"Chunhua went home to visit her parents.
My parents brought several letters,
I am too busy with spring plowing,
(Hey) Just because the team’s production is tight,
There were weeds half a foot deep in the ground.
One looks at the parents and the other looks at the cow,
Kill two birds with one stone.
”
On the country road, Zhang Guifang jumped up and down with her hands behind her back, singing a melodious song with a unique local flavor.
"The lyrics are quite interesting." Li Aiguo looked at Yan Jiecheng with a smile.
Yan Jiecheng turned his head away in embarrassment.
It was just around 12:30, and there were already members working in the fields. When they heard the singing, they raised their heads and looked here.
"Guifang, are you back?"
"Uncle Da Gen, where is my father?"
"The branch secretary felt uncomfortable after eating and said he wanted to go home for a while."
Zhang Guifang turned to Li Aiguo and Yan Jie and said, "I'll leave my father at home. Let's go. You guys come with me."
Zhangzhuang Commune has seven or eight villages under its jurisdiction. Among them, Zhangzhuang, where the commune is located, is the largest, with a population of one to two thousand.
This place is located in a mountainous area. Compared with the communes on the outskirts of the capital, the village is a little more shabby.
There are almost no decent brick walls in Zhangzhuang, and there are farmyards made of adobe bricks everywhere.
Zhang Guifang's family is located in Zhuangdongtou and looks a little poorer than the average villager.
Part of the earthen wall had collapsed due to the ravages of time, and the owner only used a bunch of branches to block the gap.
In the yard, an old lady with small feet was holding wheat straw in a pile of firewood.
"Guifang, didn't you go to the crossing station to learn how to read? Why did you come back?" When the old lady with little feet heard the noise, she hurriedly put down the wheat straw, walked out quickly with little feet, and opened the door.
"Grandma, this is Yan Jiecheng, the teacher who taught me how to read." Zhang Guifang pointed at Yan Jiecheng generously.
"He's the teacher in the school. He's so young." The little-footed old lady squinted at Yan Jiecheng.
Yan Jiecheng hurriedly waved his hand and explained: "Grandma, I misunderstood. I am a railway worker. I am just teaching Comrade Zhang Guifang a few words. I am not a teacher."
"That's considered a teacher, Teacher Yan, come in quickly."
The old lady with little feet looked very enthusiastic.
At this moment, a middle-aged female comrade in the room heard the noise and came out.
"Is this Xiao Yan?" The middle-aged woman looked Yan Jiecheng up and down, with an aunt's smile on her face, and nodded with satisfaction, "Hurry into the house, there are fried peanuts at home. I will pour you tea."< br>
Yan Jiecheng also realized something was wrong. He was startled and took a step back.
Well, the borrowing of cows turned into a blind date meeting.
If Li Aiguo had nothing urgent to do, he would definitely stay here and watch the fun.
But at this moment, Captain Bai and the others were still waiting at Yexi Station.
Li Aiguo reminded: "Xie Cheng, our purpose this time is to borrow cattle."
"Yes, yes, borrow the cow!" Yan Jiecheng was already sandwiched between two female comrades, one old and one young. He quickly looked at Zhang Guifang and said, "Comrade Zhang Guifang, we do have something urgent."
"Grandma, mother, we have to do big things on the railway. You will be looked down upon by others like this." Zhang Guifang got angry, and then Guifangniang and Grandma Guifang shut their mouths.
"Where's my dad?"
"There's a cat on the bed."
Zhang Guifang smiled apologetically at Yan Jiecheng and Li Aiguo, turned around and entered the room.
After a while, a thin, middle-aged man with gray hair came out.
While clicking his pipe and pot, he whispered: "The cattle in the commune eat dozens of kilograms of fodder every day. If they are lent to others to work, wouldn't the fodder be spoiled?"
"Dad, you are the branch secretary, you are just a cow. Do you need to worry about it?" Zhang Guifang took Zhang Guifang's arm and acted coquettishly.
"If you don't have enough to eat, you don't have to spend money. If you don't plan, you will suffer from poverty! Don't you see that our commune doesn't have enough food now?"
Zhang Zhishu came out of the room and met Li Aiguo and Yan Jiecheng face to face.
Party Secretary Zhang's face immediately put on a warm smile, and his little eyes blinked: "You two, the People's Railway is for the people, and the comrades on the railway don't seem to use the members' things in vain, right?"
