The train driver in the courtyard

Hextech contacted familiar reporters and asked them to publish news about the Velociraptor sports car. Yang Jizong was just waiting to see the article in the newspaper the next day.

As a result, the article did exist, but it didn't quite feel right.

Business Daily: A computer company venturing into sports car manufacturing shows a complete disregard for the safety of car owners.

Tian Guang Bao: 0-100 km/h in 3 seconds? Even the Cadillac from Xiao Mei's family and the Ferrari from Xiao Ou's family can't do that. Exaggerating the parameters is deceiving consumers.

The Cycle News: Hextech, a company that excels at boasting.

Yang Jizong then flipped through several more newspapers.

Most newspapers were on this note, either questioning the performance of the Velociraptor sports car or expressing concerns about its safety.

The most outrageous thing is that some people have started to care about environmental protection, questioning whether the seven layers of car paint pollute the environment.

Can you even imagine?!

Only a few newspapers with relatively good relations with the area reported on Hextech's plans to hold an auto show in a rather conventional manner.

"Uncle Bai, what's going on?" Yang Jizong put down his newspaper and lit a cigar.

"I've already inquired. It's those newspapers in Hong Kong that have banded together. The financial backers of these newspapers are all those families." Butler Bai was a competent butler and had already contacted his friends at the newspapers.

"You son of a bitch!" Yang Jizong couldn't help but curse.

The newly released Velociraptor sports car has absolutely no competitive relationship with the major families in Hong Kong, and will only enhance Hong Kong's international reputation.

These guys not only don't help, they're sabotaging us. What is this if not betraying our own people?
Fortunately, this time the product being launched is a supercar, and the target customers are not the audience of those tabloids.

"Ignore them and continue preparing for the auto show." After having breakfast, Yang Jizong checked the time on his wrist and made a phone call to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.

We started by talking about the auto show, and I also mentioned being besieged by tabloids.

Yang Jizong now prefers to discuss any troubles he encounters with Li Aiguo before making a decision.

For some reason, he always felt that the kid had a particularly far-sighted vision and was very good at analyzing the essence through phenomena.

"Sigh, it's nothing new. Some people like to be dogs for outsiders, and now that they see us standing up, of course they're unhappy." Li Aiguo knew those big families all too well.

"It's not a big deal, but it's disgusting." Yang Jizong thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed the case. He shook his head with a wry smile.

"They can disgust us, and we can return the favor."

Li Aiguo pondered for a moment and said, "Our Hextech is big enough now, it's time to start a newspaper."

Publishing newspapers is a very popular thing in the port city.

It's not that those big families are keen on making this little bit of money.

Rather, if others have newspapers and you don't, you're more likely to be targeted in those newspapers.

Hextech was also targeted by Japanese people in the very beginning.

They were accused of causing noise and wastewater pollution, or obstructing the passage of nearby residents, and were denounced as unscrupulous capitalists.

You should know that Hextech is just an assembly company, and they mainly do trading. Why would they cause so much trouble?

It's practically a daily shopping spree.

Yang Jizong spent a great deal of effort to solve this problem.

If we had our own newspaper, it wouldn't be so troublesome.

Of course, the Yang family also had good relations with several newspapers and had invested in them. However, when it came to a real fight, it was still uncertain whether those newspapers would be able to help.

If Li Aiguo had any feelings about coming to this era, it would undoubtedly be that "we must control our own cannons."

Rely on mountains and they will fall; rely on people and they will run away. Only yourself is the most reliable.

Li Aiguo had always wanted to enter the media industry. Since newspapers had low barriers to entry, he decided to start one first to test the waters.

“That’s a good idea. The relevant procedures are easy to complete, but it’s too late now,” Yang Jizong replied.

"No rush, we need approval from above first."

Li Aiguo kept this in mind and steered the conversation back to the auto show.

"The auto show should invite more beautiful women, the less they wear, the better."

"Hehe, do you like bikinis or not!" Yang Jizong was stunned for a moment, then he understood.

Who likes to buy sports cars? Young men, of course. Who doesn't like bikini-clad beauties?

"Make sure the lights are on, find some spotlights, and focus them on the sports car!"

"Let's hire a few more photographers. Don't worry about wasting film. Let them take a bunch of pictures and create a good atmosphere."

Li Aiguo adapted the operation of the auto show from his previous life to the conditions of this era, and then explained it to me.

