The train driver in the courtyard

The old man's shout broke the tranquility of the courtyard.

There aren't many entertainment options these days, and the weather is cold, so everyone has already washed up and gone to rest after dinner.

Those with children should discipline them, and those without children should hurry up and have one.

Hearing the shout, everyone was puzzled.

In the past, large meetings were always notified in advance; this is the first time I've encountered an emergency meeting.

"What instructions?" Xu Damao, no longer caring about hiding, poked his head out of the house.

"Something might have happened; we need to investigate Dieter thoroughly." Nan Yi led Liang Ladi out of the house.

Hearing this, Xu Damao also became nervous. He called Liu Lan and several children and headed towards the Intermediate People's Court.

When Li Aiguo arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, a large crowd had already gathered in the courtyard, whispering among themselves about what had happened.

It was rare for the three stewards to gather together, and it was also rare for them not to sit at the square table.

Once everyone had arrived, Yi Zhonghai began by saying, "The reason we woke you all up so late is because the neighborhood committee issued an emergency notice. Liu Haizhong will explain the details to you."

Liu Haizhong was a little annoyed. He was the one who received the notification, but Yi Zhonghai spoke first.

But there was no time to worry about that now. Liu Haizhong straightened his chest and said loudly, "The weather department predicts that there may be a cold snap in the spring, and the weather will suddenly turn cold. The higher-ups have instructed us to pay attention to keeping warm, prepare winter supplies, and win this tough battle."

The residents of the compound were stunned by these words.

"We've experienced cold snaps before, it's just a couple of days of cold weather."

"Yes, we've made it through winter, let alone now that it's spring."

Yi Zhonghai felt somewhat smug upon seeing this.

Liu Haizhong's prestige was still too low to convince the residents of the compound to take it seriously.

Yi Zhonghai, however, did not intend to show up. It was only after Liu Haizhong's office failed and suffered a setback that the street office began to pay attention to this old man again.

Liu Haizhong realized this as well and clapped his hands.

After the residents quieted down, he said sternly, "This is an order from higher up. None of you take it seriously. Are you trying to defy your superiors?"

To be fair, Liu Haizhong is doing alright at his factory job, but his management skills haven't improved at all.

He forgot the saying, "For every policy from above, there's a countermeasure from below."

The residents verbally agreed, but in their hearts they didn't really believe it.

Jia Dongxu, standing nearby, said sarcastically, "Don't worry, Second Uncle, our family will definitely respond to the call from higher authorities. Tomorrow we'll go outside the city to buy seven or eight thousand catties of coal, then start the kang (heated brick bed), and we'll also make some cotton clothes for our wife and children."

"But Uncle, you'll have to reimburse my family for this money, these coal coupons, and these cloth coupons."

Jia Dongxu's words immediately drew a burst of laughter.

Preparing winter supplies is both time-consuming and expensive; it's a real hardship for the residents.

"Jia Dongxu, you..." Liu Haizhong's face flushed red as he pointed at Jia Dongxu with his finger.

Yi Zhonghai stepped forward, glared at Jia Dongxu, and said, "Dongxu, Second Uncle is the one in charge, and he's relaying instructions from above. What are you doing? Quickly apologize to Second Uncle."

Jia Dongxu's eyes darted around, and he bowed to Liu Haizhong: "Second Uncle, I'm sorry, my thinking is outdated. You must educate me properly in the future, criticize me, and preferably criticize me until I am completely humiliated and my soul is touched."

By the way, just criticize verbally, please don't bring your belt, I'm scared.

These sarcastic remarks almost made Liu Haizhong faint.

He also realized that Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu were working together to make things difficult for him.

There was no other way. Liu Haizhong subconsciously looked into the crowd and found Li Aiguo.

"Patriot, you're the patrol captain, say a few words."

Li Aiguo didn't refuse and walked directly into the crowd: "Uncle Er has already conveyed the instructions from the higher-ups, so I won't repeat them. Tomorrow I plan to buy coal at a coal mine in the suburbs. If we buy it together, the losses will be smaller. If any family needs it, we can pool our money."

