Chapter 68 Introduction
"No way, we should take the initiative to invite you to come and sit down."

With Li Jiandong around, Liu Haizhong behaved very politely.

Liu Guangqi continued to introduce Zhou Zhigang: "Uncle, this is my mother, this is my master, my master is also an eighth-level worker, and he is an eighth-level fitter."

Liu Haizhong added: "That's all old news. Now Guangqi's master is the deputy director of the production department of our factory. Our factory has 10,000 people, and he, the production director, is a deputy section-level leader."

Zhou Zhigang was very shocked when he heard Liu Haizhong's introduction.

Li Jiandong looks young, only about 8 years old. It is rare for someone of this age to pass the examination and become a grade worker. Yet he was promoted to deputy section level.

"Hello, Master Li."

Zhou Zhigang stretched out his hand again, but this time he stretched out both hands.

He is not a person who is good at flattery, and the reason for this shows that he respects Li Jiandong's strength.

"Hello, Master Zhou, please come in and sit down."

Li Jiandong also stretched out his hands and shook hands with him, then invited the father and daughter into the house.

The second aunt put the teacups she had prepared in advance on the table and poured boiled water for each person.

The three middle-aged men started chatting, and the topics ranged from work to life to the education of their children. The workers became more and more interested as they talked.

I heard that my daughter had a boyfriend at school before.

Zhou Zhigang was shocked and angry, fearing that she would learn bad things from bad kids and delay her studies.

But now I came to the courtyard and met Liu Guangqi himself, as well as his senior brother, his father, and his master.

Zhou Zhigang was completely relieved.

This is a warm, capable, harmonious and progressive courtyard house. If my daughter moves in here in the future, her life will be better than in Guangzi Pian.

Jia Dongxu came back with some vegetables, and He Daqing also came over to prepare lunch.

"Old lady, hurry up and prepare the dishes and chopsticks, we will have dinner soon."

Liu Haizhong was also hungry and urged the second aunt to get ready.

Li Jiandong said to Liu Guangqi: "Guangqi, go to my house and bring the fan over."

"Okay, Master."

Liu Guangqi stood up and walked towards the central courtyard.

Zhou Zhigang had long known that the living conditions of people in the north city were no worse than his own.

However, I was shocked to see the table full of meat dishes.

There was a full range of chicken, duck, fish and meat, and there were also several stir-fried dishes filling the table.

When they were at home, they wouldn’t dare eat like this even during the Chinese New Year. The meat on this table was enough for their whole family to eat for half a year.

"Lao Zhou, Lao Li, please sit down."

Liu Haizhong stretched out his hand to greet them. He felt very proud to have such a meal.

Liu Guangqi brought an electric fan, and after it was plugged in, the whole room became cooler when the wind blew.

Fearing that his son would be embarrassed, Liu Haizhong kicked Liu Guangtian out early and made him eat outside. The three of them were left, along with Li Jiandong, He Daqing, and Zhou Zhigang's father and daughter. Seven of them just filled the table and ate and drank to their heart's content.

The meal was so sumptuous that the aroma wafted from the backyard, passed through the middle yard and then to the front yard.

Yan Bugui stood at the archway leading to the central courtyard, occasionally looking towards the backyard.

He was still muttering, "This old Liu is too ignorant. You invited Li Jiandong but not me? We have three uncles in our hospital. He doesn't take me seriously at all."

This dish tastes so delicious that Yan Bugui would be unwilling not to have it.

But she is not a deaf old lady, so she would never do something like forcing others to eat for her.

Yan Bugui has many minor flaws, but he never fails to deliver on his promises in the big aspects.

He sighed and was about to give up the meal when two people suddenly walked in from outside the door.

"Hey, Lao Zhao, Li Huilan, where are you two doing?"

The people who walked in from outside were Zhao Quezi and Li Huilan, who had just been married for a few months.

The two of them had smiles on their faces. When Zhao Quezi saw Yan Bugui, he greeted him generously.

