"Then what are you going to do, first to prepare the land or build a house first?"

The old branch secretary looked at Wang Zhong and asked.

Under the candlelight, the old face of the old branch secretary was very clear, and a puff of smoke gushed out from between his mouth and nose.

The horse next to him was not to be outdone, holding a smoking pot that was only half as long as the cigarette stick in the old branch secretary's hand, stuffing the tobacco, lighting the tobacco with the candle flame, and then swallowing the clouds and spitting out the fog.

But he also looked at Wang Zhong curiously.

"Of course, we built the house first!" Wang Chong replied directly without thinking about it.

At this time, there was another gust of wind outside, the wind swept the dust and sand, whirring, and the old branch secretary and the horse shouted water in a heavier mood.

After coming, after experiencing the timing of the situation here, the two of them also had a little more understanding of Li Dayou's move to run back to Yongquan Village.

When the wind blows, a mouth, that's a mouthful of sand.

I slept in my nest all night, and the next morning I woke up half of my body buried in the sand.

Wang Chong continued: "I have thought about it, first buy bricks from the brick kilns around, build the house, and then bring the water splash, as for the brick kiln, wait for Director Zhang to have news, and then make plans." ”

"The embryonic house is also easy to live! If you have to build a brick house, you need old nose money! The old branch secretary reminded.

Wang Chongdao: "Since you want to build a house, it must be done in one step, and even if you want to change it in the future, it will only be changed on the original basis, and you don't need to tear down and rebuild it." ”

"Besides, if money can solve a problem, then it's not a problem!"

As soon as these words came out, the old branch secretary and Ma Shoushui both choked together.

"You are a coward, you don't dare to say this outside, be careful of being beaten!" The old branch secretary was not angry.

Wang Chong smiled: "Uncle, when the time comes, you call Uncle Dayou and Shui Wang, call Uncle Shui with Debao, and call several villagers in our village who came to Jiaozhuang this time, everyone will help me first and build the house." ”

"As for wages, a worker in the market now works for about eighty or ninety yuan a month, which is almost three yuan a day, and I will add one more yuan to everyone, according to four yuan a day, but only for the time when I help me build a house."

"Four dollars a day?" The old branch secretary shook his head again and again when he heard this: "In that month, it's not 120, it's too high, it's too high!" ”

Xihaigu is a well-known backward and impoverished area in the country, and the common people usually can't even eat enough, let alone make money.

In the original plot, when Debao took Gawa and they were about to run out of the mountains and escape outside, Gawa's mother saved ten yuan, and Gawa took five yuan.

The deposit is only ten yuan, and it is conceivable that the wages and prices in the entire Xihaigu area are not much higher.

"Now the villagers have just come over, and this is the situation here, if the wages are higher, the villagers' motivation can be higher, at least, let them see a little hope! There is a rush and is willing to stay. ”

The old branch secretary did not speak, and took two more puffs of cigarette in silence.

Although Ma Shoushui also felt that it was too high, Wang Chong's words made him unable to refute it.

He himself wanted to earn more money, get the land in order as soon as possible, and pick up the house.

Ma Shoushui thought for a while and asked, "Over there in the brick kiln, if Director Zhang can't make a report, what are you going to do?" ”

"Director Zhang can't do it there, then I'll do it myself! The left and right are just a little smaller! Wang Zhong said unhurriedly.

Wang Zhong had already thought about this matter, Director Zhang's side was just an idle move, and it could be the best, but it couldn't be.

"Anyway, I can resell it to the villagers at cost price first, let the villagers build the house first, don't talk about the other villages, just the villagers who came over with Yongquan Village, I can first put the brick money on the first for everyone, and we will set a deadline and pay it back slowly."

"No way!"

