The child who was picking up coal ran to the office and whispered to Wang Weidong: "Just now I heard Cao Baolu's daughter-in-law tell Lao Changtou outside the cafeteria that Shi Guozheng asked Lao Changtou to go to his house at night. ”

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Wang Weidong asked.

"If I lie to you, you're a puppy!" The child said with a glare.

"If what you said is true, I'll buy you half a catty of villain cake tomorrow, don't tell anyone about it!" Wang Weidong said.

Under the temptation of half a catty of villain cakes, the child has been secretly staring at Lao Changtou since he ate at noon.

At noon, Lao Changtou drank a little wine and went back to sleep, and the child also sat on the bed in the Chase bunk and stayed near Lao Changtou.

After sleeping until about four o'clock in the afternoon, the workers resting on the Chase bunk divided into several groups to play poker, and Lao Changtou sat by and watched for more than an hour before leaving the coal mine.

He didn't expect that his every move was being watched by a seven or eight-year-old child.

The child hurriedly ran into the office and said to Wang Weidong: "Hurry up, Lao Changtou has already gone out!" ”

Seeing Wang Weidong's slow movements, the child came up and pulled Wang Weidong's arm.

The two of them walked to the gate of the coal mine, although it was night, but the snow was white, and Lao Changtou could still faintly see his back when he walked dozens of meters away.

"Let's go!" The child took Wang Weidong's hand and urged.

"You don't have to go, if you win, I'll go to the township supply and marketing cooperatives tomorrow to buy you sugar." Wang Weidong said lightly.

Lao Changtou's son and daughter-in-law live in Tuanjie Village, but now the father and son are in the same boat, Wang Weidong has not seen Lao Changtou go to the village for so long, and he doesn't go when he is resting during the day, why did he suddenly sneak away at night?

Two hours later, Lao Changtou came back, and in the middle of the night today, he was going to pick up Lao Chen's shift and go down to the well to see the substation room.

But when Lao Chang was about to change his clothes and go down the well, Wang Weidong said to him: "Uncle Chang, you don't have to go down the well tonight, I just want to go down the well to see the working face, and then I will watch it for you in the substation room, from tomorrow onwards you will do some odd jobs on the well, and when you are old, don't go down the well after your legs have rheumatism." ”

"How embarrassing is this, let the mine manager go down the mine to be on duty for me!" The old man refused.

"It's okay, if you have a job in the future, you will do a little work, and if you don't have a job, you will stay, the coal mine will not give you a bite to eat!" Wang Weidong said boldly.

Wang Weidong changed into his work clothes, belt, put on the miner's lamp and went down the mine.

Lao Changtou lay on the bunk and couldn't fall asleep, he was doing an ideological struggle, and in the end he still felt that he couldn't offend Shi Guozheng and must complete the task.

At twelve o'clock, the workers who ascended the well had already finished bathing, eating, lying down and falling asleep, and they quietly got up and walked to the outhouse, changed into the cotton clothes they wore and carried the miner's lamp into the well.

The pillars of light of the miner's lamp swayed in the inclined shaft more than a hundred meters long, and the boots stomped on the ground and made a thumping echo.

I was not afraid of being discovered, and at this time, the workers were working at the working face hundreds of meters away, and there was no one near the wellhead.

Walking to the bottom of the inclined shaft, Chang Chang walked to the chamber where the water pump was. He crouched down next to the pump, put the miner's lamp in his mouth, took out the wrench stuffed in his pocket, and began to unscrew the screws on the junction box of the pump motor.

Unscrewed the four screws, Lao Chang took out a piece of wire two or three inches long from his pocket, bit the rubber at both ends of the wire with his teeth to expose the copper wire inside, and he put on gloves and held the wire close to the binding post.

As long as the wire is connected to the two binding posts, the pump motor will be burned immediately, the pump will stop working, and the underground will not be able to drain water, and most of the underground coal mine will be soaked in water after three or four hours.

Just when Lao Chang was engrossed in doing things, a man pounced on him and pressed him to the ground, and then it was a punch and kick!

The miner's lamp in Lao Chang's mouth fell to the ground, and immediately it was dark, and only Lao Chang's wailing could be heard.

"Don't fight, you won't be able to survive if you fight again!" Chang Chang shouted.

Wang Weidong turned on the miner's lamp and shone it on the old man's blue nose and swollen face.

"You vengeful old king! Go back and pack your things and get out of the coal mine immediately! Wang Weidong said.

"Weidong, I am also forced to do it, if you let me leave the coal mine, I will be homeless. You have mercy on me! Lao Chang lay on the ground and folded his hands and pleaded.

"Stop talking nonsense and get out now! If you don't leave, I'll call the police and arrest you!" Wang Weidong threatened.

The next morning, at noon, Cao Baolu and his daughter-in-law did not see Lao Changtou, usually even if Lao Changtou was in the well to watch the substation room, he would run up and finish eating and then go down, but today during the day there was no shadow of Lao Changtou at all.

"I asked for leave last night, saying that I had something urgent to do in the city today." Wang Weidong explained to Cao Baolu and his family.

The husband and wife looked at each other and looked at each other.

In the evening, Cao Baolu returned to the village and went directly to Shi Guozheng's house.

He told the story that he didn't see Lao Changtou today, and also told Wang Weidong's explanation.

"No one can compare to him for this old couple of Bardem flirtatious, let him do a little serious thing and he will be a bear! I told me last night that it was fine, but when I went back, I was timid and ran away. Shi Guozheng said through gritted teeth.

"What can that old thing do now besides eat?" Shi Dali said on the side.

"Baolu, it's hard work, it's too late to go back." Shi Guozheng said.

Seeing Cao Baolu go out, Shi Guozheng turned his head to his son and said, "You find a walk-behind tractor tomorrow!" ”

At about nine o'clock the next night, Wang Weidong and Zhou Maocai were sitting in the office chatting when the lights suddenly went out.

Wang Weidong hurriedly walked into the corridor and saw that the lights in several rooms were out.

"There's a power outage?" Zhou Maocai said in the dark.

Wang Weidong returned to the office to find a flashlight in the dark and then ran to the wellhead, and sure enough, there was no electricity underground!

Large coal mines are guaranteed by double electricity, and one line can be transferred to another line immediately after power failure, but small coal mines cannot have such conditions.

Wang Weidong ran in the direction of the township government, he wanted to see if there was also a power outage in the township.

After running four or five hundred meters, Wang Weidong suddenly stopped, and a telephone pole on the side of the road fell to the ground. It seems that this is where the problem lies.

What to do, Wang Weidong had no idea for a while. If it can't be repaired in two or three hours, the well will start to flood.

Zhou Maocai stood in front of him and saw Wang Weidong running back with a flashlight.

Wang Weidong returned to the office and began to call Yu Deliang.

It took three or four minutes for Yu Deliang to answer the phone.

"Brother Yu, it's me Weidong! There was a sudden power outage in our coal mine, do you know the people from the power supply bureau below, can you ask them to come over and repair it quickly, and a power pole near the coal mine has fallen. Wang Weidong said anxiously into the microphone.

Putting down the phone, Wang Weidong said to Zhou Maocai: "My friend said to help as much as possible, but we also have to make a little more preparation." Immediately let the workers go up the well, and I asked my dad to lay bricks at the door of the substation room, so that it could last a little longer. ”

"If the people from the power supply bureau can't fix it within three or four hours, the well will still be flooded. It's night, and the people from the power supply bureau are coming more slowly. Zhou Maocai said.

(End of chapter)