The train driver in the courtyard

Inside the courtyard, Liu Haizhong had been waiting for Li Aiguo to return, and quickly stopped him.

"Aiguo, these are dumplings that I asked your second aunt to make. They're filled with wild vegetables and pork. Come and try them."

Li Aiguo was somewhat surprised to see Liu Haizhong carrying dozens of dumplings.

"Isn't this appropriate?"

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. You've helped me so much, I really need to thank you properly." Liu Haizhong was worried that Li Aiguo would refuse, so he put down the dumplings, turned around, and left without waiting for his reply.

Just then, Chen Xueru took the children to Chen Fangxuan's house. Li Aiguo was too lazy to cook, so he boiled a dozen or so dumplings.

Auntie Er's cooking skills were quite good; she added sesame oil to the dumpling filling, making them very fragrant. Li Aiguo finished them all in one go.

The summer night was tranquil and beautiful. After reading several books, Li Aiguo fell into a deep sleep.

On the third day, as the morning light shone into the prototype workshop, the orange shell of the helmet had already solidified and taken shape.

When Li Aiguo arrived at the trial production workshop on his motorcycle, Professor Song Yuanzheng was already waiting at the door.

Seeing Li Aiguo come over, Professor Song Yuanzheng took Li Aiguo's hand and said, "The first batch of helmets has been produced. Come and see how the quality is."

Upon entering the workshop, two rows of safety helmets were displayed on the cooling racks.

Li Aiguo picked up the helmet and tapped it with his fingers, making a rattling sound; it looked to be of good quality.

"Whether the quality is up to standard still needs to be determined in practice. You continue production, I'll take this batch of helmets back first."

"Old Liu, Old Wang, give driver Li a hand."

This is the first time the pilot production workshop has manufactured a practical product since its establishment.

Professor Song and several experts were very excited. They found two burlap sacks and put the helmets into them.

The thing weighed only a couple hundred pounds, and Li Aiguo easily placed it on the back seat of the motorcycle and drove towards the subway construction site.

Motorcycles are not yet in mass production, so safety helmets are not needed for the time being.

The railway troops are working very hard to keep up with production schedules. Even though they have held numerous meetings to emphasize safety, accidents still happen from time to time, making these helmets even more urgently needed.

The motorcycle arrived at the subway construction site, where Commander Zhang was doing "daily reading" with the railway soldiers, a long-standing tradition of the 12th Railway Corps.

"The helmet is finished?" When Commander Zhang saw the helmet on Li Aiguo's head, his eyes widened immediately: "This thing is really beautiful."

The instructor nodded in agreement: "The orange color is very eye-catching; you'll notice it immediately."

Several railway soldiers gathered around, and frowned as they looked at the helmet.

"This is plastic, right? A brick would crush it."

"Yeah, all looks and no substance, right?"

Li Aiguo took the helmet out of the sack and handed it to Commander Zhang: "Old Zhang, take a look at the quality."

"How can you tell this with your eyes?" Commander Zhang picked up his helmet, suddenly turned around, and walked towards the pile of bricks next to him.

"Last time, a rock smashed Old Zhao's head... This time, we must be absolutely certain!"

Before Li Aiguo could react, he suddenly picked up a brick and smashed it on the helmet.

He was very strong, and Li Aiguo heard a muffled thud from a great distance.

The railway soldiers were also stunned, staring wide-eyed.

The helmet was completely intact.

"My goodness, how come this chemical plastic helmet is so sturdy?"

"This brick would probably leave a dent even on a steel helmet."

"Yeah yeah."

"This is unbelievable." The instructor knew the helmet was sturdy, but he didn't expect it to be this sturdy.

"It's sturdy enough, but I don't know how protective it is." Commander Zhang picked up the helmet, examined it from top to bottom, laughed twice, and then suddenly put it on his head.

He picked up a brick, ready to smash it into his forehead.

This scene took everyone by surprise; the instructor tried to stop them, but they were too far away.

The railway soldiers were too far away to stop them.

Li Aiguo reacted quickly, grabbing Commander Zhang's arm: "Old Zhang, what are you doing?"

"We're conducting an experiment. How can we know if it can protect our heads if we don't wear it on our heads and just hit it with a brick?" Commander Zhang said loudly. "These helmets are going to be issued to the soldiers. What if there are quality problems?"

Li Aiguo paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and said, "Old Zhang, there's a food called tofu, and that stuff is extremely fragile. Is it possible that tofu is more suitable as a test subject than your brain?"

Li Aiguo wasn't lacking confidence in the quality of the helmet, but rather worried about Commander Zhang's strength.

If this guy were to use all his strength, not only a fiberglass helmet, but even a real motorcycle helmet from later generations wouldn't be able to withstand it.

Human experimentation should be approached with caution.

"Hey, what you said actually makes some sense." Commander Zhang seemed frustrated that he couldn't participate in the experiment himself. He threw the brick away in a huff and called over a railway soldier: "Second Platoon Leader, go to the canteen right now and get a piece of tofu."

"Yes!" The second platoon leader turned to leave.

"Wait, have the squad leader who had the accident carve the tofu into the shape of a head, using it as a reference for my head." Commander Zhang gestured.

"Yes!" The second platoon leader was silent for a moment, then turned around and conveyed the order.

A moment later, the second platoon leader came over carrying a cutting board with a tofu shaped like a head on it.

