AWB Chapter 103 Are You Serious?
Chapter 103 Are You Serious?
When Li Qingqing saw Zhou Yimo leading the villagers to look for Hu Dabao, she said to the other villagers:
"I also need some straw to cover the roof of the bamboo house. If anyone has extra straw at home, please bring it to us. We will buy it at a reasonable price."
The village woman who had just offered to help with the work happened to pass by. She stopped and quickly said to Li Qingqing with a smile:
"My family left a lot of straw last year. If you need it, I'll finish the work today and bring it to you tomorrow morning. You don't have to pay for it."
Li Qingqing turned to look at her, smiled and nodded in thanks: "Thank you, Auntie, but we will still give you a reasonable compensation."
"No, no." The village woman waved her hand and without taking time to explain, she hurried off to work.
The villagers watching laughed and talked.
A village woman said, "My family also had some leftover straw from last year. I'm giving it to you so you don't have to pay for it."
"My family has some too, Qingqing. You don't have to pay for rice straw. It's not a rare thing. In another month, after the rice in the fields is harvested, we will have rice straw again." Another elderly village woman quickly spoke up.
A young woman standing next to Li Qingqing also said with a smile:
"Daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, please don't be polite with us. If there is a job that suits us, please help introduce it. It's inconvenient for women like us to work outside. If we can get some extra income, it can also help to supplement the family income."
"Thank you very much, everyone. I won't be polite." Li Qingqing saw that the villagers were very enthusiastic, and she was embarrassed to refuse. After a little thought, she continued:
"We do need to recruit a large number of workers. After we discuss this, Tiezhu will issue a recruitment notice."
When the onlookers heard this, they immediately became happy again and started talking about it.
"I heard that your Zhou family has appointed Tiezhu to be the manager of the brick kiln, and our Lihua Village is about to undergo a new village renovation. Is this true?"
"Of course this is true. I'll explain it to you when the village chief calls a meeting."
The villagers were even happier when they heard this and ran home to move the straw.
After Li Qingqing had a few words with Hu Dabao, she and Zhou Yimo went to find Li Tiezhu.
Li Tiezhu was also in the back mountain at this time. He had dug a mud pit according to the drawings given by Zhou Yimo. After filling it with water to settle the mud, he had already started making bricks.
When the two found Li Tiezhu, he was leading a few people and working non-stop, and the village chief was there too.
The village chief had seen the renderings Zhou Yimo had shown him before, and was now concentrating on watching Tiezhu and the others work.
Seeing Zhou Yimo and Li Qingqing coming over, everyone greeted them.
"You came at the perfect time. My father and I were planning to visit you tonight!"
As Li Tiezhu spoke, he called the village chief, and the four of them sat down in a temporary straw shed and began to discuss.
"Tiezhu, it looks like you're making good progress." Zhou Yimo looked around. Not far from the straw hut, there were rows of neatly arranged bricks that stood out particularly eye-catching.
Li Tiezhu had already washed his muddy hands clean and answered happily:
"Everything is going according to plan. The bricks we tried to make were very successful. Now we just need to make the bricks for the kiln and then we can build it. The main reason we are short of manpower is that the progress is a bit slow."
"That's exactly why we're here." Zhou Yimo nodded and said, "Since you're here too, Village Chief, let's discuss the recruitment together."
"Okay!" The village chief and Tiezhu nodded together.
Zhou Yimo and Li Qingqing exchanged glances, then said:
"Tiezhu, tomorrow you'll post a notice in the village encouraging active participation. Each household must send at least one person. You'll be responsible for teaching them how to make the molds. As for the wages for hourly and daily workers, you can arrange them based on the actual situation."
Tie Zhu nodded and asked:
"Brother Zhou, most of the women in Lihua Village can do the work of making bricks and tiles, but they may not be able to do some heavy physical work like chopping firewood and carrying heavy objects. Do we need to recruit people from other villages?"
"If we don't have enough manpower, we can recruit from other villages. Don't worry about the money. Just keep track of the accounts and we'll settle them monthly." Zhou Yimo nodded and continued:
"We've recruited a group of people today. Their leader is Hu Dabao. Once they're settled in, I'll loan them to you temporarily. They can do the manual labor like clearing wasteland, carrying heavy objects, and chopping firewood. I'll pay their wages separately."
"I understand, Brother Zhou," Tiezhu replied. "I'll go home tonight and write the job announcement and post it tomorrow morning."
Zhou Yimo nodded. He looked at Li Qingqing and asked, "Madam, do you need anything else?"
Li Qingqing nodded and said:
"Tiezhu, you must train your own technical team and gradually develop brickmaking technology. Transforming Lihua Village is just the beginning. Other villages will need similar transformations and upgrades in the future. Brickmaking is a long-term and ongoing undertaking. In the future, the majority of the revenue generated by our brick kiln will be used for public welfare construction in Lihua Village."
The village chief listened and said excitedly, "Mrs. Zhou, are you saying that the profits from your brick kiln will be used for public welfare construction in the village in the future?"
Li Qingqing smiled and responded, "Yes, Village Chief. This is exactly what we need to discuss next."
Li Qingqing paused and continued:
"We will strive to complete the relocation of all 50-plus households in Lihua Village as soon as possible. We will first improve their living environment, build roads, and secure water resources. Next, we will implement tailored support measures for each household, enabling the villagers of Lihua Village to achieve self-sufficiency and live and work in peace and contentment."
"Village Chief, next you need to call a meeting of the villagers and inform them to gradually begin purchasing land on the mountain behind. My husband will draw up floor plans of houses of different sizes in a few days. The villagers can choose the type of house they want to build according to their needs."
Zhou Yimo added:
"Village Chief, for those villagers who don't have enough money to purchase the land, we can use the method you suggested last time, 'paying debts with work.' For those villagers who can come up with the money to purchase the land all at once, we can give them an appropriate reward."
The village chief nodded repeatedly and said excitedly: "Great, with your support, our village will get better and better!"
Li Qingqing and Zhou An were communicating with the village chief. Xie Xuan'an had nothing to do at Zhou's house, so he began to draft documents in Zhou An's study.
He just didn't believe that Li Qingqing and Zhou An would continue to be busy after returning home at night.
When Xie Xuanan handed a document to Li Qingqing and asked her to sign, Li Qingqing glanced at it casually, handed the document to Zhou Yimo as if nothing had happened, and said:
"My husband, you decide."
Zhou Yimo glanced at Li Qingqing, took the document, and thought to himself that he must teach his wife to recognize these words in the future.
After reading the document, he couldn't help but frowned slightly, looked up at Xie Xuanan, and asked doubtfully:
"Xie Xiaogongzi, are you serious?"