Wu Xi helped the old lady to a chair and asked her to sit down, "Grandma, do you want to take you to the hospital." Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"It's okay, the lumbar spine problem, it's an old problem," she pounded her waist gently, "I'll just rest for a while, girl, you're not from this yard, I've never seen you." ”

"Oh, I'm a journalist, and I'm here to cover some of the historical developments of the watch factory," she sighed, "but I've never had such a complicated interview, and I don't even know who I'm going to interview." ”

"If only he were still here, he would be the most suitable interviewee." The old man said to himself.

"Him?"

The old lady trembled and took out a photo album from the drawer of the table, flattened it and opened it, turned a few pages, and then took out a yellowed old photo from it and handed it to Wu Xi.

The photo shows a middle-aged man wearing glasses, although he is only in his early forties, his temples have long been frosted, his thin and sallow face is wrinkled, and his hands are covered with hard calluses. He sat in the old lady's place, and on the table next to him was a clock more than half a meter high, which looked like an antiquity, delicate and gorgeous.

He ...... Who is it? Wu Xi held this photo in his hand, and a trace of inexplicable sadness flowed in his heart.

"His name is Aikan, and he's a worker in a watch company, no, he's a watch repairer."

Aikang's parents died early, and in order to support himself, he became an apprentice in a watch repair shop at an early age. He is ingenious by nature, and likes to disassemble and disassemble all things that can sound and move, and no matter how delicate things fall into his hands, they can be disassembled and reassembled.

After entering the watch repair shop, Aikang was different from the other apprentices. At that time, a quota was required to enter the watch shop, but Aikang did not have it, so he could only rely on the store to help the master. At that time, even the master and apprentice had to keep a hand, and it was naturally more difficult for Ai Kang, an outsider, to get the true inheritance of the master. However, he just recognized this way, when the business was good, the masters were too busy, and he could always see the opportunity to give the master a hand. When there were fewer customers in the store, and the other masters were resting or going out to play, Aikang took the initiative to stay in the store and do all the work that others were unwilling to do. Gradually, the masters in the store acquiesced to this "supernumerary apprentice".

Five years passed like this, and one day, Ai Kang suddenly came to his master with a mechanical watch and told him that it was made by himself. His master thought that he had assembled such a watch from some discarded spare parts during repairs, but Aikang took out his own drawings and told his master that every part of the watch was made by himself on the clock machine.

This incident alarmed the D city government at that time, because at that time China was a blank in watch manufacturing, and the watch made by Aikang can be described as an unprecedented industrial invention.

"So Jiangzhou Watch Company was established because of the watches made by Aikang, but why didn't I find any record of him when I checked the information? Let's just say that a watch shop made 5 watches in 1970. Wu Xi looked surprised.

"That watch shop is where Elkan was apprenticed," the old lady smiled faintly, "but do you know who the owner of the watch shop is?" ”

"Could it be...... Zhang Yizhi? ”

"Yes, Ai Kang is a watch idiot, and his watchmaking skills are unmatched. But he was also a very low-key and unspeakable man, and after making his first watch, he did not think about making a fortune from it, but handed over the drawings and production steps to the watch repair company without reservation. Zhang Yizhi further polished and optimized the parts of the watch according to the valuable information given by Aikang, and only then did he create the five watches that were famous in the city. The government saw this business opportunity and began to invest a lot of money in mass production of watches, and then established the Jiangzhou Watch Company, and Zhang Yizhi naturally became the director of this large state-owned enterprise. ”

"What about Aikan?" Wu Xi was fascinated by what he heard.

"As a result, he entered the watch factory and became an ordinary worker, but if there was any problem with the watches sold by the Jiangzhou Watch Factory, he would be responsible for repairing them."

Is he willing to be an ordinary worker? The whole factory was built because of his skillful hands. ”

The old lady smiled slightly, "I also said that he is a cousin, and he is neither good nor attentive to personnel matters, so being an ordinary worker is the most suitable for him." ”

"But grandma," Wu Xi moved a chair and sat down beside her, "didn't you say that this Ai Kang is a person who is extremely unwilling to deal with people, then how can you know so much about his affairs." ”

"He is alone, no family, so always three days to buy my family's Lantern Festival, when my wife is still alive, this back and forth, and he became acquainted, the two became very good card friends. At that time, we saw that he was quite pitiful alone, so we always called him to come to the house for dinner during the New Year's holidays, by the way, this photo was taken when he came to my house during the Spring Festival more than 20 years ago. ”

Wu Xi put the photo in front of her eyes and looked at it carefully, she pointed to the clock on the table, "Grandma, is this clock your family?" It looks so raw and exquisite. ”

"How can we have this kind of thing in our family, this is Aikang's baby, his biggest hobby is to collect all kinds of watches, from large clocks to small pocket watches, this clock in the photo is his most beloved thing. That day he came to my house for dinner, happily hugged it over, said that he found it in the antique market, the owner of the shop did not know anything about clocks, and thought it was some worthless thing, so he sold it to him at a very low price, but he was so happy that we let us take pictures of him, what a fool. ”

Wu Xi picked up the magnifying glass used by the old lady to read the book, pointed at the clock on the photo and looked at it carefully. Although this is an old black and white photograph, it can still be seen that the workmanship of this clock is extremely exquisite, especially its body, which is like a delicate little pavilion, and looks extremely shining against the backdrop of four glasses.

Wait, there seems to be a faint shadow on the glass, Wu Xi put the magnifying glass downward, and she suddenly gasped and twisted her head to the side.

"Girl, what's wrong with you?" The old lady asked curiously.

Wu Xi tried his best to soothe his pounding heart, "Why is there a shadow of a person on this clock?" ”