Traveling through time as a peasant girl to turn things around

As soon as it was daybreak, Sun Gui called everyone to a meeting. All the villagers came out of their tents. Sun Gui shouted loudly, "Attention, all villagers, no one can escape natural disasters. At least everyone is still alive. As long as no one is dead, it's good. We have been drinking porridge at Chai's house these days and no one has starved to death. After the natural disaster, we will live a better life! As the saying goes, those who survive a great disaster will be blessed in the future. The old saying is correct. As long as all our villagers work together, we will build a better home. Starting from today, each family will go home and look for food. First of all, look for their own warehouses, and several families can cooperate. Each family will cook their own lunch, but the villagers will build the house together. Why do I say this? I believe someone understands. In the past few days, some families have contributed their own food, but there are a few families who only eat porridge and eat for themselves, and don't even take out a handful of food. It's too much. I used to think it would be great for our villagers to eat and work together during this period, but this time it makes me feel disappointed." Someone said, " "Village chief, I'll give all my food away for everyone to eat. If we need food, we all eat. If we're hungry, we all eat. We'll unite as one." Sun Gui: "Okay, my family will do the same. I'll find all the food and give it away so we can eat together. If we have food, we eat together. If we're hungry, we all eat together." Qin Han said, "My family will do the same. We'll give all the food away so we can eat together." Sun Gui: "Sister-in-law of the Chai family, please remember this: those whose families haven't contributed food are not allowed to eat together; they must cook for themselves." Old Lady Li: "Okay, my family will follow the village chief's instructions. Breakfast is ready. Let's all eat together. We'll discuss at noon which families won't contribute food, and we'll cook separately." Sun Gui: "Sister-in-law, remember this. That's it! Selfish people in our village will be exempt from all welfare benefits from now on." Once this was spoken, the whole village remembered it. A few women secretly went back to the tents to find food to show their loyalty, but they still hid some. They first went to deliver the food to Old Lady Li, asked her to write down the name of their head of the family, and said, "Find more food and send it back later." Li Hongying knew all of them. The village was so small that everyone knew who was in each family. Everyone in the family knew that Old Lady Li got up early every day to sell milk and other things.

After breakfast, everyone agreed to go home and clean up the house, taking note of the village chief's instructions to first find food, pots, pans, and farm tools. All the children stayed behind, and Li Jingwen gathered them together, saying, "Let's study with the teacher. Find a place to sit. There are bricks and pieces of wood." Huanhuan brought Li Jingwen a stool and said, "Master, please sit down." Jiahe was recuperating and couldn't go out with the others, so he sat down and looked for work.

Those unable to move rested in the tents, while Chen Jun oversaw the treatment and the preparation of medicine. Those able to move had all left. Jiale led the veterans to Beiyuan, first to find food and then to gather bricks and tiles, placing the usable together and shoveling the unusable aside. Everyone was in good spirits, undeterred by the disaster. Xue Zhi from the Ministry of Works approached Chai Zhen and said, "Uncle, you arrange the work, and we'll get to work." Little Milk Bag pulled out blueprints for a house and said, "Take a look, do you understand?" Xue Zhi took them and examined them. The size and orientation of the houses were unlike anything they normally build; they looked like one room within another. Xue Zhi asked, "Is this a room within a room, with only one door leading out?" Little Milk Bag: "Yes, uncle, this is called a presidential suite. The kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom are all in one big room." Xue Zhi looked at the blueprint and continued, "Why do the windows look like they face outward, but there are windows inside as well?" Little Milk Bag: "Yes, more windows make the room brighter. Windows facing the outside make the room brighter." Little Milk Bag thought to himself, "Thank goodness Brother Haoye gave me so much glass. She put it away during the earthquake, otherwise it would have been useless."

Xue Zhi said affirmatively, "I understand. We can build a house like this." Chai Zhen said, "In two days, the lime is burning, it will be done soon." Xue Zhi: "Uncle, what is lime?" Chai Zhen: "It's used for mixing mud and building houses. Put a layer on the inner wall and the house will be bright."

Xue Zhi said to the people he brought with him, "Everyone, get to work. Put the things that can be used together, and shovel the unusable things aside."

