A small plot of land in a mountain village

It could be said that Happy Cottage underwent a major renovation this time, with many areas needing to be paved with cement. Liang Shan and his group offered suggestions and argued endlessly, turning the place into a bustling market.

The old contractor scribbled down everyone's requests at a speed comparable to that of a professional recorder. He explained with a smile, "This is something I've honed over more than ten years. I can keep up with your speed now."

If the contractor hadn't mentioned it, Zhang Niu and his team would have had no idea about it; their lightning-fast recording speed was quite alarming.

Zhang Niu glanced at the notebook, which was filled with densely packed words. He figured only the person writing it could understand it, but he still had to admire their own ability; he certainly didn't have that skill.

They're planning to build a fence around the rabbit farm in the distance, but the rabbits keep running out, which is a real nuisance. Anyway, if they patch up the broken fence here today, they'll definitely be appearing somewhere else tomorrow.

Zhang Niu strongly suspected that wild boars had set it up; the thin wire mesh was child's play to them.

I've never been able to catch them with this evidence. I'm determined that if I do catch them, I'll definitely deduct their food rations, at least for two days, to let them know the consequences of their sabotage.

After recording the locations, the group arrived at the gravel road at the foot of the mountain. The foreman took out a measuring tape, measured the width of the road, and marked each section.

After taking measurements, the foreman stared at the gravel road and asked, "How do you plan to repair this road? A simple asphalt road, or reinforced concrete?"

"How about the asphalt road in this area?" Zhang Niu offered his opinion.

"If we're going to build a road here, in my personal opinion, considering the traffic, I still suggest building a cement road. It's not about making money off you, but let me explain. If we build an asphalt road here, as everyone knows, asphalt is the last layer refined from petroleum. It's usually used in sparsely populated mountainous areas. Mountain asphalt roads can withstand longer driving times. But it seems like you're driving a mountain resort here. Judging from the tire tracks of the trucks, there are quite a few people coming and going. This asphalt road will be damaged within a year at most. This thin layer of asphalt can't withstand that much vehicle pressure."

The contractor gave a long speech, explaining the differences between asphalt roads, which broadened Zhang Niu's horizons.

Zhang Niu himself felt that cement was a better choice for this place, and besides, the asphalt road would get so hot in the summer that people couldn't stand walking on it.

"Let's make it a cement road!" Zhang Niu decided to build a cement road.

"Yes, you'll need red bricks and sand for many parts of this, and you'll have to buy those yourselves. We'll provide the sand for this cement road." He continued writing down the requirements.

After all, this contractor has many business friends, so buying sand is quite convenient for him.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Niu was given the entire cement production line contract to do, while he had to provide the sand and cement himself for the other parts.

After the foreman finished speaking, he closed his notebook, having grasped the general situation, and told Zhang Niu's construction team that they could come tomorrow. The equipment would be delivered gradually.

Before leaving, I still suggest to Zhang Niu that the red bricks and sand be brought in as soon as possible, otherwise the road construction will be delayed for a long time.

The fat man was naturally responsible for taking the person back, leaving Liangshan and the others standing at the crossroads.

"Ah Niu, in a while, this place will be completely transformed. We won't have to deal with those kinds of things happening on rainy days anymore." Chairman Zhang was really looking forward to the changes after the renovation.

"Yes, rainy days are really stressful. There are puddles everywhere, making even picking vegetables a hassle," Liang Shan complained.

Zhang Niu himself was actually afraid of rainy days, as the roads in this area were a mess. Anyway, with the road repairs and the significant changes happening inside, it would definitely cost a lot of money.

When Fatty came back in the afternoon, he said that the red bricks had been arranged, but the sand still needed to be handled by Zhang Niu.

Surprisingly, this fat guy is quite capable. Buying sand wasn't a problem for Zhang Niu at all.

We boarded a utility vehicle and drove along bumpy stones to a place downstream of Zhangjia Village—Xia Dongfang.

This place has already been bought by outsiders to mine sand, and then the locals followed suit and started mining sand as well, with the machines roaring all day long.

The river widens considerably downstream, reaching a depth of six or seven meters. The turbid waters in this section have lost all the features characteristic of a riverbank.

I haven't been to Zhangniu for a long time, and the changes are so great that I can hardly believe it. There are many freight trucks coming and going, waiting to load sand.

Many people in Zhangjia Village collect strange stones to sell, some for tens, some for hundreds, and some even for thousands of yuan. A single stone can fetch a high price and earn as much as a year's income.

It was quite convenient and simple for Zhang Niu to buy sand in Xia Dongfang. After all, everyone would gather together every year for the dragon dance, and the sand price would be much cheaper. The shopkeeper said there would be an empty truck in the afternoon, so Zhang Niu could wait there first.

The passing vehicles show how thriving the sand business is here. In recent years, people in the countryside have become wealthy, and building a house is a top priority. With a house, one can naturally marry a good wife.

In rural areas, it's true that owning a house can help you get married. Unlike in the city, where you need a car, a house, and over 100,000 yuan, which is really beyond the reach of most people.

Rumors were circulating, and Zhang Niu actually believed them.

The village women often act as matchmakers, and Zhang Niu has come several times, making his parents very anxious.

The fat man had heard a little about sand mining; the business was really good. But why wasn't Zhangjia Village selling sand?

