Chapter 67 is rolled up! The mysterious new building appears along with the heated kang (traditional Chinese bed)...
With the successful development and promotion of heated kang beds, a massive "warmth revolution" swept through the entire Hope Town. Everyone was racing against the cold and time, striving to move into warm red brick houses as quickly as possible.
However, just as everyone was immersed in this infrastructure boom, a mysterious and tense atmosphere began to quietly permeate the core workshops of Hope Town.
The first place to show abnormalities was Uncle Stone Fist's blacksmith shop.
In the past, while the blacksmith shop was important, it was generally open to the public. When people passed by, they would always see Uncle Stone Fist, shirtless and wearing his beloved rabbit earmuffs, wielding his large iron hammer, sparks flying and clanging. But now, the blacksmith shop's door is mostly covered by a thick animal hide curtain.
Only a few core disciples, such as Amu and Tie Niu, were allowed to come and go freely. If anyone else wanted to go in to exchange a farm tool or repair an axe, they had to shout at the door for a long time before Tie Niu would come out, act like a thief, quickly finish the task, and then pull the curtain back up.
Every night, the blacksmith's furnace burned late into the night, and the clanging sounds were more complex and fragmented than before. But strangely, the next day, no new iron tools were seen being stored in the warehouse.
Following this, the pottery and woodworking workshops led by Ella and Kaylan also became shrouded in mystery.
Ella and her women's army stopped mass-producing bowls, plates, and saucers and began studying oddly shaped ceramic components with intricate curves and joints. No one knew what those components were for. They carefully wrapped the finished products in hay and delivered them directly to Lin Yue's office, where Lin Yue even privately calculated their work points.
Kailan's woodworking workshop was even more outrageous. They stopped making sturdy, durable tables and chairs, and instead began using the finest ironwood and oak to create massive frames intricately joined by mortise and tenon joints, as well as long, precisely sized planks polished to an exceptionally smooth finish. These items, too, were immediately transported away, their whereabouts a mystery.
Even Aunt Leah and Mia's logistics team received a strange task—to sew some huge, rectangular cloth bags with strange clasps and ropes using the finest and strongest linen and animal hides they could find.
In an instant, the core productivity of the entire Hope Town seemed to be mobilized by a mysterious force, entering a secret state of closed-door production.
Everyone is working overtime, and the numbers on the work point record board are jumping wildly every day, but the public supplies in the warehouse are not increasing.
Now, everyone in the town was incredibly curious.
"Hey, Li Ge, what's your construction team been up to lately? Why are you always heading east of town?" A brick-making foreman took a break, approached Li Ge, and handed him a bowl of hot water.
Li Ge chuckled憨厚ly, took the bowl of water, drank it all in one gulp, then wiped his mouth and mumbled, "It's nothing, the mayor told us to build... um... a big pond. Yes, a big pond."
"A big water tank? Don't we already have a reservoir? Why build another one?" The foreman looked incredulous.
"Oh, why are you asking so many questions? Just do as the mayor says." Li Ge scratched his head and quickly changed the subject. "By the way, how's the firing of the red bricks over there? The mayor said that the next batch of houses will use those blue bricks that are fired more thoroughly and have a darker color, saying they're more durable!"
This kind of mutual probing and evasiveness plays out frequently in every corner of the town.
The most exciting part was the spy drama between the young couple, Amu and Mia.
Amu is now Uncle Stone Fist's prized disciple, spending his days clanging and banging away in that mysterious blacksmith shop. As for Mia, the deputy head of the logistics team and half of Lin Yue's culinary successor, she naturally wants to know what these grown men are up to.
That evening, Mia specially prepared a special meal for Amu, adding an extra large spoonful of fragrant minced smoked meat to his mashed potatoes.
"Brother Amu, you've been so busy at the blacksmith's shop lately, you've gotten so thin. You should eat more," Mia said gently, her big, bright eyes blinking as she looked at him.
Looking at the mountain of minced meat in his bowl, Amu was so happy he almost lost his bearings. He wolfed it down, mumbling, "No...no tiredness...hehe...following Uncle Stone Fist, I can...I can learn real skills..."
"So... what skills are you all learning?" Mia asked casually. "I heard that the iron contraptions you've been forging lately are strangely shaped and don't look like farm tools at all."
Amu's mouth seemed to be sewn shut instantly. He buried his head in the bowl, frantically shoveling the mashed potatoes into his mouth, making "mmm" sounds, but refusing to speak.
"Oh, you're keeping this a secret from me?" Mia playfully poked his arm. "I'm just curious. Look at Ella and the others, all those pottery pipes they make every day, all twisted and convoluted, I wonder what they're for. And Kalan and the others, those wooden planks they make are so long and wide, like bed boards, but they're not carved at all..."
Just as his defenses were about to be breached by his wife's seductive charm, Amu had a sudden inspiration and pulled something out of his pocket, waving it in front of Mia.
It was a small spoon, shaped like a unique piece of iron. Its head wasn't round, but flat, with a slight curve at the edge.
“Hehe, look at this,” Amu said proudly, “I just made this today! The mayor calls it… a spatula, saying it’s for cooking, and it’s much more convenient than a wooden spoon!”
He successfully diverted Mia's attention with a trivial new invention.
