A single stone caused a thousand ripples, and the scene suddenly became boiling.
"Really? My second child can't find a job!"
"Hey, if I can earn some money, the burden on my family will be relieved."
"Changyuan is a very loyal kid. He's worthy of being Sister Suxia's son!"
Even though a few people looked uneasy, such as Wang Fugui and Zhou Changhe, whose expressions became particularly ugly, everyone obviously had high expectations for Chen Changyuan's promise.
Soon, someone in the crowd took the initiative to shout out: "Changyuan, count me in. Call me when you need help!"
Others chimed in, "I'm willing to do it too! As for wages, we'll just follow the rules of our village. As long as it can add some food to our family, that's fine!"
Seeing the atmosphere gradually getting heated, Chen Changyuan smiled and waved his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down first: "We will do things step by step. My farm is limited in scale at the beginning, so I will arrange some manpower first. After the new batch of bamboo sheds are built, I will definitely treat those villagers who are hardworking and willing to contribute well."
The next morning, two faded wooden tables had been set up in the open space at the east end of Qingshui Village.
Chen Changyuan slammed the abacus on the table, and the pen in the ink bottle shone with metallic luster in the morning light.
"Line up! Those who can write their names will get the forms, and those who can't will go to the old boss to get their fingerprints!"
He shouted at the top of his lungs, startling away two dozing sparrows on the roof of the bamboo shed.
The crowd exploded, and several young men from the neighboring village pushed and shoved forward, their muddy Liberation shoes splashing the dew on the ground.
"Boss Chen! Twenty-three strong laborers have arrived from our Wangjiagou!"
The bearded man pounded his chest, followed by a group of men carrying hoes.
Chen Changyuan narrowed his eyes and looked at the leader, noticing that the man's trouser legs were stained with fresh yellow mud - it was obvious that he had crossed the mountain overnight.
By noon, more than 30 military green tents had been set up on the slope of the medicinal materials base.
Chen Changyuan squatted in the newly built bamboo shed, clattering the beads on the abacus towards the account book.
The old man opened the straw curtain and came in, bringing with him the smell of dry tobacco: "Dazhu's father has been pacing the village entrance three times just now. His eyes are almost popping out of his head."
"Let him stare."
Chen Changyuan paused his pen on the roster and said, "Divide the newcomers into three groups. The people from Wangjiagou will be mixed with the people from our village."
The pen circled the name "Wang Tieniu" - the way this man wrote when filling out the form just now was not like that of an ordinary farmer.
The muffled sound of a shovel digging soil was heard outside the bamboo shed. When Chen Changyuan lifted the straw curtain, he ran into Wang Tieniu, who was walking briskly with a feed bucket weighing over 100 pounds in one hand.
The back of the man's neck was sunburned red, and his coarse cloth jacket was stained with salt from sweat, but he suddenly stopped when passing the bamboo shed.
"Boss Chen, the fence at the west end needs new stakes."
Wang Tieniu wiped the sweat from his forehead, took out a half-broken chalk from his trouser pocket and drew a simple structural diagram on the ground. "I think using mortise and tenon joints is stronger than nails, but it's more labor-intensive."
Chen Changyuan stared at the crooked yet precise lines on the ground, and suddenly remembered the architectural drawings he had seen in the provincial capital in his previous life.
He bent down, picked up a stone, and added two diagonal lines at the tenon joint. "Add a dovetail joint?"
"middle!"
Wang Tieniu's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thighs with his palms like a palm-leaf fan, "I'll take people to change it right away!"
When he turned around, his trouser legs rolled up, revealing an old centipede-like scar on his calf.
Old Yuan came over with an enamel pot, and the scent of mint mixed with the smell of sweat penetrated my nose.
"There's something wrong with this guy."
"He insisted on receiving the wages for 18 people for the 23 people in Wangjiagou."
As dusk deepened, Chen Changyuan squatted on the roof of the newly built pig house.
Down below, Wang Tieniu was teaching a few young men how to build a crossbeam. His raspy voice made the bamboo slats rustle: "Hold the tenon with your left hand, and strike it diagonally with the hammer in your right hand!"
