Haichuan Thanksgiving Season — The Master-Apprentice Bond Grown in the Desert [Mechanical Zone 007]

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This post was last edited by Xiao Jie on 2016-1-24 at 13:19. At that time, I had just started working; hearing that the project was profitable, I went to a project located in the heart of the Sahara. First, I worked in process design management at a design institute in the Middle East, and later served as a design representative at a project site deep in the Sahara Desert. For fresh graduates, it’s more about muddling through rather than really managing anything. And that’s how I passed another year and a half in a daze, feeling quite good about myself—until I met Old Liu. When I first met Old Liu, he was wearing a headscarf similar to one worn by Arafat. Not tall, but quite sturdy. It is said that they were temporarily assigned from other projects to drive, in the role of commissioning engineers. Everyone calls him Engineer Liu. Back then, I was fearless and didn’t care about anything; I simply refused to acknowledge anyone as my master. Fortunately, they still knew that young people should show at least a basic level of respect for those who are older, so they simply called him Manager Liu. Of course, it seems he disdains being my master as well. Unluckily, he was sitting right next to me. In the Sahara interior, sandstorms strike more than a dozen times in a month. I feel super depressed whenever such days come up. The best way to relieve boredom is by playing games. Play after work, play during working hours as well; play until everything is in chaos, with no idea what day it is. When I’m tired from playing games, I read some information for a while. That time, I was looking at a design document called Fire-fighting philosophy. I finished watching it that day and was about to continue playing games when Lao Liu suddenly asked, \"Did you understand it?\" This really angered me; no one has ever dared to look down on me like this. Test me. Well, let’s talk about how the fire suppression system works. To his surprise, I really did understand it. Lao Liu was very surprised, because I only looked at it for a short while, and that document was in English. Gradually, as we talked more, our relationship improved compared to before. When a sandstorm comes, I stop playing games and chat with him. When Lao Liu was going to the site, he would usually ask me to go with him. One day, I went to the owners’ camp and returned a few minutes late, missing the meal time; I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat my favorite noodles. To my surprise, there was already a full bowl of noodles on my table. That warmth in my heart can still be felt even ten years later. You see, noodles and games were the things that served as my spiritual support to help me keep going at that time. The project manager saw it and said, \"I still need to thank your mentor.\" And so, in a rather haphazard way, I ended up having a master. The master never tells me what to do; instead, he often asks me, What do you plan to do? When I made a mistake, he would look at me and grin, and that’s how I knew I was wrong. Only when he stopped giggling did I know I was right. The project is divided into four modules, with the first two modules to be put into operation being identical. After completing the first module and it was time for the second one, the master returned to Beijing. I’m the only one left at the site from the commissioning department to organize things. The project leader was worried that I, a kid, wouldn’t be able to organize things properly. The master insisted on giving more opportunities to the young people over the phone. In private, he wrote me a bunch of notes on things to keep in mind when starting production. The second module was put into operation successfully. He said he didn’t sleep all night, worried that something might happen to me. For the third and fourth modules, although they are different from the second module, the master still confidently entrusted me with organizing and implementing them. Fortunately, nothing serious happened–because the master always shows up at the most critical moments. After that project was completed, I followed my mentor to the refinery project where he used to work. There, the task assigned to me by the supervisor was to conduct daily technical discussions with the supervision company and to work on the development of the commissioning procedures. Looking back, it was precisely because of such an opportunity that I was able to learn about the principles and procedures for trial operations abroad, as the supervisor for that project was a internationally renowned Indian company. There was a time when, perhaps as my knowledge increased, my confidence soared, and I began to look down on my master even more. Asking the master for benefits, and getting angry at them for no reason. And the master would look at me with a smile every time. Once, I couldn’t help but ask my master: Others don’t dare to get angry with you, but why aren’t you upset whenever I get angry at you? The master asked, Can getting angry solve problems? Besides, every time you get angry, I feel as if I’m watching my own child get angry; I can’t get angry either. From then on, I decided not to get angry at my master. Perhaps, this is what the master-disciple relationship is all about. This is my master. Although the refinery project is over and we are no longer working on the same project, I still make time to visit him every time I return to Beijing. And every time I talk with my master, I feel an indescribable sense of comfort, just like when I was a child and came home to eat the hand-pulled noodles made by my father – intimate, close, pleasant, profound... I’ve talked on and on for ages, only to realize that I haven’t conveyed what I really wanted to say at all! I’ve decided not to say anything~~~