Chapter 237: The Engineer

The team leader first took the group to register.

Most of the people from Shuangtian Village were full of curiosity about Zhoujiazhuang. As they made their way in, they had already noticed how different the place was.

What surprised them was that although the villagers here also looked undernourished, they were full of energy.

They didn’t look like they were starving—just lacking in proper nutrition.

And this, the people of Zhoujiazhuang didn’t deny either.

Thanks to Zhou Yimin’s help, no one in the village had gone hungry, but the food was indeed pretty basic—they’d been eating sweet potatoes and potatoes for nearly two months straight.

No oil or meat to speak of—this was a fact, and there was no shame in admitting it.

Besides that, the folks from Shuangtian Village also noticed other differences between Zhoujiazhuang and ordinary villages. The most striking of them all were the areas covered with plastic film.

Some of them didn’t even know what it was. Only after someone explained it did they gain a rough understanding.

Once registration was done, the team leader and Village Chief Liang exchanged a few more words before leading everyone to the village canteen for a meal.

They were served mixed-grain steamed buns.

“Mixed-grain” means flour made from blending two different grains or flours.

For example, cornmeal mixed with soybean flour.

So, mixed-grain flour didn’t necessarily contain wheat flour.

Even though it wasn’t wheat flour, in times like these, being able to eat mixed-grain buns was already quite a privilege. In their own village, even coarse cornbread had to be rationed carefully.

“There’s a fixed quota for each meal. Once you’ve finished it, there’s no more. If you can’t finish it, you’re allowed to take the rest with you,” the team leader told them.

Hearing this didn’t disappoint the Shuangtian villagers—in fact, they were delighted.

Their families had sent them here to work with the hope that they could bring some food back. They’d even been wondering how to ask for it—now they could openly take their portion home.

Each person got five mixed-grain buns in that meal. Many only ate two and saved the other three to bring home. Of course, if they got too hungry while working, they’d have to eat one more.

They couldn’t let hunger affect their work—otherwise, the people of Zhoujiazhuang might have something to say about it.

“These mixed-grain buns smell so good.”

“No kidding, there’s a lot of cornmeal in them!”

“I’m taking the other three home.”

“Me too. There’s still lunch and dinner—I can save a bit more then,” said a gap-toothed man happily.

That way, even if their families couldn’t eat their fill, they wouldn’t starve. And that, to them, was already a pretty good outcome.

“Don’t slack off. If anyone drags the rest of us down, don’t blame us for turning on our own.”

If someone just ate without working and ended up giving Zhoujiazhuang a bad impression of them, leading to them being kicked out, they’d have only themselves to blame.

“Like we need you to remind us? We all want to work here for as long as we can!”

…

Once everyone finished eating, the team leader led the Shuangtian villagers to the back mountain.

Over there, quite a few villagers were already waiting. Tools were laid out to the side: stone hammers, shovels, hoes, wheelbarrows, manure-based fertilizer and such.

Also neatly stacked were a hundred bags of cement.

Whether that would be enough was unclear—cement wasn’t cheap. At that time, it cost 114.65 yuan per ton. A ton was 2,000 jin, and with twenty bags per ton, one bag cost about 5.80 yuan. So a hundred bags meant over 500 yuan.

The village obviously couldn’t afford that much right now. All of it had been brought in by Zhou Yimin, temporarily on credit. Once the village’s finances improved, they could slowly pay it back.

Zhou Yimin wasn’t in any rush either. After all, he’d gotten the hundred bags of cement in a flash sale for just one yuan—it only cost him that much. Still, he couldn’t just give them to the village for free. At most, he’d let them owe him for now, but they would have to pay it back eventually.

Constant giving without asking for anything in return wasn’t good. “A cup of rice is a favor, a bucket of rice is a grudge”—that’s an old saying, and it holds true.

Besides, if he kept helping selflessly, it might spoil the villagers, turn them into man-children, and that wouldn’t end well.

Zhou Yimin didn’t want to raise a pack of ingrates either—like in that one courtyard novel, where the protagonist poured his heart into raising the widow Qin’s three children, even disowning his own biological son. Then, when he grew old, he was kicked out and froze to death under a bridge, only to be eaten by wild dogs.

Among the people present, one man stood out. He wore a Zhongshan suit and looked particularly distinguished.

The team leader walked over to him and greeted him respectfully, “Engineer Xu, everyone’s here.”

This man’s name was Xu Xiangbei. Though he was young, he was already a civil engineer.

In this era, being an engineer was a big deal.