Yang Jizong took notes in his notebook and nodded, "I'll go arrange it right away."

After hanging up the phone, Li Aiguo originally planned to go to the Red Star Computing Institute to help tinker with LED lights.

An important message came from Lao Mao, and Li Aiguo immediately turned around and headed towards the armed helicopter modification workshop.

Lately, the standoff between Lao Su and Xiao Mei's family has intensified.

Xiao Mei's family announced within the extended family that they would bring big sticks to blockade the Sugarcane family's house and tell Lao Su to get lost.

Although the Corn Emperor was taken aback by the attitude of the American family, he could not show weakness and immediately ordered the delivery of intercontinental firecrackers and bombers to the Sugarcane family.

The current situation is that the eight aircraft carriers and air force squadrons of the Mei family have arrived at the perimeter of the Sugar family and formed an arc.

The Su family's transport fleet is also ready to depart from the port, with blackfish escorting it from the seabed.

The two companies are bound to clash, which will attract everyone's attention.

That would be the perfect time for us to conduct our mushroom experiments.

Li Aiguo calculated the time; there was less than a month left, and he needed to quickly assemble the armed helicopter for testing.

All materials have now been transferred to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.

Chief Engineer Qi of Harbin Aircraft Industry Group is leading a group of experienced workers to install thin lead plates on sensors and avionics equipment bays.

Upon seeing Li Aiguo enter, Chief Engineer Qi stood up.

"Patriotism, I've been thinking about this for the past two days. Once the mushroom explodes, the shockwave it generates will not only be radioactive but will also produce an electromagnetic pulse, which could destroy electronic equipment. Our helicopter uses a lot of new technology."

This time, the armed helicopters underwent a comprehensive upgrade.

The outer shell is fitted with high-temperature resistant ceramics, the rotor shaft and fuselage skin are reinforced, the fuselage gaps are sealed, and a pressure relief valve is installed.

The air intake is equipped with a filter and the intake port is quickly closed when the shock wave arrives to prevent the engine combustion chamber from being destroyed by high pressure.

The difficulty of the modification is no less than that of rebuilding a new one.

This is also why the renovation work has been delayed.

but.

Chief Engineer Qi still felt it wasn't enough.

He has already designed this modified armed helicopter as an aerial reconnaissance platform.

These large mushrooms can be used to test various flavors in the future.

Li Aiguo laughed and said, "Old Qi, I've already thought of this. We can add an aluminum alloy mesh to the entire fuselage."

"A Faraday cage? It can shield against electromagnetic pulses, but if the pulse is too strong, it might penetrate."

"We can use a wire to ground the system and block the electromagnetic pulse from penetrating," Li Aiguo had already thought of.

Chief Engineer Qi frowned: "Something feels off about this helicopter connected to the ground."

Li Aiguo laughed heartily: "Old Qi, you've forgotten, this isn't an armed helicopter, it's a platform. Besides, once it withstands the shockwave, the helicopter can be moved at any time."

"That's true. That really is a good idea." Chief Engineer Qi felt that he had fallen into a cognitive trap again.

Faraday cages are very simple things, and grounding wires is common sense, but he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. Why? Because his thinking wasn't broad enough.

The young man opposite him was good at using simple things to solve difficult problems.

As for aluminum alloy mesh, it can now be produced domestically. Li Aiguo, in the name of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop, asked the locomotive depot's materials department to make the purchase.

The call from the materials department was made in the morning, and two trucks arrived in the afternoon to deliver the alloy mesh.

Section Chief Xing was also stunned by the speed; when did local factories become so proactive?

When Section Chief Xing saw that the deliveryman was wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, he finally understood what was going on.

I dare not ask, I dare not ask. It must be that the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop is up to something big again.

Just then, Xiao Yi's camel milk powder arrived. It's genuine, not the adulterated kind.

These are genuine nutritional supplements, which should have been reserved for those who have made meritorious contributions.

Section Chief Xing instructed the Materials Section to allocate a large quantity of supplies to the workshop and deliver them to the front gate workshop.

They even specially sent Li Aiguo a weasel that they had just killed.

This thing was caught by the comrades from the logistics department in the grove next to the Qianmen locomotive depot.

The locomotive depot has been expanding recently, and the bulldozers are making a lot of noise, catching quite a few small animals.

