I rely on infrastructure systems to build a prosperous village

Chapter 124 Li Lan falls ill

When Cao Zhixing heard the word "cement", a look of confusion appeared on his face.

Li Lan smiled and explained, "It's the gray fine sand used to build the docks and riverbanks in Liujiawan. Haven't you seen it, brother?"

"That's it. So it's called cement, what a great name. That solves the problem. We'll measure the depth of the river later and use that to decide how wide and deep the canal should be."

"Okay, brother. Let's continue walking along the river and see where the river branches off and flows into Wangjia Village. We can then connect the end of the canal to it to form a closed loop."

Cao Zhixing's eyes lit up. Although he didn't understand the meaning of "closed loop," he understood the meaning of this sentence. He murmured, "Closed loop, closed loop, this is very good."

Li Lan laughed and shook his head, and the few of them continued to move forward.

This time, after walking for nearly an hour, they skirted a small mountain on the side of the pebble beach, and the water continued to flow slowly downward. They discovered that, just as Li Lan had guessed, the river had split into a branch flowing towards Wangjia Village, and that the branch happened to pass by the foot of the mountain on the side of the pebble beach.

Li Lan estimated the distance from the foot of the mountain to the pebble beach to be three kilometers. He sighed inwardly, thinking it was a massive project.

Cao Zhixing looked back and forth, pondering for a long time before saying, "Fortunately, this tributary has already reached the foot of the mountain. It seems it should be level with the pebble beach. However, sister-in-law, this is a huge undertaking. Just from the pebble beach to this location it's several thousand feet long, and we still have to clear away trees and rocks."

Li Lan sighed lightly. Since ancient times, water conservancy projects have always been large-scale projects that have been labor-intensive and costly.

"Brother, there's nothing we can do. We have to dig. If we don't, it will be even harder when drought strikes in the future."

Cao Zhixing looked at the determined eyes and straight back of the woman in front of him, and couldn't help but be shocked, his eyes full of admiration.

"Okay, sister-in-law. I'll take this job. Don't worry, I'll make it beautiful for you."

Li Lan was delighted and said with a smile, "Okay, then I'd like to thank you in advance, brother."

By the time they got home, it was already dark. Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Zhang looked at Li Lan, who had been working non-stop for days and had become thinner, and their eyes were filled with heartache.

"Sister, please eat more. You've lost so much weight."

"Yes, sister. Eat more. Don't you love meat the most? Today, grandma and mother went to Butcher Li's house and bought a lot of meat."

Li Hang and Li Run stared closely at Li Lan who was eating.

Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Zhang kept putting food into Li Lan's bowl.

Looking at the mountain of vegetables in his other bowl, Li Lan smiled helplessly.

"Grandma, Mom, please stop putting food in my bowl. It's full."

"Eat more. You've become so skinny."

"Okay, milk. I'll eat more."

Li Lan saw Wang Po's worried look and hurriedly comforted her.

"Zhihang, Zhou Da, Friday, you guys should eat more too. You must be tired these days, right?"

Li Chunping picked up the serving chopsticks and put a few pieces of meat into each person's bowl.

"It's okay, uncle. Compared to my brother and sister-in-law, our situation is nothing."

Cao Zhixing swallowed the food in his mouth and smiled.

Zhou Da and Zhou Wu also nodded heavily.

Li Xi couldn't help laughing when she saw the two men's cheeks bulging with food.

Zhou Da paused while eating and stole a glance at Li Xi. Seeing that she was looking at him with a smile, his ears turned red and he quickly lowered his head to continue eating.

"Fourth Uncle should have finished his exams by now. I've been so busy these days that I almost forgot about it."

Speaking of this, Mrs. Wang was extremely happy and her excitement was beyond words.

"Not only did you finish the exam, your fourth uncle has now won the title of Jieyuan. The person who brought the good news from the county came today, and now everyone in the village knows about it. The village chief uncle is so happy."

Zhang said with a beaming expression.

"The fourth child is really amazing. Back then, Dad said he would definitely get into high school. I thought he was just saying that to comfort him, but I never thought he was really a good student."

