The train driver in the courtyard

After entering November.

With Christmas approaching, orders for off-road vehicles, sports cars, and various motorcycles in the European and American markets have seen explosive growth.

The most eye-catching of them all is the Red Star scooter.

With its exquisite and eye-catching appearance and light and elegant riding experience, it has already set off a Red Star cycling craze in Europe and America.

Seeing the huge success of Red Star scooter motorcycles.

This company was particularly envious and, through its connections with the bereaved families association, raised a large sum of money from the bank to imitate the Red Star scooter, attempting to get a share of the market.

However, Hextech had already established a complete sales network overseas, and Bentian Company's approach was to steal business from these distributors.

These big capitalists do business in a way that's not as simple as just throwing a dinner party.

Before Hextech could react, the accounts of Bentian Company's sales outlets were investigated, and several of them even caught fire in the middle of the night.

No one knows why the fire started during a heavy snowfall; it was probably due to an electrical problem.

Even though a few stores managed to stay open, they sold very few counterfeit motorcycles before being blocked by consumers protesting due to serious quality defects.

The underhanded tactics that our company used to employ when expanding into new markets have now come back to haunt us, and the frustration we feel is unimaginable.

Red Star Motorcycle dealers seized the opportunity and launched a new round of advertising campaigns worldwide.

Today, they are incredibly wealthy, and their advertisements, produced by Red Star Entertainment, are distributed throughout movies, radio broadcasts, newspaper columns, and even on walls in the streets and alleys, huge promotional posters are plastered everywhere.

The advertising slogan has deeply resonated with people: "For scooters, choose Hongxing!"

Under this aggressive promotional campaign, orders for Red Star scooter motorcycles surged again.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot now produces 3,000 motorcycles a day, all of which are shipped to the port city and then overseas.

Even so, it is still far from enough to meet the surging demand for orders.

Consumers have always had a tendency to value things based on their scarcity.

The demand for Red Star scooter motorcycles far exceeded supply, making them highly sought-after. Dealers often sold out their daily quotas as soon as they opened their doors.

In this situation, telegrams flew across the ocean to the port city and eventually arrived at the office of Section Chief Xing of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

"Xiao Mei's family urgently needs a scooter!"

"The John Bull family desperately needs a scooter!"

"The French family urgently needs a scooter!"

Section Chief Xing scratched his head in frustration: "What happened? I've become the motorcycle factory manager now?"

Just thinking about the large sums of foreign exchange coming in every day made Section Chief Xing happy again.

"Ahem, being a factory manager isn't so bad. We're like a brick; we'll go wherever we're needed."

"Ahem, that sounds like a patriotic line. Let's go see what that kid is up to."

Li Aiguo is in the preparation workshop with Director Zhang selecting suitable materials.

Section Chief Xing walked in, lit a cigarette, and began to complain: "I've been so busy lately!"

"I heard that orders for scooter motorcycles have exploded, is that right?" Director Zhang quickly poured hot water for Section Chief Xing and handed it over.

Lately, newspapers have been frequently publishing reports on the overseas sales and achievements of Hextech products, encouraging people from all walks of life.

"We've received orders for 300,000 vehicles so far, and we've already delivered 100,000 in the past few days, but the number of orders isn't decreasing at all." As Section Chief Xing spoke, he felt a bit like he was in Versailles, but the feeling was actually quite pleasant.

"It's probably a blockbuster product." Li Aiguo hadn't expected scooter motorcycles to become so popular; he could only explain it using the mystical methods of e-commerce in later generations.

Sometimes, an ordinary product can suddenly catch a customer's eye and generate sales exceeding one million.

"I'm not sure about that, but motorcycle factories aren't focused on producing scooters anymore; they're shifting production towards mountain bikes," Section Chief Xing said, taking a sip of water.

Li Aiguo knew about this.

As the year draws to a close, we have achieved a bumper harvest this year, with significant accomplishments in agriculture, industry, and national defense.

Several ministries decided to order a large number of mountain motorcycles as prizes to award to outstanding cadres and employees.

The Qianmen Locomotive Depot also decided to award 1,000 cars to those outstanding employees.

That's how it is now. When a company or factory makes a profit and gets to eat the meat, the higher-ups will think about distributing the meat down instead of letting the people below just drink the broth.

That's why everyone is so motivated.

