Chapter 326

As soon as the old village secretary received the money, he took it over to Zhou Yimin.

When Zhou Yimin saw the money he handed over, he didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it directly.

Seeing that Zhou Yimin didn’t even count the money, the old village secretary reminded him, “Yimin, better count it just in case.”

“Don’t tell me I can’t trust you, old village secretary?” Zhou Yimin casually slipped the money into his pocket—though in truth, he stored it into his spatial space—and confirmed the amount was correct.

The old village secretary was genuinely pleased to have earned Zhou Yimin’s trust.

But he was also busy and didn’t have time to chit-chat, so he hurried off.

Back at the reservoir, the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang weren’t slacking off—in fact, they were working even harder.

At that moment, the old village secretary made an announcement: “Everyone, take a short break. Yimin’s already bought the electric wires—it cost 210 yuan in total. We’ve also got 100 light bulbs, one for each household.”

The villagers were startled when they heard the price of the electric wires. None of them had expected wires to cost so much. 210 yuan? That kind of money—how many years of saving would that take?

“Wires… are really that expensive?” a villager asked.

The crowd started murmuring and discussing among themselves, unable to understand why the wires cost so much.

For ordinary rural families, over two hundred yuan was a massive sum.

In the past, just working for labor points alone, even if someone earned full points every day, they’d barely scrape together thirty yuan in a year.

The old village secretary gave those ignorant villagers a sharp look.

“What the hell do you know? Never even touched a wire before and already talking about prices like you’re an expert,” he scolded.

In the material-scarce 1960s, home appliances were still a vague concept. People were more concerned about having enough to eat, and there were still many towns and villages that didn’t even have access to electricity. Even in the cities, electric lights were only used for basic nighttime illumination.

So in the countryside, it was even worse.

There really were many people who’d never seen an electric wire in their life—how would they know what one cost?

But one thing was certain. In the old secretary’s eyes, anything that could use electricity was a rare commodity, at least for the countryside. So, naturally, it wouldn’t be cheap.

To be honest, the price was actually lower than he’d expected.

After a full day’s work, the villagers finally managed to set up all fifty utility poles. The only thing left now was to string the wires.

Even though Zhou Yimin had some basic knowledge of wiring, he wasn’t sure if there were any special requirements at this point, so he invited Xu Xiangbei over to supervise.

As soon as Xu Xiangbei received the message, he rushed over early in the morning.

When Zhou Yimin got up that day, he opened his system shop to check the flash sales and saw that today’s one-yuan deals included 100 catties of beef, 100 packs of Zhonghua cigarettes, 100 bottles of Dongjiu, and 100 catties of eggs. He bought them all in one go.

Looking at the goods, he figured he had New Year’s gifts sorted now.

Dongjiu, after all, was high-quality stuff.

Dongjiu is made with premium sorghum as its base. The mash is fermented with both small and large fermentation starters in small and large pits respectively, and the process is called “two small, two large, dual-mash distillation.” This unique and refined brewing technique gives Dongjiu its signature style: it has the rich aroma of strong-flavor baijiu, the smoothness and mild sweetness of light-flavor baijiu, along with a gentle, elegant herbal fragrance and a slightly tart, refreshing finish. The body of the liquor is full and well-balanced.

It’s said that over 130 natural herbs are added during the starter fermentation process, giving Dongjiu many trace elements beneficial to health. Drinking it in moderation is said to help the body maintain balance and coordination.

Its production technique and recipe are considered one-of-a-kind in the world, and within the distilling industry, Dongjiu stands alone. It’s been permanently classified as a “state secret” by national authorities.

“Brother Xu, you’re here early! Come have some breakfast first!” Zhou Yimin called out from a distance when he saw Xu Xiangbei.

Xu Xiangbei didn’t stand on ceremony. “Perfect timing—I’m actually a bit hungry.”

He was already well-acquainted with the Zhou family and didn’t treat himself like an outsider.

Zhou Yimin had prepared meat buns and rice porridge in advance.

Xu Xiangbei commented, “This is a pretty rich breakfast. Did Grandma and the others eat yet?”

Zhou Yimin nodded. He’d woken up a little late—his grandparents usually finished breakfast before he even got up.

The two of them quickly finished eating and headed over to the power station, where the wire setup would begin, stretching all the way into the village.

When they got to the reservoir, they saw that the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang were already waiting, while the folks from Shuangtian Village were still busy building the reservoir.

But the moods of the two villages couldn’t be more different.

The Zhoujiazhuang villagers were visibly happy. With the reservoir nearly complete, it meant electricity was on the way. Once the project was done, they wouldn’t have to work as hard anymore.

On the other hand, the villagers of Shuangtian Village felt like the end of the reservoir meant the end of their “employment.” Sure, there weren’t any wages, but at least they got food. They could eat their fill and even take some home.

Where else were they going to find such a good “job”?

Once the reservoir was finished, they’d probably go back to being hungry again. Just the thought of it gave them a headache.

It’s easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but hard to go the other way. Once you get used to eating full meals every day, going back to skipping meals and starving again—it was a painful thought.

But they couldn’t deliberately slow down progress either. If they got caught doing that, they’d probably be kicked out immediately.

So they were stuck in a dilemma.

Xu Xiangbei looked at the pile of wires and said, “Yimin, you’re something else—how’d you manage to get so much wire?”

Even for him, getting that amount of wiring would be incredibly difficult. Yet Zhou Yimin seemed to have done it effortlessly.

“It’s nothing—just have a lot of friends,” Zhou Yimin brushed off casually.

Seeing that it was about time, Xu Xiangbei started directing: “First, pull the wire straight…”

He then pulled out the wire’s end, took out his tools, stripped the insulation, and revealed the live, neutral, and ground wires. With practiced ease, he connected the three wires to their designated spots.

Zhou Xucai quickly unspooled a bundle of wire—each roll was around 500 meters long.

Xu Xiangbei demonstrated the process: first threading the wire along the utility poles, then securing it in place so it wouldn’t swing around wildly.

After the demonstration, he asked, “Did everyone see clearly?”

“We did!” the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang responded in unison.

Luckily, it wasn’t too complicated. They followed Xu’s example step-by-step and soon had the wire on another pole set up.

“No, pull it a bit tighter,” Xu Xiangbei quickly said.

If it wasn’t taut enough, a strong gust of wind could cause problems later.

Hearing this, Zhou Xulong increased the force in his hands, and soon the wire was stretched tight. Only then did Xu Xiangbei nod in satisfaction.

Before long, all the wiring was complete. Everyone was full of anticipation, hoping they’d be able to use the electric lights by tonight.

To many of them, electric lights were something only city folks had.

If their homes could use electric lights, it meant they were, in a way, starting to live like people in the city.

(End of Chapter)