60s: I have a store

Chapter 477 Quarrying and Sand Transportation

Zhou Zhiming went door to door in the village to collect road construction fees. Although he encountered some minor financial difficulties among villagers in the process, everyone expressed their support for the road construction.

They all promised to make up the money for road construction in a few days.

They also don't want to be criticized and criticized by their fellow villagers every day because of this incident.

If the old branch secretary had been a little tougher, he would probably have expelled them from the family tree.

No one dares to joke about such things.

As the sky gradually darkened, Zhou Zhiming finally completed most of the collection work. The paper was densely filled with names, and only a few households had not paid.

He brought the money he had collected and happily went to the old branch secretary's house.

The old branch secretary was sitting under the dim light, carefully studying the simple map of Zhoujiazhuang and thinking about the specific plan for road construction.

Seeing Zhou Zhiming coming in, the old branch secretary put down the map in his hand and asked with expectation in his eyes: "Zhiming, what's the situation?"

Zhou Zhiming's face was filled with smiles. He handed the cloth bag containing the money to the old Party Secretary and said, "Old Party Secretary, most of the villagers have paid, and only a few families said they would pay later, but they all agreed. Look, this is the money we collected."

The old branch secretary took the cloth bag, gently placed it on the table, and said with satisfaction: "Great, it seems that everyone supports the road construction. There is hope for our Zhoujiazhuang!"

"That's right, old Party branch secretary, I didn't expect that collecting the money would be so smooth this time." It was so smooth that Zhou Zhiming felt it was a bit unreal.

I have tried to help collect money before, but it was extremely difficult at that time. Not only did the villagers not cooperate, they also made excuses and just didn't want to give the money.

As the two were talking, the team leader hurried over. As soon as he entered the room, he said, "Old Party Secretary, Zhiming, I just went to the breeding farm and the processing plant to calculate, and they have no problem taking out 1,500 yuan. In this way, the funds for road construction are basically collected."

The old branch secretary slapped the table excitedly and said, "Great! The funding has been settled. The next step is to prepare materials and arrange construction."

"Zhiming, you and Yimin are more familiar with sand and cement, so I'll leave these two things to you."

Zhou Zhiming agreed immediately: "Okay, old secretary, I will do this with Yimin."

Zhou Yimin was not idle either. He prepared food to be exchanged for sand.

After preparing all the necessary food, they went to the old branch secretary's house, but they didn't expect so many people to be there.

"Old Party Secretary, I have asked someone to bring the necessary food here. Just take it back to the village later!"

After hearing this, the old branch secretary quickly said, "It's true. Thank you Yimin!"

Zhou Yimin said: "Old Party Secretary, it's a bit strange for you to say that. I am also a member of Zhoujiazhuang."

The next day, Zhou Yimin and Zhou Zhiming drove a tractor full of grain to Renjia Village.

Zhou Yimin and Zhou Zhiming arrived at the place where the tractor was parked early.

This is a brand new tractor. Under the sunlight, the metal shell of the body reflects a dazzling light, and the patterns on the tires are clear and deep, as if telling of the important mission it is about to embark on.

You should know that after each use, the old branch secretary would come personally or arrange someone to come and clean the tractor thoroughly.

And as summer is approaching, the old branch secretary doesn't want the tractor to be exposed to the wind and sun, so he prepares to build a shed.

Zhou Yimin climbed into the driver's seat skillfully, inserted the key, and turned it gently. The engine emitted a low and powerful roar, as if cheering for the journey that was about to begin.

Zhou Zhiming jumped onto the back of the tractor and carefully checked the grain piled up like a mountain, making sure that each bag was placed firmly.

Accompanied by the roar of the tractor, the two slowly drove out of Zhoujiazhuang.

Along the way, the breeze blew gently, the trees on both sides of the road quickly retreated, and the crops in the fields swayed gently in the wind, as if they were also seeing them off.
Zhou Yimin was concentrating on driving the tractor, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, while Zhou Zhiming stood in the back bucket, feeling the wind, his heart full of expectations for this transaction.

Soon, the entrance of Renjia Village appeared in front of us.

Village chief Ren had been waiting at the entrance of the village for a long time with several villagers.

