The train driver in the courtyard

Chapter 586: Scientific Research Pork
As a train driver, Li Aiguo originally thought that the train travel season during the Spring Festival would be the most crowded.

When I arrived at the food station, I realized that I was wrong.

Inside the food station, people selling pigs and buying meat were crowded together.

From time to time, a big fat pig that was unwilling to be "punished" would escape.

The second brother rushed through the crowd, and the pig-selling brother Sha followed behind him. The scene was simply amazing.

The most important thing is that the food station does not start selling pork and purchasing live pigs until 8:30.

Li Aiguo chatted with Zhao Dongshan while waiting in line.

“Now each commune has to share the task of pre-purchasing pigs.

Assigned to a production team, basically a production team needs to regularly supply more than 4 pre-purchased pigs. "

"There are several grades of live pigs: 131 jin is the low standard, 151 jin is the medium standard, and 181 jin is the high standard. Different grade standards have different unit prices per weight, and the profits vary greatly."

"The food station will not buy pigs weighing less than 131 kilograms, so they can only be taken back and fed for a few more months."

"When purchasing, the purchaser will deduct the pig manure. If he is in a good mood, he will deduct three to five kilograms from you. If he is in a bad mood, he will deduct more than 20 kilograms from you, and you will lose money."

"Not to mention that pigs are prone to illness. In winter, we livestock farmers often sleep in the pigsty for fear that the pigs will freeze to death."

Li Aiguo originally thought that being a livestock herder was an easy job in the commune, but he didn't expect it to be so hard.

"Uncle, now that you've sold the pig, shouldn't you buy some good food for Goudan?"

Goudan raised his hand and said, "Uncle Li, Brother Li, my mother is sick, and most of the money from selling the pigs has been given to the commune.

I will use the remaining money to take my mother to see a doctor.

I grew up and I don’t like sweets anymore.”

Looking at the thin, pale-faced, yellow-haired teenager, Li Aiguo felt uncomfortable.

Urban workers like Qin Huairu and Liu Haizhong earned a few dozen yuan a month and were also given food coupons, but they complained all day long that their lives were hard.

Compared with the members in the countryside, they are living in paradise.

"We're starting to collect the pigs, everyone line up!" a loud roar came from a distance.

Seeing the buyers coming to work, Zhao Dongshan and Goudan quickly ran over with the flatbed cart.

At this time, the meat window also opened.

Li Aiguo wandered over and joined the queue.

Coincidentally, standing in front of him were Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi.

"I thought you guys eloped, but it turns out you're here to buy pork."

"You are so patriotic, you also bought meat. What a coincidence."

Yi Zhonghai smiled awkwardly.

Jia Zhang raised her head proudly: "I want to buy three pounds of meat this time!"

Li Aiguo: "."

If you think about it carefully, Jia Zhang does have the right to be proud.

She doesn't sell meat on weekdays, she just "borrows" it from other people.

It is indeed a source of pride to come here in person to buy the meat today.

There were a lot of people queuing up and the line was very long, but the meat salesman was a veteran.

A long piece of meat is hung on an iron hook. The old chef will smoke a cigarette, cut the meat quickly, string it with a hemp rope, and throw it to the customer according to how much the customer wants.

Not even the ashes are taken away.

If you have it accurate on hand, you don't need to weigh it, and it will definitely not be off by a cent.

The old master even had time to pick up the enamel mug and drink a sip of tea.

So before ten o'clock in the morning, it was Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhang's turn.

Yi Zhonghai took out money from his pocket, and Jia Zhang took out the meat ticket and handed it over.

"Master, give me three pounds of meat."

"It has to be all fat, no lean meat at all."

Hearing this, the burly old master frowned.

"Meat is in short supply now, so we have to eat it in combination."

"Can't we pay more?"

"You can't ask for more money. Fatty meat is in short supply right now. If you buy all the fat meat, what about the other customers? Don't be so selfish."