"By the way, Bentian Company from Xiaobenzi's family has published news about the motorcycle race in the newspaper again. It's been about a month since the race started. How are your preparations going?" Section Chief Xing watched Li Aiguo busy at work and remembered something else.

"It's almost done. The participants have been confirmed, and we're just waiting for the foreign affairs department to help with the formalities." Li Aiguo also wanted the competition to start as soon as possible so that some people would give up.

To ride on the coattails of Red Star's popularity, our company keeps stirring up trouble in the newspapers every few days, buzzing around like flies.

Although it doesn't cause any actual harm, it's quite effective at annoying people.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Section Chief Xing then noticed the pile of special materials in front of the two men and curiously went over to investigate.

"Section Chief, what do you think about us building an airplane?" Li Aiguo straightened up and looked at Section Chief Xing.

"Cough cough..." Section Chief Xing almost choked on the hot water he had just drunk. He quickly put down the cup and coughed violently a few times, his eyes filled with shock.

"What did you say? Build airplanes?"

No wonder Section Chief Xing was so shocked; that was an airplane.

They're a railway company, and they're building airplanes?
"Section Chief, don't panic, it's just about building a small airplane."

Li Aiguo quickly explained, "The engine is a modified turboshaft helicopter engine. The structure is not complicated. The core idea is 'great power makes bricks fly,' as long as it can fly smoothly."

As he spoke, he pulled up a stool and sat down, carefully explaining his thoughts to Section Chief Xing.

Section Chief Xing finally recovered, and his eyes showed more interest: "Tell me in detail."

"Early airplanes were very rudimentary. They could take off with a 12-horsepower four-cylinder water-cooled piston engine, much like the engines in our cars."

"Later, turbojet engines were developed, and fighter jets such as the F-86 and MiG-15 at the end of World War II used this type of engine."

Turbofan engines have already been developed abroad, which are essentially a technological extension of our existing turboshaft engines.

"I was thinking, could we first modify a suitable engine and install it on a small aircraft to test it out?"

Of course, an aircraft relies on more than just an engine; aerodynamic shape and fuselage structure also need to be considered, but those can be addressed gradually. First, let's solve the core power problem.

Li Aiguo explained some of his ideas.

What Li Aiguo didn't say was that he had already accumulated enough points to redeem aerodynamic designs, so there was no need to conduct wind tunnel tests.

China currently lags behind in the materials and processes for manufacturing aircraft, as well as in key equipment such as 10,000-ton die forging presses and giant autoclaves.

He wanted to build this small plane for two reasons: first, to practice his skills, and second, to take the opportunity to understand the state of the domestic aviation industry.

If even the basic conditions are not met, even advanced technology cannot produce it, and it would be a complete waste of effort.

As Section Chief Xing listened to Li Aiguo's clear and logical explanation, he was not only amazed by Li's solid knowledge base, but also admired his daring and enterprising spirit.

After a moment's thought, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Great! Let's build this small aircraft first! Our railway system will find it very useful!"

"The railway system uses airplanes?" Li Aiguo was stunned and didn't react.

Section Chief Xing explained with a wry smile, "Have you forgotten about our Railway Corps? They are the backbone of the railway system!"

Deep in the mountains and in the Gobi Desert, exploring routes and transporting emergency supplies would be much more convenient with these small planes than relying on people and horses to carry them!
By the way, are the takeoff requirements for this small plane high?

"It's very convenient; all you need is a few dozen meters of flat road," Li Aiguo replied. The larger and heavier the aircraft, the higher the takeoff requirements.

Li Aiguo had ridden in an I-2 transport plane, which could land directly on the playground.

"No problem, just submit an application to the materials department for whatever you need." Section Chief Xing was particularly happy at the thought that he, a railway worker, would one day be able to fly a plane.

Besides, even manufacturing small airplanes is a level above manufacturing cars.

"I'll lead a team to test it out first, and once we achieve some initial results, we'll formally report back to our superiors," Li Aiguo suggested.

He didn't want to be too flashy; it was better to proceed gradually to be on the safe side.

"That's the decision. You decide for yourself." As for whether it would succeed, Section Chief Xing didn't care. The Qianmen Locomotive Depot was now flush with cash and didn't need the funds.

Section Chief Xing left early because he was busy with work, and Li Aiguo asked Director Zhang to bring the workers to transport the materials to the workshop.

