Chapter 70 The opportunity to build a hydroelectric power station is fleeting; once lost, it may never come again. ...
Because of Li Linshi, Zhong Ying was unsure whether Yu Jing would feel resentful upon seeing her, so she conservatively and cautiously maintained a certain distance.
Because of Li Linshi, Yu Jing felt embarrassed. Whenever she saw Zhong Ying, she would be reminded of her unintentional but somewhat intrusive behavior in someone else's relationship, and she felt so ashamed that she couldn't face Zhong Ying.
So much so that, although they both lived on the same land as the Tonggan Production Team, they were like two parallel lines that had nothing to do with each other.
Yu Jing would occasionally feel a sense of melancholy late at night. If nothing unexpected happened, she might just spend her year in the countryside in an ordinary way, leaving the Tonggan production team empty-handed and returning to work in the capital.
"Her dad will probably say she wasted a whole year," Yu Jing thought to herself with a self-deprecating smile.
Yu Jing was surprised that Zhong Ying would suddenly rush in front of her.
The parallel lines intersect at this moment.
To Yu Jing's surprise, Zhong Ying barged into her life.
She asked Chen and Yang, the educated youths, to help her take the washed clothes back, while Yu Jing and Zhong Ying stayed by the river to talk.
“Although the production team’s location has inherent advantages—it’s near a mountain with a natural drop in elevation, and there’s a river, and it’s located upstream with sufficient water flow—” Despite Zhong Ying’s suggestion being rather sudden, Yu Jing still thought about it seriously. “However, the river isn’t very rapid. The kinetic energy of water is proportional to the square of the flow velocity, which means that the water flow energy that can be converted into electrical energy is insufficient.”
When Yu Jing talked about matters related to her profession, she showed a calm and wise side: "Of course, this is not an unsolvable problem. By building a dam to impound water and form a reservoir, the water level will be raised, increasing the drop and flow rate, thereby generating higher water flow energy for power generation. This is also the most suitable way to build a hydroelectric power station on the Ganlin River, where the riverbed is not very wide."
“But…” Yu Jing hesitated.
Zhong Ying sighed, "But it's difficult to achieve."
Building dams and reservoirs are not things that the Tonggan production team is capable of doing at this stage. The word "no money" is enough to nip everything in the bud.
Yu Jing nodded somewhat awkwardly. Clearly, after being there for a while, she had come to understand the poverty of the Tonggan production team. "Actually, when building small hydropower stations in rural areas, they try to use canals to divert water as much as possible because the cost is low and the technology is relatively simple."
Zhong Ying pondered, "So the most fundamental problem is that the Ganlin River's flow rate is not fast enough?"
“Yes.” Yu Jing nodded.
Zhong Ying looked up and gazed at Li Lin.
With just one glance from her, Li Linshi could basically tell what Zhong Ying was thinking.
Zhong Ying smiled brightly, "Let me think of a way."
Yu Jing was puzzled. What other solutions could be found besides building a dam to address the river's flow rate problem?
Seeing Yu Jing's bewildered expression, Zhong Ying simply said, "It's alright, Yu Qingqing. You should go back and rest. It's getting late. Oh, by the way, I only heard about you not studying agricultural mechanization from the men in the team. Think about who spread this rumor. That person probably has bad intentions. Be careful."
Yu Jing's doubts immediately changed. She frowned and pondered, "Okay, then I'll go back to the educated youth settlement first."
It was indeed quite late, and the people who had come to the river to bathe and wash clothes had all gone home. After Yu Jing left, only Zhong Ying remained by the river.
There's another ghost.
Li Linshi was not surprised to hear, “As expected, you’re going to treat me like an ox in the production team.”
The production team's oxen were working in the fields, pulling farm tools, while Zhong Ying was tasked with manipulating the river water to speed up its flow.
There is essentially no difference.
Zhong Ying knew perfectly well that you had to be sweet-talking to get someone to do something, and she was putting that to the extreme at this moment. She looked at Li Lin with deep affection and said, "How could I? How could I treat you like a cow? You're my cheat code, my bonus. What would I do without you? Thank God, thank God, for sending you to my side..."
Li Linshi was stunned by the barrage of sweet words. Although he knew she was saying it on purpose, he couldn't help but feel as if sweet rain had suddenly poured into his heart.
"Didn't you want to give me something before? Hair ties, snacks, I can buy those myself," Zhong Ying blinked, feigning a pitiful look, "I'm just a little girl who wants electricity..."
For someone who once lived in modern times, the primitive life of lighting candles was truly unbearable. Zhong Ying desperately wanted an electric light, or rather, an electric light that would illuminate the future.
In the end, Li Linshi agreed in a daze. It was clearly not an easy task for him to control the flow of an entire river. Sure enough, "lust makes one lose their mind," and the ancients were right.
——
The next day, Zhong Ying told the head of the production team about her idea.
"Build a hydroelectric power station?" Li Gangshi asked in surprise before his father could finish, then looked at Zhong Ying as if she were an ignorant child. "If you said you wanted to build a kitchen, your older brother could immediately get the Liu family cousins to build one for you. Build a hydroelectric power station? That's a huge project, not something you can just decide to do!"
Li Ming sat silently at the courtyard gate, smoking his pipe.
Zhong Ying explained, "It's not a large-scale hydroelectric power station. We'll build a small one, just enough for the villagers to use. With electricity, not only will life be more convenient, but it will also help with production. We'll be able to use some electric mechanized farm tools in the future. The future development process will definitely move towards the era of electrification."
Tonggan Production Team doesn't even have a single electric light now, but in modern times, villages without electricity are rare.
