country bumpkin

After lunch, everyone rested for about 40 minutes. Then it was time to get ready to work. Some people who had taken a nap rubbed their eyes and woke up groggily.

Most people got up; those who needed to use the restroom did so, and those who needed to wash their faces did so.

Yunya had just drawn a bucket of cool well water from the well pulley. Everyone gathered around to wash their hands and faces. After washing, they were immediately refreshed and full of energy.

Even those who were half asleep were awakened by the icy well water.

The well water underground is like an air conditioner; it's not cold to the touch in winter and is even a little warm, but it's icy cold in summer, as cool as if ice cubes had been added.

As soon as the leader spoke, everyone immediately started moving.

Yunya followed the group to the construction site, where the sound of sledgehammers smashing the wall rang out again, “Heave-ho… heave-ho…” The rhythm was tight and powerful.

Yunya followed behind her second uncle to help. He was responsible for clearing away the broken bricks that had been smashed down so that others could continue construction.

She worked very diligently, and fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on her forehead. After some time, Yunya felt a little tired, and in her drowsy state, she stood up to rest for a while.

As I was looking around, suddenly there was a "crack" sound, and a large section of the wall was about to collapse.

Yun Ya was terrified; her heart leaped into her throat. Before she could react, the wall collapsed towards a young man standing nearby.

Yunya shouted, "Watch out!" Then she saw her second uncle rush over and shove the young man aside. He also dodged out of the way. The wall collapsed with a crash, raising a cloud of dust.

Everyone was stunned by the scene and rushed over to check on the two. Fortunately, Yun Ya shouted quickly, and her second uncle was nearby and reacted fast, so neither of them was injured.

The uncle leading the group patted Yunya on the shoulder and said, "Good job, girl!" Everyone gave Yunya a thumbs up and then threw themselves back into their work with renewed energy.

After the little incident, the atmosphere returned to normal. Everyone worked diligently and quickly, as it was getting dark. They needed to finish demolishing the house before leaving get off work so they could start digging the foundation the next day.

After returning home for lunch, Kong Xiangyao followed the delivery tractor to town.

He was standing in front of a cement and sand shop in town, talking to the owner. He happened to be watching the people inside loading goods.

Once enough cement bags were filled, they were delivered first. Then, sand was hauled from the river. The development of the riverbank sand was all contracted out.

The contractors are all wealthy or well-connected people. The river from the village to the town is very large and long, so there are naturally several contractors. They each manage their own section, since the river is big and there's a lot of sand.

But later, fewer and fewer bosses were willing to dig sand, and eventually the government banned indiscriminate mining.

The biggest reason is that the river has been dug up with huge pits everywhere. When the rainy season comes, there is very little sand and the water is too strong and flows too fast. If you step in, you will fall into the pit.

This river is the only way to get to the town market. The villagers built a stone bridge at the highest point of the river (the shallow water area), and people would cross it to get to the market.

The river flows from south to north, with land to the east and west. To the east of the river is the town, and to the west is Kongjia Village.

A large bridge was built on the south side of the river. Bicycles, buses, and motorcycles all cross the bridge. Pedestrians are reluctant to use the bridge, mainly because the journey is too long and the route is too roundabout.

A 10-meter-deep pit has been dug into the sand under the bridge. In the summer, people went to bathe in the river and drowned, so this place became a forbidden area. No one dares to bathe here anymore.

One rainy season, a bus was speeding in an attempt to reach its destination. The driver crashed into the railing on the side of the bridge, and the entire bus plunged into the water. It took a day and a night to pull everyone out of the water.

After this incident, even fewer people crossed the bridge. Buses still used this route, as it was the only road to town.

At the northernmost point of the river was a field of crops, through which the river flowed further north. However, due to various digging efforts, it has now become a series of deep pits.

Only the middle section from the south to the north is still a shallow area, with small bridges made of stones.

It starts with a rectangular stone, then an oval stone a step away, and a square stone a step further. Stone after stone, it forms a simple little bridge.

In summer, women wash clothes and children play in the water and bathe in this shallow area. Women who come to the market will sit down to rest, wash their faces, or wade in the water for a while to cool off.

Some children even pull over a shopping basket, take out small melons or tomatoes, wash them, and eat them.

The water is very clear, and there are always many small fish swimming around in it.

Whenever Mu Shuyun passed by here, she would solemnly tell Yunya never to go under the bridge to the south or next to the farmland to the north. People had drowned in both places.

Yunya nodded, taking her grandmother's words to heart.

(Getting back to the point) Kong Xiangyao followed the cement-loading tractor home. When they got home, the deliverymen unloaded the cement, and Kong Xiangdong, being quite observant, helped unload the bags.

The tractor driver returned alone to the river to collect sand.

Their sand quarry has two people watching over it. If someone buys sand, they can help load it. If no one is buying, they can keep an eye on it to prevent people from other quarries from stealing and selling their sand.

The three of them, including the driver, worked hard to load sand onto the truck. After the truck was full of sand, the driver drove the tractor to Kong Xiangyao's house.

The road was covered in watermarks, and after half an hour, we finally arrived at Kong Xiangyao's doorstep.

Kong Xiangyao, Kong Xiangdong, and Kong Tongming worked together to unload the sand and pile it at the gate.

The cement delivered at noon has already been piled up in the yard. The bricks delivered have also been unloaded outside the gate.

As for the tiles, they haven't been delivered yet, and we don't need them for now. We can have them delivered after the wall is built, otherwise there's nowhere to put them.

All the necessary materials were delivered before dark, and the old house was completely demolished. The workers even helped clean up the remaining bricks and tiles.

The old doors and windows were separated and kept for firewood. The good, whole adobe bricks were also taken out and placed in the alleyway on the west side near the pigsty.

The remaining broken adobe bricks will be kept for later use when filling the ground after the house is built.

As it grew darker, the workers all left for the day. Kong Xiangyao said he would watch the things and told his mother and father to go to his second brother's house for dinner first. He would eat dinner when his father returned.

They all thought this arrangement was excellent and went to Kong Xiangdong's house for dinner.