Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 219 Facing Difficulties

Qin Huairu covered her chest, feeling extremely worried. Although she didn't care about Li Aiguo, she was worried about Jia Dongxu. In the recent conflicts, every time she competed with Li Aiguo, she didn't get any good results and suffered a lot of losses.

She was worried that Jia Dongxu's plan would face difficulties again. However, considering that Jia Dongxu was immersed in joy, she had to remain silent and stood up to offer tea to the neighbors who helped her to express her gratitude.

Seeing Qin Huairu's considerateness, everyone sighed that the Jia family might not be a good family, but their daughter-in-law was quite virtuous.

Jia Dongxu hummed a little tune and waited quietly. As the workers finished their work and the people who helped dispersed, until the night deepened and the aroma of food wafted from every household, he still did not wait for everything he expected.

Even at dinner time, when Qin Huairu prepared the meal and called him, he did not respond to that guess.

"Damn Li Aiguo, could it be that Wang Huxu was too ruthless and sent him directly to the hospital?" When returning to Yi Zhonghai's house for dinner, Jia Dongxu complained in a low voice, while following Qin Huairu closely. Coincidentally, Xu Damao came back from get off work and heard this, and casually explained: "Hey, speaking of Li Aiguo, he is on a business trip."

Today Xu Damao originally planned to get a train sleeper ticket through Li Aiguo, but unexpectedly he was taken to the locomotive depot, where the staff told him regretfully that Li Aiguo was out.

This news was like a thunderclap, hitting Jia Dongxu's mind. His eyes suddenly widened: "Out on business? How could he be out on business!"

Seeing Jia Dongxu's hysterical look, Xu Damao instinctively touched his ears and took two steps back: "It's a business matter, what does it have to do with you? Is it necessary for you to react so strongly?"

"Uh... I just..." Jia Dongxu realized that he might be out of control, so he smiled awkwardly, turned around and quickly ran back to his room, fearing that he would burst into tears if he stayed any longer.

The plan was carefully arranged and the manpower was in place, just waiting for Li Aiguo to finish work and go home, but unexpectedly he was on a business trip at the moment.

This is totally unjust!

Jia Zhang was fighting with an old lady for the meat on the plate. When she noticed that Jia Dongxu looked strange, she immediately picked up the rice bowl with one hand and pulled him into the room with the other. The old lady's chopsticks were suspended in the air, with a blank look on her face.

How can you snatch food like this!

Yi Zhonghai smiled and said, "Oh, my dear, don't be upset. Jia Zhang is really concerned about Dongxu. You can't understand the love between mother and child, after all, you have never given birth to a child."

The old lady: “…”

Hearing this, Jia Zhang in the room was so angry that she trembled and gritted her teeth. "How could that bastard Li Aiguo be so lucky! But don't worry, there will always be a time for him to show up, and then we can make plans."

Jia Dongxu wanted to cry but had no tears: "But, I have already made all the arrangements today. These people will definitely not let go of our investment easily."

At this moment, Jia Zhang was so heartbroken that she didn't even want to eat the meat. She dropped her chopsticks, walked to the front yard, looked at the empty ruins of the Jia family's house, and muttered to herself in a daze.

"Li Aiguo, why are you going on a business trip at this time?"

"Little Li, you really should be at home!"

At this time, Liu Haizhong stumbled in from the door, muttering. After hearing what Jia Zhang said, he was stunned, raised his head, and looked at her silently.

The sunset glow is like a painter's brushstrokes, depicting the evening in the courtyard in a poetic and picturesque way.

In this beautiful scene, the two people's eyes met, silent and each of them reflected deep pain.

Although Jia Zhang wanted to scold Li Aiguo, she found it difficult to say it out loud - after all, she couldn't tell Liu Haizhong that they had wasted seven dollars just because Li Aiguo had an unexpected business trip.

Liu Haizhong wanted to get angry at Li Aiguo, but he couldn't say anything because he had already gone to the police station to report the case this morning, hoping to get the case investigated. His father, Liu Zhenshan, a police officer at the police station, personally led an investigation, and Li Aiguo was the biggest suspect.

Liu Zhenshan went to the maintenance section specifically to ask for someone, but he was nearly arrested by the armed forces for suspected confidentiality. Fortunately, he had experienced judgment.

As the original instigator.

At this moment, Li Aiguo was worried about eating.

From the time he set out at 11pm until 5am, his nerves were tense and his stomach began to growl.

According to the rescue team's regulations, the drivers of the rescue trains work in shifts, with each shift lasting eight hours, which leaves them less than ten minutes to eat.

After eating, we had to find a cool place to rest to ensure that we could take over the driving again after eight hours. This was not a leisurely trip, and steam power was limited.

In order to achieve the fastest speed, they did not bring a dining car or camping car, so they had to deal with food in a hurry. The rescue team sent everyone a portion of rations and canned food.

The rations were simple fried noodles, packed in a cloth bag with a bright red star printed on it. They looked rough, and the texture and taste were not very good. The main ingredient was wheat flour mixed with other grains, and the only seasoning was salt, so it was dry and tasted bad.

