The train driver in the courtyard

The car was speeding along the wide streets of the capital.

All the way to the western suburbs.

The winding and undulating mountains in the west of Beijing are majestic under the sunshine, the spring scenery is as dark as ink, and the mountains and rivers are picturesque.

The fields were covered with dry bushes.

Li Aiguo sat in the back seat and looked at the bleak scene outside the window, feeling a little uneasy.

This is a desolate place, perfect for digging holes and burying people.

"Leader, if we execute someone now, do we still have to follow the procedures?"

"Shooting people? Ah, you misunderstood."

Officer Zhang, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, seemed to see Li Aiguo's worry. He hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Don't worry, we have reported it to the relevant departments."

Li Aiguo from the relevant department immediately understood, took his hands off his waist, and felt much more at ease.

The car drove on the road for a distance, then went down a small road and drove along the winding road for a full twenty minutes. The surrounding villages became increasingly sparse, and finally we arrived at the foot of a hill.

It is called a slope, but in fact it is more like a hill, very steep, and there is only one road leading to the top of the mountain that can accommodate large trucks.

The car stopped steadily at the foot of the hill.

"Comrade Patriot, we are here. You can only go up the mountain alone. I will wait for you here."

Secretary Zhang got out of the car and opened the door.

There were no guardhouses or buildings around. Just as Li Aiguo was wondering, a black sedan drove down the hillside and stopped steadily in front of him.

A middle-aged man in a coat got out of the car with two fully armed soldiers.

The middle-aged man extended his hand from a distance and said enthusiastically, "Are you Comrade Li Aiguo from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot? Welcome, welcome."

"I am Li Aiguo, and you are..." Li Aiguo held the middle-aged man's hand tightly.

His palm is delicate and there are no calluses on the joints, but there are marks from a pen on the middle finger, which shows that he is an intellectual.

"Let's go, let's talk in the car." The middle-aged man looked at Officer Zhang deeply, with undisguised vigilance in his eyes.

My goodness, the confidentiality standards here are too high.

Li Aiguo also became interested and was about to follow the middle-aged man into the car.

"Patriotic comrade, this is an important scientific research site and visitors are not allowed to carry weapons. Please forgive me." The middle-aged man stopped him.

Li Aiguo pulled out a pistol from his waist and handed it to the soldier next to him, then took out a dagger from his boots and handed it over, then bent down to take off his boots and pulled out a steel spike from the bottom of the boots.

Looking at the bright steel spike, the middle-aged man's face turned a little pale.

"Patriotic comrade, there are a lot of weapons."

"There's nothing we can do. There are all kinds of people on the train. We have to be careful." Li Aiguo bent down again.

The middle-aged man was surprised: "What else?"

Li Aiguo: "."

He tied his shoelaces silently, stood up and said, "We can go now."

The two soldiers, who originally thought that he was harmless, became cautious and took the initiative to help open the car door.

The middle-aged man sat in the back seat with Li Aiguo. After the car started and drove away from Officer Zhang's car, he said slowly, "Comrade Aiguo, welcome to the Fifth Academy of National Defense. I am researcher Xu Lanru, you can call me Old Xu."

Li Aiguo from the Fifth Academy of National Defense seemed to have heard of this name from the farmer. It seemed that they were researching rockets and were a top-secret unit. The level of confidentiality was much higher than those of military factories.

But this place is for rocket research, which has nothing to do with him driving a train.

But this Xu Lanru's name is somewhat familiar.
Li Aiguo's eyes widened suddenly.

Isn’t Xu Lanru the expert who studied rockets with Mr. Qian and Mr. Xie?
However, in later newspapers, Old Xu was already in his eighties or nineties.

But Old Xu at that time was still a young man in his thirties, and he looked exceptionally handsome, so I didn't recognize him.

Xu Lanru is one of the few rocket experts in China these days.

Before liberation, he was selected by the Ordnance Department to study ordnance service at the Aberdeen Ordnance School in the United States.

He had studied the structure of the V-2 rocket and several large artillery shells and rockets in depth at the Aberdeen Proving Ground Exhibition Hall, and later designed a spin-stabilized rocket.

But Xu Lanru is a rocket expert, why would he come to the foot of the mountain to greet me?

With doubts in mind, Li Aiguo took a car to the Fifth Academy of National Defense.

The Fifth Academy of National Defense occupies the entire top of the hillside, and patrolling soldiers can be seen from time to time.

The yard is not too big, with only two I-shaped buildings on the east and west sides.

The confidentiality requirements within the hospital are extremely strict. The entire hospital is divided into several areas, each of which has guards, and collusion between areas is not allowed.

Each district has its own pass. A pass for District A cannot be used to enter District B, and a pass for District B cannot be used to enter District A.

It is difficult to get into the hospital and it is also difficult to be discharged.

Even Xu Lanru couldn't bring the car directly into the yard. After getting out of the car, he took out a bronze medal from his pocket and handed it to the guard.

