Chapter 106: Strong and Durable
"My clothes are fine, why should they bother you..."
At this point, Nie Yichang fell silent, scratched his head and said with an apologetic smile: "Sorry, sister, I will give you a set of beautiful dishes later."
An Zhixia glared at him unhappily, "Do I look like someone who is short of a bowl? When the brick factory is built, you will carry bricks for me at the price of a bowl."
Nie Yichang responded happily, but Hang Xianglei nudged him with his elbow, "You deserve it so happily. Don't you know her nickname An Tianjiao? She's not just a sharp-tongued person!"
"You've come to your senses? Don't you want to chase after someone to be your wife?" Nie Yichang smiled and leaned over to whisper, then said nonchalantly: "You should have moved faster just now. We went to move bricks together. It's just moving bricks, isn't it? It's just a matter of a few trips. As long as the little girl is happy!"
Fang Yuan raised his eyelids and looked at him, then said calmly, "The bowl you broke is of fine quality and has a novel pattern. It would be worth 80 cents in the provincial capital. If you move bricks, you would only get one or two cents per load. So, Nie Zhiqing would have to move at least 40 loads, which would take up most of the day."
"Are you so serious?" Nie Yichang's heart trembled.
An Zhixia smiled brightly: "To deal with a playboy like you, moving bricks is the most practical way. From now on, you should use your brain before you act or speak, and don't be stupid enough to be sold out and help others count money."
Hang Xianglei is at least the second male lead, which is equivalent to the female lead, so he naturally has a halo. Others are not so lucky, and they must always be prepared to be tempered and sacrificed for the protagonists.
As Hang Xianglei's little follower, Nie Yichang was responsible for this mission.
It seems that the heroine wanted to save the lives of more than 200,000 people in the Zhongshan earthquake, but she couldn't remember the exact time. She could only anonymously contact earthquake experts to pay attention to the matter, and then dressed up and publicized it everywhere.
But no one believed her and thought she was spreading rumors. Even if some people believed her and slept in the yard with their quilts at night, it was fine for three to five days, but more than ten days had passed and there was still no sign of an earthquake, so everyone relaxed and was quite tired. When they were sleeping soundly, the earthquake came as expected and the casualties were still very serious.
Nie Yichang was also killed by debris while he was busy promoting the event.
The heroine said that she was powerless and that the course of history would not stop or change for her alone. She put away her bad mood and continued to live her life.
An Zhixia glanced at the wailing Nie Yichang. Why would she be angry with a meat pie?
Although the brick kiln issue was on the agenda, the beginning was difficult. We had to first find a master craftsman who knew how to make bricks and build the kiln.
Fang Yuan took the matter over and let her be a hands-off manager.
An Zhixia was of course happy, and she lived a nine-to-five life that everyone envied, sitting in the office drinking tea and reading newspapers.
At the end of May, Fang Yuan suddenly came to see her with an old man and a young boy, saying that they had started selecting a site to build a brick kiln.
"This is the top master craftsman of the largest government brick kiln in Jiangzhou Province at that time. His surname is Hua," Fang Yuan just gave a brief introduction and did not explain how he invited this person over. It must have been after some twists and turns.
However, seeing that one of Master Hua's sleeves was empty, An Zhixia could guess a little.
"This is the eldest grandson of the master who made tribute bricks back then. His surname is Li, and the craft is inherited from his ancestors."
The young man was no more than twenty years old, and a little shy. He glanced at An Zhixia, then lowered his head and fiddled with the corner of his clothes.
"They both know how to make green bricks. We checked out the geology of our village before coming here. It's quite suitable for making bricks, and the quality of the bricks they make won't be bad!" Fang Yuan said patiently, "Hang Zhiqing and Nie Zhiqing went to the provincial capital brick factory with cameras these days to act as newspaper reporters, secretly learning from them. They will probably be back soon. Zhixia, check with the president which piece of land should be used to build a brick kiln?"
An Zhixia led them to find the president. As laymen, the two said directly: "Master, you can choose any piece of land that is suitable, as long as it is not a crop field!"
After considering various aspects, the brick kiln was planned to be built in a flat and open location downwind from the commune and close to the provincial road. There were two masters, one of whom had not made bricks for a long time and was a little rusty, and the other had only paper experience, plus a few educated youth who were laymen. So they planned to build a brick kiln first, work it out carefully, make bricks to test the quality, and then expand the scale.
An Zhixia would go to check on the progress whenever she had nothing to do. Their financial, human and material resources were limited, so they built the most rudimentary small brick kiln.
Master Hua ate freshly washed mulberries with her, pointed at the brick kiln that was being finished with his intact hand and said, "Girl, don't underestimate our kiln, but I promise to make the strongest and most durable bricks and tiles for you!
Red bricks are popular nowadays. They have low technical requirements and high output, but they are not durable. A family can finally scrape together enough money to build a solid brick house, but they can only live in it for a few decades.
Didn't our ancestors know how to make red bricks? Yes, but aren't all the old houses left behind made of blue bricks and tiles? What does this mean? Our blue bricks are strong and durable and can withstand wind and rain!
A house is not like clothes or food. You can’t make do with it. This is a matter related to our ancestors. If we are going to build a house, we must build it well. This is something that we Xiahua people insist on in our bones.”
An Zhixia nodded repeatedly, "The original intention of our commune to build a brick kiln was to serve our own people first, and exporting is not the main thing. The house is solid, and everyone feels at ease, and they are working hard for development!"
"Students are very happy. Those brick factories are state-owned, but the factory managers also want to make achievements, so they only like red bricks that can be mass-produced by machinery. New houses in towns are also built with red bricks. They look good, but you will see that they will have to be rebuilt in 50 or 60 years.
If you go through so much trouble over several lifetimes, how many blue brick houses can you build?
However, the whole process of making our blue bricks requires manual operation, from selecting soil, drying, stirring, removing hard soil, and increasing flexibility. This takes three days in the hottest days of summer. Then, after screening, mixing, kneading, and beating the mud, the blanks are made into shapes and dried in the shade. Finally, they are fired in a cellar for a month. After going through many processes such as low fire, medium fire, high fire, stewing, and water injection, a batch of blue bricks that can be well preserved for hundreds or even thousands of years can be produced!
Of course, if you want to keep the house intact like our ancestors and use it for hundreds of years, you have to hire a master craftsman when building the house, and the mud and wood must be made with care. "
"Where is Master Hua from?"
"I am from a small village in Lin County. Fang kid is very capable. He found me after going through many people. Since I lost an arm, I returned to my hometown with my two grandchildren, thinking that this is how I would live my life. I didn't expect that I could still continue to do what I like when I am old," he said as he looked at the brick kiln, with endless attachment and memories on his face, as if he saw the beauty of the years through this similar building.
"If you work hard, our factory will provide you with good benefits. We will give you some bricks and tiles to build a new house!"
"Well, now the old man can live in a brick house made by himself. He has no regrets in this life!" Master Hua said with a cheerful smile.
(End of this chapter)
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