The train driver in the courtyard

The workshop of the oil tanker train at Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

Because the new workshop was not fully completed yet, the stamping room was built first, and various materials were piled up in the yard.

The stamping press has a four-beam, four-column structure and is much more aesthetically pleasing than the one Li Aiguo made. The outer shell is painted green and bears the words "Made by the Technical Department of Changxindian Locomotive Factory".

Li Aiguo scoffed.

Does assembly count as manufacturing?
This Deputy Section Chief Zhou from the Technical Department is quite interesting.

Chief Engineer Wang noticed the words for the first time and immediately felt a little embarrassed, glancing at Li Aiguo.

Seeing Li Aiguo's stern face, he quickly said:
“Deputy Section Chief Zhou, this word is not appropriate. The stamping machine was built by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and the design was also theirs. We are only responsible for assembly. Change it, change it.”

Deputy Section Chief Zhou was introducing the stamping machine to the factory leaders when he heard this and blushed deeply.

"The people below are doing this haphazardly. I'll have them fix it immediately."

Deputy Section Chief Zhou ordered someone to repaint it with green paint, but this time the words "Made by Qianmen Locomotive Depot" were not printed on it.

Li Aiguo didn't care, but Chief Engineer Wang shook his head repeatedly.

"Deputy Section Chief Zhou is technically skilled and highly competent, but he is too eager to improve himself."

Chief Engineer Wang explained to Li Aiguo, who didn't respond. After inspecting the assembly process of the stamping machine, Li Aiguo nodded and said, "Let's start the trial run."

Before Chief Engineer Wang could react, Deputy Section Chief Zhou rushed to the control panel and prepared to press the power button.

"I come!"

Li Aiguo called out to him, "Didn't you read the user manual? What steps should you take before turning on the machine?"

Deputy Section Chief Zhou's hand was already on the button, but he dared not press it.

"Before starting the machine, it is essential to thoroughly inspect the safety devices, power system, molds, and materials to avoid starting the machine at a dangerous risk."

His memory is indeed excellent; he memorized every single word perfectly.

The technicians quickly stepped forward to inspect the equipment, closing the safety door, checking the emergency stop button, and inspecting the pressure relays, among other things.

After doing all this, Li Aiguo said calmly, "Let's begin."

At this point, Deputy Section Chief Zhou had lost his earlier enthusiasm.

I originally planned to be the first to turn on the machine and be the first to use it.

What now?
A junior technician who just takes orders?

"Deputy Section Chief Zhou, hurry up!" Chief Engineer Wang urged again, and Deputy Section Chief Zhou finally snapped out of his daze and reluctantly pressed the switch.

With a humming sound, several tons of sliders slowly moved down, driving the mold to crush the material.

Because Li Aiguo used mature technology, the trial run went very smoothly, and the leaders of Changxindian Locomotive Factory nodded in approval.

"This stamping press is really powerful; it's perfect for manufacturing large parts."

"It has to be Comrade Li Aiguo, he truly deserves to be called a national model worker."

"With this thing, our old machines can be retired."

"The technical department no longer needs to do mending and patching."

Chief Engineer Wang led the applause and said with a smile, "Comrade Aiguo, you must come to the celebration banquet tonight."

"Definitely, definitely." Li Aiguo did not refuse.

The food and drinks at these celebratory banquets are secondary; the key is that they bring the workers and technicians together.

After the test run, Li Tiechui led the wild car experts to begin the next phase of their work.

Mass production and laboratory production are two different things; production efficiency and production costs need to be considered.

Because it was a relatively mechanical and simple job, a group of technicians from the Changxindian Locomotive Factory were also recruited.

While things were bustling with activity, Deputy Section Chief Zhou returned to the technical section and, seeing that he only had three or four subordinates left, slumped back into his chair in frustration.

"Section Chief, we did our part, what's wrong with printing a few words on it? The people at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot are too stingy," a technician said quietly as he walked over.

"Ahem, don't talk about our colleagues from other factories behind their backs. They're here to help us." Deputy Section Chief Zhou waved his hand to stop the technician, but his face was somewhat ashen.

"Section Chief, now that the old machines are obsolete, all our efforts over the past six months have been wasted," the junior technician continued, still unwilling to give up.

"Their stamping machines are efficient, fast, and safe, while ours break down every few days. The factory's decision is not wrong."

