Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

In the afternoon, the sun lazily hung in the west, and a fresh breeze blew in from the riverbank, making the reeds rustle.

"Brother Chuan, Brother Chuan!" The water monkey stood on a rock on the island, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"The cargo ship has arrived! Uncle Lin has brought the building materials cargo ship!"

Hearing the voice from afar, Lin Chuan immediately responded loudly, "Okay!"

There are quite a few people who want to come to Canhong Island today. Apart from Lin's father, the Shui Houzi family, Li Jiaye and his father, and his cousin's family who came to help, the others just wanted to join in the fun.

Lin Chuan let them go and watch the fun, but when they told them to row their own boats, everyone immediately lost interest.

My arms were still sore from boating a couple of days ago, so I naturally didn't want to make the trip just to watch the excitement.

So Lin Chuan first took Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye to the island. They first carefully drew the exact location of the sweet water well with lime powder, and then cleared away the weeds and stones around it.

After the materials Lin's father bought arrived, the others came along with the materials ship.

Lin Shoutan stood at the bow of the cargo ship, looking at the building materials piled up on the ship: fifty bags of cement, five hundred red bricks, half a cubic meter of gravel, as well as tools such as shovels, buckets, and trowels.

He ordered these from the commune's quarry and brick factory yesterday. The boss said he would charge an extra two dollars per trip if the goods were to be transported to the island.

"Money really makes things easier!" Lin Wanghai said with a steady step as he carried the last two shovels onto the boat. "In the past, these things would have taken several trips to transport."

Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe also boarded the boat with their equipment, following behind Lin Xuewu.

"Of course, I used to haul those things myself, one trip at a time, and that would probably be worth two days' worth of work points," Li Jianshe added with a laugh.

"Having a cargo ship is definitely much more convenient," Wang Pusheng said, looking at the ship.

"Set sail!" Lin's father waved to the cargo ship's captain.

The diesel engine sputtered and the cargo ship slowly left the shore, cutting through the river.

This is an old-fashioned flat-bottomed cargo ship with a carrying capacity of about 20 tons and a shallow draft, which allows it to dock at the natural shoal north of Canhong Island.

Upon arrival, everyone busied themselves unloading the building materials into suitable locations.

They then picked up their tools, and led by the water monkey, they waded through the soft, wet mudflats, making their way into the island.

"Right here." Lin Chuan pointed to a circle drawn on the ground. "It's 1.2 meters in diameter, and we've already cleared the surface soil."

"Xiao Chuan, is this the location of the well you mentioned? Does this place really produce sweet water?" Lin Xuewu squatted down next to Lin Chuan, staring at the circle Lin Chuan had drawn at his feet.

"Yes, I can." Lin Chuan nodded and smiled. "I've calculated the groundwater level and the thickness of the lens; it can't be wrong."

"What is a lens?" Lin Xuewu asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It's just..." Lin Chuan thought for a moment and explained when he saw everyone looking over, "It's just like the sandwich cookies sold by the supply and marketing cooperative."

The sweet water was sandwiched in the middle, with fresh water seeping down from the rainwater on top and salt water seeping down at the bottom.

The group was still somewhat confused, finding it as if it were some kind of cryptic text. Lin Chuan didn't know how to explain it for the time being.

Without further ado, they started digging. The others didn't ask any more questions and also began digging.

Lin's father and uncles were both experienced and skilled, their movements swift and efficient, each shovelful lifting a large chunk of earth. Li Jianshe was equally adept, quickly deepening the shallow pit.

Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye were responsible for transporting the excavated soil to the side. Lin Chuan, on the other hand, used a sharpened bamboo pole to probe the bottom of the pit from time to time.

After digging about half a meter deep, the soil began to darken and became damp.

"Slow down." Lin Chuan jumped into the pit, squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil and rubbed it. "The soil is wet now. Be careful going down, don't let it collapse."

The group slowed down, digging one shovelful at a time. The deeper the pit, the harder it was to remove the soil; they had to use ropes to tie buckets and pull the soil up.

When they dug to about 1.5 meters, water began to seep from the pit walls, first as fine droplets, which quickly coalesced into small streams.

"Stop!" Lin Chuan shouted, reaching out to collect a handful of seeping water, tasting it. "Go down another half meter."

