The train driver in the courtyard

Seven days later, Li Aiguo took a train to Zaporizhia Oblast.

Along the way, looking at the densely packed mines outside the car window, Director Xing couldn't help but marvel at the sight.

“This is such a great place.”

Li Aiguo has already started to plan.

Zaporizhia is rich in natural resources such as lignite, iron, and manganese, and is a region with rich manganese reserves in the world.

If we can resell the minerals here back home in the future, we can not only make money, but also help domestic industrial construction.

As soon as the thought came to his mind, Li Aiguo couldn't help laughing.

I feel like a pauper, and wherever I go I always think about bringing something back with me.

Ahem, the time is far from right now, and we can’t turn on the automatic pickup mode for the time being.

Got off the train.

There were already seven or eight jeeps waiting at the station. The convoy drove all the way to the thermal power plant, 20 kilometers away from Zaporizhia.

"This is the last vegetable base we are building and it is also the largest one."

Andre pointed to the huge vegetable base and said, "Everything here uses your hydroponic planting method. I hope you can give me some advice."

"Let's go and take a look." Li Aiguo was also interested in the large hydroponic base.

Andrei is a very capable person. The technical staff of the vegetable base turned out to be a professor and a dozen researchers from Zaporizhia State University.

Li Aiguo worked with the technicians to install the equipment needed for hydroponics and set technical indicators such as lighting time, temperature and humidity.

Andre was always there to accompany him. Director Xing Duanchang had become a idler at this time, wandering around the base. Looking at the tall buildings, he felt very shocked.

After more than ten days of busy work, everything was ready for the hydroponic vegetable base. In order to celebrate the "opening" of the base, Andre specially held a dinner party.

At the dinner, Li Aiguo met several important figures in Zaporizhia Oblast.

Li Aiguo knew that the time was not right. If he rashly made friends with these people, firstly, he was not qualified, and secondly, it would easily arouse Andre's vigilance.

So Li Aiguo simply shook hands with those people, then picked up his glass of vodka and enjoyed the unique ethnic dance.

Of course, the dancing girls are wearing clothes, otherwise how can we tell which nationality they are from?

Andre had been staring at Li Aiguo. Seeing that he seemed to be immersed in the singing and dancing and looked particularly happy, he came over and asked, "Why, do you like it? I'll send it to your room tonight."

"Dear Comrade Andre, what do you think?" Li Aiguo asked back.

Andre looked at Li Aiguo, suddenly showing a look of shame, and slapped his forehead fiercely: "Oh, look at me, I was really confused. You are a member of the organization with a very high level of ideological awareness! Driver Li, please forgive my recklessness."

Li Aiguo breathed a sigh of relief.

If two girls really sneaked into the room at night, he would probably have to write dozens of reports when he got home.

The next day, the vegetable base officially started operation without any malfunctions.

Li Aiguo stayed at the base for another five days, adjusting the equipment with the professor.

When the professor learned that Li Aiguo was only in his twenties, he became very interested in him.

"Patriotic comrade, are you interested in studying at our Zaporizhia State University? I can help you apply."

"I have to obey the organization's arrangements, Professor. Last time you mentioned that you have friends in the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau?"

"My wife is a designer in the design bureau. Why are you interested in the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau?"

Li Aiguo was very interested.

The Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau was later called Motor Sich.

Its business scope covers almost all aircraft including helicopters, fighters, bombers, large transport aircraft, etc., and it is considered to represent the highest level of Russian engines.

像伊尔-18、伊尔-38运输机、安-12、安-32、安-24等经典飞机，都是马达西奇公司的杰作。

In later generations, we were planning to buy Motor Sich back home and had already acquired 75% of the company's shares, but the agreement was deliberately torn up.

Motor Sich has become a victim and pawn of geopolitical struggles, and was also hit hard by the Russians in the conflict.

Li Aiguo smiled and said, "I am very interested in mechanical design. If possible, I would like to discuss it with your wife. Don't worry, this is limited to academic exchanges."