The moonlight fell on his rolled-up sleeves, and the muscles in his forearms formed smooth arcs as he moved.
"You were an engineer in the army, right?"
Chen Changyuan suddenly spoke.
Wang Tieniu's whole body stiffened and the hammer fell on the bamboo raft with a clang.
He looked up at the figure on the roof, his Adam's apple bobbing twice. "I left the army in 1975 and worked on the Sanmenxia Hydropower Station."
"Boss Chen, take a look at this."
Wang Tieniu's knees made a slight cracking sound as he stood up and pointed at the newly replaced bamboo stakes.
"There's a half-meter-deep layer of gravel buried under each pile, so rainwater can't wash them away."
He kicked the bamboo poles as thick as a bowl, causing the snow on the ceiling to fall down, but the fence did not move at all.
Chen Changyuan squatted down and dug up the soil. Broken tiles were mixed in the gravel layer, shining bluish-black in the morning light.
"Three dilapidated houses in the west of the village were demolished yesterday?"
He twisted the tile and chuckled, "That's a brilliant idea."
“It saves money on ingredients.”
Wang Tieniu wiped the ice off his beard and suddenly lowered his voice, "Last night we caught two guys peeing at the base of the fence. They still had blue strips of cloth from the Zhou family dyeing workshop tied around their belts."
Just as Chen Changyuan was about to speak, he heard the old man shouting in the distance: "Changyuan! They're waiting at the ancestral hall!"
He caught a glimpse of the dark red bloodstains mixed with the yellow mud on Wang Tieniu's trouser legs, and understood in his heart - it might not be as simple as arresting someone last night.
The ancestral hall was filled with the smoke of mugwort, and a yellowed village map was spread out on the eight-immortals table.
Chen Changyuan's fingertips traced the eastern hillside: "This sunny slope is designated as a medicinal field. I'll plant Bupleurum first in the spring."
There was a water mark on the parchment, which just circled the three acres of wasteland next to the Zhou family's ancestral tomb.
"useless!"
Wang Fugui's hand, holding the purple clay teapot, trembled. "The old man of the Zhou family is buried in that land. It's taboo to disturb the ground."
"During the famine in 1947, Old Master Zhou traded three dou of millet for someone's ancestral tomb."
Chen Changyuan slowly rolled up the map and said, "In terms of Feng Shui, this should be Widow Li's land."
Old Li, who was smoking a pipe in the corner, suddenly coughed violently, and sparks from the pipe splashed onto the blue brick floor.
Wang Tieniu rushed in with a shovel, bringing with him a chill. "Boss Chen, the drainage ditch in the west piggery has been dug through."
He deliberately threw the waistband stained with the blue cloth from Zhou's Dyeing Workshop onto the table and said, "I picked this up from the ditch on the way."
The ancestral hall suddenly became so quiet that one could hear the sound of mice gnawing on the wood on the beams.
Chen Changyuan stroked the stamp of "Zhou Ji Dyeing Workshop" on his belt and looked out the window - Zhou Dazhu was peeking through the window frame. When he met his gaze, he hurriedly lowered his head and the back of his head hit the porch pillar with a thud.
"Wang Tieniu will be the team leader for the western film."
Chen Changyuan suddenly said, "We'll kill two pigs tonight and stew some pickled cabbage and pork for the guys working the night shift."
The ancestral hall was buzzing with discussion. The old man squatted on the threshold and laughed, and the copper basin jingled as he hit his pipe.
The next morning, the sun was shining brightly and the muffled sound of hoes breaking through the soil could be heard on the eastern slope.
Chen Changyuan stood at the edge of the field with his trouser legs rolled up, crushing a piece of ochre-red clay with his fingers. "Bupleurum rhizomes are used as medicine, and they prefer this kind of soil with a high iron content. One acre of land can yield 300 kilograms of dried goods. At the current purchase price at the county herbal medicine station..."
He paused deliberately, watching the surrounding villagers unconsciously crane their necks forward.
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