60s: I have a store

Chapter 632 Technical Guidance

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the open space in Shangshui Village where the sheds were being built became lively.

Some people arrived early to set up the plastic greenhouse, thinking they were the first, but they didn't expect there to be even earlier arrivals.

Everyone greeted each other, then stood there chatting and waiting for Village Chief Wang to arrive.

Village Chief Wang got up early, without even having breakfast, and came to the place where the plastic greenhouse was being set up. Unexpectedly, there were already people waiting for him.

It shocked him; he hadn't expected to be the last one.

At this moment, Wang Jianguo couldn't help but tease, "Village chief, is it because the bed is too warm and you don't want to get up?"

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter.

Village Chief Wang wasn't angry: "You kid, you have the energy to tease me now, but I hope you'll have the energy to build the plastic greenhouse later."

Wang Jianguo simply patted his strong arm and said, "Village chief, don't worry!"

Village Chief Wang didn't want to waste any more time, so he said, "Listen up! First, stand the bamboo poles up according to the lines you drew before, making sure the spacing is even, otherwise they won't be able to support the plastic!"

After hearing what Village Chief Wang said, everyone started to move.

Village Chief Wang kept a close eye on the details, not even bothering to drink water, his eyes fixed on the position of each bamboo pole and every knot of rope.

Upon witnessing this scene, the villagers instantly felt the pressure and dared not slack off.

Following the instructions of Village Chief Wang, some people worked in pairs to hold the bamboo poles, while others squatted on the ground to secure the bottom of the bamboo poles.

Others stood on wooden ladders and tied horizontal bars, making a "crackling" sound as the bamboo poles collided and a "creaking" sound as the ropes were pulled.

With everyone working together, the greenhouse quickly took shape.

Seeing this, everyone became even more enthusiastic, thinking that they should set it up as soon as possible so that they could plant the crops and harvest them sooner.

However, Village Chief Wang, who was standing to the side, had a completely different idea. He felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He frowned, walked around the newly erected half-frame twice, and then looked up into the distance. He suddenly remembered the greenhouses he had visited in Zhoujiazhuang a few days ago.

The other person's frame was not only more regular, but the angles between the bamboo poles and the height of the crossbars also seemed different from the shed in front of us.

Especially the curvature of the top. The greenhouses in Zhoujiazhuang have a gentle curve, which looks sturdy. But the ones built in my own village either have too steep a top or are crooked and awkward.

Thinking of this, Village Chief Wang quickly called for a halt: "Everyone, stop!"

The busy crowd looked at Village Chief Wang with confusion after hearing his words, not understanding why they had to stop.

At this moment, Old Chen asked, "Village Chief, why do we have to stop? It's almost halfway done. If we hurry up, we can finish the frame by noon."

"I estimate that the greenhouse will be completed today."

He knew how anxious Village Chief Wang was; he had heard from Village Chief Wang more than once how good the plastic greenhouses in Zhoujiazhuang were.

The other villagers nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with doubt, but they remained silent.

Village Chief Wang didn't say anything, but walked straight to the greenhouse frame, reached out and gently pushed a bamboo pole, which swayed slightly.

Everyone looked at Village Chief Wang's actions and didn't understand why he was doing this.

At this moment, Old Chen said, "Village chief, is our structure too loose?"

Village Chief Wang nodded: "That's right. Zhoujiazhuang does it the same way, and so do we, so why is there such an obvious difference?"

You know, we spent 300 yuan to buy these plastics. If they don't meet our expectations, then we'll have wasted 300 yuan, and that would be a real problem.

Three hundred yuan was a large sum of money at that time, no matter where it was placed, so it was definitely taken very seriously.

Upon hearing this, the villagers present fell silent instantly, then erupted into a clamor, their discussions even more lively than when the construction had begun.

"Yes! I also felt something was off. When I was tying the crossbar earlier, it looked crooked, and I thought I was seeing things!"

"I've seen the greenhouses in Zhoujiazhuang too. Their frames are all neat and orderly, but ours are a bit messy!"

"What should we do? It's already half-built. If we take it down and rebuild it, wouldn't all our efforts be wasted?"

"But if we don't remove it, the plastic cover will be useless later, and that three hundred yuan will be a complete waste!"

Everyone looked at the crooked and twisted greenhouse frame, their faces full of worry, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.

The once bustling construction site was instantly enveloped in an atmosphere of anxiety, with everyone feeling uneasy.

Everyone looked at Village Chief Wang, hoping he could come up with a solution.

