I'm back in 1990

Chapter 251: This idea is brilliant

At 8:30 a.m. the next day, the village chief of Huahe Village personally led four donkey carts to Yueyajian Township Primary School.

There are a total of sixteen natural villages below Crescent Moon Stream. Based on the distance between the villages, they can be divided into three major groups, with six of them being relatively close to each other.

Therefore, Huahe Village, the largest of the six villages, has a primary school that was converted from a private school before liberation. Children from several nearby villages go to Huahe Village Primary School. However, it has been in disrepair for many years, and the primary school has now been temporarily moved to the ancestral hall. There is only one private teacher in the village who teaches Chinese, mathematics, physical education, art and labor.

Upon hearing that someone was coming to build a school, Li Laoyao, the village chief of Huahe Village, arranged manpower overnight and set off from the village at the crack of dawn to personally pick up Huang Xiaochuan and his group.

It wasn't that they were lazy and got up late; it was just that the mountain path was impossible to walk on at night. It was pitch black and you couldn't see anything. Flashlights were useless. The main problem was that the mountain path was rugged and winding, and with the trees blocking the way, it was really difficult to walk.

After the two sides met, Chen Gui introduced them to each other.

After they met, Huang Xiaochuan familiarly offered cigarettes to everyone, but Li Laoyao didn't accept any and waved his hand away quickly.

"No, no, I'm still used to smoking my pipe." He then took out his pipe made of bamboo root.

Huang Xiaochuan didn't insist, but the three who came with Li Laoyao took the cigarettes Huang Xiaochuan gave them with great interest, smelled them under their noses, and carefully put them away without smoking them. Some people tucked them behind their ears, while others put them in the cloth bag hanging on the donkey cart.

The group split into four donkey carts and set off for Huahe Village.

Ding Yi was quite excited; it was the first time in his life he had ever ridden in a donkey cart.

Yu Wei, on the other hand, looked utterly dejected, because the donkey had just defecated a huge pile of donkey droppings right in front of him, and the smell was so pungent that he still had his hand over his nose and dared not take it off.

After leaving Crescent Moon Valley Township, the four donkey carts headed into the mountains along the mountain road. At first, it was alright, at least it was a gravel road, but soon it turned into a rugged mountain road. As they went deeper into the mountains, the mountain road disappeared, leaving only a narrow path that was barely wide enough for one donkey cart to pass.

Huang Xiaochuan was still thinking that if a donkey cart came from the opposite direction, they would be doomed, as there would be no way to pass each other!

Ding Yi and Yu Wei felt that the donkey cart was too slow, and since one side of the narrow path was a cliff, neither of them dared to stick their heads out. They were so nervous sitting in the cart that they decided to get off and walk instead.

Huang Xiaochuan sat on the side closest to the mountain. He didn't dare sit on the side closest to the cliff. He didn't know why, but sitting there would make his anus tighten for no reason, and he felt uneasy. So Huang Xiaochuan chose a position that he thought was safe, and even assumed a posture as if he was ready to jump off the vehicle at any time. He was scared too! Having lived two lives, this was the first time he had ever traveled such a road.

He couldn't help but worry about something: how was this school going to be built? How could they possibly transport steel bars and cement through roads like this? Would they just rely on donkey carts?

To pass the time on the road and to find out more about the situation, he started chatting with Li Laoyao.

"Village chief, how far is it from your village to Crescent Moon Ravine?"

Li Laoyao was sitting sideways on the donkey cart, leisurely smoking his bamboo root pipe. When he heard Huang Xiaochuan ask him a question, he casually took the pipe off his mouth.

"About twenty li (about 10 kilometers)!"

"Are all roads like this?"

"Yes, it is!"

Then Li Laoyao added, "Our village is considered good; at least we can still use donkey carts. The villages above us can't even use donkey carts; we can only rely on our own two feet."

At this moment, Ding Yi, who was following behind the donkey cart, asked, "Then why don't they think about repairing the road?"

The tobacco in the pipe had all burned out. Li Laoyao tapped the pipe and said, "Who doesn't want to build roads? Building roads requires explosives. If you don't have money to buy them, no one will know how to use them. Hiring people also costs money."

Ding looked around at the mountains in all directions and thought that what Li Laoyao said made sense. Without explosives, shovels and pickaxes were useless. Building a road? That would take forever!

Ding suddenly had an idea: "Village chief, have you calculated how much it will cost to repair the road?"

Li Laoyao gave a wry smile: "Someone from the local transportation bureau came to inspect it and said that repairing a four-meter-wide gravel road would cost at least seven or eight hundred thousand yuan."

Ding Yi then glanced at Huang Xiaochuan, who of course understood what Ding Yi meant. The kid was planning to pay for road repairs, which was a good idea, but this matter needed to be considered carefully. Huang Xiaochuan felt that it was better to leave professional matters to professionals.

Even if you give the money to these mountain people, how would they know how to repair roads? They can help out with odd jobs, but asking them to do budgeting, surveying, and drawing construction plans is like killing them.

If the money is given but the road isn't built, the donor might be blamed for not donating enough.

Following up on Li Laoyao's words, Huang Xiaochuan asked him, "Has your local transportation bureau said they're going to build roads for you?"

"We asked around, and they said there wasn't enough money. They said there are too many roads to repair in the whole area, so they can only prioritize the most important ones. Our area is still a long way off!"

"Xiao Chuan, come down and walk with me." Ding Yi called out to Huang Xiao Chuan.

Huang Xiaochuan jumped off the donkey cart and walked with Ding Yi, knowing that Ding Yi wanted to discuss road repairs with him.

"It's only seven or eight hundred thousand, how about I pay for it?"

"Put the money aside for now. Do you even know how to fix this road?"

"I haven't studied it, how would I know anything about road construction?"

"That's exactly right. You're a college student who doesn't even know how to repair roads. You give them money to repair the roads themselves, but how are they supposed to do it? Buy a bunch of explosives and blow them up everywhere? Not only will it damage the environment, but what if a few people get killed? Wouldn't that turn a good thing into a bad thing?"

Ding Yi was stunned by what Huang Xiaochuan said. Oh right! This really can't be done this way?

However, Ding Yi quickly came up with a solution.

"Then I'll donate the money directly to the county and have the county transportation bureau arrange for someone to fix it."

This idea was immediately rejected by Huang Xiaochuan.

"Didn't you see what the primary schools in the county look like? Do you think they'll use this money to repair roads?"

Ding Yi found this very reasonable, but couldn't think of a proper solution for the time being, so he became a little anxious.

Yu Wei overheard their conversation. He knew from his time with Ding Yi that Huang Xiaochuan and Ding Yi had made a fortune in the stock market and that they had come to Sichuan Province to donate money to build a Hope Primary School. Hearing that the two were struggling with the road construction, he offered them a suggestion.

"My dad's old unit was in this province. We can just ask them. Repairing a rural road is no big deal for them."

Yu Wei's words made Huang Xiaochuan's eyes light up.

Yes! Lao Yu was transferred from the infrastructure engineering corps. Later, his old unit was reorganized into the WJ Transportation Corps, which was responsible for building bridges and paving roads on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway.

Moreover, during this period, the military was allowed to do business; money could be given directly to the military to build the road.

This would achieve several goals at once: the troops could support the local area without working for nothing, and these villages would have a road. With a road, the produce from the mountains could be transported out, and building materials for the school could be easily transported into the mountains.

Most importantly, we don't have to worry about local authorities interfering or holding us back.

That's a brilliant idea! Absolutely brilliant!