The wind blew.
It carried the cool air of the spring water, but everyone's hearts remained as hot as before.
Zhao Anhe had just denied it, and Zhao Ergou didn't know whether he should continue speaking.
Cheng Luanluan opened her mouth indifferently, "Besides digging a ditch, have you thought of any other better methods?"
Everyone fell silent. They couldn't think of any other way.
"Ergouzi, you continue speaking." The village head took a puff of his pipe. "What if it can be done?"
Zhao Ergou hadn't slept all night, not because of a broken heart, but because he wanted to find a better solution than digging a ditch.
This was the most important matter in the village, long surpassing his personal romantic affairs. "Ten-odd li sounds far, and it takes more than half an hour to walk there, but in reality, if we divide those ten-odd li into many small sections, with each person responsible for one section, then this matter isn't that difficult."
He stood up, took three or four steps, and continued.
"This is roughly one zhang. One person might be able to dig it in one hour. In case it doesn't rain, the ground is hard, and there might be some rocks in the soil, then let's assume one person needs two hours to dig one zhang." Zhao Ergou said confidently, "Yesterday, I went down to measure a bit. It's roughly more than three thousand zhang in total. One person digging one zhang needs two hours, so three thousand zhang would require three thousand people to dig in two hours..."
He used the calculation method Cheng Luanluan had taught him yesterday, and he calculated it very quickly.
Normally, when the village head handled daily work on site, he had to calculate these numbers in his head, so he could instantly figure out the answer.
The labor force of Daha Village, from sixteen to forty-five years old, was roughly four to five hundred people. If many people participated together, it might take about fifteen or sixteen hours.
Everyone couldn't work all day at high intensity. Dividing the time a bit, it would roughly take two and a half days.
Two and a half days to bring water from the mountain down to the rice fields – this was an absurd idea that the village head had never even considered.
"Ergouzi, you are very clever..." The village head couldn't believe it. "Before, I thought Tie Zhu was the cleverest child in Daha Village, but from today onwards, you are also one of them." Zhao Sidan pouted, "Then am I not clever?"
The village head laughed heartily, "If you can recognize ten characters, then you will be the third cleverest child in Daha Village."
Zhao Sidan immediately grabbed Zhao Tie Zhu's hand, "Brother Tie Zhu, teach me to recognize ten characters. I'll treat you to candied chestnuts."
Zhao Tie Zhu's saliva immediately flowed. "One character for one chestnut."
Zhao Sidan quickly nodded.
Calculating in his heart, the village head felt completely relaxed.
He stood on a high rock, looking at the winding mountain path, and opened his mouth to say, "Mother Dashan, which path do you think is suitable for digging the ditch?"
Normally, when encountering such matters, the village head would discuss them with the old farmers in the village, but today, he always wanted to hear Cheng Luanluan's opinion.
To be able to teach Zhao Ergou to be so clever, Mother Dashan must also be very capable.
Moreover, Mother Dashan was from the Cheng family. The Cheng family had a *tongsheng*, rumored to be the youngest *tongsheng* within ten li and eight villages.
Cheng Luanluan pondered for a moment before saying, "The water source starts from the bottom of the valley. We'll dig a trench directly from the bottom of the valley, circling east, and then it will run straight down. The sun doesn't reach this side, so the ground won't harden..."
The village chief nodded repeatedly. He and Cheng Luanluan roughly determined the path of the trench, making several marks along the way.
They were busy until noon.
The group prepared to descend the mountain.
Halfway down, Cheng Luanluan suddenly remembered what Zhao Sidan had said yesterday—if only they could hatch chicks.