Chapter 164: Finding a Way to Bring Electricity to the Village; Initial Construction of Red Maple Mountain

“Oh, it’s Uncle Tian. Come on in,” Lin Heng said with a smile as he opened the door and saw who it was.

It was none other than the Village Party Secretary, Tian Dongfu.

“Thanks,” Tian Dongfu replied, stepping inside without ceremony.

“Xiulan, get Uncle Tian a bowl of rice,” Lin Heng said as he poured a cup of tea for their guest.

Tian Dongfu quickly waved Xiulan off, shaking his head. “No need, I just ate at home. I’m stuffed. I came to talk to Lin Heng about something.”

“Don’t be so polite, Uncle. You can always eat a little more,” Xiulan said with a smile.

“Really, I just ate. Came straight over after finishing,” Tian Dongfu insisted, waving his hands.

With that, Xiulan had no choice but to let it go.

“Here, have some tea,” Lin Heng said, handing over the cup.

Tian Dongfu set the tea on the table to cool and looked at Lin Heng. “I came to talk about bringing electricity to the village.”

Lin Heng had already guessed as much and nodded. “That’s a great thing. Without electricity, it’s hard to get anything done. If we want the village to prosper, we need good roads and reliable power.”

Tian Dongfu nodded in agreement. “Exactly. I’ve been in touch with the town’s Electricity Management Station these past few days. I applied for some subsidies, but even with that, each household still needs to contribute fifteen yuan to get connected.”

Lin Heng wasn’t surprised by the price. Fifteen yuan wasn’t a huge amount, but it wasn’t pocket change either. Some families might hesitate to pay it.

Especially since once the electricity is connected, they’d have to start paying monthly bills. Not everyone would be thrilled about that—particularly the more old-fashioned folks who resisted anything new.

But Lin Heng was determined to make this happen. Life without electricity was just too inconvenient. He’d long grown tired of kerosene lamps and had been using candles lately.

“Then we just need to mobilize people. Start with the wealthier families. I believe most people do want electricity. We can also use a bit of clever phrasing—say everyone else has already agreed, and if we don’t do it now, the subsidies might be gone and it’ll cost more later,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He believed that even the poorest families could scrape together fifteen yuan, and once they had electricity, they’d finally have a shot at improving their lives.

Tian Dongfu gave Lin Heng a thoughtful look, impressed by the young man’s savvy. He nodded. “That’s what I was thinking too. When the time comes, you, me, and the Village Head can go around together and talk to everyone.

Looks like it’s going to rain in the next couple of days. If it’s just a light drizzle, people will be home, so it’ll be easier to find them. That’s when we’ll go door to door.”

“Sounds good. Just let me know when, and I’ll be there,” Lin Heng agreed. No matter what, this was something that had to get done.

“Oh, by the way, I nominated you for the Ten-Thousand-Yuan Household Award. You’ll be our village’s Model Worker and a leader in prosperity,” Tian Dongfu said with a chuckle after taking a sip of tea.

“Uh… I don’t even have ten thousand in savings anymore,” Lin Heng said with a wry smile, spreading his hands. He wasn’t too keen on the title—it might attract jealousy.

“As long as you had it at one point, it counts. You’ve got the Procurement Station and you dug out a Fish Pond—clearly leading the way to prosperity. Plus, the title comes with perks. You can apply for business grants, and it’ll make handling paperwork a lot easier,” Tian Dongfu said with a grin.

It wasn’t just about giving Lin Heng face—this was something the town leadership needed too. After a year of work, they needed tangible results. And the youngest Ten-Thousand-Yuan Household in town’s history? That was headline material.

“Well, alright then. Thanks, Uncle Tian,” Lin Heng said, not turning it down. It’d be good to get acquainted with the town leaders anyway.

After wrapping up the main topic, they chatted a bit more. Once he finished his tea, Tian Dongfu took his leave.

“Hey, how much sweet potato have you guys ground up so far?” Lin Heng asked curiously.

“Over two thousand jin, I think. We’ve got about three hundred jin of sweet potato starch so far. Mom wants to grind five thousand jin total and keep three thousand for making sweet stalk wine later,” Xiulan replied.

“You guys are pretty fast. Once you’re done, I’ll grind the bracken roots into powder too,” Lin Heng said, a bit surprised. They were making faster progress than he expected.