Jia Zhang wanted to continue arguing, but Yi Zhonghai quickly grabbed her arm.

"Sister-in-law, let's not offend the public. Look at the customers next to us."

Jia Zhang turned her head and saw that all the customers were looking at her with contempt. She shrank her neck and kept silent.

Carrying three pounds of pork belly, Jia Zhang was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. She could eat braised pork tonight.

Li Aiguo was standing at the back of the queue. He stepped forward and handed over his meat ticket and letter of introduction.

"Uncle, give me ten pounds of fat, the kind with pig skin."

The old master took the letter of introduction, looked at it twice, picked up the shiny black butcher knife, picked up the fattest piece of pork and chopped it off.

There was not a trace of lean meat on this piece of pork, and the snow-white fat gave off a greasy sheen under the sunlight.

"Ten pounds, tall, comrade, take it."

Li Aiguo handed over the money and was about to take the pork when a loud shout came from the side.

"It's not fair! This is so unfair, why can we only buy pork belly but he can buy fat.

You old pork seller are trying to be partial to someone else!"

Jia Zhang was seen pinching her waist, jumping up and down, pointing at the master and cursing.

Yi Zhonghai originally wanted to pull Jia Zhang along.

If you think about it carefully, if the news gets out that Li Aiguo used connections to buy meat through the back door, it would be a big scandal.

As a teammate, Yi Zhonghai decided to give an assist.

He straightened his collar, put on an elder's demeanor, and said sternly: "Comrade, the food station belongs to everyone, not just you.

How can you use connections to help your relatives and friends?

If everyone is like you, doing evil things, how can we ordinary people have a good life?"

He is indeed an old man with great ability, and every word he says reaches the highest level of morality.

Yi Zhonghai turned his head and looked at Li Aiguo again, with a dead face.

"Li Aiguo, you are a train driver and a member of the organization. Logically, your ideological and moral standards should be higher than those of ordinary people.

But look at what you have done!
You should return the pork immediately and queue up to buy pork again!"

Li Aiguo didn't expect that the two of them would get so angry over such a small matter.

"Yi Zhonghai, what if I don't return it?"

He straightened his chest.

Now, with the help of the system, Li Aiguo's muscle strength far exceeds that of ordinary people.

Even though I was wearing thick clothes, I could still feel the intimidation brought by that power.

Yi Zhonghai couldn't help but take a step back and suddenly looked at the crowd.

"Everyone come and take a look, someone used the back door to get connections, and I caught him red-handed.

He has cut off all the fat that belongs to you, so you can only buy lean meat later."

This is what it means to mislead people.

Under Yi Zhonghai's instigation, the customers looked at Li Aiguo with unfriendly eyes.

"They are all fat. This person is too much."

"He is still in the organization. I think he should be fired."

"No, we can't let this matter go on like this today. Go and ask the leader of the food station."

The food station holds the power to distribute meat, and often bullies customers.

Now that these customers see that someone is willing to step forward, they naturally don’t want to miss this good opportunity to join in the fun.

Soon, Deputy Director Liu of the Food Station rushed over after receiving the news.

Seeing that Stationmaster Liu was wearing a four-pocket shirt with a pen in one of his pockets, looking like a leader, Jia Zhang walked up quickly and told him what had just happened.

"Leader, your salesman colluded with Li Aiguo to steal state property. You should arrest them all immediately."

After saying this, Jia Zhang looked at Li Aiguo with a smug look.

You have always been pretending to be noble, but in reality you are as cunning as a loach and we cannot find any evidence against you.

This time, you will be skinned alive if you don’t die.

Yi Zhonghai didn't expect Jia Zhang to be so ruthless, so as a teammate he naturally had to follow suit.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Leader, Li Aiguo has corrupted the atmosphere of your food station and caused a bad influence. He needs to be arrested immediately."

Deputy Station Master Liu was a little confused.

