After returning home, Chen Chen and He Jinshu did not stay at home for long. They drove directly to Shenjia Village in a carriage. They would feel more at ease only after handing the plan to Village Chief Shen in person.
When Village Chief Shen saw the two people coming, he asked in confusion, "Why are you two here?"
"Of course I have good news to talk to Uncle Yuan about." Chen Chen said as he sat down on the chair.
"What good news?" Village Chief Shen asked calmly.
Upon hearing this, He Jinshu handed the stack of papers in his hand to Village Chief Shen, and then said, "Uncle Yuan, take a look at this first."
After taking it and looking at it for a while, Village Chief Shen became more and more excited. Then he asked He Jinshu and the others in surprise, "Is this something you came up with?"
Upon hearing this, He Jinshu repeated to Village Chief Shen what he had said to Village Chief Wu before, and then said to him: "When we build the road together, I hope Uncle Yuan will pay more attention."
"That's no problem," Village Chief Shen agreed immediately, and then said to He Jinshu: "Jinshu, I can definitely manage our village, as long as the people in your village don't cause trouble."
"Don't worry about that. Village Chief Wu will keep them in check. If you find that they are doing something wrong, you can tell me and Ah Zhen directly, or you can communicate directly with Village Chief Wu. We will definitely deal with those who cause trouble seriously." He Jinshu assured Village Chief Shen.
"That's good." Village Chief Shen said, and then he sighed: "You are really a great scholar. You can come up with such a brilliant plan."
After hearing this, Chen Chen said proudly: "That's right, our Ah Shu is the most outstanding young scholar in the surrounding villages."
Village Chief Shen looked at Chen Zhen's proud expression and felt that he couldn't bear to watch it, so he asked with disdain: "I heard people say that you guys are always going to the mountains recently. What are you doing?"
"Exercise!" Chen Chen said, "Ashu needs a strong physique to study, so I'll take him to exercise."
When Village Chief Shen heard this, he quickly asked, "So if we train our bodies well, it will be easier to pass the exam to become a scholar?"
The people in Shenjia Village were not short of money, and they even built a school. But for some reason, after so many years, not a single scholar was produced. Although there were several students who passed the imperial examination, there was not a single scholar. He was almost worried to death about this.
After hearing this, Chen Zhen shook his head and said, "Just training your body won't do."
"Then what else do you need to practice?"
“You also need to train your brain.”
Village Chief Shen choked when he heard this, and then said angrily: "Go, go, go back to your Wujia Village. I get angry when I see you."
He actually dared to curse the villagers in a roundabout way, which really made him angry to death.
Seeing this, Chen Zhen didn't hesitate to speak politely. He stood up and said to Village Chief Shen, "Uncle Yuan, we'll be leaving now. If you have any questions, please come to Wujia Village to find us."
After saying that, he walked out of the main hall of Village Chief Shen's house, and called out He Jinshu by the way.
Seeing this, He Jinshu also stood up, then suppressed a smile and bowed to Village Chief Shen, then followed Shen Chen out of the house, leaving Village Chief Shen sitting there alone and sulking.
When the two of them left Village Chief Shen's house, the smile on He Jinshu's face had not yet faded. Seeing this, Shen Chen asked in confusion: "Ah Shu, what are you laughing at?"
He Jinshu patted his head and said, "Nothing, I just think Ah Zhen is a really interesting person."
When Chen Chen heard this, he looked at He Jinshu and asked earnestly, "Then Ah Shu, do you like me very much?"
"Are you going back home for lunch, or eating at your parents' house?" He Jinshu changed the subject.
"Ashu, don't change the subject," Chen Chen said dissatisfiedly, "We've been married for so long, and you haven't said whether you like me or not."
"We are in the village now, let's talk about this later." He Jinshu said to Chen Chen tactfully.
Chen Zhen knew that He Jinshu was thin-skinned, so he had to compromise and said, "Okay, let's get some lemons from Mom and go back to eat. I'll make you lemon chicken when we get back."
Originally, Lemon wanted to ask the servants to get it, but they happened to be here for something today, so Chen Chen decided to take it back himself.
He Jinshu naturally had no objection, so the two of them took the lemons from Shen's house and went straight home.
This time, there were only a dozen ripe lemons. Mother Shen kept three or four for Tang Qiao to cook, and gave the rest to Shen Chen to take back.
After Chen Zhen returned home, he immediately made two hand-torn lemon chickens and brewed some iced honey lemon water to drink.
He finished a whole hand-torn chicken and was very satisfied with it. However, he only drank one glass of iced lemonade, and it was only a little bit cold because the doctor told him not to eat or drink anything too cold, so He Jinshu made sure he didn't drink too much.
Although Chen Zhen felt a little regretful, he could only endure it because he was not feeling well.
On the day the plan was submitted, both Wujia Village and Shenjia Village began to take action at the same time. The first thing they did was to hold a meeting and talk to the villagers about the road construction. After all, both villages had businesses in the town, so in order to make transportation more convenient, they naturally had to build the road first.
Because this is to build a road in the village, there is naturally no money but wages.
It's easier in Shenjia Village. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can hire someone else to do it. But in Wujia Village, every household has to provide labor.
At first, according to Chen Zhen's idea, he wanted to pave the cement road directly, which would solve the problem once and for all.
But cement needs to be fired, limestone and clay need to be found, coal needs to be burned, and kilns specifically for burning limestone need to be built, none of which can be completed in a short period of time.
So He Jinshu and Shen Zhen decided to pave the road using another method first, and then pave cement on top after the cement was baked.
The method they chose was to first dig the ground to a certain depth and compact the soil underneath, and then lay a layer of larger stones underneath to consolidate the roadbed.
Then lay a layer of small stones to fill the gaps, and then cover it with a layer of sand and soil, and compact it over and over again with a stone roller. Finally, in order to prevent weeds from growing, spread lime and cultivated soil on it, and also use a stone roller to flatten it.
The entire road is designed to be high in the middle and low on both sides, with drainage ditches on both sides. The width is 5 meters, which can accommodate two carriages passing side by side.
Chen Chen and his group did not participate in the road construction in the village, but in order to make He Jinshu's reputation better, he donated 30 taels of silver to the village as a cover for the possible expenses incurred during the road construction.
In addition to arranging for villagers to build the road, the village heads of the two villages also held a "meeting". After all, they will cooperate in the future, so they must meet to discuss.
The road built by Shenjia Village and Wujia Village is basically Y-shaped, but the one in Wujia Village is shorter. After the two village chiefs discussed it, they decided to dig the roads in their respective villages first. After the roads in their respective villages were dug, they would send out an equal number of people to dig the roads to the town.
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