The train driver in the courtyard

The first ray of sunlight in the early morning quietly falls, gently awakening this ancient yet vibrant city.

In the courtyard, there is a gentle breeze, bringing a little coolness, making people feel refreshed.

The rustling of leaves seemed to whisper hope for a new day.

Li Aiguo rode a bicycle with Chen Xueru outside. There was a cotton package hanging on the handlebars, and the package was bulging with things.

Xu Damao was limping around looking for a rat hole. When he looked up and saw the two people like this, he felt strange.

"Brother Aiguo, are you going on a long journey?" Xu Damao asked.

"Yes, we're going to Chengde, to Aunt Xueru's house. We have to hurry to catch the train. We'll talk when we get back."

Li Aiguo handed Xu Damao a cigarette. Then, he pushed the pedal and the bicycle rushed out without any delay.

Xu Damao took the cigarette and looked at it. "Train drivers are comfortable. They smoke Sunflowers and don't have to spend money on tickets when they visit relatives."

Along the way, Li Aiguo stopped from time to time to greet the residents.

Soon, all the residents knew that Li Aiguo was going to Chengde to visit his relatives.

Chen Xueru found it very strange.

Just the night before, when she returned home, Li Aiguo suddenly asked about Chen's relatives in Chengde.

That relative was Chen Xueru's mother's sister, and Chen Xueru called her aunt.

Later, Chen Xueru's mother passed away, and because of the chaos and war at that time, the two families lost contact.

A while ago, my aunt was making a wedding dress for her daughter, and somehow she came to Chen's Tailor Shop, so the two families were connected again.

The aunt was very warm and hoped that Chen Xueru could come to her home for a visit, but Chen Xueru politely refused.

Both Chen Xueru herself and Li Aiguo were extremely busy with their work.

Who would have thought that Li Aiguo actually said he wanted to take Chen Xueru to visit his aunt's home in Chengde.

Chen Xueru couldn't help but feel moved.

but.

She knew very well that Li Aiguo was not a flamboyant person, but why did he make the matter of going to Chengde known to everyone?
Qin Huairu was washing clothes in the middle courtyard, scrubbing them vigorously, with water splashing everywhere.

The hair on her forehead was soaked with sweat and stuck tightly to her cheeks.

Suddenly, a crisp bicycle bell sounded.

Qin Huairu subconsciously raised her head and saw Li Aiguo riding a bicycle with Chen Xueru sitting on the back seat. The two of them were talking and laughing as they slowly passed by her.

Qin Huairu stared blankly at their gradually receding backs. An indescribable complex emotion suddenly surged in her heart, and the movements of her hands slowed down unconsciously.

These two people don't look like they are visiting each other, they are clearly going on vacation.

Looking at Jia Dongxu again, I wanted to go catch sparrows with him, but he flatly refused.

The train from Beijing to Chengde runs on the Jincheng Railway. Train No. 6417 departs from Beijing Station and arrives at Chengde West Station and the ticket price is yuan.

Of course, as a train driver, it is impossible for Li Aiguo to spend a penny on a train ride.

Xiao Wang from crew 6417 saw Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru slowly approaching from afar, and he immediately opened his voice and shouted.

She opened the door of the camper neatly and shouted, "Big Li, come this way."

"Hey, isn't this Flight Attendant Wang? Thanks. Let me introduce you to my wife."

Li Aiguo introduced Chen Xueru's identity to flight attendant Wang with a smile on his face.

The steward Wang looked Chen Xueru up and down carefully, then said with a smile: "Oh my God, I've heard that Li Dache's wife is very beautiful. When I saw her today, wow, she's really attractive!"

"If you can speak, just say a few more words."

Li Aiguo laughed so hard that his mouth reached his ears.

Chen Xueru's face was as thin as paper. When she heard this, her face turned red. She pinched Li Aiguo's waist quietly, as if to say, "Look at you, you are so cocky."

After getting on the bus, Li Aiguo came to the private room of the camping car and slowly lay down.

Then he took out a book from his bag and started reading it with full concentration.

As for the flight attendants, they saw Chen Xueru at first sight and immediately became very interested in her.

They enthusiastically pulled Chen Xueru aside and started chattering in private.

There's nothing we can do about it. The crew members have always been so enthusiastic in treating the families of train employees.

At 1:30 p.m., the train arrived at Chengde West Station on time.

After getting off the train, Li Aiguo took Chen Xueru to the railway police station inside the station and handed over his ID to the comrade on duty.

