The train driver in the courtyard

"So, Li Aiguo, no, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot built the Great Wall-type off-road vehicle?"

Leader Teng thought to himself that this must be Li Aiguo's doing, but the situation was not yet clear. In order to protect Li Aiguo, the leader changed his tune.

"Yes, our experts have already inspected the vehicle. We don't know exactly what new designs were used, but it has reached the international advanced level." The senior leader of the First Ministry of Machine Building tried to suppress his excitement in front of the new leader, but failed.

"Ahem. Is that so? That's how we railway workers are, we always accidentally create something good. Come, Old Chen, have some tea. Building a train is a complex project, we can't rush it."

The top leader of the Ministry of Machine Building certainly understood what Leader Teng meant, and glanced at his assistant.

Seeing the two men sketching on a map with pencils, the assistant knew they were "marking the production line" and tactfully closed the door.

Half an hour later, a hearty laugh came from inside the office.

"Old Vine, you're still the same old you, always trying to steal things."

"You did the same. Back then, I captured a set of calipers from the Japanese, but before I could even play with them for a few days, you took them from me."

"Hahaha"

The door opened, and a senior leader from the Ministry of Machine Building looked at his assistant and said, "Go and invite Comrade Aiguo over."

The assistant was excited to learn that the two companies had reached an agreement, and he also wanted to see the Great Lexus go into production as soon as possible.

At the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, steam engines roared in the yard, and various machines made constant noises in the workshop.

Director Yu Shu and Director Zhang are busy developing process flows, process standards, and quality inspection standards to facilitate subsequent production work.

These technologies are not very difficult, and with the information provided by Li Aiguo, they can be completed in just a few days.

Li Aiguo opened the high-temperature experimental furnace and added materials inside.

This high-temperature experimental furnace was found in a laboratory left behind by the Japanese. It was only a semi-finished product, and other laboratories in China were not interested.

It was sent to the studio a while ago, and Li Aiguo and Lao Zhang spent a lot of effort to fix it. It works quite well for some experiments.

The high-temperature experimental furnace can provide a high temperature of 1300 degrees Celsius, making it particularly suitable for processing raw materials such as ceramics.

"Master, what's in here? It looks like a porcelain bowl to me?" Chen Baiya, who had just returned from the Northwest, came in to report on her work, and was quite curious.

"It's about the same size as a porcelain bowl," Li Aiguo said, his lips twitching slightly.

This is a special ceramic piece that he obtained from a ceramics factory. The factory spent a full five days making it.

Boron carbide has been added to ceramics to form a new material. The ceramic bowls now have properties similar to alloys. Through hot pressing and sintering technology, they can be made into bulletproof plates.

Only large off-road vehicles equipped with bulletproof plates can be considered battlefield command vehicles.

However, the materials have not yet been made, so it is not convenient to release them to the public.

Li Aiguo closed the furnace door, turned on the switch, and asked, "Chen Baiya, how's the situation in the Northwest?"

"The mission was successfully completed, and the hydraulic press is now running." Chen Baiya had only been away from Beijing for a little over a month.

His once fair skin has now turned dark, and he has a stubble on his lip. He has lost some of his pretty-boy charm, but gained more of a strong and muscular look.

"Go back and rest for a couple of days. There are still things here that need your help."

"Are you building a large off-road vehicle? I've heard that you're making cars, sir."

While they were chatting idly, Yan Jiecheng's shout came from outside.

"Patriotism, the ministry has invited you to a meeting."

"Understood." Li Aiguo replied, handing an operation manual to Chen Baiya: "The master is in a meeting now. You keep an eye on this experimental furnace and adjust the temperature according to the instructions."

After Li Aiguo left, Chen Baiya squatted in front of the high-temperature experimental furnace, scratching her head in confusion.

"Oh, Baiya's back. Where's your master?" Yu Shu had a question for Li Aiguo and greeted Chen Baiya when she saw her.

"He went to a meeting at the ministry." Chen Baiya turned to look at him, puzzled, and asked, "Why do you think Master is tinkering with a broken porcelain bowl?"

"Who can understand what Aiguo is doing? But it must be something good." Yu Shu also knew that Li Aiguo had been busy with the porcelain bowl.

"You'd better keep a close eye on things, make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Don't worry, I am Master's most outstanding disciple." Chen Baiya nodded emphatically.

