Chapter 69: Discussing Road Repairs

  After dinner, the old village chief gathered everyone again. This time, everyone came relatively early, unlike before, when they had to be called many times before they would come out. They vaguely guessed that there was good news again, so their movements were also relatively quick.

  "Alright! Now that everyone is here, I'll get straight to the point. The reason I called you all over today is mainly to discuss one thing. This road of ours hasn't been repaired for a long time and it's full of potholes everywhere. While people can still walk on it without too much problem, the key issue is that in the future, there will be more and more cars coming into the village, which not only affects our village's image but also causes great inconvenience to traffic, relating to the future development of Chujiazhuang. So let's discuss a time for a major repair." The old village chief said straightforwardly.

  At this time, the people below started buzzing.

  "Village head, are we going to collect money again?!" Whether or not the road is repaired is not a big issue for them, the key problem is collecting money. Every time the village head holds a meeting, everyone's most taboo topic is this one.

  As soon as this question came out, everyone's reaction became even stronger.

  The old village chief pressed his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet: "Pooling money is a must, we've made a lot this year, taking out a few dozen yuan isn't excessive, right?"

  Everyone understands what the old village chief means, and gathering money is probably to prepare for bringing back some stone powder to fill the road. The stone powder is a good material, pour it on the road, and then compact it. The road surface will become very flat and solid, although heavy rain will wash away the surface, but it's much better than sand. Moreover, there are too many sandy roads, cars are prone to skidding, and usually people don't feel it when walking.

  The old village chief had this plan a long time ago, but in the past everyone was reluctant to spend money, so it was put on hold. When they first started working on village-to-village transportation, the old village chief didn't expect the cement road to reach Chujia Village, but still hoped for a decent road.

  Limestone powder is not expensive, if you pull it from a nearby quarry, it only costs 20 yuan per truck. The limestone powder in the quarry is basically useless, especially in remote mountainous areas, and it's more useful in cities, but it's too far away, the transportation cost is too high, and it's not worth it, so few people buy limestone powder. As a result, the limestone powder in the quarry is almost free, and they only charge a small fee for loading the truck. Moreover, they don't make money from limestone powder, but rather from higher-grade stone residue.

  If it were in the past, everyone would not be very supportive, at most everyone would put in a bit more effort, go to the river to pick up some sand and stones, and fill the road flat. But the old village chief's words also touched their hearts, this year everyone generally increased their income by tens of thousands, and dozens of yuan are not considered much, eating two or three fewer meals of meat would be enough.

  "Since the village elder said so, I won't be polite. This time I'll contribute 100." A clever guy shouted loudly.

  Everyone's mouth twitched, this guy had just made over 4,000 yuan from selling tortoise shells the other day, and now he had made another 10,000 yuan or so from the gastrodia elata, adding up to almost 20,000 yuan, of course he wouldn't be modest about it!

  Others promised to contribute as much as they should, and the village chief was in charge. Chu Shengmin even took out 500 yuan, which really showed off his wealth. Chu Shengyi, because he had a car, this road was most useful for him, also took out 1,000 yuan, but everyone thought it was a matter of course.

  "This result was also expected by the old village chief, and he wasn't surprised: "Good! As long as everyone agrees, I'll collect money from each household tomorrow. Don't try to owe me anything then, huh? Ah, Jiaqiang, you're not going to contribute a bit?" As he spoke, the old village chief suddenly realized that he had missed a big shot."

  At once, everyone looked towards the village's richest man, thinking that if this young fellow didn't take out some money, it would be unreasonable.

  Chu Jiaqiang also knew that he had to take the lead and that building a good road was crucial. Didn't they used to shout slogans like "If you want to get rich, build roads first!"? He nodded at the village chief: "Alright! Since we're going to build a road, let's do it properly. I'll contribute 10,000 yuan personally!"

  As soon as the words came out, everyone fell silent in horror. The villagers widened their eyes and secretly cursed. Chu Shengmin's mouth twitched, this kid was still so reckless, really unbearable. And the old village chief reacted the fastest, immediately leading the applause.

  The old village chief was overjoyed and immediately said, "Good! I'll take note of this achievement. When the time comes, I'll have someone set up a road stele at the village entrance to record your meritorious deed."

  Everyone was both heartbroken and envious, 10,000 yuan! This is a huge sum of money, in the past, they worked hard for a year to cultivate the land but couldn't save it up, and now it's gone with just one word. But being able to erect a milestone is a great honor, which made them even more envious.

  The old village chief was thinking in his heart, at first he thought that even if he made a lot of money, he could only get a few thousand yuan. Although the stone powder is not expensive, but for a 3-4 kilometer long road, it's still a bit like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water. He planned to spread the stone powder on the worst sections of the road, which should be enough. But with the additional 10,000 yuan from Chu Jiaqiang, the situation would be greatly different, although it might still not be enough.

  "The problem of not having enough stone powder is not difficult to solve, if there's not enough, I can just add more later. However, it's not the case that everything will be fine as long as we have stone powder. The most important thing is to find a way to compact it, this problem is quite tricky. At the same time, doing a good job with drainage measures is also very important, otherwise, no matter how much stone powder is laid down, it's just like pouring water into a sieve." Chu Jiaqiang analyzed.

  Upon hearing this, the old village chief felt even more at ease. What he was most worried about was insufficient resources, but labor could be pulled from within the village, with each household contributing one or two able-bodied men. As for the stone rollers needed to flatten the road, they knew where to find them; when the time came, they would have their sons use carts to haul the large stones back and forth several times, making the road as flat as desired. Drainage measures had already been taken into consideration, and all that was needed was to dig the roadside drainage ditches a bit deeper.

  Chu Shengyi nodded: "The drainage must be done well, otherwise when it rains heavily the whole road will become a river again, and the damage to the road surface is too great."

  "When the time comes, just dig the canal a bit deeper and it will be fine." A man said at this time.

  Wu Shu Gong tapped his pipe: "Digging the ditch deeper won't do any good, with such a long road, not to mention heavy rain, even moderate rain can't drain it." He was an expert in construction, and on this point, he was quite certain, no one present had more authority than him.

  The Chu family thought of a drainage system inside the city, setting up a drain pipe at regular intervals to let rainwater flow out in time.

  "It can be imitated in the city, where a drainage pipe is placed at intervals along the road, and the rainwater on the mountain side is drained horizontally to the bottom of the road."

  "The method is good, but who will pay for the drainage pipes? Now plastic pipes are so expensive, it's unrealistic." Wu Shu immediately negated Chu Jiaqiang's proposal.

  Chu Jiaqiang smiled and said, "Who told you to buy plastic pipes? On our Bamboo Mountain, aren't there many large bamboo spears? They're much better than plastic pipes, it's just a bit more trouble, cutting them down and then poking open the bamboo joints in the middle."

  Everyone listened and their eyes lit up, didn't they? Ready-made material.

  "Haha! Let's just say that Jiaqiang is clever. Alright, it's settled then. The day after tomorrow, each household will send one person to cut down old bamboo on Zhushan Mountain." The old village chief pounded his fist to finalize the decision.

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