"It's Uncle Three. I went to the hospital with Huilan this morning. Why are you standing here and haven't you eaten yet?"

"Why did you go to the hospital? You don't have to go so far to buy medicine, right?"

He thought Zhao Quezi went to the hospital to buy medicine for Li Huilan.

She has to take a lot of medicine every month, which can be bought at the neighborhood clinic. There is no need to go so far to the hospital.

The two smiled at each other, and Zhao Guizi said, "We are not going to buy medicine, but to get a checkup. Old Yan, I may become a father again."

"Being a dad again?"

Yan Bugui muttered something, and suddenly his eyes widened.

Pointing at Li Huilan, he said, "Old Zhao, you don't mean to say that Li Huilan is pregnant, do you?"

"Yes, Huilan is pregnant. The doctor said that her body is able to give birth to the baby. Neither of us thought that such a good thing could happen."

Zhao Guizi was really happy. He only had one child, and it was a daughter. These days every family wanted a boy.

However, these words sounded different to Yan Bugui's ears.

Yi Zhonghai and Li Huilan have been married for so many years but have no children. Everyone thought it was because Li Huilan's belly was not fertile.

But now, just a few months after her divorce from Yi Zhonghai, she got pregnant.

This means that the problem of not being able to get pregnant is not with her, but with Yi Zhonghai.

"Congratulations, Huilan. Fortunately, you and Lao Yi are divorced. Otherwise, you will never have children in this life and you will have to take the blame for him."

Yan Bugui said with a smile that he was going to pass the good news to Li Jiandong.

By the way, maybe you can even go there and have a meal, which would be even more wonderful.
Li Jiandong and a few others were having dinner when they heard Yan Bugui's voice from outside the door.

"Lao Li, you are here. I have been looking for you for a long time."

Yan Bugui poked his head in and looked into the house while talking.

When he saw the table full of dishes, he couldn't take his eyes away. Roast chicken, roast duck, sweet and sour carp, nine-turn large intestine, braised pork with preserved vegetables, etc. The whole table was full of delicious dishes. Yan Bugui almost drooled at the sight.

When Li Jiandong saw Yan Bugui, he thought he was here to eat for free.

So, he took the lead and said, "Old Yan is here, come in and go out to eat. I was so excited chatting with Guangqi's father just now that I forgot about you."

After that, he introduced Zhou Zhigang: "This is the third uncle in our compound. He works with me and Lao Liu to handle some trivial matters in the compound."

The meal was paid for by Li Jiandong.

There was nothing wrong with him inviting Yan Bugui to come in for dinner.

Zhou Zhigang smiled and said, "I know. Guangqi introduced him to us when we entered the gate of our hospital just now."

Although Liu Haizhong looked down on Yan Bugui a little, today's meal was his family dinner and he had no plan to invite him.

However, since Li Jiandong had spoken, he certainly wouldn't dare to sabotage him.

So he waved to Yan Bugui and said, "Old Yan, why are you still standing there? Director Li's words are no longer effective, right?"

Yan Bugui was waiting for him to say this.

Hearing this, he walked in with a smile: "Look how embarrassing this is, I came here just to pass on a message to Li Jiandong."

He was polite in his words, but his actions were not polite at all. He took a stool and said to He Daqing,
"Lao He, please move over there a little, let's squeeze in a little bit."

He Daqing is here to cook, for free, he can't just not give him a meal.

Originally, seven people were just right for one table, but with Yan Bugui it became a little crowded. However, He Daqing didn't say anything, after all, there were other guests at the table.

Yan Bugui sat down between Li Jiandong and He Daqing, and the second aunt served him a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks.

Yan Bugui took the bowl and chopsticks and said, "Thank you."

Then he said to everyone: "Do you know why I came to see Li Jiandong? There will be another happy event in our hospital."

This one sentence whetted everyone's appetite.

Second Auntie loves gossip the most, so she asked directly, "Old Yan, who's going to have a happy event again?"

"Hehe, if I hadn't told you, you would never have guessed it. It's Zhao Quezi and Li Huilan."