As soon as Wang Chong's words fell, the old branch secretary immediately objected: "How can I let you advance money!" No, no, no! ”

Ma shouted that the water also said with deep understanding: "What the old branch secretary said is right! We have received your kindness, but this matter, you can't do this, your money is not blown by the wind, building houses, preparing land, everywhere is a place to spend money, if you open this opening, everyone will come to you to borrow money in the future, what will you do at that time? To borrow or not to borrow? ”

"Shouting water is right, this money can't be paid by you! This opening can't be opened! ”

Looking at the resolute looks of the two, Wang Chong smiled, quite relieved, and didn't insist anymore.

Under the light of the candlelight, the three of them discussed for a while before leaving.

Early the next morning, Wang Chong went to the brick kiln in the town, negotiated the price, and bought 30,000 bricks.

I went to Xingqing City and ordered a batch of reinforced concrete and sand, as well as all kinds of wood.

On the third day, reinforced concrete and sand and timber were delivered to the town one after another.

There was no road on the other side of the migrant village, and the trucks were too heavy for anyone to dare to go, and Wang Chong did not force people to unload everything in the town.

At the same time, Director Zhang also came with news, but unfortunately it was not ideal, the leaders recognized the method proposed by Wang Chong, and they were also willing to provide convenience to a certain extent, but this convenience has a certain limit.

Roughly speaking, the government is now vigorously developing the resettlement Diaozhuang area on this side of Yuquanying, and most of the human, material and financial resources have been invested in it, and there is no extra capital investment.

However, the government is very supportive of ordinary people to start their own businesses and provide more job opportunities for villagers who have migrated to Jiaozhuang.

The meaning is already obvious.

Wang Chong was not in a hurry to get busy with the brick kiln, but was busy with building his own house first.

The homestead was all planned with the consent of the government, and Wang Chong's family had more than one and a half acres.

The wind and sand on the Gobi Desert are strong, and there are sand storms, not to mention high-rise, even the tiles are a little difficult, and the wind can blow the tiles away!

However, these are easy to deal with, use cement mortar to pour out the slope roof, and fix it with cement like bricks when covering tiles, so you are not afraid of the wind.

So the key is to have money, as long as there is money, many difficulties are not difficulties.

It just so happens that the most important thing Wang Chong lacks now is money.

The 180,000 yuan obtained from selling bracelets, the splash was also stuffed to Wang Chong before he came, and now the manuscript fee has risen to several thousand yuan per month, which is Wang Chong's confidence.

After the materials were transported to the town, on June 20, Wang Chong led Ma Shoushui and Li Dayou, with several villagers from Yongquan Village and a villager from an immigrant village, who had already pulled donkey carts, ox carts, and carts to help Wang Chongyun with materials.

Dozens of people, more than 30 cars, and several migrant villages next to them also called a lot of strong laborers, and everyone worked together, but it also took three days of hard work to transport all the building materials bought by Wang Chong back to the migrant village.

On the side of the homestead, the old branch secretary also led the people to dig up the king's important foundation according to Wang Chong's requirements.

Forty centimeters wide, sixty centimeters deep, crossed vertically and horizontally, and the bottom is tamped several times with a wooden hammer.

With the experience of Yongquan Village, the old branch secretary is also familiar with the road, and Wang Chong's salary is four yuan a day, which is higher than the salary of working in the town and the nearby farms, and the villagers naturally sell enough strength to work.

Although the preparations have been done, there is still a while to start construction, and the most inseparable thing from concrete is water, but now the most lacking thing in the Jiaozhuang resettlement area is water.

The old branch secretary led the people to dig two rectangular pools of one meter and five deep, three meters square, and smeared a layer of red mud on the bottom and edge, without cement, and when they dried, they were two natural water storage pools.

It took a few more days to buy water and transport it.

On June 26, everything was ready, and the construction of Wang Chong's new home officially began, with reinforced concrete pouring a circle of ground beams, and then laying bricks on the ground beams.

The villagers have never touched the reinforced concrete house, and they don't know how to get it, watching Wang Zhong sprinkle water on the beams and pillars for maintenance, watching the excess water flow into the ground, and they feel distressed like something.