He is not tall, but has a loud voice, and he speaks in a loud voice.
Well, this is the member version of Yan Bugui!
Zhang Guifang introduced the two of them, and it was a coincidence that Zhang's name was Zhang Jinsheng, which was only three characters different from the third uncle's name.
Li Aiguo stretched out his hand and shook hands with Party Secretary Zhang: "Party Secretary Zhang, the old scalper works for the railway, and he is considered a worker, and his salary is one yuan and twenty cents a day."
Zhang Zhishu blinked his little eyes: "I'm just being polite when I say money, but I don't really mean it. The key is that I have to give you a handlebar type. The commune is very busy now and the manpower is almost exhausted."
Gui Fangniang suddenly spoke: "Old man, what are you doing! Members of the commune only earn a few cents a day. Now a cow earns one yuan and two. You have the nerve to ask for money again."
"If the commune members work less for one day, our commune's food production will be reduced. Women's families don't know anything."
"This is your rationale, why can't you carry forward your style and support railway construction?"
“I want to support you too, we can’t let the members go hungry”
Good guy, this is a double act!
Before Li Aiguo opened his mouth, Zhang Guifang became angry.
She stamped her feet and said, "Zhang Laoji, if you do this, I won't be able to see anyone anymore!"
Seeing that his daughter was angry, Party Secretary Zhang quickly changed his words: "Comrade Railway, there is no charge for the handlebar style. I will make arrangements for you now."
"I can drive cattle by myself without using a handlebar." Li Aiguo said.
"You know how to drive cattle? Young man, the old scalper is a big beast. He can't understand human speech. Even an old scalper will get kicked sometimes." Party Secretary Zhang frowned.
Li Aiguo can indeed drive cattle, and this time it was to experiment with an ox-cart lawn mower.
If there is another handlebar type, one more person will be needed. In the future, the large-scale promotion of ox-cart lawn mowers will cause a waste of railway personnel.
Party Secretary Zhang gave some advice, but when Li Aiguo insisted, he said nothing more. He took Li Aiguo to the livestock shed in the commune compound.
The stockman is combing the hair of the old cattle in the shed with a brush.
The old cattle are all fat and strong, and there is not a trace of mud on them. This cattle herder is a good hand at raising cattle.
"Lao Shuan, this is a comrade on the railway and a friend of Guifang. Now I am borrowing an old scalper from our commune. You can choose one that is strong, well-behaved and obedient."
Although Party Secretary Zhang is stingy, he really does things after taking the money.
The stockman brought out an old ox. Its coat was light yellow, shiny, very large, and its four legs had strong muscles.
"This is the best cow in our commune. Its name is Da Zhuang. It is very obedient. You must not use the whip."
The stockman was still a little reluctant to give up. When he handed the reins to Li Aiguo, he warned him twice: "It is picky about the grass it eats. It only eats grass leaves. If it is hay, it needs to be mixed with some wheat bran and wheat seeds."< br>
The name of this cow is Dazhuang. Just by looking at the name, you can tell that it is a great cow.
"Uncle, don't worry, we have enough food on the railway. We won't treat Da Zhuang badly."
Li Aiguo thanked Party Secretary Zhang and the stockman, and took the old scalper to leave.
Zhang Guifang wanted to go to the crossing station with Yan Jiecheng, but Yan Jiecheng declined.
"Comrade Zhang Guifang, there will be several trains passing through the station in the afternoon, and there may be inspections by leaders. It is not appropriate for you to stay there."
"Then I'll go tomorrow." Zhang Guifang bit her lip and nodded.
When she saw Yan Jiecheng was about to leave, she called Yan Jiecheng to stop him.
"You wait for me."
Zhang Guifang ran back to the small courtyard and came out after a while holding a few corn sticks: "Take these with you and bake them when you are on duty at night."
Yan Jiecheng saw Li Aiguo staring at him with a smile, and was a little embarrassed to accept it.
Zhang Guifang grabbed his arm, stuffed the corn stick into his arms, then turned and ran away.
That bouncing ponytail swayed back and forth.
Li Aiguo looked away and smiled: "Let's go."
"Brother Aiguo, things are not what you think. Zhang Guifang and I really have nothing to do with each other." Yan Jiecheng saw Li Aiguo leading the cow to the outside of the village and trotted behind to explain.
Yexi Switching Station is the smallest switching station in the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.
On weekdays, there are only two switchmen on duty. Old Liu, the switchman, lives in a nearby village, so when he is not on duty, he goes home to live.
