"Then what do you plan to do, prepare the land first or build the house first?"
The old branch secretary looked at Wang Zhong and asked.
Under the candlelight, the old branch secretary's ravaged old face was particularly clear, and another puff of smoke spurted out from his mouth and nose.
Not to be outdone, Ma Huashui next to him took a smoking pot that was only half the length of the cigarette rod in the old branch secretary's hand, stuffed it with tobacco, lit it with a candle, and started puffing away the smoke.
But he also looked at Wang Zhong curiously.
"Of course we'll build the house first!" Wang Zhong answered directly without thinking.
At this time, there was another strong wind outside, and the wind blew up the dust and made a whistling sound. The old party secretary and the horse shouted for water in an even heavier mood.
After arriving and experiencing the timing and conditions here, the two of them had a better understanding of Li Dayou's behavior of running back to Yongquan Village.
When the wind blows and you open your mouth, there is a mouth full of sand.
I slept in the ground all night, and when I woke up the next morning, half of my body was buried in the sand.
Wang Zhong continued: "I have thought about it. I will buy bricks from the surrounding brick kilns first, build a house, and then take over the water. As for the brick kiln, I will wait until Director Zhang gets news from me before making plans."
"Adobe houses are easy to live in! If you have to build a brick house, it will cost you money!" the old party secretary reminded.
Wang Zhong said: "Since we want to build a house, we must do it in one step. Even if we need to change it in the future, we will only change it on the original basis, without the hassle of tearing it down and rebuilding."
“Besides, if money can solve a problem, it’s not a problem!”
As soon as these words came out, both the old party secretary and Ma Huanshui choked up.
"You coward, don't dare say this outside, or you'll get beaten!" the old party secretary said angrily.
Wang Zhong chuckled: "Uncle, when the time comes, call Uncle Dayou and Shui Wang over, ask Uncle Shui to take Debao, and call all the folks from our village who are coming to Diaozhuang this time. Let's go first." I'll help build the house."
"As for wages, a worker on the market now earns about eighty or ninety yuan for a month's work, which works out to almost three yuan a day. I'll add one yuan to everyone, and calculate it as four yuan a day, but it's only limited to helping me build a house. period of time."
"Four yuan a day?" The old party secretary shook his head after hearing this: "In one month, it won't be 120. It's too high, too high!"
Xihaigu is a well-known backward and poor area in the country. The people usually don't even have enough to eat, let alone money.
In the original plot, Debao, Gawa and the others were preparing to run out of the mountains. When they were escaping outside, Gawa's mother saved ten yuan, but Gawa took away five yuan.
The deposit is only ten yuan. It can be imagined that the current labor and commodity prices in the entire Xihaigu area are not much higher.
"Now the villagers have just arrived, and the situation here is like this. If the wages are higher, the villagers will be more motivated. At least, let them see a little hope! There is a leader who is willing to stay."
The old party secretary said nothing and took two more puffs of cigarette in silence.
Although Ma Huanshui also felt that he was high, Wang Zhong's words left him unable to refute.
He himself also wanted to earn more money, get the land ready and pick up the house as soon as possible.
Ma Huashui thought for a while and asked, "Over at the brick kiln, if Director Zhang fails to report, what are you going to do?"
"If Director Zhang can't do it, then I'll do it myself! It's just a smaller scale!" Wang Zhong said calmly.
Wang Zhong has already thought about this matter. Director Zhang's side is just a casual move. It can be the best, but it doesn't matter.
"Anyway, I can resell it to the villagers at the cost price first, and let the villagers build the houses first. Let's not talk about the people from other villages. Just the villagers who came from Yongquan Village, I can give them to you first. Put the bricks of money in advance, we will set a time limit and pay it back slowly."
"no!"
As soon as Wang Zhong finished speaking, the old party secretary immediately objected: "How can I let you advance money! No, no!"