The speed of the large number of people is really fast, and it only took half a month to cover the tiles.

On the day of Gaiwa's Liang, Wang Chong went to the town to buy a sheep, stewed the mutton and artichoke together, invited all the villagers who came to help, first gave the villagers their wages, and then the white flour bun was mutton, and ate a beautiful meal.

After the house was built, Wang returned to Yongquan Village, took the splash, rode a motorcycle, and crossed a distance of hundreds of miles to Jintan Village.

The resettlement village where Wang Chong and others are located is called Jintan Village.

Looking at the lonely brick house in front of him, surrounded by a half-height wall, the courtyard gate was wooden, similar to the half-open gate of a farm.

Is this our house? Shui Hua looked at the house in front of her in a daze, a little unable to believe her eyes.

The key is that on this entire endless Gobi Desert, there is only one lonely courtyard.

There are only three main houses facing north and south, but they all have a lot of space, and the middle hall is the largest, slightly smaller on both sides, and the roof is covered with tiles and fixed with cement.

The water splash pushed open the courtyard door and walked into the courtyard, where a layer of red bricks was also laid on the ground, slightly higher than the outside, and the construction waste was also cleaned up, clean inside and out, all of which were helped by the villagers.

"I deliberately set aside the uncovered tiles on the roofs of the houses on both sides of the east and west, and when the trees around us are planted in the future to block the sand city storm, we can set up a ladder to go up, enjoy the shade in summer, and bask in the sun in winter."

"The water cellar is also done, just outside the west house, surrounded by three layers of red bricks, the top is reinforced concrete, and I also specially got a water press, and if you want to use water in the future, you don't need to lift it bucket by bucket!"

Wang Zhong smiled and said unhurriedly.

"It's the same as at home, the west side is the kitchen, warehouse, bathroom and toilet, and here in the east, I got two side rooms, and when we completely settle down here, I will take the old man over, let's have another child, a family of four, just live down!"

There is also a vacant lot between the east side of the main house and the wall, which is about the same size as the water cellar, and Wang Chong used red bricks to surround it to make a flower platform situation, and in the middle is the backfilled soil, all of which are sieved loess, and a small sapling half a person high is planted in the middle.

On the Gobi Desert, there is basically nothing, but there is one, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the terrain is also flat, and the homestead assigned to each family is far larger than when it was far away in the ravine.

The three main rooms, all with wooden windows, are all glassed.

The wooden door was closed, revealing only a keyhole.

Wang Zhong took out the key, twisted it twice, opened the door, turned around and took Splash's hand and prepared to walk in.

Splash stood in the doorway, not moving.

"What's wrong?" Wang Zhong turned to look at the splash suspiciously.

Shui Hua said: "I want to go to the nest where you lived during this time!" ”

"What's there to see!"

"I want to go!" Shui Hua was still standing at the door, looking at Wang Zhong with a determined gaze.

Wang Chong smiled: "Okay! ”

Wang Zhong led the splash, and did not ride a motorcycle, so he walked towards the area of Diwowo.

Now in Jintan Village, there are only a dozen families, and the houses that have been built are only Wang Chong's family, a lonely house on the endless Gobi Desert.

When I arrived near the nest, I gradually saw people.

"Splash?" Seeing the splash, the old branch secretary was a little surprised, but more happy.

"Just here?"

"Yes, uncle!" Shui Hua greeted the old branch secretary with a smile: "Are you still used to staying here?" ”

"What's wrong with it!" The old branch secretary also showed a smile on his face: "You can still make money here!" ”

"I'll give you a heavy supervisor, he will pay me four yuan a day, and I will earn almost a hundred yuan in the past half a month, and if I continue like this, in a few months, my family will be able to build a house!"

The old man built a brick and concrete house of Wang Chong's family, and the cost was naturally not as much as Wang Chong's.