“We’ll be slowing down soon. Too much sweet potato pulp—the pigs can’t even finish it all,” Xiulan said.

Lin Heng nodded, took a few more bites of rice, and they continued chatting.

Lately, Xiulan had made a new friend—Tian Yan. They’d met at the barbecue gathering and hit it off. Tian Yan often came over to do laundry with Xiulan or ask for advice on daily life.

Sometimes she even helped teach Xiao Xia how to write, though Xiao Xia wasn’t interested and would run off whenever she saw her.

Lin Heng didn’t mind at all. Now that Caiyun was back in school, Xiulan didn’t have anyone to talk to during the day. Having Tian Yan around was a good thing.

Plus, Tian Yan had been pleasantly surprised by the number of books in Lin Heng’s home, which made her even more eager to visit.

After lunch, Lin Heng took the initiative to wash the dishes—Xiulan had hurt her hand grinding sweet potatoes.

“Your hand’s not infected, is it?” he asked, picking up her hand to inspect it after finishing the dishes.

After months of care, her slender, fair hands were soft and delicate. Seeing the one-centimeter scrape on her index finger made his heart ache.

Xiulan blinked at him and shook her head. “No infection. I’ve been wearing the rubber gloves you bought me, so it hasn’t gotten wet.”

“That’s good. An infection would be a pain,” Lin Heng said, nodding. He held her hand a while longer, admiring how soft and smooth it was.

Xiulan gave him a helpless look but let him hold her hand. She was secretly happy and ended up lying down on his lap to rest.

“There are a lot of monkey head mushrooms and enoki mushrooms in the mountains these days. Oyster mushrooms and matsutake are starting to come out too. Want to go with me to pick some?” Xiulan asked, looking up at him from his lap.

Lin Heng looked into her big eyes and at her tempting red lips. After thinking for a moment, he said, “It’s definitely going to rain soon. Once it’s just a light drizzle, let’s head over to Baishi Gully to hunt for mushrooms.”

He wanted to go mushroom hunting with his wife too. Once they were done, it’d be a good time to do some hunting as well—most of the leaves had fallen, making it easier to spot pheasants and other game.

“Alright. Once the rain comes, we’ll go,” Xiulan nodded.

After a short nap at noon, Xiulan took Xiao Xia to her parents’ place to continue grinding sweet potatoes.

Lin Heng headed to Red Maple Mountain with his father and older brother. After ten days of work, the second and third rows of stone terraces had been completed. Built with cement mortar, the terraces were smooth and tidy, looking quite impressive.

The land leveling work on those two rows was also in full swing. The second row was nearly done. Looking at the massive, flat field—400 meters long and 15 meters wide—Lin Heng felt a deep sense of satisfaction. Everyone had done a great job.

As for the Fish Pond, there was no rush to lay the lines. Better to wait until all the land was leveled and do it all at once.

After a quick check, he took some cornmeal to feed the grass carp fry, then joined the others in their work.

Up in the mountains, the air was wide open and fresh. With the crisp autumn wind blowing, it was the perfect weather to work up a sweat—cool and comfortable.

Working while chatting with Li Shiwei and the others made the day pass quickly and enjoyably.

Lin Heng had originally planned to build a waterwheel during this period, but after trying it out, he decided to wait and do it with his dad. It was just too much work for one person, and his woodworking skills still needed improvement.

“The weather’s been flip-flopping for half a month now. Still no rain. Think we’re in for a big one?” Li Shiwei said, looking up at the sky. He was actually hoping for a downpour—maybe he’d get lucky and find some bog wood again.

He was dreaming of a little windfall, something to boost his confidence at home and keep his wife from talking back.

“Probably not. It’s late autumn—not much rain this time of year,” Lin Heng replied with a smile.

The weather had actually been on his side. In the past twenty days of work, it had only rained lightly twice—barely a hiccup.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll pour either. Been great for digging up wild yams lately,” Li Baiquan added with a grin.

“Absolutely,” Lin Heng nodded. Just hearing the word “yam” made his mouth water.

The wild yam we had last time was really something—delicate, sweet, and turned soft with just a light boil. Way better than the farmed ones.

