The train driver in the courtyard

The child has no mother; it's a long story.

This story begins with Jia Dongxu being beaten by Jia Ba.

No, since Jia Dongxu also got involved, Jia Ba said it was a fight between the two.

Jia Dongxu, having suffered such a loss, was bruised and battered. He and his wife and children, still in a foul mood, huffed and puffed their way back to the capital.

Jia Ba went to the commune to file a complaint, saying that Jia Dongxu was interfering with his affairs and undermining the women's freedom of marriage!
The Jiajiazhuang Commune immediately sent people to the subdistrict office to file a complaint against Jia Dongxu.

After learning about this, Director Wang handed it over to Officer Liu to handle.

"Women's comrade? Officer Liu, that's my mother." Jia Dongxu was taken aback when Jia Ba suddenly accused him first. After he came to his senses, he rushed out of the house without even changing his clothes.

This thing hadn't taken a shower either, and the stench was overwhelming. The onlookers felt like they were being attacked by a biological weapon and quickly moved away.

Even Officer Liu couldn't stand the smell, so he covered his mouth and said, "Jia Dongxu, don't get agitated, step back a little."

"Ah, okay, okay." Jia Dongxu took two steps back, scratching the back of his head, a look of grievance creeping over him:
"My father has been gone for so many years, and my mother has remained chaste. If this were before the liberation, she would have been worth at least a chastity arch."

"He's only been back in the commune a few days, and he's already getting married? That wicked Jia Ba must have pulled some trick on my mother!"

"Ahem... Jia Dongxu, calm down." Officer Liu cleared his throat and patiently reasoned with her: "Jia Zhangshi is an adult. Who she marries is her freedom, and it's none of anyone else's business."

可贾东旭哪儿听得进去这个？一想起自己挨的那顿揍，火儿又上来了，嗓门也大了：“我今儿把话撂在这儿！要是贾张氏敢跟贾霸结婚，往后她就不是我娘！我不认这个娘！”

Upon hearing this, the residents in the compound began to whisper among themselves.

“It is really inappropriate for Jia Zhangshi to get married at her age.”

"Who says otherwise? If Old Jia knew this in the afterlife, he'd probably turn his coffin upside down."

"You can't say that. It wasn't easy for Jia Zhangshi to raise Jia Dongxu. There's nothing wrong with her wanting to find a companion."

The residents had differing opinions; some thought Jia Zhangshi didn't feel ashamed, while others thought it was a good thing that she got married.

After trying to persuade Jia Dongxu for a long time, Officer Liu turned to look at the Third Uncle when he saw that Jia Dongxu was unmoved.

The old man had just come out of the hospital not long ago, and his calf was still in a cast. In order to save some painkillers, he was in so much pain that he was grimacing and couldn't be bothered with these other things.

He was rubbing his leg with a frown when he saw Yi Zhonghai walking over. He quickly waved to Yi Zhonghai and said, "Old Yi! Old Yi! You're the old man, this is your job, come quickly!"

Yi Zhonghai had actually been watching from the sidelines for quite a while, pondering the matter over and over, and still felt that he had to help Jia Zhangshi.

Regardless of whether Jia Dongxu can stay or not, Jia Zhangshi must not return to the capital to cause trouble.

The crowd shifted to both sides, making way for Yi Zhonghai.

He walked up to Jia Dongxu and said sternly, "Dongxu, have you forgotten what your master taught you? You must have a broad perspective and think more about others."

"It's truly good when everyone is doing well. We can't be too selfish, you know?"

Jia Dongxu was immediately dumbfounded when he heard this. Wasn't this the same thing Yi Zhonghai used to fool Sha Zhu? How could it be used against him?

He opened his mouth, as if to say something: "Master, I...I didn't mean to..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yi Zhonghai pulled him aside, his tone turning stern: "Are you out of your mind, kid? The higher-ups are advocating for freedom of marriage now. If you keep blocking it, you're going against the policy. What are you trying to do?"

"Master, it's me."

If Yi Zhonghai can't handle Li Aiguo, can't he at least deal with Jia Dongxu?
He struck again: "Jia Dongxu, let me tell you the truth again. Jia Zhangshi is now a member of Jiajiazhuang Commune. As long as the commune agrees to her marriage with Jia Ba, can you stop her? Do you have that ability?"

These words struck a nerve with Jia Dongxu, as Jia Zhangshi was not registered in the same household as him at all.

