Chapter 572: Contest

As soon as the meeting broke up, Secretary Liu grabbed He Yuzhu, "Zhuzi, I've heard you're always secretly cooking up special meals; today, no matter what, I have to mooch a meal."

He Yuzhu shook his head with a laugh: "I think you have a lot of questions waiting to ask me, don't you?"

Secretary Liu didn't hide it either, nodding directly: "I don't believe others, I just want you to talk to me about the future of the Oilfield."

He Yuzhu turned his head to call over Man Yatou and Lv Hong: "You two, let's have hot pot together!"

Man Yatou's eyes lit up instantly; what she craved most was Brother Zhuzi's spicy hot pot.

Secretary Liu also liked this dish.

He Yuzhu brought out his copper hot pot, added the fragrant stir-fried spicy base, and then retrieved a large pile of ingredients from the storage box outside the door: frozen mutton slices, canned goods, wide vermicelli, Chinese cabbage, frozen tofu, and chum salmon fillets.

Secretary Liu picked up a chopstick of meat and couldn't help but remind him: "You should be more restrained in the future. Things are too complete; if Deputy Director Zhang sees this, he will inevitably slap you with the label of corrupt lifestyle again."

He Yuzhu sighed: "I never touch a single cent of public money. Even if he finds it an eyesore, there's nothing he can do about me."

Man Yatou immediately chimed in crisply: "Brother Zhuzi's salary is more than he can spend!"

Secretary Liu just smiled, knowing better than anyone in his heart that the source of He Yuzhu's money was far from as simple as just his salary.

The four of them sat around the stove, steam rising.

Secretary Liu urged: "Little He, don't just eat, talk about serious business."

He Yuzhu picked up a chopstick of meat, dipped it lightly in the sesame oil dish, and only after finishing it did he speak slowly: "It's not that I don't want to build a city now, it's just that supplies are too tight at the moment. How wide to build the roads, how to bury the pipelines, where to get the steel and cement—these are all deadlocks. If we force a city together now, in the future, we'll only be digging and repairing, repairing and digging, making it more and more chaotic. It's better to take it one step at a time and build a standardized Petroleum Town first. Once we produce more and more oil and have more and more money, everyone will naturally know what to build and how to build it."

Secretary Liu nodded repeatedly as he listened: "You've hit the nail on the head!"

Lv Hong said softly: "I often hear workers praise that our place is much better than other oilfields, with better housing and better food."

He Yuzhu nodded continuously, "We're just starting, so everyone can tolerate it being a bit crude. But if it stays crude, eventually, we won't be able to retain talent. If the workers are willing to bring their families over, we've already succeeded halfway. Once we build primary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities, this place will naturally be a city..."

Secretary Liu became more and more excited as he listened: "I understand what you mean. We should let nature take its course, and when we have money later, we will build this place into a chemical city and a machinery city!"

Lv Hong suddenly worried: "Zhuzi, building a town, steel and cement are also very tight!"

He Yuzhu said in a calm tone: "I want to use wood to build houses for the workers."

Secretary Liu frowned slightly: "Little He, you don't know this, but the higher-ups haven't failed to consider your idea. First, wood is not fireproof; second, wood must be prioritized for production. If you use it to build houses, I'm afraid someone will report you for engaging in special treatment."

He Yuzhu smiled and handed two lists to Man Yatou: "Yatou, calculate these two accounts for Secretary Liu and tell him what the costs of the two types of houses are."

Man Yatou took the lists, her little mouth chattering away as she reported each expense, her mental arithmetic shockingly fast.

In less than a minute, she looked up and said crisply: "Secretary Liu, for a forty-square-meter Gandalie earth house, the cost per unit is about sixty-five yuan."

He Yuzhu nodded.

Man Yatou continued to calculate and soon reported the price again: "For the double-layered wooden house designed by Brother Zhuzi, the cost is one hundred and three yuan."

He Yuzhu looked at Lv Hong: "Cadre Lv, for the earth house, how many years until it needs a major overhaul?"

Lv Hong blurted out: "Ten years at most."

He Yuzhu looked at Secretary Liu, "Leader, I can guarantee that my wooden house won't need a major overhaul for twenty-five years. If you calculate over a long period, building wooden houses is actually more cost-effective!"

Secretary Liu nodded heavily: "Little He, I believe you. But Deputy Director Zhang insists on earth houses. You won't have an easy time getting past him."

Lv Hong's eyes lit up, and she immediately said: "I have a way! For the next town, let's build one hundred houses of each type using both methods. Deputy Director Zhang builds Gandalie houses, free to live in; Zhuzi builds wooden houses, charging a maintenance and management fee of fifty cents per month. Let the workers choose for themselves; whichever is more popular, we'll use that plan!"

