The train driver in the courtyard

The idle chatter will eventually come to an end.

As soon as Li Aiguo stepped out of the farmer's office, he saw Old Cat waiting for him in the corridor.

"The interrogation of Lone Wolf has made significant progress. According to his confession, the Orphanage has colluded with Langley and become Langley's tool to deal with this side. Their real goal is to return."

Li Aiguo, speaking to the "War Bereaved Families Association," smiled dismissively.

A bunch of defeated soldiers can only eke out a living under the iron heel of others, yet they still think about repeating what happened decades ago. It's ridiculous.

If the bereaved families really dare to cause trouble, then...
Of course, all of this must be backed by strength.

"We're still digging deeper, trying to get the list of core members of the Remnant Clan Association," Old Cat added, then hurriedly turned and left, clearly having urgent business to attend to.

Li Aiguo straightened his collar, mounted his mountain bike, roared the engine, and headed straight for the front gate locomotive depot workshop.

Upon arriving at the workshop, everyone else had already begun work; the turbojet engine would be manufactured by a five-axis milling and turning center.

Limited by materials and technology, it may not reach the level of later generations, but it is enough to surpass the most advanced turbojet engines in the world today.

The aircraft's power system is only one part; the entire aircraft also includes the control system and so on.

Li Aiguo was referencing a classic jet aircraft from later generations, the Bedd DB-5J micro jet.

She once appeared in the 007 film "Octopussy".

It was incredibly impactful back then, let alone now.

With relatively short wings, it can be folded up for easy loading onto trains for long-distance transport. It can be used for railway route surveying in desert areas or for forest fire prevention.

Li Aiguo was not worried about quality issues at all.

Although Project 116 has ended, Workshop 116 of the core component factory is still operating normally. All that is needed is to send over the required component drawings.

"The small plane should be ready by next spring."

"Then we started trying to build twin-engine transport planes."

"If the results are good, then we'll build large transport planes and bombers."

"We have to take things one step at a time. We need to accumulate experience first, and we can talk about the rest later."

After making the plans, Li Aiguo was just about to go to the workshop to check on the progress when someone knocked on his office door.

The person who came in was Li, the deputy director of the steel rolling mill.

"Uncle Li, please have a seat." Li Aiguo stood up and poured tea for Deputy Factory Director Li in an enamel mug, adding tea leaves as a special touch.

The cooperation between Qianmen Locomotive Depot and the steel rolling mill is becoming increasingly close.

Perhaps because he had something to look forward to, Deputy Factory Director Li didn't cause any of those messy things.

According to Xu Damao, Deputy Factory Director Li now avoids Liu Lan whenever he sees her.

After sitting down, Deputy Factory Director Li looked around and saw that the bookshelves behind him were filled with all kinds of books, and he exclaimed in admiration.

Then he said, "Aiguo, I've come today to ask you for a favor."

Li Aiguo didn't respond, but just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

Deputy Factory Director Li had initially intended to keep him in suspense, but seeing his attitude, he had no choice but to speak directly:

"Here's the thing, the steel rolling mill's annual grading and promotion exams are about to begin. You are our mill's chief consultant, and I'm thinking of asking you to serve as the chief examiner."

"Weren't the chief examiners always the leaders of the technical department in the past?" Li Aiguo, who had also heard about some things at the steel rolling mill, asked.

"Ahem, I won't hide it from you anymore. That man is an old man from before the public-private partnership. I heard he has a good relationship with Old Yang, but I don't trust him." Knowing he couldn't hide it any longer, Deputy Factory Director Li explained the situation.

The grading and promotion exams are related to a worker's rank and are closely related to the worker's vital interests.

Now that Deputy Factory Director Li has finally managed to get Factory Director Yang into the hospital, we can't let him continue to interfere in the internal affairs of the steel rolling mill.

As the saying goes, it's either the East Wind prevails over the West Wind, or the West Wind prevails over the East Wind; that's the principle.

