Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 293 Uninvited
It's time to build a house.

If a thief dares to steal from your own home, they must know you're rich.

That's right, news of Teacher Chen's many talents has already spread throughout several nearby communes.

They made a fortune selling turtle meat earlier, and later sold pottery at the market. The first time they made several hundred yuan, the second time a few girls brought a cart full of tableware to sell, and they barely managed to sell everything, which also made several hundred yuan.

Can a dual-income family earn this much in a year? Let alone in cash.

This is a big client!

The people of Lujiawan all know that Teacher Chen has high expenses, spending money here and there, and he also keeps so many livestock at home, wasting a lot of money, but outsiders don't know that.

With such a large sum of money sitting at home, wouldn't someone with ulterior motives covet it?!

Sure enough, tonight, someone took advantage of the whole village going to the movies and seized the opportunity to put their plan into action.

So even if Captain Yang hadn't mentioned it, Chen Fan had already decided to "go on a major construction project," and he even planned to "borrow money" to spend it all, so that no one would be eyeing his money anymore, right?
……

The next day was a beautiful day, sunny and clear.

The news that Teacher Chen was going to build a house spread in Lujiawan at an astonishing speed. No one knew what kind of advanced communication equipment they used, but before 7 a.m., more than a hundred people came in a rush. Apart from the thirty strong laborers from Team 6, the rest were all representatives sent by the other 11 teams.

How did they find out about it in just one night, no, half a night?
Chen Fan, who had just finished his morning exercise in his room, heard the noise and went to the back. When he saw this scene, he felt a chill run down his spine.

The number of people isn't the key issue; the key issue is that he didn't prepare enough ingredients. How will he entertain them later?

No one knows who first saw Chen Fan, but suddenly someone shouted, "Good morning, Teacher Chen!"

Then came a chorus of greetings.

Chen Fan could only raise his hands, grin, and sway them from side to side in response.

After walking all the way to the top of the slope, I finally saw someone I recognized.

Team leader Yang, accountant Liu, custodian Huang, security guard Zhang Wenliang, and the team leaders of the other 10 teams were all here, pointing and commenting on the homestead.

Zhang Wenliang was a representative of Team 5, but his father, the team captain, did not come.

Upon seeing Chen Fan, everyone greeted him, and Chen Fan smiled and bowed to express his gratitude.

Zhang Wenliang strode forward and said with a soft laugh, "Why didn't you tell us beforehand that you wanted to build a house?"

"It was decided last night. Our own team members are enough. We didn't want to bother anyone else."

Chen Fan pulled him aside and asked in a low voice, "How did you know?"

Zhang Wenliang chuckled and said, "Didn't you say last night that you wanted the veterinarians from each team to come here to learn first aid? They came early this morning and only found out you were going to build a house when they saw Lao Yang and the others coming with shovels and hoes. Then they borrowed the phone from Team 6 and notified their respective teams."

Each team wanted to contribute, so each team sent 10 people. The construction workers from the other four teams also came. With that many people, it should be enough.

More than enough? Chen Fan clearly saw the bricklayers and carpenters from the commune's construction team also in the crowd, writing and drawing in notebooks, probably doing construction design.

With them there, plus more than a hundred strong laborers, as long as there are enough materials, the house could probably be built in two days.

He had been thinking that he would start digging in the next few days to do the preliminary groundwork, then slowly build the house by hand until the harvest season was over, and then hire someone to build it.

This time, we have to achieve it all in one go, right?
Chen Fan let out a soft breath, pulled Zhang Wenliang aside and whispered, "The key is that I didn't prepare enough food and drinks for so many people. You have to help me think of a solution."

Zhang Wenliang squinted and thought for a moment, "That's easy. The side dishes are fine. I'll tell Lao Yang later, and everyone can pick a little and send it over. The main thing is the meat. I still have a few turtles. I'll have someone go get them later. We'll also get a few chickens and a few fish, and that should be enough."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But you probably don't have any cigarettes for entertaining guests here, do you?"

Chen Fan shook his head. "No."

He still has quite a few Donghai and Mudan cigarettes he bought before, but with so many people, if each person only needs one cigarette, or one pack per person, that would require at least 15 cartons. Who would keep so many cigarettes at home?

At this moment, Captain Yang and Anquan also came over and overheard some of the conversation. Captain Yang then said, "I've already sent people to fish in the river. Once we get a few more chickens, we'll have the main dish. You don't need to worry about the kitchen help; Liu Jujiang will bring people to take care of it."

