The train driver in the courtyard

Omnipolar Hall switches are used to detect the temperature of heating elements and control the heating power by changing the magnetic field to prevent overheating.

The micro-circuit board monitors the temperature of the inner pot and automatically adjusts the power of the heating plate to achieve precise temperature control.

Professor Xia Zhongsu looked at the design drawings and adjusted his glasses:

"Patriotism is just about cooking, does it really need to involve such high technology?"

Xia Zhongsu almost said something like, "It's like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito."

No wonder.

Modern microcircuit boards are high-tech and are mainly used in the defense and railway transportation sectors. Using them for cooking would be an extreme luxury.

"Why do we work so hard to make these things? It's so that everyone can live a better life. With the development of the economy, rice cookers will definitely become a household item."

"I'll listen to you." Xia Zhongsu didn't say anything more, picked up the blueprints and put them in a bag.

That's just his personality.

Even if I don't understand it, I can complete the tasks listed above without any mistakes.

After Professor Xia Zhongsu left, Li Aiguo began to consider the issue of the rice cooker's outer shell.

Given the current level of technology, an iron shell should be used, as it is less technically difficult and less expensive.

However, it also has its drawbacks.

It is prone to rusting, and may also leak electricity if used improperly.

It is best to use engineering plastics.

With this in mind, Li Aiguo contacted Lanzhou Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., which now manufactures compression molding machines and injection molding machines in addition to producing engineering plastics.

They can manufacture everything from large items like buckets and tanks to small items like cups and plastic parts.

Upon hearing that the Qianmen Locomotive Depot's workshop needed some plastic shells, Lanzhou Chemical readily agreed.

This is the benefit of planning ahead. If everything had to be researched and produced by the front-door studio, it would take too much time and would be impossible to manufacture.

"Aiguo, dinner's ready." In the evening, the wild car expert returned from the machinery factory, bringing his own food, and ate with Li Aiguo and Zong Xianfeng.

Women love gossip, men love chatting; humans are essentially gossip-eating machines, and it's the same all over the world.

As they ate and chatted, the untrained car expert started talking about the machinery factory.

“I heard from the workers that the machine factory has increased the expected output of the four-legged machine and even shouted slogans.”

Li Aiguo looked up and asked, "Production can be increased, but quality must be guaranteed. Remind Liu Feng about this next time."

"Yes, I did express my opinion at the time, but Liu Feng seems a bit weak." The wild car expert lowered his voice.

That's just how he is.

Li Aiguo didn't think much of it. After all, the production task was handed over to the machinery factory, and the Qianmen Locomotive Depot was only responsible for acceptance. It was not convenient for them to rashly interfere with the other party's production work.

After dinner, the wild car expert went to work overtime, while Zong Xianfeng helped Li Aiguo build a rice cooker heating plate.

Section Chief Xing strolled in, saw the two men busy at work, and sighed, saying, "Aiguo, this is a bit difficult."

"Section Chief, what's the matter?" Li Aiguo knew that Section Chief Xing wouldn't have come all this way if he didn't have work, so he stood up, poured Section Chief Xing a cup of tea, and then asked.

"Regarding the team, the Red Star team has started training, and many young people in the section have asked to join, as well as young people from other factories," Section Chief Xing said.

Li Aiguo thought it was something big, but it turned out to be just this, which Li Aiguo had expected long ago.

Red Star Racing is going to race Ben Sweet Racing on the Isle of Man in a few months, and it's even been mentioned in the newspapers.

Young people these days are still very spirited; as soon as they hear about a competition, they all want to sign up.

"Section Chief, there's nothing we can do about it. The team has a limited number of spots, and we estimate that only five people will be able to compete. Besides, we understand enthusiasm, but ability is also a must."

"How about this, if the team can set aside a few spots for those kids to compete, and whoever wins gets to join the team, what do you think?"

Li Aiguo was concerned with the team's competition issues, while Section Chief Xing had many more to consider.

When leaders from other factories or units call his office, they always have to give him some face.

"Two spots, that's the most we can have," Li Aiguo thought for a moment.

If we can select good prospects, that would be even better; if their skills aren't up to par, we can simply use them as substitutes.

"Thank you very much." Section Chief Xing knew that this matter had put Li Aiguo in a difficult position.

He offered two cigarettes, then looked at the heating plate and the pot of eggs on the workbench and asked, "Are you making this in a rice cooker?"

