The train driver in the courtyard

night.

The lights in the courtyard were dim.

Li Aiguo's house is very lively.

There were several dishes on the square table, including boiled fish, braised fish, hot and sour shredded potatoes, hot and sour cabbage and peanuts.

These dishes are considered a feast these days.

But no one's attention was on the food and wine.

After a few drinks, Zhou Qigong looked at Li Aiguo and asked, "Driver Li, we have completed 50% of the container standard regulations. When can we conduct the first transportation experiment?"

Professor Dong and Professor Chen both looked up at Li Aiguo.

Li Aiguo put down his chopsticks and said, "It will only take a week or so. Once the containers are produced, we will apply to the institute for the experiment."

Hearing this, Zhou Qigong and the others felt relieved.

The food and wine on the table seemed to taste better.

The family dinner lasted only half an hour.

After Zhou Qigong and his colleagues had eaten and drunk their fill, they were anxious to return to the maintenance section to work overtime, so they left early.

After seeing off a few people, Li Aiguo returned home.

After drinking the strong tea handed to him by Chen Xueru, he took out the container drawings and started working.

He had to get the drawings out as soon as possible and then discuss cooperation with Deputy Director Li of the steel rolling mill.

At this time, the name of Deputy Director Li also sounded in the small house opposite Li Aiguo's side.

"Li Huaide? No, old lady, you may not know yet.

The leader of this year's promotion examination team is Deputy Director Chen, and Li Huaide is only Deputy Director.

I have spent so much effort in the past two years trying to build a relationship with him, but in the end it was all in vain."

Yi Zhonghai sat on the chair, with his head drooping, sighing at the deaf old lady, feeling extremely regretful.

However, he would occasionally glance at the deaf old lady, hoping that this magic needle could come forward to solve the problem.

The story begins with the promotion examination.

Yi Zhonghai has taken the promotion exam three times and failed every time.

A fitter is a worker who, in addition to experience, also needs accuracy at hand.

If I fail again this year, it will be even harder to get promoted in the future as I’m one year older.

Therefore, Yi Zhonghai always wanted the deaf old lady to help him build connections.

But ever since Sha Zhu was locked up, the deaf old lady's health has been getting worse day by day, and she even fell ill a while ago.

Yi Zhonghai spent a lot of money to hire a doctor and bought white flour to help her body build up, and only then did her condition improve.

How could the deaf old lady not understand Yi Zhonghai's thoughts?

Now Sha Zhu is still in prison. If he gets out in the future, he will still have to rely on Yi Zhonghai for care.

In addition, Yi Zhonghai and Auntie have been quite nice to her over the years.

After Yi Zhonghai becomes an eighth-level worker, his prestige in the compound will be greatly improved. Maybe Li Aiguo won't be able to jump around as much as before.

The deaf old lady narrowed her eyes after hearing what Yi Zhonghai said: "Deputy Director Chen? I remember he used to be the director of the factory office of the steel rolling mill, right?
I haven't seen you for a few years. Little Chenzi has become the deputy factory director?"

"What's the matter, old lady? Do you know Deputy Director Chen?" Yi Zhonghai became excited when he heard that there was a way.

"When Lou Bancheng was still alive, I was very kind to little Chenzi."

The deaf old lady was halfway through her words when she suddenly realized that she had revealed too much, and said, "Old Yi, I can indeed talk to Deputy Director Chen, but it probably won't be of any use."

After hearing this, Yi Zhonghai was stunned.

"Old lady, how is that possible? You have done him a favor, shouldn't he repay you?"

"You are so old, why are you still so childish?" The deaf old lady said slowly, "Little Chenzi is no longer the little Chenzi of the past, he is now the deputy director of the steel mill.

Although I don't know much about the promotion exam, I guess it's similar to the exam for the scholar. The penalty for cheating in the exam is death.

I heard from my grandma that in the eighth year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign, some people participated in cheating in the imperial examinations. They were found out by the master and escorted to Caishikou, where they were all killed.”

As she spoke, the deaf old lady raised her hand and made a beheading gesture, which scared Yi Zhonghai so much that he shrank his neck.

The deaf old lady continued, "Do you think Deputy Director Chen would risk being beheaded to help you because of something that happened in the past?"

Yi Zhonghai was startled and quickly explained: "Old lady, you misunderstood, we are not trying to cheat."

