With everyone's help, Du Yuhan's house was built very quickly, in just ten days.
In those days, there was no such thing as interior decoration; just painting the walls white and installing doors and windows was enough. Houses as elaborate as the one built by Du Yuhan were rare in the countryside.
So the remaining renovations were taken care of by the village's bricklayers and carpenter Du Lianqiao.
Du Yuhan's house is very unique. In the five-room main house, there are two bedrooms on the east side, a living room next to it, and a large bedroom on the far west side.
A second, rear building was constructed right behind the main house. A door was opened in the northeast corner of the back wall of the living room, leading directly to the rear building.
Du Yuhan considered that it would be too cold here in winter, and that the bedrooms all had heated brick beds and heated walls. She also installed earthen heating systems in the house.
She drew up the blueprints and had her father arrange for someone to make the heating system and stove. They were installed directly when the house was built.
A kitchen, a bathroom, a boiler room, and a storage room were built in the back room.
With the back room blocking the view of the main house, it will be warmer in winter.
Du Yuhan requested that the bathroom be built to be the same type as the one in Luancheng, which is clean, hygienic, and convenient, and also convenient for showering in winter.
The kitchen was quite large, with three large earthen stoves located on the far east side. Windows were opened on the east and north walls of the kitchen, so there was no fear of oil fumes while cooking.
The two large earthen stoves were directly connected to the earthen kang (heated brick beds) in the two main rooms in the front house. When it was cold, these two stoves were used for heating. In the summer, the stove that was not connected to the kang was used for heating.
In the future, we can build a shed and a stove in the front yard for cooking in the summer.
A small boiler room was built on the westernmost side of the back house. In addition to a stove for heating, there was also an earthen stove, which was connected to the kang (heated brick bed) in the westernmost room of the main house, and was specifically used for heating the kang.
This way, all three bedrooms in the main house have heated kang beds, which can keep the house warm in winter and provide enough room for all family members to stay. Besides, each kang bed is quite large, and four or five people can sleep on them without any problem.
The central living room is quite large, taking up the space of two rooms. A rectangular dining table is placed in one corner, and a sofa set sits against the north wall, perfectly complemented by a coffee table and two potted plants. Du Yuhan also had three outbuildings built in the courtyard facing the street to serve as a clinic. The front will be her workplace, and the back her residence, allowing her to serve both purposes.
Liang Shouzhen approved a large plot of land for Du Yuhan, and the house has a front yard and a back yard.
Besides the three main rooms, there are two side rooms in the front yard. The side rooms are used for storage. The backyard is also quite large, so it can be considered as Du Yuhan's private plot where she can grow some vegetables, and also raise chickens and pigs. It all depends on Du Yuhan's own wishes.
A woodshed was also built in the backyard to store firewood.
A passageway was specially built next to the kitchen in the back room, and a back door was opened in the back wall that leads directly to the backyard, making it much more convenient to carry firewood into the kitchen.
Du Yuhan's house was fully functional after it was built, and she was very satisfied with it.
After the house was built, everyone was very impressed and thought it was a great house, and they wanted to build their own houses like it in the future.
In the future, the houses built by the villagers mostly imitated the house design of Du Yuhan's house to some extent.
Du Yuhan's house has many rooms and requires a lot of furniture, but she's not in a hurry and tells her adoptive father to take his time. They can do it one room at a time.
Since it's a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), there's no need to build a bed, which saves a lot of trouble. They just need to build some wardrobes, cabinets, tables, chairs, and so on. Du Yuhan has drawn up the designs for all of them. Du Lianqiao has already made a few items that Du Yuhan can use for now.
Before Du Yuhan's house was even finished, Gu Qishen arrived in Laohewan Village with two leaders from the tractor factory and several technicians.
The blueprints that Du Yuhan gave to Gu Qishen have been studied by the technicians and have been produced. The initial tests showed that they worked very well. This time, he brought the finished agricultural machinery and drove two tractors to Laohewan Village.
This time, everyone will go into the fields for a final inspection.
Gu Qishen came to fulfill his promise and specially approved a tractor for Laohewan Village, at a very favorable price, only half the normal price. This delighted Liang Shouzhen and several other village officials. This was a tractor, after all; there were only a handful in the entire township.
The villagers of Laohewan Village were overjoyed to hear that someone had actually delivered a tractor to their village. This was a machine that could replace human labor; with this tractor, they could save themselves a lot of trouble.
The technicians first installed a tilling tool on the tractor, and then drove the tractor quickly across the field.
Using machines to till the land is so fast! In no time, a field several acres in size is tilled, much deeper and faster than tilling by hand. Everyone watching applauded enthusiastically. At this rate, all the fields in their village will be tilled before planting.
After plowing the land, we switched to a different type of tillage equipment. This iron plow can create three furrows at a time. This was designed to work with the tractor's power in mind, in case too many furrows were created and problems arose.
This way, three people can stagger their positions and follow behind the tractor to sow seeds at once.
Du Yuhan didn't design anything too complicated, fearing the tractor factory wouldn't be able to make it. Too much complexity would easily lead to problems. Keeping it simple is better for now. Even so, it's still much faster than plowing with oxen or horses.
The crowd erupted in enthusiastic applause as they watched the furrows created by the machine turn out even better than those plowed by oxen and horses. They wouldn't need oxen and horses to pull the plow anymore; the tractors would solve everything.
Everyone thought that Dr. He had brought such great benefits to their village as soon as he arrived, so they should treat him with respect and try their best to keep him in their village.
Gu Qishen was very pleased to see how successful and efficient the agricultural machinery was.
He said to Liang Shouzhen, "Uncle Liang, the newly manufactured agricultural implements that are compatible with the tractor are a success. The tractor and the supporting agricultural implements will be specially approved for your village."
You'll need to find two people to learn how to drive a tractor. The technicians from the tractor factory have to go elsewhere to provide guidance, so they won't stay in our village for more than two days. It would be best to find two people with some education; that way, they'll understand the principles of tractors and agricultural machinery more quickly and learn much faster.
Hearing Gu Qishen say this, Liang Shouzhen was in a dilemma. There were basically no educated people in their village. Only his children were somewhat educated, but they were either working or studying outside the village and were rarely there.
Moreover, the technician only stayed for two days; even if someone were to learn from him, he wouldn't be able to learn it.
Seeing Liang Shouzhen's troubled expression, Du Yuhan said, "Uncle Liang, I do know a little about tractors. Why don't I learn from the technician first, and then I'll teach the people in our village how to drive tractors? That way, it won't delay their journey."
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