Zhang Niu quickly explained the situation to the fat man, saying it was simply a matter of outsiders. However, every cloud has a silver lining. Selling the sandy land was a good thing, but the downstream area to the east suffered from severe flooding every year.

Zhangjia Village didn't sell the sandy land. Although the money was less, the flooding was much less severe, and in the summer, many children enjoyed swimming, catching fish, and grabbing shrimp by the stream.

Zhang Niu believes that there are gains and losses, which is the way of humanity.

The sand was quickly loaded onto the truck, followed by three blue trucks behind the fat man's utility vehicle.

A truckload of sand costs two or three thousand yuan. Sand is so valuable now. Even a simple trip to transport sand costs fifty yuan, and that's just for a short mountain road. Zhang Niu cursed the shady transport company, saying they were really ripping him off.

There were three large piles of sand in the open space in front of them. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Niu went back into the house and this place became a playground for wild boars. They carried fine sand with their tusks. Of the five wild boars, only the last one was a sow, and it was the quietest.

It seems that pigs have different personalities; the other four are troublemakers all day long.

The next morning, the construction team arrived in a large group, unloading a considerable amount of tools. The round mixer and the road roller pulling a large ball were both "heavyweights."

The mountain path, a few hundred meters long, was very simple for them; the terrain was not complicated, and it was easy for them to walk.

They're shoveling and widening the road. It's like this all day long. The construction team sleeps in makeshift tents outside at night. Everyone's used to it; it's not winter now, so they don't have to worry about catching a cold.

Zhang Niu went to take a look in the evening and found that the road had been widened to six meters, with a lot of land opened up on both sides.

Zhang Niu still felt he needed to inform the village chief before widening the mountain road. Otherwise, people might think it was damaged, and that would be difficult to explain to the village committee regarding the forest. Speaking up would solve many problems.

Before Zhang Niu could return to the village, he ran into the village chief, who was smoking a cigarette, on the way.

"Oh, you're not planning to come to my place, are you?" the village chief said with a chuckle.

Zhang Niu was puzzled as to why the village chief had wandered up to him. "Well, I was just about to go to your place. The mountain road has been widened quite a bit, so I wanted to let you know."

The village just opened a bamboo processing factory yesterday, and this morning I saw groups of people coming up the mountain. I came up for a stroll tonight since I had nothing else to do.

"So you're planning to build a road, that's a good thing. As long as the mountain road isn't widened too much, it'll be fine. Anyway, some people like to dry their rice on the cement road in the future."

With the village chief's approval, Zhang Niu had nothing more to say. It also saved him the trouble of going back himself. "Thank you, village chief," he said. "This road is difficult to travel on in the rain. Please spend some money to fix it quickly."

The village chief knows that roads are difficult to travel on rainy days; many places in the countryside still have standard dirt roads. Sunny days bring dust, and rainy days make the roads even worse. Every village has its own troubles.

Having seen it from up here, the village chief understood what was going on. "It's good that the road is being repaired. I just came up to take a look since I had nothing else to do. I'll head back now."

The village chief has been incredibly busy these past few days; he only had a little time to come up and check things out tonight.

Watching the village chief walk away, Zhang Niu knew that the newly opened bamboo processing factory in the village had been busy these past few days. The sound of cutting bamboo could still be heard slightly down the mountain.

When the factory first opened, the village chief personally supervised the process, and the villagers all studied diligently. The experienced workers all said it was good and showed great enthusiasm for learning.

The road down the mountain changes every day. The roadbed is relatively solid; the road roller ran through it once and was quite satisfied.

There are iron frames erected on both sides of the mountain road now, and they should be able to pour cement tomorrow. The rows of steel bars look so painful to Zhang Niu.

The road repairs were done with high-quality materials, without any corner-cutting. There was a pile of steel bars, which had already been cut into sections.

Zhang Niu watched from below as the cement was being poured early in the morning.

The mixer kept mixing sand and cement, making a loud clattering sound.

Truckloads of concrete were poured onto the steel bars, and the construction workers quickly leveled and compacted them.

The pouring was done from the top of the hillside down. It was easy to transport the cement up, but this work was only half done by the afternoon.

Zhang Niu learned from the fat man that this group of construction workers was the best in the county. Although they worked a little slowly, the quality was top-notch. If it weren't for a friend's introduction, he wouldn't have been able to hire them.

Zhang Niu finally understood why the construction team usually worked so slowly.

Fine workmanship produces excellent results. As long as he doesn't cut corners, Zhang Niu will be very happy.

Having grown accustomed to hearing reports on television, Zhang Niu was terrified of encountering such an unscrupulous construction team.

For the next two days, the entire section from the mountaintop to the cedar trees at the foot of the mountain was covered with cement and covered with a large area of ​​burlap sacks.

A wooden sign was erected next to the cedar tree to inform people that there was construction ahead and that they should take a detour.

Only then did the villagers realize that they were building a road, and that it was being constructed with cement, meaning they would have a better place to dry their rice.

Zhang Niu had mentioned the road repair to his family before. His parents knew their son was going to pay for it, and they were all delighted. Repairing the road would cost a considerable sum; their son was doing well.

P.S.: This chapter has been revised many times, and I'm still not satisfied with it. Please forgive me. (To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support genuine reading!)