Looking at everyone's gazes, Village Chief Wang suddenly felt immense pressure, and he was at a loss for what to do.

Suddenly, the image of Zhou Yimin flashed through Wang's mind. He had heard in Zhoujiazhuang that Zhou Yimin had also put in a lot of effort when the plastic greenhouses were being built.

"You all take a rest first. No work is allowed until I return, understand?"

The villagers of Shangshui Village couldn't be happier if this were the case, so that if any problems arose, they wouldn't be blamed by the other villagers.

Village Chief Wang jogged away and quickly left the area, heading towards Zhoujiazhuang.

In order to solve the problem of plastic greenhouses as soon as possible, they could not stop even when they were out of breath.

They soon arrived at Zhoujiazhuang.

Village Chief Wang was also an "old acquaintance" of Zhoujiazhuang, so the security team did not stop him and let him pass directly.

Soon after, Wang Cunji went directly to Zhou Yimin's house.

Zhou Yimin was also startled by the sudden appearance of Village Chief Wang: "Village Chief Wang, what's the problem with the plastic?"

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any problems with plastic. I've bought so many things from stores before without any issues.

But apart from this reason, Zhou Yimin couldn't think of anything else that would make Village Chief Wang so anxious to come over.

After catching his breath, Village Chief Wang began to speak: "Yimin, our village is building plastic greenhouses, and we've noticed a significant difference between them and those in your village, but we can't figure out why."

"I was thinking, could you come to our village and provide some technical guidance?"

After speaking, he looked at Zhou Yimin with a nervous expression, afraid that Zhou Yimin would refuse.

Zhou Yimin breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out it wasn't a problem with the plastic, which made things easier: "Okay, wait a moment."

Zhou Yimin quickly went back, put on a thick coat, and told his grandparents.

I don't know how long it will take, but I should tell them so Grandpa and Grandma won't worry. Zhou Yimin saw that Village Chief Wang was still trying to run, but he couldn't run that far, so he said, "Village Chief Wang, come on up!"

After saying that, he pointed to the motorcycle parked to the side.

Zhou Yimin took a step and got on the motorcycle. Village Chief Wang realized what was happening and quickly got on the motorcycle as well.

This wasn't the first time Village Chief Wang had ridden on a motorcycle, but he was still shocked by its speed. It was many times faster than running!

What would normally be a half-hour journey can be covered by motorcycle in less than ten minutes.

Soon the two arrived at the plastic greenhouse that had been set up in Shangshui Village.

As soon as the villagers saw Zhou Yimin, they all gathered around him. They never expected that Village Chief Wang would invite Zhou Yimin over.

The crowd immediately understood, as they had all heard of Zhou Yimin's abilities.

Zhou Yimin didn't waste any words and went straight to the greenhouse frame.

He first walked around the frame, sometimes squatting down to check the fixation of the bottom of the bamboo poles, and sometimes reaching out to gently press the top crossbar.

Originally, Zhou Yimin wanted to take a measurement but found he didn't have a measuring tape. At that moment, Wang Jianguo took out a measuring tape from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin was taken aback at first, but after realizing what was happening, he immediately took it.

He first measured the thickness of the bamboo poles on the roof, then pulled out a measuring tape and measured from one vertical pole to the one next to it, his brows gradually furrowing.

Everyone watched Zhou Yimin with great tension. Some even held their breath, staring intently at him, afraid to even breathe too loudly, lest they miss any crucial information.

After a thorough inspection, Zhou Yimin finally stopped what he was doing, turned around and looked at Village Chief Wang and the villagers: "We've found the problem, there are two places."

Village Chief Wang and the others did not expect Zhou Yimin to be so capable. In less than ten minutes, he found the problem, and not just one, but two.

No one spoke; instead, they looked at Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin first pointed to the horizontal bar at the top of the greenhouse: "The first problem is that the bamboo used for the greenhouse roof is not strong enough."

“Look, these bamboo poles are thinner than those used in the greenhouses in Zhoujiazhuang, and the material is softer. When I pressed them just now, I could clearly feel the deformation. After they were built into an arched roof, they couldn’t support their own weight at all, so they collapsed and caused the entire frame to deform.”

As he spoke, he reached out and gently bent a bamboo pole on the roof. Sure enough, the bamboo pole bent slightly and did not fully spring back after he let go.

Village Chief Wang and his colleagues hadn't expected that there were specific requirements for the bamboo used to build the greenhouse. They had assumed that as long as the bamboo was long enough, but it turned out that it wasn't that simple.

And they also wanted to know what the second point was.

