The train driver in the courtyard

"Cannonballs?!"

Inside the driver's building.

The train had just left the dark tunnel. Li Aiguo was pushing the small gate to speed up when he felt a chill on his back when he heard Liu Qingquan's shout.

He wanted to put the pusher down immediately, but when his hand touched the cold handle, he hesitated to push it down.

"What about the explosion? If it was an artillery shell, there would have been a violent explosion by now!"

While observing the dashboard, Li Aiguo shouted, "Liu Qingquan, where did the shell explode?"

Liu Qingquan retracted his head and pointed at the carriage behind him and shouted, "Report to the driver, the explosion hit the third carriage at the back. I saw with my own eyes a round, black thing smashed through the window."

He also felt that something was wrong with the bomb not exploding, and wondered, "Could this shell be a dud?"

Li Aiguo was a little confused at this moment.

This is the capital city. Even if Dieter is so rampant, he can't fire directly at the train, right?

But the glass of the rear compartment was indeed broken, and Liu Qingquan did see the shells. What on earth was going on?
Whether it was a shell or not, the broken windows at the rear meant the train was under attack.

According to the drivers' old rules, the first thing to do after a train is attacked is not to stop, and the second thing to do is to speed up and leave the attacked area.

In the noisy, smoky and stuffy driver's building, Li Aiguo threw away his doubts and decisively pushed the small gate. The speed of the train suddenly increased a lot and it rushed out of the tunnel with a roar.

The train traveled two miles without being attacked again, and Li Aiguo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Assistant driver, check the situation in the car and make sure it is necessary to stop."

There were no radio equipment on trains in those days, so the assistant driver was responsible for manual radio, manual camera, and manual navigation.

Liu Qingquan leaned most of his body out of the window and immediately shouted loudly: "Report to the driver, the driver Bai seems to be signaling us that there seems to be a wounded person in the rear car!"

Li Aiguo's heart, which had just landed, rose to his throat again.

"How is the condition of the injured?"

As soon as he said this, Li Aiguo realized that the problem was too complicated for a simple signal.

"Ask the white driver if he needs to stop the car immediately?"

There was a bend ahead, and Li Aiguo deliberately slowed down the car in order to allow Liu Qingquan to communicate better with the driver Bai in the car behind.

Liu Qingquan stuck his head out again and gestured towards the back car for a while, then retracted his frozen red head and reported: "Report, a passenger is seriously injured and needs to be sent to the hospital urgently."

"Tell Captain Bai to let them hold on a little longer."

Li Aiguo threw down a sentence and pushed the valve directly. This time he pushed the valve to the bottom. As the barometer needle jumped, the speed of the train increased again.

We are still in a blocked area. Although there is no danger in stopping the car immediately, there is no hospital nearby.

Li Aiguo often runs this route and knows very well that there is a switch station ahead. Less than one kilometer away from the switch station is Xizhimen Hospital.

The train roared towards the switch station.

The young switchman at the Xizhimen switch station had already moved the gate open in advance and was standing next to the tracks, waving the flag to allow traffic to pass.

The work at the switchman station is very leisurely. After the train passes, he can go back to the duty room and roast sweet potatoes with a group of track inspectors.

Suddenly, the train blew its whistle, the wheels rubbed against the rails, sparks flew, and the speed of the train began to slow down.

The young switchman realized that something might have happened, and he panicked. He shouted to the duty room, "Master Chen, come quickly, the train has stopped!"

Master Chen is the stationmaster of the switchman station and also serves as a formal switchman.

Hearing the shouting, he immediately threw away the delicious roasted sweet potatoes and ran out with the road inspectors.

The train stopped, Li Aiguo opened the side door and ran to the third carriage.

The second piece of glass in the third carriage was indeed broken, and there were stains of blood on the glass, which should be the location that was blown up by the "bomb" just now.

At this time, the train compartment door opened, and the conductor Bai and two conductors helped a middle-aged passenger get down.

The middle-aged passenger's forehead was covered in blood and flesh, with a deep wound across it.

The edges of the wound were jagged, the skin and flesh were turned inside out, revealing the red flesh underneath, which was shocking to look at.

Although the flight attendant had made a simple bandage with gauze, bright red blood continued to flow out of the gauze, slowly flowing down his cheeks and neck, staining his clothes red.

A middle-aged woman wearing a flowery headscarf followed behind, crying: "Boss, you have to hold on. If you die, how will I and my children survive?"

The girl in the headscarf was so busy crying that she didn't notice that it was so hard for two female stewardess to support an adult and the middle-aged man almost fell down when getting off the train.

Li Aiguo rushed forward and grabbed his arm, thus avoiding secondary injury.