Li Aiguo was not interested in the matter between Deputy Director Li and Director Yang, but he could not allow anyone to disrupt the existing situation of the steel rolling mill.

Especially since he is now the chief consultant of the steel rolling mill, he should do his part.

"It's been a while since I've been to your steel rolling mill, so I'll take this opportunity to get a feel for it." Li Aiguo's lips curled up slightly.

"Okay, it's settled then!"

Deputy Factory Director Li was also very pleased.

“Our factory has a complicated situation. As the person in charge of the assessment, just remember one thing: be fair.”

The current situation is favorable to Deputy Factory Director Li, so he doesn't need to have any ulterior motives.

This was exactly what Li Aiguo wanted.

"Don't worry, Uncle Li, I only care about skills, not personal relationships."

"What are the evaluation criteria, and what should I follow?"

What Li Aiguo cared about was the craftsmanship of the steel rolling mill workers.

Some workers may be grade eight, but their theoretical knowledge is superior to that of some grade seven workers, or even grade six workers.

Next, we'll be building large aircraft, which will be a good opportunity to build up a pool of talent.

"Alright, I'll leave this to you. I'll have my secretary send over the assessment list and content later." Deputy Factory Director Li, unaware that he had just let a wolf into his house, left humming a tune with his hands behind his back.

In the afternoon, the steel rolling mill delivered a list and a thick booklet.

The assessment content is actually quite complex. It includes tests on theoretical knowledge, process and drawing knowledge, safety and standard knowledge, as well as practical skills for various jobs, which is quite difficult.

For example, a fitter's skills mainly involve core operations such as marking, sawing, filing, drilling, reaming, and boring, as well as assembly and debugging skills, precision control and measurement skills, and so on.

The requirements are very high.

No wonder there are so few Grade 8 workers.

Li Aiguo flipped through the assessment materials, glanced at the list, and then tossed it aside.

Pick up the blueprints and begin to devise a manufacturing plan for the turbojet engine.

It's fortunate that I spent 500 points to buy the complete set of blueprints from the system, otherwise it would have been difficult to make any progress.

Subsequently.

Li Aiguo began to concentrate on conceiving the idea.

Now, apart from reporting things and needing his attention, there's basically nothing else that can bother him at the studio.

Time flies by in the blink of an eye.

When Li Aiguo stood up, the sky outside had already darkened, and only the sound of train whistles could be heard from the station.

Li Aiguo tidied up the blueprints, put them in the secure box, and then went home after get off work. As he walked into the station yard, Cao Wenzhi was chatting with several train drivers; judging from the loud waving of his hands, he seemed quite angry.

"What's wrong, Master?" Li Aiguo took out a white packet from his pocket and went up to Cao Wenzhi and the other train drivers, offering them cigarettes.

"Aiguo, you're off work now." A train driver took a cigarette and said, "Your master got tricked today."

"what happened?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense, the dispatchers didn't do it on purpose."

Cao Wen waved to the train driver, stopping him, and said to Li Aiguo with a smile, "I'm off duty today, and since I had nothing better to do, I helped driver Chen run a freight train trip."

As a result, after submitting the freight bill at the freight station, the dispatcher lost it. There was no other option but to reissue the bill and re-dispatch the goods, which wasted most of the day.

Although train dispatching now utilizes the railway network, freight order processing and dispatching are still done manually.

Xia Zhongsu of the Red Star Computing Institute also wanted to computerize all freight dispatching, but later found it impractical and gave up.

"Patriotism, Xiaoju's birthday is next month, you must come to our house then." That's just how Cao Wenzhi is, he vents his anger on the spot, but now he's happy again.

"Master, definitely, definitely."

After chatting with Cao Wenzhi for a few minutes, Li Aiguo realized it was getting late and rode his mountain bike back to the courtyard house.

As he walked to the main gate, he heard a commotion coming from the central courtyard; it seemed quite lively.