“We just want.”

He leaned close to the deaf old lady's ear and whispered something.

Yi Zhonghai's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally almost inaudible, but the deaf old lady's eyes widened little by little.

She narrowed her eyes and said, "Old Yi, if we talk about cunning, you are the best in this compound."

"Old lady, this is all thanks to your teaching."

When Yi Zhonghai heard this, the smugness on his face disappeared immediately, and he said respectfully: "Old lady, don't worry, as long as Shazhu comes out, I will definitely spare no effort to help him, find him a job, and marry him a wife, so that you can hold your great-grandson."

Yi Zhonghai knew what the deaf old lady was thinking.

This old lady doesn't care about anyone, the only thing she's concerned about is her "grandson" Sha Zhu.

really.

After getting Yi Zhonghai's assurance, the deaf old lady sat up straight and stood up with the help of the table.

"Old Yi, prepare the car. I need to go to Caishikou."

"Okay!" Yi Zhonghai ran out excitedly.

night.

Yi Zhonghai pulled the flatbed cart quietly towards Caishikou.

Dark clouds covered the moon and the capital city was plunged into darkness.

******
Two days later.

With the cooperation of Director Zhang, Li Aiguo completed the design work of the container and agreed with Deputy Director Li to meet at the steel rolling mill today.

Li Aiguo rode his bicycle to the entrance of the steel rolling mill early in the morning.

"Comrade, I have an appointment with Deputy Director Li of your factory."

At this time, Xu Damao was preparing to go to the countryside to show a movie. When he saw Li Aiguo, he walked over quickly.

Upon learning that Li Aiguo was looking for Deputy Director Li, Xu Damao put down the box containing the projector and enthusiastically pulled his arm.

"Brother Aiguo, the road to the factory leader's office is complicated. Let me take you there."

"Thank you very much, Brother Damao."

Li Aiguo didn't hesitate and agreed.

Xu Damao asked two security officers to help watch the projection equipment and took Li Aiguo towards the factory office building.

The young security officer looked at Xu Damao's back and scratched his head: "Xu Fangying, are you stupid? The office building is at the end of the road, and Deputy Director Li's office is on the second floor. What's complicated about it?"

"Can't you see that Xu Fangying is trying to take this opportunity to build a relationship with Deputy Director Li?" The older security officer said with a smile.

The young security officer frowned, "This guy is too cunning. He is a projectionist. As long as he shows movies honestly, how can the factory lose money from him?"

"You are still too young." The older security officer wanted to give some advice.

After hesitating for a moment, he sat back down, holding the enamel mug and began to drink in small sips.

At this time, Deputy Director Li was waiting in the office.

Li Aiguo pointed at Xu Damao and said, "I just met Comrade Xu Damao from our compound at the gate. He is a warm-hearted person and brought me here."

Deputy Director Li nodded slightly at Xu Damao and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Xu Fangxing."

Xu Damao was very happy and nodded modestly: "We are all neighbors in the same compound. This is what I should do."

After Deputy Director Li shook hands with Li Aiguo, he picked up the thermos and prepared to pour tea, but the thermos was empty.

"Projectionist Xu, bring two cups of hot water!"

"I'll be right there!" Xu Damao became even more excited and ran out with two enamel pots.

Deputy Director Li asked Li Aiguo to sit on the sofa, took out a pack of cigarettes, took out a cigarette and handed it to him: "Brother Aiguo, you are here this time for that container thing, right?"

"That's absolutely right. Here is the blueprint. Take a look first." Li Aiguo took the cigarette and handed over the blueprint.

Deputy Factory Director Li was a political cadre, so how could he understand the blueprints?

After examining it from top to bottom, he pretended to praise it: "Very good, the lines are drawn very straight."

At this time, Xu Damao brought in tea.

"Patriotic brother, please have some tea."

"Director, have some tea."

Deputy Director Li picked up the teacup, blew on it, and took a sip.

"What kind of lousy tea are you brewing? Why is it full of crumbs?" Deputy Director Li spat several times and cursed, "You want me to serve guests this kind of tea?"

"This is the best Gaosuishi in the logistics department." Xu Damao felt a little aggrieved. Generally, factories entertain guests with boiled water, and Gaosuishi is already high-end enough.

Deputy Director Li threw the cup on the table and frowned, "Go to Director Liu's office and get the West Lake Longjing."

