Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 148 A Wonderful Future

After hauling the feed back to the educated youth settlement and unloading it at the pigsty, Chen Fan dragged the cart back and then ran back, already panting heavily.

After dinner, instead of washing up and resting, he asked Jiang Lili, "I remember there's a machete here, right?"

Jiang Lili immediately stood up. "Yes, I'll go get it for you."

A moment later, he brought over a machete and handed it to Chen Fan, asking curiously, "It's almost dark, what are you going to do?"

Chen Fan weighed the machete in his hand a couple of times, and felt it was alright. Then he looked at her and smiled, "We've used so much straw, I'm afraid we won't have enough firewood. Go to the back and chop some more, and while we're at it, find a suitable place to build a kiln and fire something."

"what?"

Jiang Lili's eyes widened instantly, staring at him without blinking. "Firing a kiln?"

Chopping firewood is understandable, but firing a kiln? Does he know how?

Chen Fan didn't explain much, just brandished his machete a couple of times and walked out.

Jiang Lili watched his retreating figure, her eyes filled with curiosity. She really wanted to know if there was anything this man couldn't do.
It wasn't until Chen Fan, wearing wooden clogs and carrying a shovel in one hand and a machete in the other, stepped out of the courtyard that she came to her senses and busied herself preparing food for the group of furry children.

Horses and lambs only need some hay, chickens can eat bran directly, and puppies eat leftovers. Piglets are the most troublesome, as you have to cook pig feed for them.

However, Jiang Lili had no worries at all; on the contrary, she was looking forward to seeing what the two little pigs would look like when they grew into big pigs.

……

Chen Fan walked to the back and suddenly everything went black.

The terrain, which was once somewhat familiar, was now completely covered by ice and snow. Only a few miscellaneous trees remained rooted in the snow, stretching out their withered branches, making the landscape appear even more desolate.

He used a shovel as a walking stick and walked along the ridge until he reached a relatively high place before stopping.

Looking around, to be honest, this place is quite large.

About 100 meters north of the educated youth settlement is the small earthen slope where you can collect soil. Reaching that point means the end of this wasteland.

As for the width, there is a ditch on the edge of the wasteland, and about 50 meters to the east is the river embankment. So the boundary line is this ditch. Starting from this ditch, about 5 or 60 meters to the west is the paddy field.

That wasteland covers an area of ​​approximately 5,000 to 6000 square meters, far exceeding the two mu (approximately 0.33 hectares) of land approved by the team.

Two mu of land is 1333 square meters. If we take the width of the educated youth settlement as approximately 25 meters, then the depth would be 53 to 54 meters.

Of course, this is just the area of ​​the yard. The building area still has to follow the rules and cannot exceed 2.5 fen of land, which is 166.6 square meters.

In addition, there is still room for maneuver beyond the two acres of land.

For example, if you leave a 10-meter passageway between your yard and the educated youth settlement, wouldn't that take up an extra 5 or 600 square meters?!

Then, near the rice paddies to the west, I planted a small grove of trees there as well... This was wasteland, and I cleared it out and turned it into a useful timber forest. The team should give me a reward, not blame me!

Trees were also planted behind and to the east of the yard...

That's right, Chen Fan has now made up his mind to take over this 5000-square-meter plot of land.

There's a passageway in front, and trees to the left, right, and back, with your own yard in the middle.

Once the educated youth settlement is closed, rent the abandoned settlement, open a back door at the pigsty, and connect it to your own yard through a passage.

People live in the back, and they keep some small animals in the front yard.

Separate movement and stillness, free and unrestrained.

Thinking of those wonderful scenes, Chen Fan felt a little excited.

Even if he settles down in the city in the future, it won't affect his ability to have a secluded villa here for vacation! After imagining his wonderful future life, Chen Fan finally faced reality and started doing hard labor with a machete.

First, the patch of miscellaneous trees behind the educated youth compound definitely needed to be cleared away, so he started there, cutting down some small trees first, and dealing with the roots after the snow melted.

The machete is about one foot long, with a flat, single-edged blade and an extremely thick back. The handle is also about one foot long, fitted into an iron ring on the blade and then secured with rivets.

Holding a wood-chopping knife, Chen Fan began practicing the Five Elements Knife Technique.

Xingyi Five Elements Saber is a saber technique created by combining the five elements fist techniques of chopping, collapsing, drilling, cannoning, and horizontal striking with the routines of continuous sabers. Its moves are rigorously structured, with smooth and powerful force, fierce and vigorous power, and a majestic momentum.

The Five Elements Saber technique that Xiao Liewen taught him combined the styles of Guanzhong swordsmen, deeply grasping the essence of "fast, accurate, and ruthless." Coupled with the fierce and powerful Xingyi Quan, a woodcutter's knife danced in Chen Fan's hands, cutting down miscellaneous trees one by one.

At first, he was a little unskilled, after all, practicing with a knife and chopping wood are two different things.

However, as these miscellaneous trees fell, his skill experience points increased, automatically correcting his mistakes in exerting force. This allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the changes in the Five Elements Blade's power, making him more adept at chopping trees.

He didn't know how much time had passed until he heard the crunching sound of footsteps on snow in the distance. Only then did he realize what had happened. Looking down at the ground, he saw that more than forty miscellaneous trees had fallen.

Although these miscellaneous trees are not very big, the thickest of which is only the size of a bowl, and most of them are small trees with a diameter of about the size of a fist, he was able to cut down so many by himself, which is even better than that of a professional lumberjack.

When Jiang Lili came out from behind the courtyard wall and saw the broken trees scattered all over the ground, she was stunned. After a long while, she looked at Chen Fan with a face full of surprise and asked, "Did you cut all of these down?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly and said in a serious tone, "It's cold, the tree trunks are brittle from the cold, they can break with just a tap."

As he spoke, he stepped on a fallen tree trunk, which snapped in two with a crack.

Jiang Lili looked curiously at the tree at his feet, then at a thinner broken tree not far away, walked over and kicked it.

Then she hugged her leg and trembled, "Ouch, it hurts so much."

Chen Fan wiped his face, trying his best to suppress a laugh, "With your strength, you definitely can't kick it."

Jiang Lili was a little unconvinced, "The other day you were carrying water worse than me."

Chen Fan said confidently, "I was just recovering from a serious illness then. Try it now, and even you could be chosen."

Jiang Lili blushed instantly, her head bowed, and murmured, "It's getting late, you should go back and rest."

Chen Fan looked up at the sky, which was indeed dark, but the thick white snow on the ground provided a sliver of light, allowing him to barely see his surroundings.

He turned to Jiang Lili and said, "You go back and rest first. I'll dig a hole and come over. Otherwise, it will be even more difficult if the snow gets thicker tomorrow."

Jiang Lili nodded. "Then be careful."

Seeing Chen Fan nod in agreement, she turned and went back.

After Jiang Lili left, Chen Fan dragged the fallen tree trunk to a windward spot, placing several large trees underneath and stacking the rest on top of each other. This way, the fierce north wind could help dry the branches as quickly as possible.

Then they found a low-lying area and tested the hardness of the ice and snow below.

Fortunately, the ice in the south is not as solid as in the north. After a few shovelfuls, the surface ice and hard soil are removed, making it much easier to dig out the soil underneath.

He chose a low-lying area, piled the excavated soil on the ground to make a wall, and dug it a little deeper and a little higher. In no time, he dug a pit that was one meter deep, two meters wide, and more than three meters long.

They then cut down several small trees to cover the pit, preventing it from being flooded by heavy snowfall that night.

After finishing all that, he stretched his limbs a few times, then picked up his machete and shovel and went back.

At this point, there were no lights left in the educated youth settlement. Chen Fan went to the kitchen jar, fetched a basin of hot water, washed up, and went straight to sleep.

She didn't notice anything until the commotion on his side stopped, and then Jiang Lili wrapped herself in the blanket and fell into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)