Isn’t it just buying extra fat?
How is it linked to stealing state property and corrupting morals?

He looked at the old master and said, "Old Wang, what's going on? You are an old comrade and you have always been very strong-minded. That's why I let you take charge of such an important task as buying meat."

The old master took a puff of his cigarette, picked up the letter of introduction with his greasy hands and handed it over.

"Liu, according to the station's regulations, when customers buy pork, they are not allowed to sell pure fat, but this is meat for scientific research."

"Scientific research meat?"

It was the first time that Deputy Station Master Liu heard of this name.

"Don't ask me. I don't know. This is what the letter of introduction says."

Stationmaster Liu picked up the letter of introduction and looked at it carefully.

Yes, it says, "Comrade Li Aiguo, a train driver of our section, is hereby appointed to purchase ten kilograms of fat (pure fat with pig skin) for scientific research activities. Hope you will cooperate."

The signature is Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and there is a red stamp on the back.

Seeing that it was the locomotive depot that wanted to buy meat, Stationmaster Liu's expression immediately eased.

As a food station that controls pork, it does not need to ask other units for help on a daily basis.

Except for the railway department.

Leaders traveling on business and workers visiting their families both need train tickets.

The people in the locomotive depot are well-known for protecting their own people.

If you make them angry, and you go to buy a ticket with your letter of introduction, they will find fault with you and you will have no way to reason with them.

"Since it is the research meat of the locomotive section, it is meat used for research, so all the fat should be used."

When the onlookers heard that meat was needed for scientific research, they all nodded in agreement.

Some even expressed their willingness to give up their fat.

Looking at those enthusiastic customers, Li Aiguo felt a sigh in his heart.

Even if they are in difficult circumstances, Chinese people are willing to contribute their own efforts for the development of the country.

It is precisely because of this spirit that we can rise quickly after the arrival of spring breeze, and leap from a poor and sick boy to a muscular giant.

It’s just that Director Xing Duan is really good at naming.

Scientific research meat. Li Aiguo admires his imagination a little.

Stationmaster Liu heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that the matter had been explained clearly.

After handing the letter of introduction back to Li Aiguo, he smiled and said, "Comrade, today was a misunderstanding and I am sorry for delaying your work."

"Comrade leaders, thank you for your support to our railway department."

Li Aiguo handed over a cigarette and said slowly: "Your job is not easy either. If someone yells a few times, you have to put down your work and come out to explain.

If this continues, your food station will be overwhelmed."

Upon hearing this, Stationmaster Liu's face darkened and his expression suddenly turned unfriendly when he looked at Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi.

There have been disputes in food stations in the past, but they have never been so serious.

Today, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhang provoked the customers with just a few words and put a hat on the old chef at the food station.

The train driver was right. If everyone is like them in the future, will the food station ever have peace?
Seeing that the situation was not good, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhang were about to slip away.

"You two stop!"

Stationmaster Liu shouted, and the two of them actually quickened their pace.

But this is a food station. Next to it is a workshop for slaughtering pigs. Soon two or three butchers heard the shouting and ran out with their butcher knives.

The bright butcher knife emitted a little cold light under the sunlight, and there were faint stains of Second Brother's blood on it.

Being hit by the butcher knife, Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi both rubbed their ears and looked at Stationmaster Liu in surprise.

"Did you just call us?"

Stationmaster Liu: “.”

Li Aiguo: "."

Customers watching: “.”

These two are really good at acting.

Stationmaster Liu was silent for a moment, then said in a cold voice:

"You two are making a scene here without knowing the situation clearly, affecting the normal work of our food station. Please come with me."

Are you kidding? If anyone can make loud noises in a food station, then where is the dignity of the food station?
The train driver who couldn't be taken down from the locomotive depot.

Can’t I take down both of you?

Yi Zhonghai turned pale with fear when he heard this, and immediately pointed at Jia Zhang and said, "Leader, it's a misunderstanding. She framed Li Aiguo. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just a passerby."