"Yan Jiecheng, come here, help me deliver this to Comrade Aiguo." Yan Jiecheng had just delivered the documents to the supplies department when he was conscripted.

"Camel milk powder? Is Brother Aiguo pregnant?" Yan Jiecheng wasn't surprised to see the cans, even though he had seen weasels before.

The head of the supplies department said sternly, "What nonsense are you talking about? The comrades in the studio have been working hard lately. This was specially allocated to them by the department. Stop arguing and send it over right away."

"OK."

Yan Jiecheng was somewhat depressed.

If he had known the workshop offered such good benefits, he should have joined the workshop after he joined the locomotive depot.

Li Aiguo didn't expect Section Chief Xing to send over the gifts, but he didn't refuse and distributed them according to the number of people.

Each person will receive two cans of camel milk powder, enough to last for a month.

Li Aiguo tasted it and found it to be fishier and saltier than regular milk powder, which he didn't like.

Now that Li Aiguo was not lacking in nutrition, he took it back to the courtyard house, gave one jar to Aunt Liu, and left the other jar for Chen Xueru.

"I really can't get used to this formula." Chen Xueru was initially very interested, but after a few sips, she grinned.

It's not that this camel milk powder is inauthentic; quite the opposite, it's precisely because nothing else is added that it has such a unique flavor.

The three children were very interested, and Xiao Dongfang gulped down more than half of the half-bowl of camel milk powder.

This little guy is not even two years old, but he's already about the same height as the three-year-olds in the yard. He'll definitely grow tall in the future.

Weasel meat is edible. After removing the tendons, it can be braised and made into a very good meat dish.

The pelts can fetch a good price; the money from one weasel pelt can buy one or two pounds of pork.

On ordinary days, you can see people selling weasel pelts at the pigeon market in Beijing.

It was filled with wheat straw, with a rope threaded through its nostrils, and dried until it was shiny and its fur was a dull, yellowish-brown.

Li Aiguo is now a master chef, and cooking is no problem for him.

After peeling, blanch it in boiling water.

Pour off the oil foam, then chop the ingredients into pieces, add chili peppers, ginger, scallions, and garlic, then pour in a little Shaoxing wine and soy sauce, cover the pot and start braising.

In no time, the room was filled with an enticing aroma of meat.

The smell wafted out through the window cracks, and several residents who were fetching water noticed it and looked towards the backyard. "Oh, it's Li Aiguo's house. It's normal, it's normal."

Now Li Aiguo earns a salary of over two hundred yuan a month, plus special allowances, and nobody can say anything when he eats some meat.

Yi Zhonghai is currently experiencing some difficulties.

I finally saved up some money to buy a few eggs, and now I'm enjoying them immensely.

The aroma made the egg in my mouth suddenly lose its flavor.

"I think Li Aiguo is just deliberately trying to make things difficult for me!" Yi Zhonghai slammed his chopsticks on the table.

The older woman shook her head helplessly when she saw his appearance.

The old man has gone mad; he always thinks that others are targeting him.

The third uncle was eating by the pool with a bowl in his hand when he followed the smell to the window of the Li family's house.

"Hey, patriotism, this meat smells delicious."

Li Aiguo said, "It smells really good. Eat a few more bites of rice just to enjoy the aroma."

Third Uncle: "."

Jia family.

After finishing his meal, Banggeng was squatting at the Jia family's door playing with Xiaodang when he smelled the food and his stomach rumbled.

Liu Haizhong was in charge of disciplining Bang Geng, but Bang Geng still ate at the Jia family's house.

"Mother, I want to eat meat too."

Qin Huairu came out carrying Xiao Huaihua, sighed and said, "That belongs to someone else, we can't take it."

"No, no, Mother, I want to eat meat!" Banggeng began to cry.

Qin Huairu put on a stern face: "If you cry again, I'll go and call Second Uncle over."

Upon hearing this, Bang Geng immediately stopped crying.

The brass buckle belt in his bangs left a deep impression on his carefree childhood.

Bang Geng wiped away his tears and ran to the backyard, where he found the two brothers, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu.

Because they were all disciplined by their second uncle, the three of them developed a deep bond through long-term beatings.

Because the "beating brother" is abbreviated as "beating brother," it is pronounced as "big brother."

"Brother Guangtian, the Li family is stewing meat, go get a piece." Banggeng's eyes darted around as he fussed over Liu Guangtian.

