The train driver in the courtyard

Inside the Li family house.

Nan Yi drank a sip of sugar water and said word by word: "2 qian of Rugui, 3 qian of Matixiang, 1 qian of Shicangcao, and 5 qian of Huixincao. The preparation method is to roast Rugui until it turns yellow, soak Matixiang in water, and then mix it with Shicangcao and Huixincao."

The dosage is precise and the preparation method is complicated. If you want to figure this out on your own, you'll have to go through at least tens of thousands of experiments.

Li Aiguo admired the wisdom of the ancients a little bit.

After recording it, Li Aiguo looked at Nan Yi and asked, “Nan Yi, I will experiment with the bait formula tomorrow.

If the formula is effective, it may be handed over and used for large-scale fly control.

By then, the formula will definitely be leaked, are you willing?"

"Yes! My patriotic brother, don't worry, I, Nan Yi, am not such a stingy person.

If I keep this thing in my hand, it can only kill flies in one kitchen.

If it is promoted, the masses will benefit.”

Nan Yi also became excited.

He has always felt inferior because of his background, and never thought that one day he would be able to contribute.

Li Aiguo would certainly not treat Nan Yi unfairly.

He wrote under the recipe that the recipe was contributed by Comrade Nan Yi, an eighth-level chef at the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill.

Nan Yi looked at the powerful handwriting and said with a smile: "Brother Aiguo, I, the one holding the big spoon, have made some progress this time."

"There is no high or low position in revolutionary work. You can make contributions no matter where you are."

The two chatted for a while, and as it was getting dark, Nan Yi prepared to leave.

Suddenly, Li Aiguo caught a glimpse of a figure swaying at the door.

Take a closer look.

Huo, Jia Zhang is hiding outside!
Her eyes were wandering, sometimes glancing inside the door, sometimes quickly moving away. When Li Aiguo saw her, he could only walk to the door.

She raised her red right hand and said awkwardly, "Aiguo, can you help me, an old woman, take the wooden board off your hand?"

Behind Jia Zhang was a group of residents.

Xu Damao had already rushed back from the hospital. He came over to watch the fun and said sarcastically, "Jia Zhang, this is the attitude you should have when asking someone to do something for you. You were arguing with Brother Aiguo just now!"

Now most of the power of the man in charge of the courtyard house has been taken away by the neighborhood patrol team.

With Liu Lan's reminder, Xu Damao realized that he had made a serious mistake.

There is no future in just talking; only real power can bring you power.

Xu Damao should not pursue to be the manager of the courtyard house as he did before, but should find a way to join the neighborhood patrol team.

Even being a team leader like Zhang Gangzhu would be fine.

Xu Damao would naturally try to find a way to show his intelligence and talent in front of Li Aiguo.

Jia Zhang didn't expect Xu Damao to jump out.

Asking her to apologize to Li Aiguo would be more painful than killing her.

However, the wooden board in your hand must be removed.

Jia Zhang's brows were tightly furrowed, as if twisted into a knot, and the corners of her mouth were drooping, looking extremely unhappy.

Her body was stiff and her feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, and she was reluctant to move an even a step.

Finally, under the gaze of everyone, Jia Zhang opened her mouth very reluctantly, and her voice was as low as a mosquito's hum: "I'm sorry." The three words seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth, without a trace of sincerity.

Li Aiguo rubbed his ears, looking puzzled: "What? A mosquito just flew over. Oh, it seems that our work of eliminating mosquitoes in the compound is not going well!"

The residents burst into laughter.

"Ms. Jia Zhang, are you apologizing or just trying to please me?"

Jia Zhang had no choice but to bite her teeth and walked forward to Li Aiguo and bowed: "Li Aiguo, I, an old woman, apologize to you. Please forgive me this time."

As the words left his mouth, he clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white from the effort.

It’s so frustrating. It’s really so frustrating.

Jia Zhang's teeth were clattering, as if she wanted to crush all her anger in her mouth. "Li Aiguo, can you tell me how to remove the wooden board now?"

Li Aiguo said: "The glue on the wood is called acrylic glue, which is a strong glue. There are several ways to remove it."

Jia Zhang was overjoyed when she heard this and pricked up her ears.

Li Aiguo said slowly: "One way is to use methyl methacrylate to remove it."