Yan Bugui said this with a proud expression, without stopping the chopsticks in his hand, he accurately picked up a piece of braised pork with preserved vegetables and put it into his mouth.

Liu Haizhong and his wife were both confused when they heard Yan Bugui's words.

"Old Yan, do you know what's the most annoying thing about you? It's your mouth. You always only say half of what you want to say. Will you die if you finish what you want to say in one breath?"

He Daqing was in no mood to guess, so he directly retorted to Yan Bugui.

Li Jiandong suddenly thought of something and asked, "Could it be that Li Huilan is pregnant?"

Yan Bugui's eyes lit up, "Old Li, how did you know? It's true that Li Huilan is pregnant."

In fact, Li Jiandong had already thought about it a long time ago, and it might be that Yi Zhonghai was not capable of doing it.

When it comes to infertility, most of the time the cause lies with the man, and insufficient fluid activity is one of the most common reasons.

However, even with this speculation, Li Jiandong never thought of using this incident to disgust Yi Zhonghai.

Li Jiandong doesn't like to use other people's congenital defects to make excuses.

So he shook his head and said, "I'm just guessing."

He doesn't like to talk about other people's physical defects, but these people in Liu Haizhong like it very much.

Especially before, Yi Zhonghai had instigated Liu Haizhong to say that he had raised his son in vain. Liu Haizhong wanted to scold Yi Zhonghai for being a childless person at that time, but he didn't expect that it would really be true.

"This is incredible news. Old Yi always said that his wife was not good enough, but now Li Huilan is pregnant. Isn't this a slap in his face?"

Liu Haizhong said gloatingly and happily drank a glass of wine.

He Daqing also sneered: "This is called having no morals. This is retribution."

"Poor Huilan, she always thought it was because of her bad pregnancy that Yi Zhonghai bullied her for so many years and she didn't dare to say anything. Now she is finally fine, she can hold her head high now."

Second Aunt Hu Guiying was happy for Li Huilan. As a woman, she knew best the hardships involved.

"Okay, let's stop talking about this. Let's make fun of ourselves. Let's eat our food. Cheers."

Li Jiandong raised his glass and said.

However, at this moment, not only people in their room, but also other people in the hospital were spreading the news that Li Huilan was pregnant.

"Have you heard that Li Huilan is pregnant?"

"Ah? Wasn't she unable to get pregnant? How come she suddenly became able to do so?"

"Haha, this is getting interesting. Yi Zhonghai originally thought that Li Huilan was not good enough, and he was thinking about divorcing her so he could marry someone who could give birth. Now that they know that he is not good enough, which woman would dare to marry him?"

"It's hard to say. Maybe she will marry him with her child. Wouldn't that be a win for him?"

Word spread quickly, and soon everyone in the hospital knew that it was not Li Huilan who was incompetent, but Yi Zhonghai.

Jia Zhang also knew about this, and she deliberately stood at the door.

He shouted loudly to the widow Hutao in the middle courtyard, "Hutao, have you heard that our courtyard's Lao Yi is not good at sex? Li Huilan has been with him for so many years and she was not pregnant, but she got pregnant just a few months after marrying Zhao Quezi."

"Tsk tsk, some people are just so wicked and they deserve to be wiped out."

These words were too hurtful. Even Xiao Hutao, who was listening to them, felt that they were a bit too much, let alone Yi Zhonghai.

Of course Yi Zhonghai didn't believe that it was his problem. He was in good health, so how could he not have a child? It was obviously because Li Huilan was sick and took too many medicines that led to infertility.

He came out of the house and questioned Jia Zhang.
"Ms. Jia Zhang, you have to have evidence for what you say. Why do you say that I am incapable?"

Since that time, Yi Zhonghai introduced Qin Huairu to Jia Dongxu and Li Jiandong respectively.

She started to hate Yi Zhonghai.

In addition, their family later received so many benefits from Li Jiandong, and even their son was promoted by Li Jiandong to become a workshop owner.