Wild car experts and several engineers, including Zong Xianfeng and Zhou Gaofei, had already received the news and put down their work to come to the office.

After the armed helicopter project was completed, the higher authorities rewarded those who had contributed to the project. In addition to the untrained car expert, Zhou Gaofei, who participated in the project, was also commended and is now a level six engineer.

Upon hearing that they were going to build small airplanes, he excitedly raised his hand and said, "Brother Aiguo, I'm willing to participate in the project."

Zong Xianfeng and other engineers also responded.

Wild car experts have put forward an idea: "Small planes are too small. If we could increase the size of the plane several times, install more engines on the plane, assemble it into an aerospace fortress, and carry various weapons, just like an aircraft carrier, that would be great."

This remark elicited laughter.

"Where can you find an airplane that big?"

"Yes, isn't this an aircraft carrier?"

These young people love to get together and discuss "which weapon is the most powerful" when they have free time, and they even made their own deck of cards.

It depicts pistols, rifles, tanks, and other equipment, with the most powerful "King" originally being an aircraft carrier.

Once, a self-taught car expert got so frustrated playing cards that he drew a "spaceship" card and called it the "King of Kings," only to have his face covered in notes by everyone.

Unexpectedly, the "aircraft carrier" meme has stuck.

Zhou Gaofei, being a professionally trained aircraft carrier, couldn't help but take it seriously and stood up to refute: "'Aircraft carrier' is too unrealistic. The core advantages of an aircraft are speed and maneuverability."

If you ask me, why not equip it with several high-powered engines and build a supersonic, heavy-load swept-back trapezoidal-wing bomber, capable of carrying Munitions and tens of tons of aerial bombs? That would be a devastating barrage!

For a time, the studio was noisy. Some people said they wanted to build a super bomber, and some said they wanted to build an aircraft carrier. No one took these words seriously.

No one could have imagined that, years later, the dreams these young people had back then would become reality.
Li Aiguo has always believed in the principle that one must take things one step at a time, and eat one bite at a time, so he is not in a hurry.

"Let's start with small planes. Here are the blueprints. Everyone, pay attention!"

After several years of development, the studio can now be considered to have a wealth of talent.

The staff in the studio were divided into three groups.

Zhou Gaofei and several chief engineers and experts in charge of car manufacturing were responsible for the powertrain.

Zong Xianfeng is in charge of the electrical components.

Wild car experts and Chief Engineer Zhang were responsible for the fuselage.

Li Aiguo was responsible for overall management, assigning tasks, and helping out if things got tough.

Li Aiguo, on the other hand, began researching large aircraft, not passenger planes, but transport planes.

Progress in South Asia has been somewhat slow.

After being brutally beaten by Li Yunlong several times, the Indians finally learned their lesson and changed their previous strategy of taking the initiative to attack, instead starting to band together.

The enemy built fortifications in major cities and, combined with weapons purchased from the American and Russian families, created an impenetrable fortress.

Li Yunlong tried several times but did not achieve much success, so he devised a new strategy: airborne deployment.

First, send paratroopers in, then launch a surprise attack from within and without.

This tactic has been used by the Germans, the Allied forces, and even the Russians when they attacked Ukraine. The United States has mastered airborne tactics to a high degree and has even formed several airborne divisions.

This is enough to demonstrate the effectiveness of airborne tactics.

The only problem is...
We do not currently have suitable large transport aircraft.

The Russians' Antonov Il-12 and Il-18 "Black Duck" aircraft, as well as the newly built Tupolev Tu-107, are all excellent.

However, given the current situation, the Russians are unlikely to sell to us.

When Li Aiguo thought of transport aircraft, he thought of the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau and the Kiev Machine Plant.

One of these companies designs the transport aircraft, while the other is responsible for assembling the fuselage, tail section, and final assembly.

In a few years, when things get complicated on the Russian side, we can take action and bring them over.

If we don't take action, in the end it will only benefit the Xiao Ou family and the Xiao Mei family.

Li Aiguo was busy until the end of the workday. He stood up, picked up his canvas bag, and prepared to leave. Just as he stepped out the door, he saw Zong Xianfeng loitering at the entrance.

"Xianfeng, is something the matter?"

No, no.

Zong Xianfeng blushed, stammered a couple of times, turned around and hurriedly left.