"What is this nail paper? Where can I buy it?" Jia Zhang was impatient.

"Currently, the only factory in China that can produce methyl methacrylate is the Synthetic Chemical Factory in Shancheng, which is a chemical factory under military control."

"."

The chemical materials produced by the regulated chemical plant are all for military use. How could they possibly send chemical reagents specifically to an old woman like her?

Jia Zhang was also a self-aware person. She forced a smile on her face and said, "What about the second option?"

Li Aiguo said: "The second is high temperature. The glue will decompose under high temperature."

Qin Huairu raised her hand and said, "We have tried it just now. Look, my mother's hand was almost burned, and we still couldn't get the board off."

Li Aiguo said: "That's because the temperature is not high enough. In order to decompose the glue, the temperature must be at least 200 degrees."

"If it's 200 degrees, my hands will be burned to ashes, right?" Jia Zhang's face changed drastically, and she shook her head hurriedly: "This method won't work either."

“Is there any other way to be patriotic?”

Li Aiguo said: "The last resort is to wait."

"wait?"

"Yes, acrylic glue is chemically stable, but it will still age over time. After a long time, the glue loses its stickiness and the wood will naturally fall off."

Li Aiguo did not deceive Jia Zhang.

The glue used on Nan Yi's mousetrap board is undiluted acrylic glue, which is much more effective than the 502 glue of later generations. There is really no better way in those days.

"So, I will have to keep this board in my hands for a while."

Jia Zhang's face turned pale.

She couldn't imagine how others would look at her if she went out with a piece of wood.

The residents in the compound almost couldn't help laughing out loud when they imagined what Jia Zhang would be like in the future.

In the following days, Jia Zhang could only live with a wooden board.

You have to hold the board up when eating, when sleeping, and even when washing your face.

Every time she met the residents, Jia Zhang would be teased.

"Ms. Jia Zhang, will you steal other people's things again next time?"

Jia Zhang would always defend herself with a straight face: "I was doing this to get rid of Si Ku, can this be called stealing? Can getting rid of Si Ku be called stealing?"

At such moments, the air is filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

These things have nothing to do with Li Aiguo. He has more important work to do now.

Early the next morning.

Li Aiguo was in a hurry to go to the maintenance depot and had no mood to eat.

He quickly ate seven fried eggs, drank a bowl of cornmeal porridge, put on his canvas bag, pushed his bicycle and went out.

As soon as he walked out of the Crescent Gate, Xu Damao rushed out from the side and blocked his way.

"Brother Aiguo, have one." Xu Damao took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out one and handed it to Li Aiguo.

When he saw it was Greater China, Li Aiguo knew that this guy had something to ask for.

Xu Damao often carries two packs of cigarettes, one pack of Daqianmen and one pack of Dazhonghua.

On weekdays, he smoked Daqianmen cigarettes himself and gave them to his friends. He only gave Dazhonghua cigarettes when he met leaders.

"Brother Damao, you're welcome." Li Aiguo took the cigarette with a smile.

Xu Damao struck a match to light it for him, looked around, and said in a low voice: "Brother Aiguo, are you still short of people in the neighborhood patrol team?"

"Yes, there is a shortage of them. But Brother Damao, didn't you use to be in the patrol team and need to patrol every night? Isn't that not suitable for you?" Li Aiguo asked curiously.

Xu Damao blinked his big eyes and said, "Are there no logistical positions in the neighborhood patrol team? Administrative positions? I, Damao, am a cultured person and I am good at writing."

Li Aiguo could see what Xu Damao was thinking at this moment, so he smiled and said, "Brother Damao, our neighborhood patrol team is an amateur team. There are no administrative positions, only patrols. If you are willing to do it, I will count you in."

Xu Damao also has to show movies at night. When he is not showing movies, he has to chat with young women. How can he patrol around like those young men?

"Then the time is a bit inappropriate."

Xu Damao was a little discouraged, but he soon cheered up again.

"Patriotic brothers, do you know that Yi Zhonghai is really sick this time!" Xu Damao said gloatingly.

"what happened?"

"Auntie came back this morning, and my Liu Lan happened to meet her. She said Yi Zhonghai was diagnosed with heart disease, and he will probably have to stay in the hospital for a while longer!"