Xu Damao was shocked. When did Li Aiguo become qualified to enjoy West Lake Longjing tea?

This is not the point. The point is that Director Liu has not yet come to work!

"There's no need. We're just workers and we're not used to drinking such good tea." Seeing that Xu Damao was embarrassed, Li Aiguo waved his hands at Deputy Director Li.

He stood up and handed Xu Damao a cigarette: "Brother Damao, thank you so much for today. Don't you have to go back to the countryside?"

"Ah? Yes, yes, Director, I'm going to the commune to show movies, so I'll leave first." Xu Damao bent over and walked out of the office.

After he got out of the door, he straightened up, breathed a sigh of relief, and muttered softly, "When will I be as cool as Li Aiguo and be able to chat and laugh with the factory leaders?"

Xu Damao originally wanted to flatter someone, but ended up flattering the horse's hoof. He felt a little frustrated today.

But when I think of the red dates in the countryside.

Xu Damao started to laugh.

He carried the projector and ran quickly towards the rural commune.

"These guys have no sense at all. They won't move forward when being led, and even retreat when being beaten!" Deputy Director Li was still angry with Xu Damao.

Li Aiguo's identity this time was different from the past. He represented the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, but he could only take out high-quality food to entertain them. It was so embarrassing.

"Director Li, the requirements for container manufacturing this time are very high. I hope your steel rolling mill can send the best workers and masters." Li Aiguo changed the subject.

Deputy Director Li's face straightened: "Don't worry, our steel rolling mill will definitely complete the task successfully."

Li Aiguo also had confidence in the steel rolling mill, and the two then discussed the details of the cooperation.

The cooperation adopts the method of processing supplied materials, with Qianmen Locomotive Depot providing various materials needed for container production and the steel rolling mill being responsible for manufacturing.

For every 20-foot container manufactured, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot paid the steel rolling mill a processing fee of five yuan and subsidized it with ten kilograms of refined white flour and a big rooster.

Every worker involved in container manufacturing can receive a subsidy of one pound of corn flour every day.

Money is secondary. The key is refined white flour and big roosters, which are scarce resources. This deal is a great deal for the steel mill.

"Brother Li, you really took care of your brothers this time." Deputy Director Li asked his assistant to write a cooperation agreement and handed it over.

Li Aiguo took the agreement and took a look at it. "Director Li, I think we should add one more clause. In order to ensure production quality, our Qianmen Locomotive Depot will send a supervision team to the rolling mill, which has the power to correct irregularities in production."

In later OEM factories, the ordering party often also dispatched quality supervisors. This was a reasonable request, and Deputy Director Li agreed to it immediately.

It was already noon when both parties signed the agreement.

Deputy Director Li asked his assistant to go to the canteen and ask the chef to prepare a special meal.

"Today we are entertaining the leaders of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. Ask the cook to prepare some potatoes, cabbage, tofu, etc., with plenty of oil and water."

After receiving the order, the assistant turned and left the office, but came back a moment later with a sullen face.

"Director, the cook said he doesn't know how to cook."

Deputy Director Li widened his eyes and asked in confusion, "The chefs in our steel mill cafeteria are all level nine chefs, right? They can't even cook a small meal?"

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The assistant seemed a little embarrassed. After looking at Li Aiguo, he whispered, "It's not that we can't do it, but that we don't want to do it. The chef thinks that cooking for ourselves violates the factory's regulations."

"Snapped!"

This time it was Deputy Director Li's turn to look grim.

He slammed the table and stood up: "Which cook is it? How dare you disobey the leader's order."

"Yes, it's Nan Yi, Master Nan." The assistant whispered, "Master Nan said that the conditions are so difficult now, if the workers knew that the leaders were giving them special treatment, they would definitely complain. He is doing this for your own good."

Li Aiguo was amazed when he heard this, wondering when Nan Yi had learned Yi Zhonghai's tricks.

After Sha Zhu was arrested, Deputy Director Li transferred Nan Yi to the factory in the hope that this heir of the imperial chef could develop his cooking skills and cook some delicious dishes.

Who would have thought that Nan Yi was much more stubborn than Sha Zhu.

When Sha Zhu was around, Deputy Director Li often cooked his own meals in the small warehouse in the cafeteria.

