Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 250 I have no money!
Good news, the new toilets are finished.

Bad news, but it's not usable yet.

Good news, if we can't use the new one, we can still use the old one.

The bad news is that we have to run several dozen meters to the newly installed "public toilet" on the ridge next to the field to use the restroom.

At this moment, Chen Fan could only secretly rejoice that he had considered others a little more and made use of the two manure jars, throwing them into the fields to build two public toilets. Otherwise, he really would have had to go to the woods behind the mountain to relieve himself.

Let alone what to do if it rains while it's outdoors; those are minor issues.

The crucial point is that it's already the 20th day of the second lunar month, and March is just around the corner.

On March 3rd, snakes emerge from the mountains—have you ever heard of that?!
A spring rain has fallen, and hibernating animals have all awakened, ready to begin their activities for the new year.

What if you're crouching in the woods and a snake suddenly jumps out...?
That picture is too beautiful to think about.

Chen Fan glanced around and saw that everyone was gathered around the toilets and no one was paying attention to this place. He then whispered to Jiang Lili, "The original two toilets haven't been demolished. I asked them to help move them to the ridge next to the field. You can go there to relieve yourself for the next few days, but it will be a bit of a walk."

Jiang Lili lowered her head, her face flushed, and softly replied, "Oh."

Upon receiving the answer, her first reaction was to run away as quickly as possible.

They had been busy in the front yard and didn't know what was going on in the back, otherwise they wouldn't have come over to ask Chen Fan.

This is why young men and women in rural areas are less guarded, unlike in the city, especially in urban middle schools, where a boy and girl exchanging a single word can attract strange looks.

In the village, everyone was a neighbor, someone you grew up with, so the strict separation between men and women wasn't as pronounced.

But it is indeed quite awkward for a girl to discuss how to use the toilet with a boy. No wonder even the fearless Huang Ying did not dare to step forward. Instead, after discussion, she "recommended" Jiang Lili, the oldest girl who had known Chen Fan the longest, to come forward. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and come over.

Jiang Lili ran to the front yard with her head down, and Huang Ying quickly stepped forward to stop her, "Lili, what did Teacher Chen say?"

Yang Ju and Liu Dan quickly joined in.

Jiang Lili cupped her still-burning face in her hands, "Don't make me ask about these things again."

Yang Ju immediately nodded, "Okay, if there's a next time, it'll be the three of us who draw lots."

Huang Ying and Liu Dan nodded in agreement, agreeing to take turns, which was fair.

But will this kind of thing happen again?

Jiang Lili pointed to the west, "He said the original toilet has been moved to the ridge next to the field. We can go there in the next few days."

The three girls exchanged a glance, then turned and ran out together. Jiang Lili quickly chased after them, calling out, "Wait for me!"

……

At the new toilet in the backyard, Captain Yang suddenly rolled up his sleeves and said loudly, "That's good enough. Toilets aren't just for show. They may look nice, but they have to be functional. Move aside, everyone. I'll check it out first."

The crowd burst into laughter.

Accountant Liu shouted, "What inspection? You just want to try something new."

With his hands on his hips, Huang Laosi laughed and said, "Old Yang, you want to experience what it's like to be a city dweller, huh?"

Liu Jujiang said from the side, "Captain Yang, why don't you just buy one of those kinds of machines and dig up your toilet today and replace it with this new one?"

Captain Yang wasn't embarrassed at all, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I would like to buy it today, but the problem is he doesn't have any."

Anquan stepped forward with his hands behind his back and laughed, "Then you're going to be disappointed. Whether he's here today or not, you can't use this toilet."

Captain Yang turned to look at him, puzzled, and asked, "Why is that?"

The eldest son of the Yang family laughed and scolded in an annoyed tone, "I spent so much time making it look so beautiful, and you just pulled on it and got it all dirty."

Captain Yang said with a long face, "No matter how clean it is, it's still just a toilet, a place to poop, isn't it?"

Hearing the commotion, Chen Fan had already come over and explained with a smile, "Brother An said it couldn't be used earlier because it wasn't completely dry yet. It's the same principle as building a house. After the house is built, you have to wait for the soil and cement to dry completely. This applies not only to the toilet but also to the sewers and septic tank at the back. It can only be used when it's completely dry."

Captain Yang then realized, "Oh, that's true."

Then he clapped his hands and said, "It's unusable, so we'll just have to forget about it."

Then he said to Chen Fan, "We've finished our work for today, so let's head back now."

Upon hearing this, everyone else also started to leave.

Chen Fan quickly stopped him, "It's already 4 o'clock, how can you go back now? You definitely need to have dinner before leaving." Captain Yang shook his head a couple of times, looking rather embarrassed, "You haven't even completed a full day's work, and the meal you treated us to at noon was better than what other people get in two or three meals..."

Chen Fan interrupted him, "You have to finish your meal before you leave. How can you work until 4 o'clock and then go home to eat?"

Without waiting for Captain Yang to speak, he took out a cigarette and handed one to Liu Jujiang, saying, "Master Liu, please cook another meal. We must finish cooking all the prepared dishes today."

Liu Jujiang took the cigarette, glanced at Captain Yang who was grinning from ear to ear, and seeing that he didn't object, he chuckled and said, "I can't do other things, but this kind of thing is my forte. Okay, I'll prepare a few more tables of fancy dishes today."