Xu Damao said, spitting: "This old man, every time he gets into trouble, he pretends to be sick. Now he is really sick! He deserves it!"

"Brother Damao, I have to go to work. I'm leaving first."

Li Aiguo smiled and shook his head without responding, then rode away on his bike.

When we arrived at the maintenance workshop of the locomotive depot, the workers inside had already produced a new type of mouse-catching board.

After verifying the effectiveness of the rat board, Director Xing immediately expressed his intention to recommend this rat-catching board to the Beijing City Anti-Four-Noisy Command.

Since the campaign to eliminate the four evils began, the headquarters has been soliciting ideas for eliminating the four evils from major factories, major units, and society.

Li Aiguo stopped Director Xing.

"What's up, Aiguo, have you come up with something new?" asked Director Xing Duanchang.

Li Aiguo nodded and said, "Remember the board for catching mice? I used that thing to transform a board for catching flies. If it works well, we can send it up together."

Hearing this, Xing Duan was overjoyed.

"We've even made a board to remove flies. We're patriotic. This time, our Qianmen locomotive section will strive to be the most advanced.

Just go ahead and do the work. If you need people, I will get them for you. If you need supplies, I will get them for you.”

With these two things, Qianmen Locomotive Depot will definitely be able to earn an advanced position in the four-way elimination.

The glue is already diluted, and you just need to prepare the fly bait.

Li Aiguo worked with Director Zhang from the maintenance workshop for half a day and finally prepared the bait.

Looking at the green stuff, Director Zhang frowned: "Aiguo, is this thing useful? Why do I feel like it has no fragrance at all?"

The bait has a fishy smell, but it is very faint. If you don’t smell it carefully, you can’t smell it at all.

Li Aiguo also had doubts about the effectiveness of the bait.

"Let's just find a place to experiment."

Apart from the toilets, the place with the most flies in the locomotive depot is the canteen.

It is obvious that the experimental environment in the cafeteria is more comfortable.

Li Aiguo came into the cafeteria with the bait installed.

When the fat chef in the cafeteria heard that they needed to catch flies, he and the group of young chefs came over.

They were all surprised to see that Li Aiguo just put a wooden board and added mung bean cakes as big as soybeans.

"Driver Li, is this thing useful?" Just as the words fell, a fly was attracted by the mung bean cake and landed on the wooden board.

pat.

It's stuck.

It flapped its wings twice, but not only did it fail to take off, but its entire body was stuck.

Then, a swarm of black flies flew over and were all stuck to the wooden board.

The fat chef and the group of young chefs all gasped.

“Why are there so many flies in our cafeteria?”

Li Aiguo: "."

There are four command centers in the capital.

Early in the morning, Secretary Chen, who was in charge of receiving letters, brought a large pile of letters from the mail room.

Since the newspapers published the solicitation for methods to eliminate the four evils, the general public has been offering suggestions and advice.

Most of the methods are ineffective, and can even be described as fantasy.

For example, Secretary Chen received a letter from a winery employee the day before yesterday, saying that flies and mosquitoes can be used as snacks when drinking.

In this way, we can eliminate the four evils and save food.

The letter even described in detail how to cook flies and mosquitoes, so much so that Secretary Chen couldn't even eat the whole day yesterday.

But there are some practical suggestions.

For example, assigning division by four as homework to children.

The children didn't have to do homework, they just had to hand in a rat tail or twenty flies the next day.

After reading dozens of letters, Secretary Chen did not see any solution that could impress anyone.

At this time, a thick letter caught his attention.

The letter was signed by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot in Beijing.

These days, the command center has received letters from many units, including the railway department, so Secretary Chen was not surprised by this.

He was surprised that the letter was so thick.

It was bulging inside and felt heavy in the hand, as if it contained a lot of things.

Secretary Chen tore open the seal of the envelope.

Inside was a box of black stuff, a green bean-like object, and two wooden boards covered with oil paper.

“It seems quite important.”

Secretary Chen picked up the letter and read it. After just two glances, his expression changed.

At this time, Zhang, the officer next door, saw his appearance and felt a little strange: "Old Chen, what happened?"

"Something bad has happened! I need to see the Director!"

Secretary Chen suddenly stood up from his chair, put the things on the table into an envelope, and walked towards the headquarters' general command room holding the envelope.