"Hello, I'm Li Aiguo from Qianmen Train."

The comrade on duty took the certificate, took a closer look, and immediately showed a warm smile on his face: "Captain Zhou from your Qianmen Police Station contacted us. He is going to Liujiagou, right? Coincidentally, a truck carrying resale grain passed by Liujiagou today. I have already contacted you."

"Thanks."

Following the comrade on duty to the freight yard, I saw a GAZ truck fully loaded with corn parked quietly beside the railway track. Under the sunlight, it exuded a simple atmosphere.

The truck was equipped with an arched roof, which was covered with felt, probably to prevent rain.

The truck driver had been waiting for half an hour and opened the truck door to invite the two people to get in.

The temperature this season is just right, neither hot nor cold.

Li Aiguo declined the truck driver's invitation, looked at the height of the trunk, took two quick steps, and jumped onto the trunk. He pushed his hind feet on the trunk board and rushed inside.

Chen Xueru took Li Aiguo's hand and climbed into the car by stepping on the trunk.

Li Aiguo saw Chen Xueru sitting on the sack, grabbed the side of the car, and walked to the front and told the driver to drive.

When the driver heard that the person he was picking up today was a train driver, he felt a little sorry when he saw that he didn't want to sit in the front.

Seeing Li Aiguo sitting at the front of the car, he could talk to him.

As soon as the driver stepped on the accelerator, the GAZ truck rushed out of the cargo yard with black smoke coming out.

Trucks have very poor shock absorption these days.

Li Aiguo was prepared for the bumpy ride, but he found that the truck was surprisingly stable because it was fully loaded with grain.

After all, Chen Xueru didn't often ride in trucks, so even this slight bump made her feel like her internal organs were out of place.

She simply stood up, grabbed the beam and swayed, and then she felt a little better.

The big truck was wobbling along the streets of Chengde.

Li Aiguo looked at both sides of the road. It was already the end of April. Normally, the big trees should have supported a lush canopy, but at this moment it was bare.

The few leaves on the tree were covered with holes caused by insects, which made them particularly eye-catching.

He frowned slightly, gently took out a notebook from his canvas bag, and carefully recorded the situation.

The GAZ truck wobbled all the way out of Chengde, drove along a highway, then went down a dirt road, and finally stopped beside a village.

"Dacht Li, this is Liujiazhuang Commune. We have to rush to deliver food to the commune ahead, so we can't take you into the village."

"Thank you."

Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to the truck driver and the officer in charge of escorting the grain, then jumped off the truck with Chen Xueru.

Aunt Chen was already waiting at the roadside.

There was a group of children around her watching the fun.

The children's eyes were full of curiosity. When they saw the truck slowly leaving, they followed behind and sniffed the exhaust fumes carefully.

Chen Xueru saw Aunt Chen coming over and greeted her with a smile: "Aunt, you are old, why are you still out here? We are not outsiders."

Aunt Chen is only five years older than Chen Fangxuan, but she has been working in the countryside for many years and looks older than ordinary people.

Aunt Chen knew that Chen Xueru was coming to visit her today, but she didn't expect that she would be brought back by a large truck.

Seeing a burly young man standing next to Chen Xueru, Aunt Chen asked, "Xueru, is this your train driver?"

Chen Xueru introduced Li Aiguo's identity to Chen's aunt, and the two were brought into the village.

Along the way, Chen Xueru chatted with Chen's aunt, and Li Aiguo also learned about the situation in his aunt's family.

My aunt was also a miserable person. She gave birth to seven sons and three daughters in her lifetime, but in the end only two sons and one daughter survived.

The younger daughter got married a few years ago, and now she lives with the older son Liu Dayong.

My aunt suffered a lot in her early years. She was full of illnesses, sick all year round, and could no longer work.

Fortunately, my sons and daughters are filial, and we have a big pot of food in the commune, so life is pretty good.

"Now is a good time. If it was before liberation, I would have been carried to the cave in the back mountain by Dayong."

"Aunt, what nonsense are you talking about? Both of my brothers are filial sons."

Chen Xueru had once visited her aunt's house with Chen Fangxuan.

After entering the house, Aunt Chen let the two of them sit on the kang, but Li Aiguo still had things to do, so he sat down on the edge of the kang.

Chen Dayong put down his bag and hurried to the kitchen to boil water for them.

Aunt Chen was very satisfied with Li Aiguo's identity and kept chatting with Li Aiguo.

