The next morning, just as dawn was breaking.
Su Jianguo got up.
After a quick wash, he pushed open the courtyard gate and found Su Jianjun already squatting next to the tractor, smoking and waiting for him.
"Brother, so early?"
Su Jianjun stubbed out his cigarette and stood up.
"Go early, there's a lot to do today."
Su Jianguo patted his younger brother on the shoulder, and the two jumped onto the tractor, which sputtered and chugged off towards the edge of the village.
The mountain road was shrouded in mist in the early morning, and the tractor bumped along the rugged path.
About half an hour later, the two brothers arrived at the reservoir behind Beishan Mountain.
"This is it."
Su Jianjun turned off the engine and parked the car, pointing to a depression ahead.
Su Jianguo got out of the car and squinted as he looked at the forgotten project.
In a depression the size of three football fields, seven or eight poplar trees, each as thick as a wrist, grew crookedly on the silt.
This reservoir has been abandoned for far too long.
"This is much bigger than I thought."
Su Jianguo murmured to himself as he quickly walked down the slope.
Su Jianjun jogged to catch up, pulling out crumpled old blueprints from his pocket.
"Brother, look, this is the design plan left by the commune back then. The deepest part of the reservoir is six meters, and the dam is all made of stone."
Su Jianguo took the blueprints and slowly moved his finger along the contour lines.
His eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he suddenly strode quickly toward the center of the reservoir, squatting down next to a crooked poplar tree.
He brushed aside the thick layer of dead leaves. The soil underneath was still damp.
"There are water veins below!"
Su Jianguo excitedly grabbed a handful of soil and rubbed it in his hands.
"Jianjun, look, the soil is still damp. As long as we reinforce the dam and clear the irrigation canals, we'll definitely be able to fill it with water again!"
Su Jianjun squatted down and did some calculations.
"Just repairing the dam will require hundreds of tons of cement, plus cleaning the reservoir bottom and dredging the channels... Dude, that'll cost at least twenty or thirty thousand yuan."
"value!"
Su Jianguo stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and looked around the entire reservoir.
"Don't even mention 20,000 or 30,000, it would be worth 100,000! With this reservoir, the irrigation problem for 100 greenhouses will be completely solved."
...
Noon.
The two returned to the village, covered in sweat, and went straight to the village branch.
The old Party Secretary was sunbathing in the courtyard, his reading glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose, and he was holding an enamel mug in his hands.
"Old Party Secretary!"
Su Jianguo walked straight over.
"We'd like to take over the lease on that abandoned reservoir to the north."
The old Party Secretary almost dropped his teacup, and he hurriedly adjusted his glasses.
"What? Beishan Reservoir?"
His eyes suddenly widened.
"That's not just within our village's territory!"
Su Jianjun said urgently.
"Wasn't it built by our village back then?"
"It was built jointly by our village and Shenjiabao!"
The old Party Secretary explained.
"See that stone boundary marker right in the middle of the reservoir? North of it belongs to Shenjiabao, south of it is ours!"
Su Jianguo's heart skipped a beat.
He did see a stone tablet buried in the soil in the middle of the reservoir, which he initially thought was a survey marker.
"Both villages need to agree to the contract."
The old Party Secretary shook his head.
"Those people from Shenjiabao are not easy to talk to. Last year, they even got into a fight with our village over herding sheep across the border..."
Su Jianguo took out a cigarette and handed it to the old Party Secretary, then sat down on the threshold himself.
"Old Party Secretary, could you please tell me in detail what exactly happened back then?"
The old Party Secretary took a puff of his cigarette and squinted.
"That was in '64. The two villages pooled together 300 laborers, and they worked for an entire winter..."
The old Party Secretary reminisced.
"Later, with the implementation of the household responsibility system, no one maintained it, and it gradually fell into disuse."
Su Jianguo thought for a moment and then said directly.
"What if I paid to lease out all the land in both villages?"
"Disaster!"
The old Party Secretary exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Shenjiabao is dirt poor right now, it's notorious in the surrounding area. If you go and try to lease their land, they'll eat you alive..."
The old man shook his head and didn't say anything more.
Left with no other option, the Su brothers had to leave the village branch.
Although the village secretary said that the people from Shenjiabao were difficult to deal with.
However, Su Jianguo still decided to go and take a look first.
...
"Brother, Shenjiabao is just ahead."
On the tractor, Su Jianjun pointed to a cluster of low-lying houses in a distant mountain valley, his voice tinged with wariness.
"I heard this village is dirt poor, and it's true, they don't even have a decent road."
Su Jianguo squinted and looked over.
Along the muddy path, several dilapidated mud-brick houses stood crookedly.
The thatch on the roof was sparse and looked like it had been chewed by a dog.
Several ragged children were playing by the roadside. When they saw the tractor approaching, they immediately stopped what they were doing and looked around curiously.
"parking."
Su Jianguo suddenly said.
Su Jianjun stepped on the brakes, and the tractor stopped immediately.
Su Jianguo jumped out of the car and walked towards the group of children.
As he approached, the children scattered like startled birds, except for one boy who looked about seven or eight years old, who stood still, staring at him with his big eyes.
"Little friend, how do I get to the village chief's house?"
Su Jianguo squatted down and asked in a soft voice.
The boy didn't speak, but simply pointed to a relatively neat brick house in the center of the village.
Su Jianguo took out a few fruit candies from his pocket and stuffed them into the boy's hand.
The boy froze, looking down at the colorful candies in his palm, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes.
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