Wandering in the vast darkness

029 Ghostly Shadow

Yu Wenhao hardly needed to ask Lao Yao about the interview results; the answer was already written on his face.

Seeing Lao Yao's dejected expression, Yu Wenhao also felt a bit depressed. He thought that Lao Yao, a PhD from a prestigious university, had worked hard for more than ten years in a company to reach his current position, only to be laid off overnight. Not only was he laid off, but his resume was also tainted.

He's only a few years older than me, forty-two, yet he's already considered an old man in the workplace, with doors closing on him one after another. What kind of world is this? Is there anywhere to reason with him? Yu Wenhao doesn't even know if, in a few years, when he reaches Lao Yao's age, he'll face the same predicament. By then, he'll probably only be able to become a full-time ride-hailing driver.

If people in their forties, in the prime of their lives, are all driving for ride-hailing services, delivering food and packages, or working as security guards, what about those who are older, in their fifties and sixties? Will there be even fewer job opportunities for them? Are we all being forced into retirement while still full of energy?

The problem is that you still need someone to support you.

Yu asked, checked the time, and said to Lao Yao:

"Old Yao, if you don't mind, how about having lunch at our cafeteria?"

"Okay!" Old Yao readily agreed.

The two ate in the cafeteria, then returned to Yu Wenhao's office. They sat and talked for a while, and Yu Wenhao asked:

"Old Yao, would you like to rest on the sofa for a while?"

Old Yao retorted, "It won't affect you, will it?"

Yu Wen chuckled and said, "It doesn't matter. Everyone's resting at this time, so what's the impact?"

Old Yao agreed.

He picked up the trench coat draped over the sofa armrest, loosened his tie, unbuttoned the top button, lay down, rested his head on the sofa armrest, covered himself with the trench coat, and fell asleep in no time.

Yu Wen looked at him and shook his head. He knew that although Lao Yao didn't have a regular job and seemed to have nothing to do all day except for job interviews, he was actually more tired than Yu Wen when he was working. His hands and feet were idle, but his brain was working 24 hours a day. Even when he was sleeping, he probably dreamed about looking for a job.

People in this state will quickly become tired, bored, and lose confidence in themselves.

Old Yao had taken the sofa, so Yu Wenhao could only take a nap on his desk. But he didn't care. Over the years, he had mastered the art of sleeping. He could fall asleep anywhere, even standing. As long as he had his back against the wall, he could still sleep soundly for a few minutes.

Yu Wenhao seemed to wake up at the exact time. He took a nap in the office without needing an alarm clock. No matter what time he went to sleep, he would always wake up at 1:30 pm, which was exactly when they started work.

He glanced at Lao Yao, who was still fast asleep. Yu Wenhao stood up, tiptoed out, and closed the office door behind him.

Yu Wenhao walked into the workshop. Two printing presses were running. Yu Wenhao walked to the back of the Heidelberg SM74 four-color offset printing press, looked at the finished products, and immediately shouted "Stop!" The whole machine stopped.

The supervisor of the machine ran over, looked at the finished product, and asked, "What's wrong, Director Yu?"

Yu Wenhao pointed to the printed product and said to the supervisor, "It looks like it's going to produce ghost images."

The supervisor leaned down to take a look, but couldn't see anything. He picked up a finished product, held it up, and asked Yu, "Nothing there?"

"It will be ready soon, in less than five minutes," Yu Wenhao said.

"Impossible." The supervisor looked at the finished product again and insisted, "I see no problem with it."

While the two were talking, other workers gathered around, including the supervisor of the Superpower CD102 across the street. Yu Wenhao thought it was a good opportunity to teach them a lesson, so he said to the supervisor:

"Want to give it a try? I can't say for more than five minutes."

Seeing Yu's response, the supervisor became uncertain and turned to the workers, asking, "Do you think this is possible?"

Several workers looked at the finished product, stood with the supervisor, and shook their heads, saying it was impossible.

Yu Wenhao patted a worker on the shoulder and said to him, "Go and turn on the machine. Remember, stop it when I tell you to."

The worker agreed and ran to the control panel.

Ghosting is one of the most troublesome things in printing. Ghosting refers to images and text appearing where they shouldn't be.

Ghosting is further divided into positive ghosting and negative ghosting. Positive ghosting refers to the shadow cast behind the positive image on a printed surface, appearing as a projection of the positive image in front. Negative ghosting refers to the shadow cast behind the negative image on a printed surface, appearing as a projection of the positive image in front.

The formation of ghosting is complex and can be broadly categorized into industrial ghosting and mechanical ghosting. Industrial ghosting can be caused by factors such as the design of the printed material, the chemical properties of the ink during the drying process, poor ventilation in the paper receiving area, or excessively high or low temperatures, or sudden temperature fluctuations in the workshop.

Regardless of the cause, mechanical ghosting is ultimately caused by insufficient ink on the ink rollers.

Yu Wenhao's words piqued everyone's interest, the machine restarted, and the finished product came out unharmed. The supervisor looked at Yu Wenhao and smiled smugly, but his smile lasted less than three minutes before he shouted:

"Stop, stop, stop now!"

When everyone looked at the finished product again, ghostly figures indeed appeared.

"This is unbelievable!" The supervisor looked at Yu Wenhao and asked, "Director, this is amazing! How did you do that?"

Yu Wen smiled and said, "Intuition."

"Intuition? No way?"

Yu Wenhao nodded and said, "It really is intuition. If you had handled as many prints as I have, you would have had the same intuition too."

Yu Wenhao didn't lie to his supervisor; he genuinely relied on his intuition. When he looked at the finished product and felt something was off, he knew something was about to happen. Or sometimes, if he heard the machine's sound and saw a tiny bubble, he would immediately know that the air system was about to malfunction and that he had to stop the machine immediately to check the cylinders, air pipes, and valves.

Sometimes, if you touch the finished product and feel that the temperature is a little abnormal, you will immediately know that the condenser is blocked and you must clean the condenser with an air compressor immediately.

The printing press operates at high speed, producing over two hundred finished sheets per minute. Anticipating and eliminating equipment malfunctions is the most reliable guarantee for printing companies like theirs to save costs and increase efficiency. Otherwise, completing a single batch and causing waste would render the entire order worthless. Customers are paying for high-quality products; a low yield rate will not satisfy them.

The supervisor looked at Yu Wenhao with a helpless expression. Yu Wenhao glared at him and said:

"Why are you looking at me? Give me a wrench and learn from me."

The supervisor said okay, and quickly ran off to greet Yu and bring over gloves and a wrench.

Open the protective cover on the transmission surface and allow the printing press to run slowly. When the reference axis is in its lowest position, loosen the nut. Once the printing press has rotated to another position, tighten the nut again, causing the inking roller to move slightly.

Yu greeted him, turned to his supervisor, and said, "All done."

The supervisor's eyes widened: "That's it? It's that simple?"

"Yes, it's that simple." Yu asked the supervisor, and also the supervisor of the Subaru CD102, "Did you learn it? Turn it on."

The machine started running again, and when we looked at the finished product, the ghost image had indeed disappeared.

"I'm impressed, I'm impressed!" the supervisor said to Yu Wenhao, giving him a thumbs up.