The train driver in the courtyard

Liu Haizhong walked to the door of Jia's house and shouted.

In the Jia family's house at this time.

Jia Dongxu was lying on the bed, groaning and pretending to be uncomfortable.

Hearing the shouting outside, Jia Dongxu said to Qin Huairu: "Huairu, I suddenly fell ill and can't go to dig the tunnel."

Seeing that Jia Dongxu didn't get up in the morning, Qin Huairu knew that he had something in mind, and said angrily: "If you don't want to go, why did you sign up?"

"Oh, I have no choice. Master Yi said that if I don't show more initiative, I won't be able to pass the promotion exam." Jia Dongxu pulled the quilt over himself and sighed, "I am doing this for the good of my family."

After saying that, he raised his head and looked at Qin Huairu: "Huairu, can you help me do some work for a few days?"

Qin Huairu felt that Jia Dongxu was becoming more and more like Jia Zhangshi, and whispered, "Only men go to the construction site, so there are no women there."

Jia Dongxu frowned: "Qin Huairu, you are a country girl, you grew up with mud-legged people, and you have been used to doing this kind of rough work since you were a child. What's wrong? Now that you have come to the city, you really think of yourself as a city girl."

"You" Qin Huairu felt insulted. She was so angry that she sat down on the chair, tears rolling down her eyes.

Seeing Qin Huairu was angry, Jia Dongxu quickly changed his words and smiled: "Wife, you are a lesbian. Even if you are on the construction site, the second uncle will not let you do heavy work. Our family is taking advantage."

"But." Qin Huairu still didn't want to.

The two were still arguing, but at this time Liu Haizhong couldn't wait any longer and pushed the door open.

"Jia Dongxu, why are you still lying in bed?"

Jia Dongxu pretended to be weak, propped up his arms and sat up, and recounted the story of his illness.

"Second Uncle, I really want to be active, but my body won't allow it. How about letting Qin Huairu go for me?"

Today's number of people has been reported to the leader in charge of construction. Although Liu Haizhong was reluctant to bring Qin Huairu, he had no choice but to agree.

"Comrade Qin Huairu, let's make an agreement first. Today's work is related to the reputation of our courtyard. Although you are a female comrade, you can't be lazy."

At this time, it was impossible for Qin Huairu to refuse again. She could only grit her teeth and nodded in agreement.

"Huai Ru, come on!" Seeing Qin Huai Ru walking out of the house, Jia Dongxu grinned.

Qin Huairu: "."

Everyone was a little confused when they saw Qin Huairu following Liu Haizhong out.

Xu Damao leaned close to Li Aiguo's ear and whispered, "I thought that Jia Dongxu was so active this time. It turns out that he wanted women to do the work for him."

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough to reach Qin Huairu's ears.

Qin Huairu's face turned even paler. She walked over, looked at Xu Damao and said, "Xu Damao, stop gossiping behind my back. Didn't Liang Ladi also go to work today?"

In addition to Qin Huairu, a woman working in the compound, there was also Liang Ladi.

Xu Damao curled his lips and said sarcastically, "Liang Ladi worked with Nan Yi, and she is a truly positive person. As for you, you were forced to work by Jia Dongxu, right? How can it be the same?"

What Xu Damao said is indeed correct.

Nan Yi came from a poor family. Liang Ladi and Nan Yi realized that this job was a good opportunity to "improve" their ideological awareness, so they both signed up.

Qin Huairu was speechless, but she had no way to expose her own family's dirty laundry, so she could only stand there in a daze.

"Xu Damao, she's a female comrade, so just say less." Yi Zhonghai came out to smooth things over.

He first scolded Xu Damao, then looked at Liu Haizhong: "Captain Liu, it's getting late, we should set off."

"Let's go!" Liu Haizhong waved his hand.

Led by Liu Haizhong, the residents of the courtyard house came to the construction site in Xiaoxishan, a suburb of Beijing.

The main force of the excavation was the comrades from the railway troops. The residents only needed to assist the comrades in clearing the tunnel and were responsible for sending the soil out with baskets.

The Railway Engineering Bureau sent a team leader and a deputy team leader to direct and supervise the site.

