freenovelworld Chapter 44: Can you draw water by fiddling with a pile of broken wood?
Chapter 44: Can you draw water by fiddling with a pile of broken wood?
Shen Qingchuan worked day and night, with his wife and daughter assisting him. They worked for seven or eight days in a row, making the wooden trough, keel blades, wooden chain, wheel axle, wooden frame, large gear and crossbar according to the drawings...
We've finally got most of the structural materials ready for the overturned structure.
Liu saw her husband put down the wooden pole he was holding, sigh, and sweat beading on his forehead.
She took out a cloth and carefully wiped away her husband's sweat.
"Dad, take a break first, you can continue later."
Shen Qingchuan looked worried and did not relax or feel happy even though the materials were almost ready.
"If we don't finish building it soon, the fields will be burning from the heat. If the river weren't so deep, making it easy to fetch water but difficult to climb the slope, I would be willing to carry water bucket by bucket to irrigate the fields."
Liu was also anxious about the drought in the fields, so she stopped urging her husband to rest.
Shen Xiaotang picked a few cucumbers from the vegetable garden, washed them with freshly drawn well water, and chilled them for a while before taking them out.
Xiaoyu was feeding the chickens when she noticed two more eggs in the coop and immediately called out.
"Sister, chicken... eggs, there are two more eggs."
Shen Xiaotang put the washed cucumber into a wooden basin and handed it to her younger sister.
"Xiaoyu, give some cucumbers to your parents, and I'll go in and get the eggs."
After Shen Xiaotang finished her work, she walked to her parents' side and couldn't help but marvel at the neatly arranged parts in the yard.
Her father's carpentry skills were so exquisite, it was almost as if it were done by modern machines!
Shen Qingchuan, biting into a cucumber, reached into the basin, took one out, and handed it to his eldest daughter.
"Tang'er, everything is prepared according to the diagram. Is there anything else we need to add?"
Shen Xiaotang quickly shook her head, "Dad, it's enough to prepare everything. Making it isn't difficult; the difficult part is assembling it. The final product is huge, and you and Mom alone can't lift it. Besides, we can't assemble it at home, otherwise we won't be able to get it into the river."
Shen Qingchuan was visibly taken aback after hearing his daughter's words.
"what is it now?"
Because he was too honest and didn't like to talk much, although he knew most of the villagers in Guihua Village, he wasn't familiar with any of them. If he wanted to ask for help, he definitely wouldn't be able to get many people.
Shen Xiaotang thought for a moment and immediately came up with an idea.
“Dad, when the water is successfully drawn from the overturned field, it will irrigate more than just our field. Several neighboring households can also get water. Uncle Shuisheng’s field is close to our dry field. You should ask Uncle Shuisheng for help first, and then we’ll think of a way to persuade the households whose fields are adjacent to ours.”
"We didn't ask them for help with the logging and construction, but we definitely need their help with the assembly and dredging of the river. How can we expect to benefit without doing any work?"
Shen Qingchuan felt that his daughter made sense. After the overturned car was repaired, it could help the neighboring families. Now was the time when they needed help, and everyone should work together.
"Tang'er, you're right. I'll go find your Uncle Shuisheng right now. He's a kind-hearted person and would be happy to lend a hand, but he might not be so easy to talk to in other families."
After all, his family used to live at the east end of the village and were not familiar with the villagers at the west end. Even the few households next to their four acres of dry land only greeted each other when they met, and they didn't have any real relationship.
"Dad, let's try it first, and we'll talk about it if it really doesn't work."
"By the way, if Uncle Shuisheng and the villagers ask whose idea it was to overturn the car, you must not say it was me. Just say it was your own. People will be more willing to believe you than a little girl like me. That way, it will be easier to find someone to help you."
"Okay, Father understands!"
Shen Qingchuan stepped out the door and went to Shui Sheng's house.
After a while, the man returned, followed by Lin Shuisheng.
The two grown men took turns sighing and complaining.
"Brother Qingchuan, you finally managed to build this vehicle to help everyone solve the drought problem, so why is no one willing to help?"
Shen Qingchuan sighed heavily, "It's because people don't believe that I've really created something that can irrigate dry fields. Now the fields are so dry they're practically steaming, and everyone's frustrated. Who's in the mood to mess around with us?"
"This can't be just a waste of time! With your reliable, capable, and enthusiastic attitude, whatever you create will definitely be usable!"
Hearing her father and Uncle Shuisheng talking, Shen Xiaotang immediately went out of the house to greet them.
Looking at her father's and Uncle Shuisheng's expressions, she understood what had happened.
"Father, are they unwilling to help?"
"Yeah, everyone says they're too busy at home to have time."
The fields are so dry that the harvest is almost lost. What can we possibly do at home?
They clearly don't trust her father; none of them can think of a solution and they're too lazy to do anything.
"Dad, let's not worry about them for now. Let's move the things to the embankment in batches and assemble them slowly. Everyone is worried about the crops in the fields and goes to check on them several times a day. When the neighboring families see us assembling the truck, they will definitely be curious. Then we can try to persuade them to help. When they see what we have prepared, they might believe us."
The two grown men nodded in unison.
"Okay, let's move it over and assemble it first."
Lin Shuisheng patted Shen Xiaotang on the shoulder and praised her, "Tang girl, you're so clever for your age. Your father and I have been worried all the way here, but you've kept your composure!"
Shen Xiaotang grinned, her eyes clear and bright, innocent and adorable.
"Thank you for the compliment, Uncle Shuisheng."
It took several people a lot of effort to carry the prepared semi-finished products, bit by bit, onto the dam.
Shen Qingchuan led Shui Sheng to assemble the parts according to the blueprints.
An hour or so later, Shen Gou Dan and Li Er Niu carried wooden buckets onto the embankment and were immediately drawn to the sight of them fiddling with a large number of wooden objects.
"Brother Qingchuan, is this the car that you and Shuisheng were talking about when you came to my house before?"
Lin Shuisheng and Gou Dan lived relatively close to each other and were somewhat acquainted. He answered first, "That's right, this is the tipper that Brother Qingchuan built. It can draw water to irrigate the fields. All that's left is to assemble it and put it in the river to draw water."
Shen Gou Dan curled his lip. "You think you can draw water by fiddling with a bunch of broken wood?"
What a joke!
Everyone knows that droughts and floods are both natural disasters and man-made calamities. It's a matter decided by God; who can defy God?
"Okay, then you guys start fiddling with it."
Compared to Shen Gou Dan, Li Er Niu was less talkative and more composed. When he saw this large pile of finely crafted wood, he felt a little uncertain.
When Qingchuan and Shuisheng visited his house before, he didn't see these things and thought they were just bragging. But the things in front of him looked quite impressive. There were wooden sticks of different sizes and wooden planks of different thicknesses, some square, some long, some short, all polished very smoothly. It was clear that they had put a lot of effort into them.
He immediately asked, "Brother Qingchuan, will this thing really work?"
Shen Qingchuan patiently replied, "Our fields are all next to each other, and everyone knows how dry they are. How could I joke with you? Besides, it wouldn't be worth it for me to go through all this trouble just to make a joke."
Also!
Li Erniu was a little hesitant. If it could really be built to fetch water for irrigation, then why would he still carry a bucket to water the plants?