The train driver in the courtyard

The next day, the newspaper published the story of the model worker on its front page.

Due to the large number of participants, there is only one group photo and no individual photos. Below the photos are the names of the recipients of various honors, along with brief introductions.

Li Aiguo briefly introduced himself as a fifth-grade train driver at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. He then explained that through hard work, he improved the steam engine and achieved a record of 350 days without an accident.

When Li Aiguo arrived at the studio, Zong Xianfeng, Wild Auto Expert, and Chief Engineer Tan were already waiting.

"Patriotism, did he really shake hands with his superiors?"

"Patriotism, I heard there are five hundred stars on the ceiling of the auditorium?"

"Is there a bonus for patriotism?"

People asked all sorts of questions, and the untrained car expert even poured tea and handed over an enamel mug.

Yesterday, the department held a large meeting, and many details were not discussed.

Today's meeting is an internal meeting within their studio, and it has a completely different meaning.

Seeing this, Li Aiguo thought, "These guys are all so energetic, I have to start a chat with them."

"We shook hands; the superior's hand was very strong."

"Attending a meeting at the Great Hall of the People is the greatest honor. I was so excited that I didn't notice some things. Next time I go, I must count the stars properly to see if there are enough for five hundred stars."

"The reward was a certificate, and my superiors also gave me an apple."

Everyone was very excited when they heard this; this apple was more precious than any amount of prize money.

"That apple must taste really good." The wild car expert felt as if he had just eaten an apple.

After chatting for half an hour, the Changxindian Locomotive Factory informed us that the car body of the mineral exploration train was ready.

Li Aiguo led the wildlife car experts to the locomotive factory for inspection. Since it was related to mineral exploration, the inspection was particularly thorough.

Now, Sifang Locomotive and Datong Locomotive Works are focusing their main efforts on manufacturing steam engines.

Changxindian Locomotive Factory has also developed into the largest manufacturer of car bodies and carriages in China. Its technicians and workers are all top-notch, and there are no problems with the car body structure.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot dispatched a steam locomotive to pull the car body back to the depot, where it was placed in the maintenance workshop to begin the next stage of modification work.

These tasks were handled by Zong Xianfeng and Wild Automotive experts. The processes were not particularly difficult, and the workers in the preparation workshop were fully capable of doing them.

At noon, Section Chief Xing rushed into the office.

"The equipment you requested has been approved by the ministry and will be delivered in two days." Although Section Chief Xing's face showed joy, his tone was somewhat angry.

Li Aiguo asked curiously, "Section Chief, what happened?"

"Don't even mention it. Those factories in the south felt that our Qianmen Locomotive Depot had received too much equipment. During a meeting, they complained to the leaders in the ministry, saying that we were engaging in factionalism."

Section Chief Xing took a puff of his cigarette and said angrily, "They don't even consider who brought these devices back. They didn't spend a penny or put in any effort, just waiting to reap the benefits, and they're still not happy about it!"

“There are many people like this, it’s not worth getting angry at.” Li Aiguo said, both amused and exasperated.

Workers in the factory now eat from the same pot, and factories under the First Ministry of Machine Building also eat from the same pot.

Those factory leaders didn't think about developing new products; they just waited for the equipment to be allocated and the orders to be handed over to them.

For factories like this, even if you give them your equipment, it will just gather dust.

"That's right, the leaders also criticized them like that." Section Chief Xing actually felt a little wronged.

Given the nature of the railway system, it should have bought up all of this batch of equipment sent from overseas.

In order to unite local factories, certain concessions were made.

"Aiguo, you've been awarded the title of National Model Worker. According to regulations, you need to attend report meetings in each section. Prepare for it in the next few days." Section Chief Xing remembered something else.

Are you coming along too?

"Together, together. Our locomotive depot is an advanced collective, and as the depot leader, I also need to communicate and learn more from other depot leaders." Although he spoke modestly, Depot Leader Xing was overjoyed inside.

"I had Chen Shuxian write the article, I need to go back and take a look."

Watching Section Chief Xing leave, Li Aiguo felt that he was going to be busy again. He had given several reports before, so they weren't too difficult.

At noon, Li Aiguo took a walk around the motorcycle factory workshop.

The workshop temperature is hotter than expected, so it seems the turbo fan project can't be delayed any longer.

After Li Aiguo wrote several reports and submitted them to the education department for review, he began to draw diagrams, mainly focusing on the turbine shaft.

Noise issues are not a concern now.

Shaft drive can convert mechanical energy into wind pressure to the maximum extent. The greater the wind pressure, the better, and the more air volume, the better, as long as it doesn't blow people away.

The 50-centimeter-long vortex casing has a 150-watt motor, which is about the same power as a Diamond brand ceiling fan.

A reverse low-pressure turbine was also added later.

This technology was obtained by Li Aiguo from turboshaft engines. It can draw in air from outside the engine casing through an independently rotating power turbine and send it into the turbine casing to further increase the air pressure.

With the support of the turboshaft and low-pressure turbine, the standard wind speed at a distance of ten meters is expected to reach 30 meters per second, which is sufficient to achieve heat dissipation.

This is the main design that Li Aiguo is now considering; the technical challenge lies in the design of the fan blades.

The blades of the turbofan are centrifugal, with dense blades and a large curvature, which requires high-quality materials and is very difficult to process.

Li Aiguo also needs to consider the possibility of metal fatigue during long-term operation.

