Chapter 82 Life Problems
In the eyes of the executive committee, it seems obvious now whether Changjiang or Yazhou is more important. But this result was unacceptable to Malike and Qiu Yuan. They chose to come to Yazhou on their own initiative in order to make some achievements here and accumulate some capital to stand out in the crossing group in the future. If the Executive Committee only treats Yazhou as a dispensable existence from beginning to end, then what is the point of their coming here?
He Xi observed their words and knew that the mood of the two people was not right, so he advised: "Don't misunderstand me. Yazhou may not be important in the long-term plan of the executive committee, but for now, this place is Key areas of concern for the Executive Committee”
Malico was reminded by He Xiyi and quickly recovered from his depression: "That's right. Yazhou has a population of 20,000, and it is the closest sales market and human resources provider to the base camp. It is also the place where we can currently The only window to keep in touch with Ming Dynasty.”
"This is also the closest place that can pose a military threat to the base camp." At some point, Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan also walked out and joined the discussion.
"Although the garrison in Yazhou is not strong, it is still a potential threat. Our working group must not only shoulder the responsibilities of commerce and diplomacy, but also play the role of a military outpost." Mu Xiabai looked around the crowd and said slowly He said slowly: "Although you are not soldiers, you still must shoulder the task of guarding your homeland. It's just that we use steel guns in our hands, and you use your own professional knowledge. In a foreign land, I hope you can unite and don't Care about temporary personal gains and losses! ”
It was obvious that Mu Xiabai had seen the emotional reactions of Maliko and Qiu Yuan just now, and as a hard-blooded soldier, he would not turn a blind eye to the emotional looseness of the members of the working group.
Qiu Yuan felt a little embarrassed and quickly smoothed things over: "Old Mu is right. Although we have different divisions of labor, we still have to cooperate well when we get here. If we can't achieve results here, then how can the executive committee do more important things in the future?" Leave the task to us? By the way, where are Zhang Guang and Zhao Xiaoruo?”
"Zhang Guang is helping Zhao Xiaoruo move his luggage, so let's not get into trouble." Feng Annan said with a smirk on his face.
Everyone understood. Zhang Guang called several colleagues together the night before departure, explained his thoughts, and each of them stuffed a cigarette as a thank you gift. Although a group of people are all singles and are natural competitors when it comes to personal and emotional issues, after all, they have to take care of people who are short-handed and can easily get along with them.
Zhang Guang moved seven or eight large and small wooden boxes containing luggage into Zhao Xiaoruo's room and put them away. He also brought in a basin of well water and helped Zhao Xiaoruo wipe all the furniture in the room. Zhao Xiaoruo felt a little sorry when she saw him busy and wanted to go to the kitchen to boil some water to make tea. When she got to the kitchen, she saw that the earthen stove was burning wood. She couldn't operate it at all, so she had to ask Old Man Yang to light a fire and boil water.
After Zhang Guang cleaned the house, he walked around but didn't see Zhao Xiaoruo. In the end, Qiu Yuan, who was standing in the patio, gave him directions. Zhang Guang went to the kitchen and saw that this girl was stupidly waiting in front of the stove, waiting for the water to boil. Her face was stained black and white by the fireworks without even realizing it.
"Isn't this thing difficult to handle?" Zhang Guang said as he squatted down in front of the stove, reached into the stove with a poker and fiddled with the firewood that was not fully burned.
Zhao Xiaoruo smiled and reached out to wipe the sweat from his forehead: "I have never seen a wood stove before, and this is the first time I use it today."
"It's not convenient to start a fire in a wood stove. Tomorrow I will go out and buy some coal and make some briquettes. It will be convenient for boiling water and other things." Zhang Guang said while constantly breaking off the fine wood and stuffing it into the stove.
"You can also make briquettes? I think you seem to be quite skilled. Have you practiced before?" Zhao Xiaoruo asked curiously.
"My hometown is in a rural area. When I was a child, I used to burn firewood and briquettes. These tasks were often done when I was a child... The metallurgical workshop made a batch of briquette stoves and molds for making briquettes a few days ago. I specially made a report to the executive committee. I bought a set and can use it after taking it out of the box tomorrow." Zhang Guang said with a familiar expression: "I don't think it's inconvenient, I'm used to it, but you have been living in the city since you were a child, and you are suddenly in this environment. It must be very uncomfortable, right?”
Zhao Xiaoruo bit her lip and hesitated before saying: "I just don't want others to think of me as a pampered young lady, so I came to participate in time travel. I want to prove that I, Zhao Xiaoruo, no matter who I leave, no matter what kind of environment I am in, Everyone can live well! ”
Zhang Guang stared at Zhao Xiaoruo in astonishment, and was stunned for a long time before answering: "I have never treated you as a young lady. I treat you well, not because I think you can't do anything..."
"I know." Zhao Xiaoruo smoothed her hair that fell in front of her face, and did not let Zhang Guang continue to talk about this topic: "I seem to have never asked you before, why did you choose to participate in time travel?"