After digging about forty centimeters more, Lin Chuan called for a stop again. He lay down at the edge of the pit and carefully examined it, noting that a pool of muddy water had accumulated at the bottom and was slowly seeping out from the surrounding earthen walls.

"Monkey, bring me a clean bucket."

The water monkey handed over a brand-new tin bucket. Lin Chuan carefully sank the bucket to the bottom of the pit and scooped up half a bucket of water. The water was murky and yellowish, mixed with mud and sand.

"Let it settle down a bit." Lin Chuan put the bucket aside.

Everyone squatted around the bucket, their eyes glued to it. As time passed, the silt slowly settled, and the water gradually became clear.

About ten minutes later, Lin Chuan scooped up another ladleful. This time the water was clear, shimmering slightly in the sunlight.

He took a sip first, his eyes lighting up. Then he handed the ladle to Lin's father: "Dad, you should try some."

Mr. Lin took it, carefully sipped it, his Adam's apple bobbing, and the wrinkles on his face slowly smoothing out: "Sweet! It's sweet water!"

"It really is sweet water. Xiao Chuan's education has paid off." Lin Wanghai looked at Lin Chuan and laughed.

Everyone else looked at Lin Chuan and were genuinely happy for him.

"Since Canhong Island has sweet water, do other islands also have sweet water?" Li Jianshe asked Lin Chuan excitedly, looking at the bubbling spring.

Lin Chuan shook his head upon hearing this, "Canhong Island has a unique terrain; it's rare to find such a landscape on other islands."

"That's a pity." Lin Wanghai had just been thinking about this issue, and now that he heard Lin Chuan say this, he was filled with regret.

At this moment, Li Jiaye couldn't help but worry, "Brother Chuanzi, will it be salty again this time?"

"Yeah, Brother Chuan, why don't we wait and see?" Water Monkey was also worried. He still remembered what happened last time. He dug several times and found it sweet at first, but then it turned salty.

"The sweet water has already been extracted, how can it still taste salty?" Lin Xuewu was somewhat surprised.

Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe had heard about it before, and Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye had told them about what happened last time. So they couldn't help but look at Lin Chuan.

"No, I've already decided on this location; it's the perfect spot, and it won't change," Lin Chuan said confidently with a smile.

"I trust Xiaochuan." Lin's father scooped up another ladleful, tasted it carefully, and found it to be clear, slightly sweet, without any saltiness or earthy smell. He looked at Lin Chuan and smiled happily.

Seeing Lin Chuan's confidence, the others also laughed.

"It's good water," Lin Wanghai said, holding a handful of sweet water. "It's even better than the well water in our village."

The next step is to reinforce the well wall.

Under Lin Wanghai's command, the group first laid a layer of stones at the bottom of the pit to prevent the gushing water from washing away the foundation.

Then the bricklaying began. The red bricks were soaked in water beforehand and then laid out in a circle one by one with cement mortar.

Lin's father was a skilled bricklayer, and he worked with Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe. Lin Chuan was in charge of mixing the mortar, while Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye handed him bricks and mortar.

The brick wall rose in concentric circles, gradually rising above the ground.

When the wall reached a height of one meter, Lin Chuan asked that several seepage holes be left. This was something he learned from later generations, which allowed the surrounding groundwater to seep in naturally and also filtered out the mud and sand.

As darkness fell, the brick wall was almost finished, about 1.2 meters high and 80 centimeters in diameter, enough for two people to fetch water at the same time.

Lin Chuan directed the use of cement to smooth the inner wall to prevent leakage. The wellhead was surrounded by chiseled stone slabs, both to prevent bumps and for aesthetic purposes.

"That's enough for today." Lin Chuan looked at the half-finished well and nodded in satisfaction.

"I must say, Xiao Chuan's design is quite nice." Lin Wanghai said with a smile, looking at the rows of wells that had already been completed.

"We'll come back tomorrow to build the well platform and cover, erect a shed, and dig a water storage tank next to the well."

Everyone packed up their tools and prepared to return. Before leaving, Lin Chuan filled a bucket with water for everyone to wash their hands and faces.

The cool well water washed away the sweat and dirt, leaving everyone feeling refreshed.