Upon hearing this, several residents immediately raised their hands.

Zhang Gangzhu, the Zhang family in the backyard, and the Wang family all said they would go together tomorrow.

“I plan to hire a construction team from the section to repair the house, put on new window paper, and repair the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) that has been used all winter.”

"And fire rings too. The scrap yard collected a large batch of broken enamel basins. Anyone who wants them can sign up with me, and I'll talk to Wang Daikui about the price."

“Count me in, Patriot Brother.” Zhang Gangzhu was the first to raise his hand.

The third uncle also raised his hand: "Patriotism, my family needs to repair our house."

Yan Jiecheng is getting married this year, and his old house needs renovation, so this is a good opportunity.

With Li Aiguo's connections, we might be able to get a cheaper price.

Subsequently, several other residents also signed up, and the atmosphere quickly became lively.

The situation on the scene instantly reversed. The residents of those compounds, who had previously paid no attention to the late spring cold snap, now couldn't help but take it seriously and eagerly signed up to participate.

Seeing this, Xu Damao stroked his chin and realized something was amiss: "Something's not right here. After Second Uncle finished speaking, everyone was still unconcerned about the late spring cold snap. How come everyone became so enthusiastic after Li Aiguo just said a few words?"

Liu Lan glanced at him sideways: "You, haven't you realized yet? Second Uncle is all talk and no action, while Patriot Brother is the one who gets things done. He sets an example by taking the lead himself. How could the masses not support him or not take him seriously?"

"I think it has something to do with the prestige of Patriot Brother. If it were someone else, it definitely wouldn't have the same effect." Although Xu Damao didn't get a permanent position, he already considered himself a leader.

Seeing him standing there pondering, Liu Lan stamped her foot and said, "You'd better hurry up and sign up, or you'll have to carry coal from the coal mine yourself tomorrow."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Xu Damao realized and pushed his way into the crowd, raising his hand: "Brother Aiguo, and me too, my family needs another stove."

Almost everyone in the compound signed up. There were so many people that Li Aiguo called Chen Xueru to take charge of the registration.

Each family's situation is different, and the supplies they need are also different.

Li Aiguo was only responsible for purchasing the most basic supplies; items like the stove that Xu Damao's family needed were excluded.

Qin Huairu, who was heavily pregnant, had been standing at a distance listening. Seeing this, she couldn't help but walk over and tug at Jia Dongxu's arm.

"Dongxu, I think Li Aiguo is quite concerned. This late spring cold snap might be quite serious. How about we buy some coal or something?"

“Li Aiguo is my father, what he says goes?” Jia Dongxu snorted and waved his hand: “I won’t do it. I don’t believe it can snow in spring.”

Unbeknownst to him, Yi Zhonghai quietly called over an older woman and asked her to order several hundred kilograms of coal, as well as an extra small earthen stove.

The small earthen stove was a gadget that Li Aiguo had just come up with. It had wheels at the bottom, so it could be placed in the room to keep warm during the day and pushed into the stove channel of the kang (a heated brick bed) at night.

It's very convenient and saves a lot of coal.

"Add another 600 jin of coal, the deaf old lady needs some too, and buy another small earthen stove."

An older woman exclaimed in surprise, "Old Yi, didn't you just tell some residents that the late spring cold snap wasn't anything to worry about, and even had Jia Dongxu spread the word?"

"What do you know? If I hadn't said that, Liu Haizhong would have succeeded just now."

Yi Zhonghai puffed out his chest, looking completely at ease.

"Do you really think I'm stupid? Something that gets the neighborhood committee and higher-ups to take seriously can't be a small matter."

An older woman: "."

Yi Zhonghai is definitely not stupid to have become an old man; he's just plain bad.

It's clear from the original story that if he truly cared about Sha Zhu, he wouldn't have introduced Zhu Bajie's second aunt to Sha Zhu.

Liu Cheng's daughter, Liu Yuhua, was indeed strong and capable of carrying loads just like a man.