Li Aiguo arrived at the ministry and easily knocked on the door of the leader's office.

"It's Aiguo, come in quickly." Leader Teng personally stood up and led him to the sofa, then pointed to the leaders of the First Ministry of Machine Building and said, "This is Leader Chen, you met him a couple of days ago, right?"

"Hello, Leader Chen," Li Aiguo greeted him with a smile.

"Comrade Patriot, we meet again."

Once everyone was seated, Leader Teng, a man of action, didn't mince words and went straight to the point, asking, "Aiguo, where did you get the technical data for this large off-road vehicle?"

"Boss, the section recently assigned me a Jeep, but I kept dropping it every few days. I was thinking about whether I could modify it, so I hired an employee from the BAIC factory, and it actually worked. Maybe I was just lucky," Li Aiguo replied frankly.

The events at the BAIC plant, because they involved the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, were reported to Leader Teng by his subordinates.

At the time, he thought Li Aiguo was just standing up for his friend, but he never expected it to cause such a big incident.

Speaking of Li Aiguo's luck, it's extraordinary.

They successfully modified the steam engine and even created a patriotic steam engine.

To solve the problem of bedwetting in children, diapers were invented, and they are now sold overseas, earning countless foreign exchange every year.

And of course, there are tunnel boring machines and hydraulic presses.

Now the department has given him a beat-up car, and he's managed to turn it into a huge off-road vehicle.

Leader Teng asked casually, without any intention of doubting Li Aiguo.

After all, as the farmer's student and Old Xu's apprentice, his name was already on a certain list, and his loyalty was beyond question.

"Luck is part of it, but more importantly, it's your hard work. The reason I've called you here is to talk about your vision for the Great Off-Road. It's still in the planning stage. We've made our plans, and how the higher-ups will arrange things is their business."

Leader Teng grew increasingly fond of Li Aiguo; he was young, capable, and loyal—such talent was rare.

When Li Aiguo saw that the top leaders of the Ministry of Machine Building were also there, he knew that the two sides had almost reached an agreement.

However, this was not something he should ask, and he didn't inquire about it; he simply stated his thoughts directly.

"The Great Off-Road is actually divided into two versions. One is the military version, which uses a V8 engine and a high-strength chassis, making it suitable for battlefield use."

The other is a civilian version, which uses a V6 engine, saving fuel and reducing costs.

The top leader of the Ministry of Machine Building nodded: "This is a good idea. Many of our products are now being converted from military to civilian use. The first thing to solve is the cost issue."

Leader Teng continued, "So what's your opinion on which car manufacturer should produce the off-road vehicles?"

"I will listen to the opinions from above."

"Okay, it's settled then. Our ministry and the First Ministry of Machine Building will form an expert group, and we will need your cooperation at that time."

"That's for sure," Li Aiguo assured, patting his chest.

Seeing that the brief meeting was over, Leader Teng looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "You've done another great service this time. Do you need anything?"

When the topic of giving rewards came up, Boss Teng got a headache. This guy had already received so many rewards that his hands were sore from taking them all, so he simply asked directly.

"Sir, I won't accept it this time. I have enough to eat and wear now, and I don't need anything." Li Aiguo wasn't being deliberately modest.

His current salary and subsidies total over two hundred yuan.

That's how it is these days; even if you have money, you can't spend it.

"Where's the ticket?"

"We already have a bicycle and a radio at home, so we don't need them anymore."

"How about I get you another new car?"

"Boss, I can make it myself."

"..." Leader Teng looked at Li Aiguo, paused for a moment, and said, "It's necessary. Here's what we'll do: go back and think about what you need."

"clear."

With the leader speaking, what could Li Aiguo say? He scratched his head and left the office.

The top leader of the Ministry of Machine Building looked at his retreating figure, smiled, and said to Leader Teng, "Now I finally understand why other departments can't poach people from us."

"This is a good comrade." Leader Teng stood up, had his assistant transcribe the conversation into a script, and looked at the senior leader of the First Ministry of Machine Building, saying, "These vehicles are urgently needed on the battlefield. Let's report to Haizi as soon as possible."

"Alright." The top leader of the First Ministry of Machine Building stood up.