Liu Haizhong saw a comrade in a gray Zhongshan suit squatting on the ground looking at a blueprint. His eyes lit up and he strode over.

He took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over: "Comrade leader, I am Liu Haizhong from the Siheyuan. I am here to report as a resident of our Siheyuan. Please assign me a task."

"Squad Leader Liu, right? I'm the deputy commander, my last name is Dong, you can just call me Deputy Dong." The comrade in the Zhongshan suit turned around, first glanced at Liu Haizhong, and finally his eyes fell on Li Aiguo. He asked in surprise, "Aiguo, why are you here too?"

Li Aiguo was chatting with Xu Damao and Liang Ladi. When he heard the familiar voice, he turned his head and was also stunned: "Engineer Dong?"

That’s right, the person opposite is Engineer Dong from the Railway Technology Research Institute.

After some casual chatting, Li Aiguo finally understood why Engineer Dong appeared here.

Engineer Dong was promoted because he assisted Teacher Liu Guozhang in solving many problems and performed outstandingly.

Building a subway in Beijing was a major railway project, so the Railway Technical Research Institute dispatched Engineer Dong to support the Railway Engineering Bureau, where he served as deputy commander-in-chief of the excavation work and was specifically responsible for drawing work.

"I didn't expect that you knew Aiguo, leader. I am Comrade Aiguo's neighbor, and our two families have the best relationship." Seeing this, Liu Haizhong became even more excited.

Yi Zhonghai hid far away and groaned when he saw this scene.

I didn't expect that even when digging a tunnel, I would meet Li Aiguo's acquaintances.

I can't stay in the capital any longer. How about considering the deaf old lady's approach and finding a way to leave the capital?

As soon as this thought came to mind, it was suppressed by Yi Zhonghai.

He is now at least a level 7 worker and has a parent to support him.

If you leave the capital, your fate will be at the mercy of others.

Yi Zhonghai is a person with a strong desire for control and will never allow such a thing to happen.

****
Engineer Dong chatted with Li Aiguo for a while, and Captain Chen of the Railway Corps and the on-site person in charge - the commander-in-chief of the Engineering Bureau also came with their team.

"Mr. Dong, who is this?" Commander-in-Chief Zhou came over when he saw that Engineer Dong was chatting enthusiastically with Li Aiguo.

Engineer Dong introduced Li Aiguo's identity.

Commander Zhou looked Li Aiguo up and down and said, "I didn't realize that Comrade Aiguo, a technical expert, is so strong."

"I'm a train driver and a worker. How can I not be strong?" Li Aiguo raised his arms. As he drinks Linggui wine all year round, he has almost turned into a muscular man.

Seeing that it was getting late, Commander Zhou did not waste any more time and prepared to start work.

He and Captain Chen personally directed the railway soldiers to carry out their work.

Mr. Dong is in charge of the temporary workers.

Engineer Dong also assigned tasks to the residents who came to provide support.

Li Aiguo also understood what this mission was all about.

The Engineering Bureau took a shortcut and deliberately chose this ravine-like cliff-like location to dig the tunnel.

The ditch cliff is more than ten meters away from the ground. There is no need to dig deep downwards, just drill holes on the side of the ditch cliff.

In those days, railway soldiers mainly used explosives to dig caves.

Before tunnel excavation, the rocks in the gully and cliff need to be loosened and blasted.

When drilling and blasting manually, one person holds the steel drill while the other swings a sledgehammer. They must hit the steel drill accurately to avoid hurting the other person.

After each strike with a hammer, the steel chisel has to be rotated to ensure that it can be hammered in slowly.

After drilling the blast holes, loading the explosives, and lighting the fuse, bursts of cannon fire blew up the large rocks in the gully and cliffs.

The railway soldiers were responsible for blasting. Li Aiguo took the initiative to take Xu Damao and Nan Yi to follow them. They used shovels to shovel the stones into carts and earth baskets and carried the stones out.

The tunnel was extended forward little by little through the removal of rocks, carrying them on shoulders, lifting them up, using steel drills, and blasting them with dynamite, with each shovel and pickaxe worked.

This job looks difficult, and it is actually difficult.

In order to prevent rocks from falling from above, you need to pay attention to your head at all times.

