Win Her Over
What was the simplest method when fixing mechanical things, including motorcycle engines?
It was to identify the faulty part and replace it, then you’re done. However, no one on this Earth can see what part inside the engine was faulty. Even the most experienced mechanic can only rely on experience to guess which part was faulty, then dismantle the engine to check. There will be mistakes, of course. Ears and experience cannot replace the use of sight. Xia Lei was the only exception in the world since his left eye could see through objects and spot things others couldn’t.
In the two minutes that he’d spent staring at the motorcycle engine, he had looked at the entire thing and determined the faulty part. There was too much carbon deposit in the engine, causing a connecting rod to fracture and cause a gap in the piston motion, which resulted in a weak engine and abnormal sounds. Xia Lei just had to replace the connecting rod and clean up the carbon deposit to fix this problem.
Xia Lei was quick to dismantle the engine and had it all in pieces in 15 minutes and removed the faulty piston.
Throughout the process, Annina stood to one side and watched. She had been full of worry in the beginning and regretted using her own motorcycle to test Xia Lei’s abilities. After a few minutes, however, she saw Xia Lei’s easy handling of the machine and grew confused. Could this guy really fix her motorcycle? At the end, when she saw Xia Lei remove the piston without even inspecting the engine, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor - she was so shocked because a self-proclaimed elite mechanic like herself would definitely not be able to find the root of the problem so quickly.
Xia Lei took out the connecting rod in the piston then walked to the welding machine to fix and weld the cracks on the rod.
Annina could not hold back and moved close, “You’re actually using welding to fix one of the intricate parts of an engine? Are you acting like a bigshot? You know if you weld too much or too little the part will become unusable.”
She was still doubtful of him but her tone of voice was more polite than it was.
Xia Lei ignored her and finished welding the cracks, then brought the connecting rod to the lathe to do high-precision corrections.
Annina came close again, “I’m talking to you. Why are you ignoring me?”
Xia Lei looked up at her and snapped, “Will you be able to give me a new connecting rod if I don’t do this?”
“But you won’t be able to ensure the precision of the part. You can put it in again but the motorcycle engine will definitely still have problems.” Annina spoke as if she was an expert.
“You don’t trust me?” said Xia Lei.
“You…! What I said is the truth. Why are you so stubborn? Have you never accepted others’ opinions?”
“You’re dragging on for time, aren’t you?” said Xia Lei.
“You…” Annina was so mad she couldn’t speak.
Xia Lei paid her no further mind and busied himself with the lathe.
He would admit that his attitude was bad but it wasn’t as bad when compared to Annina’s earlier attitude. He would not easily forgive her, especially when she was looking down on the Chinese standards.
Xia Lei had to be serious about certain things and not back down, even if the other was a woman.
Xia Lei was done with the connecting rod in under fifteen minutes. He took it off the lathe and held it up to examine it and confirm its precision.
This simple action made Annina’s blue eyes bug out in disbelief. What she saw was a perfect weld on the connecting rod with no trace of damage! She couldn’t weld like that herself!
“You…” Annina took in a breath, “Mr Lukas, how… How did you do that?”
Xia Lei rolled his eyes at her then took the connecting rod to the motorcycle engine, still not too bothered to talk to her.
“You’re rude.” Annina was angry and upset but still followed him with her bugged out eyes. She really wanted to know how the manually repaired part would fare.
In that moment, Annina had already acknowledged Xia Lei’s professional ability and she was starting to accept him. She was just unwilling to admit it.
Xia Lei spent another 25 mins reassembling the engine and putting it back on the motorcycle. He took two steps back and said, “I’m done. See if I’ve gone over an hour.”
Annina snapped back to reality and hurriedly checked her watch. She was astonished - Xia Lei had used a total of 53 mins. It hadn’t even been an hour!
“Looks like I didn’t go overtime. Try it,” said Xia Lei.
Annina took out her keys and inserted them, then started the engine. The motorcycle’s engine let out a roar; it was a normal engine sound and there were no strange sounds at all.