Liu Guangtian wiped his nose with his sleeve, his face cold: "Don't try to fool me. I went to Li Aiguo's house to steal meat a few years ago, but I didn't get any meat and I got arrested instead. I wouldn't dare go there again."

"You're such a coward, this meat smells so good." Banggeng curled his lips, looking disdainful.

Seeing his expression, Liu Guangtian rolled his eyes and said, "Bang Geng, I heard Jie Cheng say that Li Aiguo's family stews weasel meat. There are weasels in the woods behind our compound. You're so capable, why don't you go and catch one?"

Liu Guangtian didn't have good intentions either; weasels aren't so easy to catch.

But these words reminded Bang Geng that since Li Aiguo wouldn't give him meat, he could catch it himself.

But weasels run fast, so how do we catch them?

Using the old hen as bait, the stick turned its head to look at Xu Damao's old hen and quickly shook its head.

If they were really going to steal a hen, they might as well just roast it and eat it; why bother catching a weasel?
“Hey, you really want to catch it? I have a suggestion for you. If you catch it, you have to share half with me,” Liu Guangtian continued.

"What's your idea, Brother Guangtian?"

“Weasels especially like to eat mice. There are a lot of mice in our cellar, aren’t there? If you catch one and set a trap, you’re sure to catch it.”

"That's a good idea."

Banggeng hummed a little tune as he entered the cellar.

As soon as I went in, *thud*, a dark thing fell down from above.

Upon closer inspection, Banggeng realized it was a mouse.

"Sure enough, even God wants me, Bang Geng, to eat weasel meat!" Bang Geng was almost overjoyed.

He picked up the rat to take a look. The rat was on the verge of death, but there were no visible wounds on its body. However, he didn't pay much attention to it, since it was intended to be used as bait.

Banggeng put the mouse into the canvas bag, and seeing that Qin Huairu wasn't paying attention to him, he turned and walked outside.

Li Aiguo had just finished eating and was taking his three children for a walk in the park when he was almost bumped into by one of the children.

“Hey, isn’t this a Korean meme?” Li Aiguo stopped in his tracks.

When Bang Geng saw that it was Li Aiguo, he didn't say a word and ran away.

"Hey, this kid," Li Aiguo sensed that something was off about Bang Geng today, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The next day, Li Aiguo rode his motorcycle to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot as usual, entered the workshop, and began his new day's work.

Just as Li Aiguo was working hard to assemble reconnaissance attack helicopters and busy cultivating giant mushrooms.

The auto show in the port city was held as scheduled. Seven Velociraptor sports cars were displayed on the luxurious booth, and a row of bikini-clad, long-legged beauties stood next to them.

Most people in the port city can't afford sports cars, but they enjoy watching the excitement. Passersby gathered to watch, and some even came from other areas.

"This car is really beautiful. No wonder it was made by Hextech. It's full of artistry."

"Yes, yes, look at these headlights, they're so big and white... cough cough, they're really bright."

"They say it can go over 100 km/h in three seconds, is it really that fast?!"

"Hey, why do you know so much? You can't afford it anyway."

There are all sorts of opinions, but nobody buys anything.

Just kidding, Hextech has already listed the price: $200,000 per sports car, which is practically equivalent to being made of pure gold.

Yang Jizong didn't intend to sell the car; he just wanted to spread the news of the sports car's launch and, incidentally, do some advertising.

Even so, the auto show had to be stopped in less than half an hour because the crowd kept growing, and the line of people queuing to see the cars stretched from the shop entrance all the way to Causeway Bay.

Actually, some people didn't know why they were queuing. Since everyone else was queuing, they felt like they would be missing out if they didn't.

The next day, news related to the auto show appeared in the newspapers.

The hundreds of thousands of people who gathered at the Hextech Auto Show made it an instant success, setting a record for the most people ever seen at a world auto show.

Now, those pessimistic newspapers could only say sourly, "The Velociraptor sports car is indeed beautiful, but it's too expensive. I guess not many will be sold. Hextech is going to suffer huge losses."

The news spread even before the newspaper was published.

More than a dozen distributors, including John Bull's distributors, Gallo Chicken's distributors, and Little Beauty's distributors, gathered at the headquarters of Hextech Corporation.

Those newspapers no longer dared to make any irresponsible remarks.

They dare to offend Hextech, but they don't dare to point fingers at white people.

