The train driver in the courtyard

Time is like your relationship with money. You want to keep it, but it always slips away from you.

One big blink and five days later.

In the early morning, the train parked at the station looks rugged and majestic under the sunlight.

The huge body of the car is like a giant dragon made of steel, exuding a majestic aura.

The sunlight dances on the metal shell, outlining tough lines, and every rivet and weld demonstrates its solidity and strength.

The mechanical beauty of the steam engine itself cannot be compared with the electric locomotives of later generations.

As an experienced driver, Li Aiguo has seen this kind of scene countless times, and he still feels fascinated every time.

"Aiguo, can we install it now?" Director Xing looked at Li Aiguo expectantly.

Recently, there have been countless accidents caused by compacted sand in the bureau and section, and Section Chief Xing is worried about this.

After receiving the news that Li Aiguo had developed the duct blower, he immediately rushed to the experimental site with several section leaders.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Aiguo looked at Director Zhang of the maintenance workshop.

"Old Zhang, let's get started."

Director Zhang and four or five technical masters climbed onto the locomotive and started to get busy.

The air duct blower has a simple structure.

It includes units such as fans, high-pressure delivery pipes, nozzles, and controllers.

It is not an easy task to install these things without affecting the safety of the locomotive.

For this purpose, Li Aiguo also invited Zong Xianfeng, an "electrical engineer", to help plan the installation location of the accessories.

Zong Xianfeng was more than happy to accept this. Every time Li Aiguo asked him for help, it was not in vain. He was paid as a temporary worker, which was a full two yuan a day.

Recently, Zong Xianfeng often visited famous scenic spots in Beijing with Dasha.

Dating (he wouldn't admit it) is always a money-making thing, even in this day and age.

Before I knew it, it was ten o'clock in the morning.

More and more people gathered around the scene, and the comrades from the Education Office, who had just finished conveying their message, also came over.

Seeing Li Aiguo busy at work on the locomotive, he asked in confusion, "Brother Aiguo, what new things have you come up with?"

"It looks like something that can be blown, but I don't think it's very useful." Driver Chen said with a frown.

"Yeah, how heavy is sand? How strong must the wind be to blow the sand away?" another driver whispered.

Are discussing.

Li Aiguo's voice came from the roof of the car.

"It's installed. Zong Xianfeng, go to the driver's building and prepare to turn on the switch."

Li Aiguo saw Yan Jiecheng standing there and waved to him.

"Yan Jiecheng, go to the wheel and observe the sandblasting nozzle."

"Okay!" Yan Jiecheng ran over happily, his eyes fixed on the high-pressure sand blasting nozzle.

The scene was silent, and everyone was waiting quietly.

Although the air duct blower is inconspicuous, it is a life-saving device and must be successful!
As Li Aiguo pressed the switch, a whirring sound came from the locomotive. The fan spun rapidly, and the high-pressure airflow blew directly onto the compacted sand.

The sand was blown and rustled, quickly collapsing and flowing down the wind pipe.
"It's flowing, it's flowing. Look, there's quicksand down there." Yan Jiecheng shouted excitedly.

Li Aiguo: "."

They all looked and saw sand spurting out from the high-pressure sandblasting nozzles, "stroking" the rails, almost like a machine gun.

"Compared with conventional flow, this pressurized method can spread the sand more evenly."

Director Zhang is an experienced technician and he immediately realized the secret.

"Using an air duct blower can save at least one-third of the sand."

Although sand is not valuable, when it is packed in sandbags, it becomes life-saving sand and a strategic resource.

"Good, good, good! He is concerned about what the train driver is concerned about and thinks about what the train driver is thinking about. This is what a real train man is!" Even the old-fashioned Xing Duanchang couldn't help but say at this time.

"Trainman!"

"Trainman!"

"Trainman!"

There was constant cheering in the stadium.

Li Aiguo scratched his head while standing on the locomotive and muttered quietly, "How about we publish a comic strip about the locomotive man first?"

However, Li Aiguo does not understand the situation of comic strips in China.

I only remember that He Yushui once read a monthly magazine called "Comic Strips", which published many comic strips.

When I get a chance, I will ask those knowledgeable people first and then make a decision.

The wind will blow in a few years, so we should be cautious and cautious again.

After the duct blower was successfully tested at the station, Qianmen Locomotive Depot installed the duct blower on Train No. 131 and conducted a running test.