Rice cookers are a rarity, but Section Chief Xing and the main leaders of the locomotive depot all have them at home.

"Yeah, it was just something I made quickly, a little something," Li Aiguo nodded and said.

"That's good, that's good." Section Chief Xing also breathed a slight sigh of relief. Li Aiguo was currently overseeing the development of armed helicopters and managing the motorcycle fleet, so he really shouldn't be starting any more large projects.

"Section Chief, I need some more materials."

"Just talk to the supplies department directly."

Section Chief Xing waved his hand and left in a hurry.

He needs to quickly announce the two spots for the motorcycle team to quiet down the young people in the section and the leaders of the other factories.

I'm bombarded with phone calls every day, and I almost don't even have time to work.

Li Aiguo underestimated the appeal of joining the Red Star Racing Team to those young people.

Around 8 p.m., Li Aiguo rode his motorcycle back to the courtyard house. As soon as he entered, he saw his third uncle and third aunt chatting with Chen Xueru.

Seeing Li Aiguo return, Chen Xueru breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, saying, "Brother Aiguo, Uncle San is here to inquire about the motorcycle team."

Li Aiguo exclaimed in surprise: "Uncle, you want to be a motorcyclist?"

"No way, if I were decades younger I'd really like to try. I signed up for Jiecheng." After saying that, the old man lowered his voice and said, "I heard that the motorcycle riders in the team get a ten-yuan subsidy every month and can also get meat coupons."

“We’re all neighbors in the same compound, so if you can help, please do so,” the third auntie said.

Li Aiguo handed the canvas bag to Chen Xueru and smiled at the two of them, saying, "Sure, but I suggest you prepare a sturdy walking stick for Yan Jiecheng first."

"Why would you need a cane for no reason?" The old man was stunned.

Li Aiguo replied, "Racing motorcycles are different from regular motorcycles. They need to reach speeds of at least 200 kilometers per hour. Do you know what that means? If you fall, you won't just get bruises, but rather patches all over your body."

"It seems that we don't have enough walking sticks."

Li Aiguo wasn't trying to scare the Third Uncle; people die every year at the Isle of Man tournament.

The third uncle's expression changed, but he also felt that this was an opportunity.

"We're not signing up anymore, we're not signing up!" The third aunt quickly grabbed the third uncle's arm and pulled him out.

After the two left, Xu Damao knocked on the door and came in.

"You want to sign up too?"

"No, I'm not that stupid," Xu Damao said in a low voice. "I heard that racing motorcycles are different from regular motorcycles, they're really big. Could I take a picture of myself riding one?"

Li Aiguo: "."

If we're talking about cunning, Xu Damao is the one.

They've actually taken the plunge into flaunting their wealth ahead of time; if this happened in later generations, they'd definitely be experts at running pig butchering scams.

Li Aiguo, of course, could not allow this unhealthy trend to spread, and was about to refuse.

Liu Lan rushed in from outside, grabbed Xu Damao by the ear, and dragged him out.

"If you don't get a beating for three days, you'll be climbing on the roof and tearing off the tiles."

Then came Xu Damao's desperate pleas.

Well, the husband's authority is failing.

The recruitment of two members by the Red Star Motorcycle Team caused a bigger stir than Li Aiguo had imagined.

When I arrived at the locomotive depot the next morning, a long queue had already formed in front of the driving school.

The driving school principal, Lan Xiang, personally presided over the recruitment, with leaders from the section in charge of supervision, creating a very enthusiastic atmosphere.

The recruitment requirements are simple: applicants must be at least 18 years old and possess a motorcycle driver's license.

Recruitment has become simpler; all you need to do is pass the assessment.

It's just that the assessment is a bit too difficult.

Li Aiguo didn't pay attention to these things; he just watched from the sidelines for a while before returning to his studio.

Two weeks later, the Lanzhou Chemical Plant delivered the first batch of plastic shells. To enhance the strength of the shells, Li Aiguo also designed reinforcing ribs at the bottom.

The rice cooker that Li Aiguo plans to make has a stainless steel inner pot with forged patterns inside, which can achieve a non-stick effect.

It's not that we can't manufacture Teflon non-stick coatings, but that stuff is said to be toxic at high temperatures, so we should be careful.

Stainless steel composite pot inner pots can achieve similar results, but the process is a bit more complicated.