When Li Aiguo returned to the workshop, Chen Baiya was still squatting in front of the furnace. Upon seeing him return, she quickly reported, "Master, I've been watching it all morning, and there are no problems."

Li Aiguo checked the temperature and nodded, saying, "Go back and rest first, then come to work the night shift tonight."

Ceramic materials with added boron carbide require at least forty hours of high-temperature treatment to stabilize their internal structure.

After Chen Baiya left, Li Aiguo kept an eye on the experimental furnace while working on designing a ceramic bulletproof vehicle body.

Before they knew it, evening had arrived. Chen Baiya came to take over the shift, and Li Aiguo then rode his bicycle leisurely back to the courtyard house.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw Liu Haizhong standing by the pool, explaining the notice from the street office to the residents of the courtyard.

"Starting today, no fires should be lit near the weather station on West Street. In particular, everyone should keep an eye on their children and not let them play with firecrackers there."

"What's wrong with playing with cannons?" Xu Damao asked, puzzled.

"That would affect the temperature."

The weather station is almost finished, and the next step is to launch the weather forecast system. It seems I need to get the car manufacturing business sorted out as soon as possible. Li Aiguo thought to himself.

"boom!"

Just as they were pondering this, they heard the door close. Not only Li Aiguo, but everyone else was also startled. They turned around and saw that it was Jia Dongxu's house.

"Father, Mother, look what my sister and I picked up!"

"What is this thing? Oh my, it's a big fan. Son, you've grown up quite a bit."

My terrier is three or four years old now. As the saying goes, even dogs hate three or four-year-old kids. He's always causing trouble with his little terrier.

The kids were just kids, so the adults didn't pay them any mind and turned back to ask about the weather station.

"Captain, those two kids just ran into this compound. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Look at you, how come you can't even read an anemometer properly? If you lose it, you'll definitely get punished."

"Who would care if those two kids were urinating on the ants? And who would have thought that guy would grab the anemometer and run away?"

"Hey, never mind, now's not the time to assign blame. Let's get the anemometer back quickly."

Before Liu Haizhong could say more than a few words, another voice came from outside, sounding quite anxious.

Two comrades dressed in gray overalls hurriedly walked in from outside.

Looking at the residents in the compound, he asked, "Did you see two children just now? A boy of about three or four years old, and a slightly younger girl." Liu Haizhong, the head of the household, stepped forward and asked, "Comrade, what happened?"

"They stole our equipment," the younger man said angrily.

"How can you say that? The child probably just took it out of curiosity."

The slightly older man stopped him, first offering Liu Haizhong a cigarette before speaking: "We are construction workers from the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. I am the team leader, and my surname is Hou."

Here's what happened: I was in a rush to finish work yesterday, so I temporarily put the equipment in the corner. I never expected that my child would pick it up and take it as a toy.

We need it urgently, and we hope you can help us.

They looked at each other and understood.

It must have been Bang Geng and Xiao Dang who took their things.

Xu Damao's eyes darted around, and he said sarcastically, "Oh, is the Jia family a family heirloom of 'finding lost items'? The neighborhood committee should issue them a 'Honest and Reliable Person' award!"

"Xu Damao, what the hell do you mean? Who's the thief?!" Jia Dongxu, who was hiding by the door, couldn't help but open the door and come out when he heard this.

When Liu Haizhong saw him come out, he waved his hand and said, "Dongxu, did your kid steal someone else's equipment? Hurry up and return it."

"Second Uncle, you saw it with your own eyes! Let me tell you, you can't frame someone out of thin air," Jia Dongxu insisted.

He was recently disciplined, and if this matter blows up again, the neighborhood authorities will have to deal with him again.

Seeing this, Captain Hou became anxious and stepped forward, saying, "Comrade, we just want to retrieve the equipment, we have no other intentions. That thing is very delicate, please don't let the child break it."

"I don't know, I've never seen it before, don't bother me." Jia Dongxu put his hands behind his back and was about to go into the house.

Qin Huairu tugged at the ear and came out of the house: "These are public property, how can you just take them like that!"

The pheasant cried, "It spins so beautifully... I want to take it home and use it as a fan."

Captain Hou saw that Qin Huairu was holding an anemometer, so he quickly ran over and took it from her.

Qin Huairu said awkwardly, "Comrade, I'm so sorry, the child is just being silly and mistook this for a fan. Please don't take offense."