Chen Xueru was ignored instead.

She saw a little girl squatting at the door and carving on the ground with a sickle, and she walked over with a smile.

When the little girl saw Chen Xueru, she hurriedly wiped the words off the ground with her feet.

"Er Ya, don't you recognize me?"

"I know her, Aunt Xueru!" the little girl answered crisply.

Chen Xueru smiled, took out a bunch of seven or eight pencils tied with rubber bands and five notebooks from her bag and handed them to Erya.

"Remember, next time you call me aunt first before giving it to me."

Erya was stunned when she saw this distant aunt giving her so many pencils and notebooks. She bit her lip and didn't dare to take them.

Liu Dayong also thought it was a bit too much and came over to stop it.

Chen Xueru put the notebook and pencil in Erya's schoolbag.

"If you need exercise books and stationery in the future, feel free to write to your aunt. We must study hard and become workers in the city like your uncle."

Erya nodded as if she understood, put down the sickle in her hand, picked up the pencil that Chen Xueru brought, looked at it carefully, touched the clean notebook, and smiled at Chen Xueru.

"Thank you, auntie."

When the villagers outside saw this scene, they were all discussing where the Liu family's wealthy relatives came from.

Giving away so many stationery at once, didn’t this girl marry a worker?

Old Liu in the front yard knew something about it. He pointed at the work clothes on Li Aiguo and explained to everyone that this was the uniform of a train driver.

Chen Xueru's husband drives a train.

This explanation caused a lot of discussion among the crowd. No one expected that Aunt Chen's in-laws were so powerful.

Who could have thought that the daughter of the little tailor would actually rise to prominence and become a phoenix.

Liu Dayong felt that the people outside were becoming more and more outrageous, so he walked over and asked them to leave.

At this time, Li Aiguo finally "escaped" from Aunt Chen, stood up and handed a cigarette to Liu Dayong.

"Brother Dayong, the weather is good this year, so the commune will definitely have a good harvest, right?"

"Oh, don't even mention it. All the wheat leaves in the field have been eaten by insects. The commune members are organizing insect catching all day long."

Before Liu Dayong finished speaking, the production team leader shouted from outside: "Dayong, hurry up! If you delay any longer, your work points will be deducted today."

"Coming." Liu Dayong responded from outside the team, turned around and looked at Li Aiguo with a little apology. "Brother-in-law, I should have greeted you well, but now I have to go to work. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay. I was just thinking about how to catch bugs."

Seeing that Li Aiguo wanted to go to the fields with him, Liu Dayong reported the situation to the production team leader.

The production team leader knew that Li Aiguo was a relative of the Liu family, but he didn't care, not to mention that he handed him a sunflower. "Captain Chen, is your pest control effective?"

"Of course it's effective. Under the leadership of the commune, after half a month of hard work, we have eliminated more than half of the pests."

The production team leader looked around and took a puff of cigarette, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Don't mention it, it won't work. There are insects all over the leaves. We catch them during the day, but they lay eggs at night. We can't lay eggs as fast as they can."

It was not until he arrived at the fields that Li Aiguo understood the production team leader's frustration.

From a distance, the fields look full of green wheat seedlings, but when you get closer, you can see that some of the leaves of the wheat seedlings have turned yellow and shriveled.

The members could only use their hands to spread out the leaves, and some tiny red spiders would appear in their palms.

An auntie nearby told Li Aiguo that this kind of spider is called a wheat spider and it will eat wheat seedlings. If left unattended, there will be no harvest from the wheat field.

"We haven't seen any spiders here for many years. It's really strange."

An experienced member said: "I saw it once in the 1930s. The sparrows here got sick and all fell from the trees. Later, wheat spiders appeared in the wheat."

"So? The wheat spiders were caused by our killing of sparrows? Impossible, sparrows are insects and are pests!" A young member came over.

The production team leader's face turned serious when he heard this, and he pointed at them and said, "Don't talk nonsense about this anymore. If someone hears it, you'll be in trouble. Go and pick the spiders for me."

The members shook their heads helplessly, stood up and went into the fields to work.

Li Aiguo looked at the wheat field, took out a notebook from his pocket, took out a pen and wrote down some words in the notebook.

In the following half day, Chen Xueru chatted with her aunt at Liu's house, while Li Aiguo wandered around the village with his hands in his pockets like a backpacker.

The big trees near the village were broken by insects, and the peach trees that should have bloomed now have dry branches. Li Aiguo wrote down everything he saw and heard in his notebook.