"This is a call from somewhere. I know someone is waiting for me to show up..." Seeing Zhao Xiaoruo staring at him, Zhang Guang couldn't make up any more: "Okay, okay, let me tell the truth. People like me It is difficult for people who come from the countryside to find a wife in the city, but I have seen the world for a few years, and I am not willing to go back to find a girl from the countryside as my wife. I just heard that there is such a person who has traveled to the Ming Dynasty. Given the opportunity, I gritted my teeth and joined in. "It's like you won't have to find a girl from the countryside to be your wife in the future." Zhao Xiaoruo attacked him mercilessly.
Zhang Guang said with a proud look on his face: "That's different. People chose me before, but now I choose the person. No matter what happens in the future, I can still marry a well-educated and sensible girl..."
As Zhang Guang spoke, he realized that he had made a mistake and quickly said: "... Of course, those were just immature thoughts before. I will never have such thoughts now."
"Do you know?" Zhao Xiaoruo threw the firewood in his hand into the stove, stood up and left, leaving Zhang Guang with a worried look on his face.
Chef Zhang Guang served dinner that day. Although the taste was not comparable to that of Chef Fan at the base camp, the combination of three meat dishes, three vegetables and one soup was enough to impress the other members. After all, not everyone can cook a table with a wood stove. Meals. This performance seemed to have reversed the impact of his previous gaffe. Zhao Xiaoruo also took the initiative to ask him how to cook one of the dishes, which finally put Zhang Guang's heart at ease.
But taking a shower after dinner has become a new problem. The previous owner probably didn't expect so many people to move in at the same time, so there were only two wooden tubs for bathing in the entire house, and hot water had to be heated, making bathing extremely inconvenient. Of course, in order to take care of the lady, Zhao Xiaoruo must be the first to be assigned bathtubs and hot water, but the sound insulation effect of all the rooms in the yard is not very good, and a group of bachelors seemed not polite to hear the sound of water, so in the end they had to They all gathered in one room, played movies on their laptops, and played Landlord to pass the time.
After Zhao Xiaoruo finished taking a bath, a group of people had to go into her room and carry out the tub and the bath water. This situation was also quite embarrassing. Zhao Xiaoruo's face was red, and he didn't know whether it was the effect of hot water bathing, or whether it was because a group of grown men helped him carry the bath water because he felt shy.
"We took all the food, clothing, housing and transportation into consideration before departure, but why didn't anyone think of taking a shower?" Maliko asked righteously.
At the meeting that night, bathing became the first major issue to be discussed. When we were at the base camp, there were separate public bathrooms for men and women, and a small charcoal boiler specifically for hot water in the bathrooms. Everyone seemed to ignore this detail of life. But after I came to live in Yazhou, I realized that if the problem of bathing is not solved, I am afraid it will continue to trouble the working group for a long time in the future.
Of course, the root cause of this problem is the existence of Zhao Xiaoruo, a person of the opposite sex. If she didn't live here, then everyone could have a collective open-air bathroom in the patio, and happily pick soap together after work every day. It was quite a bit of fun. But now it is impossible for Zhao Xiaoruo to go back home and find another man. Not to mention the psychological damage to Zhao Xiaoruo, and even the heavy criticism from the Women's Association afterwards, none of the single men here dare to pat their chests and say You can bear it yourself - although everyone knows that the Women's Association's slogan "Women can hold up half the sky" is only for propaganda purposes, no one really wants to try the power of "half the sky" falling. How big.
"We still need to build a dedicated bathroom." Qiu Yuan said, pressing his shoulder that was still sore: "I have to carry more than a dozen buckets of bath water in and out every day, which is too tiring. I'm sweating again just after washing, which is not good It’s all in vain.”
"Use a coal-fired boiler. There is enough space in the kitchen to set up a small boiler. Then it is not difficult to convert the woodshed next to the kitchen into a bathroom. The ground should be waterproofed and a drainage pipe should be dug to lead to the gutter on the street outside. When making dinner, throw in a few pieces of briquettes to slowly heat the water, and then you can use it when it gets dark," Zhang Guang suggested.
"Are there any technical difficulties? Is it safe to use?" Maliko didn't know much about this kind of thing and asked immediately.
"Technically it is very mature. The public bathrooms in the base camp use this kind of boiler, but it has a larger capacity and burns charcoal. As for safety, there is no problem. When the time comes, the exhaust duct of the boiler will be connected to the kitchen chimney. That's it. This kind of coal-fired boiler is under normal pressure, and the water temperature is not too high, so it is enough to seal the pipes without leaking, and it is not difficult to implement it. I will mention this when I contact the base camp tomorrow. Bian Neng will pay attention to it and ask the metallurgical workshop to work overtime. Maybe we can use it next week." Zhang Guang patiently explained the details.
"You were thinking about this while you were waiting to take a shower, right?" He Xi suddenly said.
"That's right, I was..." Zhang Guang was so quick that he almost made a mistake again. Then he coughed dryly and said, "I didn't do this out of any selfish motives, but also to make life more convenient for everyone."
(End of chapter)