Chapter 7 Production of Daily Necessities

  A swarm of women rushed over, surrounding the off-road vehicle and the four people on it. Qin Hao and Yang Erwu were dizzy in the midst of the chattering beauties, not knowing which one to look at first.

  When they came to their senses and carefully distinguished the words: "Where is General Lei? Why isn't General Lei here?"

  "Yes, yes, I saw General Lei in the car from far away just now."

  "No, no, General Lei is standing on the bridge blowing wind!"

  "How come it's gone?"

  ……

  Qin Hao and Yang Erwu's smiling faces slowly stiffened, then collapsed: the person they were looking for was not them, but General Lei! The abominable General Lei!

  They didn't find Lei Meng, so they stood around the vehicle for a long time, discussing and speculating. It wasn't until Huang Chu shouted that they slowly dispersed: General Lei has arrived without a sound and left without a trace, he's already returned to the mansion! Everyone scatter!

  The sun slowly sets in the west, casting a long shadow. Yang Erwu let out a sigh of relief and said, "Let's go back, it's too depressing."

  "Yes, they all say to find General Lei, why not find me Qin Hao?" Qin Hao also got off the bus with a bitter face. After sitting for so long, his legs and feet were a bit numb, he quickly stretched his waist.

  "Alright, you two stinky brats! Always picking and choosing, either dissatisfied with the figure or dissatisfied with the appearance. How can you marry a wife like this?" Old Yang sat rubbing his legs non-stop, but his mouth was scolding Qin Hao and the other without any politeness.

  At this time, a head drilled out from under the bridge and then lightly jumped onto the bridge. Qin Hao was about to ask who it was, but saw that it was actually Lei Ming. He ridiculed: "Hehe, it's actually the famous General Lei who ran away with his tail between his legs! You scared me half to death, I have to go back and call out to my mom to calm down."

  "Ha ha, it's just that the girls haven't found you yet, why take out your frustrations on me? Don't hurt your liver, there are still many things waiting for you to do."

  Qin Hao pursed his lips and ignored Lei Meng's words, turning his head to gaze at the distant scenery on the west bank of the river, pretending not to have heard.

  Lei Meng looked at Yang Erwu, who was also in a state of not caring, lowering his head to carefully count the sand on the ground. He shrugged and jumped onto the car. Started the engine, stepped on the accelerator, and with a "whoosh" sound, it sped away. By the time the two came back to their senses, the car had already gone five or six meters, speeding away into the distance.

  "Hey! Wait for me!" Yang Erwu shouted as he ran up. Qin Hao also sprinted after him.

  "Whoa!" The car screeched to a halt. "I thought you two were going to have a romantic moment on the bridge, watching the sunset! Come on up!"

  The two of them quickly climbed up. In a moment, the car had gone far away with a whoosh.

  Back at the City Master's mansion, Yang Fu walked around the Yueye carriage parked in front of the gate and sighed: "This thing is really convenient, wherever you go, just step on it and you're done, doesn't take much effort."

  Lei Meng stood on the steps in front of the door, watching Yang Fu turn around, and chuckled: "That's right, Grandpa, you should know that the gasoline used for burning is a very flammable thing with a high calorific value. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to great lengths to tinker with the petroleum with Yang Tian."

  "Uh-huh, not bad." Yang Fu nodded in satisfaction, then looked at him with a serious expression and asked, "How about I take this car out for a test drive tomorrow?"

  The safety measures of this car are not yet in place, and Yang is getting old, I'm afraid he'll make a mistake while driving, that would be troublesome. Lei Ming scratched his head, smiled awkwardly and said: "Hehe, Grandpa, this car isn't quite ready yet, it's not suitable for you to drive at the moment."

  "Then you and Yang Tian can go!" Old Man Yang was unhappy.

  "It's different, it's really different." Lei Meng wanted to say that we had taken the test before, but in this world, there are new rules. He took a deep breath and said seriously: "This car is not something that ordinary people can drive, you need to undergo training and learning first, otherwise, if you drive too fast, you'll lose control, hit someone, or crash into a wall, fall into a pit, it's terrible! The speed is too fast, lightly, you'll get hurt, severely, the car will be destroyed and people will die!"

  "Do you think I, an old man, can drive fast?" Yang Fu was angry. At his age, how could he be like those young people who drove with all their might? This is nonsense! If not willing, just say so!

  What a headache, this old man is getting more and more like a kid. Lei Meng rubbed his temples, suddenly had an idea, the car speed is too fast because of too much oil, then control the oil, won't it not be so fast! Thinking about it, Lei Meng nodded slightly, "It's possible, but not tomorrow, I still need to take this car as a model for other technicians to refer to and make more cars, what about later?"

  Lei Meng had always been a model for others to follow, and Yang Fu could only helplessly wait with bated breath. He let out a sigh, walked dejectedly around the car, and headed towards the dining hall on one side of the courtyard.

  Yang Erwu and Qin Hao, who were standing on the left side watching, saw Lei Ming being outdone and laughed as they chased after Yang Fu.

  Found everyone's performance quite interesting, Lei Meng smiled slightly and followed behind the three.

  The next day, as soon as the sky brightened, the rooster was still crowing loudly at dawn. Lei Meng got up and quietly left the house, avoiding the guards, jumped onto a cross-country vehicle, turned the ignition switch, started the car, and drove out of Hexi City with a "whoosh" sound, heading straight for the Petrochemical District under the morning sun.

