The train driver in the courtyard

This once-in-a-century cold snap finally ended after lasting for a full twenty days.

Because of thorough preparations made in advance, the losses were much smaller than originally planned.

The collapsed houses need to be rebuilt, and a large number of crops were damaged by the frost, which will definitely lead to reduced yields. There's nothing we can do about it.

Li Aiguo has also been busy lately, using this time to develop a large batch of fuel additives.

The fuel additive was packed into oil drums, loaded onto the train, and embarked on its journey south.

Recently, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot has begun repairing houses, utility poles, and railway signaling facilities that collapsed during the late spring cold snap.

The locomotive depot staff are divided into different teams according to their work shifts, and they use their spare time to do voluntary labor.

After cleaning up the railway, they also had to help with the local cleanup and rebuild houses, keeping them extremely busy.

Li Aiguo had no other tasks. Every day, he worked with the 131st crew to clean up the collapsed houses, and when he got home at night, he could enjoy a warm bed with his wife and children.

Port City, Hextech factory.

In the past two years, with the increase in the number of products from the mainland, Hextech has recruited thousands of people from the mainland and thousands more from Hong Kong Island. The factory now has about 10,000 employees, making it the largest company in Hong Kong Island.

Near the factory is the Yang family's wharf, which is now used specifically for transshipping goods to the inland areas.

The police officers responsible for patrolling the area were all dismissed, and they turned a blind eye to the endless stream of cargo ships.

Inside the chemical workshop, thousands of oil drums were placed on shelves, and workers carefully unscrewed the caps.

Soon, a pale yellow liquid flowed out, and the prepared workers poured the liquid into the plastic bottle.

The bottle is labeled in both Chinese and English: "Fuel Additive".

The bottle has a unique design; the opening is a small pointed tip that extends out to fit directly into the fuel tank.

"They're planning to sell each bottle of this for five dollars. Are those foreigners willing to buy it?" Yang Jizong looked at the bottles and then at the instruction manual.

The instruction manual contains information and a price provided by Li Aiguo.

This price is the suggested retail price, which includes materials, manufacturing, transportation, taxes, and profit.

Yang Jizong carefully read the instruction manual, then looked somewhat bewildered. Five dollars was a considerable sum even in developed countries.

Ultimately, Yang Jizong decided to accept Li Aiguo's suggestion and had the workers put price tags on the bottles.

This is also standard practice for Hextech, to prevent some regional distributors from arbitrarily raising prices and damaging Hextech's reputation.

"After packing, send it directly to customs and ship it out immediately." Yang Jizong instructed the factory manager before returning to his office at Hextech headquarters.

Now that the product is ready, it's time to start building momentum.

Needless to say, in the port city, Hextech has already controlled several newspapers and can place advertisements there.

Because of the recent acquisition of Disney, Red Star Entertainment has established connections with many newspapers and radio stations.

Lou Xiao'e is also an advertising fanatic, making it even easier for her to run advertisements.

Five days later, in the suburbs of New York, a long line formed in front of a 4S store.

Unlike in the past, this time all the visitors were existing car owners. They weren't there to buy a car, but rather to see what this so-called fuel additive was all about.

"It's just a bottle this big, less than 200 milliliters, right?"

"I heard it costs five dollars a bottle."

"Isn't this robbery?"

"Then why did you come?"

"It's all because of that slogan, 'Three minutes to purify the fuel system, giving a ten-year-old car a new lease on life.'"

Lately, newspapers and television have been flooded with advertisements for fuel additives.

[Save 30% on fuel per 100 kilometers, your wallet will be smiling]

[Accelerates with ferocity, throttle response is 0.5 seconds faster]

[Idle vibrations gone, power restored to peak condition]

Fuel additives can extend your car's life by twenty years.

The New York Times published photos of a comparison experiment of fuel additives on its front page.

The radio station played a brainwashing advertising jingle with the sound of a simulated engine roaring on a loop.

These days, a car is considered a big-ticket item in Xiaomei's family. Not everyone can afford it. It's like a car that's been passed down for three generations, so naturally, it has to be taken good care of.

Leaving aside older cars, even those who just bought their cars joined in the fun.

A car can have its parts replaced if it breaks down, but if the engine has a problem, that's a real problem.

This could be considered the earliest form of car ownership anxiety.

Fuel additives are also backed by Hextech, a cutting-edge technology from the East.

In particular, after store staff demonstrated in public how a car manufactured during World War I could be revitalized with just one bottle of fuel additive, fuel additive sales skyrocketed.