As Deputy Section Chief Zhou was speaking, he stood up and said, "Xiao Liu, could you ask the section chief for leave for me? Tell him I'm not feeling well and I'm going home. I won't be attending the celebration banquet tonight."

"Okay." The junior technician nodded.

When Deputy Section Chief Zhou returned home, a woman greeted him as soon as he opened the door, took out a pair of slippers, and helped him change his shoes.

"Chunyue, don't do this again next time. We don't have the habit of changing shoes when we go inside. People will get suspicious if they see it."

The woman looked up and smiled sweetly: "What are you afraid of, Lao Zhou? It's been so many years, and nothing has happened. Who would care about these things now?"

The woman's name was Jiang Chunyue, the wife of Deputy Section Chief Zhou. She was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. She was wearing a floral shirt and leather shoes, and her figure was curvaceous. Her chest was adorned with a stunning curve, and she exuded femininity. A smile appeared on her beautiful face.

"Better safe than sorry." Deputy Section Chief Zhou entered the room, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank several mouthfuls in quick succession.

"Old Zhou, why are you leaving get off work so early today? Did something happen at the factory?" Jiang Chunyue took out a cigarette from the pack and handed it to Deputy Section Chief Zhou, who lit it.

"Xiao Jiang, didn't I tell you not to ask about things at the factory?" Deputy Section Chief Zhou took a puff of his cigarette, but his face hardened.

Jiang Chunyue's eyes instantly welled up with tears, and her lips trembled slightly: "I know that all these years, you've always felt that it was my father and I who dragged you down and ruined your future. Fine, I'll leave, I'll leave."

As she spoke, Jiang Chunyue turned and went into the bedroom, where she began to pack her things.

Seeing her like this, Deputy Section Chief Zhou's heart softened immediately, and he rushed over to put his arm around her slender waist.

"Honey, what are you saying? When I married you, I was mentally prepared. It's no big deal if I don't become a leader anymore."

"So, what about what happened today?" Jiang Chunyue asked, her back to Deputy Section Chief Zhou, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Sigh, it's all because of those guys from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. They came to our factory and completely disregarded me, their section chief." Deputy Section Chief Zhou was furious when he thought about it and plopped down on the bed.

"Have you started any new projects?" Jiang Chunyue asked with a smile, smoothing her hair.

"It's just a piece of equipment for transporting crude oil, but they make it sound like they're building rockets, all mysterious and shady." Deputy Section Chief Zhou was furious at the moment and had long forgotten the rules he had set for himself.

He rattled off the names of stamping equipment, car body, and heating equipment all at once.

After saying that, Deputy Section Chief Zhou saw Jiang Chunyue standing there and realized that he had misspoke.

"Wife, these are all secrets, you must not tell anyone."

"What are you saying? Do you think I'm that kind of person? I'm your wife, we've been together for a long time." Jiang Chunyue was stunned for a moment, then quickly walked over.

She put her hand on Deputy Section Chief Zhou's shoulder, hugged him warmly, and looked up with a bright smile on her delicate and beautiful face: "Old Zhou, I missed you."

Look at their movements, they're just like a couple deeply in love.

Deputy Section Chief Zhou felt a surge of restlessness and could no longer contain himself.

*****
Deputy Section Chief Zhou did not invite Li Aiguo to the celebration banquet, nor did Li Aiguo attend.

It was simply because Chen Xueru was about to give birth.

The call came from the third aunt using the supply and marketing cooperative's phone, saying that the item had been delivered to the railway hospital.

"Consultant Li, you should go back now. I'll take care of things here," Chief Engineer Wang said, seeing that Li Aiguo had something to do at home.

"Thank you very much."

Li Aiguo turned and left the office to get his car, but then he remembered Chen Xingyi. He went back into the main office and called out to Chen Xingyi.

"My little sister is about to give birth? Brother-in-law, I need to ask for leave." Chen Xingyi was also stunned by the news.

Li Aiguo went to get the car, and Chen Xingyi went to Chief Engineer Wang's office to ask for leave.

Chief Engineer Wang had a very good impression of Chen Xingyi. This technician, who came from the grassroots level, was skilled and conscientious in his work.

I also heard that he has some connection with Director Yang Xingzhai.

"Your little sister is about to give birth? Just now, Consultant Li's wife was about to give birth, this..."

“Chief Engineer, Aiguo is my brother-in-law,” Chen Xingyi replied.

