The train driver in the courtyard

The two brothers, Big Ken and Little Ken, joined forces and turned North America upside down.

It looks brand new and full of vitality.

Li Aiguo, however, was not optimistic.

North America is home to those big capitalists and military-industrial complexes.

These people are now choosing to lie low for the time being due to public anger.

Once a counterattack is launched, the Great Ken commander might just start coming up with some wild ideas.

Commander Da Ken was a great help this time. Li Aiguo is a man of honor, so I will definitely remind him later.

The key is to see what will happen to the American family once the Great Ken survives the attack.

Of course.

These are all things for the future; Li Aiguo has always valued being down-to-earth.

After ending the call with Gangcheng, I went into the studio and got busy.

At this moment, a routine working meeting was being held within the Geological Work Planning Steering Committee.

After listening to the report from the Mineral Resources and Geological Exploration Bureau, Deputy Director Zhang frowned deeply: "Old Chen, at present, the only large-scale uranium mine in China that we can boast about is Mine 711."

However, the mineral deposits are buried deep and difficult to mine, so the output has always been low and far from meeting the needs of scientific research and the "mushroom cultivation" project.

"Our superiors have repeatedly emphasized that we must intensify our efforts in uranium exploration; this is a crucial task!"

He paused, his tone becoming more serious: "It's been four or five years since the people donated uranium ore, and your exploration bureau still hasn't made any significant progress. This won't do!"

The leaders of the exploration bureau were also aware of this, and sighed helplessly, saying, "Over the years, we have organized many exploration teams to conduct exploration in the Northwest, and even used aircraft, but the results have not been satisfactory. Perhaps we really are, as outsiders say, a place with depleted uranium."

"You're not allowed to say that!" Deputy Director Zhang immediately interrupted, his tone tinged with disappointment. "Old Chen, those intellectual's wavering thoughts are resurfacing! Exploration work must continue; we can't slacken our efforts even a little bit. This is a rectification task!"

"Yes, we will carry out the order without hesitation!" The leader of the exploration bureau nodded.

As the meeting was about to end, Deputy Director Zhang suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Lao Chen, a friend asked me to inquire about two people a while ago, saying they were from your exploration team, named Liu Tianquan and Huang Ting. Do you know these two people?"

"Liu Tianquan, Huang Ting..." The exploration bureau leader went through the list in his mind. "They should be in the field team in the Northwest. We can't say for sure where they are right now. Field exploration requires a lot of mobility and communication is not convenient."

Deputy Director Zhang nodded. He understood the rules here; exploration work involved classified information, so he shouldn't ask too many questions he shouldn't: "Just know that they are safe."

Just as the meeting was about to be adjourned, a staff member rushed in: "Reporting to Deputy Director Zhang, news has come from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot that their geological exploration drilling rig has been successfully tested!"

"It was developed so quickly! It seems that the speed of the railway industry is something we should learn from."

Deputy Director Zhang was preparing to lead several leaders to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot for inspection.

"Oh? It's done so quickly?" Deputy Director Zhang's eyes lit up. "The speed of the railway industry is truly a model for us to learn from! Let's go, take a few people to inspect it!"

He turned to the exploration bureau leader who hadn't left yet, "Old Chen, you can't go back to the Northwest today. Come with me to learn from their experience. This is something you can use!"

Ever since the railway sector took the lead in completing the task of "catching up with and surpassing Britain and the United States," it has become a pioneer and a model for other ministries to learn from.

The exploration bureau leaders, who were already curious about the new equipment, immediately agreed: "Great, great, we've been wanting to see it!"

As soon as he entered the courtyard of the workshop, he was stunned by the huge drilling rig.

The drilling rig is about the size of two trucks, with double-row tracked wheels underneath and a work platform on top.

The main drilling tool is a drilling rig that is over ten meters high. The drill rod is as thick as a forearm. Combined with the red flag on the top of the drilling platform, it looks particularly majestic and imposing.

A young worker in a gray Zhongshan suit was squatting in front of the control panel, adjusting the rows of instruments on it.

The exploration bureau leaders initially thought he was just an ordinary technician, until they saw Deputy Director Zhang take the initiative to walk over and shake hands, and then they realized that this person was no ordinary individual.

"This is Comrade Li Aiguo, the main developer of the drilling rig," Deputy Director Zhang introduced.

The exploration bureau leaders were secretly astonished: "So young? Truly a force to be reckoned with!"

"Comrade Aiguo, there's been some progress on the matter you asked me to inquire about. Comrades Liu Tianquan and Huang Ting are currently on a mission in the field and have temporarily lost contact with the outside world. This happens frequently, so don't worry," Deputy Director Zhang said first.