As for the lilies we dug up on Chestnut Mountain, I tried one when I got home—so bitter it made me tear up. Ended up planting them all in the backyard. Might as well enjoy the flowers next year.

But lily flowers are edible too. They make great flower pastries.

Li Shiwei patted him on the shoulder. “Once the Fish Pond is done, come over to my place. I’ll take you up the mountain. There’s a whole slope full of big wild yams.”

“We’ll see. Not sure if I’ll be free,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Time passed quickly. Three more days flew by, and still no rain. The leveling work at the Fish Pond was nearly complete.

Since the slope wasn’t steep to begin with, leveling it wasn’t too much trouble.

Seeing that the rain still hadn’t come, Lin Heng headed into town to take care of some supply deliveries and shipments.

He went into the city alone, bringing his compound bow with him.

When Ge Qingshan heard he was in town, he rushed over to Li Chengguo’s place.

“Lin Heng! Finally! I bought all this stuff ten days ago,” Ge Qingshan said excitedly when he saw him.

“Then let’s find a place to have some fun,” Lin Heng replied with a grin.

“I’ve got just the spot. Come with me,” Ge Qingshan said, smiling as he revved up his motorcycle and took Lin Heng to an empty warehouse.

Inside were neatly arranged archery targets—it was clear Ge Qingshan had prepared everything in advance.

“Nice setup, huh?” he said proudly.

Lin Heng nodded. “Very nice. Let’s get started.”

“Alright.” Ge Qingshan opened up the gear. Besides his own compound bow, he had the hunting arrows Lin Heng had asked for.

“These fifty triangle-tipped hunting arrows were bought just like you wanted. Two yuan apiece,” he said.

“Thanks. I’ll pay you in a bit. Let’s get to practice first,” Lin Heng said, examining the arrows with satisfaction.

They were much better than the ones he had modified himself, with more balanced weight distribution.

Though pricey, quality gear for modern compound bows never came cheap. Luckily, these fifty should last him for years.

He started from the basics, teaching Ge Qingshan step by step, then let him try shooting while he observed and corrected.

After two hours, Ge Qingshan was wiped out and took a break.

He took a sip of water and looked at Lin Heng curiously. “How far can you shoot accurately?”

Lin Heng thought for a moment. “I can hit within the 7-ring at up to 150 meters. Two to three hundred meters, I can still hit the target. A few days ago, I shot a golden pheasant dead from a hundred meters.”

“Damn, that’s impressive!” Ge Qingshan exclaimed.

“Well, it’s how I make a living,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He picked up the compound bow and started shooting at the farthest target, 80 meters away.

Five arrows in a row—all within the 8-ring. The moment he held the bow, he just knew he’d hit. That was his gift.

Like how a math whiz looks at a problem and instantly knows how to solve it.

Ge Qingshan clapped his hands. “Awesome! You could enter competitions with that level!”

Lin Heng chuckled and shook his head. “Not interested.”

He had talent, sure, but the national team had even more gifted shooters. Besides, competitions didn’t pay much these days—hunting was more profitable.

“So how long would it take me to reach your level?” Ge Qingshan asked, curious.

Lin Heng glanced at him and grinned. “You want the truth or a nice lie?”

“Truth, of course,” Ge Qingshan said.

“Then… at least two years. But with six months of practice, you could start trying to hunt,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He didn’t want to discourage him too much. Truth was, some people trained for years and still couldn’t match his skill.

“That’s not bad. I can stick with it. When can you take me hunting?” Ge Qingshan asked eagerly.

“Wait till it snows. Not a good time right now,” Lin Heng replied, shaking his head.

“Alright, but I’m itching to go,” Ge Qingshan said, rubbing his arms before picking up the bow again.

Right now, he could hit the target at twenty meters—though sometimes the arrows still flew off wildly.

“Then go shoot fish. Just attach a fishing line to the arrow,” Lin Heng said with a grin.

“Great idea! I’ll find a spot in a few days and try it,” Ge Qingshan’s eyes lit up.

They practiced until noon, then went to grab lunch. Lin Heng paid him for the arrows and treated him to the meal.

They hung out a bit more in the afternoon, and then Lin Heng caught a ride back home with a delivery truck.

The truck dropped off some goods, and after tallying things up, Lin Heng found he’d made 200 yuan from sales this month—a bit more than last month.