Chen Fan turned to look at everyone, then at Captain Yang, and said with a smile, "Since our captain thinks it's still early, why don't we ask everyone to help with some more work?"

Captain Yang was slightly taken aback and asked, "Is there any other work to be done?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Didn't you just order more than a dozen squat toilets? And a lot of people want ceramic shards too. With so much stuff, it'll definitely take a lot of clay. Just me and Xiao Jiang and the other girls, it'll probably take us three days just to carry the clay..."

Upon hearing this, Captain Yang understood and immediately waved his hand to interrupt him, "Alright, it's just carrying a few loads of soil. Leave it to us. Each of us can carry two loads and we can pile up a mountain for you."

Huang Laosi also said, "That's easy. We'll not only help you carry the soil, but we can also help you mix the mud."

Everyone else was laughing and joking as they went to get their tools and get to work.

At this moment, Chen Fan quickly added, "Everyone should be careful when picking soil. It's best to dig up the silt at the bottom, as it has fewer impurities."

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I won't let everyone work for nothing. I'll give you an extra 8% off the ceramic shards and squat toilets you bought today."

Upon hearing this, everyone beamed with joy; a 8% discount could save them a considerable amount of money.

Ever since Chen Fan learned from Anquan that the people in the production team could earn money directly from their side businesses using their skills without it being considered business, he has been very ruthless in collecting money. He even wants to return the grain stored at the brigade headquarters and exchange it for cash.

Watching everyone leave with their baskets, Chen Fan walked to the safety side and whispered, "Brother An, I need to trouble you with something."

Anquan looked at him and asked, "What is it?"

Chen Fan said in a low voice, "The most crucial thing for firing this earthen kiln, besides the clay, is the glaze. The glaze I used before was colored crushed stone that I bought from the brigade headquarters. However, after firing quite a few bowls and plates, those materials are basically used up. I would like to ask you to help me contact someone to see where I can buy some quartz, feldspar, borax, or similar materials."

Glaze is generally made by mixing raw materials such as quartz, feldspar, lime, and borax. These raw materials need to undergo pretreatment processes such as grinding, sieving, and weighing before they can be made into glaze. Nanhu Commune is not a region rich in minerals, so apart from lime which is relatively easy to find, other materials have to be sourced from other places.

In other words, items such as charcoal stoves, earthenware pots, and teapots do not need to be glazed, otherwise there would not be enough glaze.

Anquan frowned and thought for a moment, then looked at him and said, "Besides the glaze, you don't want the cement and steel bars?"

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. "You have a way?"

Anquan chuckled and said, "There's always a way. From what you're saying, you want to build a two-story house. You don't need steel bars to build a single-story house, but it's best to use steel bars and cement to build a multi-story house so that it's more sturdy."

Cement is actually not too difficult to obtain. The people in the first team of the commune's construction team are all from Lujiawan, and they are mostly in the fourth team. If you talk to Wang Dongping, the captain of the fourth team, and ask him to speak to Wang Youhai, the captain of the first construction team, they should be able to buy you enough cement.

The problem is getting the steel bars. Although they can get their hands on them, they rarely have a surplus, so buying steel bars from them will likely be quite difficult.

Chen Fan looked at him and blinked. "Then what should we do?"

Despite saying that, he wasn't worried at all.

Since the security department brought up this topic, it means they have a solution.

Anquan smiled slightly, looked around, and said in a low voice, "There are no steel bars, but there are steel strips."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. A steel bar?
"We have a water transport company in our commune, you know that, right?" Anquan whispered.

Chen Fan seemed to understand, his eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded gently, "I know."

Anquan smiled and said, "Nanhu Commune doesn't have any particularly powerful enterprises. The water transport company isn't very big either, but it's quite special among all the enterprises in Nanhu. In the entire Yunhu area, apart from the city having one water transport company, only six counties have water transport companies. Gufeng County is the only county with two water transport companies. Nanhu Water Transport Company is the only commune-level water transport company in the Yunhu area."

This is because Nanhu's geographical location is both far from the Yangtze River (reaching the Yangtze by water would take a whole night) and surrounded by numerous waterways. The three counties surrounding Nanhu have a significant demand for shipping, which is why a separate water transport company and a ship repair yard were established in Nanhu.

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately understood and exclaimed, "The steel bars are from the ship repair shop?"

Anquan smiled and nodded. "The repair shop often has leftover steel bars, so we sell some to give to the employees as a bonus. Sometimes the construction team doesn't have enough steel bars, so we buy them from the ship repair shop. But we don't disclose this kind of thing to the public, because it's not something to talk about. But it's not a big deal."

Although there are some differences between marine steel bars and construction steel bars, you're not building a skyscraper. Precast slabs made with these finger-width steel bars are definitely a hundred times stronger than those made with wire, or in other applications, they would certainly be more robust than those without steel bars.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I'm only telling you this because you can afford it. Steel bars are not like ordinary materials; they can easily cost tens or hundreds of dollars more. But if you're building a house, it's safer to add some steel."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately corrected himself, "No, I didn't, I have no money!"

(End of this chapter)