Li Aiguo didn't pay much attention to "this kid" and rode his mountain bike back to the courtyard house.

Outside the compound, Banggeng was squatting by the roadside setting off firecrackers, while Xu Damao was talking to him.

Upon seeing Li Aiguo return, Xu Damao's expression turned somewhat strange. He stood up and greeted him.

Li Aiguo responded and then went into the courtyard.

Chen Xueru has returned and is supervising Xiao Hongsheng and Xiao Mingwei as they do their homework.

Little Dongfang was playing with building blocks on the side. When he saw Li Aiguo enter, he immediately dropped the blocks and stretched out his little arms, babbling "ee-ee-ya-ya" as he wanted to be hugged.

Li Aiguo picked up Xiao Dongfang and kissed his soft cheek before chatting with Chen Xueru.

“Oh, right,” Chen Xueru wiped her hands and lowered her voice, “Liu Lan was cursing in the yard for a while, saying that the fish she had just divided up were stolen.”

"What happened?" Li Aiguo asked.

Chen Xueru wasn't quite sure of the specifics, but it seemed that the steel mill had given out welfare benefits today, and Xu Damao had been given a fish, which Liu Lan planned to stew for dinner and had placed on the cutting board.

When Liu Lan brought Xu Hua and her sons back, the fish was gone, the kitchen was a mess, and the floor was wet.

Liu Lan suspected that Bang Geng had stolen the fish. Besides, fish weren't worth much these days, and there was no solid evidence, so she just cursed him a few times and let it go.

Li Aiguo chuckled, recalling Xu Damao's furtive appearance at the courtyard gate: "I bet there'll be some gossip tonight."

"What melon? We're having egg noodles for dinner."

As dinner time approached, Chen Xueru got up to cook, while Li Aiguo supervised the children doing their homework.

Li Aiguo picked up the "filial piety stick" from the corner of the wall, sat down at the table, and Xiao Hongsheng and Xiao Mingwei immediately straightened their backs and gripped their pens even tighter.

The room was instantly filled with a warm scene of "filial piety and parental love".

Sudden.

boom! boom!
Two loud bangs came from outside, startling Li Aiguo. He instinctively drew his pistol, but after realizing it wasn't the sound of a bomb exploding, he put it back in its sheath.

"What happened?" Chen Xueru also ran out carrying a kitchen knife.

"I'll go check on them. You take good care of the children."

Li Aiguo ran quickly out the door, startling the residents in the compound, who all rushed out.

"What happened? Is it a bomb?"

"No way, how could Dieter dare to be so arrogant?"

"The sound seems to be coming from outside the compound."

Everyone ran outside the yard, and Li Aiguo followed behind. Once outside, after seeing the situation clearly, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"Using sewage to wash the floor?!"

The manhole cover at the entrance of the courtyard was blown off and left aside, with sewage mixed with filth splashed everywhere on the ground.

Banggeng stood not far away, covered in filth, with some unidentified debris hanging in his hair.

Yi Zhonghai slumped down beside the sewer, his face and body covered in smears, his eyes glazed over, completely bewildered.

who I am……

Where am I...?

What's wrong with me...?

It was obvious that someone threw firecrackers into the sewer, and they exploded inside.

Then I saw Xu Damao hiding behind a big tree in the distance, chuckling to himself.

Li Aiguo clicked his tongue twice, saying, "This is the authentic traditional courtyard house."

The dog was initially stunned, but now it realized what was happening and started wailing.

Qin Huairu had just gotten home from get off work and hadn't had time to cook yet when she heard the noise and quickly ran out.

"Bang Geng, what's wrong with you?" Qin Huairu felt heartbroken when she saw Bang Geng's condition.

Bang Geng just kept crying loudly and didn't answer at all.

Just then, Liu Haizhong and his second aunt also ran out.

Liu Haizhong saw Yi Zhonghai first and said, "Hey, old Yi, you're so old, yet you're still playing with firecrackers like a kid."

Yi Zhonghai finally came to his senses and pointed at Banggeng to explain, "I saw him throwing firecrackers into the sewer and kindly reminded him, but I ended up getting caught in the crossfire!"

Liu Haizhong then noticed the sobbing Bang Geng, rolled up his sleeves, and went over to him.

"Are you itching for a beating again? Daring to throw firecrackers down the sewer!"