The driving experiment was also a great success. With the air duct blower, the problem of sand compaction was solved and at least one-third of the sand was saved.

After seeing the technical information sent by Qianmen Locomotive Depot, Liu Guozhang of Beijing Railway Technology Research Institute said helplessly: "My student is really a troublemaker. In just a few days, he has come up with a practical technology. It really makes me worry."

Deputy Director Chen felt that Liu Guozhang was being pretentious, and asked with a smile: "After verification by the institute, the duct blower technology can fully meet the demand. Should we promote it nationwide?"

“Promote! Promote now”

Liu Guozhang paused for a moment, looked at Deputy Director Chen and said, "Hasn't the Russians complained several times that there is a problem with the quality of the sandbags we sold them?
You must immediately organize some people to produce a batch of air duct blowers, install them on them, and shut their mouths up!"

"Yes!"

Speaking of this matter, Deputy Director Chen immediately became excited.

Ever since China adopted the route of independently developing railway equipment and began to develop steam locomotives and railway signals on its own, the Russians have begun to nitpick on the equipment exported from China.

Because the sandbag equipment could not discharge sand smoothly, the Russians called the Ministry of Railways many times to report the problem.

The Russian People's Ministry of Railways received a call from the domestic railway department.

When the Russians learned that the other party had really solved the problem of sand compaction, they were a little confused.

They knew very well that the frequent occurrence of sand compaction was because the weather in Russia was colder.

They were just looking for an excuse to put pressure on the younger brother to prevent him from getting too cocky.

Unexpectedly, the little brother actually solved the problem.

Is this still the little brother? How come he looks more powerful than the big brother?
The duct blower is just an auxiliary accessory, but it caused quite a stir after being exported to smaller countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic.

If you encounter a problem, we will help you solve it immediately. The flower growers are much more reliable than the Russians.

Of course, the flower growers did not suffer any loss either, as all those air duct blowers were replaced with real money.

And the air duct blower is considered a life-saving device for train drivers.

All trains equipped with sandbags need to install it. In just half a month, the country received thousands of foreign trade orders.

During this period, Li Aiguo was driving while following Liu Guozhang's instructions to arrange large-scale production work.

I also found time to read books and learn the basics of comic strips. I’m really busy.

Li Aiguo used to think that there were only comic strips these days.

Yesterday, when I was visiting Liang Sicheng's home, I discussed the issue of comic strips with this cultural figure, and then I realized that I had looked down on my predecessors.

In those days, the country already had seven or eight monthly magazines and periodicals specializing in publishing comic strips, including "Comic Strip" monthly, "Peasant Pictorial" and "Children's Times".

As for animated films, there are endless of them.

In 1953, the first color puppet film "Little Heroes" was produced in China.

In the 1954 puppet film "Xiaomei's Dream", real people and puppets appeared in the same film for the first time.

The 1956 puppet film "The Magic Pen" won the first prize for children's entertainment films internationally.

In 1955, the first color animation "Why Crows Are Black" was released.

It can be said that the development momentum of domestic animation is still quite good in this era.

Those animations produced with extremely low cost are much better than the "eye-catching" animations produced in later generations at a cost of 2100.

Liang Sicheng was confused when he learned that Li Aiguo wanted to draw a comic strip called "The Train Man".

He knows what a train is and what a knight is, but what is a train knight?

Li Aiguo explained to him: "The Train Man is a train driver. He has the ability to climb walls and fly over rooftops. When driving a train, he can solve various accidents, fight enemies, etc."

Li Aiguo originally wanted to draw Tankman in the style of Spider-Man, with the ability to transform and so on.

Later I thought about it carefully. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, monsters can no longer become spirits, so how can humans become spirits?
So I gave up this idea.

Liang Sicheng nodded and said, "It is indeed a good idea for a laborer to solve various problems encountered during the train's operation and compete with Dieter in wits and courage."

“You could say that.”

Li Aiguo felt that his ideas seemed to be misunderstood.

Since he couldn't make Spider-Man, he originally planned to make it a Gundam, the kind that could transform.

But it doesn’t matter, our Li Aiguo is a person who listens to advice.

This is just the initial version of the Train Man. It won’t be too late to continue transforming after the spring breeze comes.

"Learning comic strips is not something that can be accomplished overnight. You may have good ideas, but it still takes a long way to express them using comic strip techniques."