Zhou Yimin continued, "The second point is even more crucial: the spacing between you is too wide, the support is insufficient, and you cannot withstand the pressure from above."

“I just measured it. The spacing between your vertical poles is almost 1.5 meters, while in Zhoujiazhuang’s greenhouses, the spacing between vertical poles is at most 1 meter, and the spacing between horizontal poles is also half as close.”

"If the spacing is too wide, the support of the frame will be weak. When the wind blows or the plastic is covered, it will easily collapse through the gaps, and the plastic will definitely be torn."

Village Chief Wang and the villagers quickly gathered around. Some gestured with their hands to indicate the spacing between the vertical poles, while others squeezed the bamboo poles on the roof again. The doubt on their faces gradually turned into sudden understanding.

"Yimin, you're amazing. So many of us worked on this project for so long and we didn't even notice these problems."

The others felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. They would have accepted it if it had been something difficult, but they didn't expect to stumble on something so simple.

The tense atmosphere gradually eased, and everyone looked at Zhou Yimin with expectant eyes. Now that the problem had been identified, they were waiting for him to tell them how to fix it.

Zhou Yimin saw everyone's urgency and, without beating around the bush, pointed to the greenhouse frame and gave a solution: "The solution is not difficult. We will do it in two steps. First, we will replace the bamboo poles. The horizontal bars on the roof must be replaced with thicker and stronger bamboo."

"Follow the standards of Zhoujiazhuang greenhouses, the diameter must be at least five centimeters, and choose old bamboo that grows in mountain valleys and doesn't get much sun all year round, so that it has enough toughness and hardness."

"If any of the vertical poles are too thin, replace them as well. If there aren't enough, use the remaining poles from the frames of other unbuilt sheds to ensure the quality of the first shed first."

He paused, then walked to the uprights and drew a mark on the ground with his toe: "The second step is to adjust the spacing. The spacing between the uprights needs to be reduced from 1.5 meters to 1 meter. I just measured it, and now we need to add another upright between every two uprights."

"The same goes for the crossbars. The original one-meter spacing has been changed to fifty centimeters per bar. Especially for the curved part of the roof, the crossbars need to be closer together to support the plastic."

Village Chief Wang listened intently, even taking out his notebook to jot down key data: "The diameter of the horizontal bars on the roof is five centimeters, the spacing between the vertical bars is one meter, the spacing between the horizontal bars is fifty centimeters, and the burial depth at the bottom is thirty centimeters..."

After writing it down, he checked it again: "Yimin, is this all there is? You haven't missed anything, have you?"

“We haven’t missed anything; these are the key points.” Zhou Yimin nodded.

Village Chief Wang immediately stood up, clapped his hands, and shouted, "Did everyone hear that? Old Chen, take a few men to the back mountain to cut down old bamboo. Remember to pick the thick and hard ones."

"Old Li, you take a team to dismantle the shed. First, take down the thin bamboo poles and the wider sections. Be careful not to damage the good bamboo poles."

The villagers had been eagerly anticipating the assignments, and as soon as they heard the tasks assigned, they immediately sprang into action.

Old Chen carried his axe and led his men toward the back of the mountain.

Old Li directed the people to dismantle the shed, carefully inspecting each bamboo pole and putting away the usable ones separately.

Old Li quickly dismantled the greenhouse and then selected the remaining bamboo poles. If he didn't want all the bamboo poles, he would have to cut too much bamboo, which would take a lot of time.

In less than an hour, Lao Li and his team had picked out all the usable bamboo poles.

I originally planned to wait for Old Li to bring the bamboo back.

However, Village Chief Wang then said, "No need to wait, shall we start?"

After hearing this, Lao Li and the others didn't say much and started construction again as Zhou Yimin had instructed.

This time, Village Chief Wang didn't supervise the construction; instead, he joined in. There's a shortage of manpower, and they want to complete the construction quickly, so he can only help.

Zhou Yimin stood aside, unsure whether to help or not.

Zhou Yimin had no choice but to join in.

Although we don't have as many people as we did at the beginning, the speed is just as fast.

Upon seeing this, Village Chief Wang immediately stepped forward and said, "Yimin, you don't need to help. We can handle this kind of physical labor."

"You just need to supervise from the side!"

Zhou Yimin wasn't a pampered person, and he could help with this: "Village Chief Wang, it's no problem, just consider it exercise."

Village Chief Wang nodded. He knew that once Zhou Yimin made a decision, it was generally impossible for anyone to change it.

Everyone worked while waiting for Old Chen to return after cutting the bamboo.

(End of this chapter)