Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

"Mom, what's wrong?" Xu Damao sat up straight.

"The Lou family!" she gasped, "It wasn't just me, their whole family took the money and left! Now the Lou family isn't hiring any more workers, they've completely cleared them out!"

The air froze instantly.

Xu Fugui narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "The Lou family has other plans."

Since they weren't targeting us, and we even got a good amount of money from the family for free, why are you still thinking about those other things?

When the Lou family dismissed their servants, they not only settled the wages for that month, but also gave out six months' worth of severance pay, which was incredibly generous.

You should know that Xu Damao's mother only earned fifty yuan a month at the Lou family's house. Although she didn't have the labor protection benefits of a factory worker, it was already a great honor for a housewife with no technical skills to earn the equivalent of a fourth-level worker's salary.

She sighed, a hint of resentment in her voice: "I was just thinking of letting our Da Mao and Miss Lou get to know each other better."

Da Mao is about to be promoted to a permanent position as a projectionist at the steel rolling mill, securing a secure job.

If I bring it up every now and then, I might actually be able to persuade Madam Lou…”

Upon hearing this, Xu Damao's eyes lit up immediately, and he hurriedly asked, "Mom! Can we still talk about it now? You've worked for the Lou family for so long, it should be a good thing to mention marriage, right?"

"Where can we get away with this now?" She waved her hand, her tone lowering. "Miss Lou isn't old enough yet. I plan to pave the way slowly. In time, they'll naturally follow my lead."

But I'm no longer with the Lou family, so how can I have the right to ask for that?

Xu Fugui scoffed and waved his hand: "Forget it, if it's not meant to be, don't force it."

In the past, a family like ours wouldn't even have dared to dream of such a marriage.

Instead of staring blankly at the moon, why not wait until Da Mao gets a permanent position, save some money, and actually get married?

His wife, however, muttered in a low voice, "I'm just afraid... that silly Zhu will beat us to it! You know he goes to the Lou family every few days, cooking and making soup. What if they hit it off one day? We'll have nowhere to turn to cry!"

The words had barely left his mouth when Xu Damao jumped to his feet, slamming his fist on the table in a fit of rage: "Impossible! The Lou family, would they even consider Sha Zhu? Are you kidding me!"

"You still have the nerve to be jealous of others?" Xu Fugui glared at him and cursed, "Even if you get promoted, you'll only be a level eight projectionist. Sha Zhu earns twice as much as you do! You look down on this one and that one, and what's the result? You don't even have a girlfriend! You even despise Jia Dongxu, who at least has a son and a daughter, and his family line is thriving!"

"snort!"

Xu Damao was hit where it hurt. His face turned red, his chest heaved a few times, and he suddenly turned around and slammed the door shut as he left.

He would rather take a stroll around the alleyway than stay in the house listening to his parents scold him.

Three or four months passed like flowing water, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the fifth or sixth year.

Everyone in the steel rolling mill was giving it their all, like perfectly fitted screws, doing their best in their respective positions.

In addition to completing daily production tasks, the machine tool improvement team's project finally achieved a decisive breakthrough at the end of the year.

"Professor, Section Chief Zhou, the last screw is in—we're done!"

With the final soft click of the wrench, the entire workshop fell silent for a moment, then erupted into long-suppressed whispers of excitement.

This machine tool is the result of their completely independent design.

Compared to the batch of goods purchased from the White Bear Country, the efficiency has increased by 30%, and the precision has made a leap forward, directly reaching the world's first-class level!

Section Chief Zhou suppressed his wildly pounding heart, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Don't get excited! The final step—the power-on test! Everyone step back and prepare to start!"

The crowd dispersed, their eyes fixed on the brand-new machine.

The moment the power was switched on, the humming sound grew stronger, followed by a deafening roar that filled the workshop, as if a sleeping steel behemoth was slowly opening its eyes.

Section Chief Zhou stared intently at the instrument panel, exchanging glances with several university professors beside him—the data was stable, and the system was functioning normally!

He turned around abruptly and announced loudly, "Who will operate the first process?"

"I'll do it! I'll do it!"

"You can't do it! I'm a level seven fitter, this job is mine!"

"Bullshit! I assembled this machine tool myself; I know it best!"

"Stop talking nonsense. How many parts did you even touch? I was involved in the whole process! I'll do it!"

The workers started arguing and fighting over it, and the scene became chaotic for a while.

Suddenly, a quick-thinking, level-six fitter darted forward, stood in front of the machine tool, and said with his head held high, "Section Chief Zhou, give me the task! Let me make the first cut!"

The others immediately erupted in anger, pointing at him and cursing.

But when Section Chief Zhou raised his hand to press down, the entire room fell silent instantly.

"Quiet down!" he shouted. "There will be plenty of opportunities! These machine tools will eventually be everywhere in every workshop! He gets to try it today, tomorrow it'll be your turn!"

As he spoke, he had someone fetch a level 5 workpiece and handed it to the fitter.

The machine tool was designed by our own people, who are so familiar with its functions that they can operate it with their eyes closed; the operator is also a highly experienced level 6 technician—in less than ten minutes, the workpiece has been perfectly processed.

