The train driver in the courtyard

Yi Zhonghai was in a bad mood.

very bad.

Qin Huairu came to borrow food once just now, but was sent back by him. Now Jia Dongxu came to borrow food again.

Do you really think he is a fat sheep?
Seeing Yi Zhonghai's sullen face and silent, Auntie was worried that he and Jia Dongxu had a falling out, so she came to his rescue: "Dongxu, your uncle was sick a while ago and spent a lot of money away from home. All the savings at home have been drained, and we really don't have any extra food to support you."

"Didn't he get caught while selling grain in the countryside?" Jia Dongxu blurted out.

Yi Zhonghai's face suddenly darkened and he began to wonder in his heart, how did this guy know this?
He coughed awkwardly twice: "That's a rumor!"

Jia Dongxu also realized that he was here to ask for help today and couldn't expose someone's shortcomings, so he skipped the topic and said, "Master, your family is not having a good time, but there are people in the compound who are having an easy time."

Jia Dongxu blinked, and Yi Zhonghai subconsciously said, "Li Aiguo?"

"Yes, Chen Xueru has gained a lot of weight! She must have been hiding at home and secretly eating delicious food."

Jia Dongxu proposed Jia Zhang's idea: "Master, how about you hold a meeting and ask the residents to donate food to our family?"

Hearing that he didn't need to send food from his own family, Yi Zhonghai thought for a moment and nodded, "This is a good idea, but it requires the three uncles to come forward together. You go back first."

Jia Dongxu knew Yi Zhonghai's abilities well, and knew that he could accomplish anything he wanted to do, so he left happily.

The aunt sent Jia Dongxu out of the house and went back to complain to Yi Zhonghai: "Old man, Jia Dongxu was just fooling us, saying that Jia Zhang was so hungry that she couldn't move. I just heard her scolding Qin Huairu in the house. Her voice was full of energy."

"You think I don't know?!" Yi Zhonghai tapped the table with his fingers. "Jia Dongxu did lie, but he was right about one thing. Life is indeed not easy for our family."

Yi Zhonghai was also short of food, so he could only try to eat less. He had a big meal in the factory cafeteria at noon, and just had a small meal in the morning and evening.

"What does this have to do with the Jia family's donation of grain?" Auntie was confused.

"The grain donation is presided over by me, a great uncle. It is not my decision how much grain is donated!"

"You're thinking, old man, if this gets discovered, there will be big trouble!"

The old lady came to her senses and tried to stop Yi Zhonghai, but Yi Zhonghai had already walked out of the house with his hands behind his back.

Yi Zhonghai found Liu Haizhong and said, "Haizhong, the Jia family can't make ends meet anymore. Jia Zhang is so hungry that she can only lie in bed, and Qin Huairu is pregnant. As the steward, we should find a way to get the residents to donate some food to the Jia family."

Liu Haizhong knew that Yi Zhonghai was about to cause trouble again, so he just kept drinking and didn't respond.

Liu Guangqi is now in Baoding, Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu are still young, and Liu Haizhong, as a heavy manual worker, receives an extra food ration every month, so their life is pretty good.

Seeing that Liu Haizhong was not enthusiastic, Yi Zhonghai continued calmly, "Li Aiguo's neighborhood patrol team is very powerful now. Residents like to ask him to solve problems. I think it won't be long before we, the old men in charge, will be swept into the garbage dump like garbage."

These words directly hit Liu Haizhong's soft spot.

"No, we can't let that kid Li Aiguo ride on our steward's head. But the two of us can't handle this matter, we still need Old Yan's consent."

"Although that old guy doesn't usually take care of things, he is very good at ideological work."

"I'll go find Old Yan now." Seeing that Liu Haizhong agreed, Yi Zhonghai put his hands behind his back and walked towards the Yan family.

The third uncle was squatting at the door with his butt sticking up, fiddling with a plastic box-like thing.

Yan Jiedi was riding on her bicycle, looking at the third uncle with a worried look on her face.

"Dad, this thing won't shock my butt, will it?"

"Don't worry, I asked Liang Ladi to modify the wires, so there will be no problem."

Yi Zhonghai watched from the side for a while and felt strange, and asked: "Old Yan, what are you doing?"

The old man was connecting wires when he got startled. His hands trembled and the wires came together, emitting a crackling electric light that hit his fingers.

Fortunately, there was not much power left in the battery, and only a small black spot was left on my finger.