There's nothing we can do; there's plenty of oil in the world, but there's only one kind of fuel additive.

The fuel additive sold out on its first day of arrival in North America.

Customers who missed out placed orders, resulting in a waiting period of at least five months. But customers were willing to wait; after all, their reputation was there.

When Yang Jizong received the data from North America, he was initially stunned.

He knew the fuel additive would sell, but he didn't expect it to be so popular.

Then Yang Jizong was overjoyed.

Although the fuel additive costs only five dollars and the net profit is only four and a half dollars, it is a consumable product, which is a golden goose.

Yang Jizong immediately made a phone call, instructing the mainland to speed up production.

After learning that the fuel additive was selling well, the foreign trade department contacted the Beijing Chemical Plant and asked it to ramp up production.

When the factory manager received the call, he patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, I guarantee I'll complete the task."

After hanging up the phone, the factory manager looked at Professor Zhu and said, "Old Zhu, you've hit the jackpot again this time."

"Sir, this is all thanks to your foresight," Professor Zhu said with a smile.

Of course, the ministry did not treat the chemical plant unfairly. All employees received an extra three yuan subsidy that month, and trucks loaded with supplies arrived at the Beijing chemical plant.

The Beijing chemical plant has become busy.

Li Aiguo has been living a comfortable life lately. During the day, he helps clean up the collapsed houses, and when he has free time, he starts tinkering with bulldozers and excavators.

Without these two pieces of equipment, cleaning would be incredibly troublesome. It would take more than twenty people a whole day to clean up a dilapidated thatched hut. Can you imagine?

However, loaders and excavators are different from previous equipment. They not only need to be high-performing, but also inexpensive, sturdy and durable. The design and manufacturing difficulty is comparable to that of large off-road vehicles.

The untrained automotive experts and their technicians would find it difficult to undertake such a significant task, so Li Aiguo thought of Zong Xianfeng, with whom he had previously collaborated.

Zong Xianfeng studied electrical engineering and graduated from Qinghua University this year. He was assigned to work at the First Ministry of Machine Building.

"Perhaps we should ask Zong Xianfeng to recommend a few technicians who understand electrical engineering."

The next day was Wednesday.

Li Aiguo got up early in the morning, ate breakfast, and was about to leave with his motorcycle.

As soon as I arrived at the Intermediate People's Court, I saw Qin Huairu setting up a coal stove at the entrance to brew herbal medicine.

Jia Dongxu couldn't withstand the sudden cold snap and developed a fever the very night he bought the grain.

After receiving the news, Yi Zhonghai and Uncle San took Jia Dongxu to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

These days, pneumonia is a very difficult disease to treat. Jia Dongxu stayed in the hospital for more than a week. His condition seemed to be improving, but after returning home, he found that he had been left with sequelae.

He can't do heavy work and coughs all the time.

Some people said that Jia Dongxu didn't have pneumonia, but tuberculosis. When the residents in the compound heard this, they all avoided the Jia family.

Xu Damao, however, felt that Jia Dongxu was faking illness and muttered about it several times in front of everyone, but Liu Lan stopped him.

After all, Jia Dongxu is currently a patient, and Xu Damao's actions would provoke public outrage.

Under these circumstances, Jia Dongxu became increasingly ill.

Qin Huairu also saw Li Aiguo, hurriedly looked away, squatted down again, and stared intently at the medicine pot.

"Huai Ru, isn't the medicine ready yet?" Jia Dongxu's impatient voice came from inside the house.

Qin Huairu hurriedly turned off the fire, wrapped the medicine pot in a cloth and poured the medicine into the porcelain bowl. The scalding medicine splashed onto the back of her hand, but she didn't care about the pain and ran into the house with the bowl.

Jia Dongxu had been waiting impatiently and reached out to take it, but he lost his grip on the rim and the bowl crashed to the ground with a loud bang, shattering into several pieces.

"Are you trying to scald me to death, and then go find Li Aiguo to be his mistress?" Jia Dongxu slammed his hand on the edge of the bed, spitting all over Qin Huairu's face.

I, Qin Huairu, was so aggrieved that tears streamed down my face.

In fact, Jia Dongxu's condition was not that serious at all. He has started going back to work these past two days. He just wanted to take the opportunity to borrow some money, so he continued to pretend to be sick.

Jia Dongxu now truly considers himself a patient, expecting everything to be done for him, and frequently beating and scolding Qin Huairu.

Qin Huairu had no choice but to wipe away her tears and pick up a broom to clean up the broken bowl.