It was not until the evening that a loud voice suddenly came and Li Aiguo's actions were interrupted.

"Stop! You're sneaking around here, are you trying to cause trouble?!"

Li Aiguo turned his head when he heard the voice and saw a middle-aged man appear in front of him.

The man was wearing a police uniform on his upper body, which was straight and dignified, and black cloth pants on his lower body.

The belt tied around his waist added a bit of heroic spirit.

At this moment, he was staring at Li Aiguo with a look full of vigilance and suspicion.

Li Aiguo recognized him immediately and thought that this person should be a special public security commissioner from nearby.

It seems that his behavior has aroused the vigilance of the members, which led to the arrival of the public security commissioner.

"Comrade Public Security, this is a misunderstanding. This is my ID. I am here to visit Liu Dayong's relatives today."

Public Security Chen took the ID and glanced at Li Aiguo's face twice. When he saw that the photo on the ID matched his real self, he put the pistol into his belt.

"You are a guest of Dayongjia, why are you here?" He still did not let his guard down.

"I really like to experience local customs and practices." Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it over: "This can be regarded as a professional habit. We train drivers cannot stay at home and always like to travel around."

This reason was reasonable, and with the support of his identity as a train driver, Chen Gongan's attitude immediately softened.

He took the cigarette and put it to his ear.

"That's easy. No one in this area is more familiar with the situation than me. What do you want to know?"

"I heard there's been an insect plague here recently. Is that true?"

"Hush, don't talk about this." Chen Gongan's face suddenly changed. He looked around vigilantly, then lowered his voice and said, "Now the commune suspects that someone is sabotaging, and they are trying every means to track them down."

"Really?" Li Aiguo found a rock, sat down, looked at Chen Gongan and said, "We also often conduct anti-DIT training in our locomotive section. Otherwise, tell me about it and I will give you some advice."

At this moment, the air around seemed to become heavy, and the breeze blew gently, but it did not bring a relaxing atmosphere.

"It's not impossible. After all, although these things have not been made public, everyone in the commune knows about them."

Chen Gongan took another cigarette, took a deep puff and said, "Since last autumn, there have been more insects here. The trees and fields are full of pests. The commune can't find the cause. Some people think that Dieter is causing trouble. We have been tracking him for several months, but we still can't find Dieter."

Li Aiguo wrote down everything Chen Gongan said verbatim in his notebook.

Chen Gongan looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "Can you analyze for me who the bad guy is?"

"It's hard to say for now, but don't worry, the bad guys may jump out soon."

At this time, Liu Dayong's voice came from a distance.

Li Aiguo stood up and shook hands with Chen Gongan: "Comrade, thank you for helping me solve a big problem."

Looking at Li Aiguo's back, Chen Gongan scratched his head and asked in confusion: "He didn't help me solve the problem, but I helped him solve a problem instead. What's going on?"

The next day.

A clear car horn sounded outside the village.

Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru boarded the truck under the gazes of Aunt Chen, Liu Dayong, Erya and the villagers.

The truck roared to the train station.

In the afternoon.

Li Aiguo returned to the capital again.

Chen Xueru returned home and boiled some water. After the two of them took a hot bath together, Li Aiguo locked himself in the next room and did not come out until the evening.

Chen Xueru just thought that Li Aiguo was busy with his work at the research institute and didn't care.

After making dinner, he heated the rice in the pot and rode his bike back to Chen's house.

Aunt Chen brought some Chinese medicine for treating chronic cold legs to Chen Fangxuan, and she needed to deliver it.

Zhi Ning.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Li Aiguo walked out of the house carrying a bulging cloth bag.

The cloth bag is put into the canvas bag, and the buttons on the bag are fastened. It looks no different from an ordinary canvas bag.

Li Aiguo pushed open the door and walked out of the house, got on his bicycle and prepared to go out. Nan Yi and a few children were squatting at the door making a scoop net.

Seeing Li Aiguo, Nan Yi stood up and walked towards him.

"My patriotic brother, have you heard that sparrows are also hunted in four directions? It is said that Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu went to the countryside to hunt sparrows the day before yesterday. We should hurry up and do it as soon as possible.

I am making a landing net, and I can make one for you if you need it."

Li Aiguo looked at the scoop nets, thought for a moment, and said, "The superiors haven't responded to the sparrow matter yet, so don't worry about it."

After saying that, he got on his bike and left.