Yan Bugui grimaced in pain, rubbing his fingers and saying in annoyance: "Old Yi, are you born in the Year of the Rat? Why are you walking without making any sound?"

"Is this a battery?" Yi Zhonghai now understood and stared at the large pile of batteries.

Yan Bugui was a little proud: "This is a normal battery! The kind that can be recharged."

Yi Zhonghai also heard that the state-owned Harbin Battery Factory produced a large battery a few years ago.

This battery is different from a dry battery. It can be recharged, but it is called an ordinary battery.

That’s right, these days energy storage batteries are called ordinary batteries!
Ordinary batteries are expensive and cumbersome to use, and are generally used in industrial and mining enterprises that require emergency lighting.

There are also several sets in the rolling mill's rolling workshop, but they are the treasures of the workshop and are specially looked after by electricians. Ordinary workers have no chance to touch them.

"Where did you get it?"

Yan Bugui enjoyed Yi Zhonghai's praise and said with a smile: "How can I get this thing? Doesn't my brother Jie Cheng work in the locomotive depot? The batteries there need to be charged, so I took on this job. The locomotive depot gives me two cents for every ordinary battery charged!"

Yan Bugui blinked his eyes, feeling that he had gotten a great bargain. Yi Zhonghai thought to himself that this old man was too cunning.

I actually thought of making money by generating electricity through human power.

Only two cents of electricity is enough to charge the battery inside the section. Why should we spend all this effort and let Yan Bugui use manpower to charge it?
Yi Zhonghai felt a little confused.

"Old Yan" Yi Zhonghai was just about to explain his purpose when Li Aiguo walked in from outside pushing a bicycle.

At a distance, Li Aiguo shouted, "Uncle San, the Material Department of the Locomotive Depot has assigned the charging task to you?"

"It's Aiguo who's back." Yan Bugui ignored Yi Zhonghai and walked forward with a smile, saying to Li Aiguo, "Aiguo, I was delayed a little by connecting the terminals just now. Don't worry, I'll charge the battery and deliver it to your house in person later."

"Then thank you for your help." Li Aiguo glanced at Yi Zhonghai and left with his bicycle.

Yi Zhonghai's face turned ugly, and he pointed at Li Aiguo's back and said, "Old Yan, isn't this battery from the locomotive section? Why did you send it to Li Aiguo?"

"Aiguo is from the locomotive section. I heard that the section had to ensure his electricity supply, so they gave me the charging task.

I don’t know the specific reasons, and I don’t want to find out, as long as the locomotive depot pays, that’s all.”

Yan Bugui was a little anxious at this moment, and he did not stop moving while talking. After he connected the wires, he shouted to Yan Jie Di, "Jie Di, hurry up and pedal your bike."

Yan Jiedi was somewhat reluctant and pouted her lips. After being glared at by Yan Bugui, she could only glare back.

At this moment, Yi Zhonghai felt extremely upset.
This makes sense. Duan assigned the task of transporting the batteries to Yan Bugui. Yan Bugui used manual power generation to save electricity. This is too stingy!
But what qualifications does Li Aiguo have to deserve the fact that the section has assigned him a full-time generator operator?

You know, ordinary batteries are emergency resources, and even the leaders in the workshop are not qualified to use them.

What on earth did that kid Li Aiguo do again? !
Yan Bugui stared at the ordinary battery for a long time, making sure that it was charging. Then he straightened up and looked at Yi Zhonghai who was standing there in a daze.

"By the way, Lao Yi, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Yi Zhonghai came to his senses from his shock, remembered the Jia family's affairs, and hurriedly told them about his idea of ​​donating grain.

As soon as Yan Bugui heard that a meeting was going to be held, he knew that something bad was going to happen to Yi Zhonghai again.

Now he gets up at three o'clock every morning to go fishing. After coming back from fishing, he picks up waste from two streets away. He has to work at school during the day and charge the battery when he comes back at night.

Yan Bugui has already been living a good life for several decades, so he has no energy to care about those messy things.

"Lao Yi, you two managers can decide on this matter. I really don't have time right now." Yan Bugui suddenly squatted down to check the battery and shouted to Yan Jiedi, "Pedal faster. The voltage is too low. It can't charge at all."

Yan Jiedi was just about to slack off, but had to work harder.

Seeing that Yan Bugui was not paying attention, Yi Zhonghai said, "The situation of the Jia family is too serious. They only have enough food for Jia Dongxu alone. The old are old, the young are small, and Qin Huairu is still pregnant."