Ma Huashui also said with deep approval: "The old party secretary is right! We accept your kindness, but this matter cannot be done like this. Your money did not come from the strong wind. Building houses, preparing land, etc. are everywhere." It's a place to spend money. If you open this hole, everyone will come to you to borrow money. What will you do then? Borrow or not?"
"Shui Shui is right, you can't use this money to advance! This hole can't be opened!"
Seeing the determined looks on their faces, Wang Zhong smiled, feeling quite relieved and did not insist anymore.
The three of them discussed it for a while under the candlelight before leaving.
Early the next morning, Wang Zhong went to the brick kiln in the town, agreed on the price, and bought 30,000 bricks.
I went to Xingqing City and ordered a batch of reinforced concrete, sand, and various types of wood.
On the third day, reinforced concrete, sand and wood were all delivered to the town.
There is no road to the immigration village yet, and the trucks carry too much weight, so no one dares to leave. Wang Zhong did not force anyone to unload everything in the town.
At the same time, news came from Director Zhang, but unfortunately it was not ideal. The leaders recognized the method proposed by Wang Zhong, and they were willing to provide convenience to a certain extent, but this convenience had certain limits.
The general meaning is that the government is now vigorously developing the immigrant diaozhuang area in Yuquanying. Most of the human, material and financial resources have been invested in it, and there is no extra capital investment.
However, the government supports people to start their own businesses and provides more job opportunities for the folks who immigrated to Diaozhuang.
The meaning is already obvious.
Wang Zhong was not in a hurry to work on the brick kiln, but was busy building his own house first.
The homesteads are all planned with the approval of the government, and Wang Chong's family owns more than an acre and a half.
There are strong winds and sandstorms in the Gobi Desert. Even building tiles is difficult, let alone high-rise buildings. Strong winds can blow away tiles!
However, these are easy to deal with. Use cement mortar to cast the sloping roof on site, and fix it with cement like bricks when laying tiles, so you are not afraid of wind blowing.
So the key is to have money. As long as you have money, many difficulties are not difficulties.
It just so happened that what Wang Zhong was lacking most now was money.
The 180,000 yuan earned from selling the bracelets was also given to Wang Zhong before he came here, and the royalties that have now increased to several thousand yuan per month are all Wang Zhong's confidence.
With the old party secretary and Ma Huanshui helping, it was not a problem to find people. After all the materials were transported to the town, on June 20, Wang Zhong led Ma Huanshui and Li Dayou, and several fellow villagers from Yongquan Village. The villagers in an immigrant village had already pulled donkey carts, ox carts, pallet carts, etc. to help Wang Chongyun with materials.
Dozens of people, more than thirty vehicles, and several strong laborers from nearby immigrant villages also called in. Everyone worked together, but it took three full days to get all the building materials Wang Zhong bought. Transported back to the immigration village.
Over at the homestead, the old branch secretary also led people to dig Wang Zhong's foundation according to Wang Zhong's requirements.
Forty centimeters wide and sixty centimeters deep, criss-crossed vertically and horizontally, and the bottom was tamped several times with a wooden hammer.
With the experience he had in Yongquan Village, the old party secretary was already familiar with the world. The wages Wang Zhong paid was four yuan a day, which was higher than the wages of working in the town and nearby farms. Naturally, the villagers also worked hard. It took a lot of effort.
Although the preparation work has been done, it will still be a while before the construction can start. The most indispensable thing for concrete is water, but now in Diaozhuang Immigration Area, the most lacking thing is water.
The old party secretary led the people to dig two rectangular pools one and a half meters deep and three meters square. They smeared a layer of red mud on the bottom and sides without using cement. After they dried, there were two natural storage pools.
It took several more days to buy and transport water.
On June 26, everything was ready, and the construction of Wang Chong's new home officially started. A circle of reinforced concrete was poured into the ground beam, and bricks were laid on the ground beam.
The villagers had never been exposed to reinforced concrete houses and didn't know what to do with them. Watching Wang Zhong spray water on the beams and columns for maintenance, and watching the excess water flow into the ground, they all felt distressed.
The speed is really fast when there are many people. It only took half a month to put up the tiles.