Even Master Zheng, who usually doesn't care about the taste of food, froze after taking a bite: "No, I really can't swallow this."

The canned food had a foreign label and was covered in rust. It looked like it was confiscated from a war site. After opening it with a knife, Master Zheng revealed a mass of reddish-brown luncheon meat. "This is not enough. It won't fill my stomach at all."

Looking at the rations, Li Aiguo frowned helplessly. In fact, there was a supply in Beijing. It was just that the rescue team had never worried about food and beverages. Perhaps this was their normal state.

Rescue team members have been fighting in harsh environments for years. For them, these individual rations are precious good things. Look at Comrade "Old Cat", who spreads the ration bag on the ground and slowly puts it to his mouth with a spoon. Occasionally, he can also pick up a piece of luncheon meat, with his slightly squinting eyes under the black-framed glasses, as if he is enjoying a Western meal.

This simple meal is so tempting!

A body of iron and food of steel.

Only when you fill your stomach can you keep driving.

There is an empty space in the lower left corner of the steam boiler.

There should have been a water filling pipe there, but since most of the water work was done by hand, it gradually rusted and the workers removed it, leaving this gap.

The driver made a simple cover, like a box, to store miscellaneous items.

Cigarettes, beer, food, steamed bread and lunch boxes were all hidden in it. Li Aiguozhu really found a few lunch boxes with pig kidneys printed on them from the box under the stove.

Those fixed train drivers will not take the lunch boxes off the train unless there are special circumstances.

The train crew takes turns on duty in groups of six, with six lunch boxes neatly arranged.

Li Aiguo could imagine the scene where the six friends had no lunch boxes and could only eat cold steamed buns.

"Co-pilot, please look after it for a while. I'll make you a delicious meal."

Master Zheng hurriedly asked, "Is there a pot? How do I cook?" while putting down the lunch box in his hand.

"You'll know in a minute."

Li Aiguo smiled in a very professional manner, pushed open the furnace door, took out an old brake shoe with the fire tongs, and stuffed it into the furnace.

The heat in the furnace was enough to burn everything to ashes. In a blink of an eye, the brake shoes were burned red and emitted green smoke.

Li Aizhou asked Master Zheng to fry the noodles, put them into the lunch box, and add freshly boiled hot water.

Take out the hot brake shoe and place it on the steel operating chair, then put the lunch box containing fried noodles on it to heat it.

In an instant, the brake shoe seemed to have turned into a hot iron plate, and the water in the pork kidney lunch box quickly boiled and bubbled.

He took out the luncheon meat from the can, chopped it up and added it in. The brightly colored shredded meat mixed with the fried noodles jumped and tumbled in the hot lunch box, emitting a mouth-watering aroma.

Li Aiguo gave it a poetic name - "train hot pot".

After tasting a bite of the "train hotpot" made by Master Zheng, the latter's eyes suddenly widened: "This is really delicious, even more delicious than Donglaishun hotpot!"

Liu Qingquan came over to taste the food and praised: "Aiguo, your cooking skills are really good. Come, help me get one too."

Li Aiguo did not refuse and followed the previous steps to prepare a "train hot pot" for Liu Qingquan and himself.

The driver's cab was immediately filled with fragrance.

The old cat looked at the tempting hot pot, then lowered his head to look at his fried noodles, and his taste seemed to become bland.

Li Aiguo enjoyed his food and smiled at the old cat, "What do you think, senior? Do you want to try what I cooked?"

The old cat, who was originally ready to refuse, had his throat tremble a few times, his eyes wavered, and finally nodded.

"This is what comrades should do. We should support each other. Don't be so stern all the time."

It is not difficult to make this simple and delicious "train hot pot" and it is done quickly.

Li Ailin found another egg, cracked it open and poured it into the pot with anticipation.

He asked encouragingly, "How about you try this?"

Under Li Aiguo's earnest gaze, the old cat raised the spoon and took a small sip.

Someone mentioned the contrast between "military hotpot" and "people's train drivers' train hotpot". Li Aiguo corrected that their train hotpot represented the spirit of the workers, which was completely different from the enemy's "military hotpot", which originated from the Japanese army's looting of luncheon meat. He was confused about why the Japanese regarded the donated food as a delicacy and were proud of it. Liu Qingquan and Lao Zheng firmly stated that their train was different from the Japanese army's, and they were the common source of enthusiasm for the workers and the carriages.

When the rescue train arrived at Turfan Locomotive Depot, the locomotive was already fully stocked with coal and water. After the new locomotive was fully equipped, the train set off again under the watchful eyes of the entire train. The driver, Li Aiguo, closely observed the instruments, the co-driver, Liu Qingquan, half-exposedly monitored the situation ahead, and the boiler operator, Master Zheng, flexed his arms holding the coal shovel. Everyone understood the severity of this operation.

In the carriage, only Lao Mao remained calm and continued to concentrate on radio communications, using coded language to communicate with the team ahead, and simplified the information as much as possible for Li Aiguo and his team to understand. For example, he told them that the signal transmission in the cave had failed, the casualties were still unknown, and that the rescue team of Alatau had assembled more than 200 members and was on standby at the mountain pass.