"Hurry up!" Yan Bugui shouted at Yan Jiedi, then turned to look at Yi Zhonghai: "No one else can be blamed for this. It was Jia Zhang who was too greedy. If she had given up those lands and moved her household registration to the capital, wouldn't there be so many problems? Who can you blame!"

"It's no use saying this now." Seeing that Yan Bugui didn't listen to him at all, Yi Zhonghai frowned and said in a serious tone: "If someone starved to death in our compound, how would people on the street look at us?!"

"I will definitely be punished then."

"In more serious cases, we three managers will be charged with ignoring the suffering of the residents and have to go to jail for two years."

These words shocked Yan Bugui.

He himself comes from a small business owner family and has a relatively poor background, so he will definitely be pushed out to take the blame when the time comes.

"The residents in the compound are having a hard time, who would be willing to donate food?"

"The three of us, the managers, should set an example, and the residents can donate a little to help the Jia family recover."

"I can only take out five kilograms of corn flour." Yan Bugui knew that he would be in trouble whether he stretched his head or shrank, so he could only express his attitude.

"Take five more kilograms to make it ten kilograms. This way, the residents can donate more. After the meeting is over, I will return the five kilograms of food to you."

"I agree to this." Yan Bugui breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

Yi Zhonghai said: "Remember, go to the Intermediate Court for a meeting at 7 o'clock in the evening."

Yi Zhonghai gave instructions again and left with his hands behind his back. Before leaving, he looked at Yan Jiedi, who was sweating profusely, and shook his head helplessly.

This girl became a bonded laborer.

Although the third uncle was reluctant to give up the corn flour, he had to suppress his grief if he could spend five kilograms of corn flour to ensure his safety.

Oh, I need to charge it several times.

He went into the house and asked the third aunt to prepare ten kilograms of corn flour: "We need those that have been washed and eaten. When the time comes, we can mix them together and wash the five kilograms of corn flour into good corn flour."

The third aunt kept praising the third uncle for his cleverness.

"That's right. Don't you see my name? Yanbu is expensive, but salt is not. I can even get the price of salt down. Who can beat me?"

At this time, the white paper light bulbs hanging on the roofs of every household in the courtyard flickered twice and then went out.

There were complaints from every household: "Why is there a power outage again?"

"I heard that the power station is running out of coal. Didn't the street office issue a notice? From now until the New Year, there will be irregular power outages."

"Well, light the candle."

When the uncle saw that the light outside the window had gone out, he quickly ran out of the dark room and checked the batteries.

"Almost done, Jie Di, you come down first, I'll change the route."

The third uncle connected the wires on the battery to the main line of his house, and told Yan Jiedi to continue riding her bicycle so that the third aunt could cook.

Then he pushed the battery on his bicycle and came to Li Aiguo's house.

Chen Xueru was cooking when the power suddenly went out. Li Aiguo found a candle and just lit it when the voice of the third uncle came from outside the door: "Aiguo, I'm here to bring you a battery."

"It's really timely." Li Aiguo turned around and walked out of the house, took the battery down, and thanked the third uncle with a smile. "You kid, the locomotive depot gave you money!"

The third uncle has always believed in the idea of ​​getting things done with money. He counted on his fingers and said, "This battery has completed one charging cycle and can be charged twice more. I have to send it to the maintenance section the day after tomorrow. I have to trouble you to talk to the comrades in the material department and ask them to issue a document."

The "ordinary batteries" of this year use the electrolyte process.

After the electrolyte is injected into the battery, the battery becomes hot. After the electrolysis temperature drops, the first charge is carried out.

The cycle of charging and then releasing capacity is called a charge and discharge cycle. Generally speaking, ordinary batteries can only complete three charging cycles.

The railway stipulates that batteries that have been charged three times and discharged twice must be sent to the maintenance workshop to refill the electrolyte.

After the third uncle gave the batteries and left, Li Aiguo connected the batteries to the light, and the room suddenly became bright.

It was the first time that Miss Chen had seen this kind of battery. She walked around the battery and exclaimed: "This battery is really easy to use. It can be charged by human power. If the electrolyte does not need to be replaced, every household can afford it."

"Don't worry, there will be batteries like that in the future, but people won't be willing to spend the effort to manually charge them."

Although the battery is good, it is too labor-intensive for children. Li Aiguo smiled, sat at the table, took out a drawing and started writing and drawing.

The drawing shows a motor-like device with a rope attached to it.

As long as the battery is connected to the motor, the rotation of the motor will drive the rope to rotate rapidly.