Although Zhoujiazhuang was just building a small reservoir, it still couldn’t be done haphazardly—technical support was a must. Otherwise, it’d end up like those disasters in the future caused by people like the Indians—build a dam and it collapses almost immediately.

In future times, India was notorious for such blunders.

Like that one bridge that collapsed three times—simply ridiculous.

Shoddy construction exists in every country, so it’s not something to mock. China has it too. But a bridge collapsing three times? That’s unheard of.

Normally, after one collapse, no one would dare cut corners again. But in India, that wasn’t the case. Three times? No big deal.

Based on Zhoujiazhuang’s capabilities, they had no business hiring an engineer.

Even the most junior engineer earned over 100 yuan a month—how could Zhoujiazhuang afford that?

Xu Xiangbei had been brought in by Zhou Yimin through his connection with Zhang Jianshe. It was only because of the research institute’s reputation that he came to provide technical support.

In fact, two days ago, Xu Xiangbei had already arrived at Zhoujiazhuang and conducted various surveys of the mountain valley behind the village to find the optimal location for the dam.

Over those two days, Zhoujiazhuang had treated him with great hospitality, and he’d been having a good time.

“Alright! Now that everyone’s here, let’s get started! Today, we’re clearing all the weeds here. Over there, we’ll be digging a diversion channel—I’ve already marked the spot, so just follow my markings and dig accordingly,” Xu Xiangbei instructed.

Building a reservoir wasn’t something that could be done overnight—it had to be taken step by step. No rushing.

As soon as the team leader heard his instructions, he called out to everyone, “Let’s get started! The women will clear out all the weeds here. The men, use your hoes to dig the diversion channel.”

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone got to work pulling up weeds.

And for safety’s sake, afraid they might run into some large animals in the back mountain, many people carried hunting rifles just in case.

When Village Chief Liang saw that the villagers from his own village were still standing around in a daze, he quickly shouted, “Didn’t you hear what the brigade leader just said? What are you all staring at? Get to work!”

Only then did Liang Zan and the others snap out of it and start working.

Thanks to the large number of people, things moved quickly. And those who came here were all experienced hands—no one was slacking off.

Liang Liu in particular was working with remarkable effort, as if he had endless strength. He swung his hoe like it weighed nothing at all.

The people from Zhoujiazhuang had never seen someone so strong before and couldn’t help but marvel at him. Determined not to be outdone, they also began digging with renewed vigor.

So, under the brigade leader’s lead, the villagers dug the diversion channel with great effort.

No wonder the great man once said, “Many hands make light work!”

Wasn’t that exactly the case here?

Seeing that there was nothing else that required his attention, Village Chief Liang was about to return to the village. After all, there were still a few troublemakers left behind—he didn’t feel comfortable unless he was there to keep an eye on them.

“Brigade Leader, I’ll be heading back now,” said Village Chief Liang.

The brigade leader didn’t try to stop him. He smiled and said, “Alright then, Chief Liang. Take care. Don’t worry—we’ll treat your villagers like our own. We won’t mistreat anyone.”

Village Chief Liang chuckled.

Mistreat? Impossible.

As long as there’s food to eat, no one’s being mistreated. On the contrary, back in the village, even lying in bed doing nothing could feel like torture—a kind of self-inflicted suffering with no way out.

“Brigade Leader, you’re joking.”

Before leaving, Village Chief Liang walked over to Liang Zan and said, “Liang Zan, remember what I told you.”

“Uncle, you can count on me,” Liang Zan replied, patting his chest.

Village Chief Liang trusted his nephew’s capabilities. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have entrusted such an important task to him.

With those final instructions given, he turned and left.

Time flew by, and soon it was noon.

The villagers from Shuangtian Village were really looking forward to lunch. In the morning, they’d been served mixed-grain steamed buns—maybe lunch would be even better?

Although the steamed buns were just made from mixed grains, to the people of Shuangtian Village, they were still a rare treat.

The brigade leader said, “Comrades, you’ve all worked hard today. Let’s go eat!”

Then he led the group to the canteen, where the food had already been prepared in advance.

Once everyone had filed in, the brigade leader called out, “Comrades, dig in!”

To ensure the reservoir workers were well-fed, they had specially asked Zhou Yimin for help in purchasing some fatty pork. It was rendered into lard, and the cracklings were used for cooking.

They couldn’t afford to serve meat at every meal, but with this method, at least the laborers were getting some fat in their bellies, and the village could handle the cost.