“Life goes on even without electricity, doesn’t it? If that day really comes, the government will help us get electricity.” Li Gangshi shook his head. “Sister-in-law, you’re really good at making things complicated.”
Zhong Ying retorted, "How long are we supposed to wait? Until Panpokou, Zhoujiawowo and other rich production brigades get electricity and develop first, while our Tonggan production team is the most remote and will be the last to be assigned? Are we just going to stay behind like this forever?"
The two began to argue back and forth, and it was clear that Li Gangshi was a conservative and old-fashioned person, while Zhong Ying was a progressive and innovative person.
Li Ming pondered whether he had that same fearless, forward-driving spirit when he was in his twenties. He probably did, but back then, he couldn't see that far ahead. Becoming the village chief and ensuring that everyone could have enough to eat was the furthest thing he could see when he was young.
He did achieve that for most of his life, but that was all he could manage.
Li Ming sighed silently. He was getting old.
“When I went to the meeting, the commune leaders did mention it,” Li Ming said slowly. “Following Chairman Mao’s guidance that ‘the fundamental way out for agriculture lies in mechanization,’ the masses should carry out large-scale small hydropower construction in order to adapt to the development of industry and agriculture. The higher authorities have been encouraging production teams with the capacity to build their own hydropower projects to solve the electricity problem.”
Upon hearing his father's words, Li Gang immediately shut his mouth.
“But our production team doesn’t have the capacity, so I’ll just listen to these words and let it go.” Li Ming looked at Zhong Ying, “Yingni, what do you think?”
Zhong Ying thought for a moment, "I think that just because I didn't have the ability in the past doesn't mean I can't do it now."
“Now the new crop of wheat has been planted, the weather is getting cooler, there will be less and less work in the fields, and there will be surplus labor, which is ‘favorable timing’; our production team has mountains and rivers, which is a natural geographical advantage, which is ‘favorable location’; most importantly,” Zhong Ying smiled, “we also have ‘favorable human relations’.”
With her leading the Tonggan production team, the professional Yu Jing, other educated youth who could help, and even the support of He Gui who could act as a workhorse, the hydroelectric power station was ready to be built at any time. Therefore, Zhong Ying was very confident that she could accomplish this task.
"Yu Zhiqing was a college student majoring in water conservancy engineering."
Upon hearing this, Li Ming flicked his wrist, spilling some tobacco onto the ground.
The value of the terms "hydraulic engineering major" and "university student" in this day and age is self-evident.
In the past, no matter how the commune tried to mobilize him, Li Ming would never even consider it, for two reasons: the production team had no money and no manpower.
To implement the glorious directive that "water conservancy is the lifeline of agriculture" and to carry forward the spirit of "self-reliance and hard work," but there was no one in the production team who knew the skills, no one had the necessary expertise, and no one could handle the delicate work. No matter how much effort was put into it, the hydropower station could not be built, and it would only be a waste of manpower and resources.
Li Ming couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure Yu Zhiqing studied hydraulic engineering?"
“I’m sure,” Zhong Ying nodded firmly, “So, Dad, Yu Zhiqing will only stay in our production team for one year…”
She didn't finish her sentence, but Li Ming already understood what she meant.
Talent is fluid, like sand in your hand. If you don't make the most of it while it's in your hand, it will slip away.
Li Ming lived for fifty-four years before meeting someone who understood water conservancy. If he missed this talent, who knows when the next expert would appear?
He feels unprepared now. What if, in five or ten years, he feels the production team is ready to build a hydroelectric power station? Who will help him build it? How can he be sure that once everything is ready, talented people will appear at just the right time? Opportunity knocks but once.
Moreover, this one only came to their Tonggan production team because he knew his youngest son.
Li Ming raised his eyes, his sharp, vigorous gaze meeting a pair of bright, piercing young eyes. He looked at Zhong Ying and, after a moment, said firmly, "Alright, I'll go and talk to the commune members. The hydroelectric power station must be built, and we should try to get it operational before the wheat harvest next summer. If we don't have enough money, we'll take out a loan from the commune's credit union."
"Dad—", Li Gangshi exclaimed in surprise, almost speechless, "This is no small-scale operation like setting up a daycare center! A loan? A loan still needs to be repaid! No, if it's not built, we'll have a huge burden just to pay off the debt later!"
Li Ming looked at his eldest son and couldn't help but sigh. He was already thinking about failure before he even started. He didn't have the courage to do anything big, and yet he was always thinking about taking over his business.
Li Ming stood up, tapped his pipe against the wall, and walked out with his hands behind his back.
He shook his head. No, he's far inferior to his youngest son, much worse than Yingni'er, and even worse than him, an older man.
Li Gangshi chased after him, "Dad, this really can't be done. Yingni'er is just a young girl, and so is Yu Zhiqing. Letting them lead such a big undertaking will probably only lead to a lot of trouble and they won't achieve anything. It'll just be a waste of resources and manpower..."
He was so anxious that he didn't even notice that Zhong Ying was right behind him and could hear him.
Zhong Ying stood there and shook her head. "Your older brother is really no good. Why does he always look down on women?"
Li Linshi stood beside her, like a guardian angel protecting her.
...
Li Ming convened a mobilization meeting for all the members of the production team. He talked about the encouragement from above and how the electric lights he saw at his daughter's house in the county town were much brighter than candles and kerosene lamps. He said that with electricity, they would no longer need manpower to push the millstone or pull the grinding wheel. The people were filled with enthusiasm as they listened.
We must build it! The hydroelectric power station is a must!
-----------------------
Author's note: Political achievements are essential for promotion; you must have results to climb the ranks.
In the 1960s and 70s, a wave of small hydropower construction did indeed sweep through rural areas, which was a very politically correct matter at the time.
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