After doing all that, Qin Huairu brought hot water to help Jia Dongxu wash his face before starting to prepare breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of cornmeal porridge and pickled vegetable strips.

The thin cornmeal porridge was so light you could see your reflection in it. The pickled vegetable strips in the dish were pickled last month, and the edges had sprouted some white mold.

Jia Dongxu glanced at it, then slammed his chopsticks on the table: "I'm a patient! I need nutrition! You think you can fool me with this?"

"We're really out of money." Qin Huairu's voice was so low it was barely a whisper, her head drooping even lower. "Hospital fees, nutritional supplements—all the money we'd saved up is gone. I've already borrowed from Uncle San and Nan Yi..."

Ever since Yi Zhonghai learned that Jia Dongxu had tuberculosis, he immediately became distant and hasn't visited him for two weeks.

After Jia Dongxu returned to the courtyard house, Qin Huairu still managed to borrow a few yuan from Nan Yi and Uncle San.

"Where's Yi Zhonghai? Didn't I tell you to go borrow from him?"

“An old man said…that his family was also struggling financially. I ran into him at the alley entrance the other day. Just as I was about to speak, he hid inside the supply and marketing cooperative and didn’t come out until I left.”

"He doesn't have money, can't he help me with a fundraising campaign? I'm really sick this time."

"As I mentioned before, Yi Zhonghai feels that everyone is having a hard time. Now the higher authorities are advocating self-reliance, and we can't always rely on others."

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu was absolutely furious.

"I see now, Yi Zhonghai wants to watch me die of illness!"

Qin Huairu still wanted to defend Yi Zhonghai: "The old man used to be very good to us, perhaps he really has some difficulties..."

Jia Dongxu snorted: "You don't know anything. That old bastard Yi Zhonghai just wanted me to take care of him in his old age. Now that he sees that my health is failing and he can't count on me anymore, he's started to distance himself from me."

"That doesn't mean I want you dead." Qin Huairu looked bewildered.

"You do not understand"

Jia Dongxu knew that he knew about Yi Zhonghai's framing of him, and Yi Zhonghai also knew that Jia Dongxu knew about Yi Zhonghai's framing of Jia Dongxu.

If Jia Dongxu disappears, Yi Zhonghai will be able to rest easy.

However, it was inconvenient to tell Qin Huairu about this. After finishing breakfast, Jia Dongxu, carrying his canvas bag, swayed as he arrived at the steel rolling mill.

Once inside the workshop, he still looked sickly, sitting at his workstation chatting idly with a group of elderly women next to him.

The workshop leaders all knew that Jia Dongxu was sick, but they didn't hold it against him.

The workers in the work group were dissatisfied.

Now that one less person is working, their work group's output will be surpassed by other work groups.

The steel rolling mill has now taken over the production of motorcycle parts from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and is now experiencing a surge in production, with everyone vying to produce the Little Red Flag motorcycles.

If the output is low, the workers in other work groups will laugh at us.

"Team leader, since Jia Dongxu can't do the work, why not transfer him to the warehouse?" a worker approached the team leader.

The team leader was in a bit of a dilemma.

The work in the warehouse was indeed easy, but we didn't receive any production subsidies. The railway company, on the other hand, was well-off and provided several yuan in subsidies every month.

Jia Dongxu is Yi Zhonghai's apprentice, so he has to give Yi Zhonghai some face.

The foreman spoke with Yi Zhonghai: "Old Yi, you know what's going on in our factory right now. Jia Dongxu is getting more and more outrageous. He's practically sitting in the toilet without doing his business."

"Don't worry, boss, I'll remind him."

In the past, Yi Zhonghai would definitely have protected Jia Dongxu, but now that Jia Dongxu has become a cripple, Yi Zhonghai no longer has that intention.

He arrived at Jia Dongxu's workstation and reprimanded him sternly, "Dongxu, if you're really sick, go home and rest. If you're not sick, then work hard. It's a rule for us workers not to leave the front line with minor injuries, so don't let people talk behind your back."

Jia Dongxu did not expect that Yi Zhonghai would not protect him at all.

He verbally agreed, but a fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he looked at Yi Zhonghai, who was busy beside the rolling mill.

Li Aiguo was unaware of Jia Dongxu's thoughts. At this moment, he had already arrived at the Ministry of Machine Building and found Zong Xianfeng, who was at work.

Zong Xianfeng looked up from the pile of documents and saw Li Aiguo. He exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Aiguo, what brings you here?"

"I heard you're a cadre now, so I have to come and congratulate you."

"Don't mention it." Zong Xianfeng helped Li Aiguo to a chair, poured him a cup of tea, and poured one for himself as well.