On the day when the tiles were laid and the beams were laid, Wang Zhong went to the town and bought a sheep. He stewed the mutton and potatoes together. He invited all the villagers who came to help. He paid the wages to the villagers first, and then made the white flour steamed buns with mutton. , had a wonderful meal,
After the house was built, Wang Zhong returned to Yongquan Village, took Shuihua and rode a motorcycle across hundreds of miles to Jintan Village.
The resettlement village where Wang Zhong and others are located is called Jintan Village.
He looked at a lonely brick house in front of him, surrounded by a half-person-high wall. The courtyard door was made of wood, similar to the half-open door on a farm.
Is this our home? Shui Hua stared blankly at the house in front of her, unable to believe her eyes.
The key is this lonely courtyard in the endless Gobi Desert.
There are only three main rooms facing south, but they are all very spacious. The main room in the middle is the largest, and the two sides are slightly smaller. The roof is covered with tiles and fixed with cement.
Shui Hua pushed open the courtyard door and walked into the courtyard. The ground in the courtyard was also paved with a layer of red bricks, which was slightly higher than outside. The construction debris had also been cleaned away, and everything was cleaned inside and outside. It was done with help from the folks.
"I deliberately left the roofs of the east and west houses without tiles. When the surrounding trees are planted to block sandstorms, we can set up ladders to go up to enjoy the coolness in the summer and the sun in the winter."
"The water cellar is also ready. It's just outside the West House. It's surrounded by three layers of red bricks and the top is made of reinforced concrete. I also specially got a water press. If I need water in the future, I won't have to pour it in buckets. It’s mentioned!”
Wang Zhong smiled and said to Shui Hua calmly.
"It's still the same as at home. On the west side are the kitchen, warehouse, bathroom and toilet. On the east side, I built two side rooms. When we are completely settled here, I will bring my father-in-law over and we will have a baby. , a family of four, it’s a good place to stay!”
There is an open space between the east side of the main house and the wall, which is about the same size as the water cellar. Wang Zhong surrounded it with red bricks to form a flower bed. The middle is backfilled soil, which is all sieved loess, and the middle is planted. A sapling half as tall as a man grew up.
There is basically nothing in the Gobi Desert, except for one. The land is vast, sparsely populated, and the terrain is flat. The homestead allocated to each household is much larger than it was far away in the mountains.
The windows of the three main houses are all wooden and glazed.
The wooden door was closed, only the keyhole was exposed.
Wang Zhong took out the key, twisted it twice, opened the door, turned around and took Shui Hua's hand to go in.
Shui Hua stood at the door and did not move.
"What's wrong?" Wang Zhong turned around and looked at Shuihua in confusion.
Shui Hua said: "I want to visit Diwowo where you lived during this time!"
"What's there to see?"
"I want to go!" Shui Hua was still standing at the door, looking at Wang Zhong firmly.
Wang Zhongzhan smiled: "Okay!"
Wang Zhong led Shui Hua and walked toward the Diwowo area without riding a motorcycle.
There are only a dozen households in Jintan Village now, and the only house that has been built is Wang Zhong's family. It is a solitary house on the endless Gobi Desert.
When we arrived near Diwowo, we gradually saw people.
"Splash?" Seeing the splash, the old party secretary was a little surprised, but more happy.
"Just came here?"
"Yes, uncle!" Shui Hua greeted the old party secretary with a smile: "Are you still used to staying here?"
"What's wrong with it?" The old branch secretary also had a smile on his face: "You can still make money here!"
"I supervise the work of your family Wang Zhong. He pays me a salary of four yuan a day. After half a month, I have earned almost a hundred yuan. If I continue like this, in a few months, my family will be able to build a house. Got it!"
The old man didn't build Wang Zhong's brick-concrete house, so the cost was naturally not as high as Wang Zhong's.
Moreover, the old party secretary did not make money alone. Li Dayou, Shui Wang, and his three grandsons also worked together. In the half month of Wang Zhenjian's house alone, their three grandsons earned more than two hundred yuan. Three hundred wages.