Li Aiguo did not bother to ask the reason, and shouted to Master Chen who was running towards them: "Old Chen, hurry up and pull the carriage."

Master Chen ran halfway and before he could see clearly what was happening, he turned around and went back without hesitation when he heard the shouting.

While Master Chen was leading the horse, Li Aiguo handed the middle-aged man to the flowery turban and asked the driver, "What's going on?"

Speaking of what happened just now, Captain Bai still looked scared: "A rock broke the glass."

"Train leader, you don't know how scary it was. Look at how my man was smashed. Shouldn't you be held responsible for this?"

The girl with the flowered headscarf was originally comforting the middle-aged man, but upon hearing this, she suddenly left her man and came over.

The train conductor Bai said to the flowery headscarf with a smile on his face: "The matter has not been thoroughly investigated. If it is our fault on the railway, we will definitely take full responsibility."

"We were riding in the car peacefully, and suddenly we were hit by rocks. Can you say it's not your responsibility?!" The man with the flowery headscarf raised his eyebrows.

"The first thing we need to do is send your man to the hospital and find out what happened."

Captain Bai was just stating the facts, but he didn't expect to arouse the anger of the woman in the headscarf. She didn't get angry but just tried her best to explain.

The woman in the headscarf had already started crying and complaining about how much money they had spent on the train tickets. Now the man’s head was broken and he might have a leak in the future. Li Aiguo was amazed to hear this.

If the brain is leaking air, can that person still survive?
Li Aiguo looked at the tigress-like flowered headscarf and turned to look at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man also felt that his wife had gone too far. He endured the pain and gave him a bitter smile, but did not dare to stop her.

I guess the flowered headscarf has a special status in the family.

The passengers in the car all leaned out to see the novelty.

When Master Chen arrived with the carriage, Flowery Scarf had already counted the nutrition money on her fingers. Captain Bai reminded her several times that she should save people first, but she interrupted him every time.

The woman in the flowery headscarf rolled her eyes and said, "Let's negotiate the price first. Otherwise, if the patient is sent to the hospital and you drive the train away, who am I going to go to?"

Oh my god, it turns out you were trying to blackmail me!
Li Aiguo smoked a cigarette, walked over with his arms crossed, and interrupted her: "If you want to murder your husband, just wait. When your husband is dead, we can arrest you and you won't have to pay any money."

Li Aiguo shouted to the police officer standing nearby: "Lao Zhang, get the handcuffs ready and get ready to arrest someone!"

Police officer Zhang had been holding back his anger for a long time, and he immediately pulled out the handcuffs from his waist. The bright handcuffs emitted a little cold light under the sunlight.

The woman in the headscarf was talking excitedly, but she was frightened by the words "murdering her husband" and shut her mouth. When she saw the handcuffs, she immediately stepped aside obediently.

Captain Bai breathed a sigh of relief. As a train conductor, she had traveled all over the country, but this was the first time she had seen such an unreasonable woman.

After the carriage took the middle-aged man away, the white coachman got on the train and plugged the holes in the window with cloth strips.

Li Aiguo came to the switch station and reported the incident of the train being attacked by stones to the director of the passenger workshop through the duty phone.

The director of the passenger workshop was shocked. This was the first time that a train from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot had been attacked.

Hearing that the injured had been sent to the hospital, the workshop director breathed a sigh of relief: "Driver Li, you did the right thing. I will report this matter to the section immediately and ask the section to handle it."

After hanging up the phone, Li Aiguo raised his wrist to look at his watch. The section closure time was about to arrive.

He didn't waste any more time and restarted the train.

The train roared out of the switch station and headed towards Tianjin.

Along the way, Liu Qingquan and Lao Zheng were analyzing who threw such a big stone at the train.

"If you ask me, it must be Dieter. They are planning to destroy our railway lines."

Li Aiguo felt that the two people's ideas were a bit excessive.

Although Dieter is indeed a bad person and has done many unscrupulous things, we cannot put all the blame on him.

But in this special era, the string in people's heads is stretched tight.

People who hold this idea make up the majority in Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

Even Minister Niu and Zhou Ke were under investigation, focusing on Dieter.

When Li Aiguo drove the train back to the locomotive depot, Minister Niu had already led his men and local public security comrades to investigate Dieter near the tunnel of the old Xizhimen railway station.

Zhou Kezhe brought several railway police officers to the maintenance workshop to check the stone and the broken window.

At this time, train drivers and railway workers heard that Train No. 131 had an accident, and they all came to the maintenance workshop to join in the fun.

Everyone gasped in shock when they saw the bowl-sized hole in the glass.