Seeing Zhou Yimin and Zhou Zhiming driving the tractor slowly approaching, Village Chief Ren smiled, waved his hand, and greeted them warmly: "You are finally here!"

The tractor slowly stopped and the villagers of Renjia Village immediately gathered around.

When they saw a tractor full of grain, they couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"Wow, so much food!"

“I didn’t expect Zhoujiazhuang to be so strong and have a brand new tractor!”

The villagers' eyes were filled with surprise and envy.

In this era of relative material scarcity, a brand new tractor is undoubtedly a symbol of strong power.

You have to know that their village doesn't have a tractor, let alone a bicycle.

Moreover, when Zhou Yimin and his group came here yesterday, they were driving a motorcycle. It can be imagined how strong Zhoujiazhuang is.

Just yesterday they said they wanted to exchange coarse grains for sand, and today they brought a large cart of grain.

Zhou Yimin and Zhou Zhiming got off the car and shook hands with Village Chief Ren warmly. "Village Chief Ren, sorry to have kept you waiting. We have prepared all the food as we agreed on."

Village Chief Ren smiled and replied, "Not too late, not too late. I thought it would take a few days. I didn't expect you to gather so much food in one day."

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, "It's all luck, it's all luck!"

Village chief Ren did not ask any more questions. After all, everyone has their own secrets, and he couldn't possibly get to the bottom of it.

After the greetings, the villagers of Renjia Village began to move the food.

They worked in pairs, cooperating with each other to move bags of grain off the tractor and stacked them neatly aside.

Each bag of grain is heavy, carrying the hope for the survival of Renjia Village.

Although the moving work was not easy, the villagers' faces were filled with warm smiles. After all, this was an important cooperation between the two villages.

What’s more important is that with so much food, the village can survive until the next harvest, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

The villagers finally no longer have to worry about looking for food everywhere.

During the process of transporting grain, villagers could not help but reach out and touch the body of the tractor, their eyes full of curiosity and admiration.

"This tractor looks really impressive and must be very impressive to drive."

A young villager whispered.

Another older villager took over the conversation: "Yes, it would be great if our village had one like this, it would save a lot of effort when working."

Soon, all the food was transported. Village Chief Ren counted the amount and nodded with satisfaction: "The amount is correct. Zhoujiazhuang is indeed trustworthy."

Then he turned around and shouted to the villagers behind him: "Everyone hurry up and load the sand into the truck!"

The villagers of Renjia Village immediately took action, picking up shovels and carts, and began to transport the sand that had been prepared on the side to the tractor. They shoveled the sand into the cart, pushed it to the side of the tractor, and poured the sand into the back bucket.

Along with the sound of the shovel rubbing against the sand and the sound of the cart rolling, the back bucket of the tractor was gradually filled with sand.

Zhou Yimin and Zhou Zhiming were also not idle. They helped direct the villagers to load the trucks and ensure that the sand was evenly distributed in the rear bucket to avoid imbalance during transportation.

With everyone's joint efforts, the loading work proceeded in an orderly manner.

Finally, the back bucket of the tractor was filled with sand. Zhou Yimin felt very relieved when he saw the full bucket of sand.

He shook hands with Village Chief Ren again and said goodbye: "Village Chief Ren, thank you for your support. Our two villages will strengthen cooperation in the future."

Village Chief Ren responded with a smile: "Of course, of course. I hope both our villages can get better and better."

Of course he wanted to have a good relationship with Zhoujiazhuang. If he had a good relationship with such a powerful village, he could ask Zhoujiazhuang for help if he needed anything in the future.

It is obvious that so much sand cannot be transported in one go, and it is not known how many times it will take.

Fortunately, villagers from Renjia Village helped load the goods.

Otherwise, if the villagers of Zhoujiazhuang were to come and help load the goods, there would not be enough manpower.

After all, the farm work in the village requires a large number of manpower, and now we have to go to the back mountain to mine stones.

Fortunately, Renjia Village and Zhoujiazhuang are not far apart, and you can get there in less than an hour by driving a tractor.

But it takes nearly two hours to go back and forth.

If the time for loading and unloading is included, it will be even longer, and it is estimated that there will not be many trips per day.

On the other hand, the threshing ground in Zhoujiazhuang was extremely lively.

The young and strong men, carrying hammers and steel drills, stood in the front row with high spirits, with determination and expectation in their eyes, as if they were about to rush to an important battle.