And the old branch secretary is not alone in earning money, and Li Dayou and Shui Wang, the three grandparents and grandchildren went into battle together, just for half a month when Wang rebuilt the house, they respected the three grandchildren, and earned more than 200 and nearly 300 wages.

I exchanged a few words with the old branch secretary, but the old branch secretary was busy going to the field, so he didn't say much.

The two of them walked to the nest where Wang Chong lived, and at this moment the nest was empty, except for a bed made of a few planks and a pair of dry thatch and corn stalks in the back.

Even though it was daytime, it was still a little dim in the nest, and Splash sat on the wooden bed, scanning the surroundings, and then turned his head to look at Wang Chong, who was sitting next to him, his fingers were interlocked, and he held it harder, tilting his head sideways, leaning on Wang Chong's shoulder.

"The house has been built, so what are your plans next?"

Faced with the question of splashing, Wang Chong said that he planned to build a brick kiln first and prepare to help the villagers build the house first.

Shui Hua agreed with Wang Chong's idea very much, and said on the spot that Wang Chong did not need to manage his own land, Wang Chong only needed to get the brick kiln right, and the work in the field would be handed over to her.

More than a dozen acres of land, how could Wang Chong let Shui Hua work alone, and immediately said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about the affairs in the field, you, just help me do a good job of logistics with peace of mind!" ”

Shui Hua raised his head, looked at Wang Chong and said: "But the land has to be rectified after all, and if it comes out one day earlier, you can plant crops one day earlier!" ”

Wang Chong walked up to the splash, raised his hand and scraped her nose, and said with a smile: "My stupid daughter-in-law, we don't have to do this kind of work by ourselves. ”

"You want someone to tidy up the land?" After more than a year of marriage, Shui Hua gradually got to know Wang Chong, and immediately guessed Wang Chong's thoughts.

Wang Chongdao: "Our family is not short of money, what is lacking is large-scale land, what is lacking is time, what is lacking is strength, the villagers who come to hang the village are most lacking is money, they have work, some are strength, anyway, they have to find a place to work around to earn money."

So why can't we take what we need?

In this way, we can free up time, and the villagers can also earn money, anyway, the villagers themselves have to prepare the land, and by the way, we will also have to clean up our family's land, and save them from running to the town every day, to the next state farm! ”

"If we hire people, will it cost too much?"

Before Shui Hua married Wang Chong, her family was a well-known poor household in the village, and she had to rely on relief food from the government every year to survive.

Li Laozhuan is an unreliable person, he is far more sensible than his peers when he is young, digging grass and herding sheep, planting corn, and planting artichokes, and he is well-known for his diligence and ability in the village.

It is precisely because of the hard life of playing small that he has developed the habit of thrift and thrift.

If you hire all of them, the cost is really not small.

Wang Chong smiled and said, "What a stupid daughter-in-law! That's not how the accounts are calculated, you listen to me slowly calculate it for you! ”

Splash looked at Wang Zhong and pricked up his ears.

Wang Chongdao: "Now I write, I can earn one or two thousand yuan a month, and when I am more, I can have more than three thousand, if I wait for another half a year, my book is serialized, and after it is published and sold, I will earn more, not less, but if I go to the town to work for people, how much do you think I can earn in a month?" ”

"More than a hundred?" Shui Hua stuck out his tongue and understood what Wang Zhong meant.

I work by myself, more than 100 a month, and if I hire someone to prepare the land, it is about the same price, but if I use this time to write books, or do other things, I will earn more, not less.

"First of all, our family is not short of this bit of money, secondly, the villagers want to build a house, for a while, will not be able to come up with so much money to buy bricks, when we burn the bricks out, you can give them bricks first, let the villagers work in the brick kiln to pay, to work to pay off debts is one, then I can also let them help us prepare the land, this is also to work to pay debts!"

"Now that our house has been built and we have a place to live, you are responsible for helping me manage logistics and finances, such a big bunch of things, you can't let me do it all alone!"

"If we get this done, wouldn't it be more meaningful than carving out a few acres of land?"

