Chapter 47: The Iron Roof

After instructing Wang Laosan to quickly send the students back and head to the new house, Li Xian and Li Pi returned home.

In just a month, the house had transformed drastically. The previously empty land was now home to three large tiled rooms. The wall decorations were exquisitely done, with mosaic tiles arranged in a diamond pattern, smooth and even. The spacing between tiles was perfect, making it look like a gently rippling lake shimmering under the sunset.

The yard had been paved with cement, with dog kennels and pig pens also made out of cement. The once barren garden was now neatly divided into furrows, with seasonal vegetables like scallions and chives planted.

When Li Xian and Li Pi got home, Zou Ni was busy in the garden, and Li You was entertaining a large group of people in the yard.

Li Xian had informed Wang Qinghe the night before that he would be returning today, and the workers' wages for over a month needed to be settled.

Hearing that wages would be paid today, more than fifty workers had gathered early.

"Xianzi is back!"

Seeing Li Xian's motorcycle enter the yard, everyone immediately got up and surrounded him.

Li Xian unloaded his things from the motorcycle. Before he could even enter the yard, he was surrounded by a group of enthusiastic workers. Seeing their faces full of eager smiles, he felt quite pleased.

He understood their intentions well.

After chatting with Zou Ni and Li You about family matters, and once Wang Laosan and the others arrived in a hurry, he stood in the center of the yard and took out a small ledger from his pocket.

After thanking everyone for their hard work, he got straight to the point, "You've all worked hard for over twenty days, and we haven't settled your wages yet. I'm sure you're anxious about it."

"Oh, not at all. We're all from the village, what's the difference if it's a day earlier or later? No rush, no rush." A dark-skinned man beside Li Xian, known as Er Zhuzi, said with a grin.

Though Er Zhuzi was only around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and was known to everyone as Ma Shen's younger brother, Li Xian had to address him as Uncle.

Seeing through his insincerity, Li Xian smiled and said, "Alright then, since Uncle isn't anxious, I'll hold onto the wages. We'll settle them next month."

Er Zhuzi panicked, "That won't do! The women at home are waiting for the payment to finish the work…"

The crowd immediately burst into laughter.

Li Xian laughed along, "Alright, no more nonsense. Last month we took on sixty-five jobs, completing a total of eighty-three houses. I've calculated the wages for you all. You should have a record of how much work was done. I'll read out the amounts, and you can check them. If everything is correct, come and collect your wages."

The scene became quiet in an instant.

Li Xian was pleased with this effect. Clearing his throat, he started reading the names, beginning with Wang Qinghe.

For the past few days, Li Xian had been handling outside matters himself, while Wang Qinghe managed the car arrangements, worker coordination, and other trivial tasks at home. Wherever there was a problem, Wang Qinghe was the first to run over, and wherever there was a shortage of people, he was the first to step up. He had really put in a lot of effort over the past twenty days.

According to the previous arrangement, Wang Qinghe, being the team leader, would receive his wages based on the overall amount, ten yuan per job. This amounted to over six hundred yuan.

When Li Xian announced the specific amount, Wang Qinghe's throat made a grumbling sound. When collecting the money, Li Xian noticed his hands were trembling.

"Goodness, I'm making more than the farm director…" Wang Qinghe kept muttering as he held the envelope. Although he had anticipated this for a long time, seeing the six large blue bills made him incredibly excited.

Currently, the farm director's salary was the highest in the entire forest farm, amounting to just over two hundred yuan a month.

Next were the small group leaders of each construction team. Based on the previously agreed salary plus commission, each received around four hundred yuan. Ordinary workers at the forest farm earned just over a hundred yuan a month. After working for over twenty days and receiving such wages, everyone was very satisfied.

Even the bricklayer workers received between two to three hundred yuan.

Once all the wages were settled, Li Xian found that there were over fifty people in the yard, all holding their money and grinning foolishly.

However, after their excitement, some began to worry. Since the East Wind fire, the demand for wall renovations had dwindled. It wasn't that there were no more jobs, but it wasn't as booming as before. Moreover, when several small groups went out for construction, they saw others imitating their work by buying their own tiles and cement for exterior walls.

It's said that it's easy to go from frugality to luxury but hard to go back from luxury to frugality. Now that everyone had experienced earning in a month what they used to earn in six months, they were concerned about the possibility of lower income next month.

Especially Wang Qinghe.

As the head of the construction team, he was most directly aware of the changes in business. With the workload now barely manageable, occasionally, one or two small groups were left without assignments. This made him anxious about the future development of the construction team.

"Second Brother, what should we do next month?"

Li Xian had already considered this question.

To be honest, exterior tile work didn't require much technical skill. That's why he designed his renovation plan to raise the entry threshold as much as possible. Additionally, his relationship with the tile factory ensured current profits and benefits.

However, after the construction team had covered the entire forest area in the past twenty days, Li Xian was confident that such a hot business would inevitably attract competitors.

Thus, he needed another breakthrough to maintain the construction team's profitability and further enhance its reputation and entry threshold!

Hearing Wang Qinghe's question, Li Xian chuckled, looked up at the roof of his new house.

Unlike the vibrant exterior walls, the roof was still covered with wooden boards. According to normal procedures, the next step would be to lay two layers of asphalt paper on it, followed by two layers of asbestos tiles.

That kind of roof wasn't what Li Xian wanted!

"Last month, the exterior wall work was profitable, so we'll continue with that this month. But I need to assign you a new business."

"What?" Wang Qinghe and the others eagerly asked.

"Iron. Roof. Cover!" Li Xian grinned and revealed his ultimate move.

...

Iron roof covers were not common in this era. In Li Xian's memory, they became popular only when he was around four or five years old.

An iron roof cover is essentially a roofing method that uses iron sheets to replace the old-style asbestos tiles.

Asbestos tiles were good for waterproofing but were not fixed between tiles, making them prone to falling off during heavy rain or strong winds. In earlier rural areas, it was common to see stones or other weights on top of the tiles to keep them in place. Additionally, asbestos tiles could grow moss in the summer. Many rural accidents, such as slipping off roofs or being injured by falling tiles, were caused by this.

Iron roof covers emerged as a solution.

In essence, it involved using 1.5-meter-wide iron sheets to cover the roof's asphalt paper, securing them with nails. The sheets could be cut into shapes, creating patterns like corrugated iron and eaves.

This method was extremely cost-effective. Galvanized iron sheets were corrosion-resistant and could last ten to fifteen years almost as good as new. The finished effect was outstanding—almost as if the roof were made of silver. Combined with eaves, corrugations, and rain shields, it looked like an ancient palace!

Li Xian used a few sheets of white paper to explain the iron roof cover method to everyone.

Seeing the shapes Li Xian had folded from the paper and imagining the finished effect, everyone was at a loss for words.

"Second Brother, you're going to squeeze every penny out of the young people in the forest area!"

After a long while, Wang Qinghe slapped his thigh and exclaimed excitedly.