Li Aiguo felt relieved and quickly thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Deputy Director Zhang. It's good to know they are safe."

His biggest worry was Liu Tianquan's family, where the elderly and children all needed someone to take care of them.

Deputy Director Zhang then pulled over the leaders of the Exploration Bureau: "This is Director Chen of the Exploration Bureau, who is also Liu Tianquan's superior."

"Hello, Director Chen!" Li Aiguo quickly extended his hand. He knew that these leaders who were in the exploration field had all come from the Gobi Desert and the deep mountains, and had done real work. He respected them from the bottom of his heart.

"Comrade Patriot, is this a geological exploration drilling rig? Could you demonstrate how to use it?"

The leaders of the exploration bureau are now particularly interested in drilling rigs.

Their eyes lit up especially after learning that the drilling rig could drill to a maximum depth of 1800 meters.

This thing is easy to unfold and can be moved. If it were used for large-scale field prospecting, it would be an absolute godsend.

As a train driver, it's only natural that he would know how to operate a geological exploration drilling rig, right?

The operation of the drilling rig is divided into two parts: the power unit is operated in a manner similar to that of a tank, and the other part is the operation of the drilling platform.

Li Aiguo chose an open space outside the courtyard. As he stepped into the control cabin, the metal pedal made a crisp "clang".

He first flipped the power switch, and the engine chugged a few times before bursting into a deep roar.

The heavy tracks rolled across the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, and the machine slowly moved to the selected position.

"Click."

Pressing the brake pedal brought the drilling rig to a steady stop.

Then, he reached out and turned the platform control lever, and the alloy drill bit, as thick as a bowl, slowly descended, aimed at the bare yellow earth on the ground, and pierced it.

"Watch closely, we're about to start 'drilling'!" Li Aiguo shouted to the outside of the cabin, turning the speed knob with his fingers.

"Buzz!!"

The drill bit suddenly let out a sharp hiss and plunged into the ground.

At first, it just rolled up circles of soil. As the drill rod continued to press down, the debris became finer and finer. It mixed with water vapor (the drilling rig has a small water supply device to cool and remove the slag) and turned into mud. It flowed out along the spiral grooves of the drill rod and piled up a small mound on the ground.

The leaders moved closer together; some held up measuring tapes to measure the speed at which the drill bit entered the ground, while others stared at the depth gauge outside the control room.

The pointer was dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye.

10 meter

20 meter

50 meter

In just a few minutes, he had already broken the 100-meter mark.

"Wow, that speed!" the leader of the geological exploration bureau exclaimed in amazement. "Our old equipment takes half a day to drill a hundred meters, but this thing cuts through tofu like it's nothing!"

Li Aiguo didn't have time to respond; he was intently staring at the pressure gauge.

The pointer was about to reach the red line, which meant that the drilling had reached the rock layer, so he slightly reduced the pressure.

The vibration of the drill rod changed noticeably, the roaring sound became deeper, and small stones began to mix with the mud it brought out.

After drilling for another hour and a half, when the depth gauge pointed to 320 meters, Li Aiguo suddenly stopped the machine.

This is just a demonstration. We can't actually drill a deep well in the locomotive depot. If groundwater comes out later, we might have to build another well.

Since the well-drilling machine was introduced, the well-drilling teams have been incredibly lucky, drilling wells everywhere they go.

There are now more than thirty wells in the locomotive depot, which infuriated Section Chief Xing so much that he strictly forbade anyone from drilling any more wells.

Section Chief Xing also wanted to fill in those wells, and Li Aiguo suggested installing water pumps and pipes to turn them into fire hydrants for firefighting, which would truly turn waste into treasure.

At this moment, the drill rod slowly rose, and the drill bit at the top was covered with mud, but it was still sharp.

"Boss, that's about it."

Li Aiguo jumped down from the control room, saying, "If we drill any deeper, we'll have to switch to a special drill bit."

The leaders stared at the bottomless borehole for a long time, and then touched the drill rod, which was still warm.

"Comrade Patriot, can this machine be mass-produced? Our Northwest prospecting team is in dire need of this kind of equipment!"

“Technically speaking, there is no problem with mass production, but I still suggest using this machine for practical experiments first to confirm that there are no design problems before large-scale production.”

It's important to know that geological exploration drilling rigs are essentially a combination of tanks and drilling rigs, and these days they are considered large pieces of equipment. A single set can cost as much as 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, so mass production must be approached with caution.

Upon hearing this, Deputy Director Zhang turned to the leaders of the Exploration Bureau and said, "Old Chen, aren't you conducting large-scale exploration in the Northwest? It's perfect to transfer this machine over there, use it while modifying it, and have the best of both worlds."

