Chapter 215 - 216: Building a Waterworks

Chapter 215: Chapter 216: Building a Waterworks

Once everything was settled, Zhang Rong and Mr. Zhong left together.

Before she left, Zhang Rong said she’d buy a bed for Li Yang.

After seeing them off, Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Now that someone else was planning the vegetable cultivation for him, things were much better. He wouldn’t have to waste any more energy on it, especially since he didn’t know much about it anyway.

He went to the Angler’s Center and found that the people who came yesterday were already preparing to leave.

Of course, it looked like a few more people had arrived today; they were out on the lake, riding motorboats.

Still, not many people were coming.

Li Yang wasn’t in a hurry, though. It was good enough that some people were showing up, especially since his own infrastructure wasn’t even set up yet.

Once the resort was built, he could really start drawing in crowds.

When Gao Xin Xue saw Li Yang walk in, she said, "You overlooked a problem before. Water!"

Li Yang froze for a second. "Water?"

"That’s right!" Gao Xin Xue reminded him. "Electricity is fine. It’s part of a national plan, so every village has power. We don’t have to worry about that. But what about running water? We don’t have that right now. With just a few people, we can manage. But what happens when more people come? And when the resort opens? How are we going to solve the water problem?"

Li Yang smacked himself on the head. ’Damn, I really did forget about that.’

"Alright, I get it," Li Yang said quickly. "I’ll solve this."

"Good!"

’Water... I’ll have to build a water treatment plant.’

After thinking for a moment, Li Yang immediately went to find Li Shunsheng.

"Uncle Shunsheng, I have something to discuss with you."

"What is it?" Li Shunsheng asked, puffing on his traditional long-stemmed pipe.

"I want to solve our village’s drinking water problem..." Li Yang began. "Right now, most of us use hand-pump wells, and some even have to carry water from a source. Our village has so many water resources, so I was thinking of building a water treatment plant to supply the whole village. What do you think?"

Li Shunsheng stared, dumbfounded. He looked at Li Yang and said, "This... this is a wonderful thing, of course!"

In the countryside, there were no policies for installing running water yet, nor any signs of them. If they waited for the government to do it, they could be waiting forever. They had to do it themselves.

But in such a poor village, who would be able to do something like this?

Now that Li Yang was proposing to address such a basic public need, of course Li Shunsheng was delighted.

"My idea is to get the people from our water company to do it..." Li Yang said after a moment of thought. "I have a stake in that company anyway. But once it’s built, residents will definitely have to pay for water, so I still need to ask the villagers if they’re willing."

"Okay, no problem!" Li Shunsheng decided immediately. "I’ll call everyone over."

Soon, Li Shunsheng had used the village broadcast system to summon everyone.

"Everyone, please quiet down..." Li Yang looked at the villagers and spoke again. "Water is a problem in our village, so I want to build a water treatment plant to supply us with drinking water. In the future, you’ll be able to just turn on a tap at home and get water. How does that sound?"

The villagers were stunned for a moment, then broke out into exclamations.

That was something you only saw on TV! Something only cities had. They never would have dared to dream of it in the countryside.

"Xiaoyang, will we have to pay for it?" one of the villagers, most concerned about this issue, quickly asked.

Li Yang smiled and said, "I’ll discuss the construction of the water treatment plant with the water company from Cold Water Lake. I won’t ask you to pay for the construction. But I have to make it clear beforehand: once the plant is built, you will have to pay for the water you use."

Pay for our own water?

"How would we pay?" Whenever money was involved, the villagers paid close attention.

"In the city, residential water is usually four to five yuan per ton..." Li Yang explained. "For us, I can tentatively set the price at three yuan per ton. As for usage, a family using ten tons a month would be considered very high. In other words, at most it would be thirty yuan a month, or one yuan a day."

That price... was acceptable!

The villagers’ faces lit up. "No problem, we’ll pay."

Although everyone was quite frugal, they could still recognize a good thing when they saw one.

"Then it’s settled..." Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried they wouldn’t even be willing to part with that small amount of money. "I’ll go talk to the owner of the water company."

"Aren’t you the owner?" one of the villagers laughed.

Li Yang smiled and explained, "I am, but I still have to talk to my partner, right? Don’t be impatient, everyone."

"Alright!"

Back home, Li Yang called Qin Susu. "Susu, where are you? I need to discuss something with you..."

"What is it?" Qin Susu asked. "I’m in the city. Our business is booming right now! It’s all thanks to you opening up the market. I heard you know a lot of the people who are insisting on ordering from us, saying our water quality is excellent."

Li Yang laughed. "As long as business is good. Come back tonight, then. I have something important to discuss with you."

That evening, Qin Susu returned.

She had a smile on her face; it seemed business really was going well.