Cheng Luanluan knew what adobe was. It was a square mold into which a mixture of mud and water was poured, along with straw or wheat straw cut into finger-length pieces. After the mud and straw were mixed and solidified, the adobe was dried to make mud bricks. Houses were built with these very adobe bricks, one by one.
Most houses in Dahe Village were built this way. The village chief's house was slightly better; its foundation was built with stone, but it was still basically constructed with adobe.
The cost of building an adobe house was very low. As long as there were many people in the family, they would usually spend time accumulating adobe, and by the time winter arrived, they could build a house.
Cheng Luanluan did not want to live in an adobe house. But at this moment, she did not have the means to build a house with blue tiles, and doing so would also easily arouse jealousy among the villagers. The village chief did not live in a house with blue tiles; how could a widow like her, with four sons, have the money to build a large house?
They had not walked many steps when they heard the sound of horse hooves from behind.
Cheng Luanluan turned her head and saw a carriage speeding towards them. The driver made a "shhh" sound, and the carriage stopped by the roadside.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted, and Zhao Lizheng, the village chief of Dahe Village, eagerly jumped down from the carriage. The driver clasped his hands and returned to the carriage.
This was the first time Cheng Luanluan had seen a carriage in ancient times. Many people in Dahe Village were also seeing a carriage for the first time. The villagers working in the fields on both sides of the road stopped what they were doing and came over to watch, surrounding the village chief and asking all sorts of questions.
The village chief stroked his beard and said solemnly, "This carriage belongs to our Ping'an Town Magistrate. The driver is the magistrate's personal attendant, specially sent to bring me back."
"Hmph, the village chief is truly impressive, to be personally escorted back by Magistrate Daren's confidant."
"Our Dahe Village chief is truly capable, to be able to make Magistrate Daren look at him differently."
The village chief was extremely pleased by the praise and said with a smile, "The reason I caught Magistrate Daren's attention is precisely because of the matter a few days ago, when our Dahe Village worked together to dig a ditch from the mountain to bring water to the plains. I don't know why this matter reached Magistrate Daren's ears.
Today, he called me over to inquire about it. Before, it was difficult for me to even meet Magistrate Daren, but today I was fortunate enough to sit and drink tea with him."
The other villagers were extremely envious and quickly asked, "How old is Magistrate Daren? Is Magistrate Daren thin or fat? Is Magistrate Daren easy to talk to...?"
It was the village chief's first time meeting Magistrate Daren, and he was eager to show off, so he naturally answered every question.
After these people finished praising him, Cheng Luanluan spoke, "Village Chief Uncle, why did Magistrate Daren specifically ask about the ditch digging? Is there some arrangement?"
The village chief's desire to show off immediately dimmed. He had not expected that Da Shan's mother could guess the deeper meaning behind Magistrate Daren's summons.
He nodded and said, "There are thirty-six villages under Ping'an Town, and every village is experiencing drought. Magistrate Daren wants to promote the digging of ditches and asked me if it was feasible."
The surrounding villagers burst into laughter.
"Just because there's water on Mount Dadong doesn't mean there's water on other mountains."
"Even Guihua Village, which is closest to us, has no solution, let alone those villages far away from us."
"Magistrate Daren must be sick to worry about finding a doctor..."
Li Zheng remained silent, staring intently at Cheng Luanluan. His intuition told him that the mother of Dashan would surely have a different perspective.
Cheng Luanluan looked at her four sons: "Take the things back and clean up. Wait for me to return."
Li Zheng and Cheng Luanluan walked to the large pagoda tree in the middle of the village.
The other villagers dared not follow. Ever since the incident with the irrigation ditch, they no longer dared to look down on this Sister-in-law Zhao as they once did.
Even Li Zheng held her in high regard, so how could they dare to disrespect her?