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

In a dilapidated courtyard, a young woman named Liu was sitting on the mottled threshold, silently shedding tears.

On the side, an old woman with silver hair was sitting on the stone steps not far away. She held a faded handkerchief in her hand and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes from time to time, sighing lowly and helplessly.

After a long time, the old woman seemed to finally digest the current situation. She slowly stood up, hobbled to her daughter-in-law, and gently patted her daughter-in-law's shoulders with her wrinkled hands.

The old woman's voice was filled with relief. "Well, the laundry job is gone, and we can always find other ways to survive. Anyway, things have come to this point, so let's not take it to heart."

Liu looked up at her mother-in-law with tears in her eyes, her eyes full of self-blame and helplessness:

"But mother, my husband is in the army and we don't know when he will come back. Our whole family, old and young, depends on my meager income from washing clothes to make ends meet!"

"I accidentally ruined the owner's clothes this time. Not only did I lose my wages, but my reputation has also been ruined. Who would dare to hire me in the future?"

The old woman felt very uncomfortable when she heard this, but she also knew that blaming her daughter-in-law at this time would not help.

So she patted her daughter-in-law's hand and said comfortingly, "There is always a way out."

"Tomorrow I'll go around town and see if there's anyone who needs help with sewing or laundry. I'll always be able to find some work."

"As for you, don't blame yourself too much. We still have a long way to go. Let's find a solution together."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were comforting each other when suddenly a cry of surprise came from a distance.

"Mom, mom, come quickly, someone wants to hire you to do a job!" The thin boy just now shouted loudly while running home happily.

When Liu heard this, she quickly stood up from the ground, grabbed her son who had run to her door, and asked excitedly:

"Is this true? Someone really wants to hire me for work? What kind of work? Have you asked for details?"

Without their laundry job, how would their family earn any income?

At this moment, the woman was like a drowning person who finally grabbed a life-saving straw, her heart full of hope.

The boy was also anxious at this time. So many of his friends had gone back home to look for people, and he was afraid that if they went too late, the place would be full.

After that, the boy dragged the woman out breathlessly while answering, "It's absolutely true. That sister said she was going to help with the harvest at home and could earn 20 cents a day, and the wages were paid on the same day!"

"Mom, they're at the entrance of the alley right now. Let's go quickly. If we're late, that sister will gather all the people and we won't have a chance to help."

When Liu heard the conditions, she could no longer sit still. She turned around and said something to her mother-in-law, then followed her son to the entrance of the alley.

At this time, several women had arrived at the entrance of the alley, and they were all asking Song Zhi about the news about the hired workers that she had just heard from her children.

The residents living in this remote alley were obviously not well off. Song Zhi could get a glimpse of this from their clothes and the sad expressions on their faces.

Song Zhi raised her hand to stop the others from asking questions, and patiently said to everyone, "Don't be anxious, wait for the others. I'll explain the conditions again in front of everyone later."

A woman smiled and said to Song Zhi, "Let's make a deal first. We arrived first, and there will be a lot of people later. Miss, please don't use us anymore!"

Song Zhi said calmly, "It would be great if all the aunts were willing to come. Let's hurry up and harvest. The sooner the grain in the fields can be stored in the granary, the more at ease I will be!"

What Song Zhi said made a lot of sense. After hearing her words, the women felt relieved.

In just a dozen breaths, four more women came hurriedly.

They all lived in the same alley, and people from each household had arrived, so they reminded Song Zhi, "Everyone living in this alley is here. If you need anything, you can tell us directly!"

So Song Zhi repeated to the women what she had just told the children about the treatment and what they needed to do.

"Is it really twenty wen a day?"

“Is the salary really paid in cash?”

"..."

The women asked questions that concerned them most.

"Of course. If you have time, you can go back and pack up first, then come back with me. I'll settle the bill with you at sunset."

Although harvesting was hard work, the wages offered by the other party were high. All the women present agreed and nodded to express their willingness to go back with Song Zhi.

So Song Zhi asked the women to go back and eat something first, and she went to the nearby market to buy some meat. The group met at the alley and went to Xiaohezi Village with her.

Because she had to rely entirely on her legs to move forward, Song Zhi returned home around noon.

When Liu and other women walked into Songjia Village, they were extremely shocked.

The smooth and flat path leading into the village is even smoother than the bluestone paved roads in the county town.

It is very comfortable to step on it, not painful at all.

Everyone couldn't help but look around. This village must be very rich to be able to build a road better than the one in the county town.

Then I saw the small yellow mud houses and the busy farmers in the fields.

Just one look at the farmers working in the fields will show you that they are not as rich as they imagined.

After all, this was someone else's village, and the women knew their limits, so they didn't ask too many questions.

However, Song Zhi did not lead people directly to the fields at this time. It was the hottest time of the day, and even the villagers who were rushing to harvest would try to avoid the upcoming busy schedule to prevent heatstroke.

She first led them to their new home, then went back to the next door and asked her younger brother and sister-in-law to bring some small stools, inviting them to sit in the house and rest for a while.

In the afternoon, I will go to the fields to work with grandma and the others.

The women saw that Song Zhi's yard also had a cement main road, and they couldn't help but ask, "Why is this road so smooth? What is it paved with?"

"This is cement made in our village workshop. It can be used to pave roads, build walls, and construct houses. It has so many uses!"

"If you need to pave the road or plaster the walls, you can come to our village to buy this cement. It's easy to use and inexpensive."

Song Zhi was not afraid of their questions. Her purpose in proposing to lay cement in the village was to promote this earth cement to the world.

Only by letting more people know about cement can the cement workshop in their village develop and grow better.

When the women heard this, they suddenly realized that there was a workshop in their village.

But their lives were already very difficult, and they would rather spend every penny carefully, so it was impossible for them to buy cement.

But that didn't stop them from agreeing politely.

Song Zhi didn't care whether the other party bought the cement or not. She just wanted more people to know that there was something called cement in the world. The road paved with her cement was extremely flat, and that was it.