The Era of Hard Work

After dinner, Hu Chunlan urged Lu Dong to go to the river, and at the same time sent some pickled cicada monkeys to the uncle's house.

Maybe it was because I was too excited to see my old lady again, and I was holding it back. When I left the orchard, my right eye was uncomfortable. After rubbing it a few times, my right eyelid twitched.

Lu Dong went to the uncle's house in the south of the village first.

The eldest aunt was alone at home, so Lu Dong specifically asked about it. The first cousin, Lu Chun, would not come back from the University City until the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, and the second cousin was in the army, and he would not go home until the Chinese New Year to visit relatives.

Lu Dong didn't stay long, and walked north along the market street from the south of the village, thinking about the familiar university town.

If I remember correctly, the University City will be officially opened in September this year. Many universities in Quannan City will be relocated, at least some of them will be relocated. In a few years, the University City will become a high-tech industrial city in Quannan City, and Qingzhao County will be designated as Qingzhao District.

The emergence of a new city is always accompanied by countless opportunities.

But Lu Dong is more aware that opportunities are those that are capable of grasping.

I used to fool around until I was in my thirties before I really knew how to be pragmatic.

Therefore, Lu Dong first reminded himself to keep his feet on the ground and not to drift.

Having said that, a person who was in his 34s and 30s before he could afford the down payment for a three-bedroom apartment in Quannan New City didn't have the capital.

Ji Street is the widest street in Lujia Village, and it can accommodate two old Jiefang cars driving side by side.

There were seven or eight trucks and tricycles pulling gravel and other supplies, parked on the east side of the street. Lu Dong asked someone, and most of them came to help spontaneously from nearby villages not facing the river.

In a large car, the driver in the driver's seat looked at the north entrance of Jijie Street, and could only see a crowd of people busy, and asked the middle-aged man in the co-pilot: "Brother Quan, the mason from the Lu family is fighting us for a job in the University City." , why do we still send things?"

"Use your brain!" The middle-aged man nodded the driver's head: "Our Liuwan Village is just south of Lu's house. The Qingzhao River has become a river on the ground. The Lu's house is on a high terrain. Will opening it flood us?"

The driver thinks about it.

The middle-aged man gave another lesson: "How many daughters-in-law in our village are married to the Lu family? How many daughters are married to the Lu family?"

"Uh... also." The driver suddenly realized: "Brother Quan, you still have that... yes, look at the big picture."

The middle-aged man took out a cigarette: "Call the secretary! The secretary! How many times have you said it? Can you remember?"

The driver hurriedly said: "Remember, remember this time."

The middle-aged man shook his head straight away, not as knowledgeable as a fool, got out of the car and went to a bright place on the street to smoke, when Lu Dong happened to walk over.

This person, Lu Dong, looked familiar. Thinking back, he remembered that he was the parent of a classmate, and he took the initiative to say hello: "Uncle Quan."

The middle-aged man saw that Lu Dong's face was familiar, but he couldn't call out his name: "You are..."

Lu Dong smiled and said, "I'm Zhaodi's classmate, did Zhaodi get the questions right? Did you do well in the exam?"

"What's the use of being the number one scholar? Get married sooner or later." The middle-aged man has been depressed for many years and habitually mutters: "I'd rather be the last one."

Lu Dong was not easy to answer, and he could think of this middle-aged man because his daughter, classmate Liu Zhaodi was the county champion in the 1998 college entrance examination.

I have a vague impression that Liu Zhaodi also has a younger sister.

In rural areas where patriarchy is stubborn, the depression of middle-aged people can be imagined.

"Dongzi!" Someone called him.

This man wandered over from the south. He had a good appearance, a tall man, but his shoulders were drooping, and the soles of his walking shoes mopped the floor, making an unpleasant screeching sound.

"Seventh uncle!" Lu Dong beckoned, this is the third grandpa's big family, the big name is Lu Jianren.

Since he was a child, he followed Uncle Seven down the river, fishing, digging loaches, dishing leeches...

Lu Jianren took out a cigarette and put it in the mouth, and took out one to give to Lu Dong: "Come on?"

Lu Dong rubbed his right eye, didn't answer it, and pinched his nose: "It smells like wine."