Nan Yi said that it was okay to cook for himself, but he just had to ask the logistics department to issue a note, and he would only start cooking after seeing the note.

Isn't this clearly an attempt to embarrass Deputy Director Li? !
Deputy Director Li had long wanted to deal with Nan Yi.

I lost face in front of Li Aiguo today, and I was furious.

He immediately wanted to ask his assistant to call Nan Yi over and give him a severe lesson.

Li Aiguo stood up and stopped him: "Now is a special period, the workers have to eat radishes and cabbages.

If I knew you eat meat.

What would the workers think? What would Director Yang think?
I think we can just go to the cafeteria and have a quick bite at noon."

Deputy Director Li suddenly woke up, but still felt something was wrong: "My dear patriotic brother, you finally came here once, I feel so embarrassed."

"What's there to be embarrassed about?"

Seeing that Li Aiguo insisted, Deputy Director Li had no choice but to agree.

Li Aiguo has been a train driver for several years and has developed a habit of carrying a lunch box with him.

The two of them then came to the steel mill canteen.

When the employees in the cafeteria saw Deputy Director Li coming, they quickly made way for him.

When Nan Yi saw Deputy Factory Director Li, he had already made up his mind to fight with him.

"Deputy Director Li, I misunderstood. It was indeed a misunderstanding. We do not have any extra food in the cafeteria today."

The apprentice Ma Hua was also startled. He came forward with a flattering smile, wanting to cover for Nan Yi, but was interrupted by Deputy Director Li who waved his hand.

Deputy Director Li took two lunch boxes, took out a few meal tickets, and handed them to Nan Yi: "Master Nan, what are you standing there for? Bring me two meals."

Nan Yi was also shocked by Deputy Director Li's behavior. When he saw Li Aiguo standing behind Deputy Director Li, he finally understood.

"Okay. Two servings of food."

When Nan Yi served the dishes, the portions were generous.

The spoon was hooked straight under the vegetable bowl, trying not to put the entire bowl of vegetables into the lunch box.

Deputy Director Li brought two boxes of lunch and took Li Aiguo to sit in a corner.

Only then did the workers come to their senses.

"It's really strange. Is that comrade the leader of another factory? Deputy Director Li doesn't even give him a special treatment."

"Yesterday, the leaders of the machinery factory came to visit, and Deputy Director Chen asked Chef Chen from the Second Canteen to cook a chicken drumstick.

Although he didn't let anyone know, my wife's uncle's third aunt's second sister worked as a temporary worker in the second canteen.

Let me tell you, the chicken legs are very fat and they are very satisfying.”

"It seems that Deputy Director Li is more suitable to be the factory leader than Deputy Director Chen. If nothing else, just because he is willing to eat radishes and cabbages with us, we have to support him."

The sound of discussion penetrated the noisy air and reached the ears of Deputy Director Li.

He felt very happy at that time, as if what he had in his mouth was not cabbage, but a gathering of heroes.

Fortunately, I listened to Brother Li today. Otherwise, if I had argued with Nan Yi, I would definitely have a bad reputation in the factory in the future.

Yi Zhonghai came to the cafeteria carrying his lunch box and saw Li Aiguo at first sight. He couldn't help but feel suspicious.

He was about to take the promotion exam, and the sudden appearance of this kid Li Aiguo in the steel mill was not a good sign.

Yi Zhonghai took the opportunity when Nan Yi was getting food to ask, "Nan Yi, driver Li, are we coming to our factory? Are we going with Deputy Director Li?"

"It seems like they are going to build some kind of box. I just heard some fragments of it." Nan Yi said.

Yi Zhonghai immediately felt relieved.

A few days ago, the deaf old lady sacrificed her dignity and found Deputy Factory Director Chen to get all the connections done.

As long as Li Aiguo is not coming for him, his promotion this time is a foregone conclusion.

"Master Yi, why don't you leave?"

Yi Zhonghai stood in front of the window blocking it, and the workers behind him immediately became dissatisfied.

"Hey, right away."

Yi Zhonghai had originally planned to eat in the cafeteria, but in order to avoid attracting Li Aiguo's attention, he ran back to the workshop with his lunch box.

The rice was cornmeal porridge and black steamed buns, and the vegetables were radish and cabbage, but they tasted good.

Li Aiguo started eating happily.