This is Li Aiguo’s latest research project - the lawn mower.

The reason why the locomotive depot distributed ordinary batteries to Li Aiguo was not because he had any urgent matters, but because ordinary batteries were also the research object of Li Aiguo's new project.

This story begins with the driving experience two days ago.

Li Aiguo drove back and originally planned to go back to the studio to grow some bean sprouts in the greenhouse. Before the meeting was over, an emergency alert was suddenly issued in the section.

A sudden fire broke out on the railway tracks fifteen miles away from Fengtai Majiabao Station, causing delays for many trains and requiring all off-duty workers to put out the fire.

Li Aiguo was originally wondering how the railroad tracks could catch fire.

Besides, if there is a fire, just put it out immediately.

Is the fire on the railway tracks more serious than the fire on the house? The comrades at Fengtai Majiabao Station were unable to put out the fire?

It was not until Li Aiguo, Cao Wenzhi and comrades from the rescue team arrived at the fire site that they understood what was going on.

Two fires hundreds of meters long appeared on both sides of the railway tracks.

It is winter now, and the dry weeds are instantly turned into ashes in the fire. The flames are jumping and making crackling sounds.

The fire was fueled by the wind, and the wind was fueled by the fire. The raging fire raged like a demon, madly devouring everything around it.

The fire spread rapidly and soon burned into the woods dozens of meters away.

The tall trees were shaking in the sea of ​​fire; their leaves were scorched and their branches were broken and fell down.

The nearby members have rushed over, some holding shovels, some carrying brooms, and some carrying buckets of water, and they have all joined the battle to put out the fire.

However, in the face of a real fire, these actions are useless.

Li Aiguo made a prompt decision and asked the rescue team members and railway workers to dig ditches along the perimeter of the fire.

This method produced miraculous effects. The spread of the flames was blocked and the fire in the fire scene was gradually extinguished.

The entire accident caused two people to be injured, 300 meters of rail sleepers needed to be replaced, and 50 meters of rails were deformed. Subsequently, railway transportation had to be suspended for two days because of the need to replace sleepers and rails.

The fire also burned more than 30 trees.

The damage caused by the fire was serious.

After returning to the locomotive depot, Minister Niu and the railway police station organized personnel to investigate the fire and finally gave the results of the investigation.

The direct cause of the accident: a passenger on a passing bus was smoking on the train and threw the cigarette butt out of the window, causing a fire.

The root cause of the accident: Majiabao Railway Inspection Station neglected management and failed to clean up the dead grass along the railway tracks in time.

The land near the railway tracks belongs to the railway department, and members are strictly prohibited from farming or grazing cattle nearby. While this ensures driving safety, it also leads to a serious problem - weeds and bushes grow heavily near the tracks.

These days, the railway department has realized that the weeds near the tracks need to be cleared, and special personnel have been assigned to clear the weeds at the track inspection stations.

However, the biggest feature of the railway tracks is that they are too long, and weeding is a tedious task.

There were only three weeding workers at the Majiabao Railway Inspection Station, and they were unable to take care of the dozens of kilometers of railway.

At that time, Li Aiguo was thinking that in his previous life there was a weeding tool called a lawn mower. If it could be manufactured, it would greatly increase the efficiency of weeding.

There are two types of lawn mowers. One is a gasoline lawn mower because it requires fuel.

The fuel engines of that time were relatively large and not suitable for mobile operations along the railroad tracks where there were no roads.

Fuel is a controlled material and is difficult to obtain.

Another type is the electric lawn mower.

The battery is small in size and easy to use. The only problem is that its battery life is relatively poor.

Therefore, we, Li Aiguo, need to check the specific storage capacity of the battery to determine whether it can complete a weeding operation.

Well, our Li Aiguo is indeed working.

Night falls.

Because there was a major power outage today, every household was dark, and the residents left their houses early and walked towards the central courtyard.

Xu Damao saw that the lights were still on in Li Aiguo's house, so he walked in with Liu Lan.

"Hey, patriotic brother, you are now awesome enough to use ordinary batteries."

Xu Damao had shown movies to important leaders and units before, and those units would also prepare a few ordinary batteries to prevent power outages.

“It’s all about work.”

Liu Lan gently touched Xu Damao's arm: "Da Mao, you can always bring the battery home for work."

Xu Damao felt aggrieved. He had to show movies either outdoors or in movie theaters. How could he have the same freedom as Li Aiguo?