Seeing Yi Zhonghai starting to betray his teammates, Jia Zhang became immediately angry and spat a mouthful of yellow phlegm in his face.

"Yi Zhonghai, you gave birth to a son without an asshole!"

Yi Zhonghai said quietly: "I don't have a son."

Yi Zhonghai activated the magic immunity mode. Jia Zhang was furious. She rolled up her sleeves, raised her claws and prepared to attack in the house.

When Deputy Station Chief Liu saw that the two people were actually quarreling, he wanted to watch the fun, but more and more people gathered in the food station, affecting the normal work.

He called two butchers, grabbed the two men by the collars and took them away like chickens.

Jia Zhang turned her head and saw Li Aiguo standing there holding the fat and smiling smugly. She was so angry that her teeth were chattering.

"Damn Li Aiguo, he must have done it on purpose!"

Yi Zhonghai was a little confused.

It was clearly a sure win, so how did it turn out?
Also, what about scientific research meat? Can meat be used as a scientific research material?

Li Aiguo must have bribed the locomotive depot!

Yi Zhonghai felt that it was not because of his own incompetence, but because the enemy was too cunning, his teammates were too weak, the weather was too cold, and the wind was too strong.
In short, he was not wrong.

In addition to pig skin, chemical materials are also needed to make gelatin. Li Aiguo picked up the pork and prepared to go to the chemical store.

When they walked into the yard, it was Zhao Dongshan and Goudan's turn to sell the pigs.

It was the first time that Li Aiguo saw such a scene, so he stopped to watch the fun.

The buyer reached out his hand and casually scratched the pig's belly, then shouted, "Throw away ten pounds, minus the pig manure."

Zhao Dongshan's dry arms trembled slightly, his wrinkled brows twisted into trenches, and a pleading look appeared on his face.

"Comrade, I came here from more than 20 miles away. This pig hasn't eaten for half a day. The bran in its stomach has long been gone. How can you deduct ten pounds?"

Chen Zhien, the buyer, was a young man. He stood up and squinted at Zhao Dongshan: "Old comrade, I am also following the regulations. Let alone deducting ten kilograms, we have deducted twenty kilograms. If you don't want to sell it, you can take it back."

The pigs these days are all gray-stubble pigs. They grow slowly, and there is no fattening feed. They grow no more after they reach over 150 kilograms.

If we pull it back, we will have to waste several months of food.

Zhao Dongshan sighed and could only nod.

It seemed that his attitude irritated the buyer.

When inspecting the pigs, this strong and fat pig weighing more than 160 kilograms was actually rated as level four.

These days, when purchasing live pigs, we implement the principle of "purchasing by gross weight and pricing based on rating."

The grading is mainly based on quality and pricing, which has little to do with gross weight. The main consideration is the meat yield of the live pig.

Generally speaking, the meat yield of free-range pigs is higher than that of pigs in pens.

Pigs living on the mountainside that frequently climb mountains are stronger than pigs living in the wetland areas, and their meat yield will be higher.

There are also rack pigs, oil gourd pigs, single-ridge pigs and double-ridge pigs, etc.

The purpose of the rating is to ensure that neither pig farmers nor food stations suffer losses.

However, the rating depends entirely on the eyesight of the buyer, who can determine the level with just a snap of the finger, and there are too many subjective factors.

There are five grades of live pigs, with the price of grade 55.5 pigs starting at 3 yuan per 58.5 jin, and grade pigs adding yuan to yuan per jin, and so on.
The difference between level 4 and level 1 is several cents per pound, and the difference for a pig weighing more than 100 pounds can be more than ten dollars.

Zhao Dongshan wanted to go up and argue with Chen Zhien at this time, but was stopped by a member of the cooperative who was selling pigs nearby.

