50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 70: Long Corridor Fish Pond
Behind it was a dirt road with water. To the east were many villages, and to the south was a forest. He went straight east to the village closest to the forest.

A large area of ​​trees near the roadside here has been cut down. That should be where the nearby villagers collect firewood on a daily basis.

Nowadays, many forests near the city are divided into areas. The nearby villages have agreed on which forest belongs to which village for firewood use. If logging crosses the boundary, there will be conflicts.

Sun Zhiwei didn't have the time to argue with the villagers, and the newly cut firewood was difficult to burn because it produced too much smoke.

He went straight to the village office and asked the village official if there was any firewood for sale. The villagers' firewood was surely already chopped and dried, so buying it directly would only cost him a small amount of money but would save him a lot of trouble.

When the village officials heard that we were here to buy firewood, they were very enthusiastic. This is a common income-generating project in villages near the city.

But usually they bring firewood to the city to sell, and unless it is urgently needed, it is rare to see people coming from far away to buy it.

"Comrade, how much firewood do you need? I'll help you find the villagers to collect it."

"I need a yard full of firewood for the winter. I need at least 3,000 kilograms, but 5,000 kilograms would be even better. Firewood won't spoil anyway. How much do you think it would cost?"

The village is not small and is close to the forest. Every household has a large amount of firewood stored. 5000 kilograms is not enough for the storage of two families.

"I see you came here alone. Do you want me to deliver the firewood to the city?"

"Yes, I do. My home is on the North Sea. I'd like to know how much the shipping fee would be. Let's calculate it together."

"Well, let's do this. We'll sell this firewood in the city for 1 yuan per catty. 50 catties will cost you 5000 yuan. I'll deliver it to your home and arrange it for you. What do you think?"

"Okay, that's settled then. Please help me arrange it."

The village official thought for a moment and identified several needy households. He asked Sun Zhiwei to wait for a moment and then went to notify each household one by one.

A family's 1000 kilograms of firewood can earn some spare money for five needy families. Having more cash in hand can be of great use in times of crisis.

Dried firewood is light in weight and takes up a lot of space. Two thousand kilograms can be loaded into one cart. If you pile it higher, five thousand kilograms of firewood can be loaded into two carts.

After a while, the village secretary came back and called two carts from the village. Then he took Sun Zhiwei to each house, loaded two large carts with dry firewood, tied them tightly with thick hemp ropes, and then asked two strong men from the village to pull them up and leave.

Sun Zhiwei then asked the village official, "Why don't you use animals to pull it? It's too tiring for a person to pull it."

"Look at what you said. How much does it cost to raise animals? They have to travel dozens of miles back and forth. They must have been feeding themselves a lot of soybeans."

"There are many strong men in our village. Pulling a cart doesn't require any animals or fuel. It's better to let them exercise their muscles than to keep them idle at home."

Okay, Sun Zhiwei understood. Labor is cheap and livestock are expensive now. Pulling a cart costs one meal per hundred kilometers. The key is to save.

"Thank you for your hard work, uncles."

"What's so hard about this? It's not hard, it's not hard at all."

Seeing that no one had any objections, Sun Zhiwei didn't say anything more. He just gave the money to the village secretary as agreed and followed the car back to the city.

The two uncles were strong and fast runners. After more than an hour, the two carts of firewood arrived at Wenjin Street.

He asked the master to park the car in front of the gate of No. 9 Courtyard, and then he and two other masters unloaded the firewood into the gate and stacked it neatly on both sides of the aisle.

Before leaving, a master reminded me: "There is no shelter in your alley. You should build a shed as soon as possible to protect it from the rain. Otherwise, if it rains, all the firewood will be dried in vain." "Thank you, master. I will take these candies back to sweeten the children's mouths."

He didn't give any extra money, but a handful of candy was acceptable. The two chefs refused for a long time before thanking them and carefully accepting it.

The village has now divided up the land, and there have been bumper harvests in recent years, but it is only enough to fill the stomach. It is not so easy to eat well.

The children didn't have candy to eat on a daily basis, so they would just pick bird eggs, catch some grasshoppers, or even dig out vole nests to get some small snacks.

This small handful of candies, if given one every ten days or half a month, can fool the baby for half a year.

After seeing off the cart driver, Sun Zhiwei closed the door and began to use the space to transfer firewood to the kitchen.

It is indeed convenient to use space to transport things. It only took ten minutes, and 5,000 kilograms of firewood were piled up in a corner of the kitchen, stacked against the wall to a height of more than one person.

This is all he can do at the moment. He doesn't know how to sew or mend things, so he can only rely on the skills of Daxiang's mother behind him.

Then he went to Dashizu Hutong, found Master Lu, and talked about the drainage problem in the aisle.

The master chef thought about the length of the corridor before replying, "Comrade Sun, this is what I think. The corridor is really too long. If it rains heavily, it will be difficult to drain it by just relying on the ditch."

"How about this? We can split the whole corridor into two, build a sloping roof on one side, and support the middle with pillars to make a corridor."

"People can walk inside the corridor without worrying about wind or rain. On the other side, a long fish pond half a meter deep is built. Usually, some lotus and small fish are raised there. When it rains, the fish pond is used to collect water."

"The outlet of the fish pond should be placed underground at the alley gate. There should be a trap door that leads directly to the main sewer on the street. When it rains, the trap door can be opened, and closed at other times."

"It's only 2 meters wide here. Wouldn't it be too narrow to build a pond there?"

"The fish pond is only half a meter wide, and the aisle has more than a meter left after removing the pool wall. It's definitely no problem for people to walk through, but it will be difficult to pass large items."

"However, I see that your yard is fully furnished with large pieces of furniture. These large pieces will not be replaced for decades. If they are to be replaced, it will be decades later."

"The corridor will surely be old by then, so it will be a good opportunity to renovate it as well."

After hearing what he said, Sun Zhiwei also realized that now that the house was fully equipped with large furniture, there was really nothing difficult to move, and he still had space.

If he really needs that kind of extra-large furniture, he can talk about it later. He can't think of any extra-large furniture that his home needs.

Customization is also very popular nowadays. If you want furniture, you can just ask a craftsman to make it in your home yard without having to go through the corridor.

After thinking it over, he asked Master Lu to help him build the corridor, and the time was set for a week later. By then, when Daxiang and his mother had finished making the house habitable, it wouldn't be too late to build the corridor.

After confirming the construction period, he left some deposit to Master Lu to buy materials before leaving.

When they returned to the security compound, it was already dark. Sun Zhiwei prepared some food and waited for Lao Zhang to come back for dinner. They also talked about the things they had done in the past few days to tidy up the compound.

As the time of moving out drew closer, he felt a little reluctant to leave. After all, they had lived together for several years, and it was difficult for him to adapt to leaving suddenly, both physically and mentally.

(End of this chapter)