Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 29 Making Dumplings and Buying New Year Goods

After returning to the yard, Zhou Fengnian happened to meet Luo Cheng who was carrying the welfare benefits issued by the factory and was about to park his bicycle.

Zhou Fengnian stepped forward and lent a hand, saying, "Engineer Luo, let me help you."

After helping to carry the things into the yard, Zhou Fengnian asked again: "Engineer Luo, the New Year is coming soon, what are your plans with Aunt Li?"

"What else can we plan? We'll just have to make do with the two of us. Our son and daughter-in-law can't come back either."

Luo Cheng sighed and said that his son and daughter-in-law only had three days of vacation in the northwest, but the round-trip train ride would take four days.

Besides, it is too dangerous to take a baby on a train. Even if his son and daughter-in-law plan to come back, Luo Chengdu will have to scold them.

"Oh"

Zhou Fengnian didn't have any good ideas. He had to go home. Although he had a good relationship with Mr. Luo, it was not good enough to invite Mr. Luo and his wife to his home to celebrate the New Year.

"I'm going home the day after tomorrow. How about I help you and Aunt Li make dumplings before I leave? You can put them right into the pot during the Chinese New Year."

Zhou Fengnian said, "The dumplings won't go bad if left out in this weather."

“Will it be too much trouble?”

"Mr. Luo, why are you being so polite to me? I won't pack it for you. I'll pack it for Aunt Li. She helps me a lot."

Zhou Fengnian said with a smile that Li Nianhua did often help him and Zhou Chunhua.

There was too much overtime work in the factory some time ago, and Zhou Chunhua was so busy that she often had to work overtime. Li Nianhua helped to wash clothes and other things.

For this reason alone, it’s no big deal for Zhou Fengnian to cook a few meals, not to mention that his cooking skills are not shameful now.

Luo Gong immediately laughed and scolded: "You bastard, I can't help you much? Pack more for me too!"

"Okay, I'll make you two kinds of fillings."

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said that Luo Cheng's benefits were a little better than his. If all the dumplings were made, it would be enough for the couple to eat for a whole month.

Luo Cheng did help him a lot. He helped him contact his old classmates at Tsinghua University, used his connections to get him a library card, and often explained to him how to pass the engineering exam.

It's like treating him as a student, teaching him everything I know.

So Zhou Fengnian also helped Luo Cheng and his wife a lot. They prepared everything that needed to be prepared before the New Year, bought cabbage for the winter, and hauled coal.

The old couple had nothing to worry about in this city except being a little lonely.

Although Zhou Fengnian still has to go to work tomorrow, he only needs to stand guard for the last shift and watch the new workshop close.

So there is nothing to worry about. At least during this period after the New Year, he can relax a little.

So Zhou Fengnian washed his hands, called his fourth sister to go to the backyard, and help Luo Cheng and his wife make dumplings in advance.

But when he had prepared the filling and was about to wrap it, Li Nianhua smiled and drove him away, saying that the filling and dough were already prepared and he was no longer needed, as she and Zhou Chunhua were enough.

Zhou Fengnian was bored, so he went to play chess with Luo Cheng.

However, not only was Luo Cheng's chess skills terrible, he also tended to regret his moves and was addicted to the game. After a while Zhou Fengnian didn't want to play anymore, so he started talking about CNC machine tools.

Over the past month, Zhou Fengnian has visited Tsinghua University three times during his rest time.

With the help of teachers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, I was able to see the information of the first CNC machine tool of this era.

It is indeed CNC, but it has real limitations and needs to be used with extreme care, otherwise burning a resistor component will trigger a chain reaction.

It's like asking a beautiful lady to carry sandbags, the gain is not worth the loss. If you want to improve it, you have to improve the electronic computing system first, and this cannot be avoided without the electron tube.

Fortunately, Zhou Fengnian could perform one more simulation per month. In the past two months, after two simulations, he finally mastered the technology of three-dimensional transistors.

The simulated space is so magical that Zhou Fengnian can create everything. He simulated the conditions of this era in the simulated space and tried many times before he created a three-dimensional transistor.

The next step is to find an opportunity to take it out, but we have to wait until at least March next year, after this tedious task is completed.

Once three-dimensional transistors are manufactured, domestic computers will be upgraded to a higher level, and integrated circuit CNC machine tools will also be at the international leading level.

At that time, high-precision processing was no problem, and it was an all-round improvement for the industry.

Inside the room, Zhou Fengnian tried to bring up the issue of improving the electron tube, which immediately attracted Luo Cheng's different opinions.

Neither of them could convince the other. Zhou Fengnian knew that Luo Cheng was restricted by the limitations of this era. There were very few people who could foresee the development of a technology decades later.

". We invented it but it can't be used. There's only one in the country. Why don't you modify it? If you don't modify it, we'll be left far behind by the foreigners."

"Xiao Zhou, I realize you're being quite arrogant. This is the product of research by top talents from several universities. You said you would change it, so let me ask you, how do you change it?"

"Don't worry, I already have an idea, and I can definitely change it anyway!"

Zhou Fengnian waved his hand and said, "I am a genius in this area. Engineer Luo, let me tell you, as soon as I saw that thing, I felt that it should be improved, and I have some ideas, but I need to think about it."

Let's wait and see. A few months later won't matter.

However, Luo Cheng felt uncomfortable as if he was being fished. He bit the hook, but Zhou Fengnian just kept fishing him and refused to pull him ashore.

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After making two trays of dumplings, Luo Cheng and his wife said that it was enough. They couldn’t just eat dumplings during the New Year. What they made today was enough for them to eat for three days.

The next day.

On the last day before the holiday, Zhou Fengnian worked half a day and then went home.

He inspected the new workshop, locked the door and left. He had nothing to do with the workshop before the New Year.

After Zhou Fengnian rode back on his bike, he took his fourth sister Zhou Chunhua directly to the supply and marketing cooperative.

At noon, the factory gave him a bunch of coupons. He was told to use them all. The cloth coupons would be invalid after the Chinese New Year, and the others could be used during the Chinese New Year.

Zhou Fengnian received more than 180 yuan in three months. Apart from spending some on his fourth sister Zhou Chunhua, he used the rest to buy some cabbage and coal for the winter.

It only cost me a little over thirty dollars in total for three months, and most of the time I got meals from the factory.

I'm almost saving enough to buy a bicycle.

If his salary increases a few levels in the next few years, Zhou Fengnian will really have nowhere to spend his money, and he won't be able to spend it even if he doesn't have tickets.

After spending an afternoon shopping in the supply and marketing cooperative, brother and sister Zhou Fengnian and Zhou Chunhua bought New Year's goods to take home for the Chinese New Year.

One pound of milk candy, one pound of crispy candy, two pounds of fruit candy, two bottles of wine, a pack of cigarettes, and five feet of cloth.

The factory gave him ten feet of cloth, but Zhou Fengnian planned to keep half of it to make a set of clothes for himself.

After coming out of the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Fengnian said to Zhou Chunhua, "That's about it, Fourth Sister. We still have five pounds of meat and more than ten pounds of noodles. If there's more, the bicycle won't fit."

That is to say, the 28-inch bicycle is relatively sturdy, otherwise Zhou Fengnian would not have felt confident riding it with two people and so many things to the countryside.

(End of this chapter)