The train driver in the courtyard

"Don't get into a conflict with the people from the machine factory. Wait for me to get there."

Li Aiguo received Zong Xianfeng's call at around 3 p.m. After hanging up, he quickly walked towards the large off-road vehicle outside.

"Brother Aiguo, let's go out?" Zhou Ke was just getting out of a jeep at that moment.

"Zhou Ke, come with me to the machinery factory, something's happened there."

With Zhou Ke by my side.

When Li Aiguo arrived at the machinery factory in his large SUV, a large crowd had already gathered outside the parking lot.

Liu Feng and the factory leaders arrived, but Zong Xianfeng was still confronting Zhao Anan.

Zhao Anan looked at Zong Xianfeng, who was also covered in bruises. He never expected that even though he had raised the banner, the junior technician on the other side would not back down.

"Director Liu, Engineer Zong is deliberately making things difficult for our machinery factory. I suggest we kick him out immediately."

On one hand, there was the inspector sent by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and on the other hand, there was the production department of his own company. Liu Feng was in a dilemma.

In addition, Liu Feng also had some suspicions that there might be something wrong with this batch of strange-looking creatures.

However, if a problem occurs, it won't just affect Zhao Anan alone, but the entire machinery factory.

Liu Feng felt like he was on a hot seat. After hesitating for a moment, he could only bite the bullet and try to persuade him.

“Zong, these strange creatures have already been inspected and approved by our factory, and there are no problems. The reason why Section Chief Zhao stopped you was because he was worried about wasting time and effort.”

Just then, Li Aiguo arrived with Zhou Ke.

"Zong Xianfeng, what's going on?"

Zong Xianfeng walked over and briefly explained the situation.

"Let's open it up and check."

Li Aiguo didn't even glance at Liu Feng and Zhao Anan before issuing the order.

Zhao Anan panicked and quickly stopped Zong Xianfeng, looking at Li Aiguo and saying, "Advisor Li, are you deliberately making things difficult for us?"

"Embarrassed?"

Li Aiguo sneered and pointed at the strange creatures, saying, "These things will be running on the roads fully loaded with 100 tons in the future. If something happens, it won't be a small matter! Rather than saying I'm making things difficult for you, it's more accurate to say that you're disregarding the safety of the drivers. Are you planning to sabotage economic development?"

Bang!
Zhao Anan was accused of a serious crime, and his face flushed red. He could only turn to look at Liu Feng.

Before Liu Feng could speak, Li Aiguo continued, "Director Liu, I'm making this clear today: without the inspection of our Qianmen Locomotive Depot, no 'four-wheeled vehicle' can leave the machinery factory!"

The meaning of this statement is quite clear: the "four-not-like" is a project of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. Since you, Liu Feng, cannot handle it, then the Qianmen Locomotive Depot will take care of it for you.

Liu Feng was speechless for a moment, and could only nod silently.

"Inspect!" Li Aiguo turned to Zhou Ke: "Anyone who dares to obstruct us is sabotaging railway work. Old Zhou, arrest them immediately!"

"Hehe, I'd like to see which fool dares to play tricks on me." Zhou Ke had also figured out the situation by now, so he naturally decided to stand on his own side, drew his pistol, and released the safety.

He held a big hat in one hand and a gun in the other; he had to be strong in both.

Zhao Anan had initially wanted to stop him, but now he was a little scared and quietly took a step back.

"Alright, alright, you can check, but if you can't find any problems, I expect you to give me an explanation."

Li Aiguo completely ignored his meaning and stepped forward to help Zong Xianfeng with the examination.

The jack lifted the truck bed, and the hydraulic pipes and hydraulic pump were all disassembled. Zong Xianfeng inspected each part one by one according to the inspection standards.

With a soft "clang," the torque wrench got stuck on one of the bolts, and Zong Xianfeng was taken aback.

"impossible."

Zong Xianfeng repeatedly tested the pump body with a plug gauge, and after a while he stood up and pointed to the pump body shell: "Look here, the bolt pre-tightening torque is less than 30%, and the mounting surface has not been degreased at all. There are impurities left, which cause leakage on the sealing surface."

Zhao Anan leaned over and glanced at it, still trying to argue, "That's impossible. I was watching the installation; they definitely used a torque wrench."