"Well, I've written you a list of books. These are the basics of comic books. You should lay a solid foundation first."

Liang Sicheng was particularly supportive of the worker who wanted to draw comic strips. He wrote a list of twelve books and took him to meet Professor Cai of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

On his way home, Li Aiguo stopped by the library of Jingcheng University and borrowed all twelve books.

This is how the scene of reading all night came about.

Chen Xueru watched Li Aiguo flipping through the pages of the book and felt strange: "Brother Aiguo, drawing comic strips is a very difficult thing. Can you do it?"

"Don't worry! I have a very fast learning ability and I am also very good at solving problems with my own abilities."

Li Aiguo put down the book and turned on the system.

Steam engine driving: 100;

Cooking: 15;

Cycling: 95;

Geological exploration technology: 20;

Criminal Investigation Technology: 61;

Mechanical design technology proficiency: 60;
Electricity Mastery: 60;

EMU assembly body technology: 30;

The current score is 1216 points.

Wow, I have been accumulating points for a while, and I didn’t expect that I would become a millionaire.

With points in hand, Li Aiguo feels more confident.

As a person who succeeded through his own efforts, Li Aiguo chose.
Add some! (No)

Buy skills! (Yes)

Manipulation panel purchased comic strip mastery.

Almost instantly, Li Aiguo's mind was filled with a lot of comic book-related knowledge.

It includes knowledge of sketching, quick sketching, color theory, composition, character design, scene drawing, storyboard script, etc.

It can be said that our Li Aiguo is now a comic book master.

It turns out that only those who rely on their own efforts can succeed!
Not only do we have the technology, we also need the tools.

Poor students have a lot of stationery. Li Aiguo made up his mind to get a set of excellent stationery.

The next day was a rest day, and Li Aiguo rode his bicycle to the supply and marketing cooperative early in the morning.

When the third uncle saw Li Aiguo coming over, he thought about the girl he had introduced to Yan Jiecheng a while ago and wanted to avoid him.

After thinking about it, I decided to go forward.

"Aiguo, I heard from Jie Cheng that you are taking a rest today, where are you going?" "It's Uncle San."

Li Aiguo did not take the events of the past few days to heart, and said with a smile: "I have been wanting to cultivate my sentiments and learn some painting.

So, I am going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy pencils, brushes and the like."

"Buying a brush from the supply and marketing cooperative? Aiguo, you are lucky to have met me, otherwise you would have been cheated."

The third uncle immediately perked up, turned around and ran into the house, and took out two brushes: "See, these are Langhao brushes, the best brushes, I'll sell them to you for one dollar each, how about that? You're getting a great bargain."

Li Aiguo fell into silence as he looked at the two bald brushes in the third uncle's hands.

I have to say that Uncle San does have the potential to be a cyber fraudster. Both his facial expressions and voice are very well controlled.

But as someone who has seen countless scams, Li Aiguo knows one thing clearly.

【If you don’t take advantage, you won’t be fooled】

(Remember! Remember! Remember! Important things must be said three times)

"Uncle, I got the advantage, but you got the loss, didn't you? I am an activist, how could I do such a despicable thing? See you later."

Li Aiguo pushed his bicycle and was about to leave.

Seeing that his attempt to defraud had failed, the uncle could only smile awkwardly and said, “Even if you don’t buy mine, the brushes in the supply and marketing cooperative are really useless.

How about this, you go to Enhuazhai on East Fourth Street, the brushes and paper sold there are the best in our capital, and the price is not expensive. "

"Thank you."

The third uncle is a cultured person who often writes calligraphy, so he naturally knows where to get good brushes.

Li Aiguo was a man who listened to advice. He thanked him and rode his bike towards East Fourth Street.

Dongsi Street is considered a prosperous area in Beijing.

Because there were many large mansions, Xu Shichang of the Republic of China once lived in Sitiao.

Many high-ranking officials of the previous dynasties, such as Shixu, lived in this area, and there is a saying that "Dongsi and Xidan are in front of the Drum Tower".

Li Aiguo walked along the east side of the road south of the East Fourth Intersection and came to Enhuazhai mentioned by the third uncle.

This is a quaint brick building, with time leaving mottled marks on the wooden boards.

There is a wooden sign hanging above the door. Although the words on it are a little blurry, the words "Enhuazhai" can still be recognized.