I exchanged a few words with the old party secretary, but he was busy going to the fields and didn't say much.
The couple walked to the diwowo where Wang Zhong lived. At this moment, the diwowo was empty, except for the original bed made of several wooden boards and a pair of dry thatch and corn stalks in the back. Nothing else.
Even though it was daytime, the Diwowo was still a little dim. Shui Hua sat on the wooden bed and scanned the surroundings. Then he turned to look at Wang Zhong who was sitting next to him. He intertwined his fingers and held them harder, tilting his head sideways. His head rested on Wang Zhong's shoulder.
"The house is also built, so what are your plans next?"
Faced with Shui Hua's questions, Wang Zhong said he planned to build a brick kiln first and prepare to help the villagers build houses first.
Shui Hua agreed very much with Wang Zhong's idea and said on the spot that Wang Zhong did not need to take care of his own land. Wang Zhong only needed to take care of the brick kiln and leave all the work on the land to her.
With more than ten acres of land, how could Wang Zhong let Shui Hua work alone? He immediately smiled and said: "You don't have to worry about the things in the land. Just help me take care of the logistics!" "
Shui Hua raised her head, looked at Wang Zhong and said, "But the land needs to be plowed. The sooner it is plowed, the sooner we can plant crops!"
Wang Zhong walked up to Shui Hua, raised his hand and scratched her nose, and said with a smile: "My silly wife, we don't need to do the work of preparing the ground ourselves."
"Do you want to hire someone to prepare the land?" After being married for more than a year, Shui Hua gradually got to know Wang Zhong and immediately guessed what Wang Zhong was thinking.
Wang Zhongdao: "Our family is not short of money, what we are short of is large-scale land, what we are short of is time, what we are short of is strength. What the folks who come to Diaozhuang are short of most is money. They have plenty of time and strength. Anyway, they don't need it." You need to find a place to work around to earn money.
That being the case, why can’t we all get what we need?
In this way, we can free up time, and the villagers can also earn money. Anyway, the villagers have to prepare the land themselves, and by the way, they can prepare our land, and it also saves them from going to town every day, to the state-owned farm next to it. run! "
"If we hire everyone, won't it cost too much?"
Li Laoshuan had no abilities. Before Shuihua married Wang Zhong, her family was a well-known poor household in the village and had to rely on relief grains distributed by the government every year to survive.
Li Laoshuan is also unreliable. Shui Hua has been far more sensible than his peers since he was a child. He digs grass, herds sheep, grows corn and potatoes, and is known in the village as a diligent and capable person.
It is precisely because of the hard life of childhood that Shuihua developed the habit of being thrifty and thrifty now.
If you hire everyone, the cost will indeed be quite high.
Wang Zhong smiled and said: "What a stupid wife! This is not how the accounts are settled. Just listen to me and I will settle the accounts for you slowly!"
Shui Hua looked at Wang Zhong and pricked up her ears.
Wang Zhongdao: "Now I can earn one or two thousand yuan a month from writing, and sometimes more than three thousand yuan. If I wait another half a year, my book will be serialized, and after it is published and sold, I will earn more, not less." , but if I go to the town to work for someone, how much do you think I can earn in a month?"
"More than a hundred?" Shui Hua stuck out her tongue, understanding what Wang Zhong meant.
If you work by yourself, it costs more than 100 yuan a month. If you hire someone to prepare the land, it will be about the same price. But if you use this time to write a book or do other things, you will only earn more, not less.
"First of all, our family is not short of money to hire people. Secondly, the villagers want to build houses. They will definitely not be able to spend so much money to buy bricks for a while. When we burn the bricks, we can give them to them first. They asked the villagers to work in the brick kilns to pay off their debts. Paying debts with work is one thing, so I can also ask them to help us prepare the land. This is also paying debts with work!"
"Now that our house has been built and we have a place to live, you are responsible for helping me take care of the logistics and finances. You can't let me handle such a big thing by myself!"