That evening, he went fishing with Old Man Gao and decided to stay overnight in Huangtan Town.

Autumn was a great time for fishing. In just over an hour, they caught three to four jin of crucian carp and a carp. Lin Heng had a rare moment of carefree fun.

The next day, the truck came to pick up mountain goods. After settling accounts, he made a profit of 520 yuan. This was the peak season for harvest, so that kind of income wasn’t unusual.

And because his purchase prices were higher than average, people from nearby towns were also coming to sell their goods.

After paying Wang Zhou his wages, Lin Heng patted him on the shoulder and said, “Come on, let’s close up shop. I’m taking you to meet that girl.”

“Huh? Today? Is that really okay?”

Wang Zhou immediately got all shy.

“What are you blushing for? Just come with me,” Lin Heng said, exasperated. “What’s there to be scared of when it comes to meeting a girl?”

Wang Zhou hesitated again. “But I…”

“Don’t say anything. Just come and meet her,” Lin Heng cut him off with a wave.

They closed the shop and let Old Man Gao know before heading out.

Lin Heng led the horse, and the two of them walked back together.

By the time they reached Red Maple Village, it was already past one in the afternoon. Xiulan was in the yard grinding sweet potato starch.

“What do you want to eat? I’ll cook for you,” Xiulan said, wiping her hands and looking at Lin Heng.

“No need, I’ll cook myself,” Lin Heng waved her off.

“You sure?” she asked again.

“Yeah, you go on with your work.”

Lin Heng nodded and took Wang Zhou back home, where he cooked a simple meal.

“Brother Lin, what should I say when I meet her?” Wang Zhou asked nervously over lunch.

“Just say what you feel. If you like her, tell her,” Lin Heng said casually.

“You think that’s appropriate?” Wang Zhou’s eyes widened.

“Why wouldn’t it be? If you don’t say it, how would she know?” Lin Heng rolled his eyes.

After eating, he took Wang Zhou and set off.

They asked around and eventually found Liu Cihua herding cattle in Shibadang Gully.

When they arrived, Liu Cihua was sitting on a rock, lost in thought. She was startled when she saw Lin Heng, then quickly stood up.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Liu Cihua, this is Wang Zhou. He likes you and wants to marry you,” Lin Heng said, giving Wang Zhou a little shove forward.

“Ah!!”

Both Wang Zhou and Liu Cihua were stunned by Lin Heng’s bluntness, their reactions perfectly in sync.

Lin Heng glanced at Wang Zhou and grinned. “Have a good chat. If you’re not done in half an hour, I’m docking your pay.”

With that, he turned and walked downstream, leaving them behind.

Once he was gone, the two of them stood frozen for several minutes.

Eventually, they began to glance at each other cautiously.

“Where are you from?” Liu Cihua finally broke the silence.

Wang Zhou couldn’t even manage a full sentence.

…

Half an hour later, Wang Zhou came out, blushing.

Lin Heng looked at him. “Well? What do you think?”

Wang Zhou nodded, smiling bashfully. “Yeah, she’s really pretty. I think we’re a good match.”

To him, Liu Cihua was already more attractive than he’d dared hope. If she were any prettier, he’d probably be too scared to even look at her—he’d just assume she was out of his league.

Right now, her image was still vivid in his mind—especially that full, curvy chest of hers.

“So what did she say?” Lin Heng asked.

Speaking of which, Wang Zhou looked completely bewildered. “Uh… I have no idea.”

He hadn’t said much earlier and couldn’t make heads or tails of what Liu Cihua meant.

“That’s easy,” Lin Heng said with a grin. “Go pick some wild chrysanthemums and give them to her. If she doesn’t turn you down, you’ve got a shot.”

The moment Wang Zhou heard “give her flowers,” his heart started pounding even harder, and he hesitated to act.

“If you’re not gonna do it, then let’s head back. I’ve helped you all I can,” Lin Heng said, spreading his hands. He really didn’t get what was so scary about women.

“I’ll go!” Wang Zhou gritted his teeth, picked a bunch of wild chrysanthemums by the roadside, and ran off with them.

Lin Heng watched him go. He figured it would be fine—people always find their own way, and those two seemed like a good match.

Sure enough, not long after, Wang Zhou came running back with a huge smile on his face.