After Zhou Ke checked the carriage, he lit a cigarette, came to Li Aiguo, squatted down and asked:

"Aiguo, tell me, why didn't Dieter use grenades instead of stones? Aren't the power of stones too weak?"

Li Aiguo took the enamel cup from Huang Jing and drank a sip of tea happily.

Oh, sugar is added here.

This little apprentice is almost like a little cotton-padded jacket. Li Aiguo looked at Huang Jing with admiration, holding the enamel pot, turned his head to look at Zhou Ke and asked: "Is there a possibility that this matter has nothing to do with Dieter at all?"

"Who else except Dieter could do such a heartless thing!" Zhou Ke said confidently.

Li Aiguo took another sip of tea and said, "We still lack the necessary information, so we can't make any conclusions."

"Once Minister Niu brings Dieter back, we'll be able to find out."

Zhou Ke still insisted on his opinion.

Li Aiguo had some vague guesses in his mind, but he had no evidence. In order to avoid interfering with Zhou Ke and his team's investigation, he ultimately did not speak out.

After the trip, Captain Bai went to Xizhimen Hospital and rushed back now.

She brought back good news. The injured passenger was not seriously injured because he was sent to the hospital in time. After bandaging him, the doctor suggested that he could go home to recuperate.

But his wife, with a flowery headscarf, insisted on staying in the hospital for a while longer.

"It's okay to be hospitalized. Our railway company fully reimburses the medical expenses, but now she is asking for compensation."

The driver, Bai, would still lament Ma Zhuying's unreasonableness, "That woman is not a salesperson at the supply and marketing cooperative, she is simply a toilet cleaner, her mouth is dirtier than the toilet."

This was also the first time that Li Aiguo encountered such a situation. He looked at the driver Bai and asked, "Driver, this matter should be handled by other departments, right?"

"That's right. The section has handed over the matter of communicating with Ma Zhuying to the Education Office. It seems that Secretary Huang is in charge. I just saw Secretary Huang riding a bicycle towards the hospital." said Captain Bai.

Li Aiguo raised his eyes and looked at Zhou Ke.

Zhou Ke’s face turned pale.

He stood up suddenly and said, "It seems like it's time for me to get off work. I won't chat with you today."

The accident that happened today was one of the rare serious incidents in the past six months. Section Chief Xing immediately convened a meeting of section leaders and demanded a thorough investigation of the entire incident to ensure the smooth flow of railway transportation and the safety of passengers.

The case is being investigated by the Railway Police Station and the Armed Forces Department, and the Education Office is responsible for communicating with the injured.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Aiguo took into consideration that Chen Xueru had just become pregnant and needed company, so he greeted Cao Wenzhi and Captain Bai.

Everyone knew about Chen Xueru's situation for two days and urged Li Aiguo to come back quickly.

"Driver Li, you are busy in the locomotive depot all day long. Now your wife is pregnant. If you continue to be a hands-off manager, Miss Chen will be dissatisfied. Go back quickly."

"Yes, taking good care of Comrade Chen Xueru means training a successor to the railway. Be patriotic, and your mission is important!"

"Goodbye."

Li Aiguo waved to them, got on his bicycle and swayed back to the courtyard.

Night falls.

When I get home, all my worries are gone.

After Li Aiguo washed up, he pulled Chen Xueru into the inner room and laid her on the bed.

I leaned close to her belly and listened to what was going on inside.

"It's not even three months yet, how can you hear me?" Miss Chen has been taking a lot of lessons with Feng Nan recently, and has already surpassed Li Aiguo in terms of pregnancy knowledge.

Li Aiguo chuckled: "Maybe our child is a genius."

Miss Chen realized that Li Aiguo used the word "child" instead of "son" and asked curiously, "Brother Aiguo, do you want a son or a daughter?"

"Sons and daughters alike."

Li Aiguo doesn't care about this.

"I want a son. You don't know, as women, if we don't give birth to a son, we can't even lift our heads in the compound." Chen Xueru said with her little face raised.

Li Aiguo originally wanted to educate Chen Xueru to get rid of old feudal ideas.

If you think about it carefully, Chen Xueru grew up before liberation.

After living in this kind of education for more than ten years, the ideological concepts that have been subtly developed over the years cannot be easily changed.

Li Aiguo simply didn't say anything.

In the evening, the third aunt brought two small pieces of clothing. The clothes looked old and had turned white from being washed so much.

"This is what my son Yan Jiekuang wore when he was a child. If you don't mind, you can keep it for the child."

Yan Jiekuang’s old clothes. Wow, these clothes are at least five or six years old.

Chen Xueru took it happily and expressed her gratitude to the three aunts.