"Dear patriotic comrade, you are worrying too much, this is Zaporizhia Oblast, not Moscow.

You are a friend of Mr. Andrei, and you are a friend of Zaporizhia. There is no need to be so cautious. "

One evening, Li Aiguo visited the professor's wife, Professor Anna Bessonova, a first-class designer at the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau, with gifts.

Li Aiguo knew that he did not have any domineering qualities, and this visit was just to make himself familiar.

The two mainly discussed academic issues during their communication and did not touch upon issues related to aircraft design.

Professor Anna Bessonova once received a group of Chinese experts on behalf of the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau and had a very good impression of the flower growers.

In addition, as a train driver, Li Aiguo is very eloquent and generous.

The gifts they brought were all high-end goods that could only be purchased from foreign trade stores, so the two of them soon started chatting enthusiastically.

In the following period, Professor Anna Bessonova often invited Li Aiguo to her home, and their relationship became better and better.

Even Professor Anna Bessonova gave Li Aiguo's daughter-in-law a set of exquisite embroidery after learning that she used to be a tailor.

Professor Anna Bessonova has three children. Her eldest son and second son have already started working, and her youngest daughter Dasha has just graduated from college.

“This girl Dasha has a different temperament from the rest of our family.

Her ambition is to become a diplomat and she wants to continue her studies abroad after graduating from university.

But she doesn't like Eastern European countries.

I feel like there's no difference here. Northern Monkeys and Southern Koreans are too chaotic.

I wonder if you are recruiting international students now?"

On a weekend afternoon, Professor Anna Bessonova expressed her thoughts somewhat embarrassedly.

"I am not clear about this matter for now. I need to contact the country."

Li Aiguo had met Dasha, a cheerful Eastern European girl.

She is kind-hearted and somewhat naive, has a great talent for languages, taught herself Chinese, and particularly likes "Dream of the Red Chamber".

After returning to his residence, in order to avoid being monitored, Li Aiguo contacted Liu Guozhang through Andre's dedicated phone line.

Although Liu Guozhang didn't know why Li Aiguo was so concerned about this matter, he was still very active in asking relevant departments about foreign students.

What Li Aiguo didn't expect was that the country actually recruits international students these days.

In 1950, a Chinese language training class for East European exchange students was established in Qinghua, and the then Dean of Academic Affairs and famous physicist Zhou Peiyuan was appointed as the class teacher.

[Mr.] proposed the working guidelines for the management of international students: "strict requirements in study, earnest help; positive influence in politics, without imposing on others; appropriate care in life, serious management."

Later, the "East European Exchange Student Chinese Language Training Class" was transferred to Beijing University, and the students mainly came from Russia, Eastern Europe, South Korea and other countries.

These days, the review of the identity of international students is particularly strict.

Fortunately, Liu Guozhang came forward to help, and Dasha did meet the requirements, so an invitation letter was soon sent from China through Zaporizhia State University.

After receiving the invitation letter, Professor Anna Bessonova and her husband and Dasha expressed their gratitude to Li Aiguo.

“Dear patriotic comrade, Dasha was able to fulfill her wish thanks to you.

But we have one more thing to ask of you. She has never been abroad before. Can she go to the capital with you?"

At this time, Li Aiguo had almost completed his work with the Russians, so he agreed immediately.

Dasha rushed over excitedly and gave Li Aiguo a warm hug.

Ahem, Ukrainian girls are really mature.

Li Aiguo was not yet able to remain calm in such a situation, so he let go of Dasha awkwardly and said slowly, "The customs in our country are quite conservative. When you get there, don't hug gay men casually, or you'll scare others."

Dasha nodded vigorously.

He came at the end of December and left in March. In more than three months, Li Aiguo had a lot of Russian books, two large boxes of gifts, and a pistol made of pure gold, which was a gift from Andrei.

According to regulations, Li Aiguo must submit these gifts to the relevant departments for filing after returning.

In addition, there was a little girl named Dasha around.