"Using it doesn't mean it meets the standards!"

Zong Xianfeng interrupted him directly, took out an inspection record sheet from the toolbox, and said, "This kind of hydraulic pump that can carry 100 tons must be operated with a torque multiplier according to the 'diagonal step-by-step pre-tightening method'. After each stage of pre-tightening, it must be left to stand for ten minutes to eliminate stress."

Look at the indentations on the bolt surface; it's clearly been tightened with brute force in one go, not according to the manufacturing process at all!

Zhao Anan was surprised that even such a small detail could be found, and laughed awkwardly twice: "It's just a bolt, nothing serious."

"Do you know what the consequences would be if this bolt came off? When the hydraulic pump is supporting the load, it might shift, and the entire truck bed would fall down."

Li Aiguo put on a stern face and continued, "I suspect this isn't a problem with just one bolt. Zong Xianfeng, continue the inspection."

"Yes!"

Zong Xianfeng picked up the wrench and squatted down on the ground again.

The atmosphere at the scene instantly fell silent, and everyone stared at Zong Xianfeng.

"This one has a problem too, and there are two more over here."

Half an hour later, Zong Xianfeng stood up and said, "Aiguo, there are twelve bolts here, and none of them were installed according to the specifications."

Upon hearing this, the faces of the factory leaders turned grim, and Liu Feng's heart skipped a beat.

Anyone in the machinery industry knows that omitting processes equals saving time. The reason why machine factories can make great strides is not because of any spirit, but because of cutting corners and using inferior materials.

Things suddenly became serious.

At that time, several leaders of the machinery factory wanted to speak with Li Aiguo privately.

Li Aiguo ignored them and instructed Zong Xianfeng to continue inspecting the cargo bed of the four-legged vehicle.

"Patriot, the clearance between the trunnion and the bushing is three times the standard! It should normally be 0.05 to 0.1 mm, but now it's 0.3 mm. Moreover, the bushing has not been nitrided, and the wear marks are already very obvious. It will definitely loosen after two more uses."

A factory leader came over and tried to appear calm: "It's probably just misalignment during assembly. It's a minor issue; we can adjust it later."

Before he finished speaking, Zong Xianfeng had already moved to the limit baffle at the front of the truck bed and placed a weld inspection ruler on the weld: "The weld height is insufficient, and it's full of pores. The standard requires arc welding, with a weld leg size of at least 8 millimeters. Look at this, it's at most 5 millimeters!"

Now even the simplest welding is going wrong, and the factory leaders were speechless.

Zhao Anan calmly retorted, "This was a mistake made by the workers during assembly; it has nothing to do with our production department."

This is an extremely clever statement, shifting all the responsibility onto the workers. If you're going to punish someone, you can't punish all the workers, can you?

Just as Li Aiguo was about to speak, an old master craftsman walked over and said, "Advisor Li, I would like to confess my mistake to you."

Li Aiguo recognized the man as Master Chen, a seventh-grade worker from the machinery factory, with whom he had worked in the past.

"Master Chen, what's wrong?"

"Consultant Li, I'm truly ashamed to face you. Your Qianmen Locomotive Depot entrusted the production of these hybrid vehicles to our machinery factory, and we were supposed to guarantee their quality..."

However, Zhao Anan, the head of the production department, proposed simplifying the process. Several veteran colleagues and I voiced our opinions at the time, but unfortunately, we couldn't stick to it until the end.

Master Chen's face flushed slightly.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot found a job for the machinery factory, but what have these leaders actually done?

“Master Chen, this has nothing to do with you.”

Li Aiguo could understand Master Chen; in that kind of atmosphere, most people simply couldn't withstand it.

Li Aiguo had someone help Master Chen back, and then shouted to Zong Xianfeng, "Put away the notebook, let's go back to the locomotive depot."

Zhao Anan knew that if Li Aiguo and the others went back, he would be in big trouble. So he stopped pretending and reached out to snatch Zong Xianfeng's notebook.

Li Aiguo shouted at him, "Zhou Ke, where's the gun?!"

Without hesitation, Zhou Ke raised his pistol. Zhao Anan's hand had already touched the notebook, but he dared not exert any force. He froze in mid-air, looking utterly ridiculous.