"Zhao Xumu, the rating is entirely based on the eyes of the buyer. Even if you argue with him, you will only suffer.

Let’s just bear with it.”

Zhao Dongshan also knew this and sighed deeply again.

Although it was only a dozen yuan less, after selling all three pigs and paying the money to the commune, the remaining money was enough for my wife to see a doctor.

The pigs he brought were: one weighing 153 kilograms and rated fourth grade, and the other weighing 140 kilograms and rated fifth grade.

But Zhao Dongshan was not in a hurry because he still had the fattest pig.

When Zhao Dongshan drove the largest pig over, Chen Zhien slowly sat back in his chair, crossed his legs, smoked a cigarette and said, "We don't want this pig. You can drive it back."

"Why!"

Zhao Dongshan was anxious, his dark face turned purple, and he pointed at the fat pig and said, "This pig weighs at least 180 kilograms, is fat and strong, and is the fattest pig in our area. Why don't you take it?"

"It's too dirty. Look at what's on the pig's body. It's mud. It's too dirty." Chen Zhien's mouth curled up with a hint of mockery.

He has been a buyer for two years.

Every time we collect pigs, don’t the members who sell the pigs treat them with cigarettes?

Zhao Dongshan, on the other hand, doesn't know any rules at all.

Since you don’t understand the rules, I have to set some rules for you.

【Don’t think it’s impossible to do what our ancestors experienced! ! 】

Zhao Dongshan almost cried in anxiety: "I was pulling the cart to hurry on the road. It was dark and I couldn't see the road clearly. The pig fell into the mud pit. I had a hard time pulling the pig out. Look, I am also covered in mud."

When Li Aiguo met Zhao Dongshan today, he felt that he was limping, but it was still dark and he couldn't see clearly.

Now taking a closer look, I saw that Zhao Dongshan's cotton jacket was not dry yet and his pants were covered in mud.

"It's none of my business. I'm just following the rules and regulations. Please drive this pig away immediately!" The buyer looked as if he had Zhao Dongshan in his grasp.

If he couldn't sell the pig, he wouldn't be able to treat his wife's illness. Zhao Dongshan was so anxious that he squatted on the ground and burst into tears.

A grown man crying in front of everyone must have been driven to desperation.

Those members who were selling pigs all urged the buyers to be more merciful.

"Rules are rules. Do you old-fashioned people understand?" Chen Zhien stood up and was about to chase them away.

"Why? They have been poor for three generations raising pigs, and they have never been clean all day, and you think their pigs are dirty?

Do you still have any class feelings? I think it’s not the pig’s intestines, but your heart?”

At this time, a burly figure squeezed out from the crowd and stood in front of Zhao Dongshan.

The words "three generations of poverty" left the buyer speechless.

Even if the purchaser was unreasonable, he would not dare to slander three generations of poor people.

He hesitated for a long time and finally managed to say: "Who are you to take charge of our food station?"

Li Aiguo said with his hands behind his back, "Comrade, the pigs are dirty and cannot be purchased. Is this the rule of your food station? Show me the rule!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the buyer Chen Zhien's face suddenly turned ugly.

He suddenly pointed at Li Aiguo and said, "Hurry up, someone is trying to cause trouble."

Coincidentally, Stationmaster Liu had just finished dealing with the matters of Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi and walked out of the office.

Hearing that there was another commotion, he rushed over and prepared to put out the fire.

When the firefighter at the food station saw that the person who had just been set on fire had now become the one who started the fire, he was a little confused.

"Comrade driver, it's you again." He extended his hand again and shook hands with Li Aiguo.

"Stationmaster, you're welcome." Li Aiguo said calmly.

"."

Stationmaster Liu looked at the dirty pig, then at Zhao Dongshan who was squatting on the ground wiping his tears, and then at the buyer Chen Zhien. He understood what was going on without asking.

The food station was established two years ago. Because it was a new team, a group of people were transferred from the supply and marketing cooperative, and Chen Zhien was one of them.