"It's alright, it's alright," Captain Hou said, busy checking the anemometer, not wanting to argue with a child.

Banggeng, however, refused to accept this. He broke free from Qin Huairu's grasp and ran to Jia Dongxu to complain, "Father, Mother hit me."

"I told you to go back to your parents' home to borrow money, but you didn't go. Instead, you helped outsiders bully your own child!" Jia Dongxu was furious and rushed over to grab Qin Huairu's hair.

Jia Dongxu was fined a year's salary and owed so much debt. He couldn't borrow any more money from Yi Zhonghai, so he asked Qin Huairu to go back to her parents' home to borrow money, but she refused.

Jia Dongxu was furious when this happened today.

Yi Zhonghai had actually been hiding nearby, but because he was under disciplinary action, he was unwilling to appear in the compound.

Seeing Jia Dongxu make a move, he quickly ran out: "Dongxu, what are you doing?"

“Master, Qin Huairu is outrageous. The child just picked up something, and she beat him. I told him to go back to his parents’ home to borrow money, but he won’t go. It’s not like he’s not going to pay it back.” Jia Dongxu said, pointing his finger at Qin Huairu.

Yi Zhonghai's face was grim: "Dongxu, life in the countryside isn't easy either. Qin Huairu's parents earn work points, so they don't have much money. As for the child's matter, we haven't figured it out yet, so let's not jump to conclusions."

As he spoke, Yi Zhonghai gave Jia Dongxu a wink, signaling him to shut up.

Although Jia Dongxu was unconvinced, he could only stand aside angrily.

Yi Zhonghai walked up to Captain Hou and asked with a smile, "Comrade, is this thing not broken?"

Captain Hou quickly checked the anemometer and nodded, saying, "It's alright. And you are?"

"I'm the oldest man in this compound," Yi Zhonghai said proudly, puffing out his chest and glancing sideways at Liu Haizhong.

No matter how much you bounce around in your bangs, you're still just a second uncle; it still takes Yi Zhonghai to represent the courtyard house.

"I was just looking for you." Captain Hou handed the anemometer to the team member and said, "We have a lot of equipment on our construction site, some of which are particularly valuable."

This anemometer was calibrated in the lab; thankfully it's not broken, otherwise it would have been a huge problem. Please tell the kids in the compound not to steal anything.

These words were like a slap in the face, and Yi Zhonghai regretted representing the courtyard house.

"Yes, yes, rest assured, I will definitely do my best in the education work and cooperate with your work."

Captain Hou said thank you and left with the anemometer.

Yi Zhonghai escorted Captain Hou to the door, and after returning, he looked at the residents in the compound and repeated what Captain Hou had just said.

"Everyone, keep a close eye on your children from now on. This is a matter of reputation for our compound. Don't cause any trouble."

"What do you mean 'our own children'? They're just Bang Geng and Xiao Dang. Why are you putting the blame on us?" Xu Damao was a little unhappy when he heard this. His Xu Hua was so well-behaved.

"Xu Damao, you son of a bitch!" Jia Dongxu was so angry that he wanted to fight Xu Damao, and he reached out to pick up a basin and smash it over Xu Damao's head.

As a result, Zhang Gangzhu grabbed his wrist: "Jia Dongxu, if you dare to smash my washbasin, I'll show you why flowers are so red."

"Clap"

Xu Damao took the opportunity to kick Jia Dongxu twice, then hid to the side and shouted loudly, "Jia Dongxu, who in our compound doesn't know that your Jia family especially likes to steal? Oh right, you don't call it stealing, you call it taking, hahaha."

Jia Dongxu was furious and was about to rush forward.

Yi Zhonghai, worried that things would escalate, quickly stopped him.

"go back!"

"master."

"Go back." Yi Zhonghai was anxious. Bang Geng's behavior seemed insignificant, but if someone took it too seriously and accused him of sabotaging meteorological work, Jia Dongxu would be implicated, and his mentor would also be affected.

"Master, you're not going to help me anymore!" Jia Dongxu didn't expect Yi Zhonghai to treat him like this, and he went home in a huff.

"When you get old, let's see who will take care of you in your old age and see you off in your final days!"

Yi Zhonghai watched Jia Dongxu's retreating figure as he slammed the door shut, his Adam's apple bobbing twice.