"So, Master is doing this for your own good. If you can uphold high moral character, not care about these personal gains and losses, and actively support the policies from above, you'll have a good reputation, whether on the street or in the factory. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Besides, Jia Ba wants to marry Jia Zhangshi, so he has to give some dowry, right? In the end, won't all that dowry be yours anyway?"

Jia Dongxu no longer believed Yi Zhonghai's nonsense, but he also knew that he couldn't stop him on his own.

"Master, I'll listen to you."

"Hey, that's more like it, that's a good kid." Yi Zhonghai had suffered a lot lately, but today he finally resolved a troublesome matter, and his face was beaming with joy, showing great excitement.

After relaying Jia Dongxu's agreement to Officer Liu, he looked at the residents and said, "Jia Zhangshi has lived in this compound for so many years. If she's going to hold a wedding banquet, we should all step forward and discuss how much each family should contribute."

Everyone knew that the money was wasted, so they exchanged glances and remained silent.

In the end, it was Liu Haizhong who raised his hand first.

“I remember when my son Guangqi got married, Jia Zhangshi gave him three mao (0.3 yuan) as a wedding gift. Since she gave him three mao back then, my family will give him three mao this time as well, no more and no less, just right.”

“Yes, when I married Liang Ladi, the Jia family also gave us three cents,” Nan Yi nodded in agreement.

"My family is too," Xu Damao raised his hand, joining in the fun.

The neighbors in the compound, who had been worried about the gift money, immediately understood what was going on when they heard this.

That's right! We'll pay back exactly what Jia Zhangshi gave us back then, no problem!

So everyone chimed in, saying that they could only contribute three cents each.

Jia Dongxu had originally planned to make a profit from the wedding gift money, but upon hearing this, he immediately became unhappy: "How can this be the same? When you got married, you were both young and strong, how old is my mother now?"
She's over fifty! She's an elder! Shouldn't you give more money when an elder gets married?
I think five yuan from each family would be more reasonable!

Upon hearing this, the onlookers gasped in shock; Jia Dongxu was asking for an exorbitant sum.

Xu Damao's eyes darted around, and he pointed at Li Aiguo's house: "Isn't there a hundred-year-old turtle in Brother Aiguo's water tank? If we find a mate for this turtle and hold a 'wedding banquet' for it, Jia Dongxu, won't you have to pay a hundred yuan?"

"That's my mother, not a turtle! Xu Damao, you little bastard, are you trying to cause trouble?!" Jia Dongxu had been busy dealing with Yi Zhonghai lately and hadn't fought with Xu Damao for a long time.

He grabbed a stick and ran towards Xu Damao.

Xu Damao turned around, went into the house, took out a stainless steel pot, and carried it on his back.

Well, the usual show in the courtyard house is about to begin again!

The two chased each other around, shouting and yelling, which amused the neighbors around them, filling the air with a cheerful atmosphere.

In the end, it took Liu Haizhong and Yi Zhonghai a lot of effort to pull the two apart.

While we were at it, we also settled on the matter of the monetary gift: "Each family will contribute three cents, which will be kept by Uncle San. Our entire courtyard will pool our resources and send it over together."

The courtyard house had more than twenty households. If each household paid three cents, that would amount to six yuan, which wasn't a small sum. Jia Dongxu wanted to grin, but Qin Huairu stopped him: "If we anger everyone, they won't pay a single cent, and then there's nothing we can do."

Hearing this, Jia Dongxu could only shut his mouth in embarrassment.

The next step is to decide who to send to represent the courtyard house at the wedding banquet.

Logically, this matter should have been handled by three senior officials who went to Jiajiazhuang Commune.

However, Liu Haizhong was busy making fan blades for Li Aiguo, and since the Third Uncle was currently injured, only Yi Zhonghai had free time.

"I'll go," Xu Damao raised his hand and volunteered.

For no other reason than that he wanted to join in the fun.

"Third Uncle, let Yan Jiecheng go in your place," Li Aiguo finally said, and that was the end of it.

After the meeting, Li Aiguo returned home and handed three mao (3 mao) to Yan Jiecheng.

The next day, the Jiajiazhuang Commune did indeed send someone to deliver the betrothal gifts.

Two pounds of cornmeal, plus a basket of fresh peanuts.

Looking at the betrothal gifts, Jia Dongxu couldn't help but feel uneasy, thinking that Jia Ba was being too stingy.