“A blacksmith? Aiguo, I’m a blacksmith, me.” Li Aiguo was squatting by the door after work, fiddling with the stainless steel and aluminum materials he had just acquired. Liu Haizhong came over, his eyes fixed on the two pieces of material.

"Patriotism, what do you plan to do with this thing?"

When Li Aiguo saw Liu Haizhong, he suddenly slapped his forehead. Since there was a blacksmith master, why was he busy with his own work?

"Uncle, I'm planning to make a pot inner liner. I need the inside and outside to be stainless steel, and the middle layer to be aluminum. Can you do that?"

"What do you mean by 'can you handle it'? This is just composite work, I've done plenty of it before." Liu Haizhong took the two boards, lifted them in his hands, and asked, "Are there any specific technical requirements?"

Li Aiguo stood up and handed Liu Haizhong a cigarette: "This thing first requires the blanks to be stacked and the edges to be aligned, otherwise the edges will curl during hot rolling. When hot rolling composite, a double-roll hot rolling mill must be used for one-time rolling, and finally a flat vulcanizing machine must be used for cold pressing and leveling."

"Is this really the inner pot? How can it be so complicated?" Liu Haizhong was an experienced craftsman, and he could tell at a glance that Li Aiguo's plan was sound, but the technical difficulty was indeed considerable.

"That's not all. After it's forged, we still need to use the rough-marking method to leave square grids on it so that it won't stick to the pan." Li Aiguo had already simplified the process as much as possible.

"It seems a bit difficult. I need to consult with a few experienced craftsmen." Liu Haizhong was also a little apprehensive at this point.

"Here are the blueprints. Take some people to study them first. If you can make it work, the pot liner will be manufactured by your Qianmen Locomotive Depot from now on." Li Aiguo wasn't stingy; he directly made a grand promise.

"How many of these complicated things do we need to make?" Liu Haizhong perked up as he ate the flatbread.

"The first batch will be two thousand, and there will be at least tens of thousands later."

Upon hearing this, Liu Haizhong's mouth gaped open.

If there are 100,000 boilers, then the steel rolling mill should be renamed a boiler factory.

"The processing fee for each pot has doubled."

"Deal," Liu Haizhong readily agreed.

Just kidding, if we win this batch of orders and the steel rolling mill is converted into a boiler plant, Liu Haizhong will definitely become the workshop director.

Liu Haizhong didn't even have time to rest. He went home, told his second aunt, and then hurriedly headed to the steel rolling mill with the blueprints and materials.

When Yi Zhonghai came home from get off work, he saw this and narrowed his eyes slightly: "No need to ask, what task did Li Aiguo assign to Liu Haizhong this time? This Liu Haizhong has lost all his dignity as the second uncle, he's just like Li Aiguo's lapdog."

An older woman suggested, "Old man, you're a fitter, your skills are no worse than Liu Haizhong's. Why don't you find Aiguo? Maybe you can become a leader in the workshop." Yi Zhonghai was tempted for a moment, but quickly shook his head: "Asking me to bow down to this kid? No way."

Yi Zhonghai had already reached the crescent-shaped gate, but he stopped again. Li Aiguo then called Nan Yi over.

"That's strange. Liu Haizhong is at least a skilled craftsman who can make things, while Nan Yi is just a cook. Why would Li Aiguo hire him?"

What are you doing?

Of course, it's about studying how to cook rice.

Whether rice cooked in a rice cooker tastes good or not depends entirely on the circuit board controlling the temperature and heat. There are specific guidelines on when to heat the rice and when to use high or low heat.

The reason why rice cookers from the small notebook brand can be positioned as high-end products is because they have done serious research.

Li Aiguo had no expertise in cooking rice, but Nan Yi knew how.

Li Aiguo wouldn't miss the opportunity to take advantage of such a situation.

"Cook white rice?" Nan Yi was also taken aback by Li Aiguo's request.

"Cook delicious white rice," Li Aiguo explained his idea.

When Nan Yi heard that his cooking skills could be linked to high-tech things like rice cookers, he immediately perked up.

"Patriotism, you know what, I've actually researched it. Among the menus my master passed down to me was a fragment of the 'Suiyuan Shidan' (隨園食單), which recorded one of Master Yuan's famous dishes: white rice."