Secretary Zhang looked at his back, smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"This old Chen, he has received too many letters, his brain is in trouble. How can he have so many good ideas?"

After the campaign to eliminate the four evils began, "Eliminating the Four Evils Command" was established in various places. The commander-in-chief of the command was personally served by the leaders of various places and was directly responsible to the highest level.

The command center coordinated the work of eliminating the four evils throughout the capital.

The commander-in-chief was very busy and held a meeting to eliminate the four evils early in the morning.

The venue was full of people, and the commander-in-chief of the command center was sitting on the rostrum.

The commander-in-chief showed that he had issued the latest instructions: "Subordinates except the four offices must fill out a daily report on the number of rats caught by the street offices.

Institutions, factories and construction sites, schools, industrial and commercial households, nurseries and kindergartens, state-owned companies and cooperatives, Red Cross members, ordinary residents, etc.

The number of mice caught every day must be clearly recorded in different categories. "

The anti-corruption commissioners in each district wrote down the instructions in their notebooks, intending to carry them out immediately after the meeting.

Next is to report the recent results of the four-point elimination.

The secretary first reported the recent achievements: "Qinghe Agricultural Production Cooperative used 18 trucks to transport 250 trucks of garbage from here.

Farmers in Changping's Sujiatuo Township combined cleaning and sweeping with filling in livestock sheds, sweeping streets and houses, and emptying toilets of feces and sludge.

Haidian, Changping and other places launched district-wide cleaning campaigns.

Weizhuang Commune on the outskirts of the city dug out more than 22.3 kilograms of manure, dug out 186 toilets, dug out more than 49 kilograms of fly pupae and maggots, and together with the dust swept out, accumulated a total of more than 2730 million kilograms of fertilizer."

The commander-in-chief smoked a cigarette and nodded emphatically: "Praise these communes and publish them in the newspaper! Let other units and communes learn from them."

After reporting the completion results, the commander-in-chief looked at the director in charge of "technical work".

"Old Chen, the higher-ups have reminded us that we should be scientific in eliminating the four evils, so that we can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Have you collected any good ideas?"

Director Liu stood up, holding the materials and said: "Zhou Xianming, a resident of Nanchang Street, Xidan, is a porter at the flour mill. He often sees bags of flour with holes bitten by mice. He feels really bad, so he tries every way to catch mice.

He has a tool called a bamboo clip, which is a tool for catching rats without food, and is used specifically to catch large rats.

The commander-in-chief knocked on the table and said, "This kind of bamboo clip should be placed at the entrance of the mouse hole, right?"

"It really needs to be placed at the entrance of the cave." Director Liu looked a little gloomy.

Rats are particularly cunning, and this obvious mouse-catching tool can easily arouse the mice's vigilance, greatly reducing the success rate of catching mice.

But there was no good solution at the moment. The commander hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Teach the residents how to make bamboo clips and let them follow the instructions. They will eventually be able to catch some mice."

Director Liu breathed a sigh of relief and was about to sit down when Secretary Chen appeared at the door of the conference room.

"Director. Director"

Seeing that all the people in the conference room were senior leaders, Secretary Chen did not dare to enter the room and just made faces at them at the door.

It's just that his voice was a little loud, which immediately attracted the attention of the leaders in the meeting room, and everyone looked towards the door.

The commander-in-chief was not angry because Secretary Chen disrupted the order of the meeting. Instead, he waved at him warmly and said, "Young comrade, is there anything you want to report to your director?"

It was the first time that Secretary Chen had a conversation with a leader of the commander-in-chief's level, and he was shocked.

Director Liu stood up and said, "Xiao Chen, just tell me what's going on. No matter if you're right or wrong, the leader won't be angry."

Secretary Chen patted the envelope in his hand, swallowed his saliva and said: "Some workers have made a sticky wooden board that can stick to mice.

There is also a kind of sticky wooden board that can catch flies. "

As soon as these words were spoken, the leaders in the meeting room all laughed and shook their heads.

"How can a mouse stick to its huge size?"

"And there are flies. They fly everywhere. How can they get stuck?"

"I think it might be some weird thing made by that worker who wanted to be famous."

The commander-in-chief was also a little disappointed at this time.

However, as a commander, he should boost morale, so he asked as usual: "How is the effect?"