"No wonder the Russians are so tall and strong. Even the little girls are over 1.8 meters tall. It turns out they eat beef every day." Director Xing Duan also received many gifts. Thinking about what he had experienced these days, he felt speechless.

Although the beef is delicious, it is really inedible without the vegetarian dish.

"Yes, Big Brother is indeed too strong. If we want to catch up, we still need to work hard." Li Aiguo nodded heavily.

Wuuwuwu, eating, eating, eating like crazy. The train left the Moscow Railway Station and Li Aiguo embarked on his journey back home.

On the way back, Li Aiguo continued to read while explaining the customs and culture of the capital to Dasha.

This trip to the Russians made him clearly realize the difference between his country and the Big Brother.

If we want to catch up, we can only find ways to improve the domestic industrial level.

Lao Mao and his five-member team had already returned to the capital.

After developing the film, Lao Mao handed the list to the farmer, who instantly realized the seriousness of the problem.

Obviously, the pawns on the list are all people arranged by the Cheka on our side.

Once the relationship between the two families deteriorates, the pieces on the list will come into play.

"Thanks to patriotism, we were able to get the list without alerting the other party." The farmer said sincerely.

The old cat nodded in agreement.

The Cheka is well-known internationally, and it is indeed a matter of pride to be able to get the list back under the nose of the Cheka.

The farmer continued, “The day before yesterday, I got a message from the comrade in charge of overseas newspapers that the driver had won over a designer in Ukraine and had abducted the designer’s daughter to our house as an overseas student.

If this line is connected, we may get some information about the Ivchenko-Progress Design Bureau in the future."

The old cat's eyes widened: "This kid really can accomplish merit wherever he goes."

The farmer looked at him and said, "I know you are asking for credit for the driver. Don't worry, I have decided to give him a great credit."

The old cat, whose "conspiracy" was exposed, smiled awkwardly, forcibly changed the subject, and said while looking at the list: "What should we do with the people on this list?"

There are more than 30 names on the list, distributed in various industries. If there is a problem, there may be big trouble. The farmer tapped his fingers on the list and said slowly: "Don't deal with it for now. I will send someone to monitor them. As long as they don't make any moves, we can ignore them."

The old cat was stunned at first, but then he understood the farmer's idea.

The chess piece under control can be taken away at any time!

Once these people are moved, the Cheka will realize that they have been exposed, and they will try to place more pawns.

The old cat did not ask what to do with code 005. It was obvious that the farmer would definitely hand the code over to the black room for cracking.

It was already the end of February when Lao Mao finished dealing with matters in the capital. Seeing that Li Aiguo had not returned yet, he had no choice but to return to the Gobi Desert with Yan Zi and Lao Hei.

On March 1958, , the Lantern Festival, Li Aiguo finally set foot on the land of Beijing again.

Walking on the familiar land, breathing the familiar air, and hearing the familiar language, Li Aiguo's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down.

Those who have never traveled far away from home cannot understand the feeling of missing home when they are away from home.

"Dear patriotic brother, this is the capital city. It's so beautiful." Dasha looked around with her big black eyes, her little face full of curiosity.

The girl was curious about everything. She ran to the newsstand and looked at the large slogans curiously.

Dasha's blonde and blue-eyed appearance quickly attracted the attention of the passengers on the platform, and several comrades wearing red armbands stared at her.

"Aiguo, you'd better send this girl to Beijing University as soon as possible." Duanchang Xing got out of the car carrying a heavy box.

"After I get back, I'll take her to report to Jingcheng University. Section Chief, let's go back to the maintenance section first."

The first thing he did after returning to Beijing was to report to the maintenance depot. This was Li Aiguo’s old habit.

Because I had to take Dasha with me, I couldn't ride on the train.

Li Aiguo and Section Chief Xing had to wait for half an hour before a locomotive came to the locomotive depot for maintenance.

The train driver found it strange to see Li Aiguo with a foreign girl, but he did not dare to ask because Director Xing was standing next to them.