Anquan nodded and smiled at him, "Teacher Chen has a lot of influence. He didn't even need to ask anyone for help; people came to help on their own initiative. However, we still need to show him the proper courtesy."

"I'll go to town to buy you some cigarettes later. They don't need to be fancy, just the cheapest kind, 8 cents a pack is fine. That's the standard for everyone building houses. You don't need cigarette coupons for cheap cigarettes, just have the money ready. As for the liquor, that's easy too, just get two jars of loose liquor. I already sent someone to Old Tang's place in Team 7 to get some, they'll be back in a bit."

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief, wiped away his cold sweat, and laughed, "Thank goodness for your help, this was all too rushed."

"You got thieves here last night," Anquan said seriously. "Even if you're in a hurry, you should finish building the house as soon as possible. Once you turn your money into a house, no one will bother you anymore. Otherwise, someone will break in sooner or later."

Chen Fan gave an awkward laugh. "You all knew that?"

Safety grunted twice, "If you had come any later, we would have been talking about how your animals catch thieves."

He just went to see that thief, who was kicked by a horse, bitten by a dog, bitten by a snake, and scratched by a bird. Who the hell would believe that?

Even after seeing the injuries with his own eyes, he couldn't believe it!
Captain Yang chuckled and gestured to Chen Fan, "Since you're here, go over the details with the master chefs again and see how to divide the tasks. After that, go teach the veterinarians first aid."

Chen Fan roused himself and walked forward, "Okay."

When I got to the bricklayer and carpenter, who were all acquaintances I had met before, there was no need for formalities. After exchanging greetings, I explained my design plans to them.

"This is where the kitchen is located. We need to dig a deep pit here to ferment the soil."

The bricklayer was puzzled. "Does the fermented soil have to be buried in the pit? Can't we just build a shed on the ground? That would save a lot of labor."

Chen Fan explained, "The main thing is that I want to build a cellar here, to use as a wine cellar. I want to dig a deeper and bigger pit, and after the fermentation soil is used up, I will lay pebbles on the bottom, apply concrete, and then build beams to build a kitchen and dining room on top."

In rural areas at that time, the main house was the main house, while the kitchen and toilet were located outside the homestead. This was a tacit rule that allowed houses to occupy more space.

Although Chen Fan's residence is already 180 square meters, if he can take a little more without bothering others, why not?
When the master chefs heard him say he wanted to build a wine cellar, they immediately understood.

The bricklayer nodded and said, "Alright, I know how to dig this hole."

He wrote it down and then smiled at Chen Fan, saying, "It's rare to have so many people here today. We didn't have this many laborers when we were building office buildings and dormitories in town. Let's walk around here and see what needs to be dug or repaired, and finish it all at once."

Chen Fan was naturally delighted, so he led the other masters around the top of the slope.

"This is the site of my homestead. I want to build a two-story house. The core of the walls will be made of blue bricks, with box-like walls, and the exterior walls will be made of fermented soil. Fermented soil is..."

Before he could explain, the bricklayer nodded and said, "I know about fermented soil, but although the recipe is still there, there are not many people who know how to make it. I didn't expect Teacher Chen to know about this. No wonder everyone says that Teacher Chen is very talented."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Box walls are good, but the walls will be quite thick. If you apply a layer of fermented soil on the outside, you'll definitely need to apply lime on the inside as well. The entire wall will probably be more than half a foot thick, which means it will take up more land."

Box walls are constructed by laying bricks in a crisscross pattern, resulting in many hollow spaces within the walls. This method provides better insulation and soundproofing than the commonly used thin brick method, but it also consumes more bricks.

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "It's alright, using box walls makes it more comfortable to live in."

The bricklayer looked at the huge plot of land, a smile flashing in his eyes, and nodded as he took notes. "Okay, I'll do as you say."

Then Chen Fan pointed to the toilet location he had reserved, "Toilets will be built here. In addition to the first floor, there will also be toilets on the second floor. The culvert can run down this slope. This is a natural drainage ditch formed by rainwater erosion. It only needs a little modification. There are several other ditches like this, so it won't affect drainage. The septic tank will be built at the bottom of the slope, close to the farmland, which will also make it convenient for composting and carrying fertilizer." Hearing this, the bricklayer chuckled and said, "You'll have to find your team's 'toilet construction team' for this. They'll be more familiar with it."

He then asked curiously, "If there's a toilet upstairs, how do you deal with the water leakage?"