The eaves of the paper shop are slightly raised, and the edges are carved with simple yet delicate patterns.

Walking into the paper shop, the smell of old paper hits you. The space inside the shop is not big, but it is filled with paper.

On one side of the wall is a tall wooden shelf filled with various papers, and on the shelf behind the counter are more than a dozen brushes.

The boss is a middle-aged man wearing black-framed glasses and looks like an educated person.

At this moment, he was handing a stack of papers to a little girl.

"I left this for your father."

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

The girl handed over the money and took the paper.

Seeing that the boss had finished a business, Li Aiguo walked up and asked, "Boss, do you have any brushes suitable for painting?"

The boss adjusted the frame of his glasses and said, "There are many kinds of brushes for painting. Goat-hair brushes are used for flower and bird painting, rabbit-hair brushes are used for figure painting, pig-hair brushes are used for landscape painting, and mixed-hair brushes are used for folk painting. Which one do you need?"

Wow, there are so many things to pay attention to when it comes to writing brushes?
Li Aiguo asked, "How about drawing cartoon characters?"

"Cartoon?"

The boss looked confused. He knew both words, but when they were put together, he didn't understand what they meant.

"It's a comic strip." Li Aiguo changed the way he put it.

"Comic strips. That's a new question." The boss frowned. "I've seen comic strips like that. Generally speaking, when drawing people, rabbit hair should be used, but using rabbit hair to draw portraits doesn't look like the human figure."

At this time, the little girl who had already walked to the door suddenly stopped and walked over again.

The little girl smiled sweetly at Li Aiguo and said slowly, "When drawing comics, it's best to use a pig-hair brush. You can use simple strokes to outline the cartoon image of the character."

Li Aiguo only noticed the little girl at this time.

She has a good figure, fair skin and a black braided pigtail.

She was wearing a navy blue school uniform and had a childish face, probably about sixteen or seventeen years old.

Just looking at her appearance, she seemed a little familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her.

Li Aiguo reminded: "Comrade, this is a comic strip, not a cartoon. Don't make a mistake."

Ran Qiuye was stunned for a moment before realizing his negligence.

There is no such thing as comics in China. The closest thing to comics is comic strips.

"Yes, yes, it's a comic strip, not a cartoon." Ran Qiuye hurriedly changed the words.

"Qiu Ye, do you know comic strips? Tell them about them quickly." The boss asked at this time.

Autumn leaves, autumn leaves!
Li Aiguo's eyes suddenly lit up.

No wonder he looked familiar just now, it turned out to be Teacher Ran in the original novel.

But now Ran Qiuye should still be studying at the Normal University.

Ran Qiuye's identity is rather special. She and her parents are all returned overseas Chinese from Indonesia in 1949.

Nowadays, foreign comics have already formed a huge market, and it is normal for Ran Qiuye to know cartoon comics.

Ran Qiuye is very interested in comics and even studied with a teacher when he was abroad.

After she came back, it was the first time she saw someone drawing comics, and she immediately felt curious.

Ran Qiuye held the paper and came over.

"Comrade, what kind of comic strip are you going to draw?"

"It's something to do with trains. I'm a train driver."

"Drawing a comic strip about trains. I've never heard of that even in a foreign country."

Ran Qiuye finally met a comic artist.

Although this person is a wild person, at least we can communicate.

She was about to continue asking questions when the boss took out two fine pig-hair brushes and interrupted their conversation.

The price of a pig-hair brush is indeed not expensive, only fifty cents per brush.

Li Aiguo bought another bottle of ink.

When selecting paper, Ran Qiuye once again gave constructive suggestions.

"You can use rice paper for Chinese painting, but if you are a beginner, you can buy some straw paper to avoid waste."

"Boss, give me two rolls of rice paper." Li Aiguo took out money from his pocket.

Ran Qiuye: “.”

Although Ran Qiuye kept smiling, he couldn't help but mutter a few words in his heart.

Are people nowadays so unwilling to listen to advice?

Li Aiguo put the brush, ink and rice paper in a bag, said thank you to Ran Qiuye, walked out of the store, got on his bike and prepared to leave.

At this time, Ran Qiuye chased out of the store again.

Li Aiguo turned around and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Ran Qiuye felt a little embarrassed when she saw Li Aiguo turning around, but thinking that it was rare to meet someone who draws comic strips, she plucked up the courage to ask, "What's your name?"

