The train driver in the courtyard

In the evening, Li Aiguo followed the third uncle back to the courtyard.

"Wait a moment." The third uncle called Li Aiguo and went into the house to find a board. He came out ten minutes later.

His head, clothes and pants were all covered with dust.

Li Aiguo was delighted: "Uncle, did you hide the board in the rat hole?"

"Oh, this thing is made of rosewood, which is too precious. If it wasn't hidden well, it would have been destroyed by Jie Cheng and Jie Kuang." The third uncle took out a rosewood board from behind and handed it over.

The mahogany board is square and about half the size of a desk, which seems to be quite suitable.

"how much is it?"

Hearing what Li Aiguo said, the third uncle's face lit up, and he stretched out three fingers towards him and said, "I won't ask you for more, just thirty!"

"what?"

Hearing the price, Li Aiguo was shocked and quickly stuffed the wooden board into the hands of the third uncle: "You should keep it as a coffin board."

Thirty dollars!

This is higher than the monthly salary of many people in the compound!
For someone like Jia Dongxu, whose monthly salary is only 27.5 yuan, 30 yuan is not a small amount.

"Hey, don't be anxious. This is how business is done. I can make an offer and you can bargain." The third uncle was anxious.

"1 cent!" Li Aiguo offered a fair price.

Uncle Three: “.”

He felt that Li Aiguo was no longer sincere.

Just at this moment, Xu Damao came in from outside humming a little tune with his hands behind his back. After seeing the two of them, he greeted them casually and prepared to enter the central courtyard.

After taking just two steps, this guy walked backwards again.

Xu Damao's eyes fell on the wooden board in the third uncle's hand, and then he looked at the posture between Li Aiguo and the third uncle, and asked with a smile: "Aiguo, are you going to buy the board that Yan Laokou made?"

"Uh-huh." Li Aiguo didn't understand what he meant.

Xu Damao pulled Li Aiguo's arm and said, "I have one at home, it's exactly the same as this one. Come on, I'll sell it to you at a low price."

Seeing Xu Damao stealing his business, the third uncle was not happy: "Xu Damao, there has to be a first come first served rule. Didn't you see that I was talking to Aiguo?"

Xu Damao gave a thumbs up and said, "No matter what price you offer, I can offer you one dollar cheaper."

"Xu Damao, stop messing around. Do you know how much one dollar is? It's enough for the whole family to eat cornmeal for a week. We all live in the same compound, it's not worth it."

"I'm happy, can you take care of it?"

Xu Damao is very good at doing things that harm others and benefit himself.

The third uncle was so angry that he reached out and grabbed Li Aiguo's arm, "Aiguo, two dollars, I'll sell you this board for two dollars."

Two dollars is a reasonable price.

This wood is indeed mahogany, and the surface is very smooth. If it were placed in the future, it would be worth at least one hundred thousand or eighty thousand.

Li Aiguo was about to agree, but Xu Damao was unwilling: "One dollar and ninety-nine cents, Aiguo, I'll sell it to you for one dollar and ninety-nine cents."

The third uncle was a little angry, and walked over to argue with Xu Damao: "Xu Damao, you are just trying to make trouble, right?"

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Li Aiguo quickly walked between them and stopped them, "Don't worry, Damao, bring your board over."

Seeing that there was a way, Xu Damao turned around and ran back home. A moment later, he came back holding a piece of wood.

This board is exactly the same as the one in my third uncle's house.

Li Aiguo held the two boards and felt strange: "Hey, where did you get these boards?"

Xu Damao and the third uncle both looked strange, looked at each other, and then dispersed.

Seeing that they were not telling the truth, Li Aiguo handed the board back and said, "If this is stolen goods of unknown origin, I cannot accept it."

Hearing this, both of them became anxious.

"Aiguo, don't worry, this board has a clean origin. Damao, tell me what's going on."

Xu Damao leaned close to Li Aiguo's ear and whispered in a low voice for a while.

It turned out that when the residents of the compound moved into the courtyard house, the furniture in the courtyard house had not been cleared out and there were quite a few good pieces of furniture.

Most of them were moved away by people outside, and Xu Jixiang and Yan Bugui only got a mahogany cabinet.

