Chapter 638: 179: To get rich, first build roads!_3
Ni Yang stood up, took the tea cup handed over by the Village Chief, and said, “You really don’t have to be so polite, Village Chief. I’m only here to discuss something with you. After that, I’ll be leaving.”
Village Chief Li responded with a smile: “That’s perfect, we can chat while enjoying our tea.”
Ni Yang sipped her tea and continued: “Village Chief Li, the roads in our village become muddy every time it rains. It is very inconvenient for the elderly and children to walk on them…”
“Yangyang, are you thinking about fixing the road?” Village Chief Li inferred from Ni Yang’s words.
“Yes,” Ni Yang nodded in confirmation.
Village Chief Li took a puff of his cigarette, “Yangyang, you know the situation in our village. Before you came back, everyone couldn’t even afford meat. At the moment, there is no supportive policy from the government. Talking about road construction is easy, but it requires a substantial amount of money. Even if each household in our village could contribute one hundred yuan, it would not be sufficient to cover the costs…”
Road construction requires stones, cement, sand, and the wages and living allowances of the workers. Altogether, it would cost at least over a hundred thousand yuan!
That isn’t a small amount of money.
Ni Yang took out a small notebook and continued: “Village Chief Li, I’ve calculated that our village needs about 20 kilometers of cement road. Building a road about 4.5 meters wide and 20 centimeters thick, would require approximately 240 tons of cement, 1920 tons of sand, and including labor costs and so on, it would cost around 100,000 yuan. I will cover this 100,000 yuan.”
In the era that followed, based on the price of 138 yuan per meter, a 20-kilometer cement road would cost at least over two million yuan.
However, this was the cheap and economical 1980s after all.
“To get rich, build roads first.”
Ni Yang had thought it through. She wanted to help build the road in Jinghua Village. Only in this way, she thought, could the village further develop in the future.
Upon hearing her words, Village Chief Li was stunned. “Yangyang, what did you just say?”
One hundred thousand yuan!
That was not a small sum!
Ni Yang said, “Village Chief Li, you heard me right. I am completely sober. I want to build a road.”
Village Chief Li took a deep puff of his cigarette, “Yangyang, does your mother know about this?”
Ni Yang nodded, “Don’t worry, I’ve already discussed it with my mom.”
Ni Cuihua was also a very grateful person. The villagers of Jinghua Village had always treated her and her daughter well. Now that their economic conditions had improved, it was only right for them to give back to Jinghua Village.
Helping others can be a form of self-help too.
“Yangyang, are you really not joking with me?” Village Chief Li still found it hard to believe.
Ni Yang said very seriously: “Village Chief Li, you don’t have to worry. I am not joking with you. If you agree to construct the road, we can start implementing it tomorrow. Then the construction team can come to me for reimbursement.”
“Yangyang, on behalf of all the villagers, thank you!” Village Chief Li stood up and bowed to Ni Yang.
At a certain medical laboratory.
A thin woman clad in a white lab coat and wearing a face mask was bustling around the lab bench.
An elderly woman with silvery hair was sitting across from her.
“Dr. Xiaoran, how are the identification results?”
Lady Shangguan was very nervous and uneasy at the moment.
She was waiting for the identification results. She had a hunch that Ni Cuihua was somehow tied to her.
Then she might never find her daughter in this lifetime.
Dr. Xiaoran poured the red liquid in one test tube into another one filled with a blue liquid, “Aunt Qing, don’t worry. The identification results are not out yet.”
“They’re not out yet?” Lady Shangguan became anxious, “Didn’t they say the results would be out in three months? How come there are still no results yet?”
Dr. Xiaoran apologized: “There is a problem with the identification machine, so it may take a while longer. Aunt Qing, I’m really sorry to have kept you waiting all this time…”
Hearing this made Lady Shangguan sigh.
Dr. Xiaoran looked up at Lady Shangguan and noticed her complexion seemed off, “Aunt Qing, has your coughing gotten worse recently?”
Lady Shangguan responded, “It hasn’t gotten much worse, it’s still the same.”
Dr. Xiaoran’s brow furrowed, “What did Dr. Jiang say?”
Lady Shangguan avoided directly answering Dr. Xiaoran’s question, instead she asked, “How much longer do we have to wait?”
Dr. Xiaoran replied, “The new machine is still being shipped. Adding the time needed for the identification process, I’m afraid we need to wait until after the New Year.” After saying this, she added, “If you are in a hurry, I can recommend a trustworthy doctor for you.”
Lady Shangguan shook her head, “I only trust you now.”