"My name is Li Aiguo, and I'm a train driver at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot."

"Comrade, we all like to draw comic strips. We should leave our names and addresses so that we can exchange our works in the future."

"Okay." Li Aiguo pondered for a moment, wrote his name and address on a piece of paper and handed it to Ran Qiuye.

He didn't have any special feelings towards Ran Qiu, just like a familiar stranger.

Because the circle of friends who are cared for and cared for by Li Aiguo is very small.

There is not enough space for too many people right now.

Ran Qiuye didn't realize that he had become a invisible person in front of this rough man, so he took out a pen and wrote down his address in a notebook.

"I'm currently a senior at Beijing Normal University. I have a lot of comic books at home. No, comic strips. If you need them, I can bring them to you next time we meet."

"That's a good feeling."

Li Aiguo waved at Ran Qiuye, got on his bicycle, and disappeared at the end of the road.

Ran Qiuye looked at his back and frowned.

She always felt that this person was particularly cold.

Ran Qiuye is a college student. She is very good-looking and is usually very popular among the male students in the university. This is the first time she has been treated coldly.

This made her very uncomfortable.

So when he got home, Ran Qiuye didn't even have dinner. He went back to his bedroom and sat at his desk to write and draw.

Ran's mother pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing Ran Qiuye drawing those foreign cartoons again, she frowned and reminded him, "Qiuye, how many times have I reminded you not to draw capitalist cartoons anymore? Why don't you listen?"

"Mom, even comics have capitalism?"

Ran Qiuye put down her brush and was about to argue with her mother, but when she saw her mother's concerned look, her heart softened.

"Mom, I understand. I will paint secretly from now on and never let anyone see it."

Ran's mother knew that Ran Qiuye was a sensible child, so she didn't say much.

At this time, Ran Qiuye suddenly said, "Mom, today I met a man who also likes to draw comics in Uncle Zhang's paper shop. He is a train driver."

“A train driver draws cartoons?”

Ran's mother thought that Ran Qiuye must have been fooled. After a few perfunctory words, she said, "You will be working next year. Your father asked around a while ago and found out that many companies no longer recruit people of our background. I guess you can only teach in elementary schools."

"It's good to teach in elementary school. I like children very much." Ran Qiuye didn't feel wronged and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You kid."

Ran's mother sighed and didn't say anything else.

After Li Aiguo returned home, he immediately took a brush, spread out rice paper and took the first step towards becoming a comic artist.

Chen Xueru and He Yushui became his first comic book fans.

Secrets cannot be kept in the compound. The residents soon found out that Li Aiguo spent fifty cents to buy a brush and purchased rice paper at ten cents per piece just to draw graffiti. They all felt very strange.

You know, you can buy an egg for one cent.

When Jia Zhang was chatting with the old ladies at the gate, she curled her lips and said, "I secretly leaned on the window to watch. What Li Aiguo draws is almost the same as what my son Bang Geng draws. This is too unprofessional!"

"I heard from He Yushui that what Li Aiguo draws seems to be called comic strips." The third aunt said, "That's serious stuff, it can be published in children's books."

"Puff!" Jia Zhang couldn't help laughing out loud. She slapped her thigh and laughed out loud: "It's ridiculous for a rough guy like Li Aiguo to want to learn from others who are educated."

Although the residents in the compound felt that Jia Zhang was a little jealous, they also didn't quite understand why Li Aiguo was drawing comic strips.

After all, these days, nothing is more important than labor.

Li Aiguo didn't care. He was leisurely drawing comic strips while busy producing air duct blowers.

The duct blowing aid was completed by the railway's third-line factory in Changxindian.

Half a month later, the duct blowers were successfully put into large-scale production, with an annual output of more than 5,000 units, enough to meet domestic and foreign needs.

In addition, Yang Jizong brought news from Hong Kong that Wang Laboratories had produced the first batch of magnetic core memory and was currently planning sales.

Li Aiguo could also breathe a sigh of relief and put his energy back into driving.

After a busy day, Li Aiguo took a shower and rode his bicycle away from the locomotive depot.

Before he reached the gate, he was stopped by Yan Jiecheng.

"Brother Aiguo, can I borrow the confidential phone number in the small dark room?"

Hearing this, Li Aiguo's heart skipped a beat.

Did something happen? !

(End of this chapter)