"If we get this done, wouldn't it be more meaningful than clearing out a few acres of land?"
Shui Hua's big green eyes shone with admiration. She no longer struggled and worried, with a smile on her face and said, "Okay, you are the head of the family, I will listen to you!"
There was another reason. Although she was a bit reluctant to pay someone to clear the land, in the face of Wang Zhong's concern, Shui Hua secretly rejoiced in her heart. After nearly a month of separation, the couple had only been married for more than a year, and they were still in love. When mixing oil, Shui Hua inevitably felt a little missing.
If you follow Wang Zhong and manage logistics and finance for him, you will have more time to interact with Wang Zhong.
"By the way, I'll go back later and stew the mutton. In the evening, I'll call my uncle and Uncle Shui to my house for dinner. I'll also discuss the brick kiln with them!"
Early the next morning, Wang Zhong rode his motorcycle to the land that Director Zhang had applied for on the edge of the town. He called Shui Shui and the old party secretary, and after the fight, he led dozens of young people and brought tools to help.
Wang Zhong signed a contract with everyone, and he still paid everyone four yuan a day and eight hours of working time. It can be paid daily or monthly! You can also directly use labor to offset the bill. When the bricks are fired, the cost of the bricks will be deducted from the cost of labor.
Lao Party Secretary and Ma Huanshui both chose to settle their accounts directly, while others basically chose daily settlement, one settlement per day.
Half a month later, the three large brick kilns were officially completed, and a month later, the first furnace of bricks was officially fired.
All of a sudden, dozens of villagers who came to immigrate to Diaozhuang were very busy.
Three months later, the old party secretary's family was the first to build a house. The walls were all made of red bricks, and the cost of reinforced concrete roofs was too high. After discussion with Li Dayou, the old party secretary chose to use the old-fashioned clay house for the roof. You can change it later when you have money.
There are also three main rooms, a side room, a kitchen, and a dry toilet.
The main money was spent on labor, wood and water.
Wang Zhong gave the money for the cement as a reward to the old party secretary. He didn't want to see the old party secretary working so hard.
Although the old party secretary didn't say anything, he kept this sentiment in his heart and often whispered it in the ears of Li Dayou and Shui Wang, asking them to think of ways to repay Wang Zhong's favor in the future.
Before winter, Wang Zhong and his fellow villagers hardly stopped for a day. They piled piles of bricks and fired bricks one kiln after another. The brick kiln also started to make a profit when the old party secretary's family started to build a house. .
Of course, this would be inseparable from Director Zhang's efforts to help contact buyers and develop sales.
After winter, the soil is frozen, so digging the soil to make bricks is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and affects the quality. After winter, the remaining work is firing.
Time passed quietly in the busyness, and in a blink of an eye it was the Spring Festival in early 1994.
In two and a half years, low bungalows have risen one after another on this endless Gobi Desert. Under the unified planning of the government, although every household is still very simple, the whole village looks neat and tidy. Preface, a series of flat and wide roads can lead to the front door of every house.
The brick kiln business has already been on the right track, and its production capacity and scale are catching up with the large kiln factory near Xingqing City.
After working in the past two years, what the villagers have been most busy with is preparing the land, sifting out sand and gravel, buying soil from dozens of miles away, transporting it back, and filling it in the land.
The land that has just been prepared is not fertile enough to grow wheat yet, so we can only plant crops such as corn that do not require high soil quality. This year, some plots have already been harvested.
······
In Wang Zhong's home, the old branch secretary was holding a bowl of hot tea and had just taken a sip.
"What!"
The old branch secretary suddenly stood up from the kang, his face full of shock, and he looked at Wang Zhong in disbelief: "What did you say?"
"I want to contract another hundred acres of land to grow pasture, wolfberry, grapes, and raise Tan sheep!"
"One hundred acres of land?" The old party secretary raised his index finger: "Are you kidding me?"
"One hundred acres!"
"Your brick kiln factory is doing well, why are you raising tan sheep?"