Li Aiguo told Zong Xianfeng to put the notebook away, then looked at the two thousand "four-wheeled vehicles": "Stop delivering the four-wheeled vehicles!"

Liu Feng was startled and quickly leaned closer, whispering, "Aiguo, now the locals are all waiting for this monstrosity, and we've reported it to the ministries."

"Or, let's deliver it first, and then find an excuse to take the 'four-legged beast' back later for inspection and rectification. This way, we can minimize the impact."

Hmm, isn't this just like the recall in later generations?

To knowingly sell something with a problem is to have a bad conscience.

Li Aiguo looked at Liu Feng and said, "Director Liu, on behalf of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot's workshop, I oppose this delivery."

Afterwards, Li Aiguo took Zong Xianfeng and Zhou Ke directly back to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot and wrote a report to submit to the Ministry of Machine Building.

Li Aiguo didn't care how the machinery factory handled it.

If the machinery factory insists on continuing to deliver, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop has ways to hold them back.

As Li Aiguo had predicted, after they left, the machinery factory immediately held a meeting to find a solution.

Zhao Anan then began to shift the blame: "Director Liu, leaders, I only meant well, thinking of bringing honor to our machinery factory, which is why I improved the production process."

"Improve? You're talking nonsense! You've ruined our machine factory."

"Old Chen, stop shouting. The machinery factory is in trouble now, and this is the time for us to work together. Let's not fight amongst ourselves."

"Yes, yes, let's figure out a way to complete the task from above."

Seeing this, Zhao Anan's lips curled up slightly.

Just as he had predicted, these people had no choice but to stand by his side at this crucial moment.

“I suggest we go to the leaders of the ministry. The livelihoods of thousands of workers in our machinery factory are at stake. The leaders can’t just ignore it,” Zhao Anan suggested.

Other leaders unanimously agreed.

"We were just a little careless; it's not like we haven't done it before."

"Even if there are minor quality issues, it's not a big deal; it can be repaired, right?"

Seeing that Liu Feng remained silent, Zhao Anan narrowed his eyes and said, "Director Liu, this is a critical moment. As the director, you must step up."

Liu Feng's face was gloomy as he slowly stood up: "This batch of 'four unlikes' cannot be delivered, otherwise we will be letting down our fellow villagers. As for the consequences, I will admit my mistake to the ministry."

Liu Feng's sudden "betrayal" took Zhao Anan by surprise.

Once the ministry investigates, he'll be in big trouble.

"Factory manager, you really need to think this through! You can't just watch thousands of our factory workers lose their jobs!"

Liu Feng said with a wry smile, "If I had listened to you back then and made some big leaps, that would have been the real way to ruin my job."

"you"

Zhao Anan cursed Liu Feng inwardly for being too foolish, and quickly asked other leaders to persuade him.

Just then, the office door was pushed open, and the head of the security department looked panicked: "Report, comrades from the ministry's discipline supervision department have arrived." Before he finished speaking, two middle-aged men wearing gray Zhongshan suits walked into the conference room.

Which one is Zhao Anan?

"I...I am..." Zhao Anan was also stunned, and he had to hold onto the table to stand up.

“Zhao Anan, you will now come with us to be investigated.” A middle-aged man walked up to him and showed him a notice.

"Why should I? I did make a mistake, but my intentions were right. It was the workers who made the mistake in execution." Zhao Anan's legs went weak, but he knew he couldn't back down now.

"We'll investigate all of this. Let's go." The two middle-aged men had already received their orders and didn't give him a chance to explain.

The two men flanked Zhao Anan from both sides.

"We're doomed." Zhao Anan's legs went weak, and he almost fainted on the ground. He was dragged out by two middle-aged men.

The factory leaders who had just been about to speak up for Zhao Anan exchanged glances, and all of them could see the horror in each other's eyes.

It was obvious that the Ministry of Machine Building did not wait to hear their explanations. After receiving the report from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, they directly issued the order to investigate.

They originally thought that with the few thousand employees of the machinery factory, they could still compete with the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and at worst, they wouldn't be held responsible. Now it seems they underestimated the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

After Zhao Anan was taken away, an investigation team dispatched by the Ministry of Machine Building immediately entered the machinery factory.