“Impossible!” Annina could not believe that Xia Lei could repair the motorcycle so perfectly.
Xia Lei smiled icily, “Miss Annina, are you saying this because I am Chinese? There’s no denying that Germany is more advanced than China now but don’t you think a civilisation established thousands of years before yours would overtake yours someday? Or are you not willing to see that such a day draws closer and closer?”
“What do you mean by that, Mr Lukas? You think I’m racist? I can tell you for sure that I am not!” Annina picked up on why Xia Lei seemed unhappy with her and she got angry as well.
Xia Lei shrugged and kept quiet; he was not going to continue arguing. At times like this, he, as a man, should give way to her since there would be no end to the matter if they kept arguing.
Annina restrained herself as well. She was very aware that her attitude was bad and Xia Lei being unhappy with her was pardonable. She did not want to continue arguing with Xia Lei either. She kicked the kickstand up and rode the motorcycle out of the work shed.
Xia Lei walked out of the work shed too and watched as Annina rode her motorcycle on the roads within the plant compound. The motorcycle worked wonderfully after the repair. Her upper body was almost lying across the tank as she manoeuvred the motorcycle skilfully.
‘European women have great figures.’ Xia Lei could not help thinking.
Xia Lei let out a sigh and smacked himself on the forehead. He then gloomily realised that he hadn’t washed his hands and had smacked himself with his greasy and grimy hand. Who knew how bad his forehead looked now.
Annina did not ride far and quickly turned back.
Annina stopped beside Xia Lei with the screeching of rubber on ground. She took one look at Xia Lei and burst out laughing, “Mr Lukas, your face… You’re like a cute little tabby cat! Haha!”
Xia Lei smiled awkwardly, “How is it? Did I fix your motorcycle? Any problems?”
Annina hopped off the motorcycle, walked to Xia Lei and suddenly gave him a tight hug. She also patted him on the back in an intimate fashion on top of that.
This change in attitude was quite uncomfortable for Xia Lei.
Annina let go of Xia Lei and smiled as she said, “Mr Lukas, I apologise for my earlier rudeness. You were right. I was perhaps biased against Chinese mechanics but you have corrected my bias. You are the best mechanic I’ve seen and you qualify fully to be my assistant. We will definitely work happily together.”
Xia Lei also smiled graciously, “Thank you.”
“You won. I’ll honour my bet. I’ll take you out for a ride after work and we’ll go to a bar for dark beer,” said Annina.
“That’s not necessary. I still have to go home after work…”
Annina cut him short, “You’ve already done what you should but you’re not giving me a chance to do what I should. Are you still angry with me, Mr Lukas?”
“Okay, I’ll ride with you to the bar.” Xia Lei changed his mind. Annina was being nice and he would offend her if he refused to go.
The pair returned to the work shed. The task of the day was to repair the motor of the Leopard 2.
After a day’s work, Xia Lei discovered that Annina was a workaholic. She did not stop when she started. She was also meticulous and followed the standards strictly. If a screw had to be screwed 20 times, she would do so exactly. Xia Lei could feel the German work ethic from her and this made him feel that Germany’s manufacturing industry was well-developed for good reason.
They took showers in the workplace after work and left the manufacturing plant on one motorcycle.
Annina’s Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle required the driver to lean over the tank when driving and the passenger, naturally, had to lean forward as well. Xia Lei, as passenger, had to hold onto Annina’s waist to sit stably. She was also going fast, so he had to hold her, and hold her tight.
The Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle galloped upon the road as the wind howled in his ears. Xia Lei held on tight to Annina’s waist and her plump bottom was between his legs, having intimate contact with his ‘that’ place. This contact made him nervous and he wanted to move away but when he saw that the motorcycle was going at 159 km/h, he couldn’t help moving closer…
Wasn’t she afraid of falling of the motorcycle and to her death?
Xia Lei worried over that thought all the way to the bar and every time he thought that, he would move a little closer.