Lu Jianren yawned: "With cigarettes and alcohol in hand, troubles are rolling!" He lit a cigarette, and beckoned to Lu Dong to go to the gate, and there was water flowing in front of him: "The beard is growing, don't smoke, don't drink, it doesn't count." man."

Lu Dong squeezed his right eye: "Real men don't look at these things."

Lu Jianren looked at him: "What's wrong with your eyes? Dirty upper body?"

Lu Dong had no choice but to fight back: "You don't understand, the right eye jumps into money, I can pick up a big wallet today."

"Fart!" Lu Jianren spit out a big puff of smoke: "I am uneducated, and my right eye jumps! Do you understand?"

Lu Dong did not show any weakness: "Uncle Qi, how old are you, and you still practice feudal superstition?"

"Me!" Lu Jianren held a puff of cigarettes on his throat.

Lu Dong speeded up, the more water he went forward, the more water he got, and he soon reached the gate of Jijie.

In this section, the river is due east and west, and the bridge spans from north to south, connecting the gates on both sides.

The sluice built in the 1950s naturally has no lifting slabs. This is the road leading to Majia Village on the opposite side of the bridge. There is an intersection left on the embankment, and two small dams are built with stones. The slideway, the wooden boards of suitable length are stuck in piece by piece, and it becomes the gate.

There were gaps in the temporary gate, and it was not strong enough. People from Lujia Village piled up four or five rows of sandbags as high as the embankment in the back to block the river water from pouring in.

There is still a little water seeping in through the gaps in the sandbags. On the road near the gate, the water is up to the ankles.

Lu Zhenlin's eyes were red. Standing on the small dam, he was directing the people on the embankment to use sticks and bamboo poles to pick them in the water. Occasionally, they could see water hyacinth leaves flying into the air.

"Old Qi, where did you drink yesterday?"

"Be careful third uncle peels your skin!"

There are quite a lot of people around here, and Lu Jianren became the focus as soon as he arrived.

"Brother Dong!"

"Brother Dong!"

The two younger boys smiled at Lu Dong cautiously.

Lu Dong nodded, no nonsense, and climbed directly onto the sandbag embankment. The turbid river had already submerged the new bridge leading to Majia Village. A layer is faintly exposed.

The sundries seem to be light, but they are actually extremely harmful. They are piled up on the bridge and beside the bridge, forming a garbage dam, which seriously hinders the flow of water.

Especially heavy things washed down by the flood, and the debris is blocked, which is very likely to sink to the bottom and block the bridge hole.

It will be fatal then.

Lu Zhenlin was instructing people to pick out the garbage.

Across the river, people in Majia Village are doing the same thing.

"That's a lot of water." Lu Jianren's voice was next to him, mixed with the smell of alcohol and smoke: "Fish is indispensable, I forgot to bring the net!"

Lu Dong was speechless, what time was it, and he was still thinking about fishing.

"It won't work like this." Someone shouted from the top of the small dam, "Third uncle, you can only pick near the bridgehead, it won't do anything."

How long can a bamboo pole be? It's not easy to exert force, and the picks are limited.

Lu Zhenlin was not lacking in determination: "Find a rope and get into the water!" His eyes fell on Lu Jianren: "Old Seven, what did you bastard do last night?"

"Go upstream to dig embankments." Lu Jianren threw away his cigarette butt, and said with a playful smile, "Open your mouth upstream, we will be safe now!"

There were so many people around, all looked over, Lu Jianren didn't care, grabbed Lu Dong's arm and said, "Let's go."

Lu Dong just knew that Uncle Qi had drunk too much yesterday, otherwise he would really suspect that he was digging other people's dikes for his own village.

Someone brought several large coils of rope, including the one from last night, Lu Zhenlin had someone check it first.

Lu Dong stared at the water hyacinths and rubbish piled up on the bridge. The embankment was saved last night, and the fate of Lujia Village had been rewritten, but the flood was still raging, and no one could guarantee that there would be no more problems.

If the water flow is not smooth, the water level in this section will increase.

The water level can't get any higher.

Lu Jianren squatted on the small dam, looked at the bridge, and said, "Third Uncle, there are too many water hyacinths. We have to clear one batch and return another batch. We need to smash the guardrail!"

The one holding the bamboo pole said: "Lao Qi, the bridge was newly built in the county last year, and it was broken, so how can we explain it!"