The investigation team reviewed the blueprints provided by the production department and interviewed the workers in the workshop.

After some investigation, a report was finally produced.

"Zhao Anan, from the production department of the machinery plant, changed the process flow given by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot for his own selfish interests, greatly simplifying the production process, which led to a large number of 'hybrids' having quality problems due to the assembly process."

The results of the investigation were released quickly.

"The person primarily responsible, Zhao Anan, deliberately altered the production process, causing great losses to the machinery factory. He committed the crime of sabotaging production, was dismissed from the factory, and will have to spend five years in jail."

"Due to negligence, Liu Feng, the factory director of the machinery factory, attempted to cover up the incident after it occurred. He was given a major demerit and had a year's salary deducted."

"Several leaders of the machinery factory were also given major demerits and had a year's salary deducted for their poor supervision."

As for the batch of substandard, non-standard locomotives, they need to be disassembled and reinstalled. This time, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot dispatched technicians to the machinery plant.

When this matter got out, it caused quite a stir.

Some people think that Zhao Anan's starting point was good, but he did not consider things thoroughly and should not be criticized.

Some people also felt that the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop was too domineering.

Li Aiguo paid no attention to these comments.

If all you hear is babbling and gurgling, then you shouldn't be planting crops.

****
While Li Aiguo was busy dealing with matters at the machinery factory, the steel rolling mill held a celebration party for the rice cooker.

Due to the excellent performance of the steel rolling mill in manufacturing rice cooker inner pots, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, after careful consideration, assigned the task of producing inner pots to the steel rolling mill.

This is a huge project comparable to motorcycle parts; the first batch alone saw the Qianmen Locomotive Depot place an order for 10,000 boiler shells.

Several workshops in the steel rolling mill that had been shut down have now reopened, and it is expected that every worker will receive a bonus by the end of the year.

Deputy Factory Director Li, who was in charge of the work, also received praise from the ministry. At the meeting, he directly announced: "Comrade Liu Haizhong made great contributions in the process of manufacturing the inner pot. After deliberation by the factory committee, it was decided to promote Comrade Liu Haizhong to the position of workshop director."

Liu Haizhong, sitting below, was so excited upon hearing the decision that he almost jumped up.

For so many years, he had been hoping to become a leader, and he never imagined that his dream would actually come true.

“Master Liu has indeed done a lot of practical work in the past few years, so it is only right that he be the workshop director.”

"Yes, Master Liu works from dawn till dusk, honing his skills in the workshop. He's one of the hardest-working workers in the workshop."

"I heard that Master Liu only has an elementary school education. Isn't that against the rules?"

“What’s wrong with it? Liu Haizhong is just using a job as a substitute for a cadre. He’s still a worker, but he’s enjoying the benefits of a cadre.”

There was a lot of discussion in the audience.

Xu Damao saw Liu Haizhong stand up, and his eyes also turned a little red.

He almost became a cadre himself, but that kid Jia Dongxu ruined it.

Time is also destiny.

Most people were happy for Liu Haizhong, but of course, some felt that the leader was being ridiculous, including Yi Zhonghai.

"A level-seven worker who drinks all day can become a workshop leader? He just got on Li Aiguo's good side. What's so great about that?" Yi Zhonghai spat.

But now no one is responding to Yi Zhonghai's words, so he can only rage in vain for a while.

Li Aiguo had just finished work and returned to the compound when he learned that Liu Haizhong had become the workshop director.

"Second Uncle, congratulations!"

"Aiguo, I have to thank you a lot for my promotion. I've prepared a banquet for you tonight, you must come."

After Liu Haizhong returned home, he gave his second aunt ten yuan and a large meat coupon, and bought a lot of meat and vegetables.

"I will definitely be there."

Li Aiguo didn't stand on ceremony and readily agreed.

Night falls.

Li Aiguo, Xu Damao, Uncle San, Yan Jiecheng. Almost all the residents of the compound came.

Liu Haizhong specially bought two jars of wine, and everyone ate and drank, creating a very lively atmosphere in the room.

The banquet ended after 10 p.m.

Li Aiguo came out of Liu Haizhong's house and was about to go back inside when he heard an old woman shouting behind him.

"Something terrible has happened! Someone come quick! My husband has fainted!"