There is not enough space for the two families to share the cabinet. What to do? Split it in half.

Each family got a few boards, but they were reluctant to use them as firewood, and they couldn't sell them if they took them out, so they had to hide them at home.

Well, it turns out to be junk.

"Stop arguing. I'll take both boards. They're 1 yuan each." Li Aiguo held a cigarette in his mouth and squinted his eyes as he looked at the two of them.

These two boards can be used to make four keyboards, which will provide some fault tolerance.

Although Xu Damao and the third uncle felt that the sale was too cheap, it was already a good thing that the thing could be sold, so they happily agreed.

Li Aiguo took out the money with a smile and counted it for the two people.

After taking the board home, Li Aiguo had no time to catch his breath before the third uncle came again.

"Aiguo, are you planning to make some new equipment?" The third uncle blinked his small eyes behind his glasses.

"Uncle, what do you think?" Li Aiguo took the enamel pot from Chen Xueru and took a sip of tea.

The third uncle rubbed his hands and said, "I don't have any other skills, but I'm an expert at finding things. I'm familiar with all the scrap shops in Beijing. If you need anything, just tell me and I'll definitely get it."

Li Aiguo thought about it carefully and realized that some accessories were indeed needed. Using waste materials to make a keyboard would reduce the cost.

He wrote a list and gave it to the third uncle.

"Cans, tin scraps, cardboard, broken pencil stubs, watering cans, old typewriters."

The third uncle was a little confused when he saw that the things on it were totally irrelevant, but he still patted his chest and made a promise readily.

"Aiguo, don't worry, I will definitely get it all for you in a few days."

"Thank you then."

For the third uncle, money is motivation, and Li Aiguo is very optimistic about him.

After seeing off the third uncle, Li Aiguo told Chen Xueru about Zhang Dahua's marriage.

When Chen Xueru heard that Li Aiguo's classmate was getting married, she also became interested, but complained that the time was too tight and she couldn't prepare a good gift.

"Don't we have new sheets at home that Da Kui brought from the south? Just take one with you."

These days, influenced by Hong Kong, the styles of bedding in the south are more fashionable than those in the north.

"Yeah, no one can complain about giving bed sheets as a gift at a wedding." Chen Xueru nodded and went into the house to rummage through the drawers.

Li Aiguo picked up the mahogany board and placed it on the table. He then took a pencil and began to plan how to make a full Chinese keyboard.

****
Zhang Dahua is a girl with many ideas.

She held her wedding on a train that was waiting to be repaired.

The train was cleaned up thoroughly and big red wedding characters were pasted on the doors of the carriages.

When Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru arrived, the flight attendants of flight 322 were welcoming the guests.

Seeing Li Aiguo, the captain of the 322 train, Zhou, came forward and said, "Driver Li, you came at the right time. Dahua and I were just discussing whether we should choose a worker representative to host the wedding. I think you are quite suitable."

In those days, employee representatives were different from trade union members in later generations. Only workers who were trusted by everyone could serve in this position.

Li Aiguo smiled and said, "I guarantee that the task will be completed."

Later, Li Aiguo also met the groom.

The groom is a dispatcher at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. He looks gentle and refined, but he is too thin.

Several flight attendants were whispering behind his back: Will Xiao Wang get crushed by Dahua at night?

Zhang Dahua heard it, stood up suddenly, and shouted with wide eyes: "I can't be down there."

Li Aiguo was drinking water and almost spit it out. He coughed twice and said, "Dahua, today is your big day, be reserved."

Zhang Dahua put her hands on her waist and said, "If I really had to talk to those flight attendants with pinched throats like that, I would really get married like this."

Zhang Dahua may seem arrogant, but she is actually a good girl.

This can be seen from the expressions of the boy's parents, who are nodding from time to time.

Zhang Dahua has a carefree and heartless personality, and there are no conflicts between her and her mother-in-law after marriage.

Zhang Dahua has a strong body and is good at both work and childbirth.

Such a good daughter-in-law is hard to find even with a lantern.

In that era, marriage was relatively simple and not as complicated as in later generations.

It means that both families have a meal together and colleagues get together.

After the ceremony on the train, everyone went to the cafeteria to dance for a while and then dispersed.

