Chapter 278 Courtyard Wall
The poor harvest in the 16th Regiment in recent years is all due to insufficient water.
Crops need water to grow, but Xinjiang province is particularly dry, with very little rain throughout the year.
Much of the land here is sandy and saline, requiring a large amount of water to grow crops.
Digging and clearing canals requires more manpower and cannot be completed in three to five months.
At a time when we should be working together to build a better future, everyone from the regimental headquarters to the company level is busy correcting ideological problems, starting with investigating the words and deeds of our ancestors and the past. Every day is spent doing these time-wasting things.
Wei Yang sat in his office, looking at the list of problematic personnel submitted by each company by Secretary Huang. He tapped his fingers on the table and said to Secretary Huang, "Go to the riverbank and compile a list of the female comrades working there. Then notify each company commander to submit the list at the meeting in five days."
Secretary Huang had a general idea of the company's current situation. He cautiously said, "Regimental Commander, there's a saying going around these days that ideological education is a long-term process. The list of names is likely to keep growing. Unless there are clear instructions from above, the company won't prioritize production..."
Wei Yang knew he needed to communicate with Secretary Feng, but he didn't want to rush to give face to someone like Secretary Feng who didn't realize the direction was wrong. He needed to do ideological work, but he also needed to do the work of building the regiment.
In the current situation, a thorough reading of documents can always lead to a solution.
Wei Yang said, "What needs to be corrected must be corrected, but other work cannot be delayed. Go and tell the person in charge of the reservoir and water management station to come to me at four o'clock this afternoon."
Managing a regiment was a first for Wei Yang, who had never done this kind of work before. However, he was quick-witted and knew how to avoid giving anyone a handle to use against him. The current difficulty was how to find a way out in a situation where there were daily criticism and education meetings and slogans.
Today, Song Lubai didn't go to work at the supply and marketing cooperative; instead, she stayed home tidying up the house.
After washing the sheets, she and Wei Zhao washed the felt blankets again.
The felt became very heavy after getting wet, and it took two people working together to spread it out on the pile of firewood.
When the neighbors heard that the two women wanted to build a shed over the stove, someone said, "The wind is strong in May and June. A small shed will definitely be blown over. If you're going to do it, you should build a proper kitchen with mud bricks. There are five of you eating now, and there will be even more people after the regimental commander's wife has a baby. Build a small kitchen. How can you live a proper life without a kitchen?"
It would be best to build a kitchen, but considering the distance to the neighboring houses, the kitchen can only be built in front of the house.
But if you build it in front, it will block the road, so it's necessary to build a wall around it.
Song Lubai thought to herself, she wondered how many years Wei Yang would stay here. If it was a long time, she really wanted to tidy up the house and yard properly.
"Commander's wife, why don't you build a yard? Just put up a wall, a shed above the kitchen, and weigh it down with lots of stuff so the wind can't blow it away."
Song Lubai glanced at everyone and said, "Let's talk about it later. My husband is busy, and I have to go to work at the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow. My sister has to take care of the child, so there's no one to help at home. Let's leave it at that for now."
Several women enthusiastically said, "You're busy, but we neighbors can help. My husband knows how to make mud bricks and build walls, and he's got plenty of strength. If we all work together, it'll be done in two or three days."
Song Lubai and Wei Zhao originally intended for their neighbors to start first, but they didn't plan for their own family to take the lead.
Wei Yang is the new regimental commander, and his every move is being watched. He can't take the lead in this kind of thing.
Wei Zhao said, "If my family is going to build a courtyard, it has to be a decent one. Let's see which of your families has built one and what it looks like before we talk about it."
One sentence shut the neighbors up.
The neighbors' eyes darted around, and they began to understand what was going on.
It's not that no one has ever thought about building a wall around the house, but the key issue is that the house doesn't belong to them, and building a wall requires earth.
In this situation, no one dares to dig up the earth to build a courtyard wall.
Someone tentatively asked, "Commander's wife, can we build our own courtyard wall?"
Song Lubai said, “In my hometown, the commune would allocate residential land, but the commune members only had the right to use it. The ownership belonged to the production team. Every household had a yard. Here, there is no explicit rule that we cannot build yard walls. Anyway, I have not seen any document that specifically stipulates this. Even if a yard wall is built, the house and the yard wall still belong to the group. Everyone just needs to know this. Don’t treat the collective’s property as your personal property.”
"A fenced-off yard is just for storing some things. Every household can raise a couple of chickens, and it's not really useful for anything else. As long as you don't block the road, who can do anything to you?"
Everyone thought it made sense and started to consider it.
Some people say, "If we're going to build a wall around our yard, we should draw lines and everyone should follow those lines. Otherwise, some walls will be too long and some too short, and it won't look right."
Seeing that everyone was discussing it, Wei Zhao went up to Song Lubai and lowered his voice, saying, "What you just said..."
Song Lubai said, "It's okay, let's not build it yet. The courtyard wall can't be built in a day. If someone comes to cause trouble while we're building it, we'll deal with it then."
Wei Zhao thought about it and agreed.
Looking at the reeds a dozen meters away from the house, Wei Zhao called out to Chen Shaohua and his brother.
"You two go and borrow small shovels. Clear the reeds clean in the next few days. Be careful while you work, and don't hurt yourselves."
Although Chen Shaohua was young, he was quite steady. Chen Jingwen, on the other hand, was much more temperamental. He put his hands on his hips and loudly declared that he didn't want to do it.
Wei Zhao asked, "So what do you want to do?"
Chen Jingwen's eyes darted around. "Anyway, I just don't want to work."
Song Lubai said, "If I do a little bit every day, my aunt will give me candy, one in the morning and one in the afternoon."
Chen Jingwen bargained and asked for two.
Wei Zhao said, "If you're not going to do it, then you won't eat. Two pieces, you're dreaming."
Chen Jingwen pouted and went to borrow tools. Song Lubai asked with a smile, "Sister, how could you bear to let the kid do chores?"
Wei Zhao put his hands on his hips and said, "If they don't do it, we'll have to do it ourselves. If we build a wall around the yard in a while, we'll have to clear these weeds too. They're always out playing and they come back covered in dirt. Their clothes get dirty every day anyway, so they might as well do something good for the family."
Unlike a sickle, a small shovel is used to push forward. It's not particularly sharp, and a normal person wouldn't get hurt by it. Wei Zhao felt comfortable letting the two of them do this job.
Before, we had a nanny at home. She had to go to work every day and didn't spend as much time at home as she does now, so she didn't understand the hardships of taking care of children.
Recently, she has experienced the hardships of raising children. Things are different now, and she feels that it is time to raise children in a different way.
The sun grew stronger, and around noon, Wei Zhao called the two brothers, who were exhausted and covered in sweat, back into the house.
When Song Lubai noticed the wear and tear on Chen Jingwen's trousers, she said to him, "Change your trousers. I'll mend these for you."
Just then, the postman arrived at the door on his bicycle.
"Does Wei Zhao live here? There's a telegram for you."
Wei Zhao reached the door and replied, "That's me."
The postman looked at Wei Zhao with pity in his eyes.
After Wei Zhao finished reading the contents of the telegram, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com