"Next week is the promotion assessment day."

"Yes, I heard the difficulty has increased again this year. How are your preparations going?"

"Well, what can we do? We'll just have to deal with it for now. If we can't get through it, there's nothing we can do."

"Our steel rolling mill has hired a lot of new people this year, so there will definitely be a lot of people participating in the assessment. I don't know how many people will be promoted."

Li Aiguo had never been interested in such things before, but considering that he was the chief examiner, he stopped.

The main concern for these young workers is the limited number of positions available; the more people there are, the fiercer the competition will be.

Older workers are mainly worried about the difficulty of passing assessments and getting promoted.

The highest-ranking people in the compound were Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong.

Both were level seven workers, so the conversation naturally turned to them.

The most important factor is Yi Zhonghai. Liu Haizhong was only promoted to a level seven worker last year, so his experience is relatively limited and his chances of success this time are slim.

Yi Zhonghai is determined to win this time.

"What are you all doing gathered here?" Yi Zhonghai had been listening from the side for a while.

Hearing the residents start talking about him, he felt the time was right and slowly walked out.

"To pass the promotion assessment, you need to rely on your skills, not your words. Instead of wasting time, you should think about ways to improve your skills."

"We all have to go to work tomorrow, so everyone can leave now!"

After speaking, Yi Zhonghai could no longer hide the smile on his face.

In order for him to be promoted this time, the deaf old lady bypassed Director Yang and personally went to see Section Chief Liao of the Technical Department.

Before liberation, this man owed the deaf old lady a lot of favors.

Section Chief Liao also revealed the truth to him.

The quota for the eighth-level worker is secure this time.

It's just a formality.

Once he becomes an eighth-grade worker, he will still be in charge of this courtyard house.

No matter how high Li Aiguo's prestige is, he's not the highest-ranking worker.

As for Liu Haizhong, needless to say, Yi Zhonghai didn't take him seriously at all.

Yi Zhonghai turned his head and saw Li Aiguo pushing his motorcycle over. He greeted him generously: "Aiguo, have you been busy with work lately?"

Li Aiguo nodded with a smile.

"That's how it is. We railway workers are busy all day long, and there's never enough time to finish our work."

Yi Zhonghai changed the subject, saying, "You still hold the position of chief consultant. This time, what are the regulations for the promotion assessment in our steel rolling mill? Let us know so that everyone can prepare in advance."

Upon hearing this, the residents who were about to leave all stopped.

More than a dozen pairs of eyes were fixed on Li Aiguo.

It has to be said that Yi Zhonghai's move was indeed quite cunning.

The goal is to direct the blame towards Li Aiguo so he can pull off his usual moral blackmail tactics.

At my age, I haven't made any progress.

Li Aiguo wanted to laugh in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Yi Zhonghai, my position as chief consultant is just a nominal one, almost like a professional title. I don't have any inside information."

Besides, even if I had inside information, wouldn't telling everyone be putting them in a difficult position?

Upon hearing this, the residents' expressions changed.

The promotion assessment is highly confidential, and the punishment for leaking the questions is severe. The person who leaks the questions will be imprisoned, and those who inquire about the questions will also be punished.

Yi Zhonghai's smile froze.

He originally intended to put Li Aiguo in a very difficult position, hoping to make everyone have a problem with him.

In the process, let everyone know that Li Aiguo, the chief advisor, is just a figurehead.

But this guy turned the tables and accused me.

Li Aiguo continued, "But then again, with your abilities, Yi Zhonghai, getting an eighth-level worker certificate should be a piece of cake, right?"

"Ahem, ahem, I need to go back and prepare, I'll be going now."

Yi Zhonghai felt that the conversation could not continue.

Now everyone has heard it.

If Yi Zhonghai fails the promotion assessment this time, he'll have nowhere to hide his old face in the future.

Li Aiguo smiled as he watched his disheveled figure disappear.

(End of this chapter)