Li Aiguo was better off, but Xu Damao, Nan Yi and several other strong laborers were all exhausted and out of breath.

Liang Ladi's arms felt numb after she had just come in and dug a few times. She saw Qin Huairu slacking off and suddenly became unhappy.

"If you don't want to do it, just move aside. This is not a big pot meal."

Li Aiguo knew that Liang Ladi had always disliked Qin Huairu.

For no other reason than that Liang Ladi felt that Qin Huairu had lost face as a woman.

As a woman, you have to hold up half the sky instead of crying miserably everywhere.

"Okay, you have the strength, come on, do it." Qin Huairu also felt very aggrieved. She really couldn't do such heavy work.

The gravel was particularly difficult to clean up. Sparks flew when a shovel was poked on it, and my arms were numb and sore from the shock.

Qin Huairu was indeed a country girl and had never done this kind of work.

Liang Ladi walked over, pushed Qin Huairu aside, picked up a shovel and started working.

Li Aiguo had already cleaned up a large area. He stood up and handed a cigarette to Captain Chen of the Railway Corps: "Old Chen, this job is not easy."

"Yeah, but that's how you dig a tunnel. Don't be in a hurry, take your time." Captain Chen took the cigarette and said.

In one morning, they only dug a distance of less than five meters. The railway soldiers were fine, but the residents were so tired that they couldn't even straighten their backs.

Lunch was provided on the railway, consisting of vegetables, tofu and sorghum rice.

Although simple, the dish contains a lot of lard, which not only relieves hunger but also increases strength.

Engineer Dong got a bottle of wine from somewhere, but he pulled Commander Zhou, Captain Chen and Li Aiguo aside and poured a glass for each of them.

"Everyone says that being a blacksmith is hard, but I think digging tunnels is even harder than being a blacksmith." Engineer Dong took a sip of wine and said.

"This is still good. The construction site is near a big city, so food and accommodation are not a problem." Captain Chen took a few bites of his meal and said, "If we really go to the mountains and don't even have a place to sleep, that's what we call hardship."

"Too."

"It would be great if there was a machine that could dig a tunnel with just a turn of a key." Captain Chen looked at Engineer Dong with a smile, "Old Dong, you are a great engineer, think of a solution."

"I have thought of a solution, which is to go to sleep quickly. You can have anything in your dreams." After Dong Gong said this, he suddenly remembered something and looked at Li Aiguo.

"Patriotic, do you have any solution?"

"Not yet, let's wait." Li Aiguo rubbed his sore arm, thinking that he shouldn't save the 500 points. The chat was lively here, and Xu Damao, Nan Yi, Liang Ladi and other residents also gathered together to eat.

Nan Yi held the bowl and put two pieces of tofu into Liang Ladi's bowl, and whispered: "Ladi, you should work less in the afternoon, and I will work harder, and we can also complete today's progress."

"I'm fine. It's you, who's been shaking the pot all day and has an injury on your arm. You should be more careful."

Seeing the intimacy between the two, Qin Huairu felt even more sad.

Xu Damao was jealous and said, "If I had known, I would have asked Liu Lan to sign up as well."

After lunch and a thirty-minute break, everyone started working again.

Liang Ladi still went against Qin Huairu. Whenever she saw Qin Huairu standing there slacking off, she would walk over and yell at her.

Yi Zhonghai tried to stop her several times, but thinking of Liang Ladi's hot temper, he had to give up.

Liu Haizhong also saw what Liang Ladi was thinking and was even less willing to care.

Qin Huairu had no choice but to grit her teeth and follow Liang Ladi's instructions. The two female comrades managed to complete today's task.

"Okay, everyone, go back and rest early, and gather at 7:30 tomorrow."

When the night was over, Qin Huairu was walking home with her legs shaking.

After dinner, Liu Haizhong gathered all the residents together again and criticized some people for being opportunistic in front of them.

You don’t need to ask to know that these people are Qin Huairu.

Qin Huairu returned home feeling aggrieved, and Jia Dongxu was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed.

"You're back? Hurry up, Xiaodang wet the bed again today, wash the sheets quickly."

Qin Huairu's heart was as cold as the water from the faucet.

Li Aiguo was very happy.

When she got home, Chen Xueru had already prepared the water for washing feet.