So she always mocked Yi Zhonghai, who often went against Li Jiandong, whenever she had the chance.

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai was not convinced, Jia Zhang became even more excited.

"Yi Zhonghai, what other evidence do you want? Li Huilan just had a checkup at the hospital this morning. Could the hospital's results be false? If you're not convinced, go to the hospital and check yourself."

Yi Zhonghai said angrily: "Just try it, just wait for me."

Yi Zhonghai didn't dare to take the blame. If he really was infertile, wouldn't his family be extinct?

What he cared about most was raising a son to take care of him in his old age, so he took the money and went to the hospital without even finishing his meal. However, the test results would not be available on the same day.

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai was particularly anxious, the people at the hospital asked him where he lived and said that once the results came out, they could have someone send him to the street office or workplace.

at the same time.

After Li Jiandong and his companions finished their meal and drank a cup of tea, they took Zhou Zhigang to the tavern dormitory building.

"Come on, Lao Zhou, you can stay in this room. Next to it is the room Zhou Rong stayed in last time. It's just right for you two to live next to each other, so it'll be convenient for you to communicate if anything happens."

Liu Haizhong also extended an enthusiastic invitation.

Zhou Zhigang thanked them repeatedly. Although the house was not big, it had everything it needed, including washbasin and footbasin, toothpaste and toothbrush, towels, bedding, and even mosquito nets. It showed how much his daughter's friend's family valued him, which made Zhou Zhigang feel at ease.

"Great, that's great. Rongrong has a classmate like Guangqi. As a father, I can rest assured."

Zhou Zhigang was indeed relieved, thinking that the two-day and two-night train ride was not in vain.

After settling down the room, Liu Haizhong pulled Zhou Zhigang and He Daqing to play mahjong together.

Originally, I wanted to ask Li Jiandong to come along, but Li Jiandong was in the habit of taking a short nap at noon, so I let Yan Bugui go out and play, and I planned to go home.

As soon as I walked to the gate of the courtyard, I saw Ding Qiunan waiting there.

"Qiu Nan, it's so hot, why are you hiding here?"

Li Jiandong looked at Ding Qiunan and asked.

"Master, I have a question for you."

Ding Qiunan stood in front of Li Jiandong and asked with courage,
"Last time you said I was young and shouldn't have such wild thoughts, but why are Qi and Zhou Rong the only ones who can do it? They are both a few months younger than me."

Li Jiandong knew that she stopped him for no other reason.

She said with some headache: "Because Guangqi has no wife and Zhou Rong has no husband, some things will not be blessed by others, you know?"

Li Jiandong felt that he had made his words very clear.

Although it hurts a bit, a short pain is worse than a long one.

Although Ding Qiunan is shy, she is very stubborn. If we allow her to continue like this, it will be even more difficult to convince her in the future.

However, Ding Qiunan's stubbornness was beyond Li Jiandong's imagination. Just as Li Jiandong was about to walk past her and leave.

Ding Qiunan suddenly muttered quietly: "I don't need other people's blessings."

Her voice was low and she didn't finish her words.

But Li Jiandong was so frightened that he quickly quickened his pace to escape from her.

The day passed quickly.

The next day was a working day. Before going to work, Li Jiandong asked Guangqi to take Zhou Rong and Zhou Zhigang out for a walk.

When we arrived at the office, two clerks were already there.

When he saw Li Jiandong, he took the initiative to greet him: "Director Li is here."

Li Jiandong nodded and looked at the turned-on fan facing his workstation.

The two clerks were sitting on either side, and the fan couldn't reach them, so they could only get a little bit of wind.

Although it was only 8 o'clock, the two young clerks were sweating, which made Li Jiandong, who had the exclusive use of the fan, feel a little guilty.

"Xiao Sun, go to Workshop 7 and ask Jia Dongxu to come over for me."

"Okay, Director Li."

Xiao Sun agreed readily and stood up to call for help.

Li Jiandong sat behind his desk, took out a piece of paper and started writing and drawing. After a while, Jia Dongxu came.