"That's a great idea!" The exploration bureau leader nodded repeatedly.

But a new problem has arisen.

How do you transport such a behemoth to the Northwest? Trucks and trains can't carry it directly; it has to be disassembled into parts, transported to the destination, and then reassembled.

Who will assemble it? How can we ensure assembly accuracy?

The people in the room looked at each other, and finally all their eyes fell on Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo: "."

*****
Li Aiguo actually didn't mind going to the Northwest to help assemble drilling rigs.

After all, just as a train driver can pull the country along by driving a train, a drilling rig can drill out more treasures for the country, both contributing to the country's development.

It's almost the end of the year.

There's still a lot of work to be done at the studio. The blueprints for the four-cylinder motorcycle have just been completed, but the blueprints for the excavator and loader haven't been drawn yet.

I'm so busy, so incredibly busy.

Deputy Director Zhang also felt a little embarrassed about having conscripted men for nothing, so he went to the Ministry of Railways for help.

The railway and geological exploration departments have cooperated before. When railway soldiers were laying railway tracks in the deep mountains and forests, they inevitably discovered mineral deposits.

In addition, for the construction of special lines, professional exploration data from geological exploration teams is required.

After careful consideration, the department agreed to lend Li Aiguo out after accepting a professional exploration team from the geological exploration department.

"Ahem, patriotism, that's the gist of it. We took in over thirty people, but only gave one away. We're not at a loss." Leader Teng felt a little embarrassed, as if he had become a human trafficker.

There was nothing they could do about it; only Li Aiguo was capable of assembling drilling rigs and troubleshooting problems promptly.
Once these words were spoken, the whole thing changed from a job to a task.

The task cannot be cancelled.

"Leader, I'm just a brick in the organization, I'll go wherever I'm needed. Don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the task." Li Aiguo stood up and made his statement.

"Very good. Our railway system needs comrades like you who are capable and have high ideological awareness," Leader Teng nodded approvingly.

Section Chief Xing raised his hand: "Sir, Aiguo's wife is newly pregnant, and the weather is especially cold. Should we take care of her?"

This is what it means to care for your employees. Section Chief Xing has many flaws, but for this one thing alone, he deserves the title of "good section chief".

Leader Teng nodded: "The soldiers are fighting bloody battles on the front lines. We can't let them worry about the rear. Lao Xing, please have the female comrades in your section take good care of Comrade Chen Xueru and allocate another batch of living supplies."

"clear."

After Section Chief Xing returned to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, he handed over this task to Huang Shuxian in the Education Office.

Huang Shuxian has now been promoted to deputy director of the education department due to her outstanding performance.

Upon receiving this news, he said with a smile, "Section Chief, don't worry. My husband and Aiguo are good brothers, and Xueru and I are sisters-in-law. Even if you don't tell me, I will still visit Chen Xueru every day."

Li Aiguo has already received his living supplies from the section.

These supplies included subsidies from the department and welfare benefits provided by the section for the workers during the Chinese New Year.

Dozens of kilograms of refined white flour, more than ten kilograms of fat, two large jugs of oil, dozens of kilograms of refined charcoal, and most importantly, two cans of milk powder.

With these supplies, even if Li Aiguo can't get back in time, Chen Xueru can still have a prosperous New Year.

I rode my motorcycle back to the courtyard house.

As soon as he entered, the third uncle's eyes were fixed on the fat man.

"Patriotism? Where did you get this thing?"

“It was sent out in the section,” Li Aiguo replied casually.

"Why doesn't my family have Jiecheng?" The third uncle blinked his small eyes.

Just as Li Aiguo was about to explain, he heard the third uncle continue, "It's almost the end of the year, and all the units have started distributing things. Even our school got half a pound of brown sugar. Why didn't my family get anything?"

Li Aiguo also found it strange; Yan Jiecheng was now a formal employee, so there was no reason why he shouldn't receive benefits.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, Xu Damao jumped out from the wall with a wicked grin: "I heard Liu Haizhong say that the Qianmen Locomotive Depot gave its employees ten jin of refined white flour this year!"

"Then why doesn't my family have Jiecheng?" The third uncle brought up this question again, raising his voice eight octaves.

Xu Damao chimed in from the side, "Could it be that your family member Jiecheng gave the things away to someone else?"

"Others? He's not stupid, how could he?" He choked up halfway through his sentence, the rest of his voice caught in his throat. The third uncle remembered something and rushed into the house.

Moments later, the room erupted in chaos. The third uncle's raspy voice ripped out, "Yan Jiecheng! Did you give the white flour to Yu Li?"