Lu Dong thought Uncle Seven was right, so he hurriedly said to Lu Zhenlin, "Third Grandpa, it's not a problem to always send someone down. It's easy to talk about during the day, but dangerous at night."

"Go find the sledgehammer!" Lu Zhenlin gritted his teeth with red eyes and said, "Smash it! I will take care of it!"

Lu Jianren did his part: "I'm going into the water!"

Lu Dong said, "I'll go with Seventh Uncle to take care of me."

What Uncle Tie said last night was right, no one in Lujia Village can stay out of it!

"Old Qi, you drank too much yesterday, is that okay?" someone asked with concern.

Lu Jianren gritted his teeth and said, "Wife and child, father and mother are all in the village, if you can't do it, you have to do it!"

He tied the rope around his waist, saw many people behind him grabbed the rope, took the long-handled sledgehammer, and said to Lu Dong, "Don't be cowardly, Dongzi, follow your seventh uncle!"

After speaking, he jumped into the water and shouted, "Finish the work early, catch fish early!"

Lu Dong tied the rope, nodded to the person pulling the rope behind him, grabbed the sledgehammer, and jumped down too.

The bridge was raised high, and the two of them were tall and strong, so the water could not reach their chests.

In the section near the embankment, most of the sundries were picked up, so there was no need to clean them up first.

Lu Jianren grabbed Lu Dong's arm and shouted: "You hit the west side along the water, I hit the east side, you hit it first! Hold on! Don't panic when the water rushes away, hold your breath as I taught you, the top can pull it back!"

"Don't worry!" Lu Dong dragged the sledgehammer in the water and walked westward.

There are bridges and guardrails, and the speed of the water on the bridge will not rush people away.

Regardless of Qi Shu on the other side, Lu Dong stabilized his body, swung his sledgehammer, and slammed it hard towards the stone guardrail.

The hammer head fell into the water, and its force weakened somewhat, but Lu Dong was so powerful that the sledgehammer still hit the guardrail with a bang.

Click——

There was a not too obvious cracking sound.

Lu Dong wiped away the water that fell on his face, and swung the sledgehammer to hit it hard, again and again.

After being washed overnight, the guardrail was hit hard a few times, and a large piece of it immediately broke off and fell off.

Lu Dong continued his efforts, and with a few more hammers, the stone guardrail that was connected together fell down two or three meters with a click, and a large piece of water hyacinth and other garbage accumulated in front was immediately washed away.

"Go forward!" Lu Jianren reminded Lu Dong: "Don't stop, go to the water gourd first!"

As Lu Dong walked away, Lu Jianren knocked down the west guardrail against the current, and the water flow on this section of the bridge suddenly accelerated, almost washing him away.

Lu Jianren leaned on the sledgehammer to stabilize himself, and walked forward, while rushing to the opposite side of the bridge and shouted: "Mr. Ma, don't let him be a coward, what a shrinking turtle? Is there any one with a handle? It's the man who hastened to get off!" people!"

Lu Dong has convinced Seventh Uncle's bad mouth, when did he start making fun of it?

A large number of water hyacinths and rubbish were washed away by the current. Lu Dong kept pulling them up and throwing them out. In the middle, he encountered a piglet that had been dead for a few days. The taste is indescribable.

When Lu Dong cleared a section and was about to smash the guardrail again, someone from Majia Village on the opposite side also got into the water and cursed at this side: "Old Qi, you mountain sculpture, we will settle the score after the water clears!"

On the small dam, several people climbed up, the leader was a young man wearing glasses, about 27 or 28 years old, wearing long black rubber shoes, white shirt tucked into the waist, and the belt was shiny and reflective.

"Third Uncle, Mayor Yang is here." Lu Jianshe, who followed closely, reminded Lu Zhenlin who was staring at the river.

"Hello, old secretary!" Mayor Yang Liewen stepped forward to shake hands: "Aid will arrive soon, but traffic conditions are problematic, so we need to make a detour."

Yang Liewen is very heart-warming. He just took office for a month and encountered a flood that has never happened in 50 years. He rushed over this morning when he received a call. The flood didn't see him, so he was wiped out by the stagnant water in the highway bridge hole...

Grassroots work is not easy to do, there are pitfalls everywhere!