Officer Chen calmed down now and said loudly, "The effect is very good. The Qianmen Locomotive Depot has done experiments and the efficiency of catching mice is as high as 80%. The fly catching board can catch 50 to 60 flies a day."

This is probably just bragging. The commander-in-chief was about to ask Secretary Chen to verify it when he was suddenly stunned.

"You just said that these two things were sent by the workers from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot?"

Secretary Chen looked at the name of the material and said, "It was reported by Li Aiguo, a train driver at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, and the maintenance workshop at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot."

He added: "They also sent a copy of the same material to the Beijing Railway Bureau, and at the same time, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot maintenance workshop also began to mass-produce rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards."

As soon as these words were spoken, the laughter at the scene suddenly disappeared.

The faces of those who were responsible for removing the four censors showed solemn expressions.

If a small worker wants to gain fame and reputation, he may come up with some strange and bizarre ideas and send them to the headquarters.

However, it is impossible for Qianmen Locomotive Depot and Railway Bureau to join in the fun.

At the same time, the train driver does his job very conscientiously.

Not only are there experimental data, but the process of producing mouse-catching boards and fly-catching boards is also clearly written.

This only shows that these two things are indeed effective.

The commander-in-chief suddenly became alert.

"If it is indeed effective, even if it is only half as effective as the material says, our work of eliminating the four evils will be much easier."

"Immediately verify the effectiveness of the mouse trap and fly trap."

The work meeting that was supposed to last two hours was over.

In addition, the Fourth Command organized personnel to verify the results, and the results even exceeded the records in the materials.

Looking at a board with three mice stuck on it and a board covered with black flies, the commander-in-chief no longer had any doubts in his mind.

"Issue Order No. 16 for eliminating the four evils in the capital area now. Immediately select a group of factories in the capital and ask them to put aside their original production tasks and vigorously produce rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards. Promote rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards in the capital area!"

Following an order from the commander-in-chief, the entire capital city was mobilized.

The Beijing Offset Printing Factory and the Beijing Third Cotton Textile Factory were given the important task of producing rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards.

The production technology of these two products is simple.

In just one day, the rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards were delivered to every street office in the capital.

Rat traps and fly traps are very effective.

In just one day, people in the capital area caught more than 50,000 rats and more than 400,000 flies.

This data is equal to the result of the previous week divided by four.

At the work meeting, the commander-in-chief proposed that the technologies of rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards be passed on to various regions across the country, which was unanimously agreed by the participants.

The commander-in-chief also proposed: "The mouse traps and fly traps designed by Comrade Li Aiguo and the Qianmen Locomotive Depot have made outstanding contributions to the work of eliminating the four pests. I suggest that they be awarded the title of advanced individuals and advanced collectives in eliminating the four pests in the capital."

The result of dividing by four was there, and the participants raised their hands again in agreement.

The commander-in-chief said: "Immediately send a letter of commendation, and at the same time let the propaganda department launch a propaganda campaign, so that all units, factories, and the masses in Beijing can learn from Comrade Li Aiguo and the Qianmen Locomotive Depot."

Following an order, the Fourth Army Command was mobilized again.

*****
In Qianmen Street Office.

While distributing mouse traps to residents in the neighborhood, Secretary Zhang smiled at Chen Xueru and said, "Secretary Chen, I heard that this thing was developed by a train driver in the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. Could it be your boss?"

Chen Xueru knew that Li Aiguo seemed to be tinkering with these strange things recently.

Especially the wooden board stuck on Jia Zhang's hand, which is very similar to the wooden board used to trap mice.

But she didn't admit it, just smiled modestly.

A woman in her thirties next to me whispered, "It's not that coincidental, is it? Let me tell you, now rat-catching boards and fly-catching boards have become the main tools for getting rid of the four evils in our capital. The people who invented these two things are incredible.

I have seen men like Xueru, and apart from being a little more handsome, with a bigger nose, a thicker thumb, and stronger, he has no other advantages. "

Among the people, there have been various sayings circulating: the bigger the nose, the bigger the nail; the thicker the thumb, the thicker the nail.

Chen Xueru was teased and her face turned red.

At this time, the director of the subdistrict office came in in a hurry, holding a propaganda newspaper and said: "Secretary Chen, your boss has become an advanced person in eliminating the four evils!"

(End of this chapter)