After the three aunts left, Li Aiguo looked at the clothes and frowned: "This thing is so torn, how can it be worn by children?"

Chen Xueru carefully picked up the clothes and said with a smile: "Just mend the torn parts. I heard from the elders that this kind of patchwork clothes can ward off disasters. Children will not get sick after wearing them."

Li Aiguo could understand this "old truth".

Many new clothes look very clean, but in fact, they are inevitably contaminated with harmful substances during the production process.

Children are more fragile and easily affected by harmful substances.

Old clothes have been washed countless times, so there is no need to worry about this.

For example, the bed sheets that appear yellow after being sterilized with high-pressure steam in the hospital may also have traces of feces, urine, blood, phlegm, and other messy things on them.

But it is cleaner than the snow-white sheets in the hotel.

Both are the same truth.

Many "old principles" and "old rules" sound quite feudal, but in fact they are the experience accumulated by the working people in their production and life for thousands of years.

Naturally, Li Aiguo would agree.

The railway is a big stage that never stops. As long as the gongs and drums sound, someone has to perform.

The damaged carriage was left in the maintenance workshop, and a new one was replaced overnight.

In the following days, Li Aiguo continued to drive the train between Beijing and Tianjin.

The glass fragments and blood stains near the railroad tracks were also cleaned up, as if nothing had happened.

but.

The investigation into the attack by the armed forces and railway police has been further expanded.

We even reported it to the relevant authorities and invited comrades from the meteorological station to come forward.

After only a week-long investigation, the investigation team made no progress.

Although the attack has not happened again, until the case is thoroughly investigated, it will be like a stone weighing on the hearts of all train drivers and crew members.

No one wants to be happily driving a train, eating steamed corn bread, and suddenly be hit by a brick!
That day, when Li Aiguo came back from driving, as soon as he stepped onto the station, Minister Niu invited him into his office.

"Comrade Aiguo, after listening to Zhou Ke's explanation, you do not agree to classify this case as the Dite case?" Minister Niu said as he handed Li Aiguo a cigarette, then cupped his hands, struck a match, and helped him light the cigarette.

After just a few days of not seeing him, Minister Niu seemed to have more wrinkles on his face.

Li Aiguo took a puff of his cigarette and sat up straight: "I really think this matter has nothing to do with Dieter."

"Is there any evidence?" Minister Niu frowned. "If it wasn't Dieter, who would have picked up rocks and thrown them at the train? Everyone knows the consequences."

Li Aiguo shook off the ashes from his cigarette and said, "What if it's a half-grown child?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Minister Niu's face froze and his eyes widened.

"Yeah, that gang of hooligans is lawless. What would they not dare to do?"

"Aiguo, I don't think you can drive tomorrow? How about we go to Xizhimen Tunnel and check it out?"

Minister Niu stared at Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo had originally planned to accompany Chen Xueru, but seeing this situation, he had no choice but to agree.

After all, he was just guessing, and if he guessed wrong it might mislead the direction of the investigation. It would be better for him to go and investigate on the spot himself to feel at ease.

Early the next morning, Minister Niu asked Zhou Ke to drive a jeep to pick up Li Aiguo and take him to the tunnel near the old Xizhimen railway station.

Xizhimen Railway Station is one of the oldest railway stations in Beijing. It is also known as Xizhimen Station of Pingsui Railway and is an important station on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway.

The main building of the station, the platforms, and the overpass connecting the two platforms were all designed by Zhan Tianyou.

Before liberation, Xizhimen Railway Station, Deshengmen Station, Andingmen Station, Dongzhimen Station and Chaoyangmen Station formed a ring railway, which was considered the earliest "subway" in the country.

In 1958, the railway from Xizhimen via Deshengmen, Andingmen, Dongzhimen to Chaoyangmen was demolished, and Xizhimen Railway Station was closed. Only the old tunnel not far from the railway station still contributes to the railway transportation of the capital.

The tunnel is hundreds of years old, and cracks have appeared in some places on the top of the tunnel, like wrinkles carved by time. The bricks and stones on the wall are dark in color, having experienced countless erosions of wind and rain and the polishing of time.

When Li Aiguo arrived at the tunnel entrance, both sides had been blocked.

Zhou Ke pointed to the tunnel entrance and said, "This is under the jurisdiction of the Xinjiekou neighborhood, but there are not many residents nearby. The comrades from the street office helped us look for passers-by, but there is no result yet."

Li Aiguo looked at the tunnel entrance, then turned his head to look up, and suddenly turned around and walked up the tunnel.

"What did you find?"

Zhou Ke followed quickly behind him.

(End of this chapter)