Wang Zhong said: "Uncle, don't get excited, let me tell you first!"
"Although it is good to dig earth and bake bricks, the threshold is too low, the technical content is not high, and there are many people who know it, so the competition is very high. If nothing else, the big kiln factory next to us is several times larger than ours. "In the future, more and more people will come to Diaozhuang. By then, one brick kiln will definitely not be able to support so many villagers, so we must find other ways."
"Moreover, clay is needed to make bricks. If the soil is burned into bricks, where will there be so much soil for us to grow crops in the future?"
The old party secretary sat back on the stool, no longer as excited as before.
Wang Zhongdao: "Yanchitan sheep are famous all over the country. They have even been hosted at state banquets many times. Moreover, our place is close to Xingqing City and the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway. If we raise the sheep, we won't have to worry about sales at all!"
"And our climate and various conditions here are very conducive to the growth of Tan sheep."
"What about the wolfberries and grapes?" Although the old party secretary's tone was stern, there was no less concern and worry in his words.
"I have done research before and found that the climate here is very suitable for the growth of wolfberry and grapes. If they are really grown, the quality will definitely not be bad."
"Anyway, I have time now. If I succeed, the fellow villagers who come to Diaozhuang in the future can learn from it and earn a living!"
The old party secretary was still a little worried: "You are doing well in the brick kiln now, but you have to raise Tan sheep, grow grapes, and wolfberry! You are a human being, not a god. Your energy is limited. There are so many things that you have to do. Why are you so busy?"
"Uncle, I'm not stupid! If I run away from all three places by myself, I will definitely be too busy!" Wang Chong said with a smile: "I have already thought about it. Over there at the brick kiln, they have also learned how to call Uncle Shui. It's almost done, you don't need me to keep an eye on it all the time. As for the technology, I'll let Uncle Shui and the others take care of it first."
"Besides, aren't you here too!"
Listening to Wang Zhong's heartfelt words, the old party secretary was silent for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and said helplessly: "You young people like to toss, so go ahead! I'm old and can't do it anymore!"
"Uncle, you are only over sixty years old, how can you serve your age!" Wang Zhong said with a smile.
The old party secretary sighed and had no choice but to deal with Wang Zhong: "How do you want me to help you? This is not Yongquan Village, and my words are not as effective as they are in the village!"
Jintan Village is an immigrant Diaozhuang Village. Among the current twenty-four Diaozhuang households, only ten are from Yongquan Village. The rest are from other villages. The old party secretary has high prestige in Yongquan Village, but the others People may not recognize it.
"Whether it's in Jintan Village or Yongquan Village, uncle, you are in my heart, that's all!" Wang Zhong said with a thumbs up.
"You bastard, stop flattering me! Let's get down to business!" Although the old party secretary had a tough talk, a kind smile appeared on his face full of grooves.
Wang Zhong chuckled and said, "If I were busy here or at the brick kiln, wouldn't there be one less person in charge!"
"Didn't they call for water?" said the old branch secretary.
Wang Zhongdao: "Uncle Shui Shui is now the technical backbone of the kiln factory, and he is busy directing everyone to burn the kiln!"
The old party secretary said: "So you want me to come over and take care of the kiln for you?"
Wang Zhong said: "Uncle, with his fiery eyes, I really can't hide anything from you!"
"For the sake of our fellow villagers in Yongquan Village and Jintan Village, uncle, you can't just leave it alone!"
"With that mouth of yours, you can make dead people live for you!" The old party secretary looked helpless against Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong looked at the old branch secretary who had turned white beard and hair, and he felt relieved. In the past two years, in order to build houses and prepare the land, the old branch secretary had not been idle for a moment. He was only over 60 years old, but he looked as old as if he was almost 80 years old. year old man.
The back that could barely be straightened before could no longer be straightened.
Wang Zhong didn't want the old branch secretary to be like the original one. Hearing that planting trees can prevent wind, he dug holes and planted trees in the surroundings of the village. On the way into the village, he dug holes and planted trees in obscurity, and finally fell ill.