He took a couple of small sips, sighed, and said, "To be honest, I don't want to do this job for even a day longer."

"What's wrong? Are you unhappy here?" Li Aiguo asked, puzzled.

Zong Xianfeng, being an outstanding graduate of Qinghua University, received priority in job assignment. Upon entering the ministry, he was immediately rated as a Level 3 clerk (administrative level 21), earning 62 yuan a month, a salary many people dream of.

"Ahem, let's not talk about that. Brother Aiguo, you're a very busy person. You didn't come here today just to see me, did you?" Zong Xianfeng seemed to have something difficult to say and changed the subject.

Li Aiguo explained his idea of ​​needing electrical engineers.

“There aren’t many people who understand electrification and have research experience in automation.” Zong Xianfeng tilted his head and thought for a moment.

He suddenly looked up at Li Aiguo: "Brother Aiguo, what do you think of me?"

Hearing this, Li Aiguo was somewhat surprised.

It should be noted that Zong Xianfeng is currently a cadre, and although this was the most glorious era for workers, there was still a significant difference in treatment between cadres, technicians, and workers.

Just then, someone knocked on the office door and delivered some documents. Li Aiguo was too embarrassed to ask any more questions, so he simply told Zong Xianfeng to come to his house for dinner that evening.

"Take Dasha with you too, the two kids miss her."

Dasha is the daughter of Anna Besonova, a first-class designer at the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau, and a student who returned from the Zapori Tropical Region when Li Aiguo was on a business trip a couple of years ago.

After Dasha arrived in the capital, she often went to Li Ai's house with Zong Xianfeng. Xiao Hongsheng and Xiao Mingwei also liked this particularly fair-skinned aunt very much.

Zong Xianfeng and Dasha had been dating for a while. He had readily agreed, but now he hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Li Aiguo went to the vegetable market and bought some vegetables.

Now that the cold snap has passed and temperatures have returned to normal, spring vegetables are available on the market.

Celery, bamboo shoots. Li Aiguo also saw fresh and tender toon leaves for sale at the stall.

This stuff tastes great when stir-fried with eggs, and it's not expensive either, only five cents a pound, so I bought two pounds.

I bought another fish, and with all these vegetables, I had enough, so I rode my motorcycle home.

Chen Xueru was particularly happy to learn that Zong Xianfeng and Dasha were coming to visit.

She also thought highly of the cross-cultural couple. While cooking, she asked, "Brother Aiguo, after they get married, they'll probably have a baby, right?"

"That's not necessarily true; it's random." Li Aiguo flipped through the book.

There's another interesting point about this: different perspectives lead to different conclusions.

In our eyes, these mixed-race children look very much like white people, perhaps because we are too sensitive to white features. As soon as they appear, our brains automatically label them.

But in the eyes of white people, they might think these children have a bit of an Asian look. Gene mixing is something that happens in a fixed way, and no one can predict it.

Ultimately, appearance is determined by random genes, but how you look at it depends entirely on your eyes.

As evening fell, Zong Xianfeng brought Dasha to the Li family's house. Food was laid out on the table, and the house became lively.

"Dasha, you're graduating this year, right? Are you planning to stay here or go back to your country?"

Dasha's fingers, gripping the chopsticks, turned white. She glanced at Zong Xianfeng furtively and whispered, "Sister-in-law, I haven't decided on this yet."

"Come on, have a drink. It's still a bit chilly today." Chen Xueru also sensed that the atmosphere was off, so she stood up and poured herself a glass of wine.

After finishing their meal, Chen Xueru led Dasha into the kitchen to get busy.

Li Aiguo led Zong Xianfeng into the study and offered him a cigarette.

"Your unhappiness at your job in the ministry is related to Dasha?"

Zong Xianfeng took the cigarette and was about to light it when he heard this, and his fingers trembled slightly.

He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and nodded: "After the boss found out I had a foreign girlfriend, a lot of things changed."

Because it involved some matters within ministries, Zong Xianfeng, being somewhat politically sensitive, did not speak directly, but Li Aiguo understood.

Zong Xianfeng was originally recruited as an outstanding graduate, with the intention of taking on more responsibilities and having a bright future ahead of him.

As a result, having a foreign girlfriend caused some concerns among the leaders.

He was no longer invited to important meetings, and his work was handed over to others.

Some leaders even tried to persuade Zong Xianfeng to think things through, break up with his foreign girlfriend, and find a colleague from his workplace to date.

It's not really fair to blame the leaders for being overly concerned.