Banggeng shuddered in fright, forgetting all about crying: "Second Uncle, it was that wicked Xu Damao who tricked me!"

Bang Geng is no longer afraid of Qin Huairu; he's like a mouse seeing a cat whenever he sees Liu Haizhong.

Qin Huairu wouldn't hit him, but Liu Haizhong really did hang him from the roof beam and whip him with a belt.

Not satisfied with smoking by himself, he also had the help of the Liu brothers, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu, making life even more difficult for Bang Geng.

Liu Haizhong frowned and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Yi Zhonghai raised his hand: "Haizhong, let's talk about it later, okay? I need to go home and change my clothes."

Qin Huairu also said, "Yes, Banggeng is covered in feces and water; he's bound to catch a cold."

As they were talking, an older woman who had heard the news came out of the compound. When she saw Yi Zhonghai sitting on the ground, she was both annoyed and amused.

"Old man, what are you doing!"

"Stop talking, quickly help me up." Yi Zhonghai had been trying to stand up for a while, but after a couple of attempts, he couldn't get up.

Seeing that something was wrong, an older woman quickly stepped forward to help Yi Zhonghai, but Yi Zhonghai's legs were too weak, and she almost fell down as a result.

It was Li Aiguo and Yan Jiecheng who reacted quickly, rushing over to grab her arms so she could regain her balance.

"Old Yi, are you injured?"

"I...I don't know!" Yi Zhonghai was getting anxious.

If something were to happen to him, and the residents of the neighborhood talked about Yi Zhonghai in the future, they would completely forget his name as an old man and only say that he was the one who was pelted with excrement. Wouldn't that be shameful?

Bang Geng was rubbing his arm, saying he had been injured in the explosion.

The middle-aged woman's head was buzzing with confusion, and Qin Huairu was also getting anxious. She looked at Li Aiguo and said, "Aiguo, look at this."

"Let's get him to the hospital right away. Explosions can sometimes cause internal injuries." Li Aiguo couldn't be sure either.

"Yes, yes, get her to the hospital right away!" Qin Huairu panicked as well.

Liu Haizhong called Yan Jiecheng and Zhang Gangzhu, found a rickshaw, and took the two men to the hospital.

After half an hour.

The two were pulled back.

Yan Jiecheng arrived at Li Aiguo's house and said angrily, "Bang Geng wasn't injured at all. He was just pretending to be injured because he was afraid of being beaten. The doctor took a syringe and was about to give him an injection when he finally admitted it."

"What about Yi Zhonghai?" Li Aiguo asked while eating.

"Yi Zhonghai wasn't injured. He was just stunned by the explosion. The doctor gave him a glucose drip, and after resting for a while, he was able to get out of bed and walk. It's such a hassle, like he ran for nothing."

After Yan Jiecheng finished speaking, he was about to leave.

Li Aiguo invited him to stay for dinner, but he declined, saying he was going to see Yu Li that evening and needed to get back early to prepare himself.

the other side.

When Yi Zhonghai returned home, an older woman boiled water and gave him a bath.

While you're at it, wash the stem too.

The two of them cleaned up, but the room still smelled terrible.

The older woman had no choice but to open the window and start tidying up the house.

Yi Zhonghai sat there, getting angrier and angrier, and the angrier he got, the more he thought about it.

He's lived to a ripe old age, and he almost got suffocated by a pile of excrement. What a mess!

"What exactly is going on with the 'stick-shaped' thing?"

“It was Xu Damao, he lied to me.” Banggeng immediately stood up.

"Fine, fine, Xu Damao, is that it? Now you really don't respect me, an old man."

Yi Zhonghai stood up and was about to walk outside when an older woman tried to stop him, but he pushed her away.

"Today I'm going to teach that bastard Xu Damao a lesson he's not!"

Yi Zhonghai walked up to Xu Damao's door and shouted, "Xu Damao, get out here right now!"

Inside the Li family's house.

"Xu Damao must have been angry that Banggeng stole his fish, so he tried to do something bad," Chen Xueru analyzed after learning what had happened outside.

Li Aiguo also holds this view.

However, the specifics are unclear.

Upon hearing Yi Zhonghai's shouts and curses, Li Aiguo stood up.

"Honey, we can have watermelon again tonight."

(End of this chapter)