Upon hearing this, Zhang said with disdain, "Master, you are all born of the same mother, so why is there such a big difference? And my fourth brother is the best looking of you brothers."

"Hey, wife, you can't say that. The nine sons of a dragon are all different. Although the three of us brothers are not as good-looking as the fourth, we are still pretty. Otherwise, you wouldn't be attracted to me. Besides, who can be as good-looking as my daughter?"

Li Chunping became more and more proud as he spoke.

In this way, the two of them exchanged words, and the others couldn't help laughing. Although the speaker didn't mean it, the listener took it to heart. Suddenly, Wang Po's face turned pale, her heart tightened, her eyes flickered, she pursed her lips, and sat stiffly in her chair, forgetting to react for a moment.

Li Lan had a smile on his face, but when he saw his grandmother's face was pale, his eyes darkened and he understood. He quickly said, "Dad, Mom, I'm done eating. Everyone is tired today, so hurry up and wash up and get some rest."

……

Two days later, a carriage drove to the fork in the road and saw a checkpoint, so it stopped on Saturday.

"Oh, you guys are back on Saturday? Is Huazi back too?"

"Yes, Li Quan. They are all back."

At this time, Li Chunhua lifted the curtain of the carriage and walked out.

"Hua Zi, congratulations."

"Congratulations, Huazi."

Many men standing nearby also hurried forward to congratulate them.

"Thank you everyone."

Li Chunhua bowed.

"Li Quan, there have been so many changes in the past few months since we were away. The road is so well paved, and the trees on both sides are newly planted, right? There are even lanterns hanging on the trees."

Seeing Zhou Liu's surprised look, everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"It's Saturday, so this is nothing. You'll know when you get back to the village. Hurry back, you've been traveling all day, go back and rest early. The president has been so busy lately that she's lost a lot of weight. Now that you're back, you can help her out more. We can't do much to help her even if we want to."

Li Quan scratched his head and smiled unnaturally.

When Li Chunhua heard that Li Lan had lost a lot of weight, a trace of heartache flashed across her eyes. An anxious look appeared on her face. She quickly said, "It's Saturday. Let's go back quickly."

After saying that, he got on the carriage.

He was originally very curious about the changes in the village along the way, but now he just wanted to see Li Lan as soon as possible.

Mrs. Li looked at Li Chunhua's anxious expression, her eyes darkened, and she sighed in her heart: The Fourth Master is in deep trouble, what should we do?

Meanwhile, Li Lan, who was checking the progress of the river embankment construction with Cao Zhixing in Liujiawan, sneezed and sniffed from time to time.

"Sister-in-law, are you catching a cold?"

"Well, I guess I got a cold from sweating during my morning exercise today and not paying attention."

Li Lan said with a thick nasal tone.

"Sister-in-law, go find the village doctor. If it's really a cold, it's no small matter."

"Okay, brother. I'll go back to Lijia Village and ask Doctor Xu to prescribe some medicine."

Seeing her insistence, Cao Zhixing didn't say anything. Turning around, he looked at the riverbank and pier, which would be completed in a month or so, and suddenly felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Li Lan stayed in Liujiawan for a while, and felt a dizzy headache. He touched his forehead and guessed that he had a fever. He quickly asked Zhou Da to drive the carriage back to Lijia Village.

After getting off the carriage, Li Lan walked towards home with a dizzy feeling. When he was only a few steps away from the gate, he suddenly saw Li Chunhua walking hurriedly out of the yard.

Li Lan smiled and weakly called out "Fourth Uncle", and wanted to go forward, but he didn't expect that as soon as he took a step, he fell straight forward.

"Host."

"Xiaolan."

"Big girl."

"Daughter."

"Girl."

"lady."

"girl."

Hearing the cries of several people and the frantic sound of footsteps approaching from afar, Li Lan was so confused that he couldn't make out who was who. He couldn't help but close his eyes, thinking to himself: It's over, face down.

At this moment, a strong arm passed through her armpit and lifted her up. Just as Li Lan slowly opened her eyes, she was lifted into the air. Looking at the handsome face that was enlarged and filled with anxiety, Li Lan pulled the corner of her mouth weakly.

"You came."