Later, the food station received many reports from the public about the difficulty in selling pigs.

A conference was even held for this purpose, hoping that these buyers would keep the concept of serving the people in mind.

Chen Zhien spoke as a representative at the conference and said that she would learn from her mistakes in the future. Who would have thought that she would do such a thing again.

"Chen Zhien, what's going on?"

"Stationmaster, I think the pigs are too dirty. I'm afraid it will mess up the scale. I'm also considering our food station." Chen Zhien felt something was wrong when he saw that the stationmaster knew the big guy.

He no longer cared about crossing his legs, as he stood up and came over, licking her face and smiling.

"Pigs grow up in mud, how can they not be dirty?"

Stationmaster Liu frowned and said, "If you are afraid of the scale being damaged, you can wash it with water. In order to support the meat supply, the members of the cooperative have worked hard to raise pigs and drive them from far away villages.

You're just asking them to go back! You're going to hurt the feelings of our fellow members."

Chen Zhien hung her head and could no longer utter a word.

Stationmaster Liu paused for a moment and then said, "Chen Zhien, I remember you were also from the countryside, right?"

"Yes, my parents died early, and I was raised by my fellow villagers. Later, when good times came, I moved to the city."

"Why do you treat your fellow villagers like this? Do you feel guilty?"

The sound of the explosion echoed in the courtyard, and everyone fell silent. Chen Zhien almost dropped his head into his crotch.

"Chen Zhien, you need to stop working for now!"

Chen Zhien stood up woodenly, lowered his head and left the desk.

Stationmaster Liu took a breath, calmed down, looked at Li Aiguo and said, "Comrade driver, I want to thank you this time for helping our food station point out the shortcomings in our work.

Don't worry, I will arrange a new buyer to handle the purchase work for this member later."

Li Aiguo also knew that the food stations held great power these days, and the quality of their employees varied greatly, so it was inevitable that some would deliberately make things difficult for members.

This matter is not the responsibility of one person, nor can it be solved by one person.

"Stationmaster Liu, you are too polite. With a leader like you, the members will feel relieved when selling pigs in the future."

Li Aiguo turned his head and looked at the members and said, "Remember, if you encounter difficulties in selling pigs in the future, go to Stationmaster Liu."

I'm sorry, brother. Your hard work will bring happiness to thousands of families.

Those members had been bullied many times and had no way to complain. Now that there was someone they could file a complaint with, they were naturally very happy.

There was warm applause.

Stationmaster Liu also saw something from the expressions of those members, and he felt that the burden on his shoulders was even heavier.

However, when he first changed his career and started working, he swore an oath to the flag.

Now is the time to fulfill your vow.

In the end, after re-inspection, the net weight of Zhao Dongshan's three big fat pigs increased by five kilograms. One of them was rated as a first-class pig, and the other two were rated as third-class pigs.

He sold it for more than ten yuan more than Zhao Dongshan had originally planned.

With these ten dollars, I can not only pay for my wife's medical treatment, but also send Goudan to school next year.

Zhao Dongshan held Li Aiguo's hand tightly and said, "Comrade, thank you so much."

"Don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, go thank Stationmaster Liu. He is a truly good man." Li Aiguo pointed at Deputy Stationmaster Liu.

Zhao Dongshan, who was answering questions from members, felt warm in his heart when he heard this.

Good People Why can't we be good people?
Li Aiguo couldn't figure it out either.

The salesmen and buyers in these food stations and supply and marketing cooperatives earn a few dozen yuan a month.

The state takes care of birth, aging, sickness and death, and their lives are much more comfortable than those of the members.

Why can't you be a good person?

Riding a bicycle, Li Aiguo enjoyed the cold wind.

The dark clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, and the sunlight drew a golden edge where the sky and the earth met.

Maybe tomorrow will be a nice day.

(End of this chapter)