Chapter 381: Building the Workshop

“Yimin, when the feed is delivered, just have him come over directly,” Director Huang said, pointing at Lin Guohua.

How could he not think of his nephew when there was credit to be earned?

“Got it,” Zhou Yimin nodded.

This meal was quite satisfying, both in terms of appetite and spirit.

After resting for a while, Director Huang took Lin Guohua back to the commune.

Actually, Lin Guohua didn’t want to leave; he was hoping to stay for dinner before heading back. However, under Director Huang’s authority, he reluctantly left.

It was hard to say when he’d get another chance to eat such a good meal.

On the way back, Director Huang once again reminded him, “Xiao Lin, you must get along well with Yimin, it will definitely help you in the future.”

He could only say so much; whether it worked or not depended on Lin Guohua’s intentions.

“Don’t worry, Uncle. I’m not a fool. I won’t make things awkward” Lin Guohua assured him.

“Good. In all the years I’ve lived, the thing I’m most satisfied with is this,” Director Huang sighed.

The old party secretary turned to Zhou Yimin and asked, “Yimin, where do you think we should build the feed processing workshop?”

He was starting to like this feeling—no need to think, just let someone else plan everything.

Zhou Yimin thought for a moment and replied, “I think we should build it on the main road of the village, it’ll make transportation easier.”

If they built it in a remote corner of the village where trucks couldn’t reach, they’d have to rely on people to move the materials, which would be a waste of effort.

Without hesitation, the old party secretary agreed, “Alright, let’s build it next to the main road of the village.”

Due to the urgency, building a workshop normally required picking a good day, but in this situation, waiting for the ideal day would take at least a month. They couldn’t afford to delay for that long, so they decided on a more suitable day instead.

The old party secretary then swiftly picked the day after tomorrow.

Since the villagers were already busy with farm work, everyone else had to pitch in to help build the workshop.

The goal was to finish the workshop in the shortest time possible so that they could begin processing feed as soon as possible.

This was the most important task for Zhou village; everything else had to be postponed.

Once the 100 or so people had gathered, the work began.

Building a workshop didn’t take long, but the preparatory work was crucial. First, they needed to make clay bricks.

To clarify roles, they divided the workers into two teams.

The first team, led by Zhou Zhimin, would dig the soil, and there were specific requirements for the soil. They had to choose clay-rich soil with few impurities.

Sediment soil from riverbanks and ponds was ideal, while soil with sand, stones, or tree roots had to be avoided.

The second team, led by the village head, would build a kiln. Since the weather wasn’t suitable for drying the bricks naturally, they had to fire them in a kiln. The soil had to be baked first to ensure that the bricks were strong and durable.

It was more troublesome, but since these bricks would be used for the feed processing workshop, they needed to be of good quality. If problems arose later, it would not only be troublesome but could also delay the feed production.

Soon, Zhou Zhimin led the villagers to a greenhouse area, where the soil was perfect. It was also close to the kiln, saving transport time.

Leading by example, Zhou Zhimin grabbed a hoe and started digging vigorously. The others, seeing this, didn’t dare slack off and joined in. Sure enough, many hands made light work.

Nearly 100 people worked together to dig up the soil along the river.

To speed up the process, some people dug while others transported the soil, and with donkey carts available, they didn’t need manual labor. A person could carry 40-50 kilograms at most, but a donkey cart could carry hundreds of kilograms in one load.

After two or three hours of digging, they had nearly excavated all the soil along the riverbank.

The donkey carts continued to carry the soil to the kiln site.

When the soil was nearly ready, Zhou Zhimin led the villagers back to the village to mix the mud. It was unrealistic to expect to dig enough soil in one day, and even if they could, they couldn’t fire enough bricks in a day.

The kiln could only fire a few dozen bricks at a time.

Building a workshop was not a simple task, especially since firing the bricks would take several days. If it were summer, the natural drying process would be faster, but that wasn’t an option now.

Freshly dug soil couldn’t be used immediately. First, it had to be mixed thoroughly with water to make it sticky.

Then, they would fill the brick molds, compress the soil, and scrape off the excess.

Once the bricks were molded, they would be placed in the kiln for firing. Firing the bricks required skill to control the temperature. If the fire was too hot, the bricks would crack; if the fire was too weak, the bricks wouldn’t be properly fired and would deform when pressure was applied.

It had to be just right.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yimin was not idle. He rode his bicycle to the outskirts of the village. Originally, he planned to borrow a truck from the steel factory, but he thought it might be a hassle, so he decided to stick to the old method.

After a while, he placed 100 bags of feed in a hidden corner not far from Zhou village.

Then, he leisurely rode back to the village.

He found the old party secretary and said, “Old Secretary, the feed has been delivered.”

Hearing this, the old party secretary immediately stood up in excitement, “Yimin, where’s the feed? I’ll arrange for it to be brought back right now.”

He suddenly remembered that most of the villagers were busy, and the donkey carts were already in use. If they were to transport the feed, they would have to use ox carts. Reluctantly, the old party secretary had to use the old ox for the job.

He quickly called a dozen people to load the feed onto the ox cart. Since they couldn’t transport it all at once, they had to make two trips.

Within an hour, all 100 bags of feed were brought back to Zhou village.

The old party secretary found Zhou Zhimin and said, “Zhimin, go to the commune and tell Director Huang that the feed has arrived.”

(End of Chapter)