However, being strong and able to carry heavy loads is the standard for earning work points in rural areas, while the standards in cities are really different, with a great emphasis on appearance.

Sha Zhu is also particularly fond of comparing himself to others.

After several failed attempts to introduce him to potential partners, no matchmakers continued to try to find him a partner, leaving him to remain single and have someone to support him in his old age.

Yi Zhonghai is a master at pretending to be ignorant when he knows the truth and treating others like fools.

A large meeting turned into a supplies preparation meeting. After returning home that evening, Li Aiguo transcribed the list, planning to make the purchases the next day.

Chen Xueru took out a few pieces of black cloth from inside the house: "Aiguo, we have some cotton at home, why don't we take advantage of this time to make cotton-padded clothes for the two children?"

“Okay.” Li Aiguo agreed. If there is a disaster this year, the cotton production will definitely decrease, and it may be impossible to buy cotton by the end of the year. It’s better to do it earlier.

When it came to making clothes, Chen Xueru perked up and started counting on her fingers: "Hongsheng's cotton boots are worn out, and Xiaoming is growing fast, his toes are sticking to the shoe uppers. Aunt Liu just brought over a big piece of lining recently, so why don't we make two more pairs of shoes?"

"Okay, okay." Li Aiguo really didn't take this matter to heart.

Like most women, Chen Xueru particularly enjoys doing this kind of work.

This has nothing to do with family status; it's simply about feeling a great sense of accomplishment when you see your family members wearing clothes and shoes that you made.

Chen Xueru didn't even bother to sleep and started working that very night.

Making shoes is a lot of trouble. First, you need to use a hemp hammer to tie strands of hemp into thin hemp ropes.

Then, cut the shoe upper and sole shapes from the lining material according to the shoe patterns for adults and children. After edging the soles with cloth, sew them together with hemp rope.
Chen Xueru leaned against the headboard and, under the dim light, busied herself with sewing.

Li Aiguo got sleepy while reading and went to sleep first.

The next day was the weekend. After having breakfast, Li Aiguo first went to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop to meet Zhang Wendian.

Zhang Wendian contacted Beijing Petrochemical, where antifreeze production had already begun, and the first batch was expected to be produced in three days.

Li Aiguo was relieved and, through his connection with the weather station, made a call to the logistics department in the border region.

The comrades over there also received a cold wave warning and were worried about how to ensure the transportation of supplies. After learning about the magic of antifreeze, they immediately ordered a large quantity.

"The first batch of antifreeze will be delivered in three days. There are two types of antifreeze: gasoline and diesel. Don't get them mixed up," Li Aiguo reminded him over the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Li Aiguo still felt that there were some things he hadn't done.

It wasn't until I got to the battlefield and saw the steam train that I remembered.

In those days, there were no railways in the border areas, so transporting antifreeze by truck was too slow; it was best to use a transport plane directly.

Li Aiguo returned to the telephone room and contacted the border region again.

Upon learning the news, the old regimental commander attached great importance to it and specially dispatched two transport planes to carry out the transport mission.

After doing all this, Li Aiguo went to the driving school to borrow a truck.

The reason for choosing a driving school instead of a trucking fleet is that driving schools are small groups and do not require going through formal procedures.

When Lan Xiang learned that Li Aiguo wanted to borrow the car, he readily agreed and even asked if he needed a driver.

“I can do it myself, it’s just transporting some coal.” Li Aiguo took out some money from his pocket to pay for the truck fare, but Lan Xiang refused.

Li Aiguo didn't insist; he figured he'd find a way to repay the favor later.

When Li Aiguo drove the Jiefang truck back to the courtyard, Yan Jiecheng, Xu Damao, Zhang Gangzhu, Nan Yi, and seven or eight other residents were already waiting for him.

"Having a big truck is so convenient."

"Yes, in the past we used to ride donkeys backwards, and it would be exhausting to get here from the suburbs."

The coal yard does not handle the transportation; transportation will incur additional charges.

