It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

Previously, because the county government had no money, even if they wanted to do something practical, they had to plan carefully.

Things are different now. Zhou Yu returned to the county government office and immediately called his subordinates to discuss the selection of government-run shops.

Zhang Zhubu and other officials requested that a government-run shop be set up diagonally opposite the Caoshi and next to the teahouse.

Firstly, there is a large flow of people there, and secondly, it is close to the county government office, making it easier to manage.

So the matter was settled, and Zhou Yu handed it over to Zhang Zhubu for supervision.

The clerk in charge of the study reminded him at the right moment, "My Lord, the summer harvest is approaching. Should we also put the barn repairs you proposed last time on the agenda?"

With one person speaking up, the gatekeeper couldn't help but say, "Sir, the city walls also need to be repaired in a timely manner."

The clerks in the county government now all knew that there was money in the county government's account, and they immediately explained the urgent problems that needed to be solved in their respective areas of jurisdiction, hoping to obtain some money to improve or solve them.

The official in charge of water conservancy was not willing to lag behind and expressed his desire to organize manpower to build water conservancy projects.

Zhou Yu listened to his subordinates' statements one by one, and suddenly felt that the little money in his hand was not worth much.

He raised his hand to stop the complaints from the crowd below and said, "Everyone is absolutely right. Although the county government's current funding has eased somewhat, it still needs to be allocated with caution."

"Zhang Zhubu, you will be responsible for summarizing everyone's opinions and developing a detailed spending plan based on priorities. Repairs to the summer harvest warehouse are urgent and must be prioritized."

"Repairing the city wall is also related to the safety of the county, so we can't delay any further. County Lieutenant Guo, please send someone to select people from the villages that were unable to participate in the forsythia leaf picking last time. We must hurry and complete the city wall repairs before the summer harvest."

"As for water conservancy facilities, they are a major concern for people's livelihood and need to be put on the agenda. Zhang Zhubu, lead Wang Dianli and others to calculate a budget first, and then discuss this matter after the summer harvest!"

When everyone present heard this, they all responded happily.

At the Song family's house, following Zhou Yu's instructions, craftsman Zhou directly led a small number of villagers to build the kang.

There was no need for Song Ping to help with the work of making the kang. The villagers rushed to follow Zhou the craftsman and listened attentively to his instructions.

Seeing that there was nothing for Song Ping to do, he simply stepped out to help build the wall.

Seeing Song Ping coming out to help, Song Erzhu hurriedly asked, "A Ping, we'll be done with the toilet in a little while. What kind of mud did A Zhi ask us to put on the toilet that day?"

"Go ask Ah Zhi how to do it."

Song Ping responded, turned around and walked home.

In fact, a few days ago, Song Zhi had already led Song Ping to burn the homemade cement.

The two men tried to mix yellow clay and lime, pour it into a square wooden frame, break it into bricks, and then put it into a homemade earthen stove to calcine.

After calcination, the bricks and stones are taken out of the earthen kiln, crushed into powder with a hammer, and piled in the backyard.

At that time, Song Ping was very curious about why his elder sister put the adobe into the earthen stove for calcination.

Song Zhi recalled the last time she went to buy lime and saw people putting bluestone blocks into the earthen kiln to calcine them. The bluestone that was burned would break into pieces when ground, and could be made into mature lime when put into water.

She said it looked amazing and wanted to try mixing yellow clay with lime and then calcining it.

The two raw materials, yellow clay, have the ability to shape, and lime has the function of absorbing water and bonding.

She wanted to see if combining the two materials into one, grinding them into powder, would produce better results when used to build houses.

Song Ping could only shake his head and laugh helplessly, letting her do whatever she wanted.

Song Ping returned home and went straight to the kitchen to find Song Zhi who was busy preparing meals.

"Azhi, the toilet will be finished soon. Uncle Erzhu wants to know what you want to do next."

Upon hearing this, Song Zhi hurriedly said to her eldest brother, "Brother, please carry the cement that has been ground in our backyard to the next door first."

After saying that, she swiftly took off her apron and turned to Wu, saying, "Grandma, I'm going to go over there and take a look at the situation. I'll ask my aunt to come back and help you later!"

Wu, who was busy in the kitchen, heard this and quickly waved her hand and said, "No need to call your aunt back. The meat is already in the pot and starting to stew, and the steamed buns are also in the pot. I can just watch the stove by myself. There is no need for so many people to help."

When Song Zhi heard this, she felt that what her grandmother said made sense.

So she nodded, turned back into the house, picked up her homemade cement scraper, and hurried next door.

At this time, Uncle Erzhu and two other villagers were seen carefully climbing down the ladder from the roof.

After the three of them stood still, Song Erzhu said, "Azhi, the toilet is finished. What kind of mud do you want to put inside the toilet? Do we need to put more mud on it?"

Song Zhi nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, please go to the river and fetch some river sand."

The three of them carried their loads again and went to the nearby stream to pick up river sand.

Song Ping came over here carrying a load of crushed cement, and soon the river sand from the other side was also carried over.

Song Zhi asked them to mix the two with water, and then instructed several people to smear the floor of the toilet with cement mortar.

Upon hearing this request, Song Erzhu and two other villagers were stunned on the spot.

All these instructions and warnings were just for the purpose of preparing the floor for the toilet, but the three of them didn't quite understand.

Song Erzhu subconsciously asked, "Azhi, you spent half a day just to build a toilet, aren't you afraid of the trouble?"

Song Zhi explained as she instructed the others to do their work, "It's not a big deal, it's not a big deal. I can save my family a lot of money by doing this."

"Oh? Where do you get this from?" The three of them did their work according to Song Zhi's instructions while pricking up their ears to listen to her details.

Song Zhi began to talk nonsense in a serious tone, "Since we're building a new house, I naturally want to do it as quickly as possible and pave the main rooms and the left and right wing rooms with blue bricks, but my uncle said that the cost would be too high!"

Sure enough, the three of them nodded in unison after hearing this.

The ground needs to be paved with blue bricks. That would be a waste of money. Song Erzhu said without hesitation:

"Your uncle is right. Ah Zhi, you sisters are still young, so you can't spend money recklessly. You will need money a lot in the future!"

Song Zhi nodded obediently, "That's why I decided to use this free method to mop the floor. I'll try it with the toilet first."

"If the effect is good, I will use this method for the next few rooms. Otherwise, even though the house is built with blue bricks, the room is still made of yellow earth, which looks a bit mismatched no matter how you look at it."

After hearing Song Zhi's explanation, several people suddenly felt that what she did seemed quite reasonable.

In this way, under the guidance of Song Zhi, several people started to make the cement floor in an orderly manner.

Not to mention pouring the mixed cement mortar on the dirt ground and then scraping it with a cement scraper, the uneven cement mortar will be smoothed out instantly.

Song Erzhu and others were busy for a while, and when they saw that the originally uneven yellow mud ground became clean and smooth, they gradually came to their senses. It turned out to be really like that.

Looking at the flat and smooth ground, there are no gaps like those paved with blue bricks.

The floor paved in this way is a complete piece. If there is any dirt, it can be wiped away with a broom!

Song Erzhu stood in front of the toilet, looking at the cement floor in amazement. "Ah Zhi, your idea is really cost-effective and practical. If the whole floor was paved with cement like this, it would be really decent and solid! It's no worse than the blue brick paving at all."

Song Zhi seemed quite satisfied. This way, going to the toilet and flushing in the future would be a little cleaner.