Li Aiguo felt that this thing was a bit different from Commander Zhang's head, but Commander Zhang was very satisfied. After gesturing to show the size, he nodded emphatically: "This is it."

The tofu was placed inside the helmet, and to account for the stress, the helmet was placed on its side. The commotion attracted a number of railway soldiers, who all gathered around.

Li Aiguo was setting up his helmet when he heard a sound behind him.

"Commander Zhang, what are you doing?"

"Reporting to the commander, we are inspecting the helmets!"

"This must be Commissioner Li."

Li Aiguo turned his head and saw a tall, handsome leader in uniform, with a ruddy complexion and a very energetic appearance, looking at him.

This person was the highest leader of the 12th Railway Division, which had over 10,000 railway soldiers.

"Hello, Leader Chu." Li Aiguo had met Leader Chu once before at the subway groundbreaking ceremony, and quickly extended his hand.

"Consultant Li, I've heard of you before. You're young and promising."

Li Aiguo was sizing up the leader, and the leader was also observing Li Aiguo. His first impression was that the man was too young.

Thinking of the evaluation of Li Aiguo from above, the leader felt that he had finally understood the true meaning of genius.

"Comrade Patriot, is this the helmet you developed?" Besides his busy leadership work, which involves taking care of the food, drink, and daily needs of more than 10,000 people, as well as managing a massive subway construction site, it is no coincidence that he appeared here.

He learned from the political commissar that there were new types of helmets, so he made a special trip here.

“Yes, I call it a safety helmet. We’re planning to do an experiment,” Li Aiguo explained.

"Very good, very good. Using tofu for the experiment, Patriotic comrade, you certainly have a lot of confidence." After examining him for a moment, the division commander looked at Regiment Commander Zhang: "Regiment Commander Zhang, let's begin!"

"Yes!"

Commander Zhang was already curious about the protective capabilities of this safety helmet, and now that a superior was watching, he became even more eager.

He picked up a brick and smashed it down hard.

boom!
After a loud bang, everyone stared at the tofu-like head inside the helmet.

The division commander personally stepped forward, turned the helmet over, and picked it up.

Although some tofu residue fell out, most of it remained intact.

It's conceivable that if it were the head, at most it would just get a scratch, not a concussion or anything more serious.

"It can even protect tofu! This helmet is definitely a safety helmet!" The division commander was also excited at this moment.

He looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "Comrade Aiguo, how many of these helmets do you have left?"

“Currently, the production capacity is only about one hundred units per day. To expand production, we need to set up a new production workshop.” Li Aiguo explained the situation on Professor Song Yuanzheng’s side.

"One hundred helmets are too few. It seems we should suggest that the higher-ups set up a new factory." After the leader made up his mind, he chatted for a few more minutes and then hurriedly left.

After the leader left, Li Aiguo handed over the remaining safety helmets to Regiment Commander Zhang.

"Commander, how should these helmets be distributed?" a company commander asked.

"Of course, we'll distribute them all to the soldiers. We leaders can use our old steel helmets for now."

"Yes!"

Those railway soldiers responsible for drilling holes in the tunnels were the first to be assigned safety helmets.

The other railway soldiers were very envious.

After learning that safety helmets had appeared on the construction site, the leaders of the 15th Railway Division, which was also in charge of the subway construction, approached the leaders and asked them to send a batch of helmets over.

When the leader looked at Zhao, who had come to his door, he laughed and said, "Old Zhao, back then you stole more than a dozen trucks from me. What, you want to be a bandit again this time?"

"That's a decision made by the higher-ups!" Seeing that the higher-ups were unwilling to compromise, Leader Zhao had no choice but to urge the Glass and Ceramics Research Institute.

The leaders of the Glass and Ceramics Research Institute were somewhat bewildered. How did fiberglass, which originally had little practical value, suddenly become such a hot commodity?

There's demand but no production right now, and we can't afford to offend any of them.

What to do? Let's work overtime to increase production.

However, this situation soon changed.

A few days later, after Li Aiguo received a batch of safety helmets, Professor Song Yuanzheng told him some good news: "The higher-ups have decided to build the No. 251 Building Materials Factory! The laboratory will also be moved there."

Building Materials Factory No. 251. Isn't that the predecessor of North Glass Institute?
It seems that the North Glass Institute, which played a significant role in the aerospace industry in later generations, also appeared ahead of schedule.

Song Yuanzheng looked at Li Aiguo and continued, "Currently, Factory 251 is under preparation. Comrade Aiguo, the higher-ups hope that you can serve as our factory's technical advisor."

Song Yuanzheng could understand the decision made by his superiors.

Firstly, Li Aiguo's help is needed for both the current production of safety helmets and the future production of train window frames.

Secondly, he always felt that Li Aiguo had a deep understanding of fiberglass.

Li Aiguo was also looking to make some good things with fiberglass, so he readily agreed.

"As a technical advisor, my first piece of advice is that, starting today, all safety helmets should have a red five-pointed star printed on them."

“It looks much better with the five-pointed star.” Song Yuanzheng nodded and then said, “Our current manual production speed is too slow. I heard that you have studied hydraulic presses. Is it possible to use a hydraulic press to produce safety helmets?”

“Technically speaking, it’s feasible,” Li Aiguo readily agreed.

Ever since he invented the hydraulic press, Li Aiguo has found it to be incredibly useful.

Take helmets for example. As long as you put the materials in, it's very easy to produce a one-piece helmet that is of better quality and stronger.

(End of this chapter)