Nan Yi scratched his head and returned to the door of his house. Liang Ladi saw that he looked a little strange and asked him what Li Aiguo had just said.

“Brother Aiguo asked us not to play mahjong for the time being.

Isn’t this nonsense? Officer Zhang from the subdistrict office has also said that the notice will be issued in a few days.”

Liang Ladi's face changed when she heard that. She stood up and picked up all the scoop nets. Da Mao and the other children were having so much fun that they almost fell to the ground.

"Liang Ladi, what?" Nan Yi grabbed Liang Ladi's arm.

"Hang the bamboo pole back to hold up the mosquito net."

"We're not going to catch sparrows anymore?"

"No, we won't arrest him. Since our patriotic brothers have said so, we definitely can't arrest him."

Although Nan Yi didn't believe it, he had no choice but to give up when he saw that Liang Ladi believed in Li Aiguo so much.

At this time, Liu Hai, who had been watching from the side, came over.

"Nan Yi, I heard that your family doesn't catch sparrows anymore? Can these scoop nets be given to my family?" Liu Haizhong narrowed his eyes.

Bamboo poles are not valuable nor rare.

But the net bag is different. It sells for fifty cents each in the supply and marketing cooperative.

Besides, every household is now preparing to catch sparrows, and the net bags are sold out.

"Equally?" Nan Yi frowned.

He felt that the second uncle was taking things for granted.

Liu Haizhong rolled his eyes and said, "Let's find it. I'll buy it back from you at the price of fifty cents per copy."

Liang Ladi haggled over the money: "What about the industrial coupons?"

"." Liu Haizhong gritted his teeth and said, "Then I'll give you another industrial ticket."

"Uncle, I don't need an industrial ticket anymore. I heard you're a great blacksmith. I happen to have a few crooked workpieces for my sewing machines. Can you help me straighten them? How about that?"

Due to the high price of electric sewing machines and the limited market, Liang Ladi can only accept one order in a month now.

Fortunately, she has accumulated a lot of old customers by modifying electric sewing machines.

Because of her low prices and good craftsmanship, neighbors are willing to ask Liang Ladi to repair their sewing machines when they break down.

Now Liang Ladi is considered half a sewing machine repairman.

When Liu Haizhong heard that he could get the scoop net without an industrial ticket, he happily agreed.

He picked up his gear and clanged around at Nan Yi's house for a whole day, and then paid one dollar and fifty cents before he got three scoop nets.

"Silly man, sparrows are four-necked. If I catch more of them, I might be able to become a leader."

Liu Haizhong returned home and handed the harvesting net to Liu Guangfu and Liu Guangtian, asking them to keep it.

"From now on, the two of you will come with me to catch sparrows!"

"." Liu Guangfu looked at the bamboo pole that was seven or eight times taller than himself and fell silent.

"Yeah!" Liu Guangtian wiped his nose.

*****
late at night.

The hut in the backyard of the weather station was brightly lit.

The desk is filled with documents from all over the place.

[Farmer] frowned slightly, examining each piece of information with full concentration.

His eyes revealed determination and concentration, as if he could control the ever-changing situation right in front of this small desk.

The light shone on his shoulders, reflecting his slightly tired but still upright figure.

Sometimes he picked up a pen to circle and draw on the documents, and sometimes he stopped to think for a moment, as if he was weighing the pros and cons of every decision.

The night outside the window is deep and silent, with only the occasional chirping of insects.

At this time, the door was pushed open from the outside.

A weather station worker brought a cup of tea.

[Farmer] took the tea and drank two sips, then he pulled himself together and asked in a deep voice, "No response from the Black Room yet?"

"Not yet, but don't worry, I've urged them." The employee replied.

[Farmer] frowned slightly. A while ago, the driver got a list on an international train. One name and other information on the list were all replaced by codes, so it was sent to the black room for deciphering.

Generally speaking, a code of this level can be cracked in a black room in a week at most, but it has been nearly two months and it still hasn't been done.

Could it be that this person's identity is more mysterious than expected?

Speaking of the list, [Farmer] then asked, "Driver Li submitted a report the day before yesterday, applying to leave Beijing to visit relatives with his wife. Has he returned?"

"I'm back. I just came to the station and updated the information according to the regulations." The employee paused for a moment.

He looked at the [Farmer] and whispered, "Driver Li just delivered a package."

"A package? Doesn't he have any missions right now?"

[The farmer] was subconsciously confused, and when he saw the staff nod, he put down the file.

"Bring the package here."

(End of this chapter)