Siheyuan: Start with a big car

On one hand, Yi Jiekuang's days were very difficult, while on the other hand, Erda's days were very happy.

She was a temporary worker in the steel rolling mill canteen. Her job was very easy, and she could eat her fill every day. During her breaks, she could even sneak away to the warehouse to relax for a while.

In particular, Master Zhang was especially kind to Aunt Er. Just now, Master Zhang had received a few cloth coupons, and he immediately gave them to Aunt Er.

"Second Aunt, I don't lack clothes now. Look at you, this is the only set of clothes you have. Take these cloth coupons and go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy cloth and make a new dress."

Auntie Er hasn't had any new clothes made for several years since she started working with Liu Haizhong.

Upon seeing the cloth coupons, she quickly waved her hand, saying, "Master Zhang, what are you doing? I can't accept such valuable items. Please take them back immediately."

Master Zhang stuffed the cloth coupons into Aunt Er's hand and said, "Aunt Er, just take them. I'm only eating my fill now, so I don't need these cloth coupons at all."

Aunt Er was so moved by the cloth coupons that she almost shed tears. It was the first time she had ever felt that someone still cared about her.

However, Aunt Er was also very clear that these cloth coupons were very valuable, and accepting them could easily bring a lot of negative consequences.

The second aunt quickly pushed the cloth ration coupons back and said, "Master Zhang, what are you doing?"
"It's not easy for you to live alone. You can sell these cloth coupons on the black market, how can you give them to me? Besides, we're not related, I can't accept them."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang immediately began to treat the second aunt differently.

You know, there are many people who are very greedy for small gains. Let alone cloth coupons, they would even want to take home one or two white flour buns.

Ever since Aunt Er entered the canteen, she has been behaving very properly, and now she even refuses to accept the cloth coupons worth several yuan.

"Second Aunt, what are you saying? We're friends."

Upon hearing Mr. Zhang utter the word "friend," Aunt Er felt his intense gaze and understood his meaning perfectly.

Aunt Er felt her face burning. You see, people these days are very conservative. Aunt Er had been with Liu Haizhong her whole life and had never spoken more than a few words to any other man.

She was about to throw the cloth coupons back and turn to leave when Sha Zhu pushed open the door and walked in.

Seeing the two of them, Shazhu felt something was off and asked, "What happened?"
"Aren't you going home yet? Any work can be done tomorrow."

Since Sha Zhu became the leader of the canteen, he has treated the chefs and temporary workers very well.

Master Zhang gave Sha Zhu an awkward smile and explained what had just happened.

Sha Zhu was no longer the naive young man he once was, and immediately understood Master Zhang's thoughts.

However, after thinking about it carefully, he realized that Master Zhang was all alone and was a senior master.

Aunt Erda is all alone and destitute. If she could marry Mr. Zhang, she could have a happy old age.

Sha Zhu laughed twice and walked up to Aunt Er, saying, "Aunt Er, since this is Chef Zhang's kind gesture, please accept it. Besides, you're practically colleagues in our canteen."

The meaning of this statement is quite clear: even if Aunt Er doesn't want to have anything to do with Master Zhang, there's no need for her to refuse.

Aunt Er was already hesitant, but after hearing what Sha Zhu said, she had no choice but to accept the cloth coupons.

"Silly Zhu, I have to go back, so I'll be leaving now."

Auntie Er felt her face burning, turned around, and hurriedly left.

After Aunt Er's figure disappeared through the door, Sha Zhu patted Master Zhang on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Old Zhang, you're good. Aunt Er is actually a pretty good woman. Don't let her age fool you, she's very thoughtful and caring. Liu Haizhong has never been in the kitchen in all these years."

Mr. Zhang smiled awkwardly and said, "Director, I didn't mean anything by it. I just felt that Aunt Er's life was quite difficult, so I wanted to help her."

"Hey, what's there to be ashamed of, you're a grown man? Let me tell you, it's not easy to find a partner at your age, this is a great opportunity." Sha Zhu, who had been through it all, pulled Master Zhang aside.

After thinking about it carefully, Mr. Zhang realized that it made sense, but he didn't know what to do next.

"Silly Zhu, wait here, I'll go cook a couple of dishes, and we can chat while we drink."

