Chapter Thirty-Five: Discussing the Bridge

  "Ah, Qiang? Come on in! Take a seat!" Wu Shu was fiddling with a hunting rifle, which locals also called a "sha gun". This type of gun didn't have much killing power, but its shooting range was relatively large, because it shot out scattered bullets, dispersing the impact force, and increasing the shooting range.

  Wu Shu Po immediately poured a cup of hot tea for Chu Jiaqiang. In the countryside, there's nothing good to entertain guests with, so when they arrive, it's always a cup of steaming hot strong tea first. The tea leaves were picked from the tea fields themselves and then roasted by themselves. Without the fine craftsmanship of those Longjing teas, but very authentic.

  "Is Fifth Uncle preparing to go hunting in the mountains again?" Chu Jiaqiang asked.

  "Heh heh! With nothing to do, this rifle is almost rusty." Wu Shu Gong used sandpaper to wipe away the rust on the surface of the rifle. He lifted his head and asked, "By the way, what did you come looking for me for?"

  "It's indeed some trouble." Chu Jiaqiang took a sip of tea.

  "Oh? Speak up! What trouble can't even you solve? I'll try my best to help if I can!" said Fifth Uncle.

  "You also know about the reservoir, I plan to build a bridge from the riverbank to the river heart island, and then connect it to the opposite mountain valley. You're always doing construction, this shouldn't be difficult for you, right?" Chu Jiaqiang said calmly.

  The fifth uncle was stunned for half a day, and finally asked: "You little devil, are you kidding me? No need to take a shortcut, wasting money to build a bridge?" He felt that this kid was really annoying, would his legs break from walking a few more steps?

  "It's not just for convenience, I have other uses for it, and the bridge has to be built beautifully. The small island in the middle can also be developed, but the reservoir seems quite deep, it's not easy!" Chu Jiaqiang explained.

  "This is a big project! It's going to cost a lot of money, have you made up your mind? I don't really care, as long as there's work. However, if you want it to look good, actually, there's no need to worry about the depth of the reservoir, you can consider a suspension bridge, this way might save some money, but for safety reasons, the quality of materials must be guaranteed, I estimate it won't save too much." Fifth Uncle is indeed an expert in construction, he immediately came up with a feasible plan for the reservoir.

  "Great! I didn't think of the suspension bridge at first, but you're right. The quality must be guaranteed and safety ensured, no matter how much money it costs. And when the time comes, I plan to build some wooden pavilions on the small island."

  "Hmm! Let's take things one step at a time. First, let's go to the reservoir and come up with a plan." Wu Shu immediately put down the sand gun in his hand and called out to Chu Jiaqiang as they headed outside.

  Upon arriving at the reservoir, he carefully examined it and soon had a plan in mind. He said to Chu Jiaqiang: "How about this? We'll drive four concrete piles into the ground on both sides of the small island as fixed points. Then we'll stretch six steel cables, with four at the bottom and one layer of thick wooden planks on top to bear the main pressure, and one on each side. Later, we can add some safety protection measures on both sides."

  "I think it's okay! The cement pile must be driven deeper and higher. When the time comes, we need to drive a cart over to the other side to pull watermelons, so the strength must be guaranteed. The wooden boards laid underneath must be thick and have strong bearing capacity." Chu Jiaqiang added.

  "To meet your standards, you'll need to invest at least 1.2 million, and finally prepare for 1.3 million. The main expenses are the four cement piers and iron chain bridge, so think carefully about it, kid! With over a million, you can build a very beautiful villa, I'm just reminding you!"

  "Think about it, no small fortune out, no big fortune in! This money will be earned back later. When to start work? Find more people and get this thing done as soon as possible, there are still wooden pavilions to be built on the island!"

  "This thing is not urgent, I'll go back and choose a good day, then kill a chicken, worship the land god, river god and mountain god, it's best to also worship the Bodhisattva in the temple, and then we can start work. If you want to hurry up, quickly prepare the materials. Steel bars, cement, wooden boards and iron chains, especially iron chains, this thing is not easy to handle, I don't know where to find them, but they're definitely not available in town, you have to go to the city to ask around. Also need to notify the old smoker in the village, hire his small boat to transport the materials needed to the small island."

  At this time, Chu Jiaqiang could only obey and nodded frequently. Returning to the old house, Chu Jiaqiang asked Wu Shu Gong to wait a moment, and he himself hurried into the room, quickly writing a prescription with a brush, and handed it over to Wu Shu Gong.

  "This is the prescription of Wu Shu's grandmother. Originally, many herbs are available in our mountain, but it's a bit troublesome to find them all. Let's go to the town and try some medicine for a few days to see the effect. Don't worry, the medicines used in this prescription are all common herbs, even if someone who is not sick eats them, they won't have any adverse reactions." Chu Jiaqiang said.

  "That's it! I'll thank you on behalf of my fifth aunt. You young man, if only you had focused on learning some skills from the old Taoist priest back then, you could have opened a clinic and made a living for yourself. Now doctors make so much money? Last time I went to get an IV drip, it was just a bottle of saline solution and a bottle of glucose, but they charged over 200 yuan, what a rip-off!" Fifth Uncle is quite resentful towards the health clinic.

  At night, during dinner, Chu Jiaqiang informed Er Shu and others about the bridge-building matter.

  Second Uncle and Second Aunt immediately stopped eating, staring at Chu Jiaqiang for a long time. Second Uncle rubbed his temples, saying helplessly: "You kid really don't know how to worry us, such a big thing, why didn't you discuss it with us beforehand? That's going to cost over a hundred thousand, no matter how rich we are, we can't spend money like that! Don't forget you donated a hundred thousand just two days ago. What's the point of building a bridge?"

  Second Aunt also didn't help Chu's family, blaming them: "Exactly, 100,000 yuan can build a big house. You might as well use it when you get married to welcome the new bride with dignity and won't make the town mayor's daughter feel humiliated."

  "Brother! You earn money quickly and spend it quickly too! Hehe!" Chu Jia smiled and said.

  Chu Jiaqiang had to reveal part of his plan, and Second Uncle furrowed his brow in contemplation. He wasn't a fool either; if Chu Jiaqiang could really make this work, it would indeed be a blessing for the village. But if he failed, only Chu Jiaqiang himself would suffer, and that money would be like throwing it into the reservoir for nothing. All in all, if it succeeded, everyone would benefit; if not, it had nothing to do with the villagers.

  "An eco-resort can't be built overnight, apart from investing money, we also need to improve the environment, that's crucial. And its effectiveness won't show up in a short period of time either. We have a great location here with mountains and water, but it needs moderate development to make use of it!" Chu Jiaqiang added, fueling the fire.

  Second Uncle tapped his hand on the table for a while before finally saying, "This thing has become good, I'll go discuss it with Village Chief Old Uncle." After finishing speaking, Second Uncle rushed out the door.

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