"Mr. Yang, bring seven red sports cars, three black ones, and five yellow ones!" The John Bull dealer was the first to raise his check.

"Hey, what's the rush? Get in line. Can't you see I got here before you?" The distributor from Xiaomei's family wasn't going to put up with John Bull.

Back then, the Bull family was the British Empire, and they would bully this person and that person in the class with fire sticks.

Now that Xiao Mei's family is the class monitor, they get priority when it comes to buying things.

As for the distributors in South America, because the source of their money was unclear, they could only be ranked last.

In just a short while, all one hundred Velociraptor sports cars were sold out, and several other customers even placed deposits, requesting to take delivery of their vehicles as soon as possible.

The price of $200,000 per car, which was $200,000 in 1962, was enough to buy a building in Manhattan.

But those old money and new money can't exactly bring this building to a party, can they?

Many people found it unbelievable, but when the Velociraptor sports car appeared on the streets of London, it immediately attracted a crowd, and the owner felt that the money was well spent for this moment.

In particular, the Velociraptor's record-breaking 0-100 km/h acceleration makes it a truly unique sports car.

In some clubs, the Velociraptor sports car has become a stepping stone.

Without this vehicle, you are not eligible to participate.

As for discussing cooperation, that goes without saying.

Others drive Velociraptors, you drive Ferraris; no wonder you're stuck in traffic.

This trend spread rapidly and intensified in high society.

This isn't simply a case of looking down on people.

It's not that you need to own a Velociraptor sports car to demonstrate your capabilities before people will even consider collaborating with you.

The Velociraptor sports car has transformed from a mere toy into an admission ticket.

Some capitalists who were originally reluctant to spend so much money gritted their teeth and raised their checks.

However, the Velociraptor sports car is entirely handcrafted, with an annual production of only a little over a hundred vehicles. Next year's production has already been fully booked, and many customers have indicated that they can pre-order for the year after next.

When the sales figures for the Velociraptor sports car reached them, the leaders of the First Ministry of Machine Building were dumbfounded.

A car costing $200,000 is still in short supply?

Section Chief Xing made a special trip to the studio to announce the good news.

"I really didn't expect this. The sports cars are selling like hotcakes, and we're even booked up for orders for the year after next." Section Chief Xing slapped his thigh repeatedly.

"Section Chief, the production capacity of the Velociraptor sports car's engine is not a problem; the key lies in the handcrafted parts," Li Aiguo said, understanding the section chief's meaning, after taking a sip of water.

The cost of a Velociraptor sports car is only twenty to thirty thousand US dollars. After deducting the share given to Hextech and the share given to the dealers, the net profit can be more than one hundred thousand US dollars.

This is incredibly profitable; even Li Aiguo would have to find a way to increase production.

"Could we replace the manual parts and use the Second Automobile Works' machines for all production? That would significantly increase production capacity," Section Chief Xing said, stroking his chin as he came up with a solution.

"No, Section Chief, the selling point of the Velociraptor sports car is that it's purely handcrafted, and that's what customers buy it for," Li Aiguo quickly stopped him.

He could actually understand Section Chief Xing's thoughts.

In this era of full-scale industrialization, many people believe that only products manufactured by large-scale industries are good.

The Velociraptor sports car is no longer an industrial product, but a work of art, which is the real reason why it can sell for such a high price.

"Since you think it's inappropriate, then let's not do it." That's how Section Chief Xing is; he absolutely won't meddle in things he doesn't understand.

“We can transfer skilled workers from other factories,” Li Aiguo suggested. The advantage of domestic industry at that time lay in having a group of highly skilled workers.

We should play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses.

"This is a good idea. When we meet with the leaders of the First Ministry of Machine Building, we should suggest it to them."

As Section Chief Xing finished speaking, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

"I was so happy today that I almost forgot about the important matter. The Ministry of Machine Building is holding a celebration party. You're coming with me tonight."

Li Aiguo thought for a moment and suggested, "Could we bring along the wild car expert?"

"Take him along. This kid has made a lot of contributions to this sports car project." Section Chief Xing knew that Li Aiguo intended to promote the untrained car expert, so he nodded.

He walked towards the door, took a couple of steps, and then asked, "By the way, what's that kid's name again, the one you keep calling 'wild car expert'?"

"Yu Shu."

(End of this chapter)