Liang Zan and the others were stunned when they saw the meal.

Though the steamed buns were still the same mixed-grain variety, the dishes were stir-fried with pork cracklings—and there was a generous amount of them. Meals this good were usually reserved for New Year celebrations.

After all, they usually had trouble just getting enough to eat, let alone getting meat.

The people of Shuangtian Village felt incredibly lucky that they were working in Zhoujiazhuang, and not among those who had gone to the commune to dig ditches. All of a sudden, the morning’s labor felt well worth it.

At first, many in the village believed that the food at the commune would be better than at Zhoujiazhuang.

That’s why the forty spots at the commune were hotly contested. Everyone assumed the commune had more food and that they’d be able to eat more.

Only a few people—like Liang Zan and his group—had volunteered to come to Zhoujiazhuang.

The others ended up here only because they lost the lottery draw.

But now, they hadn’t expected the food at Zhoujiazhuang to be this good. Even the commune probably didn’t serve meals like this. Sure, they all believed the commune could provide the same mixed-grain steamed buns—but pork cracklings? That would be a stretch.

Though the commune had deeper pockets, it also had heavier expenses. There was no way they’d let everyone eat like this.

Someone couldn’t help but sigh, “If meals are always like this, I could work until the day I die!”

“No kidding, me too!” several others chimed in.

At that moment, Liang Liu said, “What are you all still chatting for? Isn’t the food great?”

With that, he dove into his meal. After working all morning, he was already starving and began to devour his food.

The others, seeing that Liang Liu had already started, couldn’t hold back any longer. They were afraid if they ate too slowly, the good stuff would be gone.

Liang Zan had been looking around for Zhou Yimin all morning, but he hadn’t caught even a glimpse of him.

It seemed Zhou Yimin didn’t return to Zhoujiazhuang often.

Oh well, food first!

His stomach was growling, and he couldn’t resist joining the fray.

Compared to the villagers from Shuangtian, the Zhoujiazhuang folks were noticeably more “refined.” They had been eating the mixed-grain steamed buns for a few days already, but pork crackling stir-fry was still rare, and meat was considered a real luxury.

Just then, one of the Shuangtian villagers choked on a steamed bun from eating too fast. Liang Zan quickly poured water from a kettle and handed it over.

Fortunately, the piece of bun wasn’t too big—after a few gulps of water, it went down. Otherwise, things could have gotten messy.

Liang Zan said, “Come on, there’s plenty to eat—no need to risk your life. Slow down.”

Lunch and dinner were both rationed, but still offered more than the morning’s five steamed buns.

What Liang Zan didn’t know was that Zhou Yimin never ate at the village canteen—he always ate at home.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiangbei had also gone to Zhou Yimin’s house.

As a technician providing technical support, he was treated with a bit more care. The old Party secretary, worried about slighting him, had asked Zhou Yimin to host him, hoping Xu Gong could have his meals there.

Everyone in the village knew: Zhou Yimin’s home had the best food.

Second-best was the school where the children studied.

The village canteen ranked last. So if Zhou Yimin’s home couldn’t host him, the old secretary planned to send Xu Gong to the school to eat with the kids.

But something like this? There was no way Zhou Yimin would refuse.

Besides, Xu Gong had been invited through Uncle Zhang’s connections. It made perfect sense for Zhou Yimin to do the hosting.

“Brother Xu, how’s everything?” Zhou Yimin asked.

“Not bad! The progress is good. At this pace, there’s hope the entire project can be completed before the New Year. Of course, that’s assuming we don’t lose any manpower,” said Xu Xiangbei.

He came to Zhoujiazhuang partly because of Zhang Jianshe and the Institute’s influence, but also because he admired Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin was only a few years younger than him, yet had already invented several products. That alone earned his respect. So when he found out it was Zhou Yimin who had personally asked for him, he agreed without hesitation.

After arriving, Zhou Yimin treated him with courtesy and respect, calling him Brother Xu, which further solidified his decision to do this job well.

“Brother Xu, don’t worry—if anything, we’ll be adding more hands, not losing them.”

They chatted as they ate.

Today’s meal was just as generous. In addition to white rice, there was also iron-pot stewed goose.

Xu Xiangbei had even forgotten the last time he ate goose.

Even with his high salary, his meals were usually quite ordinary—about the same as everyone else’s.

“Brother Xu, eat more.”

“Alright, alright.”

In the afternoon, he still had to make a trip back to the city. He had already given the necessary instructions at the construction site, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.

(End of this chapter)