Go back to the maintenance depot and complete a set of procedures.

Li Aiguo then handed over the gifts sent by Andrei and the gifts purchased in Moscow to the relevant departments for inspection.

Fur coat, caviar, top hat, braid. Although these gifts were expensive, they were in accordance with the rules and were quickly returned to Li Aiguo.

Only the golden gun made the comrades who were examining it difficult.

They have never seen this thing.

"Is it real gold?" A young man couldn't help but put the muzzle of the gun to his mouth and wanted to take a bite.

"What are you doing! If you bite this thing off, even if I sell you it won't be enough." The director quickly stopped him and smiled apologetically at Li Aiguo: "Comrade, please wait a moment."

"It's ok."

The director kept calling and asking higher authorities. When his superiors heard that it was a golden gun, they were also confused. Was this a gun or gold?
Well, keep reporting it.

The matter of the golden gun was reported through layers of authorities and finally appeared in a document in front of a leader.

"Comrade Driver got a golden gun? He must be quite capable."

The leader wrote in the approval document: "The gift is a symbol of friendship and does not conflict with the gold control policy."

With the approval document, Li Aiguo finally got his golden gun back.

Of course, Li Aiguo had no idea that the matter had become so serious, and even if he knew, he would not care, because he was busy being a money-giving boy at the time.

The Russian caviar was really worthless. Andrei donated dozens of boxes. Li Aiguo gave one box to Cao Wenzhi, one box to Captain Bai, and one box to Minister Niu of the Armed Forces.

Zhou Ke is my brother and got two boxes.

Of course, in order to avoid suspicion, Li Aiguo always put it in lunch boxes and sent it out.

Xing Duanzhang watched Li Aiguo put caviar into his lunch box and said with a smile, "You are becoming more and more mature."

"I learned all that from you, Captain Duan." Li Aiguo blinked.

Duanchang Xing looked at the two lunch boxes in front of him and said nothing more.

Several key leaders in the section also received lunch boxes.

In the afternoon, Li Aiguo took Dasha to Liu Guozhang's house and gave him two boxes of caviar and a women's fur coat.

When the master's wife saw the fur coat, her eyes were filled with indescribable joy. She came from a wealthy family and when she was young, she often wore gold and silver jewelry.

Later, in order to support street activities, all the gold, silver, silk and clothes were sold.

After liberation, in order to respond to the call for thrift and diligence from superiors, the master's wife usually wore very simple clothes.

The master's wife was reluctant to put down the fur coat.

"Keep it if you like it. This was brought back from abroad by Aiguo. It has been registered, so there won't be any trouble." Liu Guozhang said with a smile.

Only then did the master's wife accept the coat.

She liked the blonde and blue-eyed Dasha very much, and held Dasha's hand and talked about all kinds of things.

Liu Guozhang saw her true feelings and knew that she was thinking about her daughter.

Liu Guozhang invited Li Aiguo to his study and said with a smile, "You must have had a hard time on this business trip, right?"

“It’s not that hard. The Russians have specialized engineers and workers, and I’m just helping with the planning.

I just feel a little uncomfortable with the food, eating lots of meat, fish, bread and so on all day. What are you busy with recently, teacher?"

Liu Guozhang took a puff of cigarette and said, "On January 1 this year, the Baoji-Chengdu Railway was opened to traffic. Now the Ministry is preparing to transform the railway line into the first electric railway in China. This task falls on the Institute."

Electrified railway refers to a railway that can run electric trains.

This type of railway gets its name because the lines need to be equipped with corresponding electrification equipment to provide power for the trains.

It can be seen that the ministry has already begun to carry out research and promotion of electric locomotives.

Liu Guozhang looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "How about this? Are you interested in this?"

"Teacher, I have no knowledge of electric locomotives, so I'd better continue to drive my own steam engine."

Li Aiguo clearly remembers that the electrification transformation of the entire railway took seventeen years to complete because it was too advanced.

