Courtyard House: The Road to an Industrial Power

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Beijing, in the military-specific workshop of a steel rolling mill.

After months of hard work, the first batch of Type 95 automatic rifle prototypes were finally successfully developed.

The gun has a jet-black, gleaming body and smooth lines.

Looking at the dozen or so prototype guns laid out in front of him, Lin Weidong felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Early that morning, Lin Weidong, along with key members of the technical department and experts from the weapons research institute, escorted the batch of prototype guns to the military region's firing range for performance testing, accompanied by soldiers who came to pick them up.

The military region's leaders and weapons experts were already waiting there, their eyes filled with anticipation.

The test began immediately after the gun was taken down.

"Start the test!" With this command, the shooters raised their Type 95 automatic rifles and began firing at the distant targets.

"Bang bang bang!"

The gunshot was crisp and loud, and the bullet whistled out, hitting the bullseye precisely.

In continuous firing tests, the improved barrel demonstrated excellent heat dissipation performance. Even after firing hundreds of rounds continuously, the barrel temperature remained stable without any jamming.

In the accuracy test, at a distance of 100 meters, the bullets almost all landed in the same bullet hole.

After the test, enthusiastic applause rang out at the firing range.

An elderly expert with gray hair exclaimed excitedly, "Comrade Weidong, well done! This gun is far superior to our current equipment! It's highly accurate, lightweight, and reliable—it's practically tailor-made for our soldiers!"

The military region commander nodded repeatedly and immediately decided: "Mass production begins immediately! Prioritize deployment to border troops!"

Just then, [Ding! The host has successfully led the Type 95 assault rifle into mass production, propelling the national military industry to a new level and triggering a major military reward!]

[Reward: Complete set of production blueprints for high-explosive armor-piercing rounds + modular rifle modification technical manual!]

Lin Weidong paused. "Great! Excellent!" Lin Weidong clenched his fist, his eyes flashing with fervent light. With these two items, the steel mill's military product line could take another step forward, truly achieving independent production of "guns and ammunition as one".

Soon, the official document from higher authorities came down, approving the formal mass production of the Type 95 automatic rifle.

The military-specific workshop of the steel rolling mill was expanded, a large number of advanced equipment were transferred there, and countless technical experts flocked to the steel rolling mill.

The steel rolling mill, which was originally mainly engaged in steelmaking, has completely embarked on the path of military production and has become a key military enterprise supported by the state.

Li Huaide, due to his outstanding performance in military projects and with Lin Weidong's strong recommendation, was appointed by his superiors as the director and party secretary of the steel rolling mill.

This is the first time in the history of the steel rolling mill that the factory director and the party secretary have been held by the same person.

Because of the success of the Type 59 steel mill, the steel mill held a celebration meeting in the square.

Standing in the center of the crowd, Li Huaide announced with great enthusiasm: "To reward all the employees of the military industrial workshop for their hard work, the factory has specially purchased three fat pigs from a pig farm in the suburbs. Everyone in the military industrial workshop will receive two jin of pork!"

These words caused an instant uproar throughout the factory area.

These days, pork is a scarce commodity. Ordinary families might not even be able to afford two ounces during holidays. Now that they can get two pounds for free, how can the workers not be excited?

The task of slaughtering the pig naturally fell to Sha Zhu in the kitchen.

Early the next morning, several fat, big-eared black pigs were brought to the open space in the factory area.

The workers gathered around to watch the spectacle, three or four layers deep, as Sha Zhu deftly tied up the pig, bled it, and removed its hair, his movements fluid and efficient.

Boiling water was poured over the pig, removing the black hair and revealing the white flesh, making everyone's mouths water.

When the pork was being butchered, Li Huaide personally supervised the process, while Lin Weidong watched from the sidelines.

"Chief Engineer Lin, you can have one too!"

Li Huaide held a piece of pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat and insisted on giving it to Lin Weidong.

Lin Weidong smiled and waved his hand: "I don't need it, leave it for the frontline workers."

Among the crowd, Liu Haizhong recalled that he had once been a level seven blacksmith. If he hadn't followed Yi Zhonghai in his reckless ways, he would be getting far more than just two catties of pork now.

He might even be able to get a minor official position in the military industrial workshop.

But now? He's been demoted, and forget about getting any meat; he can't even get into the military workshop of the steel rolling mill.

As evening fell, the courtyard house was filled with the aroma of meat.

Seeing that everyone had brought back meat, and having made a lot of money selling fish recently, Yan Bugui decided to go to the pigeon market and buy half a pound of meat to stew into braised pork.

Liu Haizhong squatted under the eaves of his house, smelling the aroma of meat filling the yard, swallowed hard, and muttered to himself.

"What's so great about it! It's just two pounds of pork. Once I'm rich, I'll eat meat every day!"

At the Jia family home, Jia Zhangshi sat on the threshold, inhaling the aroma of meat in the air, her saliva almost dripping to the ground.

Her stomach was growling with hunger, and the tempting aroma made her feel like her insides were trembling.

As Jia Zhangshi swallowed hard, she gritted her teeth and cursed, "Heartless! A bunch of heartless people! We're all neighbors from the same courtyard, and they don't even bother to help us, mother and daughter, when they have meat to eat!"

"You're all heartless! Why don't you get struck by lightning?"

Lying on the bed inside the house, Jia Dongxu smelled the aroma of meat filling the courtyard and called out to Jia Zhangshi, "Mother, I want to eat meat too..."

Madam Jia turned to look at Jia Dongxu and said, "Dongxu, it's not that I don't want to buy it for you, it's just that we need to be careful with our money now."

Although she had secretly gone out just two days ago to buy two large meat buns to satisfy her craving.

A few days later, another joyous occasion was added to the courtyard: the second son of the Shazhu family turned one month old.

To celebrate, he specially set up three tables of food in his yard and invited his neighbors and several close colleagues from the factory.

The banquet wasn't extravagant, but it was lively and fun. (Foolish)

Zhu brought a lot of ingredients from the kitchen and cooked a table full of dishes himself, including braised pork, stewed ribs, scrambled eggs, and a big pot of pork stew with vermicelli. The aroma filled the entire courtyard.

The neighbors all came with gifts. Yan Bugui gave two jin of cornmeal, and Liu Haizhong gave a piece of floral fabric.

Lin Weidong then asked Zhao Xiulan to give him a red envelope and specially asked someone to make a silver longevity lock for the child.

Everyone sat in the courtyard, drinking, eating, chatting, and laughing, creating a lively atmosphere.

At this moment, Jia Zhangshi, attracted by the fragrance, came uninvited.

She came in empty-handed, without even a penny of wedding gift. As soon as she entered the door, she went straight to the dining table, grabbed a white steamed bun without any politeness, and began to eat it in big mouthfuls with braised pork.

Sha Zhu was busy pouring wine for the guests when he saw Jia Zhangshi's appearance and immediately called out, "Aunt Jia, what brings you here?"

With her mouth full of meat, Jia Zhangshi mumbled, "What? You're having a banquet, and you won't let anyone come to eat? My Dongxu is sick, but he can still share in your joy!"

As she spoke, she actually picked up a plate of glistening pork knuckles from the table and tried to stuff it into her lap, muttering, "I'm taking this plate of knuckles back to nourish Dongxu!"

"Stop it right now!"

Sha Zhu was truly enraged this time. He had invited all his neighbors to his baby's one-month celebration, and not only did Jia Zhangshi not give a gift, but she also wanted to serve him food directly—it was simply outrageous!

Sha Zhu stepped forward, snatched the pork knuckle from Jia Zhangshi's hand, and slammed it heavily onto the table.