When I returned to the compound, I saw the third uncle holding more than a dozen fish in his hands. The two largest carps weighed more than two kilograms each.

"Hey, uncle, is there a good harvest today? So much?" Li Aiguo greeted with a smile.

Ever since the third uncle learned fishing from Li Aiguo, although he only learned the basics, his skills have improved a lot compared to before.

"You're lucky today, Aiguo. Take these two back and eat them." The third uncle said as he handed over the two carps.

"Thank you, I won't." Li Aiguo caught so many fish recently, and now he feels a little nauseous when he sees fish.

"That's good." Seeing Li Aiguo was about to leave, the third uncle said, "I've already spread the word about the materials. They will be ready in less than two days."

It turns out there is a gang collecting scraps.

Li Aiguo was not in a hurry. He nodded and left.

As soon as he left, Yi Zhonghai came back.

"Old Yi, take these two back and eat them." Seeing Yi Zhonghai staring at the fish, the third uncle hesitated for a moment, picked up two crucian carps and handed them over.

Yi Zhonghai looked at the two fish and frowned slightly: "Old Yan, I'll let it go, but you can make fish soup later and send a bowl to the old lady. She can't eat recently. We should respect the old and love the young."

When talking about respecting the elderly and loving the young, Yi Zhonghai spoke particularly loudly and even glanced towards the backyard.

When the third uncle heard this, he had no choice but to agree.

At this time, Jia Dongxu heard this in the middle courtyard, ran over, and took the two carps from the third uncle: "Thank you very much, my sons Banggeng and Xiaodang need fish soup to replenish their bodies."

When the third uncle saw that he was going to take the carp, he quickly grabbed the two small crucian carps and handed them to him: "Crucian carp soup is very nutritious."

"There are too many bones in crucian carp." Jia Dongxu secretly tried harder. The old man had things in both hands, so he was no match for him.

Jia Dongxu returned with the two big carps in his arms, feeling very satisfied. As he walked, he said, "It's good to respect the old and love the young. It's really good. It's good."

Uncle Three: “.”

Yi Zhonghai: "."

Qin Huairu was standing by the pool, seeing this scene, and shook her head helplessly.

Even Li Aiguo is not interested in eating this carp.

Jia Dongxu shamelessly snatched it away. In comparison, it was clear who was superior and who was inferior.

If I hadn't changed my mind.
Qin Huairu felt very sure that she regretted it.

Although Li Aiguo returned home, he also heard the noise in the front yard and was sure that Yi Zhonghai's words were directed to him.

But unfortunately, Jia Dongxu came out and messed up all of Yi Zhonghai's plans.

When the uncle got home, the aunt scolded him: "Who is Yan Bugui? He is the one who takes away the money when he walks. This time the carp was taken away by Jia Dongxu. It would be strange if he doesn't hate you."

The old man was also very depressed and wanted to take the opportunity to scold Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo is the only one living the best life in this compound, but he turns a blind eye to the deaf old lady.

But Jia Dongxu showed up.

"Oh, Dongxu is really an unreasonable kid." Yi Zhonghai also felt that Jia Dongxu had gone too far, but after all, he was his own family's elderly care provider, so what could he say?

In the evening, the residents gathered around the pool with their bowls, eating and chatting.

The third uncle came from the front yard carrying a bowl of fish soup. When he passed by the pond, he called out, "Old Yi, I'm bringing fish soup to the old lady."

When the old man heard this, his face immediately darkened. It was obvious that Old Yan was making a fool of himself.

The third uncle has sent fish soup. You, Yi Zhonghai, have such a good relationship with the old lady, shouldn’t you show some appreciation as well?
He felt as if he had failed to gain anything and ended up losing the rice instead.

Inside the Li family house.

Liu Haizhong pointed outside and said, "Aiguo, see? These are the first and third uncles in our compound. The reason why our compound is so chaotic is because of these two people."

Li Aiguo smiled, neither denying nor agreeing, but just focusing his eyes on the board.

"Second uncle, are you sure you can pull the key out of the board without destroying the overall structure of the board?"

Hearing this, Liu Haizhong patted his chest and said, "Don't worry. Bench workers need to be deft, not strong. We blacksmiths have great strength and deft hands."