Before Li Aiguo could react, he was pushed onto a chair and his socks were pulled off.

Feeling the soft and boneless hands brushing against his feet, Li Aiguo squinted his eyes comfortably.

"Daddy, don't be ashamed. You're so grown up, but you still can't wash your feet by yourself. You're not as good as Xiao Hongsheng." Xiao Hongsheng was doing homework. When he looked up, he saw the two of them and made a face at Li Aiguo.

"You kid." Li Aiguo pointed at his homework book and said, "Bring your homework here."

Nowadays, there is no emphasis on reducing the burden and promoting happy education, and even childcare classes assign homework.

Xiao Hongsheng subconsciously wanted to hide the homework, but when Li Aiguo glanced at her, she could only stand up and hand over the homework.

Li Aiguo is different from Chen Xueru. He knows how to spank children's buttocks with big slaps, which always hurts.

Li Aiguo took the homework book and frowned after just one glance.

"Who is this fat guy up there?"

"It's Chichi, the panda Chichi." Xiao Hongsheng bit his lip and said with courage, "I missed Chichi, so I drew it."

He pointed to the notebook and said, "Look, this is me and Chichi playing a game together, and this is Chichi doing a handstand."

Li Aiguo looked at the giant panda in the book, which looked nothing like the panda, and suddenly an idea popped up in his mind: "How about we draw a Kung Fu Panda comic and then find a way to make it into a cartoon."

Li Aiguo originally planned to launch the Train Man.

It’s just that the comic about Trainman is too complicated and may involve some sensitive issues, so the comic is only half drawn.

Kung Fu Panda is different. Pandas are our national treasure. Even those who oppose it have to think twice before taking action.

In addition, if the image of the panda can be promoted overseas, it will also be a form of soft power.

"Dad, you want to draw food? That's great." Xiao Hongsheng was very interested and clapped his hands.

After washing his feet, Li Aiguo first studied the shield machine for a while, then picked up a pen and paper and started working.

The second day's work was much the same as the first, except that the residents were more exhausted.

Even an old worker like Yi Zhonghai couldn't bear it anymore, and from time to time he would run to the nearby woods to slack off whenever he had time.

Liu Haizhong scolded me as a lazy person with a lot of shit and piss.

"This old Liu is getting more and more outrageous. He doesn't even care about me, his uncle."

The words have not yet fallen.

Whoosh!
He was startled when a rock fell from the top of the tunnel and scraped his scalp to the ground below.

"Commander-in-chief, this is too dangerous." Yi Zhonghai took a long time to calm down before standing up.

Commander Zhou looked at the top of the tunnel, turned his head and shouted to Captain Chen, "Old Chen, the tunnel has started to fall rocks, call a few people to reinforce it."

Yi Zhonghai took the opportunity to take out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Commander Zhou: "Commander Zhou, I am an old worker with good skills. Why don't I help with the reinforcement?"

There was no mechanical anchor support in those days.

The reinforcement technology used in the project is to use wooden frames and simple steel arch frames as temporary support structures to directly support the surrounding rock after excavation and prevent collapse caused by short-term deformation.

In short, it is similar to setting up scaffolding in later generations, and it is a relatively easy job.

Commander Zhou agreed when he saw that Yi Zhonghai really couldn't stand the heavy work.

Qin Huairu was jealous and found Yi Zhonghai, hoping to join the reinforcement team.

"Commander Zhou, this is a female comrade. It's not right for her to work with male comrades all the time. How about asking her to help me carry some wood and steel pipes?"

Yi Zhonghai handed another cigarette to Commander Zhou, who turned his head and looked at Qin Huairu.

Qin Huairu pretended to be out of breath at this time, with messy hair and pale face, looking really pitiful.

"Okay, let this female comrade be your assistant." Commander-in-Chief Zhou felt a little soft-hearted and agreed on the spot.

It’s just that Qin Huairu went to do the light work, there was still Liang Ladi in the tunnel.

Commander Zhou found Liang Ladi and asked her if she was willing to set up the scaffolding.

"No, no, I won't go. Men and women are equal now. Why is my work easier than those men's? Are you looking down on me?" Liang Ladi swung the shovel loudly without even turning her head.