"What are you doing today?" Li Aiguo felt a little strange when he saw the two men dressed neatly.

"Don't you know yet? The eldest master has a meeting tonight, and it should be about donating food to the Jia family." Liu Lan said angrily: "A few days ago, I saw Jia Zhang eating white flour buns. I haven't eaten them since I got pregnant. Now, let us donate food to her."

Li Aiguo had been busy in the house and had no idea about this.

Thinking that it had nothing to do with him, Li Aiguo planned to stay at home at night and finish working on the drawings.

Xu Damao laughed at the time: "Aiguo, you have the highest salary in our compound now. How could Yi Zhonghai let a wealthy man like you go?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Zhonghai's voice came from outside the door: "Aiguo, there will be a meeting tonight, you two must attend, and the lights in your house are too bright."

Xu Damao was immediately amused when he heard this: "Uncle, you are taking more and more charge now, aren't you? Brother Aiguo is just doing his job, what's the matter, are you now the head of the locomotive section?"

Yi Zhonghai just felt that Li Aiguo's light was too annoying, so he said it casually. Now he was speechless.

"I mean well, and I want to remind patriots to save electricity. Well, don't waste time, the conference will start soon." Yi Zhonghai turned around and walked towards the central courtyard.

Chen Xueru also knew that there would be no good things happening at the conference, so she asked Li Aiguo whether he would attend the conference.

Li Aiguo said, "Go, why not? I want to see what tricks Yi Zhonghai is going to play next!"

Xu Damao nodded: "Yes, yes, yes, now I am also an activist, I can't let that old man Yi Zhonghai make the compound a mess."

Ever since Liu Lan became pregnant, Xu Damao, knowing that he would soon have his own children, began to pay attention to his image in the compound and behaved very actively.

Li Aiguo locked the blueprint in a drawer and unplugged the battery.
If you have time, you should make a switch to make it more convenient.

Thinking about these things, Li Aiguo went out of the house. It was freezing cold outside and the ground made a creaking sound when he stepped on it.

The central courtyard was crowded with people and there was no electricity, so Yi Zhonghai asked an old lady to light a candle on the square table.

The flames flickered in the wind, making the residents' faces flicker.

Liu Haizhong failed to get the opening speech last time, but he seemed very active this time.

As soon as Li Aiguo walked into the crowd, he stood up with his big belly sticking out: "Now I will read the latest news to everyone."

Xu Damao was more active and interrupted immediately: "Second uncle, it's just a matter of hunger, don't talk too much. If you have time, you can get into bed and save half a steamed bun!"

"Damn, you guy." Liu Haizhong wanted to deal with Xu Damao on the spot. Yi Zhonghai felt that today the residents were asked to donate grain, and Xu Damao's family was a wealthy family and could not be offended for the time being.

"Lao Liu, what Damao said makes sense. The weather is so cold and we need to take care of everyone. Just keep your words short."

Yi Zhonghai did not confiscate Liu Haizhong's right to speak. Although Liu Haizhong was a little annoyed, he still accepted it.

"The purpose of our meeting today is to donate grain to the Jia family."

Seeing that the residents all looked unhappy, Liu Haizhong pointed at Yi Zhonghai and said, "Let the uncle explain the specific situation to everyone."

Yi Zhonghai straightened his collar and said, "Everyone should be aware of the situation of the Jia family. There are four people in the family, and Qin Huairu is pregnant. There is only a ration of food for one person."

"Life is so hard. Today I learned that Jia Zhang's body is swollen and she is lying in bed unable to move."

"Old Jia helped everyone in the compound a lot back then. Now that the Jia family is in trouble, we should lend a helping hand."

"When one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid. This will better reflect the spirit of solidarity and friendship of our Siheyuan."

"Today I will take the lead and donate 20 kilograms of corn flour."

"Thank you, Master!" Jia Dongxu walked quickly forward and bowed to Yi Zhonghai.

Liu Haizhong also said: "I am the second uncle in the compound. My family is in a difficult situation and I have many children. I will donate ten kilograms of corn flour."

The third uncle knew it was time for him to express his opinion, so he stood up and said, "My family doesn't have a heavy physical quota, and there are many people, so let me donate ten kilograms as well."

The three uncles in charge expressed their opinions, but the residents were still somewhat reluctant. After all, they did not have enough food to eat, so how could they be willing to donate it?

The scene suddenly fell into silence, and the only sound was the rustling of the treetops caused by the cold wind.

(End of this chapter)