Half a month after arriving in Taohua Village, the Chai family's first presidential suite appeared, boasting three bedrooms, two living rooms, two bathrooms, and two ensuite bathrooms. Jia He and his apprentices hurriedly crafted the window frames and door frames. The walls were whitewashed, and the doors and windows were ready for installation. The floor was tiled, and Old Lady Li swept it clean. The roof was paved with reclaimed tiles. Little Naibao arranged for a layer of beams to form the gable roof. The beams were thick wooden planks, which Jia He had covered thoroughly, creating a beautiful look. From the inside, the roof appeared flat, while from the outside, it was a gabled structure.

Jia He was still working despite his leg injury, much to the anguish of Old Lady Li. Every night, she would make him a bowl of noodles until late at night. Wang Min wanted to boil some medicine, but Guo Guo refused, instead offering her uncle some anti-inflammatory and bone-setting pills. Chai Ping An would also occasionally watch and tell him to sit down and work while others helped him get things and not to move around.

It's still bitterly cold, but not freezing to death. The women are incredibly thoughtful. Many of them carried out loads of things when the earthquake hit—money, clothes, blankets, food. They dragged bags and bags, and the children took their own, too. Old and young, everyone was carrying things, as if fleeing famine. It's precisely because of this that people haven't been constrained, and have clothes, food, and blankets. Now, no one's panicking; they're just working. Having money gives us peace of mind. With a good village chief leading the way, I believe life will be even better!

On the Chai row, there's Li Guang's family. To the west are Wang Laoer's, Chen Jun's, Chai Hua's, and Sun Gui's houses. Each family has a plot of land measuring seven mu (approximately 16 acres). Vegetables can be planted in front of or behind the houses, and gardens are also permitted. The backyard walls of the houses must be flush with the front walls. Sun Gui is planning the village. The houses are relatively far apart. The houses are huge!

Sun Gui planned eight rows of houses, requiring the front and back walls to be flush. He measured and arranged each house. He took lime from Chai's house and sprinkled it on the road. ...

Back to Qin Han's family. Qin Binbin said he wanted to build a new house, but his own would be built later. After the Chai family finished building theirs, the three of them came to see it. Old Lady Li greeted them warmly, saying, "Sister, come in! It's a bittersweet experience before it's sweet." After seeing it, the Qin Han family said, "It's great! We don't have to run around in the rain to cook." Old Lady Li said, "Yes. But we can also build a kitchen outside. It's more convenient to cook outside on weekdays." Qin Han's wife said, "Yes. The wood fire is so smoky."

Sun Gui came over and said to Chai Zhen, "Uncle, the water supply is a problem. The river water is mixed and cannot be drunk." Little Milk Bag: "Grandpa, take lime and sprinkle wood ash and sand into the river in three sections, and then the water that flows out can be drunk. Try it. Lime is a sterilizer, sand is precipitated, and wood ash also purifies the water quality. Let's build a big pond in our village, put these water in, and then the water that flows out can be drunk. Lime, loess and mud can also prevent water from leaking and seeping, making the water clear." Sun Gui thought it made sense and said, "Okay, I'll listen to Guoguo, uncle, where should we build the pond?" Chai Zhen: "Next to the river, so that water can flow in." Sun Gui: "That's right. Yes, yes." Chai Zhen asked someone to get lime and said, "Go and get the horses, we have to make a carriage quickly."

Over the past twenty days, every household has returned home, taking their tents with them. Chai Zhen said he would then pay five hundred coins per tent. The men in the family were in charge. They would have to live in tents for a while after returning home, but the key was that everyone thought it was a good thing, and every family wanted it. They treated it like a treasure. Knowing that the Chai family had connections, rare items, bodyguards, and a fleet of cars to travel abroad, everyone wanted to buy it. Once Chai Zhen mentioned it, every family wanted it.

Chai Xin and Chai Dong were still in charge of making bricks, carrying the clay on poles. The elders wove baskets, using local materials. No horse-drawn carts. The young men gritted their teeth, their shoulders bleeding. Chai Zhen had Jia He gather all the carpenters in the village, and now there were eighteen of them, working alongside Jia He. Sun Gui arranged for the woodcutters, and many of the veterans had signed up to help. They had found their tools. Sun Gui also found plenty of rope for everyone to use. ...

A month later, everyone built a small house to live in first.