That's the nature of this era; everyone is caught up in the tide of the times and can only go with the flow.

After he finished speaking, Zong Xianfeng smoked one cigarette after another, his brows furrowed into a knot.

Li Aiguo asked, "What are your thoughts?"

“I love Dasha and I want to marry her.” Zong Xianfeng hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

Li Aiguo could understand Zong Xianfeng's hesitation.

Zong Xianfeng came from a remote mountain village and represented the hopes of countless people, but now he is about to do something that will almost ruin his future because of his feelings.

"Let's put the wedding on hold for now. Even if we transfer you to the studio, there's no guarantee you'll get married," Li Aiguo said, offering no assurances.

“I know, I just don’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore. I want to do something, like what I did at the Railway Research Institute.” Zong Xianfeng understood what Li Aiguo meant.

He had already reviewed the relevant documents before deciding to date Dasha.

There are no regulations regarding marriage between domestic and foreign nationals in those days.

The only case involving an international marriage also had special reasons, as it was personally approved by a higher-level leader, which was equivalent to acting as a guarantor.

It's almost impossible for Dasha to join them.

In this situation, all they can do is wait and let time buy them an opportunity.

"I'll go to the ministry leaders tomorrow and try to find a way to temporarily transfer you here." Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.

Zong Xianfeng stood up and clasped his hands together, saying, "Brother Aiguo, thank you."

"Don't mention it, we're brothers." Li Aiguo patted Zong Xianfeng on the shoulder.

It was late, and Zong Xianfeng left with Dasha.

Chen Xueru walked to the door and looked at the two of them from behind, and said, "Brother Aiguo, how wonderful it would be if they could get married. They are a match made in heaven."

"I think so too, but you have to take things one step at a time, and you can't rush things."

The first step was to second Zong Xianfeng from the ministry to the studio.

This is a seemingly impossible task, after all, there is no precedent for a ministry official to be transferred to the railway.

"Old Teng, is it really necessary to have Zong Xianfeng?" The ministry leaders also felt that it was a bit difficult, especially since there were some things recorded in Zong Xianfeng's file.

"It's just a temporary assignment. Comrade Aiguo plans to conduct new research and is lacking some talent. Comrade Zong Xianfeng is quite suitable."

Upon hearing that it was just technical work, the ministry leaders were relieved: "Actually, Xiao Zong is a good person. How should I put it, this kid is too idealistic. It would be good to let him go to your railway for a while to gain experience."

"Then it's settled. We need to meet with them tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Leader Teng looked up at Li Aiguo sitting opposite him, leaned back, and laughed: "You little rascal, you're always causing me trouble."

“Sir, I’m one of your men. If I run into trouble and don’t ask for your help, you’ll definitely punish me with a stick.” Li Aiguo stood up with a grin, took a document out of his briefcase and handed it over.

“This is the project I plan to undertake. Section Chief Xing has already reviewed it, but he doesn’t dare to make the decision.”

"Old Xing is incredibly bold. The other day he dared to stand on the locomotive and try to steal a sheep from the Fengtai Locomotive Depot. What wouldn't he dare to do?"

With the development of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, Section Chief Xing has also risen in rank and become a rising star in the department.

Leader Teng had a good impression of this section chief, who was a former railway soldier. After saying a few words with a smile, he opened the document.

With just one glance, Leader Teng's expression turned serious.

"Excavators and bulldozers?"

"Currently, only the Fushun Excavator Factory in China can manufacture mechanical single-bucket excavators. The rest are imported Russian excavators, and the bulldozers are even simple single-barrel tractor bulldozers."

"With excavators and loaders, our railway construction speed can be greatly increased."

Leader Teng also became interested and tapped his fingers on the document.

This is indeed a major project. If it succeeds, a dedicated engineering machinery manufacturing plant will need to be planned. No wonder Section Chief Xing didn't dare to make a guarantee.

Leader Teng seemed to remember something and asked, "Aiguo, I've heard that there's a multi-bucket excavator abroad, the kind used to excavate the Suez Canal. Could we build one as well?"

"At a meeting a couple of days ago, the leaders of the mining department were asking us what equipment we had for open-pit mining."

Li Aiguo's eyes widened with excitement: "That thing is called a bucket wheel excavator. The principle is actually similar to that of a regular excavator, except that it has an additional belt conveyor and unloading device."

He overlooked this heavy-duty engineering marvel.

Compared to regular excavators, bucket wheel excavators are not only suitable for mining but can also be used for river dredging, making them more effective.

"This project has been approved by our railway department," said Leader Teng, making the final decision.

(End of this chapter)