Master Zhang went into the kitchen, cooked a few dishes, and then came out with half a bottle of liquor, pouring a glass for Sha Zhu.

"Director, I've been an honest and simple man for most of my life. My first wife was someone my family arranged for me. I have absolutely no idea how to please a woman. Can you teach me?"

These words were exactly what Sha Zhu wanted to hear. After drinking a glass of wine, he smiled and said:

"This matter is actually very simple."

Auntie is having a hard time right now, so please help her out. We, her friends, will also encourage her, and it won't be long before things are settled.

Master Zhang nodded and gave Sha Zhu a thumbs up: "Director, I didn't expect you to be such an expert."

Sha Zhu shook his head with a wry smile. What kind of expert was he? He was almost tricked by Qin Huairu back then. If it weren't for Li Weidong, he would still be all alone.

However, Sha Zhu still put on a stern face and reminded Master Zhang: "Master Zhang, let me tell you, we don't play the philandering game here."

Since you like Auntie Er, you should be sincere. If you dare to do anything shady, don't blame me, Sha Zhu, for being impolite. Auntie Er is my neighbor; she's taken good care of me.

This statement is a blatant threat to Master Zhang.

Master Zhang quickly assured him, "Silly Zhu, don't worry, I, Old Zhang, am definitely not that kind of person. If I dare to let Second Aunt down, you can make sure I die a horrible death."

"Alright, alright, stop with the nonsense, let's drink."

Sha Zhu felt he had accomplished something big and was in a very good mood. He drank until eight or nine o'clock before staggering back to the courtyard house.

Just then, Li Weidong returned. Seeing Sha Zhu's appearance, he asked curiously, "Sha Zhu, have any other factory leaders come to inspect our steel rolling mill recently?"

Since Li Weidong developed so many advanced products, the steel rolling mill has grown into the largest factory in the country and has become a model factory. Factories from all over the country have come to the steel rolling mill to inspect it.

This was originally a good thing, but according to custom, the steel rolling mill is responsible for receiving all factory leaders who come to inspect.

In particular, some leaders of the steel rolling mill are very hospitable. Every time they are entertained, they serve several plates of meat and prepare good wine.

This annoyed the steel mill's canteen. After all, in those days of scarcity, if things continued like this, the steel mill would not only fail to develop, but its already limited resources would also be consumed.

Sha Zhu went to Li Weidong to report the situation, and Li Weidong, upon learning of it, immediately reported it to Factory Director Yang.

Furthermore, it was suggested that Director Yang establish a rule that he would not be responsible for receiving any leaders who came to inspect the area.

Factory Director Yang was initially worried about offending his competitors.
Li Weidong, however, said that if this continues, it may create a bad atmosphere in the steel rolling mill, which will affect the work of the steel rolling mill laboratory.

The steel rolling mill laboratory is now crucial to the development of the steel rolling mill, and even more so to Director Yang's future.

Under these circumstances, Director Yang contacted several factory leaders and convened a meeting, whereupon the decision was approved.

That's why Li Weidong was so wary.

Sha Zhu, not understanding Li Weidong's thoughts, quickly said, "Brother Weidong, you've misunderstood. I did have a few drinks with Master Zhang. By the way, there's something I need to report to you."

Actually, Sha Zhu hadn't really planned to matchmake Aunt Er and Master Zhang. He then explained the situation. Li Weidong hadn't expected Sha Zhu to have such a vivid idea and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright, Shazhu, you did a great job. If this works out, it will be a good thing for both Master Zhang and Auntie Er."

Sha Zhu was very happy to receive Li Weidong's praise and nodded quickly: "Don't worry, I'll try my best to bring them together in the near future."

"Alright, it's getting late, let's go back quickly."

Li Weidong raised his wrist to check the time, then, remembering that Yu Li was home alone, he went home.

The next day, Li Weidong arrived at the steel rolling mill laboratory early in the morning.

Color televisions are now selling well throughout the country, and a large portion of them are being shipped overseas.

Thanks to this product, the steel mill laboratory not only paid foreign exchange but also made a fortune.

With funds in hand, it's natural to want to do big things.

Li Weidong was well aware that, as time went on, computers would inevitably enter people's lives and production.

In fact, China began computer research several years ago and has achieved considerable results.