Mia was indeed drawn to the peculiar spatula, examining it from all angles and temporarily forgetting about the secret products.
Just when the curiosity of all the town's residents was on the verge of being piqued, an even more perplexing and unprecedentedly large project was officially launched under everyone's watchful eyes.
Lin Yue personally led Li Lige and his most skilled core construction team to begin the construction of a mysterious new building on the most conspicuous and highest open space next to the gate of Hope Town.
The mystery surrounding this building was palpable from the very beginning.
Its blueprints were locked in Lin Yue's office; apart from him and a few key foremen like Li Ge, no one else had ever seen them. All anyone knew was that the building was much larger than any three-bedroom, one-living-room residential courtyard house. The foundation alone was dug a full two meters deep and was poured using the finest granite and cement.
Its structure is also exceptionally complex. The first floor is a huge hall that can accommodate hundreds of people at the same time. It is not supported by any pillars, but uses a composite wood and stone vault structure that combines dwarf dome technology and modern truss mechanics principles. The span is amazing, which amazes everyone who sees it.
Behind the main hall are rows of small rooms of varying sizes and shapes, some bright and some dark, each with its own strange pipes and ventilation openings, the purpose of which remains a mystery to all.
Lin Yue's requirements for this building were unprecedentedly strict, bordering on obsessive.
He specified that the darkest and hardest blue bricks should be used to build the main walls. Each brick had to undergo a rigorous hammering test before being laid, and any brick with even the slightest flaw was immediately discarded.
All adhesives must be made of the highest quality silicate cement; lime mortar is strictly prohibited.
The roof beams had to be made from the strongest, straightest, century-old ironwood transported from the forest. To process this hardwood, Kailan's woodworking workshop, with the help of Stonefist, even invented a giant frame saw powered by a rock-walking lizard, achieving astonishing efficiency.
Even the inconspicuous hinges and door knockers on the main gate were personally forged by Uncle Stone Fist using the finest iron, and had to be engraved with an intricate emblem representing Hope Town, consisting of gears, ears of wheat, and a sacred tree.
This mysterious building, which combines the town's highest technology, best materials, and strongest manpower, has become the biggest topic of conversation among all residents.
"What do you think the mayor is doing? Building such a huge house, who's going to live in it?"
"It looks like a new council hall. Just like the ones the nobles in the city use for their meetings. We'll have one in our town soon, so we won't have to stand outside in the cold wind for meetings."
"No, no, I heard from my cousin's second aunt that this is the palace that the mayor is preparing for the sacred tree."
"Is that like a temple? I've never heard of the mayor worshipping any god..."
“I don’t think so,” Uncle Stone Fist spat and said sourly to Iron Bull, “I think that kid just wants to build himself a luxurious castle. You didn’t see that hall, it’s so spacious and bright, he’ll have so much face when he holds banquets in the future.”
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt that all the hard work he had put into forging iron had been used to impress this kid. He was so angry that he glared at him and pounded the iron hammer even harder.
Some imaginative young people even speculated that this might be Mayor Lin Yue's secret research laboratory, or a clubhouse used for friendly exchanges with visitors.
Amidst a flurry of speculation and rumors, the mysterious building, the culmination of the entire town's hard work, was finally completed after more than half a month of intense construction.
However, Lin Yue did not immediately reveal its true appearance to everyone.
He directed the logistics team to use those huge straw curtains to completely surround the building, leaving only one entrance that was also covered by curtains, which added to its mystery.
Once all preparations were complete, the last red brick house equipped with a heated kang (traditional heated bed) also had its interior plastering and cleaning finished.
After dinner, around the bonfire in Central Park, Lin Yue finally solemnly announced to all the eagerly awaiting residents of the town:
"Everyone, my dear partners," Lin Yue's voice, transmitted through a simple tin megaphone, resounded throughout Hope Town, "I know that everyone has been working hard and confused lately. You're all wondering what we're secretly preparing."
"Now, I can tell you all."
"Tomorrow, tomorrow will be the most important and most celebratory day in the history of Hope Town."
"We will hold an unprecedented grand collective relocation ceremony. All the families who have put in sweat and effort for our new home will bid farewell to the cold sheds and officially move into warm, comfortable, and sturdy red brick houses."
"oh--!!!"
A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd, and many people embraced each other and wept with emotion.
“But that’s not all.” Lin Yue raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet.
"To celebrate this great moment and to reward every hard-working builder, I and the heads of our various workshops have prepared an unprecedented gift for everyone. A super surprise that will amaze everyone."
"At the same time, the mysterious building that embodies the wisdom and hard work of all of us will officially unveil its veil tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, let us together welcome the best day that belongs to all of us."
"Now, go home and get a good night's sleep!"
Housewarming! New house! Big gift! And a mysterious building!
One surprise after another made everyone feel that happiness had come too suddenly, as if they were in a dream.
That night, the entire Hope Town was sleepless.
Everyone was immersed in an atmosphere of both tension and excitement, as if awaiting the dawn of a festival. They discussed, guessed, and fantasized excitedly.
What will tomorrow be like?
What exactly was that unprecedented gift?
What secrets does that mysterious building hold?
Nobody knows the answer.
But everyone's hearts were filled with boundless imagination and anticipation for tomorrow and the future.
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