could come over to learn sewing.
Old Fang asked Master Song to choose one as his apprentice. Master Song squatted down, looked at the chisels handed to him, and picked an old chisel.
The chisel handle was polished smooth, and the cutting edge had a dull sheen.
The person chosen was a young man named Xiao Zhou, the same one who had come before.
He stood timidly in front of Master Song and asked, "Master Song, may I also learn how to sew?"
Master Song returned Xiao Zhou's chisel to him, saying that he could learn if he wanted.
They practiced chiseling grooves on scrap boards until they had done a hundred, then they were ready for the real ship. The movements and techniques were exactly the same as when Qiu Changhai taught Lin Xiu'e.
That evening, in the kitchen, Lin Xiu'e tamped the last gap in the groove of the old keel.
Under the moonlight, the neatly twisted thread was smooth and dense, like the echo of that seam from decades ago, now sealed back into the same keel by the next pair of hands.
The thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Lunar New Year's Eve.
After having his New Year's Eve dinner at home, Jiang Haiping went to the Lin family's house.
Lin's mother personally prepared ten dishes, two more than last year.
Lin's father opened a bottle of Binhai Daqu liquor, poured half a bowl for Jiang Haiping, and poured half a bowl for himself.
Lin Xiu'e sat opposite him and put a dumpling into his bowl.
The Ping An has been running for a year, the loan has been paid off, a new ship has been installed, and next year it will sail to even farther seas.
Lin's mother said that Xiu'e would go to the provincial capital next spring and would be a senior worker when she returned. Lin's father, holding his bowl, looked at his daughter with a hint of joy in his eyes and said that this girl was more promising than her father.
Lin Xiu'e lowered her head shyly, her fingers twisting together under the table.
After finishing their meal, Lin Xiu'e escorted Jiang Haiping to the alley entrance. There were no lights in the alley, only moonlight shining on the stone walls, casting long shadows of the two of them.
She stood at the alley entrance, the moonlight shining on her face.
"Brother Ping, by this time next year, the new workshop and the staff dormitory will be finished. The service station will have transformed from a dilapidated stone house in a salt depot into a provincial pilot unit. My dad says Moon Island hasn't produced anyone like you in decades. My mom says so too."
After saying that, she turned around and walked back, quickly disappearing from the courtyard gate.
Jiang Haiping stood there for a while.
The sea breeze carries the salty, fishy smell and the smoke from someone's New Year's Eve dinner in the distance.
The two wooden signs of the service station in the distance were bathed in moonlight, standing quietly.
The service station was still lit up. Ding Haisheng was on night duty this year. He told Lao Fang to go home for New Year's Eve dinner.