The experienced elders held pickaxes and methodically checked the tools. They knew the importance of this mission, and each tool carried the hope of building the road.

The women were also busy preparing water and dry food for everyone. They handed kettles filled with hot water and tightly wrapped dry food bags to everyone one by one, their eyes full of concern and encouragement.

The old Party secretary said loudly: "Fellow villagers, let's go to the back mountain to collect stones today. These stones are the key to road construction. Let's work together and try to collect more!"

Everyone shouted in unison: "Good!"

The deafening sound echoed in the morning air with such force that it seemed to shake the clouds away from the sky.

These are only a small part of the people in Zhoujiazhuang; more people are busy with farm work.

The team mining stones in Zhoujiazhuang marched towards the back mountain.

Along the way, the villagers were talking and laughing, but their pace did not slow down at all.

The mountain road was rugged and overgrown with weeds, but everyone's enthusiasm was not diminished at all.

After arriving at the back mountain, the scene before them strengthened everyone's confidence.

The stones all over the mountains, under the shining of the rising sun, are shining with a rustic luster, as if waiting to be mined and contribute to the road construction project in Zhoujiazhuang.

After arriving at the destination, everyone started working without saying much.

Mining work started rapidly.

The young men stood beside the selected boulder, raised the hammers high with both hands, clenched their teeth, tensed their muscles, and followed a loud bang.

"Hey!"

The hammer hit the steel chisel with tremendous force.

In an instant, sparks flew and the crisp sound of impact echoed through the valley.

"This stone is really hard!"

Zhou Dali spoke first. Beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead, but his hands were still moving with no less force.

At this time, he thought to himself: "Although these stones are difficult to deal with, once the road is repaired, our future life will be easier. What's the point of this little hardship!"

"Of course not. What we want to build in Zhoujiazhuang is a road that can stand the test of time. It would be better if the stone is harder!" Zhou Dahu responded.

Then he held the steel chisel steadily, stared at the stone, ready to adjust the position of the steel chisel at any time, and silently encouraged himself in his heart: "I must do this job well and not hold everyone back."

"That's right. Once the road is repaired, we won't have to worry about villagers getting injured because of the road." Zhou Dazhu said as he wiped his sweat, his eyes full of longing for the future.

He recalled that many people in the village had been injured because of blocking the road before, and he vowed secretly: "Collect more stones and repair the road as soon as possible, so that no one in the village will be injured."

The elders wielded the pickaxes skillfully, and relying on years of experience, they found the weak points of the stone and pried it open with force.

"Hey yo! Hey yo!"

The horns sounded one after another, accompanied by the friction sound of iron pickaxes against stones, and the loose stones rolled down one after another.

"Uncle, how can I pry this stone more easily?" Young Aqiang humbly asked an older man in the village for advice.

The uncle straightened up, wiped the sweat off his face, pointed to the bottom of the stone and said, "Aqiang, look at this stone. You have to find a fulcrum at the bottom and pry along the grain. This way you can save a lot of effort. It's just like living your life. You have to find the right way."

A Qiang nodded and tried according to Uncle Wang's teachings, and it really became a lot easier.

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Old ginger is always wise. Uncle's experience is precious. I have to learn more and do more to contribute to road construction."

Women and children are also busy, shuttling around the mining site, responsible for sorting and classifying the mined stones.

They carefully selected regular stones suitable for paving and piled them together.

When they encountered larger rocks, they called each other and worked together to move them.

"Xiu Lan, do you think our village will look very different once this road is repaired?" Cui'e asked while moving a stone with difficulty.

Xiulan smiled and replied, "Of course! Now that the road is open, people from outside can come in, and maybe the girls in our village can even attract a few good sons-in-law!"

“Hahahaha…” The women around were amused. The originally heavy work of carrying things seemed to become a lot easier amid the laughter.

Cui'e smiled and thought: "Yes, the road is repaired, the village is developed, and the children's future will be more promising. It's worth it no matter how tired I am."

When the old branch secretary saw this scene, he felt deeply moved. Zhoujiazhuang is now living a better and better life.

In this way, the quarrying work is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The old branch secretary was not idle either, and also joined in the quarrying work.

(End of this chapter)