Yan Jiecheng was the only one left at the crossing station.
The food in the switch station is brought by the switch workers from the superior station. Each time they receive one month's supply, they will receive the next month's food when they are off duty next time.
Yan Jiecheng was sent here and he didn't know the procedure at all, so he only took a few steamed buns with him when he left.
Yexi Station is not far away, and Yan Jiechen can go to Yexi Station to get food.
The key is that he still needs to be on duty and has no way to leave the switching station. He can only make plans after the shift is handed over during the day.
At night, Yan Jiecheng felt really hungry, so he sneaked into the nearby crop fields to find something to fill his stomach.
But in this cold winter, the ground was bare. Yan Jiecheng had no choice but to walk farther and farther, and finally found a vegetable garden in a vegetable field not far from the village.
There are large carrots planted by the members.
Yan Jiecheng sneaked in and just picked up a radish when he was discovered by the female commune member in charge of patrol.
This female member is Zhang Guifang.
Food was in short supply these days, and the punishment for food thieves in the commune was very severe.
After Zhang Guifang learned Yan Jiecheng's identity, she not only did not tell Yan Jiecheng about stealing the radish.
Instead, he went down to the cellar of the commune, dug out several large sweet potatoes, lit a bonfire and roasted the sweet potatoes.
After Yan Jiecheng ate two roasted sweet potatoes, Zhang Guifang asked Yan Jiecheng to teach her how to read because she had a low level of education.
Yan Jiecheng had no choice but to agree because he was short-tempered and they saved him.
In the following time, Yan Jiecheng gained one more student.
This student was extremely respectful of his teachers and would bring some good things to Yan Jiecheng from time to time.
Today there are two sweet potatoes, and tomorrow there are a few corn sticks, and one time I even brought a few pancakes (soak sorghum, corn, and dried melons in water, then use a stone mill to grind them into a paste, and then put them in a big pot to cook the pancakes, Very different from the pancakes of later generations)
"That's the thing. Comrade Zhang Guifang and I have never had anything happen."
Li Aiguo originally didn't want to pay attention to these things.
After thinking about it, he still told Yan Jiecheng: "Your personal relationship issues are your private affairs and cannot be dealt with by outsiders.
But let me remind you that our locomotive depot has regulations that strictly prohibit railway employees from deceiving rural girls under the guise of being on the railway. ”
If something goes wrong, no one can protect you. ”
Li Aiguo was not trying to scare Yan Jiecheng. Similar things had happened several times on the railway. The status of a railway employee is considered a golden sign in these days.
Some railway workers obviously have families, but they hook up with those little girls, and the result is a misfire.
In these days, children follow their mother's household registration. If they marry a rural girl, the child will have no food source. Urban workers generally rarely marry rural wives.
What to do, of course, is to run away.
There will definitely be trouble.
When encountering a weak-tempered girl, the girl will hang herself and throw herself into the river.
Encountering a tough-tempered girl, the girl blocked the door of the locomotive depot with a big belly.
No matter which one it is, it will stain the face of the locomotive depot.
Therefore, the education office carries out ideological education every year and strictly prohibits railway employees from interacting with young girls from surrounding villages.
"Brother Patriot, don't worry, my heart is all about Yu Li, and I will never mess around." Yan Jiecheng also knew the consequences and nodded heavily.
The two drove the cattle back to the switching station.
Cao Wenzhi also went down to the driver's building, and he and Yan Jiecheng brought over a large piece of wood and spread it on the carriage.
Li Aiguo held the reins and walked in front. This big bull was indeed a good cow, and he followed him obediently and got into the carriage.
Because he was worried that Da Zhuang would be frightened on the carriage, Li Aiguo asked Yan Jiecheng to find a piece of rag and cover Da Zhuang's eyes.
Even so, because the carriage is specially used to pull tools, there are no guardrails.
In order to prevent the cow from falling while the train was moving, Li Aiguo asked Cao Wenzhi to stay on the train and take care of the old scalper.
Li Aiguo was alone in the driver's building, serving as both a train driver and a stoker.
Shovel a few shovels of coal, then quickly run to the console and check the instruments.
Fortunately, this small train is considered a "wild" train, otherwise if the comrades from the Road Feng Office saw it, Li Aiguo would have to be suspended for inspection.
Just like that, the little train whirred back to Yexi Station.