After the guard verified the identity according to the code on the bronze plate, he was not done yet. He also made a phone call to the courtyard before opening the small door.

When Li Aiguo passed by the small gate, he keenly noticed that there was a shooting hole on the second floor of the gate, and the black gun barrel in the shooting hole was facing this side.

It can be imagined that if anyone dares to force their way in, they will definitely be beaten to a pulp.

This place can be regarded as one of the most heavily guarded places in the capital.

"Patriotic comrade, this way."

Following Xu Lanru inside, Li Aiguo discovered that there were many classrooms in the hospital, and there were guards on duty in each classroom.

"The students inside are all staff members of the Five Colleges."

After listening to Xu Lanru's explanation, Li Aiguo felt a pang of sighs in his heart.

There is a lack of rocket design talent in the country these days, so we can only adopt this approach of learning and researching at the same time.

I had just taken two steps when a bell rang in the yard, and the students were dismissed from get out of class. Suddenly, a quarrel was heard in a classroom.

"Zhang Dongshan, why is there a notebook missing? Did you hide it? Hand it over immediately."

The roar drowned out the noise of the students and echoed in the courtyard.

Upon hearing this, Xu Lanru muttered softly: "Something happened again. These guys have a strong learning ability, but their organizational discipline is too poor." He quickly ran towards the classroom.

Li Aiguo followed closely behind.

It’s not that I, Li Aiguo, like to join in the fun.

But this compound is full of traps, and if there is no one to lead the way, you might be pointed at by a gun soon.

The classroom was an old-style tiled house with blue brick walls covered with cement and coal ash as blackboards, and several rows of desks on the floor supported by door panels.

The students' textbooks are in Russian and are neatly placed on the desks.

A teacher in a gray Zhongshan suit was getting angry at a young man.

"Zhang Dongshan, do you know that your behavior has violated discipline?"

The young man hung his head and said nothing.

The teacher wanted to get angry, but when he saw Xu Lanru coming in, he said angrily, "Expert Xu, you came at the right time. This student in your second department has hidden the textbook. If you don't give an explanation today, I will have to report this to the disciplinary department."

Xu Lanru smiled and said, "Old Wang, don't be angry, it's just a child, let me ask what's going on."

Xu Lanru was a returned expert who enjoyed the trust of Dean Qian in the Fifth Academy. The teachers also gave him some face and sat on the chair angrily.

Xu Lanru walked up to the middle-aged man and asked in a deep voice: "Zhang Dongshan, what's the matter? Why did you hide the textbook?" Zhang Dongshan was thin, and a hint of stubbornness appeared on his sallow face.

"Director, I think our rules are unreasonable."

"Oh, why is that unreasonable?"

"We had neither textbooks nor handouts. The teacher spoke on the platform and we listened; the teacher wrote on the blackboard and we took notes."

Zhang Dongshan was a little timid at first, but when he saw that Xu Lanru did not stop him, he became bolder and bolder.

"Instructor Wang and his men had just learned from the Russians in the First Battalion and were now applying what they had learned.

Some of them were forced to step onto the podium before they even understood the knowledge fully.

We couldn't understand what was being said at all.

We just thought about reviewing our lessons by ourselves after class.

However, according to our regulations, all notebooks used for studying in class must be submitted to the confidentiality room after class for confidentiality reasons.

Everyone said that this is like asking the horse not to eat grass, but also asking the horse to run faster. "

My goodness, he even took back his own notebook. The confidentiality measures are really strict, Li Aiguo complained in his heart.

The students also expressed their support for Zhang Dongshan, and the scene became lively.

Xu Lanru was aware of the situation and could only explain patiently.

"I know that our conditions are poor and that everyone has a hard time studying, but have you ever thought about what the consequences would be if these notes were circulated?"

The classroom suddenly became quiet, and all the students kept silent.

Xu Lanru looked around and continued, "The imperialists are determined to destroy us. If we make any mistakes, they will pounce on us like tigers and wolves. So we must keep the string of secrecy in our minds tightly pulled."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of those students who had been so aggressive just now suddenly became gloomy.

A trace of guilt also appeared on Zhang Dongshan's face.

Those who are able to enter such units have ideological awareness far exceeding that of ordinary people, it’s just that they are young and full of energy and get carried away for a while.

Xu Lanru gently patted Zhang Dongshan on the shoulder: "I understand and support your love of learning, but due to the particularity of our research, the red line of confidentiality must not be crossed."

“I realized my mistake.”

Zhang Dongshan was also angry for a moment, but now when he thought about how much loss would be caused if the information was leaked, he felt a chill on his back.

Zhang Dongshan took out a notebook from under the chair and wanted to hand it to the teacher, but the teacher still seemed angry and did not reach out to take it.

Xu Lanru looked at the teacher again: "Old Wang, these children are here to learn. Now that the notebook has been found, there is no need to make a big deal out of it."

"Expert Xu, don't worry. I'm a teacher. How can I argue with my students?" The teacher smiled awkwardly and reached out to take the notebook.

