Reborn in 1977

Chapter 250: I Have No Money!

Good news: the new toilet is finished.

Bad news: it's not usable yet.

Good news: if the new one can't be used, the old one still can.

Bad news: but you have to walk dozens of meters more to the newly installed "public toilet" by the side of the field ridge to use the toilet.

At this time, Chen Fan could only secretly rejoice that he had considered others a little more and made use of the two manure tanks, throwing them to the fields to build two public toilets. Otherwise, he would really have to go to the woods behind the mountain to relieve himself.

Don't even mention what to do if it rains while relieving yourself in the open air; those are minor matters.

The key is that it is already the 20th day of the second lunar month, and March is coming soon.

March 3rd, the snakes come out of the mountains, have you heard of it?!

After a spring rain, the hibernating animals will wake up one after another and start a new year of activities.

What if a snake suddenly crawled out while squatting in the woods...?

That scene is too beautiful to imagine.

Chen Fan looked around. Everyone was visiting the toilet, and no one was paying attention to him, so he whispered to Jiang Lili, "The original two toilets were not demolished. I asked them to help move them to the field ridge next to them. You can go there to relieve yourself these days, but you have to walk a few more steps."

Jiang Lili lowered her head, her face red, and responded softly, "Oh."

Upon receiving the answer, her first reaction was to escape quickly.

They had been busy in the front yard just now and didn't know what was happening in the back, otherwise they wouldn't have run over to ask Chen Fan.

This is only in the countryside, where the precautions between young men and women are not so great, unlike in the city, especially in the city's middle schools, where boys and girls can attract strange looks just by saying a word to each other.

In the village, everyone is a neighbor, growing up together as "old acquaintances," so the defense between men and women is naturally not so strong.

But it is indeed embarrassing for a girl to discuss the issue of how to use the toilet with a boy, no wonder even Huang Ying, who is not afraid of anything, didn't dare to step forward. After discussing it, she "recommended" Jiang Lili, the oldest and the one who had known Chen Fan the longest, to come forward, and she could only bite the bullet and come over.

Jiang Lili ran to the front yard with her head down, her face still burning. Huang Ying quickly stepped forward and grabbed her, "Lili, what did Teacher Chen say?"

Yang Ju and Liu Dan also quickly gathered around.

Jiang Lili held her still-hot face with both hands, "Don't ask me to ask about this kind of thing in the future."

Yang Ju immediately nodded, "Okay, if there is a next time, it's our three's turn to draw lots."

Huang Ying and Liu Dan also nodded together. Taking turns is very fair.

But will there be a next time for this kind of thing?

Jiang Lili pointed to the west, "He said the original toilet was moved to the field ridge next to it. We can go there these days."

The three girls looked at each other, turned around and ran out together. Jiang Lili quickly chased after them, "Wait for me."

...

At the new toilet in the backyard, Captain Yang suddenly rolled up his sleeves and said loudly, "That's about it. The toilet is not for looking at. It looks good, but the key is that it must be useful. Go, go, go, let me check it out first."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Accountant Liu shouted, "What check? You just want to have a taste of something new."

Huang Laosi put his hands on his hips and laughed, "Old Yang, you want to experience the addiction of city people."

Liu Jujiang said from the side, "Captain Yang, you might as well just buy one of those things and dig up your toilet today and replace it with this new one."

Captain Yang was not embarrassed and shouted, "I would like to buy it today, but the key is that he doesn't have it."

An Quan walked forward two steps with his hands behind his back and said with a smile, "Then you will be disappointed. Regardless of whether he has it today or not, you can't use this toilet."

Captain Yang turned to look at him and asked in confusion, "Why is that?"

Yang's eldest son laughed and scolded unhappily, "After so much effort, it's so beautifully done. If you poop in it, wouldn't it get dirty?"

Captain Yang's face fell, "No matter how clean it is, it's still a toilet, isn't it still a place to poop?"

Chen Fan had already walked over when he heard the commotion and explained with a smile, "Brother An said you can't use it because it hasn't dried yet. This is the same as building a house. After building a house, you have to wait for the soil and cement to dry. Not only the toilet, but also the sewer and septic tank behind it, can be used after they are dry."

Captain Yang then reacted, "Oh, that's true."

Then he clapped his hands, "If it can't be used, I can only forget it."

Then he said to Chen Fan, "The work is done today, so that's it, we're going back."

When the others heard this, they also started to move out.

Chen Fan quickly stopped them, "It's already 4 o'clock, how can you go back at this time? You definitely have to eat dinner before leaving."

Captain Yang shook his head twice, somewhat embarrassed, "I haven't worked a full day, and the meal you treated us at noon was better than two or three meals of other people's dishes..."

Chen Fan interrupted him, "You must eat dinner before leaving no matter what. There's no reason to go home to eat after working until 4 o'clock, right?"

Then, without waiting for Captain Yang to speak, he took out a cigarette and handed it to Liu Jujiang, "Master Liu, please make another meal. We must finish all the prepared dishes today."

Liu Jujiang took the cigarette and looked at Captain Yang, who was grinning. Seeing that he didn't object, he laughed, "You can't ask me to do other things, but doing this kind of thing is my strength. Okay, I'll make a few more tables of hard dishes today."

