Border Cook

Fang Linwang, who was strolling along the Yongfeng River and writing and drawing with a pen and paper, handed the almost finished drawing to Lu Qiyan.

After Lu Qiyan studied it for a moment, he frowned slightly and said, "Master Fang, the location of this bridge..."

"Yes." Fang Linwang nodded, "This bridge cannot be built in the original location. It needs to be moved two miles to the east. This way, the impact of the water flow will be the weakest, the bridge will be the most stable, and the life of the bridge will be longer."

"The location was not very good before. The bridge piers were subjected to great impact. Even if you use enough materials now, it will only last for 10 to 20 years. The reason why the bridge was destroyed so easily was because of the poor location."

"Then why did they choose this place to build the bridge?" Zhao Youcai was puzzled. "Did the other craftsmen not see it?"

"Do you think everyone has my ability?" Fang Linwang rolled his eyes at Zhao Youcai at first, but he also patiently explained, "The person in charge of supervising the construction of this bridge was the county magistrate of Cong County. I heard that the county magistrate of Cong County believed in ghosts, gods, and feng shui the most. I guess some great master said that building a road here would bring prosperity to his career, so he built the bridge here."

"To outsiders, building a bridge is just a matter of building a bridge whenever there is water. Whether the water is big or small, it's just a matter of building more piers or making them wider. But that's not the case. From choosing the site to determining the shape of the bridge, any carelessness is unacceptable. Otherwise, when there is a flood, it will..."

Fang Linwang suddenly paused.

He was from Shaoxing. When he was young, he had already learned the skills of building stone bridges. Since he started building bridges, he was praised for the novel and exquisite appearance and superb craftsmanship of his bridges.

He was in high spirits at the time, but also arrogant and frivolous because of his talent.

Relying on his talent in bridge-building, he did not pay attention to many details, so that the bridge he built did not seem to have any problems. However, after five consecutive days of heavy rain that year, it was completely washed away.

Fang Linwang still remembers the promises he made with great confidence, but all of them turned into slaps in the face, making him feel ashamed.

Although most of the bridges on the river were destroyed due to heavy rain and floods at that time, the local government determined that the destruction of the bridges was a natural disaster and did not hold him accountable.

But the scene of the bridge collapse and the deaths on that day is still vivid in my mind decades later, turning into sharp arrows hitting my forehead, causing me great pain.

After that, he vowed that when rebuilding the bridge, he would be cautious at every step and would not allow any mistakes, whether it was site selection, bridge design, on-site surveying or piling... He had to do his best in every step and would not give anyone a chance to fool around!

"In short, it is better to choose a location here. In addition, the bridge design must also abandon the previous appearance and make it into an ordinary stone beam bridge, which is strong and durable, and uses common materials and low cost." Fang Linwang said.

"Yes." Lu Qiyan nodded, "Then let's do as Master Fang said."

"But if that's the case, wouldn't it be inappropriate?" Zhao Youcai was a little worried.

Lu Qiyan is currently being targeted, and if he is caught with some small flaws again, it would be bad.

"The higher-ups only said to build a bridge, but never said it had to be built on the original site." Lu Qiyan said with a smile, "Brother Zhao, have you forgotten that when the battalion commander ordered the bridge to be built, he only said that the bridge on the Yongfeng River was destroyed and a new one had to be built."

As for where the bridge was built, whether it was offset from the original site, and whether its appearance was the same, there was no mention at all.

Since you haven't said it, it depends on the situation.

"That's what's going on." Zhao Youcai nodded repeatedly and even touched his nose.

He has been in the army for so many years and has fought in many battles, but now he is just the head of a battalion. There is a reason why Lu Qiyan was promoted to the head of a captain so quickly.

Sure enough, young brains are much more useful.

After deciding on the new location and bridge type, Fang Linwang began to select suitable wood and stone. Lu Qiyan sent Zhao Youcai to follow him to ensure that everything was safe.

After explaining these things, Lu Qiyan asked someone to harness a horse, took a few soldiers with him, and prepared to go out and visit the nearby gentry and wealthy families again.

As a leader, it's time for him to show some bad habits of taking bribes.

When Su Yongfu was driving back, his car was empty. He was very familiar with the road and drove very fast along the way. Just after noon, he arrived at Xia Mingyue's house.

"This is the brown sugar and red date buns and rice cakes that the kitchen brought for Madam Xia." Su Yongfu did not forget to take out the small bag in his arms and handed it to Xia Mingyue, "This is what Lu Dutou asked me to bring back. He said it was for you, Madam Xia."

Lu Qiyan asked Su Yongfu to bring back some silver?

Didn’t we agree earlier at Xiaohe Village that Lu Qiyan should focus on his own affairs first? Why is he…

"Thank you, Brother Su." Xia Mingyue took the things one by one, and when she took the cloth bag, her eyebrows were slightly raised.

This weight is even heavier than when we were in Xiaohezhuang.

Could it be that Lu Qiyan has made a fortune during this period?
Xia Mingyue smiled and opened the bag. But when she saw that the bag contained not silver but small pebbles, she was stunned.

Then he held his forehead and laughed.

This is because Wu Jin found a lot of small stones for her last time and she liked them very much, so Lu Qiyan thought that she liked collecting them and specially asked someone to bring them back?

But to be honest, the small pebbles that Lu Qiyan brought back were smooth and round, with different colors. When piled together, they had a bit of the color of jade and were quite beautiful.

The number of small stones that Lu Qiyan brought back this time was more than the number that Wu Jin found last time.

Xia Mingyue weighed the bag of stones in his hand and went to the street after thinking for a moment.

In the afternoon, someone brought a small stone-carved fish tank with a few bright red koi fish in it.

Xia Mingyue put all the clean pebbles in.

The bottom of the fish tank immediately became colorful and very beautiful.

"When spring comes, plant a lotus and the fish tank will look even better," Jiang Zhuguo suggested.

"It's feasible." Xia Mingyue fiddled with the pebbles in the fish tank with her hands, smiling.

The chill in winter grows stronger day by day.

Xia Ji's business in various locations is like the warm sunshine in winter, common and prosperous.

In the past few days, Xia Mingyue has confirmed the joining of two breakfast stalls, started new training, and began to gradually increase the production of the central kitchen.

Song has been looking for a place for her to live these days.

After some inquiries, Song finally settled down in Feng's house.

Feng took the initiative to bring this up because her yard was not small and she had extra rooms, but she lived alone and felt lonely. (End of this chapter)