“The New Year is just around the corner, and I’m going to get married to Yu Li next year. What’s wrong with giving my father-in-law a little something?” Yan Jiecheng wasn’t intimidated.

"You spendthrift! If you're going to give anything away, at least give cornmeal!"

"I'm a grown man, don't worry about me!"

Listening to the commotion inside, Xu Damao rubbed his hands together with delight and muttered to himself, "Isn't this making things lively?"

This guy was always stirring up trouble, so Li Aiguo didn't pay him any mind and asked, "Is Yan Jiecheng getting married?"

"That's right, you've been so busy lately, you don't know anything about what's going on in the yard..." Xu Damao was still immersed in the excitement of watching the commotion, and he rattled off the whole story.

It turns out that when Yan Jiecheng and Yu Li started dating, the Third Uncle never agreed.

With no other option, Yan Jiecheng asked Nan Yi to find Yu Li a temporary job at the supply and marketing cooperative, where she could earn fifteen yuan a month.

Now that Yu Li has income, the Third Uncle has finally reluctantly agreed.

"That kid Nan Yi knows a lot of leaders through his cooking skills, he's doing quite well." Xu Damao was a little jealous of Nan Yi.

That's true. Nan Yi is now a level 5 chef, and he has absolute authority in the cafeteria. He also has five children.

His wife made a lot of money manufacturing electric sewing machines, and their life was considered top-notch in the courtyard.

"If Sha Zhu hadn't done something stupid, Nan Yi probably wouldn't have had a chance."

When the topic of Nanyi came up, Xu Damao thought of his old rival, Shazhu, and chuckled: "In this cold weather, Shazhu will probably still be smashing rocks. Serves him right!"

"Brother Da Mao, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now." Li Aiguo didn't care about Sha Zhu at all, and casually said this before preparing to leave.

Xu Damao stopped me again: "Brother Aiguo, what do you think of me?"

What do you think? A typical scoundrel, huh?

"Don't hit someone in the face," Li Aiguo thought, taking a deep breath and saying something against his conscience: "Very good. He unites the residents and is enthusiastic about helping the workers. He's a good comrade."

"Okay, okay..." Xu Damao was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. "I just got some mountain produce a couple of days ago, I'll bring it to your house later." After saying that, he happily went back to his house.

Li Aiguo was completely baffled. This guy wasn't a three-year-old child, so why did he like hearing praise from others so much?

However, this matter has nothing to do with Li Aiguo.

I'm going on a business trip tomorrow, so I might as well use this precious time to go home and play tag with my daughter, Xiao Chen.

When Chen Xueru returned home and was about to cook, Li Aiguo recounted his business trip.

"We're going to the Northwest this time, and we don't know exactly how long it will take."

Chen Xueru's fingers tightened suddenly as she gripped the spatula, her knuckles turning slightly white.

“The New Year is almost here,” Chen Xueru forced a smile, but her eyes welled up with tears. “Brother Aiguo, go ahead. Don’t worry about home. Aunt Liu and Liang Ladi are here, and my sister-in-law and second sister-in-law come over often too. I’ll be fine.”

A large part of the reason Li Aiguo married Chen Xueru was that Chen Xueru was a traditional woman.

She is very supportive of men's work, considers the overall situation, and will not resort to emotional outbursts like crying, making a scene, or threatening suicide.

“The Duan family has taken our situation into consideration and will send someone to help us.” Li Aiguo took her slightly cool hand, noticing her fingertips trembling slightly, and told her about the Duan family’s decision.

Chen Xueru's first reaction was to shake her head: "No, really, there's no need. There are plenty of colleagues from the locomotive depot who go on business trips, and everyone expects someone to take care of them. This is just asking you to be treated specially."

Li Aiguo smiled: "Don't worry, this is the ministry's decision. Besides, Huang Shuxian was sent, so we're related by marriage, and no one else can say anything."

Chen Xueru stiffened, finally giving up and burying her face in his shoulder, saying in a muffled voice, "Then... come back soon."

The two were sitting on the sofa, chatting intimately, when a coughing sound came from outside.

"Oh dear, why is no one inside in broad daylight? Xue Ru, Xue Ru," Liu Lan called out a few times from the doorway, pretending not to see anything.

Liu Yanhe chuckled: "Sister-in-law Liu Lan, come inside quickly. Aiguo is going on a business trip and has some things to explain."

"Going on another business trip, huh? No wonder I won't bother you two anymore." Liu Lan said, placing a bag of mountain produce on the table before turning and leaving.

Li Aiguo really didn't expect Xu Damao to actually deliver the mountain products.