"Then thank you for your help." Li Aiguo was worrying about how to make the buttons, and Liu Haizhong came to him, so he didn't have to look for a carpenter.

However, Li Aiguo thought about it and warned Liu Haizhong: "Second uncle, this work involves confidential information, you can do it yourself, don't shout it everywhere."

"Ah?" Liu Haizhong was stunned.

The reason why he was so enthusiastic was to show the residents in the compound that he had a good relationship with Li Aiguo.

"Okay, okay, don't worry." But this was not difficult for Liu Haizhong. He agreed immediately and ran back home.

When he came back again, he brought a piece of red cloth.

He wrapped the mahogany board with red cloth and carried it out of the Li family's house.

As soon as I went out, I met Xu Damao.

"What the hell is this?" Xu Damao was also talking nonsense.

Liu Haizhong was waiting for this: "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone else, Aiguo asked me to help build something."

"what's that?"

"I can't say it, I can't say it, you know." Liu Haizhong winked at Xu Damao, then he walked around the yard twice holding the red cloth, and then returned home.

There are no bars, Douyin, or KTVs these days, and people just gossip to pass the time.

Soon all the residents in the compound knew that Liu Haizhong had taken over a confidential job from Li Aiguo.

It was extremely confidential. When Liu Haizhong was working, even the second aunt was driven out of the house. The two brothers Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu each held a red tasseled gun and stood at the door to serve as guard.

If Li Aiguo didn't know, he would have thought that Liu Haizhong was going to grow big mushrooms.

However, the posture that Liu Haizhong showed was indeed intimidating.

The way the residents looked at Liu Haizhong seemed different from how they looked at others.

Yi Zhonghai had also been staring at this side. Seeing that Liu Haizhong was helping Li Aiguo with work again, and it was confidential work, his heart suddenly ached.

An old lady came in and said, "Old Yi, didn't you want to buy cakes from the deaf old lady yesterday? Why haven't you gone yet?"

Yi Zhonghai: "."

He felt very aggrieved.

****
Time passed day by day, and on the second day after Liu Haizhong's carving work was completed, the third uncle knocked on the door of the Li family.

"Uncle, you got everything together so quickly?" Li Aiguo lowered his head to look at the sack under Uncle's feet.

"How can I not care about your business?"

As the third uncle spoke, he opened the sack, which was filled with all kinds of waste.

"The hardest thing to find is this old typewriter. Fortunately you entrusted it to me. If it was someone else,

The third uncle took out an old "CORONA" brand English typewriter with some pride.

The typewriter is connected to a wooden carrying case on the outside, and when closed it looks like a small suitcase.

"I got this from an old man in the east. It is said that the old man worked as a clerk in a foreign company. Later, the foreign company was disbanded, and the old man took this thing home."

This time, Li Aiguo wanted to give the third uncle a thumbs up.

"How much did all this cost?"

"Seven dollars. No, six dollars and thirty cents." The third uncle saw Xu Damao peeking from a distance and quickly changed his words.

Sure enough, where there is competition, there is pressure.

Li Aiguo smiled, took out some money from his pocket, counted it in front of him, and handed it to him.

"Aiguo, if you need anything in the future, just tell me." The third uncle took the money happily.

Although he did not lie about the price, he did get kickbacks. Adding all these things together, he made at least 50 cents.

After seeing off the third uncle, Li Aiguo officially started to play with his craft.

The typewriter was disassembled with a screwdriver, and an accessory was found inside. This thing can be adapted to the interface and trigger character recording through mechanical linkage.

After the scrap wires are stripped, they are used as conductors and the contacts are welded in a matrix layout to form a key signal path.

Metal cans and tin scraps can be cut into key support sheets.
At night, inside the workshop of Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

Li Aiguo sat at his desk, filing brass sheets into keycaps and soldering springs and copper contacts into the frame.

When the fingertips tapped, the lever pulled the metal sheet closed. It took half an hour to assemble the entire keyboard.

Li Aiguo's fingers tapped lightly on the wooden keys a few times, and the crisp sound of mahjong came from them.

"This isn't considered a custom keyboard, is it?"