Commander-in-Chief Zhou often encountered female comrades like Liang Ladi, so he didn't say much and then arranged for the reinforcement team to get to work quickly.

Although the tunnel had been reinforced, there was still debris falling from time to time. Fortunately, the railway soldiers and temporary workers all wore rattan safety helmets, so no one was injured.

"We are not just working, we are risking our lives." After dodging a stone, Xu Damao smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Li Aiguo has been observing the situation in the tunnel. They have only dug less than a hundred meters, but have encountered so many dangers.

He took advantage of the break to call Engineer Dong and Captain Chen aside.

"Mr. Dong, Mr. Chen, how about we adopt the method of partial excavation for subsequent excavation?"

The so-called pilot tunnel method refers to excavation in stages and support in sections to reduce the scope of one-time disturbance.

It is safer than the current method of digging and reinforcing at the same time.

But the speed will also be slowed down a lot.

Captain Chen handed Li Aiguo a cigarette and said, "Comrade Aiguo, when we first started planning, Deputy Dong and I surveyed the geology here. This is a mixture of swelling rock and loess strata, which is more prone to collapse than mountain rocks. This is what we adopted in our initial excavation plan."

Engineer Dong nodded: "It just took too much time, so the Engineering Bureau rejected it."

"But we can't do anything stupid." Coming from the future, Li Aiguo always puts safety first.

At this time, Commander Zhou was dealing with matters in the tunnel. Seeing the three people whispering outside, he came over.

"What happened?"

Captain Chen didn't say anything, and Engineer Dong repeated Li Aiguo's idea.

Hearing this, Commander Zhou's expression suddenly relaxed: "I thought something had happened. It turns out that patriotic comrades are worried about this. Don't worry, I have arranged for several temporary workers to join the reinforcement team. As long as we reinforce it in time, nothing will happen."

"Old Zhou, we're only a hundred meters deep and rocks are falling. If we continue digging deeper..."

Li Aiguo was interrupted by Commander-in-Chief Zhou before he finished speaking: "Comrade Aiguo, our superiors require us to complete the tunnel excavation within two months. If the construction period is delayed, who will be responsible for it?"

"But we can't ignore safety just to rush the work," Li Aiguo argued.

Seeing that Li Aiguo was not giving in, Commander Zhou became angry and said, "This is our construction site, not your train station. If you want to express your opinion, go back to your train station."

"You are just kidding," Li Aiguo tried to persuade him.

Commander Zhou was in a hot temper and shouted, "Captain Chen, take a few people and drive this guy out of my construction site!"

Captain Chen didn't expect that the two people who had been drinking together at noon would have a falling out over just a few words.

But he didn't move, but stood aside.

Engineer Dong quickly stepped forward to smooth things over: "Old Zhou, Aiguo, the national advanced train driver, also wanted the project to be completed smoothly. Director Liu Guozhang has said several times that he has accepted a good student."

His meaning was very clear - the person in front of him was a "national advanced train driver" and a student of Director Liu. If you were to take action, you would have to think about the consequences.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Commander-in-Chief Zhou's expression changed slightly and he no longer mentioned kicking Li Aiguo out of the construction site.

"Comrade Aiguo, I understand your feelings, but there's nothing I can do." In order to ease the relationship, Commander-in-Chief Zhou pulled Li Aiguo to the grove, handed him a cigarette, and lit one for himself.

"According to the agreement between our Engineering Bureau and Construction Bureau, the experimental tunnel must be completed within two months. In addition, the Construction Bureau has the support of Russian experts, so we are under great pressure! Once shallow burial is used, our capital will be missing an important shelter.

I also know that there will be some danger if we rush to start construction now, but the degree of danger is not that high."

Li Aiguo also understood the dilemma faced by Commander-in-Chief Zhou, but he still emphasized his opinion again: "Old Zhou, I am firmly against blind construction and I have reservations about your approach."

Li Aiguo also knows that simply raising questions without solving them will not help solve real problems.

The geological environment in Beijing is complex. If we don't develop a shield machine, similar things will definitely happen again during the excavation of future subway tunnels.

He instructed Engineer Dong to strengthen safety protection work on site, and then took a few days off.

(End of this chapter)