The fan blades should be as lightweight as possible. "Let's use nickel-based alloys; they're ten times stronger than steel and weigh twenty percent less."

"The price may be a little higher, but it doesn't matter. The cost of a fan will be at most two or three yuan higher."

"If we were to produce in large quantities, and contact Ansteel to specially smelt a batch, the cost could be reduced even further."

After carefully calculating the overall cost, Li Aiguo finally decided that he should splurge a little and use his resources wisely.

There is still a batch of alloy inventory in the preparation workshop. If the verification is successful, it can be put into mass production in a month and a half.

With the railway as its strong backing, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot has grown larger and larger, and it can produce anything in large quantities very quickly.

During the day, Li Aiguo followed Section Chief Xing to give reports at various sections of the road, and at night he designed turbine fans in the guesthouse. He lived a rather pleasant life.

Especially since this was a report presentation, they were treated to delicious food and drinks along the way.

These sections of road may seem unremarkable on ordinary days, but they actually accumulate a lot of good stuff; every day it's either beef or mutton.

Li Aiguo even got to eat eagle meat in Fengtai.

God knows how the train knocked the eagle down.

By Saturday, the report work was basically finished, and Li Aiguo had completed most of the design work. The manufacturing of the fan blades was about to begin.

After work, I put my dirty clothes in a bag, ready to take them home to wash, and chatted with Liu Haizhong about the fan blades.

Li Aiguo went to the materials department, took the slip he had written, and collected about five kilograms of nickel-based alloy, claiming it was for experiments.

Section Chief Liu of the Materials Department was used to this and retrieved it from the warehouse without saying a word.

Back in the courtyard house, Li Aiguo planned to go to Liu Haizhong's house to ask the old master craftsman for help.

They hadn't walked more than a few steps when they saw Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu returning with their two children.

Jia Dongxu's attire was somewhat odd; he wore a work shirt that was a size too small, along with slippers, and his face was bruised and swollen. He muttered to himself as he walked.

"At her age, she still wants to get married. Isn't she ashamed? And that son of a bitch, he's obviously a scoundrel. If I didn't consider that he's an elder, I would have beaten the shit out of him."

Banggeng chimed in, "Dad, beat the shit out!"

"Oh my, this is truly my good son." Jia Dongxu ruffled Bang Geng's hair and excitedly picked him up.

Banggeng was a little unwilling and sniffed: "Dad, you smell like poop."

Jia Dongxu: "."

He admired Liu Haizhong for raising his two sons so well.

"Dongxu, since Mother is willing, we can't stop her, right?" Qin Huairu, worried that Banggeng would get a beating, quickly took the baton and tried to persuade him from behind.

"I don't care. As long as I'm alive, my mother can't remarry." Jia Dongxu said angrily.

The two walked and talked, but when they saw Li Aiguo, they both stopped talking and turned back into the house.

"It seems Jia Dongxu didn't agree to marry Jia Zhangshi." Li Aiguo stopped and narrowed his eyes.

Just as Li Aiguo had predicted, when he returned home after commissioning Liu Haizhong to process the fan blades, Xu Damao came knocking on his door.

"Patriotism, have you heard? Jia Dongxu got beaten up by Jia Ba." Xu Damao was so happy he looked like a crooked dragon king.

Who is Jia Ba?

“Jia Dongxu’s stepfather,” Xu Damao said, gesturing as he spoke.
"This Jia Ba is actually a vagrant from Jiajiazhuang. He relies on being the uncle of the commune secretary to loaf around in the commune all day long. His family is so poor that they only have a thatched house."

Jia Dongxu had originally intended to take advantage of the situation, but upon seeing this, he immediately disagreed.

He first argued with Jia Zhangshi, and Jia Ba tried to protect his wife, so Jia Dongxu was beaten by Jia Ba.

The scene was incredibly dramatic; I heard Jia Dongxu was kicked into a cesspool.

Xu Damao regretted not being there at the time. He kicked Jia Dongxu twice, clicked his tongue twice, and continued, "I think Jia Zhangshi's wedding is going to fall through."

"That's not necessarily true. If Jia Zhangshi is determined to get married, Jia Dongxu probably won't be able to stop her."

Although Li Aiguo disliked Jia Zhangshi, her marriage was the best choice for her now.

If Jia Zhangshi had stayed quietly in the countryside, stopped taking painkillers, and stopped doing all that messy stuff, she might have lived to a very old age.

In the original story, Jia Zhangshi outlived quite a few people.

"Then there'll be a good show to watch." Xu Damao didn't care whether Jia Zhangshi could get married or not; he was only interested in seeing the excitement.

While they were chatting, a commotion suddenly came from the Intermediate People's Court. Judging from the voices, it sounded like the Third Uncle and Liu, the clerk from the Subdistrict Office.

Xu Damao laughed and said, "They're probably looking for Jia Dongxu. Let's go watch the show."

Chen Xueru hadn't returned yet, so Li Aiguo put the dirty clothes in a basin to soak in water and went to the Intermediate People's Court with Xu Damao.

By this time, a large crowd had already gathered outside the Jia family's residence in the Intermediate People's Court.

Uncle San, Aunt San, Yan Jiecheng, Aunt Er, and Liu Haizhong all arrived, and everyone joined in the fun with their arms crossed.

Seeing Li Aiguo and Xu Damao approaching, Yan Jiecheng quickly waved to them.

"The commune sued Jia Dongxu; this is quite an interesting story."

Well, this is actually a TV series; this drama is getting more and more interesting.

(End of this chapter)