Chen Fan turned to look at everyone, then looked at Captain Yang, and said with a smile, "Since our captain thinks it's early, why not ask everyone to help do some more work."

Captain Yang was slightly taken aback and asked, "What else needs to be done?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Didn't you guys order a dozen squatting toilets just now? And so many people want pottery shards. So many things will definitely require a lot of clay. Relying on me and the girls like Xiaojiang, I estimate it will take three days just to pick the soil…" Hearing this, Captain Yang understood and immediately waved his hand to interrupt him, "Okay, it's just picking a few loads of soil, right? Leave this to us. Two loads per person, and we can pile up a mountain for you."

Huang Lao Si also said, "This is simple. Not only will we help you pick the soil, but we can also help you mix the mud."

The others also cheerfully wanted to grab tools and start working.

At this moment, Chen Fan quickly said, "Everyone should be careful when picking the soil. It's best to dig the silt from below, which has fewer impurities."

After a pause, he smiled and said, "I won't let everyone work for nothing. I'll give an extra 20% discount on the pottery shards and squatting toilets bought today."

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces lit up with joy. A 20% discount could save them a lot of money.

Ever since Chen Fan inquired from An Quan that the production team members could directly receive money for side businesses based on their skills without it being considered business, he no longer hesitated to accept money. He even wished he could return the grain stored in the brigade headquarters and exchange it for cash to take back.

Watching everyone leave with their baskets, Chen Fan walked to An Quan's side and said softly, "Brother An, I need to trouble you with something else."

An Quan looked at him, "Tell me, what is it?"

Chen Fan whispered, "The most crucial thing for firing a kiln, besides the clay, is the glaze. The glaze I used before was crushed colored stone bought from the brigade headquarters. However, after firing so many bowls and plates, those materials are almost used up. I want to trouble you to help me find out where I can buy some quartz, feldspar, borax, and things like that."

Glaze is generally made by mixing raw materials such as quartz, feldspar, lime, and borax. These raw materials need to undergo pre-processing procedures such as grinding, sieving, and weighing before they can be made into glaze. Nanhu Commune is not a region that produces minerals, so besides lime being relatively convenient, other things need to be found elsewhere.

It's only because things like charcoal stoves, pottery pots, and teapots don't need to be glazed that the glaze hasn't run out already.

An Quan frowned and thought for a while, then looked at him and said, "Besides the glaze, don't you need cement and steel bars?"

Chen Fan's eyes lit up, "Do you have a way?"

An Quan chuckled and said, "People can always come up with solutions. From what you're saying, you want to build a two-story building. Building a single-story house doesn't require steel bars, but building a two-story building is best done with steel bars and cement for a more solid house.

Cement is actually easy to obtain. The people in the first team of the commune construction team are all from Lujiawan and are basically in the fourth team. If you greet Wang Dongping, the captain of the fourth team, and ask him to tell Wang Youhai, the captain of the first construction team, they should be able to buy you enough cement.

It's the steel bars that are a bit difficult. Although they can get steel bars, they rarely have any surplus, so buying steel bars from them will probably be quite difficult."

Chen Fan looked at him, blinked, "Then what should I do?"

Although he said that, he wasn't worried at all.

Since An Quan took the initiative to bring up this topic, it meant that he had a solution.

An Quan smiled slightly, looked around, and lowered his voice, "There are no steel bars, but there are steel strips."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. Steel strips?

An Quan whispered, "Our commune has a water transport company, you know?"

Chen Fan seemed to understand, his eyes shifted slightly, and he nodded lightly, "I know."

An Quan smiled, "Nanhu Commune doesn't have any particularly powerful enterprises. The water transport company isn't very big, but it's considered a special one among all the enterprises in Nanhu because, in the entire Yunhu area, besides the city having a water transport company, only six counties have water transport companies. Among them, Gufeng County is the only county with two water transport companies. Nanhu Water Transport Company is the only commune-level water transport company in the Yunhu area.

This is because Nanhu's geographical location is both far from the Yangtze River, taking a whole night to reach the Yangtze by waterway, but there are also a large number of rivers nearby. The three counties surrounding Nanhu have a large demand for shipping, so a water transport company was built separately in Nanhu and a ship repair yard was established."

Hearing this, how could Chen Fan not understand? He suddenly said, "The steel strips are from the ship repair yard?"

An Quan smiled and nodded, "The repair yard often has surplus steel strips, so they take some out to monetize them and increase employee benefits. Sometimes the construction team doesn't have enough steel bars, so they go to the ship repair yard to buy them, but this kind of thing isn't made public, after all, it doesn't sound good, but it's not a big deal.

Although ship steel strips are somewhat different from construction steel bars, you're not building a skyscraper. Prefabricated slabs made with these finger-width thin steel strips are definitely a hundred times stronger than those made with iron wire, or used in other places, they're definitely stronger than those without steel strips."

After a pause, he added, "It's only because you can come up with the money that I'm telling you this. Steel strips aren't ordinary materials, they easily cost tens or hundreds of yuan, but if you want to build a building, it's safer to add some steel."

Hearing this, Chen Fan immediately corrected himself, "I'm not, I don't, I don't have money!"