ABT Chapter 0101: Hunting Hawks with Rabbit

The next day, Lao Zhang arrived early at the construction site but couldn't find Anning anywhere.

"Strange, she's usually here by this time. Could something be up today?"

Shaking his head in puzzlement, Lao Zhang carried his buns and headed towards the office building of Zhengxin Company.

The office building of Zhengxin Company was actually just a two-story building. Li Fanyu hadn't splurged on non-operational facilities during the startup phase. In entrepreneurship, unnecessary expenses were to be avoided, and good steel should be used on the cutting edge.

The entire ground floor of the building served as the employees' office area, where accounting and cashiering were conducted. The second floor was simply furnished with offices, one for Pan Qiang and one for Li Fanyu.

Since the grand opening, Pan Qiang had been very busy. He rarely sat in his office, so it had effectively become a storage room.

Li Fanyu wasn't the type to sit in his office all day, relying on a secretary for everything. Plus, his whereabouts were unpredictable, so the office hadn't seen much use.

Since the main construction of the laboratory had begun, Li Fanyu had lent the office to Anning and Lao Zhang.

During this time, the employees of Zhengxin had become familiar with Lao Zhang. Knowing that he was the boss's mentor, they treated him with special respect.

Lao Zhang greeted everyone as he made his way upstairs, unlocked the office door with his key, and was surprised to find it open.

"Hey! Did we invite thieves?" he wondered, pushing the door open.

Upon opening the door, he realized it wasn't thieves but rather a makeshift hotel room.

Li Fanyu was curled up on the sofa, clothes haphazardly arranged, drool flowing like a river. Anning, wrapped in her coat, was sleeping soundly on the desk, still holding a pencil. It was already broad daylight, yet the desk lamp was still on.

Clearly, they had pulled an all-nighter.

Upon hearing the noise, Anning rubbed her numb face and slowly opened her eyes.

Lao Zhang was taken aback. "What's going on here?"

Anning, with creases from her clothes on her fair face, disregarded her appearance and greeted Lao Zhang, "Professor Zhang, come take a look at Xiao Fan's design."

Last night, after explaining the basic design points of the EA888 engine to Anning, she couldn't contain her excitement. She forcibly dragged Li Fanyu into making rough sketches of the design and marking the data, then she followed up to perfect it. They finally finished drawing all the engine blueprints overnight.

By the time they were done, it was already morning, and both of them were exhausted, so they just fell asleep in the office.

Puzzled, Lao Zhang walked to the desk and picked up the thick stack of drawings. Flipping through a few pages, he exclaimed, "Are these the engine design drawings you made?"

As one of the earliest automotive engineers, Lao Zhang had personally experienced the failures of Red Flag's research and development and witnessed the several missed opportunities of China's independent dreams.

He had seen many engine design drawings before. While drawings were just drawings, whether they could be turned into a successful engine depended on whether they could pass inspection and meet the standards for practical use.

But upon receiving these drawings and seeing the detailed specifications on them, he couldn't help but feel hopeful, looking at Anning with anticipation.

"No! It's Xiao Fan's engine design!"

"Impossible! Don't joke with me. Just based on his abilities, could he have perfected a design to this extent?" Lao Zhang's face was full of disbelief.

Having personally experienced engine development, Lao Zhang knew that it involved knowledge and technology from multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, thermodynamics, structural mechanics, material mechanics, control principles, and ECU automatic matching.

Even if Li Fanyu had a team of professors from a university, it would still require significant time and effort to produce such an engine design.

Although Lao Zhang was grateful to Li Fanyu, he still found it hard to believe that this guy could independently complete an engine design.

Anning looked at his expression and hurriedly said, "I didn't believe it at first either, but last night I roughly calculated it, and from a technical perspective, it seems feasible! I have to say, he's a genius!"

"You don't know, this kid's grades aren't that great. The first impression I had of him was him sleeping in my class."

"Why do you always focus on people's shortcomings? Don't forget, it was Xiao Fan's credit that we won the award in Germany."

Lao Zhang clicked his tongue, thinking it over. Yeah, that seemed to be the case. He picked up the drawings in his hand and examined them carefully.

After more than half an hour, his jaw nearly dropped.

"Is this based on other engine designs?" Lao Zhang became increasingly incredulous; how could a college student, without a technical team or database support, produce such drawings?

"No! This is entirely his own design. This four-cylinder engine incorporates variable valve timing, direct cylinder injection, water-cooled turbocharging, and the cylinder head integrates the intake manifold while adopting a dual-counter-rotating balance shaft. As far as I know, even among German engines, this is considered top-tier in terms of technology!"

Lao Zhang pursed his lips, as if a fish out of water. After a long time, he sat down at the table and said, "Unfortunately, the laboratory hasn't been built yet... Otherwise, we'd immediately make the model. If this succeeds, if this succeeds..."

His body was trembling like a sieve, a word repeating in his mind, but he didn't dare say it. He feared that this time, it would be another empty joy, another illusion.

If, by any chance... if it succeeded, it would be the first independently developed engine in China!

Yes, not a replica, not a copy.

It's self-developed!

"No, the laboratory must be built as soon as possible. Previously, we could delay without experimental projects, but now with this design, no matter what, we must first make the model for testing and improvement. I'll go to the city to find Mayor Cheng today. Even if I have to make a fuss, I'll get the approval and funding! This is a top priority, we can't wait until the child is starving to feed him!" Lao Zhang couldn't contain his excitement and stood up abruptly.

Anning smiled and pushed him back into his seat. "Xiao Fan discussed with me last night. This matter can't wait for the city. I'll leave for Germany today and bring back the equipment first. I just don't believe that when Xiao Fan's engine is developed, they'll still be able to stand by and not approve it!"

"But what about funding?"

"Xiao Fan said he has some, enough to buy the equipment."

"This kid! Ah... last time when he went to Germany to participate in the design competition, he paid for the trip himself. This time, the laboratory..."

"Hehe, Uncle Zhang, he's clever. I think he's just biding his time. You can rest assured, if the engine really succeeds, he'll earn back ten labs."

Anning grabbed a bun and put it in her mouth, smiling as she glanced at the sofa. Seeing Li Fanyu, whose thoughts she had guessed, caused her cheeks to blush, and she quickly averted her gaze.

Only to see Li Fanyu, whose thoughts she had guessed correctly, had changed to a position lying on his back. Like to set off the atmosphere of National Day, a towering red flag was raised on his pants.


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