Li Aiguo's drunkenness vanished instantly, and he strode towards the backyard.

When they arrived at Yi Zhonghai's house, a large crowd had already gathered outside.

Xu Damao and Yan Jiecheng, who had left earlier, had already gone inside.

In the dim light, Yi Zhonghai was lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth, and reeking of alcohol. Next to him was a wine jar and a plate of peanuts.

"Auntie, don't panic, what happened?" Uncle San saw that Auntie was distraught and quickly called out to her to help her to a chair.

"I don't know either. Lao Yi was in a bad mood today. After dinner, we had a quarrel, so I went to the park. When I came back, Lao Yi was lying here." The woman suppressed her panic and recounted the situation.

"Maybe he was drunk?" the third uncle breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Haizhong arrived at this time, went into the house, picked up the wine jar, smelled it, and gave his opinion: "There is something wrong with this wine. It should be homemade, but the brewing time is not right."

The woman, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately asked, "What will happen?"

"At best, it'll result in favoritism; at worst, it could lead to death," Liu Haizhong replied.

Li Aiguo finally understood. The homemade wine was not brewed properly, probably because there were too many bacteria in it, which could easily cause problems if consumed.

Like the wine that people made themselves in later generations, if something went wrong during the brewing process, it could be a deadly weapon; one glass could easily knock you out.

Don't ask the author of this dog-themed article how he knows.

"Get her to the hospital quickly, don't delay anything," Liu Haizhong reminded the older woman, knowing the dangers of this kind of alcohol.

The older woman regained consciousness and tried to help Yi Zhonghai up, but she couldn't manage it after several attempts.

With no other option, Xu Damao ran to the Jia family's house, dismantled the door panel, placed Yi Zhonghai on it, and rushed him to the hospital that very night.

After examination, the doctor diagnosed it as poisoning. Fortunately, he was brought in in time; otherwise, he might have been bedridden for the rest of his life.

"Comrade, you're so old, why do you like drinking so much?" After Yi Zhonghai sobered up, the doctor gave him a good scolding.

Yi Zhonghai's face turned red, but he couldn't say a word.

You can't exactly tell the doctor that he drank because he was so depressed about Liu Haizhong becoming the workshop director.

Xu Damao said sarcastically from the side, "Uncle, you often criticize Uncle for liking to drink, but Uncle hasn't gotten drunk all these years. But you, you just went for a big one."

Yi Zhonghai felt he shouldn't have woken up.

News of Yi Zhonghai's hospitalization due to drinking quickly spread throughout the neighborhood.

"I never expected that Yi Zhonghai would like to drink."

"You can argue with that, this guy's been hiding it pretty well."

After being discharged from the hospital, Yi Zhonghai rarely appeared in the compound after hearing these discussions.

Time passed little by little, and before we knew it, it was the end of July.

The first batch of rice cookers has been delivered to the port city and will then be distributed to the world through the established sales channels.

As soon as Li Aiguo arrived at work, he received a call from Yang Jizong.

"Sold out! Sold out! Patriotic brother, our Red Star rice cooker sold two thousand units in the port city in just two days. Sales data for other sales regions are still being compiled." Yang Jizong was so excited that he almost shouted it out.

It makes sense. Rice cookers are low-cost and high-profit products. As long as sales can be boosted, they will become a golden goose.

"Well done!" Even though Li Aiguo had anticipated this situation, he was still pleased. As long as they seized the initiative, they could establish a foothold in the small appliance market.

"There's one more thing. The little notebook suddenly wants to hold a rice cooking competition. They want to use our Red Star rice cooker to compete against the rice master from the little notebook."

It was supposedly organized by a private group, but after investigating, I found that the real mastermind was Komatsu.

Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo thought to himself, "This little notebook really knows how to play."

Isn't this the same "evaluation" model that self-media in later generations often use?

"It is said that the Rice Immortal's ancestors were all rice cookers, and he even cooked for Tianhuang. The rice he made was praised by Corporal James, a five-star general."

"Should we try to stop it? I've already had the lawyers prepare the necessary paperwork."

Yang Jizong was somewhat worried.

"no need."

Li Aiguo held the microphone and looked out the window.

The sun is shining brightly outside the window.

(End of this chapter)