In the big blue eyes of the splash, there was a flash of admiration, and he was no longer entangled in worry, a smile appeared on his face, and he said: "Okay, you are in charge, I listen to you!" ”

There is another reason, although a little reluctant to ask someone to pay for the land, but in the face of Wang Chong's concern, Shui Hua is also secretly happy in his heart, as long as the separation of nearly a month, the two newlywed Yan'er is only more than a year, or when the honey is oiled, Shui Hua will inevitably have some thoughts in his heart.

If you follow Wang Chong and take care of logistics and finances for him, then you will have more time to contact Wang Chong.

"By the way, wait until I go back, stew the mutton, and in the evening, I will call my uncle and Uncle Shui to come to the house for dinner, and discuss with them about the brick kiln by the way!"

Early the next morning, Wang Chong rode a motorcycle and took the lead in rushing to the land that Director Zhang helped apply for on the edge of the town.

Wang Zhong signed a contract with everyone, or according to four yuan a day, eight hours of working time to give everyone to start work, can be paid daily, or monthly! You can also directly use labor to offset the account, burn the bricks out at that time, and deduct the brick money according to the cost price.

The old branch secretary and Ma Shoushui both chose to pay directly, and the others basically chose to settle the account on a daily basis, one day at a time.

Half a month later, the three large brick kilns were officially completed, and a month later, the first bricks were officially opened.

All of a sudden, dozens of villagers who came to immigrate to Jiaozhuang were busy.

Three months later, the old branch secretary was the first to start building a house, the walls were all red bricks, the cost of reinforced concrete on the roof was too high, the old branch secretary and Li Dayou discussed, chose to use the old-fashioned earthen embryo house to cover the roof of the situation, and so on in the future, you can change it when you have money.

There are also three main rooms, a side room, a kitchen, and a dry toilet.

The main money was spent on labor and timber and buying water.

The cement money, Wang Chong gave, can be regarded as a reward for the old branch secretary, and he doesn't want to see the old branch secretary work so hard.

Although the old branch secretary didn't say anything, he secretly kept this feeling in his heart, and often chatted in the ears of Li Dayou and Shui Wang, so that they could think of repaying Wang Chong's favor in the future.

Before the winter, Wang Zhong and the villagers almost never stopped, the bricks were piled up and piled up, the bricks were burned kiln after kiln, and the brick kiln also began to make a profit when the old branch secretary began to build houses.

Of course, this is inseparable from Director Zhang's help to contact buyers and develop sales channels.

After winter, the soil layer is frozen, at this time to dig the soil to make billet, time-consuming and laborious, but also affect the quality, after the winter, the rest of the work, is to fire.

Time passed quietly in the busyness, and it was the Spring Festival in early ninety-fourth.

In the past two and a half years, on this endless Gobi desert, low bungalows have risen one after another, and under the unified planning of the government, although every household looks very simple, the whole village looks neat and orderly, and the wide roads can lead to the gate of every house.

The brick kiln business has long been on the right track, and the production capacity and scale are also catching up with the big kiln factory near Xingqing City.

In the past two years, the villagers have been busy with the most work to prepare the land, sift out the sand and gravel, buy soil from dozens of miles away, transport it back, and fill it in the ground.

The land that has just been prepared is not fertile enough, and wheat can not be planted, so corn can only be planted first, and some plots have been harvested this year.

······

Wang Chong's house, holding a bowl of hot tea, just took a sip of the old branch secretary.

"What!"

The old branch secretary stood up from the kang suddenly, his face was full of shock, and he looked at Wang Chong in disbelief: "What are you talking about?" ”

"I want to contract another 100 acres of land to grow pasture, wolfberry, grapes, and beach sheep!"

"A hundred acres of land?" The old branch secretary raised his index finger: "You are joking with me!" ”

"One hundred acres!"

"Your brick kiln factory is doing a good job, what kind of beach sheep are you going to raise."

