The steam engine driver's building only had room as big as your buttocks, and several big men were squeezed into it, without even room to put their feet down.
Master Zheng, who was supposed to be sleeping in the camper, was squeezed into the furnace. He could only stand on the gusset of the furnace with one foot, but he couldn't bear to leave.
He took Cao Wenzhi's hand and told Li Aiguo how to calculate the number of coal shovels.
Cao Wenzhi laughed and said: "Old Zheng, if I tell you, my apprentice has made a thing called a sandbag.
If it is installed on the roof of the car, the wheels will never slip again. Will your jaw drop? "
"What bag is so powerful that it can prevent the wheels from slipping?" Master Zheng's eyes widened.
In the past.
When the train encounters rainy days or goes up steep slopes, the wheels slip due to insufficient friction between the wheels and the rails.
There is only one solution.
The stoker worked hard to fill the furnace with coal to increase the power output of the steam locomotive.
Whenever a wheel slips, Master Zheng will exert twice as much effort as usual.
As a stoker, Master Zheng is more interested in sandbags than others.
So much so that Li Aiguo took over from Cao Wenzhi, and when he returned to the camping car to rest, he was still crowded in the car asking about the sandbags.
“Patriotic, I didn’t even go to elementary school.
I just learned a few words in the winter class.
I don't understand what you said either. "
[Winter class is another name given to literacy classes by the people in the countryside. In winter, farmers have free time to participate, hence the name. 】
Li Aiguo was already talking so dry that he looked at Master Zheng in silence for a moment.
I just talked about so many scientific principles about feelings, and they are all playing the piano to others.
Master Zheng smiled sheepishly and rubbed his soot-stained hands: "I just want to ask you, can sandbags really prevent the wheels from slipping?"
"Of course!" Li Aiguo was full of confidence.
"That's good." Master Zheng looked out the window, suddenly came over, and whispered: "The train will not return to the capital in nearly two hours."
"Can't you get out of the car?"
"get off?"
Li Aiguo frowned.
He always felt that when Master Zheng said getting off the bus, he did not mean getting off the bus to play.
After all, driving a train is not an easy job.
Who has the energy to go shopping after being highly concentrated for several hours?
Moreover.
In this day and age, there are no petroleum ladies on the streets doing street photography. It is better to lie in a private room and sleep.
really.
Master Zheng said mysteriously: "There are many good things in Jincheng, such as Xiaozhan rice, Jinghai golden jujubes, and Baodi garlic. They can all be sold at good prices in the capital."
"Our comrades in the charter group will bring some back every time they come."
The train conductors in the chartered group travel all over the country and can take advantage of their position to bring back rare gadgets from various places, and then sell them in the pigeon market to make profits.
This is a characteristic of this era, and Father Li often does this kind of thing.
Of course.
There is a limit to what each person can carry at a time, which is to fill a canvas bag.
The comrades from the Road and Wind Office found it, but they just said it was for their own use, so it was not considered a violation.
Li Aiguo was short of money now and had been thinking about this opportunity for a long time. When Master Zheng proposed it, of course he nodded in agreement.
"Okay, if I'm not familiar with this place, I have you, Brother Lao."
"You are so polite. You also said in the middle of the day that we will travel as a group and we will never separate for food and drink. We are all comrades in the same group. If we have good things, we must share them."
Master Zheng has a good memory and almost recited Li Aiguo's words.
His memory later amazed Li Aiguo.
Master Zheng even knew clearly where there were gaps in Jincheng Station.
"If you walk from here and don't enter or exit the station, you generally won't encounter road traffic."
Master Zheng pointed to a hole in the barbed wire fence and said, "This is also very close to a black market on the outskirts of the city."
"Yes, you are the master, I will follow you."
Following Master Zheng, twisting and turning in alleys, Li Aiguo came to a wilderness.
"Is this a black market? It's really shameless."
Li Aiguo looked at the vendors haggling in broad daylight and was amazed.