“She took them, Brother Lin!” he said excitedly.

“I’m telling you now—her mom’s mute and her dad’s a little senile. If you’re thinking about marrying her, you better think it through,” Lin Heng warned.

“No problem. As long as she’s okay, that’s all that matters,” Wang Zhou waved it off, not the least bit concerned. Right now, his head was full of nothing but Liu Cihua.

“All right then. Let’s leave it at that for now. Start saving up some money, talk to your parents, and maybe next year we can find a time to formally propose.”

Lin Heng nodded and took Wang Zhou for a quick walk around before sending him back to town. The guy needed to cool off a bit—no need to let a rush of emotion lead to a hasty decision that could mess things up for both him and the girl.

Just after seeing Wang Zhou off, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky. The autumn wind picked up, and Lin Heng shivered as he relieved himself by the roadside.

He checked his watch—it was already past four in the afternoon. Turning around, he headed for Red Maple Mountain.

It was November 16th. The land leveling work at the Red Maple Mountain construction site had been fully completed that morning. In the afternoon, they were just tidying up the rocky slope near the mountain stream and fixing a few minor issues.

“Lin Heng, there’s no more work left. Should we mark the lines and start digging the pond?” Father Lin asked.

Lin Heng stood on the leveled ground, surveying it with satisfaction. He shook his head. “Nah, let’s call it a day. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, we’ll come back.”

“Alright,” Father Lin nodded. He had originally wanted everyone to work a bit longer, but the rain was coming down harder now.

They had no choice but to get everyone to sign off and leave.

By the time they got home, the drizzle had turned into a steady rain, and the howling autumn wind made everyone shiver from the cold.

“Hurry up and help bring in the dried fish and persimmons!” Mother Lin called out when she saw them. She and the others were busy collecting sweet potato starch.

“Got it!” Lin Heng and the others quickly moved everything indoors.

Once everything was inside, they stood there watching the gloomy rain, all wearing the same thoughtful expression.

“Looks like we won’t be getting any work done tomorrow,” Li Shiwei sighed.

“Definitely not. I think it’s gonna rain for two or three days,” Lin Yue agreed with a nod.

Lin Heng, on the other hand, thought the rain was a good thing. It would help the freshly leveled ground settle properly, which was great for the next phase of construction.

“Let’s cook, I’m starving. We’ll have a good drink tonight,” Father Lin said, shaking his head.

Mother Lin answered and went to prepare dinner.

They had five dishes for dinner. Lin Heng’s favorite, without a doubt, was the stir-fried dried white fish with chopped chili.

The little white fish, stir-fried with finely chopped hot peppers, was spicy and fragrant—absolutely perfect.

In Lin Heng’s opinion, the only thing that could rival it was braised pork. Even cured meats couldn’t compare.

“If it’s still raining tomorrow, we’ll head back early and come down again when the weather clears,” Li Baiquan said at the dinner table.

Mother Lin didn’t object and nodded. “Yeah, it’s about time to go back anyway. The dried fish is ready too—you can take it with you.”

Lin Heng looked at his uncle and Li Shiwei. “Want me to settle up your wages now?”

Li Shiwei shook his head. “No need. We’ll be coming back to work anyway. Let’s just settle everything at the end.”

Li Baiquan nodded in agreement. “Besides, if you pay us early, the others will want theirs too. That wouldn’t be fair. We’re not in a rush.”

“Fair enough,” Lin Heng said, not pushing it. They had a point.

After dinner, the rain was still coming down in sheets. The sky was so dark that by six o’clock, it was already hard to see the road.

Lin Heng carried his daughter while Xiulan held the umbrella. The three of them hurried home through the rain.

With weather like this, there wasn’t much else to do. After a warm bath, everyone crawled into bed. Xiao Xia didn’t want to sleep in her little bed and kept crawling around on the big one.

Lin Heng and Xiulan weren’t sleepy either. Lin Heng picked up a book and read aloud to keep Xiulan entertained. When it got late enough, he switched to a storybook to lull Xiao Xia to sleep.

The next morning, the rain had eased a bit, but it was still coming down steadily.

Around eight o’clock, as Lin Heng was having breakfast, there was a knock at the door.

“Coming!”

He didn’t even need to guess who it was. Saying that, he got up and went to open the door.

(End of Chapter)