Chapter 32: Rewards

Xing Liuzhu was a practical leader. After a few sentences of casual small talk, he cut straight to the point.

"Comrade Aiguo, since you achieved a perfect score on both sections, the General Depot has decided to issue your driver's license ahead of schedule."

As he spoke, a wave of sighing emotion welled up in his heart.

Vice Bureau Chief Wang of the General Depot was truly cunning.

Fearing that "Baldy Han" would snatch the man away, he had even requested comrades from the General Depot to "manufacture" a train driver's license overnight.

Of course, "manufacture" did not mean forgery.

The driver's license itself was issued by the General Depot; it was simply being issued ahead of time.

Li Aiguo stood up and took the license with both hands to examine it closely.

On the dark brown cover, there was a gilded railway emblem and several large characters: *Steam Locomotive Driver, Certificate of Competency.*

The issuing authority was the Ministry of Communications.

Opening the cover, inside were his name, position, and examination results written in traditional Chinese characters.

There were also red official stamps from the Motive Power Department and the Administration Bureau.

In the upper left corner was Li Aiguo's identification photo, with the embossed seal clearly visible around the edges.

As he felt the texture of the license, Li Aiguo felt a surge of excitement.

No matter how difficult things had been, he had finally successfully taken the first step.

As expected.

Those who rely solely on their own hard work will find themselves among the elite wherever they go!

Looking at the visibly excited Li Aiguo, Xing Liuzhu straightened his expression and spoke with solemnity

"Comrade Li Aiguo, a train driver bears the heavy responsibility of transporting materials for national construction. The duties are significant, and the working environment is harsh."

"People in the folk often say, 'From a distance, you look like a beggar; up close, you look like a coal miner; but look closely, and you are a train driver.'"

"It can be said that you must endure hardship first, and endure hardship even more later."

"Do you have the confidence to become an honorable train driver, to work hard for the destruction of imperialism and the construction of our motherland, and even to sacrifice your own life?"

*Swish!*

Li Aiguo stood up abruptly, his expression grave

"The east wind blows the war drums! Who is afraid of whom in this world? It is not the people who fear American imperialism, but American imperialism that fears the people!"

"From the moment I receive this driver's license, my life belongs to the country and to the organization."

These words, spoken from the heart, were resonant, powerful, and struck like clanging metal.

"Good, good. I am deeply gratified by your level of ideological awareness." Xing Liuzhu nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand, signaling Li Aiguo to sit down.

Once Li Aiguo was seated, a warm smile appeared on his face: "Your creation of the sandbags has brought honor to our Motive Power Depot. After research by the Depot Committee, it has been decided to specially reward you with twenty catties of *Fuqiang* flour, five catties of brown sugar, and three catties of sanitary oil."

Li Aiguo's eyes widened instantly, and his hands clenched tight.

This reward was incredibly substantial.

*Fuqiang* flour is the flour milled from the core of the wheat kernel; it has a high gluten content, fewer impurities, and is a grade higher than refined white flour.

One catty of wheat only yields seven taels of *Fuqiang* flour.

Because it requires specialized milling machinery, it is extremely scarce.

One could not find *Fuqiang* flour in the markets at all; it was almost equivalent to a special supply item.

Not to mention the brown sugar and sanitary oil—both were highly scarce goods in this era.

It didn't end there. Xing Liuzhu paused and smiled: "I saw yesterday that you don't have a bicycle. All of today's bicycle coupons for our Motive Power Depot have already been distributed. However, the depot warehouse has a batch of confiscated bicycle parts, and the assortment is quite complete. I'll write you a note later; go and see if you can find suitable parts to assemble a bicycle."

In this era, all supplies were centrally allocated by the state, making uneven distribution inevitable.

Especially for goods like bicycles, which symbolized social status, there were massive price differences between different regions.

Beijing was a "Class Six" area with high wages and many wealthy people, leading to high demand for bicycles; consequently, prices at the "pigeon markets" (black markets) were naturally sky-high.

In more remote areas, bicycle prices were much lower.

Some shrewd individuals saw the profit in this.

They would purchase bicycles from supply and marketing cooperatives, disassemble them into parts, use connections to obtain letters of introduction, and smuggle the parts onto trains to Beijing for reassembly and sale.

There were railway police on the trains; if caught, the bicycle parts would be seized immediately.

This was why the Motive Power Depot warehouse had bicycle parts.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Li Aiguo.

He stood up to express his gratitude: "Thank you for your care, Depot Chief Xing."

"You have earned it."

Xing Liuzhu was very satisfied with Li Aiguo's attitude and continued, "Do you have any other requests? You can bring them up all at once."