"Oh, I didn't know there was this connection. You should go now." Chief Engineer Wang nodded hurriedly.

After Chen Xingyi left, he shook his head with a smile. It turned out that Chen Xingyi was Li Aiguo's brother-in-law. The two of them were really tight-lipped.

And Director Yang Xingzhai definitely knew about this, but he didn't reveal a single word.

After Chen Xingyi left, Chief Engineer Wang also started his work, instructing the confidentiality officer to distribute the blueprints to the project team's technicians.

These blueprints sent by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot are all classified blueprints. They are not allowed to be copied. After use, they must be handed over to the security officer and stored in the safe in the factory office's security room.

On the other side, Li Aiguo had already driven Chen Xingyi to the railway hospital in a large SUV.

Li Aiguo was already very familiar with the place. He made his way to the delivery room and heard the sound of a baby crying as soon as he reached the door.

"That's incredibly fast!" Li Aiguo calculated that it had only taken about thirty minutes from receiving the news to arriving, plus the time wasted by the three aunts making phone calls, so it would have taken at most an hour.

"This is Xue Ru's third pregnancy, so we definitely need to hurry." Her sister-in-law and Chen Fangxuan also arrived, carrying eggs and brown sugar.

Li Aiguo asked the three women, and none of them had brought the production tools that Chen Xueru had prepared.

"Brother Aiguo, I'm going back." Yan Jiecheng rode his bicycle back to the courtyard house.

After he left, Chen Xueru and her baby were wheeled out of the delivery room.

"Are you a family member? Congratulations on the birth of a healthy baby boy, weighing six pounds and four ounces." The nurse recognized Li Aiguo and congratulated him.

With two sons and a daughter, making a total of three children, Li Aiguo feels he has reached the average standard.

Chen Xueru had a quick delivery and a quick recovery from her third pregnancy. She was a restless person and insisted on going home the very next day.

Li Aiguo has been busy lately and was originally thinking of letting Chen Xueru stay in the hospital for a few more days so that there would be nurses to take care of her.

“Aiguo, you go ahead and do your work, I’ll take care of Xueru,” the sister-in-law said.

Although my sister-in-law is usually unreliable, she has a knack for taking care of new mothers.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, sister-in-law," Li Aiguo readily agreed.

Chen Xueru helped them onto the SUV, the sister-in-law held the child, and Li Aiguo drove back to the courtyard house.

As usual, a group of old women and young wives sat at the entrance of the courtyard house. When they saw Li Aiguo returning with his child, they all gathered around him.

"It's a boy! Patriotic! Congratulations!" The third uncle rushed to the front.

He grabbed Li Aiguo's arm and said, "Aiguo, you should let me handle the naming this time, I'll give you a discount."

"Ha, Third Uncle, when Yan Jiecheng gets married and has children, it will be your turn."

Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru had already discussed it: the eldest child would be named Li Hongsheng, and if the third child was a boy, he would be named Li Dongfang.

The name is catchy and has a particularly good meaning.

The third uncle thought Li Aiguo was being a bit stingy and shook his head helplessly.

News of Chen Xueru giving birth spread quickly.

In the past, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but this time it was personally overseen by Teng, a leader from the Ministry of Railways.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot immediately sent someone to deliver some nutritional supplements. The Qianmen Locomotive Depot is now quite wealthy, and they have plenty of supplies: refined wheat flour, milk powder, beef, and mutton—seven or eight bags in total.

Qin Huairu's belly had grown quite large by now, and she was particularly envious when she saw Li Aiguo receiving the gift from the leader.

She's due to give birth in a few months, and the family hasn't prepared anything yet.

Jia Dongxu squatted at the door and curled his lip: "Taking advantage of public resources, Li Aiguo is really a scoundrel."

"Jia Dongxu, what nonsense are you spouting? This is a reward from the locomotive depot to Li Aiguo. If you're so capable, why don't you produce as many good things as Aiguo?" Zhang Gangzhu was displeased upon hearing this.

Jia Dongxu dared not utter a sound.

He was afraid of Zhang Gangzhu's butcher knife.

Chen Xueru was taken care of by her sister-in-law, so Li Aiguo didn't have to worry. After resting for a few days, he returned to the Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

The locomotive factory is making great progress. The workshop has been built, various materials have been delivered, and equipment is being assembled.

Once the equipment is installed, Li Aiguo will be able to return to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

"Aiguo, something's happened."