  He stopped the car in front of a gray-black iron-framed factory building in the petrified area, and Lei Meng jumped out of the car, beckoning to the guard soldier, asking from afar: "Was everything okay last night? Were there any unidentified personnel approaching?"

  "Report to General Lei, all is normal!" The soldier stood upright with a light machine gun and responded loudly.

  Lei Meng waved his hand and walked quickly into the dark factory building without a door. He turned right after three meters, where there was a small room with a red wooden door. This was his private office. He gently pushed open the red door, and at chest level on the wall, he flipped a switch. The electric light hanging in the middle of the approximately ten-square-meter office lit up, emitting an orange-yellow glow that illuminated the entire office.

  Looking at the middle of the house, on that two-meter-long and one-meter-wide red strip table, neatly stacked shallow yellow paper notes, he let out a sigh of relief, fortunately, they were all there. Yesterday was really careless, these materials were not stored in another safe place, if they were lost, it would take a lot of time to rewrite them. Fortunately, they were all there!

  He sat heavily in the red armchair behind the bar, his hands clasped to his head against the back of the chair, thinking quietly, what should he do next, whether to develop weapons and defeat Huang Tian and Jin Yuan at once, or to occupy this corner safely and steadily, calling himself king?

  Just as Lei Meng was deep in thought and hadn't come up with any results, Yang Tian burst in excitedly, shouting: "Lei Meng, you're finally willing to let me drive the car!"

  Zhang Er and the monk were baffled, and Lei Ming was also puzzled as to why Yang Tian had said such a thing. He asked in surprise: "Have I ever said that?"

  Yang Tian's face suddenly lost its joyful expression, but he still held onto a glimmer of hope and asked: "You brought the car over so early, isn't it because you've had a change of heart and want to take me out for a spin?"

  Lei Meng lightly shook his head and said, "It's not a guilty conscience, but you can also take it away to have some fun!"

  "Good stuff!" Yang Tian suddenly jumped up, a joyful expression flashed across his forehead, and he turned around to rush out the door.

  "Slow down!" Leiming beckoned Yang Tian to stop, and chuckled: "All you need to do is follow the style of this car and have ten more made within half a month!"

  Yang Tian listened to a stumble, but thought that he could drive and take a stroll in the wind, regardless of what was behind him. He threw out a sentence: "Good!" and then rushed out in a gust of wind. After a while, the car made a "puffing" sound, and Yang Tian drove away with a flourish.

  Listening to the distant car sounds, Lei Meng finally came to a conclusion in his heart: For now, military strength is temporarily enough for self-defense, and it's better to let people here live comfortably first, otherwise, how can we live up to everyone's pursuit of freedom and ease.

  In the following six months, Lei Meng devoted himself to guiding technical personnel in production operations, responding to sudden production situations, and after completing one factory, he let them play freely, and then went on to guide the next factory to start work...

  Plastic basins, bowls and cups were produced and distributed to officials and soldiers in various cities, leaving them amazed and more dedicated to the construction of Hexi City. PVC pipes were manufactured and installed in the main buildings of each city, equipped with faucets, and water towers were built, allowing people to use water freely within the courtyards without having to fetch water from wells on the other side of the yard. However, this convenience was not noticeable in Hexi City, where the water quality was already good. Chemical fibers were also produced, and colorful fabrics were woven, giving ordinary people more clothing options.

  Yang Fu wore a red and yellow plaid shirt, driving his slow-moving off-road vehicle, stopped happily in front of a tall gray-black factory gate, slowly getting out of the car. The guarding soldiers rushed to salute and ask how he was doing.

  He waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to bother. Afterwards, he walked slowly into the factory gate, turned right and entered Leiming's office, chuckling: "Leiming, this complex and novel thing has made an old man like me dizzy. This life is not in vain!"

  Leiming, who was drawing a rough sketch with his head down, heard the footsteps early and stood up, smiling: "There are still many, I'm afraid Grandpa can't use them all." In recent years, Hexi City has initially formed a complete industrial system and has a solid foundation for modern industry. He also plans to produce some electronic products.

  Yang Fu shook off his red and yellow plaid shirt and smiled: "This fabric is really comfortable to wear, breathable and cool!"

  "Wear what you like, there's plenty of fabric to go around." Lei Meng poured a cup of water from the thermos for Yang Fu and asked, "I wonder why Grandfather came over?"

  "There's nothing much, just came to take a look at you." Yang Fu said, stretching his neck to glance around, as if looking for someone hiding.

  "Grandpa, what are you looking at? I'll get it for you." Seeing Yang Fu's strange behavior, Lei Meng furrowed his brow.

  "Heh heh, nothing much. Grandfather is just checking if you're hiding a girl here or something, why don't you ever go back to Hexi City to live?" Yang Fu lightly sipped the hot water from his ceramic cup and said calmly.

  Lei Meng slapped his forehead, only then remembering that he hadn't lived in Hexi for a long time. He had been buried in work here for half a year. He hastily said: "Alright, alright! I'll pack my things and head back to Hexi City to live."

  "Ah, that's right." Yang Fu nodded and whispered, "If we don't go back now, the girl for the blind date will run away."

  Lei Meng, who had just turned around to pick up his things, heard this and stiffened, turning back in surprise and exclaiming, "What? Blind date!"