"I have no requests," Li Aiguo said deeply, "but I wish to report a situation to you."

*Ha, here it comes.* Xing Liuzhu sat up straight. "You are now an official train driver and an employee of the Motive Power Depot. You have both the obligation and the right to fight against injustice."

"If you have any grievances, speak them directly. You must trust the leadership and the organization."

Hearing this, Li Aiguo recounted Liu Chunhua's actions in meticulous detail.

*Bang!*

Xing Liuzhu slammed his fist heavily on the table, saying indignantly

"The railway is managed under semi-military discipline. All regulations and systems were bought with the blood and lives of those who violated them. As the Director of the Education Office, Liu Chunhua should have provided service to the examinees, yet she neglected her duties and nearly caused a candidate to miss his exam. Such behavior must be strictly punished."

Li Aiguo pondered for a moment: "Depot Chief, I believe Director Liu Chunhua did this intentionally."

*Strike while the iron is hot.*

Facing someone who had repeatedly made things difficult for him, Li Aiguo would absolutely not show mercy.

To show mercy now would be to let a tiger return to the mountains.

"Captain Cao Wenzhi is also aware of these circumstances; you can verify it with him."

Before speaking with Li Aiguo, Xing Liuzhu had already investigated the situation.

He had originally intended to take down Liu Chunhua, and seeing Li Aiguo's determined attitude, he nodded and said, "Comrade Li Aiguo, rest assured. Our Qianmen Motive Power Depot is a united and loving big family. We will never tolerate someone who disrupts unity and acts recklessly within the depot."

With Xing Liuzhu speaking to this extent, Li Aiguo knew that Liu Chunhua was finished.

Of course, had it not been for his sandbag design proposal attracting the attention of the General Depot, the outcome of this struggle might have been entirely different.

Furthermore, Xing Liuzhu might have been using Liu Chunhua as a way to strike a warning against Vice Depot Chief Liu.

After exchanging a few words of thanks with Xing Liuzhu, Li Aiguo left the Depot Chief's office.

Zhou Tiehu had actually been waiting outside. Seeing him come out, he hurried forward.

He asked eagerly, "Aiguo, how did it go?"

That concerned attitude warmed Li Aiguo's heart.

He recounted the conversation with the Depot Chief, including the *Fuqiang* flour and sanitary oil he had received.

A reward of this magnitude would certainly be announced to the entire depot; it was impossible to keep it a secret.

Zhou Tiehu listened, dumbfounded. "Twenty catties of *Fuqiang* flour, sanitary oil, and a bicycle? Good heavens! I've been a driver in this depot for so many years and I've never seen such a generous reward. What on earth did you come up with?"

"It's a good thing, of course—a thing that can save many people."

"No wonder. Old Xing isn't a generous man. If you hadn't produced something real, he wouldn't have given you the time of day."

Li Aiguo pondered for a moment, hesitated, and then told him about Liu Chunhua.

Zhou Tiehu was one of the few people he considered kin in this world.

If he hid it, it would inevitably create a rift.

Hearing that Li Aiguo had insisted the Depot Chief deal with Liu Chunhua, Zhou Tiehu frowned. "Aiguo, isn't that a bit too harsh? Liu Chunhua has Vice Depot Chief Liu backing her. What if—"

"Don't worry, I've looked into it. Vice Depot Chief Liu has a wife in the countryside. His relationship with Liu Chunhua is just a passing fling—their affection is as thin as water, driven more by lust than love. He won't step in for her."

Zhou Tiehu fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

"Kid, you're much more formidable than Zhou Ke."

Meticulous thinking, looking three steps ahead, and acting with lightning speed when striking.

Even an old hand like Zhou Tiehu felt admiration.

He thought to himself: *Old Li has raised a fine son!*

***

Vice Depot Chief's Office, Motive Power Depot.

Vice Depot Chief Liu took the document handed to him by the communicator and frowned.

Under the light, that single line of simple text on the document appeared exceptionally piercing.

He remained silent for a moment, then picked up his pen, signed his name at the bottom, and handed it back.

"Please take this to the Administrative Office and ask them to process it accordingly."

After the administrative secretary left, Vice Depot Chief Liu picked up the telephone and dialed several numbers.

"Connect me to the Depot Chief's office, please."

The call connected.

Vice Depot Chief Liu squeezed a strained smile into the receiver. "Old Xing, our depot's transport line at the Hongxing Rolling Mill Mill has just been connected. The situation is quite complex. I feel it would be better if I, as the Vice Depot Chief, personally oversee it to prevent any errors."

There was a moment of silence on the other end before a voice replied: "Old Liu, thank you for your hard work."