The residents changed into their tattered clothes, climbed into the car, and Li Aiguo started the vehicle and left the courtyard.

"Tch, look at how smug they are. What a waste of their time. Look at the bright sunshine, how could it possibly snow?" Jia Dongxu said angrily as he stood at the door and saw the commotion in the front yard.

"Dongxu, have you forgotten about the dried sweet potatoes?" Qin Huairu was taking apart and washing her cotton-padded coat.

She was worried about the snow and originally planned to take it apart and wash it later, but Jia Dongxu scolded her for being lazy.

"That's just bad luck. Who knows when it will rain? But it's different when it snows. Look, even the vegetables that this old lady planted have sprouted."

Jia Dongxu felt that his authority as the head of the family was being questioned, so he went inside and brought out the quilts and mattresses.

"I've taken everything apart and washed it. I refuse to believe it's really going to snow today!"

Qin Huairu fell silent.

Residents in all neighborhoods of Beijing were notified. Li Aiguo drove his truck to the coal yard, where a long queue had already formed.

Selling coal, issuing invoices, and loading coal took most of the day before I finally drove the truck back to the courtyard house.

After the coal was unloaded in the yard, Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru helped Chen Fangxuan's family transport another batch of coal, and also delivered three small earthen stoves, one for each family.

The small earthen stove is simple to manufacture, and the workshop made several hundred in one morning, which were very popular with the employees.

When the older sister-in-law saw the truck, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. Standing at the door, she exclaimed, "Oh my, Patriot! You brought such a big truck just to deliver some coal. This is such a waste!"

Seeing the neighbors peek out from their yards, her face lit up with joy. Knowing his sister-in-law's tendency to show off, her older brother quickly pulled her inside.

"Quickly pour some hot water for Aiguo and Xiaomei."

"Dad, don't rush. Aiguo is planning to deliver some coal to a few teachers' homes later."

Li Aiguo explained the use of the small stove to Chen Fangxuan and his elder brother, then hurriedly got into the truck and prepared to leave with Chen Xueru.

"Aiguo, wait a minute, here's some cotton, take it back." Chen Fangxuan grabbed a large bag of cotton and threw it onto the truck.

This father-in-law is really generous; Li Aiguo didn't refuse.

I visited the homes of Liu Guozhang, Cao Wenzhi, and Li Aiguo, as well as Zhou Tiehu and Section Chief Xing. I didn't miss a single one.

Humans are not isolated individuals in this world, but are closely connected with others through various relationships.

Maintaining this relationship relies on frequent contact.

Although the coal and the small stove were not valuable and the people didn't lack them, they seemed particularly happy.

The last house was a farmer's house.

The farmer happened to be home and saw Li Aiguo helping the orderly carry coal, so he called him into the study.

"I just received a call saying that the few ocean-going freighters hired by Hextech should be able to dock in a few days."

Hearing this, Li Aiguo felt relieved.

These days, ocean-going freighters are in high demand, so it seems that Yang Jizong put a lot of thought into loading them onto the ship so quickly.

However, it's not a sustainable practice to always rely on hiring other people's transport ships.

Ocean freight is cheaper and cannot be replaced by road or rail transport.

The gold mines in Africa are now producing gold, and the next step is to mine copper, iron, and other minerals, which will require sea transport.

Hextech's goods shipped from the mainland are also transported to all parts of the world via the port city's docks, requiring sea freight.

These shipping operations alone are enough to support a large shipping company.

Perhaps it's time to prepare for the establishment of our own ocean-going shipping fleet.

Li Aiguo kept this matter in mind.

Back home, Chen Xueru opened the bundle Chen Fangxuan had given her, which contained dozens of kilograms of cotton. She suggested making a pair of cotton boots for Li Aiguo as well.

What could Li Aiguo say? He naturally agreed and gave Chen Xueru a quick kiss on the cheek.

In the following days, the neighborhood committee began to go door-to-door to spread the word, and the entire city of Beijing was mobilized to stockpile supplies.

The same thing happens all over the country, including Nanma Commune, which is located in a mountainous area.