Chen Fan gestured as he explained, "Leave a deep pit, seal it with asphalt, and then it's no different from building it on the ground."

Steel bars and cement are hard to find, but asphalt isn't so difficult to buy; specialized building material stores sell it. Of course, if you need to buy in large quantities, that's a different story. Chen Fan is only waterproofing a toilet, so he won't need a large amount; he can just buy it directly later.

He led several master craftsmen around the house, and more than half an hour had passed. In addition, the team had already relayed what he had said to Captain Yang the night before to the craftsmen, so the construction team had a clear idea of ​​how to build the house.

At this point, Chen Fan was no longer needed, so Zhang Wenliang, on behalf of all the squad leaders, urged him to give a lecture to the veterinarians.

If we don't need him as a helper, are we supposed to keep him around as a supervisor?

Chen Fan didn't refuse, but still asked one last question.

He pulled Zhang Wenliang aside and whispered, "I know that the apprentices don't need to be paid, but how are the master craftsmen paid?"

Zhang Wenliang explained with a smile, "There are generally two calculation methods. For a regular area, the labor cost for a mud-brick house is 60 yuan, and for a brick and tile house it is 80 yuan. Alternatively, the payment is based on the amount of work done, with stonemasons earning 2 yuan a day and bricklayers and carpenters earning 1.8 yuan a day. The amount is calculated based on the number of people who come and the number of days they work."

As for your place, firstly, it's much larger, more than twice the size of theirs, and it's a two-story building. The labor cost alone would be at least 400 yuan. Plus, the construction is more complex, involving digging a cellar, building a kitchen and dining room, and even a covered walkway.

At this point, he couldn't help but complain, "I don't know what you were thinking. You clearly know how to make bricks and tiles, but you didn't use them and insisted on using thatched roofs. Do you know how complicated it is to make a proper thatched roof? In addition to tying the straw with rope, you also need to use tenons and mortises to fix it in place. Even the roof beams have specific requirements."

I just heard Master Wang, the foreman of the carpentry team, say that in the entire Nanhu Commune, only his uncle still knows this craft. We'll have to invite him over to provide technical guidance. This kind of thatched roof can last for 20 years without breaking, and after 20 years, we can just re-lay the thatch and renovate it.

So later, when bricks and tiles came along, nobody used traditional thatched roofs anymore. The wealthy used bricks and tiles, and the poor used ordinary thatched roofs. So, are you being strange, trying to pretend to be poor?

Chen Fan opened his mouth wide, then swallowed hard, unable to utter a word.

The book "Architectural Technology" doesn't say that installing a thatched roof is that complicated, does it? Actually, he just thought thatched roofs looked nice and wanted to experience "traditional village living".

Who knows, maybe one day we'll get tired of living here and switch to the old-fashioned blue tiles.

After saying all this, Zhang Wenliang suddenly chuckled at Chen Fan, "I'm telling you all this not to get you to spend more money. Believe me or not, if you dare to talk to them about money, they'll give you the cold shoulder."

Chen Fan closed his mouth and grinned, "It can't be that bad, can it? Shouldn't their work be considered official business for the construction team? How can they not get paid?"

He's not short of money right now. He fired the bricks himself, and he's already arranged with Captain Zhang to buy the timber and stone using his work points. He asked Anquan to help him buy the steel bars and cement because it was an internal price, much cheaper than the market price, and he didn't need to apply for approval. As for the glass, Anquan will find someone to bring it back once the house is built, so it won't cost much.

However, he still had more than 1000 yuan in his hand.

The money from selling turtles had long been spent. Later, the money from the first sale of charcoal stoves and pottery was still 280 yuan left. More than 40 squat toilets had been sold, and this was the first batch. The customers were all from the village. At 10 yuan each, that's more than 400 yuan.

A few days ago, Yang Ju and her friends took another 100 sets of pottery tableware to the market. Thanks to the popularity of Teacher Chen's article being published in a provincial magazine, they barely sold out. Chen Fanren didn't even show up, but they still made 600 yuan.

That's over 1300 yuan.

So the biggest expense in building this house was the labor cost of hiring a construction team, which was at most 5 or 600 yuan, and he didn't feel any pressure at all.

Now Zhang Wenliang is telling him that the construction team won't charge him? Does that mean my plan to "go bankrupt" by building houses is going to fall through?
Zhang Wenliang pulled him down the slope, grunted twice and said, "Don't you think about it? Once you teach the first aid knowledge to the veterinarians of each team, if we ever encounter an emergency like last night, even if we can use it just once, it will save a life."