That morning, Li Aiguo was busy in his office when a comrade wearing a gray Zhongshan suit pushed open the office door and walked in.

"Liang, what's wrong?" Seeing the security officer come in, Li Aiguo asked the wild car experts and the others to leave first.

“The blueprints we kept in the safe have been tampered with.” Liang’s face was ashen.

Li Aiguo was startled.

To prevent the technology of the oil tanker train from being leaked, Li Aiguo discussed with the meteorological station and adopted a method of separating people from maps.

The blueprints are kept by a security officer, and the corresponding component blueprints are only given to the technicians when assembly is required.

Who would have thought that storing the blueprints in a safe would lead to a leak?

When was it discovered?

“When I arrived at work in the morning, two technicians from the technical department needed the blueprints for part number three. I opened the safe, and the blueprints inside clearly showed signs of having been looked through.”

"Is it under lockdown?"

"I contacted the security department of Changxindian Locomotive Factory immediately and also reported it to the weather station. The factory is now completely sealed off." The security officer hesitated for a moment before saying, "But I don't think it will be of much use."

Li Aiguo understood Liang Baomi's concerns.

If the blueprints were looked at last night, then the person who looked at them must have already stolen them.

The factory is now being shut down, which feels like a case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

"Let's go to the site and take a look." Li Aiguo knew very well that the best thing to do now was to catch the person who stole the blueprints as soon as possible.

When Li Aiguo and Liang Baomi arrived at the secure room, the cat team leader from the meteorological station and Section Chief Qin from the security department of the Changxindian Locomotive Factory also arrived.

Section Chief Qin looked panicked: "How could this happen? Our factory has never had any problems before. Liang, you must be mistaken."

"Section Chief Qin, are you questioning my abilities?" Liang Baomi felt insulted.

Just as the two were about to start arguing, Li Aiguo stepped in to stop them.

"Let's find out what's going on first!"

Old Cat also placed his hand on the pistol at his waist: "Section Chief Qin, Liang Baomi, from now on, our Meteorological Station's Confidentiality Department will officially take over the security work of the Changxindian Locomotive Factory. You need to cooperate with our work unconditionally."

The old cat represents the weather station, and Liang Baomi and Section Chief Qin both nodded repeatedly.

"Let's see what's going on first?"

Li Aiguo did not enter the secret room directly, but walked around it. Because of its special function, the secret room had no windows, and outsiders would need to go through two doors to enter.

One gate was an iron gate, and the other was a wooden gate, both secured with large iron locks.

Modern padlocks are very easy to open, but there's nothing we can do about it, given the limitations of current technology.

There were obvious signs of prying on the lock, confirming that someone had sneaked into the secure room.

Upon entering the secure room, Liang Baomi pointed to a large iron cabinet behind the desk.

The cabinet is a military-grade safe, about the same size as a bookcase at home. The green paint on it is peeling, so it must have been retired from the military. It has two keyholes and a simple combination lock.

This kind of safe is considered very advanced for this era.

Old Gui stared at it for a moment, and seeing no signs of tampering with the cipher disc, asked, "How did the enemy agents know the code?"

Liang replied awkwardly, "This cipher machine is broken and doesn't work."

As he spoke, he reached out and turned the keypad twice, and sure enough, there was no sound of gears turning.

Li Aiguo was speechless.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. In those days of scarcity, all you needed was a metal box. What more could you ask for?

There were still signs of prying in the keyhole.

The safe was opened, revealing a stack of blueprints, neatly arranged with no signs of being disturbed.

“Look, every time I set up the blueprints, I put a hair on top of them. This morning, I found the hair underneath the blueprints.” Liang Baomi picked up the blueprints and pointed inside.

Li Aiguo indeed saw a single hair.

"That's a really good idea." Old Gui nodded, then looked at Li Aiguo: "Aiguo, who do you think stole the blueprints?"

Both Liang Baomi and Section Chief Qin were somewhat surprised.

There are currently no clues. Changxindian Locomotive Factory is a large state-owned factory with four or five thousand workers. How could they possibly know who stole the blueprints?
To their surprise, Li Aiguo actually spoke up.

"Although we cannot determine the specific person, we can be sure that the person who stole the blueprints was neither a professional enemy agent nor a worker."

"You know that?" Liang Mibi asked in surprise.

Li Aiguo pointed to the door lock.