"Xu Damao has struck it rich?"

Chen Xueru understood the reason, stood up, closed the door, snuggled back against Li Aiguo, and whispered, "You don't know yet, do you? Xu Damao is about to make progress?"

"I heard Liu Haizhong mention it; it seems he's going to be promoted to propaganda officer." Li Aiguo realized his oversight as soon as he said it.

The final step in the promotion process is a public survey, where the factory's personnel department sends people to the compound to ask residents about their impressions of the person being promoted.

How can someone who cannot unite the masses possibly be competent for a cadre position?!

Therefore, public surveys are crucial and have a veto power over promotions.

After receiving the news, Xu Damao was worried that people would talk badly about him, so he began to win over the residents. However, he did not say so openly because such a thing would violate organizational discipline.

After figuring out the whole story, Li Aiguo didn't take it to heart. Before Xiao Hongsheng and Xiao Mingwei returned, he picked up Chen Xueru in one swift motion.

"Honey, shall we review the idiom 'a cunning rabbit has three burrows'?"

"Mmm~" Xue Ru's face turned as red as a monkey's bottom, but she didn't break free and responded softly.

Inside the room, the atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.

Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru studied together for a full hour before they finally separated.

Chen Xueru got out of bed, brought hot water, helped clean up, and picked up all the papers on the floor.

Li Aiguo was about to lie down for a while when Xu Damao's cursing came from outside: "You damn Jia Dongxu! You dare to slander me, I'll castrate you today!"

Well, here comes more gossip. Li Aiguo changed his clothes, pushed open the door, and went out.

By this time, the Intermediate Court was already surrounded by people. Xu Damao was standing at the entrance of the Jia family's house, jumping up and down and cursing. Next to him stood two people in gray Zhongshan suits, holding notebooks in their hands. They were probably investigators from the personnel department of the steel rolling mill.

"What happened?" Li Aiguo, believing that it would be foolish not to share in the gossip, went over to ask.

Yan Jiecheng pointed to the Jia family's door and said with a smile, "The factory isn't coming up anymore? That's a good thing, but Jia Dongxu messed things up for Xu Damao. Tell me, how could they do such a dirty thing?"

Yan Jiecheng's speech was incoherent, but Li Aiguo still managed to understand it.

That afternoon, the personnel department of the steel rolling mill sent people to the compound to conduct an investigation, and they first found the Third Uncle in the front yard.

The survey was very simple: it asked about Xu Damao's character and whether he had made any mistakes. In essence, it was similar to a public opinion poll in later generations.

The survey covered a wide range of topics and had no fixed answers, which provided an opportunity for manipulation.

Unless someone has pus dripping from their feet or sores on their head, everyone has done a few good deeds.

If he were truly a bad element, he would have been arrested by the police station long ago.

Only talking about the good deeds done and not mentioning the immoral things doesn't count as deceiving the organization.

The third uncle had also received benefits from Xu Damao, and since Xu Damao had indeed changed a lot after getting married, he praised the investigator highly.

Xu Damao was a kind and helpful person who often shared mountain produce with the residents of the compound and would notify them every time a movie was shown.

Xu Damao also actively performed a turtle show for the residents, making everyone happy.

Xu Damao often carried a steel pot when he fought with Jia Dongxu, which was said to be a performance. The Third Uncle was doing right by Xu Damao's meager mountain goods.

Since the decision to promote Xu Damao had already been made, the investigation was just a formality. The investigators didn't even ask what kind of turtle it was, and simply wrote "excellent performance".

After leaving the old man's house, the investigators visited other residents.

This matter concerns Xu Damao's future, so even those who have some grudges against him won't cause trouble at this time and will give Xu Damao a thumbs up.

The last household in the Intermediate People's Court was the Jia family. The investigators thought it would just be a matter of following procedures, but unexpectedly, Jia Dongxu jumped out.

"Xu Damao, that guy is no good. He often peeks at young girls taking a bath. Every time he goes to the countryside to show movies, he steals the villagers' old hens. I heard that he has also ruined quite a few young wives in the countryside."

Seeing the investigator standing there dumbfounded, Jia Dongxu frowned and urged, "Hurry up and write it down, I have a whole bunch more here!"

"Ah...yes, yes, yes..." The investigator had no choice but to write it down truthfully.

Xu Damao had been eavesdropping outside the door, and at this moment he couldn't hold back any longer, so he yelled and rushed out.

"That's how things have turned out," Yan Jiecheng added. "Jia Dongxu has gone back inside and refuses to come out."

Li Aiguo stroked his chin; this melon was getting sweeter and sweeter.

(End of this chapter)