The mountain roads here are winding and the area is one of the poorest places in the country.

Upon receiving the notification from the county's communications officer, Party Secretary Chen immediately convened a meeting of the village committee to discuss countermeasures.

"Is this reliable?" a commune leader wondered.

“How can it be unreliable? These past two years, farming has relied entirely on the weather forecast, and it’s been incredibly accurate.” Another leader glared.

"But there's nothing we can do. The crops in the field have already sprouted, and we can't just cover them with blankets."

"Let's not worry about the crops for now. The most important thing is the houses. There was no snow this winter, but we heard there will be heavy snow this time. I estimate that many houses will collapse under the weight."

"There's nothing we can do about it. We're dirt poor, where would we get the money to repair our house?"

Upon hearing this, the leaders in the commune all hung their heads and remained silent.

Nanma Commune was too poor.

Last year, the higher authorities drilled wells for everyone, and we were able to barely have enough to eat by irrigating the land. There was simply no extra money to repair the houses.

After a moment of silence, Secretary Chen stood up and said, "Let's leave the other houses aside. Tell everyone to be on guard. If it really snows heavily, take shelter in the commune."

We've received a notice that the school classrooms must be kept in close contact with the authorities.

"Our school buildings are in terrible condition, and the kids are so young; we need to fix them first."

Secretary Chen's proposal was unanimously approved by the commune leadership.

The commune called upon the production team to deliver a small amount of materials to Nanma Primary School, where they replaced the main beams of the old house and relaid the tiles.

What happened in Nanma Commune also happened across the country.

Li Aiguo was unaware of all this. At that moment, he and Lao Mao were directing the railway soldiers to load iron barrels containing antifreeze onto the transport plane.

The amount of antifreeze needed is small; this batch is enough for the border region.

"Team Leader Cat, we'll have to trouble you to make a trip to the frontier again this time."

After all the iron barrels were loaded onto the transport plane, Lao Mao, along with several colleagues from the weather station, was responsible for escorting them.

"Look at what you're saying! We're all doing this for the cause!" Old Cat saluted Li Aiguo, then turned and boarded the transport plane.

The transport plane roared along the runway, quickly ascended into the air, and disappeared into the distance.

The transport plane arrived at the border early the next morning, and the iron drums were unloaded and quickly distributed to various transport teams.

The iron drums were labeled with the words "suitable for gasoline" and "suitable for diesel," making it easy for the soldiers in the transport squad to distinguish between the two antifreeze agents.

After the antifreeze was added, the soldiers tried to start the fire, and it ignited immediately.

And this situation occurs on the vast majority of trucks.

It's important to know that the temperature in the border region is still quite low at this time, and the air is thin.

Trucks often require four or five attempts to start, and sometimes a crank is needed.

"This thing can also increase startup efficiency, it's a great product!" the soldiers exclaimed excitedly.

Li Aiguo was stunned when he learned of the soldiers' feedback from Lao Mao.

Logically speaking, antifreeze should not have this effect.

Once they got to the lab, they talked to Zhang Qingdian for a while and then they understood what was going on.

In those days, gasoline and diesel fuel didn't have octane ratings, so their purity was insufficient.

Antifreeze can increase the fluidity of gasoline and diesel fuel, thereby increasing the surface area of ​​both fuel in contact with air and enabling rapid starting.

"This was a lucky accident."

Li Aiguo chuckled twice and was about to return to his studio when he suddenly stopped.

"These days, the purity of fuel in other countries is also insufficient."

"Everyone needs to add this stuff, right?"

Zhang Qingdian asked in confusion, "But antifreeze only works at low temperatures. At normal temperatures, this quick-start effect disappears."

"No, it's not starting up, it's carbon buildup."

Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to Zhang Qingdian, and lit one for himself: "Old Zhang, when the engine is running, the fuel injector temperature is around 100℃, and the intake valve temperature is between 200-300℃."

At such temperatures, unstable components in fuel are highly susceptible to oxidative condensation reactions, leading to carbon deposits.