And because it was a single-track electrified railway, its transportation capacity was far from what it should have been, and it later underwent several renovations.

"You just like being a train driver." Liu Guozhang thought this was a good opportunity, but now he can only feel disappointed.

"Stay here for lunch. I'll ask your wife to cook your favorite food."

Li Aiguo stood up and said, "No, I haven't gone home yet. I have to send Dasha to report to Jingcheng University in the afternoon."

Liu Guozhang also knew that Li Aiguo was very busy, so he did not try to keep him.

Foreigners were still rare in the capital at that time, not to mention that Dasha was a beautiful girl.

Along the way, passers-by gave me strange looks.

There are looks of contempt, envy, and jealousy.

Li Aiguo rode his bicycle all the way back to the courtyard.

As soon as I walked out of the yard, I ran into Xu Damao.

"Hey, Aiguo, you're back from your business trip? You were away for quite a long time this time."

Xu Damao blinked his eyes, wanting to find out the news.

"Yes, I went to a brother unit to provide support. Brother Damao, is your sister-in-law pregnant?"

"Oh, forget it. I took so many medicines, but they didn't help at all."

"Don't worry, take your time. I heard there is a Miao doctor in southern Hunan who is very good at treating this kind of disease. I'll ask my friend to help you find out when there's a chance."

Xu Damao was delighted: "Thank you so much! Be patriotic, you know? Jia Dongxu got into big trouble recently."

"what happened?"

"Jia Dongxu owed a lot of gambling debts. Years ago, the creditors came to the factory to ask for money. He wanted an old man to help him, but the old man ignored him. The creditors made a big fuss in the factory, and finally the security department stepped in to drive them away."

Xu Damao looked gloating: "The day before yesterday, Jia Zhang was cursing Yi Zhonghai in the courtyard. The two families have completely fallen out."

Li Aiguo said: "It's hard to say for sure. Yi Zhonghai just wants to control Jia Dongxu. Who knows if they will ever reconcile."

Xu Damao sneered: "With Xu Damao here, this won't be possible!"

When Li Aiguo heard this, he was shocked. Xu Damao was going to take this opportunity to strangle Jia Dongxu to death.

But it's also true that Jia Dongxu used to bully Xu Damao by relying on Yi Zhonghai. Now that he has this opportunity, Xu Damao definitely can't give it up.

"Brother Damao, you are really awesome." Li Aiguo gave him a thumbs up.

"Brother Aiguo, you're too kind. Actually, I have something else I want to tell you." Xu Damao stopped, looked around, and winked at Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo asked Dasha to wait for a while and walked over.

"I feel that Jia Dongxu stole the waste materials in the factory!" Xu Damao winked.

This is an obvious thing. Now that Jia Dongxu has lost the support of his uncle, he has to support his family and pay off his gambling debts. It is impossible for him not to resort to some crooked means.

Li Aiguo pretended to be surprised: "That's impossible. Jia Dongxu wouldn't be so morally corrupt."

"Aiguo, you are a good person in every way except that you trust people too easily. Don't worry, it won't be long before I can expose Jia Dongxu's true face." Xu Damao laughed sinisterly again.

At this time, Liu Lan's voice came from the middle court: "Xu Damao, I asked you to come and help, where are you?"

"I'm coming." Xu Damao didn't even bother to say goodbye and ran away.

Li Aiguo looked at his back, smiled and shook his head: "This compound will be lively again in a few days."

Dasha asked curiously: "Brother Aiguo, why didn't that guy greet me just now? Does he not like me?"

Li Aiguo then remembered that Xu Damao clearly saw Dasha, but didn't even ask a question.

"You misunderstood. He just doesn't want to cause trouble. Come on, let's go home."

Although Dasha didn't understand Li Aiguo's intention, she was immediately happy when she thought about meeting Chen Xueru.

When they were in Zaporizhia Oblast, Li Aiguo told her many times about how Chen Xueru captured Dieter. She wanted to see what the five-star scar looked like.

(End of this chapter)