From the History of the Republic of China to Raising Children in the 1970s

48

Mother Li didn't care about what these people were thinking. She went back to her room after showing off, leaving only these old men jealous. So when Li Chengye came out, they hadn't recovered yet.

But they came to play chess after all, which was the point, so they forgot about it after a while. But it was like this on the surface, but it was not certain what it was actually like. Anyway, when Li Chengye was playing chess, he felt that these people's chess style today was more aggressive than usual. Although in the end it didn't have any impact on Li Chengye.

The time for playing chess passed very easily. Four grandfathers came today. The other two left early because they had to pick up their grandson from school. In the end, only Grandpa Zhang and Grandpa Zhou were left. The two of them took turns to play. Today was a very enjoyable day. It was already half past five when it was over.

"Checkmate." Li Chengye put down the chess piece and checkmated the opponent again.

"Alas, I lost again." Grandpa Zhou held a chess piece and thought for a long time. He tried several methods but found that they were useless. In the end, he could only give up. But although he sighed like this, the smile on his face was very satisfied. He made a little progress today.

Grandpa Zhang laughed and said, "You must have lost again. You have never won."

Grandpa Zhou rolled his eyes at him and said, "You are talking as if you have won. You should know that you are still defeated by me."

Grandpa Zhang was helpless and aggrieved, but he really couldn't say anything because he really couldn't beat the opponent.

Li Chengye just put the chess pieces on the table into the box by himself, and didn't pay attention to their dispute.

Of course, the two masters didn't mean to quarrel here, and stopped after a few words. Suddenly, Grandpa Zhang looked at Li Chengye, approached him and asked mysteriously: "Hey, I just saw that the book you brought back seems to be related to smelting. Your steel plant is going to buy new equipment recently, right? You are now the secretary of the factory committee, it seems that you have a lot to worry about? How long has it been since you played chess with us?"

His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the three people near the table to hear clearly.

"We are going to buy equipment. We are very busy recently." Li Chengye didn't expect him to say this suddenly. You know, they have known each other for a while. Li Chengye only played chess with them and didn't know more about them. He didn't know what these people did during retirement. Anyway, they all looked like intellectuals, and their words and deeds were different from those of ordinary workers.

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Zhou also showed a concerned look and said, "Are you going to buy in Country D? Or Country M? Have you evaluated what type of equipment to buy?"

Li Chengye shook his head, "These have not been decided yet, but the province is going to organize a study tour to Country L and Country D recently, and our factory will also arrange people to go there." These things are not secrets, so Li Chengye naturally has no secrets. Besides, Grandpa Zhang only looked at the cover and knew that the book he borrowed was about smelting, so maybe he also has some understanding of this aspect.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly asked: "Grandpa Zhang, Grandpa Zhou, what did you do before you retired? Isn't it related to our steel industry?"

Grandpa Zhang smiled. When he heard this question, he was like a cat whose tail was touched and it was scratched. "Hey, yes, Old Man Zhou and I were both professors at the Provincial University of Science and Technology. We were in the field of mechanical manufacturing, and our main research direction was related to smelting equipment."