It's said that this type of rice has distinct grains, a soft and sticky texture, and is so delicious that you could eat three bowls of it plain, but it lacks some of these qualities.

As Nan Yi spoke, he said with some regret, "I've been working on it for the past two years, but I haven't been able to restore it yet."

“I can provide the rice.” Li Aiguo patted Nan Yi on the shoulder: “Let’s restore it together.”

“Okay.” Nan Yi agreed without hesitation.

The main reason he failed to complete the restoration was the lack of materials, since rice is still very expensive.

Liu Haizhong went to the steel rolling mill, Nan Yi turned around and went home to prepare, and Li Aiguo lit a cigarette and smiled.

This is what it means for everyone to have work to do.

Subsequently, Li Aiguo applied to the Xiangmen Locomotive Depot for a batch of research rice, a full fifty jin (25 kg).

The stove in Nan Yi's house was lit, and soon the aroma of rice filled the courtyard.

The large iron pot was connected to a thermometer, and Li Aiguo stood beside it, recording the temperature and the water level in the pot in his notebook.

A square table was placed in the main room.

In front of the Third Uncle, Third Aunt, Second Aunt, He Yushui, and Aunt Liu, as well as several old women and young wives in the courtyard, there was a bowl.

These residents are a group that tastes white rice.

"When will the rice be ready?" The third uncle was beaming from ear to ear. How could he not be happy to get free rice?
“Comrade Yan Bugui, this is scientific research, and it’s important to proceed according to plan. If you keep making noise, I’ll ask you to leave right now.” Xu Damao, who serves as the score statistician and discipline committee member, was sitting at the door with a small stick in his hand.

The old man shrank back and remained silent.

Yan Jiecheng raised his hand again: "Just eating white rice is a bit too monotonous. Can we add some dishes?"

Xu Damao picked up a small stick and pointed it at Yan Jiecheng: "Get lost."

Yan Jiecheng: "I was just saying that."

A short while later, the first pot of rice was cooked. There wasn't much, just a small half bowl for each person.

The steaming rice was placed in a bowl, and everyone scooped up a spoonful and slowly savored it.

"Nine out of ten, that's a bit too much water."

"8 out of 10, too sticky."

Xu Damao wrote down the scores, and finally looked at the Third Uncle: "Don't just focus on eating, give me a score."

The third uncle had already finished his entire bowl of rice and raised the bowl, saying, "Another bowl, please."

Li Aiguo: "."

Xu Damao: "."

Nanyi: "."

Taking into account the different tastes of everyone, the tasting team invited another group of people after the first round.

An older woman, having received the news from the third older woman, excitedly ran back: "Old man, Aiguo is inviting everyone in the compound to taste rice, why don't you come too?"

"No, no, I think Li Aiguo is just trying to curry favor with the residents of the compound. I've lived most of my life and I've never heard of eating rice being a scientific research activity." Yi Zhonghai missed Jia Dongxu a little. If Jia Dongxu were still alive, he would have already reported Li Aiguo.

But don't worry, Sha Zhu will be out in two more years.

He could write this down in his notebook and settle the score with Li Aiguo later.

"If you're not going, then I'll go." Seeing Yi Zhonghai's stubbornness, the older woman turned to leave.

Yi Zhonghai called out from behind, "Could you bring me back a bowl of rice?"

An older woman: "."

Yi Zhonghai smiled awkwardly: "If we're all full, then we won't need to cook dinner."

The residents of the compound are extremely happy with the rice for scientific research. They can enjoy delicious rice and make a contribution at the same time. Is there any better task in the world?
For three whole days, the stove in the Nan Yi family's kitchen never rested, and they cooked dozens of pots of rice.

“This is it.” Li Aiguo looked at the steps in the materials book and nodded. “The rice I cooked this time tastes even better than the one recorded on the tattered page left by Chef Guo.”

Nan Yi nodded in agreement: "I doubt even Master Guo would have imagined that cooking rice could be done by adjusting the gas pressure according to the temperature."

Nan Yi felt a sense of admiration when he heard this.

In the first few times of cooking rice, the method recorded on the tadpole leaflet was used exactly, and the results were very good. The tasters all gave it a high score of 9 points.

However, Li Aiguo suggested that they should go a step further and take air pressure into account, so he modified the large iron pot of the Nan Yi family.

result.

Obvious.

The rice cooked under pressure cooked faster and tasted better; the tasters all gave it a perfect score of 10.