At this time, Commander Bai, the 131st crew, and several other comrades from the crew had finished their meal, and were carrying hoes and shovels to prepare letters and go to the construction site to work.
They were all waiting by the railway track, and they were all stunned when they saw that Li Aiguo had really brought an old scalper back.
Captain Chen handed a cigarette to Li Aiguo, who had just got off the train: "Aiguo, if you are in a hurry, tell me. Although I won't let you go, I will never laugh at you. Using an ox to plow grass is a big deal. Ji, besides, you didn’t bring a plow!”
Li Aiguo took the cigarette, lit it and took a puff. He pointed to the lawnmower next to him and said, "This thing is a plow."
As soon as these words came out, the originally noisy scene suddenly became quiet, and the flight attendants and track inspectors all rubbed their eyes.
The lawnmower looks strange. There are four wheels underneath. There is no plow, but there is a rope next to it.
Could this thing be a plow?
Cao Wenzhi also felt that Li Aiguo was joking: "If you are patriotic, a plow must have a rake, right? You..."
"Master, you will understand later."
At this time, the whistle of the small train sounded, and the employees got on the train one after another, remembering to go to work.
A lot of equipment has been added to the lawnmower, and it now weighs four to five hundred kilograms.
Li Aiguo asked Cao Wenzhi, police officers Lao Zhang, Lao Wang, and Liu Qingquan to help them lift the lawnmower onto the train car and tie it with a rope.
"Let's go!"
The little train whistled twice, whining, eating, eating, eating, eating, and soon arrived at the section of the road that was seven or eight miles away from Yexi Landao Station.
Seeing the words "131 crew" on the red flag, Li Aiguo knew that he had arrived at his destination.
Sure enough, the train slowly stopped.
Li Aiguo, Cao Wenzhi, and Commander Bai got out of the car.
Captain Chen stuck his head out of the window and shouted to Captain Bai: "Xiao Bai, don't be anxious, there's no point in being anxious. We will complete the 20 kilometers of weeding this afternoon."
< br>
Zhang Chenxing, the water delivery boy and several female comrades were not happy at that time and wanted to quarrel with Captain Chen.
Captain Bai stopped them and looked at Captain Chen with a smile:
"Hoeing is related to driving safety. If we clean up the railway line a day earlier, safety will be more guaranteed."
"No matter which charter group wins the first place, they are all contributing to our maintenance section and considering the safety of passengers."
"Our 131 crew must learn from your spirit of not fearing hardship and hard work."
Bai Chezhang’s words raised the competition between the private group to a higher level.
The pride on Captain Chen's face disappeared.
The train started, and his sarcastic smile was left in the air: "Yes, yes, our crew is all contributing to driving safety"
Although they said they didn't care, the tempers of the entire crew of 131 were still aroused.
When they came to the railway track, they stood in a row. When Commander Bai gave an order, they all arched their bodies, raised their hoes and dug into the weeds one by one.
When everyone thought of Captain Chen's words, they worked hard, especially the several lesbians who were unconvinced and danced their hoes like hot wheels.
As the speed increased, large pieces of soil were picked up by the hoe from time to time, and then fell down just above the head, causing the comrades to fall all over their heads and faces.
"Xiao Zhao, please slow down!" Zhang Chenxing patted the dirt off his head, turned around and saw Li Aiguo still busy with the strange thing over there, and felt a little confused.
He waved the hoe violently a few times, caught up with Captain Bai in front, and whispered in a low voice: "Captain, Driver Li finally came here, but now he is just tinkering with that thing. If he can come and hoe the ground, maybe we can You can still win.”
After hoeing hundreds of meters of ground continuously, Captain Bai felt a little out of breath.
She straightened up and took the opportunity to rest for a moment.
"Zhang Chenxing, the patriotic comrade is experimenting with new equipment. This is the work of the section. Stop talking behind my back."
"It turned out to be experimental equipment. I thought he was here to help us hoe the ground"
Zhang Chenxing wanted to continue mumbling, but Commander Bai's face turned serious: "Xiao Zhang, our crew is a small group, and the maintenance section is a big group. We can't just care about the small group and ignore the big group.
You have been a little lax in your thinking recently. You should go to the education office and ask Director She to give you lessons. ”
"Yes, yes." Zhang Chenxing saw that Captain Bai had escalated the problem, so he quickly closed his mouth, picked up a hoe, stuck his butt out, and started working.
Li Aiguo felt that he was a little too much.