However, due to certain reasons, this research could not continue, which caused us to suffer great losses and even become subject to others for a period of time afterward.

Now that Li Weidong has arrived in this era, he naturally cannot allow similar things to happen again.

The foundation of a computer is the chip.

Li Weidong already has the complete set of data obtained from the system, but he still needs technical personnel and equipment to make it work.

Li Weidong convened a meeting of all researchers in the laboratory and publicly announced the computer research plan.

Upon hearing Li Weidong's plan, the researchers all frowned.

"Director, it's not that we're unwilling to support you, but you have to understand that only those large computer companies abroad have achieved some results. This thing is a complete waste of money."

"Yes, I heard IBM spent several hundred million US dollars."

The computer I made didn't turn out well; an abacus would have been better.

"Yes, yes, we've finally made some money, and our savings are still very meager. There's no need to take this risk."

Li Weidong remained silent until they finished speaking, then stood up and said:

“I understand your concerns, but have you thought about this?”

Computers will undoubtedly become the most important tool for changing people's lives and work in the future. If we don't plan ahead now and allow the other side to seize the high ground, it will be difficult for us to launch an attack and catch up.

Upon hearing this, the researchers' expressions changed, and they were all speechless.

The researchers in the steel rolling mill laboratory were all highly educated, some of whom had returned from abroad, and they were very clear about the importance of computers.

Li Weidong continued, "What's the point of making money when we develop so many products?"
The real purpose was to promote the development of domestic industry.

Of course, I am also very aware that it would be very difficult for us to develop a mainframe computer. We can take a different approach and start with minicomputers.

Li Weidong's biggest advantage over people of his generation was that he was very clear about the direction of computer development.

In this era, both domestically and internationally, there are differing opinions regarding the development of computers.

One school of thought believes that computers should primarily be large-scale vacuum tube computers, as this would ensure sufficient computing speed.

Others argue that mainframe computers are too complex, costly, and space-consuming, making them unsuitable for widespread adoption, and that efforts should be made to develop transistor computers.

IBM belongs to the latter category.

The blueprints that Li Weidong is now showing are the processor blueprints for the next generation of transistor computers, which can save at least half of the research funding.

Seeing Li Weidong's confidence, the researchers nodded in agreement.

"Director Li, don't worry. Now that you've made up your mind, we'll follow you."

"Yes, yes, we can't always follow in other people's footsteps; we have to be pioneers too."

"At worst, I'll stay up for a month and spend every day in the lab until I finally get the computer working."

Li Weidong felt that he had underestimated the ideological awareness of researchers in this era.

It is precisely because they possessed the spirit of hard work and perseverance that they were able to lay the foundation for our great development in later generations.

Considering that the computer project might face malicious opposition from some people in the factory, Li Weidong did not intend to report the computer project to the factory immediately.

Anyway, the steel rolling mill laboratory has its own independent budget, and Li Weidong makes all the decisions.

Subsequently, Li Weidong announced the research and development plan and began contacting the Beijing Radio Factory.

Beijing Radio Factory is one of the few factories in China with experience in manufacturing circuit boards.

When Li Weidong was developing color televisions, he had collaborated with a radio factory.

Chief Engineer Zhang of the radio factory was very surprised when he received Li Weidong's call.

"Comrade Weidong, you need a circuit board now, and then place tens of thousands of transistors on the circuit board, is that what you mean?"

Li Weidong nodded into the phone: "That's right."

"Comrade Weidong, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that your request is really too difficult. How are you going to arrange so many transistors?"

Li Weidong smiled: "Chief Engineer Zhang, don't worry, I have already designed a complete operating plan. As long as you send over those experienced technicians from your factory, I guarantee we can get it done quickly."

"Comrade Weidong, it's not that I'm unwilling to help you, but you know we're very busy here too."

"Don't worry, we won't let you work for free. In addition to your salary, each technician will receive a daily allowance of 20 jin of refined white flour, and we will also give your radio factory an extra truckload of refined white flour."

Upon hearing this, Chief Engineer Zhang's tone immediately changed.

"Comrade Weidong, don't worry, I'll arrange someone right away."

Li Weidong put down the phone and smiled smugly. "Well, that's just how rich and powerful we are now," he thought.

(End of this chapter)