Li Aiguo put away his materials and went into the main room. The third uncle, holding a large bowl and clutching his stomach, said, "Aiguo, another bowl."

Li Aiguo: "."

A grand research project on cooking rice has come to an end, and many residents feel that the task was completed a little too quickly.

On the other side, Liu Haizhong, along with several veteran blacksmiths, also forged stainless steel pot inner liner.

On Monday, Li Aiguo took the inner pot of his pan to the workshop of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot to test it out, and it was indeed non-stick.

The circuit board, outer casing, and inner pot were all in place, and Li Aiguo began assembly when Section Chief Xing came over again.

"You actually managed to figure it out?"

"Section Chief, I'd like to produce a small batch for our Qianmen Locomotive Depot first. If there are no problems, we can then release it elsewhere," Li Aiguo replied, standing up.

"A pot that can automatically cook and keep warm is exactly what our section needs. I'll send it to the canteen first."

Section Chief Xing left happily with two rice cookers.

Many employees at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot suffer from stomach problems due to irregular work schedules and eating cold meals.

The rice cooker was delivered to the cafeteria, and after the chubby chef learned how to use it, it quickly came in handy.

"This thing is great! Just press the button and you don't have to worry about anything else. I'll use this to cook rice tonight."

Li Aiguo designed several different voltages and planned to sell the rice cookers to Hong Kong, Europe, and North America.

"It's so beautiful," Chen Xueru said as she entered the studio and looked at the rice cooker.

"It would be even prettier if you drew a red five-pointed star on it," Chen Xueru said, pointing to the control panel of the rice cooker.

"That's a good idea." Li Aiguo stroked his chin. The white pot with the red logo looked beautiful, elegant and high-end.

"And what about the water? The amount of water is key to whether the rice tastes good or not," Chen Xueru, the junior cook, asked.

That's easy to handle.

There is a cooking technique passed down among Chinese people for many years that outsiders do not know: just insert your index finger into the pot and the water level should cover the first joint of your index finger; that is the right amount of water.

Simple and easy to understand, clear and concise.

Li Aiguo wrote this down in the instruction manual.

Around 3 p.m., the Qianmen Locomotive Depot was bustling with people.

After concluding their study tour on freight transportation, the leaders from the Ningbo Railway Bureau's Yongzhou section arrived at the freight workshop office to continue their exchange and learning.

One of the two was Director Liu of the freight workshop of the Ningbo Railway Bureau's Yongzhou section, and the other was Dispatcher Zhou, who was in charge of freight dispatching.

“Everyone hasn’t eaten yet, right? I’ll have the canteen send some food over, and we can talk while we eat,” Director Zhao of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot suggested.

That's how it is these days; everyone's so busy with work that they don't even have time to eat.

"Anything will do," Director Liu nodded. It was already afternoon, and being able to have a hot meal was already a good thing.

Afterwards, several boxes of food were delivered to the office.

"Something's not right." Director Liu opened the iron kidney lunchbox and immediately sensed something was amiss after just one glance.

"What's wrong?" Director Zhao frowned. "What's wrong with this dish? Doesn't it look stale? It must have been simmering in the pot for too long."

"It's not a side dish, it's rice."

“The rice certainly doesn’t look like leftovers.” Coordinator Zhou also opened the lunchbox.

"Never mind, let's eat."

Director Liu didn't think much of it, picked up his chopsticks and scooped up a mouthful of rice. As soon as it entered his mouth, his expression changed.

The rice had a faint, pleasant aroma and was also springy; it was the best rice he had ever eaten.

"Old Zhao, where did you get this rice?" Director Liu chewed a couple of times and put it in his stomach. His stomach, which used to hurt when he ate, was now warm and comforting.

"The leftovers from lunch in the cafeteria, you don't think that just because you're a leader I have to make the cafeteria cook special meals for you, do you? Besides, they couldn't make it in such a short time." Director Zhao and Director Liu were old friends, and he said half-jokingly.

"Leftovers can taste this good. Is it because of the rice?"

"I'm not sure about that, but we use rice from Northeast China, nothing special."

"eat first."

Director Liu didn't bother asking any questions at that moment; he picked up his chopsticks and ate every last grain of white rice in his lunchbox.

Then, an important question was raised.

"I'd like to visit your cafeteria."

(End of this chapter)