"Master, are you looking for me?"

Li Jiandong put the newly drawn drawing on the table for him to see and explained,
"Dongxu, take a look at this part. This is the fan swing head kit I developed myself. That is, after installing this part, the fan will not be fixed in one position all the time, but will swing back and forth like a head. See if you can understand it first."

Jia Dongxu picked up the blueprint and took a few glances at it. As a level 7 fitter, these blueprints were not too difficult for him.

He quickly nodded and said, "Master, I can understand."

"That's good. Take it back and ask someone to make one for you. Then use it to replace the fan and try it out. If it works, we'll produce more and use it to replace all the fans in our factory."

After Li Jiandong gave all the instructions, he let Jia Dongxu go to give birth.

Xiao Sun and Xiao Zhang, who were standing nearby, were very grateful when they heard what Li Jiandong said to Jia Dongxu.

Following such a leader who cares about his subordinates, we are more motivated to work.

Unlike Li Jiandong's side, the workers in the workshop do not have fans to blow. It is better in large workshops like the fitter workshop and forging workshop. As long as the doors are opened, they can withstand the wind flow.

But some workshops, such as the slag flushing workshop, are in a difficult situation.

It's already 35 degrees outside, and the temperature in the slag flushing workshop is over 40 degrees.

Yi Zhonghai was wearing a heat-insulating suit and a mask on his face. Although it protected him from the fire outside, the inside of his clothes was soaked with sweat.

"Old Yi, there is a letter for you."

A slag washer came in from outside and handed Yi Zhonghai a letter.

There was no stamp on the letter, and the envelope had the logo of a certain hospital printed on it. Yi Zhonghai knew at a glance that it was his medical examination report from yesterday.

Looking at the opened envelope, Yi Zhonghai frowned and asked, "Why is this envelope open?"

"I don't know. It was already open when the security department gave it to me. There's nothing important in it, right?"

"It's okay, thank you."

Although Yi Zhonghai was a little unhappy, he didn't say anything. After sending the person away, he took off his gloves and opened the envelope.

Looking at the inspection report in his hand, Yi Zhonghai's expression became more and more ugly.

Because it clearly stated that his health was not good and he would never be able to have children in this lifetime.

Originally, Yi Zhonghai and Li Huilan divorced and wanted to find another woman to give birth to a child for him. Unexpectedly, Li Huilan suddenly became pregnant, and the problem of infertility turned out to be caused by him.

Even a cripple can do it, but he can't.

This was unacceptable to Yi Zhonghai.

"Old Yi, Old Yi?"

"what!"

Yi Zhonghai suddenly woke up, looked at his co-worker who was looking at him nervously, and took a deep breath and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The worker was speechless and said, "I was just about to ask you what's wrong. Why are you standing here? The converter is about to come out. Hurry up and prepare to flush the slag."

"okay."

Yi Zhonghai casually put the inspection report into his pocket, but his heart could not calm down.

I am infertile.

I turned out to be infertile.

It’s not Li Huilan’s problem, it’s my problem.

It's my problem!

This sentence kept circling in Yi Zhonghai's mind. He had no idea what he was doing. Slag flushing work was inherently dangerous. The temperature of the converter that had just been delivered was extremely high. Even though it was several meters away, the protective clothing was still heated.

However, Yi Zhonghai felt nothing at all.

He looked at a worker not far away, and felt that the other party's eyes were evasive, as if he was laughing at him.

"You see, Yi Zhonghai is infertile."

"The envelope that the security department just sent was open. I saw it clearly."

"He's already so old, if he doesn't have children, won't his family be extinct in the future?"

"How pitiful, hahahaha..."

Yi Zhonghai's mind was full of random thoughts. He felt that everyone in the workshop was laughing at him and had no idea that danger was approaching.

At this moment, he had been hoisted up, ready to wash the slag outside the converter from above.

Suddenly, the safety buckle of his seat belt fell off and he fell from mid-air.