Wang Chong said: "Uncle, don't get excited, listen to me tell you first!" ”

"Although digging and burning bricks is good, but the threshold is too low, the technical content is not high, there will be many people, to the competition is very large, not to mention anything else, just on our side of the big kiln factory, the scale is several times larger than ours, more and more people will come to hang the village, when the time comes a brick kiln, will definitely not be able to support so many folks, we have to think of other ways to do it."

"And it takes clay to burn bricks, and all the soil is burned into bricks, so where will there be so much soil for us to grow crops in the future?"

The old branch secretary sat back on the stool, not as excited as he was just now.

Wang Chongdao: "Yanchitan sheep are well-known all over the country, and even the state banquet has been held many times, and we are close to Xingqing City and Baolan Railway, if we raise sheep, we will not worry about sales at all!" ”

"And we have here, both the climate and various conditions are very conducive to the growth of Tan sheep."

"What about goji berries and grapes?" Although the tone of the old branch secretary was severe, there was also a lot of concern and worry between the words.

"I've done research before, and the climate here is very suitable for the growth of wolfberries and grapes, and if they are really grown, the quality will definitely not be bad."

"Anyway, I have time now, if I get it, the villagers who come to Jiaozhuang in the future can learn from each other, and they can also make a living!"

The old branch secretary is still a little worried: "You are doing a good job in the brick kiln now, you have to raise some beach sheep, plant grapes, and plant wolfberries!" You are a human, not a god, your energy is limited, so many things, how can you be busy! ”

"Uncle, I'm not stupid! If I run all three by myself, I will definitely not be busy! Wang Zhong said with a smile: "I've thought about it, over there in the brick kiln, they have learned almost everything now, and they don't need me to keep an eye on it all the time, in terms of technology, let Uncle Shui take care of it first." ”

"Besides, isn't there still you!"

Listening to Wang Chong's heartfelt words, the old branch secretary was silent for a moment, sighed, shook his head, and said helplessly: "You young people love to toss, just toss!" I'm too old to toss anymore! ”

"Uncle, you are only in your sixties, how can you serve the old!" Wang Zhong said with a smile.

The old branch secretary sighed, and there was no way to take Wang Chong: "How do you want me to help you?" This is not Yongquan Village, and I don't speak as well as I do in the village! ”

Jintan Village is an immigrant Jiaozhuang Village, and among the 24 Jiaozhuang households now, only 10 households are from Yongquan Village, and the rest are from other villages.

"Whether it's in Jintan Village or Yongquan Village, uncle, you are in my heart, that's all this!" Wang Zhong gave a thumbs up.

"You broken baby, don't pat yourself! Get down to business! Although the old branch secretary had a hard mouth, he showed a kind smile on his face full of ravines.

Wang Chong said with a smile: "If I'm busy here, the brick kiln over there, won't there be one less person in charge!" ”

"Didn't you shout for water?" The old branch secretary said.

Wang Zhong said: "Uncle Shui is now the technical backbone of the kiln factory, and he is busy directing everyone to burn the kiln!" ”

The old branch secretary said: "So you want me to go over and take charge of the kiln factory for you?" ”

Wang Chongdao: "Uncle is sharp-eyed, and he can't hide anything from you!" ”

"For the sake of our fellow villagers in Yongquan Village and Jintan Village, uncle, you can't leave it alone!"

"You kid has this mouth, the dead can tell you to live!" The old branch secretary looked like he couldn't do anything about the king.

Wang Chong looked at the old branch secretary who had already had a gray beard, and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, in the past two years, in order to build a house and prepare the land, the old branch secretary has not been idle for a moment, and he is only in his sixties, and he is old like an old man who is almost eighty years old.

The back, which was barely straight, is no longer straight.

Wang Chong didn't want the old branch secretary to be like the original, he heard that planting trees could prevent wind, just around the village, on the way into the village, a person dug a pit and planted trees in obscurity, and finally fell ill.