After a while, Lu Yuan stood up, gently patted the mud off his trouser legs, and looked into the distance.
"It seems this plan needs to be moved up!"
The children were confused. They didn't know what Lu Yuan was up to or what his plans were.
Back at his lodgings, Lu Yuan locked himself in his tent and began to write and draw with paper and pen. Occasionally, he would go out to ask a few people for advice.
However, all of this seemed to be just Lu Yuan finding things to do when he had nothing else to do.
A few days later, the foreign seller came to the door again, but this time he brought not only a truckload of goods but also a trailer full of timber.
"Lu, this is all the timber my trailer can carry! Please take a look and check it!"
Lu Yuan nodded, then walked to the back of the trailer and looked at it. Each tree was over thirty centimeters in diameter, and the saw cuts had been smoothed out. Obviously, there was a huge timber market there, and these things were brought over from there.
Then Lu Yuan called a few children to call someone over to weigh the items. Soon, a group of people arrived with a portable weighbridge.
Everyone was puzzled when they saw that Lu Yuan wanted to spend money to buy wood, but Lu Yuan did not intend to explain to them.
"It's a total of over fifteen tons, so just give us 120 kilograms of rice and flour or meat of equivalent value!"
Lu Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and directly said to Du Heng behind him, "Old Du, send someone to the kitchen and bring them half a pig!"
When Du Heng heard that they were going to take the pig, he immediately became anxious.
"Lu Yuan, this is half a pig! Have you thought this through? Trading half a pig for so little timber is such a loss!"
"Hehe, not a loss, not a loss. You'll see what it's for when the time comes! Alright, hurry up and get on with it!"
Seeing Lu Yuan's mysterious expression, Du Heng could only sigh and leave.
Half a pig weighs over 100 jin (approximately 50 kg), which would be about 1,000 jin (approximately 500 kg) if converted into grain. Lu Yuan didn't hesitate and simply threw the whole half pig onto the other party's vehicle.
"Bring the timber with you next time!"
The foreign man, his face beaming with excitement, sniffed and said, "Sure, no problem! I'll bring it over again next time, but you'll have to collect the rest yourselves!"
"Okay, I'll trouble you again next time!"
After saying that, Lu Yuan waved to the other party and then stomped on the trunks of the birch trees.
"Sturdy! Durable! This many birch trees are enough!"
Du Heng clearly still didn't understand what Lu Yuan was trying to do, but seeing that half a pig had been exchanged for this pile of wood, he felt it was a huge loss no matter how he thought about it.
Lu Yuan said softly, "Take all these tree trunks over there to dry! Then chop them up and pile them up!"
Du Heng had initially thought Lu Yuan was going to use the timber to build a house, but he was taken aback when he heard Lu Yuan say that he was going to chop up the timber and pile it up.
"Lu Yuan, isn't this timber you just bought for building a house?"
"Who told you I was going to build a house?"
"Why are you gathering so much wood if you're not going to build a house?"
"Hehe! Don't ask, you'll find out when the time comes! By the way, if you're free later, gather everyone together for me, I have something to announce!"
"Okay! I'll go ask right now! They're being all mysterious!"
Seeing that almost everyone in the camp had arrived, Lu Yuan stood on a large rock and surveyed the crowd.
"Everyone, I've gathered you all here today mainly because I need your help with something!"
These words immediately caused an uproar in the audience.
"Lu Yuan, just say what you need. Why are you asking for help? You're being too polite!"
"Exactly, you're treating us like outsiders! Just say what you want to say!"
"Anyway, we're not really needed to do anything at the camp, so just say what you need! We're just killing time anyway!"
"..."
As everyone started talking at once, Lu Yuan understood what they were thinking.
So he stopped hiding it.
"Well, the living conditions here are really terrible. It's really uncomfortable to always be huddled together in tents! So, I've been wandering around the valley these past few days and found a few better places where we can improve our living conditions!"
Upon hearing this, everyone beamed with joy. It turned out that Lu Yuan was thinking of everyone and wasn't trying to benefit himself.
Then Lu Yuan pointed to several locations in the distance and said, "I've checked those places. There were no collapses even during the earthquake, and the mountain structure is very stable. More importantly, the mountains there are mainly composed of soil and rock, and now they are covered with a layer of volcanic ash more than 30 centimeters thick, which provides excellent insulation and protection against the cold!"
At this point, everyone understood Lu Yuan's intention.
Du Heng nodded slightly: "No wonder he's been acting strangely these past few days, so that's what he's been up to!"
Soon, the tasks were assigned among the crowd.
In addition to those who previously engaged in planting and raising livestock on the ground, everyone who meets the physical and age requirements must participate in the work.
There is actually another major reason why everyone is so excited.
That was because Lu Yuan specially prepared an extra meal for everyone in order to motivate them.
Although they have now solved the food problem, everyone is basically living on the edge of subsistence. Some people haven't even reached that level, and after finishing their daily bowl of thin porridge, they can only stay in bed.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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