After eating and drinking, Liu Lan came over and took Li Aiguo's lunch box and prepared to wash it.

Deputy Director Li also wanted Liu Lan to help him wash the lunch boxes, but Liu Lan disagreed.

He could only run to the pool and busy himself.

"As a factory director, I am not doing as well as you, my brother." Deputy Director Li returned to the office, wiped his hands, and said with some emotion.

Li Aiguo handed him a cigarette and lit one himself: "You are deeply involved in the masses and have a good style of work."

"You know what, when I was washing the lunch boxes, the workers looked at me differently." Deputy Director Li lit a cigarette.

The two chatted for a while and started their afternoon work.

Deputy Director Li picked up the phone and called Section Chief Zhou from the steel rolling mill's technical department into the office.

"Old Zhou, this is driver Li from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. This time he came to our steel mill to manufacture a batch of containers."

Deputy Director Li briefly introduced the situation and handed the drawings to Section Chief Zhou.

"Do you have the confidence to successfully complete this task?!"

When Section Chief Zhou first got the blueprint and saw that it was just a metal box, he didn't think much of it.

After all, steel mills are responsible for processing metals, and the parts they produce are many more complex than this box.

But he looked at it carefully and immediately frowned.

“外部尺寸为长6.058米、宽2.438米、高2.591米，内部尺寸为长5.898米、宽2.352米、高2.385米.
The size is accurate to the millimeter level, which is not a big deal, we can do it."

The key is to reduce the dead weight and ensure the load-bearing capacity. The box is made of a steel frame and corrugated steel plate. The splicing error between the frame and the steel plate cannot be higher than 0.05 mm.

Corrugated steel is difficult to process, and with this kind of tolerance, it is even more difficult to manufacture.”

Section Chief Zhou raised his head and looked at Li Aiguo: "Driver Li, can the splicing error be a little larger? Or replace the corrugated steel plate with ordinary thin steel plate."

Li Aiguo shook his head: “The purpose of using corrugated steel plates is to allow the container to withstand the greater weight of goods and the vibration and impact during transportation. There is no way to replace it.

As for the error requirements, there is no way to change them.

The error of a single box doesn’t matter, the key is that these boxes have to be stacked together, and if the error is too large, it will exceed the maximum error.”

When Section Chief Zhou heard this, he thought for a moment and said, "Director, the requirements are so high that we can only use the 6-meter shearing machine we got from the Russians.

In addition, we will select a group of the best fitters to operate the shearing machines.”

"The shearing machine is easy to get. I'll apply to Director Yang, and he will definitely agree." Deputy Director Li tapped the table with his fingers: "The key is an excellent fitter. We have two level eight fitters in our factory, but they have been seconded to military units.

Now we can only select from the group of seventh-level fitters, how should we select them?"

Section Chief Zhou smiled and said, "Director, you forgot that tomorrow is the day for the promotion of Level 7 fitters. At that time, we can use the shearing machine to process and splice steel plates as this year's test question."

After hearing this, Deputy Director Li was stunned.

But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that this idea was great.

Now Deputy Factory Director Chen is presiding over the employee skill promotion examination, and as the deputy team leader he has no way of intervening at all.

Isn't this opportunity here?

“This method is not bad, but in order to prevent the workers from preparing in advance, the skills tested each year are announced by the examiners after they arrive at the site.

We still have to follow the rules, Lao Zhou, you should keep this matter secret for now."

Deputy Director Li reminded.

"Understood. I'll take the drawings back to study them and prepare for production."

After Section Chief Zhou left, Deputy Director Li brought Li Aiguo to Director Yang's office and met with Director Yang.

And the idea of ​​using shearing machines to assess eighth-level fitters was proposed.

Director Yang agreed immediately.

It was already evening when we returned to Director Yang's office.

Li Aiguo was about to ride his bicycle back when he was stopped by Deputy Director Li.

"Aiguo, that medicinal wine," Deputy Director Li said anxiously.

"I still have some. I'll send it over tomorrow." Li Aiguo said with a smile.

"That's great!" Deputy Director Li's face was full of joy.

Although Liu Lan was not there, there was a new young widow in the logistics department of the steel rolling mill. Her name was Wang Lan, and her figure was no worse than Liu Lan's.

The most important thing is to be sensible.

Deputy Director Li felt that spring was approaching.

(End of this chapter)