With the manufacturing experience gained from making the first keyboard, it didn't take much time to make the remaining three keyboards.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the four keyboards were manufactured, and Li Aiguo also summarized a set of manufacturing processes that can be used in large-scale production in the future.

After putting the keyboard into a bamboo box, Li Aiguo yawned and prepared to go home. He walked into the greenhouse and picked two tomatoes.

Looking at the lushly growing fruits and vegetables, an idea suddenly popped up in Li Aiguo's mind: Should we also cultivate high-yield corn?
With grain in hand, don't panic in my heart.

If you want to have food, you must have good seeds.

The cultivation technology in the system only costs one hundred points, but the benefits obtained are infinite.

But the thought was fleeting.

Breeding grain varieties is not a one-person job. Li Aiguo decided to wait until he meets Old Wu from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences again and discuss it with him before making a decision.

When she got home, Miss Chen had been waiting for a long time and lifted the quilt.

Li Aiguo crawled into the warm bed.

The next day.

Li Aiguo came to the Red Star Computing Institute with a keyboard, and Professor Xia Zhongsu and his colleagues had basically completed their work.

Several young comrades in the elite training class have converted a black-and-white TV into a monitor according to Li Aiguo's previous plan.

Now several people are testing the running speed in front of the computer.

"Aiguo, how do you use this keyboard?" Professor Xia Zhongsu asked, looking at the strange keyboard.

Li Aiguo connected the keyboard to the railway network's dedicated machine and then explained how to use it.

Because the full Chinese keyboard and dedicated machine are matched, it is extremely smooth to use.

Professor Xia Zhongsu was stunned after just a few attempts.

"This, this is a real computer!"

Yes, compared with those large computers that are cumbersome to operate, the minicomputer that Li Aiguo created from scratch with tremendous effort is almost like a point-and-shoot computer.

Although there is no mouse, you can still operate accurately by using the scroll wheel on the keyboard.

"Old Xia, you should withdraw from the laboratory now, take a few people to sort out all these patents, and then hand them over to me. I will find someone to register them in Hong Kong. Some shameless capitalists in the West are still waiting to rob things."

Li Aiguo handed the computer patent work to Xia Zhongsu.

Confidential core technologies such as the 4004 chip cannot be registered, but the related architecture can be registered.

In later generations, some companies no longer thought about producing and selling goods, but just lived on their previous patents, and they lived very comfortably.

Professor Xia Zhongsu was a little worried: "Once we register a patent abroad, won't those people know the technical details? They can completely bypass our patent and develop the technology on their own."

Li Aiguo casually took out a 4004 chip and looked at it in the sunlight: "The only thing that can really hold them back is core technology. As long as we master the manufacturing technology of 4004 chips, even if they are willing to pay the patent settlement fee and produce keyboards and monitors, they will still need to buy chips from us in the end."

Li Aiguo also knew that although patents were a constraint, their constraint was very weak.

If those big capitalists abroad are jealous and want to copy, they can just copy while suing.

When you are tired of litigation and have no money left, they will buy your patent at a very low price.

But if you don’t register a patent, and the other party registers a patent and then turns against you, that will be even more uncomfortable.

Therefore, the best way is to register patents while holding on to core technologies, so that the other party can see the meat but cannot eat it.

Only in this case will they be willing to spend money to buy your things.

"This method is great. No wonder the defense in the chip manufacturing laboratory is so strict." Professor Xia Zhongsu nodded in agreement.

"We need to increase our research and development efforts on chips and cannot stop. We must strive to expand our technological advantages." Li Aiguo thought of the lessons learned by later generations.

In later generations, domestic processor technology was actually very close to that of foreign countries for a period of time, but foreign countries invested massive amounts of manpower and material resources, which suddenly widened the gap between the two.

Now Li Aiguo also wants to let those foreign guys taste this uncomfortable feeling.

Although Professor Xia Zhongsu is the director of the institute, chip manufacturing is completely controlled by Li Aiguo and he has no way to make any suggestions.

"Aiguo, do we still need to report our current progress to the Academy of Sciences?"

"Report!" Li Aiguo nodded heavily.

At this time, there was another call from the Ministry of Railways, asking about the situation of the railway network.

"One week, give me a week!" Li Aiguo said.

(End of this chapter)