"Deposits accumulated on the intake valve will reduce the cross-sectional area of ​​the intake passage, reduce intake efficiency, and decrease power."

"The traditional solution is to disassemble the engine and clean it, which is not only time-consuming, but can also cause malfunctions due to the precision of the assembly."

"If we developed a combustion-enhancing additive, wouldn't it sell like hotcakes?!"

Upon hearing these words, Zhang Qingdian was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth.

He knew all this chemistry, so why didn't he think of making fuel additives?

He finally understood why this train driver had been able to accomplish so much in just a few years.

"In principle, there is no problem. It's just that the formula of this fuel additive is quite complicated. In order to achieve the goal of improving combustion, a lot of experiments are needed."

“No rush, we have time now. Old Zhang, I’m leaving this to you. I have faith in you.” Li Aiguo patted Zhang Qingdian on the shoulder.

Zhang Qingdian fell silent.

He always felt like he was being treated like a donkey pulling a millstone.

However, he seemed to enjoy the feeling.

Compared to the abandoned chemical laboratory in Nantongluo Lane where I used to work alone, the weather station now provides a full set of equipment, and I can use whatever I need from the studio's laboratory.

The young men at the weather station have very pleasant voices.

“Let’s do it! Patriotism! You tell us how to do it, and we’ll do it!” Zhang Qingdian nodded emphatically.

There was one more thing Li Aiguo hadn't told Zhang Wendian.

A certain type of fuel additive can also be added to aviation kerosene to increase the thrust of fighter jets.

The recipe can be obtained in the system for only 100 points, but you need to acquire some prerequisite skills before you can purchase it.

Zhang Qingdian was a pragmatist, and that very afternoon he and several technicians from the weather station got to work.

Li Aiguo returned to the workshop and continued assembling four-cylinder motorcycles.

By the weekend, twelve motorcycles had been assembled, and some team members had begun training.

Li Aiguo circled the driving school's training ground a few times, and seeing that nothing was amiss, he strolled back to his courtyard house.

As soon as I entered the compound, I heard Jia Dongxu shouting loudly in the middle courtyard.

"It's been several days already, and it was supposed to snow!"

"Forget about snow, it's so hot I'm already wearing short sleeves."

"You guys have been deceived."

Upon entering the courtyard, one sees Jia Dongxu standing on the pool, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and looking particularly energetic.

Xu Damao leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Aiguo, the Jia family has been acting up these past few days. They've washed all the quilts and thick clothes in the house. Look, they've even covered the outside with ropes."

Li Aiguo looked up.

Good heavens, the Jia family has two ropes hanging at their door, and the Nan Yi family's rope has also been taken up.

The onlookers were all secretly laughing; everyone knew that Jia Dongxu was doing this to go against Li Aiguo.

Yi Zhonghai felt a headache coming on when he saw Jia Dongxu's actions.

Preventing a late spring cold snap is an instruction from higher authorities. What does it have to do with Li Aiguo?

If Jia Dongxu does this, the residents might mistakenly think that he is acting on their orders.

"Dongxu, hurry back and put on some clothes, don't catch a cold." Yi Zhonghai walked up to him, pretending to be serious.

"Master, I have no clothes left."

"What about the clothes?"

"I washed everything, even the socks." Jia Dongxu's eyes revealed a clear sense of foolishness.

Yi Zhonghai fell silent.
He felt that Jia Dongxu was becoming more and more of a liability.

Letting Jia Dongxu cause trouble here would only embarrass Yi Zhonghai, so Yi Zhonghai gave Qin Huairu a wink.

"Dongxu, hurry home."

Jia Dongxu broke free from Qin Huairu's grasp: "It's cool here."

The voice just fell.

He sensed that something was wrong.

A snowflake landed on his arm and quickly melted into water, making him wonder if he was seeing things.

When I looked up, I saw snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

Suddenly, Banggeng pointed to the sky and shouted excitedly, "Dad, it's snowing! It's snowing!"

(End of this chapter)