Chapter 72: Chapter 72: First Arrival at the Automobile Company

Xing Shubin raised his eyebrows, asked a few more questions, and got a brand new impression of Ling Chengyan. He already knew that she had won three championships in the county competition, but it seemed it wasn’t just the result of a few training sessions—she had solid skills, possibly honed from a young age.

Looks like it’s necessary to investigate her ’never-returning’ father and brothers.

The same scene played out at the homes of Dalin and Xiaoshuang. Xiaoshuang cried for meat, and Dalin also mentioned that the new family had lots of meat.

Ling Chengyan never thought she would become a minor celebrity in the family compound in such a way.

By late morning, most things were tidied up. Wang Lianqi and his guys helped fill the water tank in the kitchen; the faucet in the yard just needed turning to have water, which they found fascinating.

Wang Lianfa turned over and leveled the small vegetable garden in the yard, planting the melon and vegetable seedlings and seeds he had brought.

Ling Chengyan stewed a pot of wild rabbit tofu and fried eggs with shredded pickled vegetables. Regardless of age or gender, everyone sat together to eat.

After eating, Wang Lianqi and the others took their leave. Ling Chengyan had Xiaoyu watch the house while she escorted the brothers back home.

Just before getting into the car, she slipped a backpack through the car window.

Inside the bag were pastries and candies she had bought—things only available in regional department stores. She hoped the adults and children back home could try them.

Returning home, Xing Fei, Dalin, and Xiaoshuang came over to play again. The children not only fed the rabbits but also became familiar with Ah Huang, offering it biscuits from their pockets. Ah Huang just looked and turned its head away.

Little Xing was a bit proud: “Ah Huang is full.”

Mom always serves food to Ah Huang first!

With nothing to do for the moment, Ling Chengyan greeted Xiaoyu and Little Xing, and rode her bike out the door.

The family had moved to the city. Although there was a monthly grain supply, it still required spending money to buy it. She was the only one earning, so things were tight. She had to think of ways to supplement their household expenses.

The area was much larger than the county, but the garrison was in a remote corner. Just outside the compound were farmlands, irrigation ditches, ponds, and woods. Ling Chengyan set a few traps in the woods as usual and then walked along a ditch. The ditch was used for irrigation, and in winter, it basically had no water, and she only saw schools of small fry.

Finally, she turned to a reed-filled pond and had an unexpected delight—many plump wild ducks and pheasants lived there, and Ling Chengyan caught two wild ducks and returned home.

In the morning of the next day, Ling Chengyan found Staff Officer Xing to report, only to discover Xing Fei was Staff Officer Xing’s child.

Staff Officer Xing personally took Ling Chengyan to the Automobile Company.

Female soldiers were rare in the army, especially in the Automobile Company, which was entirely male. The sudden arrival of a female soldier, especially a specially recruited one, naturally caused some resentment.

But out of respect for Staff Officer Xing’s authority, they didn’t dare say anything.

“Don’t underestimate Ling Chengyan just because she’s a woman. She won three events at the county competition, and everyone must have heard about her at the district competition. A 150-meter target with ten shots all hitting the bullseye. There’s no one among you who can match her marksmanship, right?”

Someone in the team mumbled: “We’re the Automobile Company. We value driving skills. If the marksmanship is so good, why isn’t she in the combat troops?”

Ling Chengyan had good hearing and heard it clearly, but her expression didn’t change.

Staff Officer Xing handed over Ling Chengyan to Zhou Guoqing, an old soldier in the Automobile Company. He was over thirty years old, and despite his skills and long service, he was only a squad leader due to his bad temper.

At that time, Ling Chengyan was unaware of this.

After Staff Officer Xing left, the team disbanded and went about their tasks.

Ling Chengyan followed behind Zhou Guoqing, arriving at a Liberation vehicle. Zhou Guoqing ignored Ling Chengyan, took a set of tools from the car, lay flat, and slid under the vehicle.

Unflustered, Ling Chengyan squatted down, tilting her head to watch Zhou Guoqing fix the car.

“Give me an eight-millimeter wrench!” Zhou Guoqing suddenly said.

Ling Chengyan was a bit dumbfounded as she had no idea what a wrench looked like, let alone its sizes.

She hesitated slightly and pushed the toolbox into the car.

Zhou Guoqing glanced out from under the car without saying a word and continued working after taking the wrench himself.

Ling Chengyan made a mental note of the wrench’s appearance.

That day, Zhou Guoqing had no driving assignments, so he clocked out for lunch as scheduled. When Ling Chengyan got home, Xiaoyu had already prepared the meal, but she didn’t have time to eat. She rode her bike straight to the bookstore.

Indeed, she found a book on vehicle structure and repair, but upon opening it, she realized it was relatively specialized. It lacked basic introductions to tools and their usage.

As she was feeling troubled, the store clerk asked her, “Do you want it?”

Ling Chengyan quickly responded, “Yes. I also want a basic repair book, like one introducing various tools…”

The bookstore staff was quite competent and, after thinking for a moment, went to a nearby counter to bring over a book titled “Home Repair Encyclopedia.”

When Ling Chengyan took a look, the book covered many repair knowledge that households might encounter, including home appliances, bicycles, clocks, and even basic carpentry repair. It was all-encompassing yet practical and very useful.

Seeing the opening introduction to tools, Ling Chengyan immediately asked the clerk to bill her, paid for the book, and hurried home.

With a short lunch break, she didn’t even go home and went straight to the Automobile Company to report. Zhou Guoqing didn’t even look at her, took the keys, and got into the car. Ling Chengyan was a step behind but almost sat in the driver’s seat with Zhou Guoqing.

The vehicle started, and Ling Chengyan paid attention, noting several main features of the car, gradually figuring out some small tricks, like braking, accelerating… and the black lever in front of the driver, which seemed related to speed…

Zhou Guoqing’s task was a short trip to the farm to pick up greens and side products.

The farm was large, with vast wheat fields, vegetable plots, orchards, and sizable pig and chicken farms. The products here rarely reached ordinary citizens’ homes and were mostly supplied to the military.

Their vehicle drove straight to the edge of the vegetable field, where the vegetables were already picked and packed in baskets. As soon as the car stopped, someone approached, handed a cigarette to Zhou Guoqing, exchanged small talk, and then called for loading the vehicle. Throughout, Zhou Guoqing didn’t introduce Ling Chengyan, and she quietly acted as if she were invisible.

After dinner, Little Xing and Xiaoyu studied reading and arithmetic, while Ling Chengyan took out the books she had bought and started reading. First, she familiarized herself with various tools, then took out “Vehicle Construction and Repair” to read. Combining her observations of real vehicles during the day, she understood the main structures but couldn’t grasp the working principles because there were many specialized terms and concepts she hadn’t encountered before, so she had to put it aside temporarily.

The next day, Ling Chengyan arrived at the Automobile Company on time, only to find that more than half of the vehicles were gone, including Zhou Guoqing and his car.

Seeing her standing there in confusion, instructor Wu Yushu came over: “You’re new here, so you don’t know the routine. Our company posts daily task orders on the blackboard outside the dispatch room every afternoon.”

Ling Chengyan sincerely admitted her mistake: “I was wrong. It won’t happen again.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep