Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 248 More Business
We set up five tables for dinner today, two in the "general office" and two in the "storage room".

There was another table set up in the kitchen to entertain several of the older women who helped with the cooking; Jiang Lili and Yang Ju were naturally there as well.

However, even though the food was on the table and the bulk liquor bought from Old Tang of Team 7 had been poured, no one went to eat.

More than 30 people squeezed into the kitchen to visit the first tiled stove in Lujiawan.

Captain Yang carefully stroked the ceramic tile on the stove, clicking his tongue in amazement. "Wow, Xiao Chen, your idea is brilliant! Sticking the ceramic tile on the stove makes cleaning it as easy as washing dishes. Just add some hot water, wipe it with a damp cloth, and it'll be spotless, like new. It can last for many years."

Accountant Liu stared at the pottery shard for a while, then turned to Chen Fan and asked in a low voice, "How much does this pottery shard cost?"

Chen Fan raised his head and thought for a moment, then said softly, "This pottery shard is a little smaller than the bowl, and it used less clay than the bowl, but although it looks like a square piece, it was actually quite difficult to fire it flat..."

Before he could finish speaking, the custodian, Huang, interrupted him and asked, "Just tell me how much it costs and that's it."

Chen Fan rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "Five cents a piece."

It is equivalent to one-quarter of a bowl.

However, making these pottery shards is much easier than making bowls. A large wooden board is used to spread the clay, smooth it out, and cut it into 10 by 20 centimeters shards. These shards are then left to dry in a ventilated area for two days. After that, a layer of glaze is applied with a brush, and once it is completely dry, it is fired in an earthen kiln. That small earthen kiln can fire two to three thousand shards at a time.

Selling them for 5 cents a piece would be a huge profit.

However, he couldn't sell them too cheaply, otherwise he wouldn't have to do anything but fire kilns for them.

"Five cents a piece?"

Anquan muttered something to himself, then began measuring on the stovetop, "How many pieces did you use here?"

Chen Fan casually calculated, "It will take about 600 pieces."

The main problem is that the pottery shards are small, but the stove itself is quite large; when you cover it all, you'll find that a considerable number of shards were used.

He also wanted to fire a few large ceramic shards, preferably a single piece that could cover the entire surface of the stove, leaving no gaps and making it easier to clean.

However, the larger the pottery shard, the easier it is to break or bend during firing. It's still usable, as long as you don't mind the uneven surface of the stove. But can you even put bowls and plates on an uneven stove?

So he had no choice but to make the pottery shards smaller. The current size is the one with the highest success rate after several kiln tests.

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, the onlookers were stunned. Did he really need that much?

Then someone calculated the price, "Isn't that 30 yuan?"

Everyone immediately started talking.

"so expensive."

"Can't afford it, can't afford it."

"It's only because Teacher Chen can cook it himself. If we buy it, how many people can afford it?"

Even the security guard was taken aback, saying, "It's almost half a month's salary for me."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "If it's like me, covering the entire stove, then this many pieces are needed. But if you're just covering the surface of the stove, I estimate about 100 pieces will be enough."

Captain Yang suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly, saying, "That makes sense. The surface of the stove gets dirty the most easily. If we just lay ceramic tiles on the surface, we can clean it and save money. That's a good idea."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Spending 5 yuan to put ceramic tiles on the stove is nice and clean, and it's not particularly expensive, so it's acceptable."

"Five yuan is not bad. It can be done in ten days or so. It's not expensive."

Immediately, someone wanted to place an order with Chen Fan, "Teacher Chen, do you still have any of these pottery shards? I'd like to buy some." Before Chen Fan could speak, Captain Yang waved his hand and said loudly, "Buying something now? Let's eat, or the food will get cold."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Whoever wants to buy, go to Accountant Liu's office to register, and I'll report it to Teacher Chen in a group. Otherwise, if you all buy one by one, who can keep track of everyone?"

Upon hearing this, everyone responded enthusiastically and went out laughing and joking to prepare for dinner.

Chen Fan was all smiles from beginning to end and never said he wouldn't sell.

Business comes knocking on our door, and we're not going to take the money? What more do we want?
He didn't even mention exchanging agricultural products. He had just hauled a dozen or so bags of millet to the brigade headquarters. If he came again, this place would become a grain store.

Safety also gave him a brief explanation: earning money through a skill is a type of "rural sideline business," where you earn a labor fee. As long as the team agrees, no one can say anything, which saves him the trouble of going back and forth.

……

The meal lasted until after 1 p.m., followed by a short rest, and then work resumed at 2 p.m.

In the morning, the 14 helpers responsible for transplanting the trees had already transplanted all the trees to their positions, so they were free to work on the toilets and sewers, since the stove had also been built.

Captain Yang was in charge of directing the work, and assigned 20 people to the back, while the remaining 10 people assisted Chen Fan in building the toilets.

Accountant Liu stood to the side with his hands behind his back, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his eyes full of confusion. "A toilet made of blue bricks? And no latrine? And they dug such a huge pit, are they just going to dump it directly into it?"

The custodian, Huang, chewed on his pipe, his brows furrowed. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head slightly. "It doesn't look like it. If it had fallen directly into the pit, there would have been no need to build such a long sewer and a septic tank. We could have just covered the pit with a slab and left an opening, wouldn't that have been enough?"

Captain Yang glanced at the gradually forming pit, then turned to An Quan and whispered, "Old An, you're experienced and knowledgeable, do you know what he's planning?"

Anquan frowned, looked at the pile of blue bricks, the cement being mixed next to it, as well as lime, pottery shards, a water vat that looked like a quarter of a circle, and something wrapped in straw that was not fully visible. After thinking for a moment, his eyes suddenly lit up and he said loudly, "Xiao Chen, did you burn the squat toilet yourself?"

Everyone looked at the security guard, their eyes filled with confusion.

Squat toilet? What's that?

Chen Fan turned around, looked at Anquan and chuckled, nodded and said, "Yes, we burned several things, but finally managed to burn two squat toilets, and that's when we thought of renovating the toilet."

"oops."

With his hands clasped tightly, his face full of admiration, he said, "I never expected this! You can even burn a squat toilet! That's amazing!"

Captain Yang looked blankly at Chen Fan, then at him, and asked, "What is a squat toilet?"

His question was also the question that Accountant Liu, Warehouse Keeper Huang, and others wanted to ask.

Anquan turned around and smiled at him, "Squat toilets are used in apartment buildings in the city. After you finish using the toilet, you just need to flush with water to wash away the dirt. It's clean and there's no smell at all."

Before the rise of real estate, urban sewer systems were very underdeveloped. For a long time, most urban residents did not have indoor toilets and relied mainly on public toilets. At night, they used spittoons to empty them the next morning.

Only newly built "workers' new villages" and buildings constructed by various work units are equipped with toilets, and many of them are not "one toilet per household" but "one toilet per floor".

In many later public housing renovations, the toilets were raised above the living room floor, indicating that the toilets were renovated later.

If this is the case even for public housing, then it goes without saying that it applies to bungalows and old-style self-built houses.

So what was once a very common squat toilet in later generations is now a rare thing, especially in rural areas. Few people have even heard of it, let alone seen it.

When Captain Yang and his team heard that it was safe, they were first stunned, and then became skeptical.

After using the toilet, just flush with water; there's no odor.

Is this still a toilet?

(End of this chapter)