He tied the cow to the big locust tree next to the train station, and squatted down with Li Jin to smoke their pipes. "Captain, this phone is great. We can hear it even from this far away."

Li Jin nodded, "That's right, not only in China, but even abroad, we can keep in touch by phone!"

Li Qing's eyes widened. "Domestic? Foreign? No wonder installing a telephone required approval, waiting in line, and cost five hundred yuan!"

He let out a long sigh of relief. "That's why people say that a good life is having a house with two floors, electric lights, and a telephone! Our brigade has electric lights and a telephone now. When we build a small house, we'll be living like we're in paradise!"

Li Jin laughed, "Building high-rise buildings isn't suitable for our rural areas. If we build high-rises, where will we put all those tools like woks, plows, and harrows?"

Guo Daming said, "That's true. I've noticed that the buildings in Yanjing are very clean, with people coming and going. However, their living spaces are a bit cramped, and they cook in the stairwells."

Li Kang said, "Really? Doesn't that mean if one family cooks, ten families will smell the aroma?"

Guo Daming said, "Of course! The neighbors all know what each family eats for the past month!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Li Jin took a couple of puffs of his cigarette. "To be honest, the housing in our village is a bit poor. What do you think? What if our brigade built all the brick and tile houses together? Would that be a good idea?"

"Why not!"

"How should it be built? The brigade will provide the money, and it will be distributed uniformly?"

Everyone was immediately excited and began to think about the possibility of building brick houses.

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