Chapter Forty-Seven: Taking Action

Before dawn, as usual, Uncle Wang was already up. After finishing a strong cup of tea, he stepped out the back door of the duty room, picked up a long bamboo broom, and prepared to start cleaning. To his surprise, he found Kang Ning practicing martial arts with deliberate movements in the open space before his room.

Uncle Wang squatted down and watched in silence. After about twenty minutes, Kang Ning finished his routine, then stood still for over a minute with his arms curved as if holding an invisible sphere, before shaking out his hands and returning to his room.

Though Uncle Wang didn’t know much about martial arts, he couldn’t help feeling a touch of disappointment at the slow pace of Kang Ning’s movements, which seemed little faster than the elderly folks practicing in the park. But on second thought, he deeply admired Kang Ning’s composure—these days, few young people could find such tranquility.

Uncle Wang swept for a while, and when Kang Ning heard the sound, he strode out, found another broom, and started cleaning at the other end. In just over ten minutes, together they had swept a pile of trash into the center of the yard. Watching Uncle Wang carefully pick out discarded screws, nuts, and wires from the heap and place them in a small wooden bucket, Kang Ning squatted down to help.

“Why are you up so early? Why not sleep in a bit?” Uncle Wang asked as he worked.

“I’ve slept enough,” Kang Ning replied, then hefted the wooden bucket, which weighed over ten kilos, and looked around. “Uncle Wang, where should I dump this?”

Uncle Wang pointed to a cement-tiled shed behind his own small room. “There’s a half oil drum under there. Just dump it next to it.”

Kang Ning carried the bucket into the shed, finding several small plastic buckets next to the metal oil drum. Each was neatly sorted with discarded parts by material: copper, aluminum, steel. Setting the wooden bucket down, he returned to Uncle Wang’s side and remarked, “Uncle Wang, you really are meticulous!”

“That’s all money, you know! Every month I sort it all out and sell it as scrap metal. The money I get is almost equal to a month’s wage for an apprentice. Sometimes I even find perfectly good parts! It’s not easy making a living, and even when you have money, there’s no sense in squandering it like some prodigal son, right? Ha! Look at you, all sweaty—go wash up.”

Uncle Wang laughed and wheeled the garbage cart toward the gate. Kang Ning closed the door behind him and went to the washroom, where he turned on the tap and enjoyed a refreshing shower. He changed into clean work clothes, then took his dirty laundry to the spigot outside and scrubbed it, hanging it up to dry before heading to Uncle Wang’s room for a large bowl of porridge with pickles.

When it was about time, Kang Ning walked into the workshop and stopped in front of a Santana sedan whose front end had been smashed in by nearly fifty centimeters. He surveyed the severely bent hood, the engine shifted at a sharp angle beneath it, the lost bumper, and the mangled front beam. Shaking his head, he gathered his tools and began to disassemble the wreck.

By the time everyone arrived at eight-thirty, Kang Ning had already removed a sizable pile of parts, just waiting for more hands to assist. Glancing at the accident car, which had been untouched just yesterday, Old Li exclaimed in surprise, “Xiao Wu, this car was sent in by an official from the traffic police squad. None of us wanted to touch it. The damage is so bad, and he said he’d pay no more than two thousand yuan. I did a rough estimate—even if we don’t make a cent, the cost alone is at least three thousand. Just the replacement parts are fifteen hundred, not to mention bodywork and painting.”

Kang Ning thought for a moment and understood the predicament. He quietly asked Old Li, “I suppose the boss can’t refuse this job?”

Old Li nodded. “Yeah, this kind of thing happens at least a dozen times a year. Not only do we make nothing, we actually lose money. How are we supposed to do business like this? Times are tough… And there’s another thing you probably don’t know: nobody gets a bonus for working on these jobs. That’s why the car’s been sitting here for three days and no one wants to touch it. I know the boss is anxious, but the owner of that Honda I’m working on is rushing me too, and I’ll need at least three more days to finish. There’s nothing I can do.”

No sooner had Old Li finished speaking than a Toyota Mark police car roared through the gates, pulling up in the yard before Kang Ning. Startled, Kang Ning was about to slip away when he saw Old Li had already gone forward. “Good morning, Captain Zhang!”

The officer didn’t even get out of the car. He pointed angrily at the wrecked Santana. “Good morning, my ass! What’s going on here? Huh? Days have passed and it’s still in this sorry state? What are all of you doing? I’m telling you, if that car isn’t fixed in five days, you might as well shut this dump for good! Tell your boss not to come crying to Third Brother then. Hmph!”

With that, the officer spun his car around and sped off. Old Li stood there, sighing helplessly. Kang Ning stepped up and said, “Brother Li, let me handle it. Rainsheng hasn’t been assigned any work today—if he helps me, we’ll manage.”

“Thank you, brother, but five days is really tight!” Old Li’s concern was justified; leaving aside the mechanical work, restoring the body and chassis, filling and sanding, and painting would take at least four days.

“I’ll do my best. If it gets too much, I’ll ask the boss to assign another hand.” Kang Ning had already considered this, but what troubled him more was the mention of “Third Brother” by the officer. Still, he wasn’t reckless enough to ask questions—he figured he’d soon find out.

Just then, Rainsheng came over, smiled at Kang Ning, and knelt to help with the disassembly. As they worked, Kang Ning asked, “Rainsheng, I heard there’s no bonus for fixing this car?”

“That’s all right—I’m willing,” Rainsheng replied.

“Why?”

Rainsheng looked up at Kang Ning and said, “The boss has been good to me, always buying clothes and things for my siblings. I don’t know how else to thank her. Now that there’s such urgency with this car, I’d work for free if I had to. Besides, I like working with you, big brother. You’re honest and skilled, not like the other masters who are always yelling at me.”

Watching Rainsheng bow his head and focus on his work, Kang Ning sighed and got back to work himself.

More than an hour passed. The engine had been hoisted out of the wreck, and Rainsheng began demonstrating his sheet metal skills. Kang Ning fetched the engine’s technical drawings and studied them carefully, comparing unclear parts and structures with the actual vehicle as he worked.

Not far away, Huang Yuanqing was watching all this with a sneer, occasionally making comments to his apprentice. His face was full of contempt. “Look at that kid—he’s just for show. Even with a simple Santana, he still needs the technical drawings. What a useless pretty boy.”

The apprentice, tightening a nut, asked, “Where did he come from? I noticed the boss seems quite nice to him.”

Huang Yuanqing shot him a glare. “What’s niceness worth? In our line of work, it’s real skill that counts. You can’t fix cars just because you’ve got a pretty face. What good is good looks? If he can’t do the job, he’ll be packing his bags in a few days!”

“But yesterday I saw him fixing that old 212 pretty well,” the apprentice said naively.

“Get lost! Fixing that ancient 212 doesn’t mean you know how to fix cars,” Huang Yuanqing snapped, even angrier. Glaring at Kang Ning, he muttered, “Who knows where they picked up this useless brat. Just because he looks decent? What does the boss’s daughter see in this guy, anyway? Hmph, I’d like to see how he manages in five days. If he fails, don’t blame me for rubbing it in. Bah!”