The grain coupons I received as a favor over the years, and the many times I was implicated in others' misfortunes, all churned in my mind, ultimately turning into a sigh: "You can't tame a wolf cub..."

But his fingers quietly dug into his palm.

The neighbors around who witnessed this scene all shook their heads in unison.

"I never expected that Jia Dongxu would hate Yi Zhonghai."

"Jia Dongxu is an ingrate."

"Over the years, an old man has helped him a lot."

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai was now in a precarious position, the third uncle stepped forward and said, "Everyone, stop talking. This is their own business. Don't get involved. Let's all disperse."

The residents then came to their senses.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu have fallen out; they might reconcile in a few days. In fact, they've offended both families.

Li Aiguo chuckled as he enjoyed the juicy gossip, and had some guesses in his mind. It seemed that even though the timeline had changed, Bang Geng was still the same as in the original timeline, naturally possessing the potential to become a master thief.

The next day, Li Aiguo got up early and rode his bicycle to the meteorological station on West Street.

Due to the tight schedule, the workers have already started work, and the site is bustling with activity.

Captain Hou was assembling an anemometer with an expert, but no matter how they assembled it, the anemometer could not function properly.

"Oh no, it must have been damaged by that kid yesterday. It needs to be sent back to the station for repairs," Captain Hou said anxiously.

According to the above plan, the weather station must be built within ten days, which will take up a lot of time.

"Let me take a look."

Captain Hou looked up when he heard the voice and saw that it was a resident who had come to watch the commotion yesterday. He instinctively tried to stop him.

Li Aiguo took out his leather pouch and pulled out three copper probes of different curvatures: "The tenon has shifted; we need these."

They then disassembled the base plate to calibrate the scale, but Captain Hou quickly stopped them: "This is a precision instrument, you can't..."

Before the words were even finished, the gears clicked into place.

"It's ready, give it a try."

"Huh?" Captain Hou thought this person was joking. This is professional equipment, you fixed it in no time.

There was no other way but to turn on the switch.

Whoosh. The anemometer started spinning, and the gears that had been a little stuck started moving smoothly.

Captain Hou was stunned by this scene. By the time he looked up at the resident, the resident had already ridden away on a bicycle.

"Who is this person?"

"I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. That's right, at the bureau's conference, he was the one who demonstrated how to install it." The expert's voice trembled slightly as he said this: "It's Li Aiguo from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot! He's the one who came up with this equipment!"

"It seems we should install a fixing component on the outer ring of the gear to prevent displacement." Li Aiguo pondered the malfunction he had just experienced and rode his bicycle toward the front gate locomotive depot.

As Master Lu once said, "If a mistake can be made, someone will eventually make it."

That's how design is; you have to consider all possibilities as much as possible.

Upon arriving at the locomotive depot, the furnace was operating smoothly, and Yu Shu had taken over the duty shift.

"Patriotism, what are these ceramics used for?"

"Good stuff, you'll see when the time comes."

Li Aiguo returned to his office, finished the drawings for the fixed device, and sent someone to deliver them to the meteorological bureau.

The structure of the fastener is actually very simple.

After receiving the blueprints, the meteorological bureau handed them over to the Beijing Machinery Factory, which produced more than a thousand pieces in less than a morning and delivered them to meteorological stations in various locations.

After finishing these tasks, Li Aiguo focused his energy on the research of ceramic materials.

Now that hot pressing and sintering have been completed, the ceramic plates with added boron carbide are ready to be produced.

The following steps require reaction sintering and hydraulic pressing.

Hydraulic pressing requires a 2000-ton hydraulic press, which Li Aiguo has already secured.

The key issue is that vacuum furnaces required for the reaction sintering step are not commonly found in China.

Li Aiguo inquired with Director Zhang and the experienced workers in the maintenance workshop, but none of them had any leads.

"It seems I should call Professor Liu Guozhang. He's very knowledgeable and might know where to find a vacuum furnace."

Li Aiguo had barely sat down in his chair and hadn't even picked up the phone when Section Chief Xing walked over with a dozen comrades dressed in gray Zhongshan suits.

"Patriotism, these are experts from the ministry. Starting today, they will move into the studio to study the large-scale production plan for the Great Lexus."

It seems the decision from above has been made. Li Aiguo stood up and shook hands with the leader.

(End of this chapter)