The man, his face flushed, held the finished product in both hands and handed it to Section Chief Zhou, saying, "Please...please test it for me!"

Section Chief Zhou took the workpiece and led the technicians to repeatedly measure, compare, and verify it.

After a long silence, he suddenly looked up, raised the metal part in his hand high, and his voice trembled with excitement: "Comrades—we've succeeded! This machine tool is our own! Its performance meets the standards, its precision meets the standards, and it fully complies with international standards!"

"oh--!!!"

In an instant, cheers swept through the entire workshop like a tidal wave, shaking the roof beams.

That was their glory—without relying on foreign technology or being subservient to others, they created world-class machine tools entirely with the help of Chinese hands!

At this moment, everyone straightened their backs.

With this machine tool, their industrialization process was put on the fast track, enabling them to not only manufacture more high-precision parts, but also completely rewriting their future development trajectory.

That last series of operations was incredibly fast—a full third faster than the imported one from the White Bear machine! Yet the accuracy not only didn't drop, but it was ridiculously stable, almost perfect.

As soon as the news spread, a group of leaders from the steel rolling mill rushed over like cats smelling fish.

Factory Director Yang rushed to the scene, his face flushed and his voice trembling: "It's done? It's really done?"

Section Chief Zhou suppressed his excitement and said in a deep voice, "Factory Director, let's try one more night. Only if there are no mistakes during continuous operation can we truly pass the test."

"Good! Good! Arrange the testing right away!" Factory Director Yang slapped his thigh, turned around and roared, "Old He! Quickly get the technical team something hot, plenty of meat, and some alcohol too!"

He suppressed his overwhelming joy and immediately convened a short meeting with the leadership team, quietly spreading the explosive news throughout the factory.

As the year draws to a close, the technical department has delivered a truly amazing New Year's gift.

The entire Third Steel Rolling Mill was in an uproar!

It's worth noting that the White Bear's machine tool is priced at $80,000 overseas, which is already top-of-the-line.

Their machine boasts a performance boost of one-third, and at this level, it's worth at least $110,000 on the international market!

In the future, just by mass-producing these high-end machine tools, the Third Steel Rolling Mill will be able to earn foreign exchange effortlessly, and it won't be a dream to have orders pouring in.

sleepless nights.

The next morning, despite the biting cold wind, He Yuzhu arrived early with a large insulated container and personally delivered a hot breakfast to his colleagues in the technical team.

This group of people stayed up all night and worked efficiently and effectively—all twenty-five level-six workpieces and twenty level-five workpieces met the standards without a single flaw.

Factory Director Yang looked at the test report and finally breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes even a little sore.

Immediately, he grabbed Wang Shushu, Li Huaide, and Section Chief Zhou, and the four of them headed straight to the Ministry of Industry to report the good news.

The factory manager and the books must be present; that's the rule.

Although Li Huaide's position was not as high as that of Deputy Factory Director Zhou, the starting point of this transformation was precisely when he connected with Sharif.

The reason why the technical department dared to break away from the white bear blueprints and independently develop domestic high-precision machine tools is ultimately because of He Yuzhu's statement: "We can't always copy others."

Otherwise, they would still be secretly counterfeiting secondhand goods.

No one can deny his contribution.

So the four of them walked into the industrial building side by side, with the confidence of the Third Steel Rolling Mill, heads held high and chests out.

On the other side, He Yuzhu was also busy.

The breakthrough in machine tools was a major event, but his 200-square-meter greenhouse held an even more astonishing secret.

The hybrid wheat and rice he cultivated by hand are now lush and green, with thick stems and full ears of grain.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the wheat yield from 100 square meters is close to 180 jin (90 catties), while the rice yield is soaring to 240 jin (120 catties)!

Converted to yield per mu—1200 jin for wheat and 1600 jin for rice! This is land in Beijing, not some experimental field, and there was no special genetic modification. It's all thanks to scientific management and meticulous planting!

Several professors from agricultural universities were stunned on the spot and reported the incident to the Ministry of Agriculture overnight.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture made a phone call to the Ministry of Industry, and after confirming the situation, immediately dispatched a special team to the Third Steel Rolling Mill.

However, the team acted with great restraint, only operating on the periphery and focusing on protecting the 200-square-meter greenhouse.

Everyone else was prohibited from entering, even the workers who regularly grew vegetables were kept outside.

Now, He Yuzhu is the only one in the entire factory who can freely enter and exit, personally taking care of and recording data.

"Sit down, don't be shy at home." Li Huaide's father-in-law waved his hand with a smile, his tone unusually relaxed. "I didn't expect your factory to actually get this done."

This time, I've truly done a great service.

He paused, his eyes serious: "It's an immense achievement."

Li Huaide rubbed his hands together, unable to hide his excitement: "We didn't expect it to be this fast."

I thought it would be good if we made some progress within a year, maybe even improved efficiency a bit... Who would have thought that a nuclear bomb would explode at the end of the year?

The two talked all day, but the higher-ups never gave a definite answer about the follow-up arrangements.