"This kind of lock is particularly easy to open. An ordinary worker can open it with just a wire and it would be impossible to leave such obvious pry marks."

"And that hair, though seemingly clever, could not possibly have gone unnoticed by professional enemy agents."

Li Aiguo continued, "It couldn't be someone from outside, because these blueprints would be useless to a thief. Besides, if it really were someone from outside, that person could have simply taken the blueprints away; it's impossible for them to just browse through them or copy them down."

Liang Baomi and Section Chief Qin were both speechless.

They never imagined that such a small detail could lead to so much information.

"I agree with Comrade Patriot's opinion." Old Cat nodded.

Liang Baomi frowned: "If they're not professional Dieter, why would they risk doing this?"

Li Aiguo lit a cigarette and took a puff: "There must be a reason behind this, but we lack information and don't know yet."

Li Aiguo was not making up reasons for his speculation.

Take, for example, a case recently reported by the weather station: a senior expert in the military industry lost two pages of top-secret information related to firecracker engines.

At first, the weather station thought it was Dieter who had done it, so they sent Old Cat over and mobilized the military industry, getting several hundred people involved. But the final result was both laughable and absurd.

The culprit wasn't Dieter at all, but a thief. He tore up the top-secret documents simply because he had a stomachache and wanted to wipe his bag.

As the saying goes, existence is its own justification. Since the incident happened, there must be a reason, it's just that we haven't found it yet.

Old Cat, having experienced this firsthand, nodded: "I agree with Comrade Patriot's statement. Our goal now is to catch the person, and then we'll be able to figure everything out."

Section Chief Qin raised his hand:
"Then the remaining people are the factory leaders, the clerical staff in the factory office, and the factory technicians. There are quite a few of them, several hundred in total. Investigating so many people is not a simple task."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Old Cat and Liang Baomi give him the look of someone who was looking at an idiot.

It's already quite an achievement that they were able to reduce the target range so much.

What, you want me to just give you a name so you can arrest someone?

Li Aiguo could understand Section Chief Qin's feelings.

With such a big incident, the security department's bonuses for this year are probably all gone. If they can't catch the culprit, then Section Chief Qin will also be disciplined.

But there is no way.

Sometimes, investigating a case is like finding a needle in a haystack.

The simplest and most direct method is often the most effective.

"Investigate. Investigate all these hundreds of people, focusing on those with questionable ideology," Section Chief Qin finally decided.

He took a deep breath: "However, I have no way of knowing whether anyone in our security department is involved."

"Looks like we need to find some outside help."

After Lao Mao reported to the meteorological station, the meteorological station contacted the railway department. The railway leaders were shocked and quickly mobilized a group of railway soldiers to rush to the Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

The meteorological station and the railway troops worked together to begin talking to people one by one according to the list.

At this time, the technicians at the Changxindian Locomotive Factory also realized that something was wrong.

"I wanted to go out to buy something, but the factory gate was blocked. Something must have happened."

"I just saw a group of soldiers go into the secure room."

"Something's happened, it must be something serious."

"Section Chief, do you know anything about what's going on?"

A technician approached Deputy Section Chief Zhou and asked in a low voice.

What was supposed to be a very ordinary remark caused Deputy Section Chief Zhou's expression to change drastically, and he avoided it as if it were a plague.

"What nonsense are you talking about? How would I know!"

His voice was loud, startling the researchers in the technical department, who all looked at him with surprise.

Chen Xingyi had just picked up his enamel mug, ready to drink some water, when he was so startled that he almost dropped it.

"Section Chief, are you alright?" The technician took two steps back in fright.

Deputy Section Chief Zhou realized he had lost his composure, and after regaining his composure, he smiled awkwardly: "It's alright, it's alright."

After the technician left, Deputy Section Chief Zhou plopped down in a chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Just then, a voice came from outside.

"All members of the Technical Section, report to the Security Section."

Upon hearing this, the technicians immediately stood up and questioned the railway soldier.

"Xiao Zhang, what happened?"

"I don't know either. You'll understand when you get there." The railway soldier said sternly, waving his hand. The four or five railway soldiers behind him went into the technical section.

Several technicians tried to make excuses, but seeing this, they all obediently stood up.

Deputy Section Chief Zhou's legs felt a little weak.

"How come things are developing so differently from what Chunyue said? Is Chunyue lying to me? No, that's impossible, she's my wife."

(End of this chapter)