Compared with the pigeon market in the capital, the black market in Jincheng is as lively as the downtown area.
The sellers' stalls were set up on the roadside, and the buyers were strolling around, and some of them were even haggling loudly with the sellers.
If it were moved to the capital, this black market would have been flushed out long ago.
Master Zheng: "This has to start with the Ming Dynasty. Tianjin built wards and built cities. The common people were mainly officers, soldiers and their families. They were good at wielding swords and guns and leading troops in war."
"Later, water transportation and salt transportation developed, and the mainstream people in the city were foot porters who earned a living by working hard."
"Most of these people are reckless men. If there is friction, just attack them directly. Whatever you have is nothing, including poles, sticks, spears, big blades, axes, bricks and tiles, butcher's knives, and trading scales... , no one is ambiguous about anyone.”
"Even after liberation, the higher-ups carried out rectifications several times, and social security was not as good as that of Sijiu City."
While talking, Master Zheng went to a rice stall and talked about the price.
The rice on the black market in Jincheng is 14.6 cents, which is two cents cheaper than in the capital, and it does not require food stamps.
Back and forth, a pound of rice brought back to the capital can earn at least five cents.
The canvas bag can hold twenty kilograms of rice, and the extra money for this trip is only 1 cent.
Li Aiguo also bought 20 kilograms of rice. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a ticket seller buying national food stamps next to him.
The young man selling food stamps was a fat little black man, dressed in a coarse cloth shirt, with a basket of eggs at his feet.
"Those coming from the south and those going north, look this way, look this way."
"Fathers and fellow villagers, young and old, if you are passing by, don't miss it."
“There’s a big special offer, 3 kilograms of national food stamps can be exchanged for 1 kilogram of eggs.”
For a while, many people gathered around and exchanged food stamps for eggs. The little fat man's face was filled with joy.
Li Aiguo laughed and said: "This fat little black guy does have a business mind. In the supply and marketing cooperative, even with egg stamps, 1 catty of eggs only costs 50 cents."
""One pound of national food stamps can be exchanged for two cents.
"This thing was resold for 10 cents."
Master Zheng slung his bulging canvas bag over his shoulder and said: "His name is Guo Er. Before liberation, he did cross talk at the "San Guan" theater shed in Jincheng Nan City. After liberation, he emphasized self-reliance. Those people who talk about cross talk They all entered the factory, and he worked in the factory for a few days. He couldn't stand the restraint and ran away. He made a living by reselling some gadgets on the black market."
"Are you familiar with him?"
"Not really. Don't look at Guo Er's smooth talk. He is a rare honest person in this black market. He doesn't cheat or lie to others. He has a very good reputation."
Master Zheng said with a smile: "I have exchanged eggs with him before."
"Yeah?"
Li Aiguo's heart moved.
In the future, if I make long-distance trips to Jincheng and often carry things with me, it would be too conspicuous for me to show up, so I still have to find an agent at the Jincheng pigeon market.
If Guo Er is really as honest and reliable as Master Zheng says, he would be a suitable candidate.
However, we should not rush into this kind of thing. We need to contact him a few more times to find out the details of the other party.
Li Aiguo also took out 3 kilograms of national food stamps in exchange for 1 kilogram of eggs, and chatted with Guo Er for a while.
Seeing that the time was almost up, we returned to the station with Master Zheng.
This is the time for passengers to board the train.
Zhang Yazhi stood at the door. When she saw Li Aiguo coming, she hurriedly tightened the buckle and smiled softly at him with her lips pursed.
"Driver Li, haven't you rested yet?"
"I went out and walked around with Lao Zheng."
"I'll take over my shift in a moment. Let's meet in the camper."
Zhang Yazhi only focused on talking, and her hands and feet slowed down. Passengers from behind crowded over, and chaos suddenly broke out at the door of the carriage.
Li Aiguo didn't say anything more and returned to the camping car.
....