In order to allow one person to use the lawn mower, he refused Cao Wenzhi and Liu Qingquan's help and planned to operate the lawn mower alone.
There are just some problems with the design of the lawn mower, especially the collar, which was designed based on the cow I borrowed last time. It is now a bit too small and cannot be put on a big and strong body at all.
Fortunately, before going out this time, considering the various troubles he would encounter, Li Aiguo brought a full set of tools.
He cut the ferrule with scissors, connected another rope, and twisted both ends into a knot. Although it didn't look good, it was enough.
"Da Zhuang, move your butt back!" Li Aiguo pulled the reins, and Da Zhuang's hooves moved back. When they happened to fit into the loop, Li Aiguo pulled the reins again, and Da Zhuang stopped immediately.
"What a good cow!"
Li Aiguo sighed in admiration, fixed the collar, and then led the cattle to catch up with the team that was hoeing.
Seeing Li Aiguo leading the ox cart with that strange thing, the flight attendants all stood up and came over. Cao Wenzhi smiled and said: "Aiguo, is this new thing of yours used for weeding?"
"Master, you must understand me."
Li Aiguo asked Da Zhuang to stop, walked to the harvester, and explained to him: "This thing is called a lawn mower, and it is specially used to deal with weeds on both sides of the railway."
"Mowing the grass? What about the sickle? Why don't you see the sickle?!" Zhang Chenxing also came over to take a look, and he saw the flaw at a glance.
Commander Bai also nodded: "Patriot, there is no plow or sickle, how can you mow the grass with your lawnmower?"
Li Aiguo took off the rope hanging from the lawnmower and connected it to the rotating shaft of the motor.
"This rope is the sickle."
"The rope is soft and can cut grass? Driver Li, I am a high school graduate and a highly educated person. Stop fooling me!" Zhang Chenxing's eyes were as wide as an ox's.
Li Aiguo chuckled, ignored him, and just connected the wires of the switch.
"Everyone, please step outside to avoid getting hurt." Li Aiguo made preparations and shouted to the flight attendants surrounding him.
Although the flight attendants did not believe how powerful a rope was, they still took several steps back.
Only Zhang Chenxing hesitated, moved a few steps reluctantly, and stood there with his arms folded.
Yes, he is a tough guy again.
After Li Aiguo looked at the distance, he ignored Zhang Chenxing.
He pressed the switch lightly, and the electric motor made a roaring sound, the shaft rotated rapidly, and the rope rotated rapidly under the rotation of the shaft.
In the world of martial arts, only quickness is unbreakable.
In the world of martial arts, flying leaves can still hurt people, but now that the rope has the blessing of a motor, it suddenly becomes a killer weapon.
Whoosh!
Zhang Chenxing only felt his eyes blurred. Before he could see clearly, something hit the hem of his clothes.
This thing was extremely fast and powerful. The hem of the originally very strong flight attendant uniform was ripped open, and the buttons popped out very far.
Zhang Chenxing was startled, and subconsciously took the step back that he was unwilling to take just now, just in time to avoid the rope that was continuously swept from behind.
Looking at the hem of his clothes, and then at the barely visible rope, sweat dripped from Zhang Chenxing's forehead.
"Eudi mother, this thing is really powerful! If your arm is hit, you still have to find a way out even if you keep doing it."
Captain Bai's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw that the hem of Zhang Chenxing's clothes was torn.
"Patriot, hurry up, try to cut the grass."
Since the high-speed rotating rope can sweep away clothes, it can also deal with weeds.
Li Aiguo calmly pulled the reins and stepped forward with his strong four hooves, while the harvester moved slowly.
There was only a swishing sound everywhere he passed, and the sharp rope rotated rapidly like a whirlwind, cutting off the weeds in one fell swoop.
The grass blades splashed, like withered yellow snowflakes floating in the air, and then fell to the ground, spreading flat on the ground.
Captain Bai, Cao Wenzhi and the flight attendants had already anticipated the power of the lawnmower.
I couldn't help but take a deep breath after witnessing this pretentious scene.
"My dear, isn't this too fast?"
"We stuck our butts out and hoeed for a long time, but it's not enough for this thing to work for a minute."
Cao Wenzhi coughed twice and said calmly: "My apprentice barely passed the test this time."
Captain Bai: "."
Flight attendants: "."
Policemen: "."
Da Zhuang: "Moo!"
(End of chapter)