But looking at his own mother, who was like a young girl fooled by a young punk, determined to marry Jia Ba, he had no choice but to accept it.

Qin Huairu couldn't understand why Jia Zhangshi's change was so drastic.

She had heard about Jia Zhangshi and Old Jia's affair when she married into the family.

Old Jia was a kind-hearted man, but Jia Zhangshi treated him with disdain, constantly arguing and making a scene.

She had met that Jia Ba before; he was a scoundrel who dared to beat up Jia Zhangshi right in front of Jia Dongxu.

Jia Zhangshi willingly cooked for Jia Ba, busying herself with everything, just like a well-behaved young wife, without a trace of the domineering attitude she had shown in the courtyard.

Li Aiguo knew this all too well. Some women were like that; if you treated them with respect and courtesy, they would look down on you and would only show their true colors when you were beaten.

This isn't about boxing; it's a real phenomenon.

This matter has nothing to do with Li Aiguo, and I haven't paid much attention to it.

The news that Jia Zhangshi was planning to remarry quickly spread throughout the neighborhood, becoming the talk of the town.

News also came from Jiajiazhuang Commune that the wedding banquet would be held at the end of the month, thus bringing this matter to a close.

Li Aiguo's progress is very encouraging. After half a month of hard work, the mineral exploration train has finally been successfully developed.

After testing with a standard radiation source, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot notified the exploration department to come and receive the train.

Since the first prospecting train was to be used by the 915 Mining Team, Captain Tang and several team members came to receive it.

At the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, upon seeing the modified wagon, Captain Tang circled it and exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of strange thing is this?"

No wonder Captain Tang was surprised.

A huge antenna was mounted on the platform at the front of the vehicle, and the rear half was an operating room that resembled a house. The entire vehicle was painted silver-gray, giving it a particularly futuristic look.

"Patriot, how do you operate this thing? Can you explain it to me?" After getting into the car, Captain Tang looked at the dense array of buttons in the control room and felt somewhat at a loss.

"Team Leader Tang, in order to enhance the power of the radiation detector, in addition to adding an antenna, we have also added an AC coupling device to remove DC bias interference."

Li Aiguo pointed to the instrument panel and explained, "Simply put, it can filter the received radiation and amplify the radiation we need."

Li Aiguo originally planned to install a main unit to automate the control of the radiation detector, but he abandoned the plan for the time being due to the high level of difficulty.

However, with anti-interference devices, the detection range of radiation detectors can be greatly improved.

Captain Tang, now a semi-expert, immediately realized the usefulness of this thing.

At this moment, several team members had already entered the bedroom, where cheers could be heard.

"Captain, there's a bed here. Oh my, this is a real bed, it's so soft."

"And there's a kitchen, so we can cook now."

Captain Tang rushed in, and a moment later, he came out and tightly grasped Li Aiguo's hand.

"Patriotism? I have nothing more to say!"

Li Aiguo patted Captain Tang's shoulder twice heavily.

The most important thing for the mineral-hunting train is to be able to detect radiation. In order to conduct the experiment, Captain Tang decided to lead his team to conduct the first test.

Li Aiguo had work to do and couldn't leave, so he asked Zong Xianfeng to accompany him, as Zong Xianfeng was far more familiar with the trains than Chief Engineer Zhang and the others.

The first test was conducted in Jiangxi Province.

Several large uranium mines, including uranium mines 721 and 713, have been discovered there. According to calculations by Professor Li and other experts, there should also be some small uranium mines.

Jiangxi Province is covered with high mountains, making it difficult for exploration teams to penetrate deep into the region, and low-altitude flight by aircraft is quite dangerous.

There is the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, which runs through Shangrao and Yingtan, as well as the Yingxia Railway, which was recently completed. Locally, there is the Nanxun Railway.

These three railways run almost through the entire Jiangxi Province, making them ideal for using prospecting trains to survey the province's uranium deposits.

In order to save costs to the greatest extent, an old-fashioned steam engine was brought in. Apart from the wagons used for prospecting, only one wagon was used to store supplies.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot dispatched a crew to handle this task. The train driver had previously filled in for Li Aiguo and was very skilled.

After completing the preparations, Li Aiguo reported the test plan to the Ministry of Railways.

The railway dispatching network has been used to dispatch trains to and from the railway.

It was past 11 p.m.

The train, marked "Mineral Exploration Car 001" on its nameplate, roared away from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

(End of this chapter)