Li Aiguo looked at it frequently.

Xu Lanru handled things in a reasonable and well-founded manner. She not only took care of the instructor's face, but also protected the students. She can be considered a rare talent.

After a disturbance that could destroy a student disappeared.
Only then did Xu Lanru bring Li Aiguo to an office located deep in the Fifth Hospital.

Although this is called an office, there are actually traces of lime on the wall at the door, and the words "canteen" seem to be written on it.

The conditions in the Fifth Hospital are really difficult.

Xu Lanru knocked on the worn, rain-stained door and whispered, "President Qian, Comrade Li Aiguo is here."

Dean Qian? ? Li Aiguo was shocked. Dean Qian, who studies rockets, could he be...
At this moment, the door creaked and was pushed open from the inside.

The person who appeared at the door was the familiar face that Li Aiguo had seen on TV and in newspapers.

He was wearing a gray Zhongshan suit and had the Mediterranean hairstyle unique to programmers of later generations. He looked at Li Aiguo with a warm yet sharp gaze.

"Comrade Patriot, welcome to our Fifth Academy. I want to correct Comrade Lao Xu on one point. I am only the vice-president, not the dean."

Li Aiguo then remembered that it was written on Qian Lao’s resume that he “had served as the president and vice president of the Fifth Academy of National Defense.”

Others were promoted from deputy to principal, but Mr. Qian was promoted from principal to deputy.

Was it downgraded?

Actually not.

After the establishment of the Fifth Academy, Mr. Qian was appointed as the president.

However, there were too many trivial matters to deal with as a full-time professor, and Qian felt that it affected his scientific research work, so he insisted on being demoted to a deputy position. From then on, he only served as a deputy.

"Hello, Vice President Qian. I am the train driver Li Aiguo. I admire you for being able to break through the obstacles and return to your home, and for working hard to build your own home!"

With his feet together, Li Aiguo raised his right hand and gave Qian Lao a standard military salute.

"Comrade Aiguo, I want to thank you as well." Mr. Qian shook Li Aiguo's hands tightly and led him into the office.

Besides the bookshelf, there is only a desk and a few chairs in the office.

Mr. Qian asked Li Aiguo to sit on a chair, turned around, took out a certificate from the drawer, and handed it to him solemnly.

"Patriotic comrade, in recognition of your contribution to our Fifth Academy, on behalf of the Fifth Academy, I will award you the Outstanding Contribution Award."

Xu Lanruo introduced: "Patriotic comrade, this is the first certificate of honor issued by our Fifth Academy to the public."

The originally ordinary certificate now seemed to be of great weight.

Li Aiguo looked down and saw only the simple words "Outstanding Contribution Award" on the certificate, with the signatures and seals of President Liu and Mr. Qian below.

"This certificate should be given to us for safekeeping for the time being. Maybe we can return it to you in ten years." Xu Lanruo also felt a little embarrassed.

I just gave them a certificate and now I want it back. It seems a bit too much.

He explained in a low voice: "Our Fifth Hospital's situation is rather special. I hope you can understand."

Li Aiguo certainly understood that the experts from the Fifth Academy were still in hiding.

These experts, researchers and students have dedicated their youth to the development of rockets and missiles. They are the real unsung heroes.

It has roots in the rocks and soil of the mountains, with lush branches and leaves.

It does not compete with other flowers for beauty, but contributes silently without seeking fame.

Swaying throughout life, still resilient, born with a steel frame to withstand strong winds.

The heroic spirit is revealed in late autumn, when the wind and frost make the leaves even redder.

Li Aiguo handed the certificate back reluctantly, feeling a sigh in his heart. It would take at least another forty or fifty years for this certificate to appear in public.

But why should we give him a certificate of award?
"Mr. Qian, ahem, Dean Qian, I'm just a train driver, how come I won the award?"

Li Aiguo believed that this certificate written by Mr. Qian himself and signed by Dean Liu of the Fifth College must be different from the kindergarten's eating star certificate.

"This matter should have been kept secret from you, but I didn't expect your confidentiality level to be so high." Mr. Qian said halfway through and felt a little confused.

After the Fifth Academy decided to award Li Aiguo a certificate, it originally planned to only inform him verbally, saying, "You have won the award, but you cannot see the certificate now. Just let him know about it."

As a result, the Fifth Academy applied to relevant units for Li Aiguo’s confidentiality level.

It was discovered that his confidentiality level was similar to that of Dean Qian, only one level lower than that of Dean Liu. Even in some special areas, Li Aiguo's confidentiality level was even higher.

This is not an ordinary train driver.

Considering that Li Aiguo had made such a great contribution this time, Mr. Qian sent someone to invite him to the Fifth Courtyard.

"According to your confidentiality level, you can understand these things. Come with me and you will understand in a moment."

Old Qian took Li Aiguo towards the courtyard next door. After going through layers of inspections, they finally arrived at a warehouse.

(End of this chapter)