…………

"Director Li, something bad has happened in the slag flushing workshop."

Li Jiandong was working in the office when a workshop director ran in quickly.

"What's wrong? Can you tell me more carefully?"

Li Jiandong stood up and walked out while listening to the report from the workshop director.

"Director Li, our workshop was just carrying out slag flushing. Yi Zhonghai fell down during the slag flushing process because his safety belt was not fastened properly.

I have sent someone to the infirmary to call for help, but his injury is quite serious and I am afraid that his arm may not be saved."

When he heard that Yi Zhonghai was in trouble, Li Jiandong fell silent.

Although he and Yi Zhonghai don't get along.

However, as the leader of the production department, he did not want any safety accidents to happen, even if Yi Zhonghai was injured.

When we arrived at the slag flushing workshop, there were quite a few people gathered there.

Li Jiandong walked over, and the workshop director cleared the way for him.
"Get out of the way, everyone. What are you all doing here? If you have nothing to do, just go do your own work."

The steel mill has so much work to do every day, the entire mill will not stop production just because of an accident with one person.

After being scolded, the workers dispersed, revealing Yi Zhonghai lying on the ground unconscious.

Li Jiandong walked over and asked, "How is he?"

The deputy director of the workshop said: "Director Li, Yi Zhonghai's breathing is stable, he must have just fainted from the fall. Our workers found him quickly and dragged him out from the explosion furnace.

However, because the temperature of the converter was too high, and he fell next to the converter, the high temperature burned his clothes on his right arm, and his right arm was severely burned. He is likely to die. "

Li Jiandong also saw that Yi Zhonghai's right arm was charred.

The converter is where steel is made. The temperature inside is as high as several thousand degrees. Even with the heat-insulating outer layer, the temperature is still very high. A piece of paper placed there will be ignited before it even touches the furnace.

It is conceivable how seriously injured Yi Zhonghai was at that time?

If he had not been dragged away from the converter in time by the workers, what we would see now might be his corpse.

The people from the infirmary arrived, gave Yi Zhonghai some simple treatment, and then sent him to the hospital for treatment.

At this time, Deputy Director Zhou, who had received the news, also rushed over. As soon as he entered the workshop, he asked, "Director Li, where is the worker who had the accident?"

Li Jiandong said: "Director Zhou, the worker's right arm was burned and he has been sent to the hospital. He was unconscious at the time, and the reason why the accident happened remains to be studied.

However, we just checked the safety belts at the time of the accident and found that the safety buckle was intact. It should be an operator error that caused the fall from the height due to not buckling it properly. "

At this time, a worker suddenly said "Huh", picked up a piece of paper that had fallen on the ground and said:

"Director Zhou, Director Li, this seems to be something left by Yi Zhonghai."

Another worker nearby also said: "Two leaders, I remember that Yi Zhonghai read this letter before the accident. At that time, the converter was about to come out, and I called him several times, but he didn't hear me. He looked lost."

"Show it to me."

Deputy Director Zhou said solemnly as he took the envelope from the worker.

Li Jiandong was standing next to Deputy Director Zhou. He clearly saw that there was an inspection report in the envelope and immediately understood what had happened.

It must be that Yi Zhonghai found out from the examination that he was the infertile one, and he was so upset that he lost focus at work.

This is God's will.

If Yi Zhonghai didn't despise Li Huilan and divorced her, then Li Huilan wouldn't have married Zhao Quezi and gotten pregnant with his child.

Yi Zhonghai could continue to believe that Li Huilan was infertile and today's tragedy would not have happened.

After reading the inspection report, Deputy Director Zhou understood why Yi Zhonghai was distracted.

He calmly put the report and the envelope into his pocket.

He said with a serious expression: "Now the weather is getting hotter and hotter. When the workers in the slag washing workshop are working, it is inevitable that their spirits will be exposed. You workshop directors should improve your sense of responsibility, stay in the workshop more, and remind the workers to take safety precautions. Do you understand?"

The workshop director nodded repeatedly.

(End of this chapter)