The person they saved might be a family member of one of their master craftsmen. You yourself don't take this skill seriously, yet you teach others as if you don't care, but we can't ignore it; this is a matter of life and death.

"You've already shown off your skills, and they still dare to take your money? Aren't you afraid of being gossiped about behind your back by the villagers?"

Chen Fan said with a wry smile, "It's really not that bad."

"How can it not be that serious? You may think it's not serious, but we think it is!"

Zhang Wenliang said to him, "If you can save people for free, then they can help with the work for free. Besides, they're not doing it for free; they're just changing from senior workers to junior workers. They can eat what they're supposed to eat and take the cigarettes they're supposed to take. In any case, they can't take any money."

By this time they had reached the backyard gate, where 12 veterinarians stood in a row, with Zhang Juemin standing next to them.

Chen Fan looked at him and asked, "Dr. Zhang is here too?"

Zhang Juemin didn't feel embarrassed at all and laughed, "I also learned first aid at the health center, but I've never heard of the method you used last night, so I wanted to hear it too."

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Sure, no problem."

Zhang Wenliang then called out "Big Brother" first, before addressing the other twelve teenage veterinarians, "You all need to learn diligently from Teacher Chen. If you don't learn well and encounter an emergency where you can't save someone, then it's because you haven't learned properly. Don't blame people for talking behind your backs then. Do you understand?"

The twelve teenagers were startled at once, quickly perked up, and shouted in unison, "We heard you!"

Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "Learning is one thing, applying is another. We are doctors, not the King of Hell. As long as we have done our best, it is not right to blame the doctors if we cannot save a patient."

Zhang Wenliang chuckled and said, "Anyway, we just need to study hard and learn everything well."

After giving his instructions, he turned and went to the construction site, while Chen Fan took these "trainees" to the general office for instruction.

In the front yard, Liu Jujiang was already leading several women in their work. Jiang Lili and the others followed his instructions, running back and forth between the kitchen, the yard, and the storeroom, busy as bees.

After greeting everyone, Chen Fan led them into the general office.

Apart from Zhang Juemin, the others were all previous students from the veterinary class, so Chen Fan didn't bother with any formalities. He had them take out their notebooks, activated his teaching skills, and began the lesson.

"There are three most common first aid methods: cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), artificial respiration, and airway obstruction removal. We'll discuss them one by one, starting with CPR..."

Chen Fan didn't use a blackboard; he simply found someone to act as a patient and demonstrate, while explaining the key points of the movements.

However, when it came to artificial respiration, he asked Dr. Zhang Juemin to demonstrate, while he explained from the side.

The main problem is that I can't bring myself to kiss a man.

The last step in clearing airway obstructions is the Heimlich maneuver, which is known as the most life-saving first aid technique in the world.

Chen Fan didn't know if this first aid method had spread to China yet, so he didn't dare to reveal its name. He only said that it was a method he had figured out himself, specifically for removing foreign objects from the airway.

Actually, this first aid method was still in the verification stage in the United States. It had only just begun to be promoted at this time, and it would take another year or two to spread to Europe. By the time it reached China, it would be the mid-80s. If he were to mention Heimlich's name now, that would be a miracle; it would be more accurate to say that he developed it himself.

Continue teaching.

Depending on the individual being treated, airway obstruction removal methods can be categorized into three types: abdominal thrust, chest thrust, and infant resuscitation.

In addition, he tried hard to recall various first aid methods he had seen online before, some from public service announcements on TV, some from short videos posted by doctors. Regardless of the source, he would recite all the first aid methods he could remember that were suitable for the times.

Otherwise, he would feel sorry for all the uninvited guests who came today!
Anyway, he had learned these first aid methods at the health center for a few days, and most of them were actually available there, but the techniques weren't refined enough. He was now summarizing them and wasn't afraid of being exposed.

So they recorded the first aid methods one by one: muscle injuries, sprains, dislocations, fractures, electric shock treatment, external bleeding, infantile seizures, swallowing foreign objects, sudden coughing up blood, cat and dog bites, drowning first aid, gas poisoning, pesticide poisoning, food poisoning, snake bite first aid, infant suffocation, sudden fainting, burns...

Chen Fan spent the entire morning explaining and demonstrating to them, covering a total of twenty or thirty different techniques, most of which were ones that even Zhang Juemin had not learned. Before he knew it, he had filled most of his notebook with notes.

There's only one chapter today, I'll make up the other one tomorrow o(╥﹏╥)o


(End of this chapter)