Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

"I do have some suggestions, but I don't know if you can implement them."

Long Lifan thought for a moment, then glanced at them playfully. She had mentally rehearsed the development plan for the Dongwan Brigade countless times.

First and foremost is education; knowledge changes destiny. Now, the villagers see these intellectuals going to the countryside every year and have no desire for knowledge at all. This is a bad thing; many villagers can't even write their own names.

Therefore, schools must be established so that all the children in the village can attend school. As for the villagers, literacy classes should be set up to teach them to read and write.

Another issue to be addressed is transportation. The age-old adage, "To get rich, build roads first," holds true.

The road from the village to the commune was narrow and bumpy, and every time you rode in an oxcart, you were constantly jolted. The section of the road belonging to their Dongwan Brigade was especially muddy.

"Why don't you, Long Zhiqing, tell us?"

Lin Guodong frowned slightly upon hearing this, his eyes fixed on the distance, as if filled with both anticipation and worry. His legs trembled slightly, and his entire body was tense.

"I think the most important thing for Dongwan Brigade to do right now is to improve education. First, we need to build schools so that the children in the village can go to school. Children are the future of the country and the hope of Dongwan Brigade."

"Secondly, we will carry out literacy campaigns to help all villagers learn to read. We don't expect them to learn a lot of knowledge, but they should be able to recognize some common characters. I see that many people in the village don't even know how to read. How can this be acceptable?"

"There's one last thing, and that's road construction. The road from the village to the commune is too narrow; vehicles simply can't get through."

The cadres were somewhat bewildered by Long Zhiqing's words. They knew that building schools and roads would benefit the village's development; the key problem was the lack of funds!

They had hoped to find another way to make money from Long Zhiqing, but instead of finding a way to make money, they found two ways to spend money.

“Long Zhiqing, we understand what you’re saying, but as you can see, this is the actual situation in our village. We simply can’t afford to build a school or repair roads.”

The village officials looked at each other, their faces grim, and answered with difficulty.

"So, you agree with my suggestion."

Long Lifan was somewhat surprised. She had thought she would have to go through a lot of trouble to persuade the other party to agree. It seems that becoming a village cadre these days requires a certain level of knowledge and experience.

“Yes, we agree with your suggestion, but…” Lin Guodong and the others were troubled when they thought about the situation in the village.

“Captain, I understand what you mean. It’s just that the brigade doesn’t have any money in its account.” Long Lifan reached out and interrupted Lin Guodong, saying, “What I just said isn’t something that can be accomplished in one go. Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it? We can take it slowly and proceed gradually.”

“Take building a school for example. We don’t need to build it too well at the beginning. As long as it can provide shelter from the wind and rain, that will be fine. The building materials are available in the village, so it won’t cost much. We can just ask Grandpa Wang to make some desks and benches for the school later.”

"As for the roads, we will first widen them and then level them to solve everyone's travel problems."

The group pondered for a long time, considering the feasibility of Long Zhiqing's plan. It seemed that doing so wouldn't cost much money; the village had plenty of people, and drawing dozens of people to build houses and repair roads wouldn't be a problem at all.

Especially now, during the off-season for farming. But once the school is built, teachers will need to be hired, and teachers need to be paid salaries. Where will that money come from?

It wasn't that they were stingy; it was just that the brigade's accounts were truly empty. Secretary Miao then asked, "So, what are Long Zhiqing's plans after the school is built? How many teachers do you intend to hire?"

“There are quite a few children in the village. My suggestion is to recruit four children first and then divide them into classes according to their age and knowledge.”

"4!"

Upon hearing this figure, the group began to calculate how much salary would be paid out of the brigade's account each month if they actually followed Long Zhiqing's advice.

"Long Zhiqing, aren't four teachers too many?" The group did a quick calculation and realized that the money they had left was only enough for one or two months' salary. What would they do after that?

“You’re only thinking this because the brigade doesn’t have much money in its accounts.” Long Lifan saw right through their ulterior motives. She then smiled and said, “Actually, you don’t need to worry about this at all. Don’t forget we have a chicken farm.”

"According to my estimate, the chickens will start laying eggs in another two or three months, then we won't have to worry about money."

"Furthermore, the reason I suggested building the road is because we have a chicken farm. Think about it, once the chickens start laying eggs, we can't eat them all ourselves, right? We'll definitely need to transport the eggs out. But look how bumpy this road is. Eggs are very easy to break. It wouldn't be worth it if some of them broke on the way because of the bumps."

The group exchanged glances, their expressions grave.

"The road must be built," Lin Guodong said resolutely upon hearing this.

Whether for travel or to ensure the safe delivery of the eggs, a road had to be built. The commune was ten kilometers from their village, but the road belonging exclusively to their Dongwan brigade was only a few kilometers long, which, according to Long Zhiqing's request, would only require some manpower.

"We'll summon a few team leaders to the village committee later and have each team send 20 able-bodied men to get the road done as quickly as possible."

"As for the school matter, we need to go back and hold a meeting to discuss it further!"

"alright."

Long Lifan waved her hand, saying that she was just providing a general direction for the group. A real decision would definitely need to be made after discussing it with the members, since they were still quite resistant to education.

The fact that the brigade leader was able to finalize the road repair plan in front of several people had already exceeded her expectations. Since the village officials had to go back for a meeting to discuss it, she went home alone.

Although she still holds a nominal position, she has already said what she needed to say, and the decision-making process from now on is beyond her control.

It's already June, and I've been in the countryside for almost three months now.

June is the prelude to summer; the heat has not yet arrived, and the breeze carries the faint scent of grass and the breath of early summer.

But June in the north is a bit different. The sun hangs in the sky like a fireball, and its rays shine directly on the earth, causing the ground temperature to rise sharply. People easily feel unbearably hot and humid in such weather.

So every evening, villagers of all ages would come out to enjoy the cool evening air, chatting in small groups under the big trees at the village entrance or on the ridges of the fields. They would also hold bamboo fans and wave them incessantly, creating a unique scene in Dongwan Brigade.

"Host, would you like some ice cream?"

With the temperature these days, your clothes will get soaked after just a short walk outside, so the first thing she does when she gets home is take a shower. She had just returned from the chicken farm and was about to take a shower when the system chimed in with its usual annoying tone.

"Too expensive, I can't afford it!"

Long Lifan was about to take a shower and had no time to deal with the system, so she casually echoed.

"Host, I won't charge you; consider it a free gift." The system's voice rang in Long Lifan's mind again.