Chapter 740 Blueprint for the future
Wang Jianguo pointed to the adobe house in the distance with a lantern on. The wick cast a warm yellow glow on the window paper:
"Do you see that red five-pointed star? That's the supply and marketing cooperative. Tomorrow I'll take you to exchange your food coupons for fruit candies."
Yang Huaiqing immediately jumped forward, ice crystals falling from his eyelashes:
"Can you change to orange flavor? I've smelled it on the black market, and it's so sweet that I want to swallow it!"
"Enough!"
Wang Jianguo patted him on the back and led him to the brick kiln at the east end of the village.
A slope of earth with flickering flames appeared ahead. Wang Jianguo pointed at the fenced-off area and swept the dry grass on the roadside with his cotton sleeves:
“We’re at the brick factory!”
The cave in the distance was spitting out orange-red flames. The kiln workers were carrying green bricks in and out. Sweat condensed into icicles on their brows, but they were all shouting slogans, and their voices could be heard from far away on the empty snowy field.
“The brick factory was just set on fire last month.”
Wang Jianguo kicked a newly-fired green brick at his feet, which still had the residual heat from the kiln fire on its surface.
"Look at this brick, it's so solid!"
He picked up a brick and handed it to Yang Huaixi. The rough surface of the brick made his palm hot.
"In the past, the village was full of adobe houses, which leaked when it rained. Now, with this brick factory..."
He suddenly pointed to the open space under the old elm tree in the distance, where the golden light of the morning sun was shining on the snow:
"The clinic will be built right there. It will be three large tiled houses, all made of these blue bricks!"
Tongues of fire shot out from deep within the cave, licking the night sky. The kiln workers, with beads of sweat and icicles on their bare arms, were carrying red-hot bricks out of the kiln. Orange-red flames shone through the cracks between the bricks.
"Touch this brick,"
Wang Jianguo kicked the blue bricks at his feet, the surface of which still retained the warmth from the kiln fire.
"The walls of the clinic are built with these bricks. They are a hundred times stronger than the dilapidated temples you bought on the black market. They can keep out the wind and snow in winter."
Yang Huaiqing immediately stepped forward and scratched the brick surface with his fingers:
“How wide can the window be opened?”
Wang Jianguo laughed and patted him on the shoulder:
"It's bigger than the commune office! Picking herbs in the sun in the winter is warmer than wearing ten cotton-padded jackets!"
Yang Huaixi stroked the traces of kiln fire on the blue bricks and thought of the shabby shed where he lived in the black market.
Whenever it rained, water droplets on the plastic sheet would drip down the corners of the wall, and he and Douzi could only huddle next to the medicine box at night.
The warmth of his palm at this moment reminded him of the words the old beggar said before he died:
“Find a place where you can take root and live well.”
Suddenly there was a shout from the kiln factory. Several kiln workers were carrying piles of bricks as they passed by. The leading man saw Wang Jianguo and shouted at the top of his voice:
"Brother Jianguo! Are you showing the newcomers around the brick factory?"
Wang Jianguo responded immediately and took over the conversation familiarly:
"This is Brother Huaixi who knows about herbal medicine. We will rely on them in the future!"
Yang Huaixi nodded somewhat stiffly, but saw the man grinning, revealing his smoke-yellow teeth:
"Great! Now I have a place to go when I have a headache or fever!"
The morning sun rose higher and higher, giving the brick factory's cave dwellings a golden edge.
Wang Jianguo took Yang Huaixi and his brother around the brick factory and described every detail, from the earthen kang in the kiln to the brick stacking site.
Yang Huaiqing squatted in front of the cave, stretched out his hand to touch the bricks that had just come out of the kiln, and withdrew his hand with a cry of "ouch", but couldn't help stretching it out again. Wang Jianguo smiled and patted him on the back:
"You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. The bricks need to be thoroughly dried before they become solid."
When leaving the brick factory, Yang Huaixi looked back. The firelight from the cave reflected in his eyes, interweaving with the golden light of the rising sun.
He remembered the pride Wang Jianguo showed when he introduced the brick factory, as if this was not a brick factory in the village, but his own treasure.
The snow under their feet was softened by the sun, and every step left a clear footprint, as if they were stepping out their own path in the Great Northern Wilderness.
Yang Huaiqing suddenly pointed at the footprints on the distant ridge:
"Brother, do you think that looks like a rabbit's footprint?"
Wang Jianguo immediately became interested after hearing this and bent down to take a look:
"It really looks like that! When the clinic is built, I will take you to catch rabbits and nourish your body!"
The three of them walked towards the commune, chatting and laughing. The fire in the brick factory behind them was still burning brightly, as if burning the people of the Great Northern Wilderness's hope for better days, and also illuminating the future where the Yang Huaixi brothers were about to take root.
Yang Huaixi's palm touched the brick surface. The rough touch reminded him of the half piece of frozen steamed bread that the old beggar had stuffed into his mouth before he died. At that time, they were huddled in the corner of the dilapidated temple, and even the residual warmth of the brick fire was a luxury.
After turning a snow-covered slope, Wang Jianguo suddenly stopped and pointed to the open space under the old elm tree.
In the moonlight, the untrampled snow glowed with a pearly luster. A few dead grasses poked their heads out from the cracks in the snow, shivering in the cold wind.
"Look here!"
He drew a rectangular outline on the snow with his feet, and the sound of the ice crust being crushed by the soles of his boots was particularly clear.
"There are three large tiled houses, facing north and south. The one at the east end is used as a medicine store. The bupleurum and angelica you picked can be neatly stacked there."
"The room at the west end has a treatment bed. Xiao Hua's acupuncture needles can be warmed by the sun on the windowsill. In the middle..."
He kept the question in suspense on purpose, looking at Yang Huaiqing's wide eyes and trying to hold back his laughter.
"Build a fire bed in the middle for you two brothers!"
Wang Jianguo's laughter shook off the snow on the elm branches, and the snow foam fell on Yang Huaiqing's cotton hat.
"The windows should be larger than those in the commune office. In winter, when I sit on the kang to prepare medicine, the sun can shine from morning till night. It is warmer than wrapping myself in three quilts!"
Yang Huaiqing immediately squatted on the ground and used branches to carefully outline the appearance of the house. He first drew a square roof, then added a crooked chimney next to it, and finally drew two crooked trees at the door.
Yang Huaixi stood behind him, watching the boy's shadow stretched out by the moonlight.
Suddenly I felt something heating up in my chest, as if a flame suddenly appeared in a stove that had not been lit for a long time, warming up the cold nights when I was making a living on the black market.
When the sun rose to the top of their heads, the three of them walked towards the commune along the ruts of the brick factory.
The roasted sweet potato in Yang Huaiqing's pocket had already gone cold, but he still held it in his hand. Wang Jianguo pointed to the ridge in the distance:
"Look, that's the slope where we'll plant herbs. We'll turn that slope over in the spring and plant herbs. We can plant bupleurum and angelica from the top to the bottom of the slope."
Yang Huaixi saw that the brick chips mixed with snow water on the soles of his boots were seeping into the ground beneath his feet bit by bit.
The bandage on his injured arm had loosened at some point, revealing new flesh that glowed pink in the sunlight, like the first wisp of smoke rising from a brick factory chimney, slender but stubbornly floating toward the sky.
Wang Jianguo suddenly stopped and took out an oil-paper bag from his cotton-padded jacket. Inside was half a piece of black ointment:
"Apply the skin-regenerating ointment prepared by Yang Xiaohua twice a day."
He squatted down and carefully re-bandaged Yang Huaixi's wound. When his fingers touched the skin under the bandage, he found that the wound was unusually warm.