Secretary Liu slapped his thigh: "Good idea! Spending thirty-some yuan more per house can buy the workers twenty-five years of comfort; this money is well spent!"

At the meeting the next day, as soon as He Yuzhu threw out his idea, the meeting hall exploded.

Deputy Director Zhang took the lead in opposing it, and in the whole room, only Secretary Liu stood on He Yuzhu's side.

Seeing this situation, Secretary Liu quickly suggested: "Since we can't reach a result, let's have a public competition! Deputy Director Zhang, you build one hundred Gandalie houses; Deputy Director He, you build one hundred wooden houses. Finally, we'll compare the costs, the reputation, and whose plan is more popular with the workers, and we'll use that plan."

Xiao immediately jumped out to cause trouble: "Wood is a production material; if it's all used to build houses, what will we do for production?"

He Yuzhu spoke up: "I will send people to handle the logging and manufacturing of the boards myself; we won't use a single piece of public wood."

Deputy Director Zhang wore a confident smile and said: "I agree! Three days from now, both Engineering Teams will start work simultaneously to see whose cost is lower, whose construction effect is better, and whom the workers recognize more!"

His abacus clicked loudly: earth houses use local soil, costing almost nothing, and with the banner of free housing, He Yuzhu was bound to lose!

He Yuzhu just smiled faintly and replied with only one word: "Good."

Returning to his residence, he quickly found Lv Hong to discuss the specific plan.

Lv Hong soon transferred over two hundred workers skilled in carpentry.

He Yuzhu drew diagrams overnight, using all the ideas of prefabricated assembly wooden houses from later generations, and even reserved water tap outlets and sewage pipe exits in advance.

What he designed was not an ordinary wooden house at all, but a modular assembly house.

All wood was of uniform size and cut uniformly, transported to the site for direct assembly without needing on-site modifications.

To race against time, He Yuzhu took all his bottom-of-the-box electric saws and power tools out of his space.

He personally led the team to log, processing boards, beams, and columns on-site.

Among the workers sent by Lv Hong, there were already many old carpenters; He Yuzhu only needed to give the dimensions, and with everyone responsible for a section, the efficiency was maxed out.

Once the power tools were turned on, the logging, cutting, and shaping were frighteningly fast.

In just half a month, all the wood for the houses was prepared.

Once the wood was transported back, they could assemble ten houses a day!

Although called wooden houses, they were actually wood-structured insulated houses: wooden piles were driven into the ground to make a frame, boards were nailed on both sides, and the middle was stuffed with sawdust for insulation.

Deputy Director Zhang's side wanted to rush the speed, but it was the dead of winter, and the adobe couldn't dry at all.

He could only desperately gather firewood to build fires for drying, the construction period dragged on and on, and everyone was exhausted.

On He Yuzhu's side, it was like playing with building blocks; the workers chatted and laughed as house after house rose from the ground.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed, entering the coldest season of Beidahuang, with temperatures approaching minus thirty-five degrees.

He Yuzhu's one hundred wooden houses were already completely finished.

The houses were neat, dry, bright, and impressive.

Deputy Director Zhang became anxious and gritted his teeth to post a notice at the base: for adobe houses, living is free, not a single cent will be charged!

Once the workers heard it was free, they all flocked to the earth houses at first.

But once they compared it to the clean and tidy wooden houses on He Yuzhu's side, many people couldn't move their feet on the spot.

To spite others, He Yuzhu even specially made a few standard model rooms: they had running water, flush toilets, and basic kitchen utensils.

When the workers saw this, their eyes went wide; even if it cost money, they all wanted to live here.

Fearing things would get too out of hand, Secretary Liu hurriedly asked He Yuzhu to remove the toilets and kitchenware first.

He Yuzhu also posted a notice: the housing would charge a monthly maintenance and management fee of five mao, to be used exclusively for its intended purpose, and residents could pay out-of-pocket to install kitchens and bathrooms.

Once the news spread, the workers didn't care about that five mao at all, and today the houses were fought over until heads were broken.

"If I could live in this wooden house, I'd be willing to work here for a lifetime!" This was the heartfelt sentiment of most workers.

In just a few short days, all one hundred of He Yuzhu's wooden plank houses were fully occupied, and people pulling strings to cut in line formed a long queue.

Although Deputy Director Zhang's one hundred free earthen houses were also full, the sounds of complaints and cursing rose one after another.

The base held another meeting.

Deputy Director Zhang's face was livid; after holding it in for a long time, he finally found an opening to attack: "Deputy Director He, the houses are indeed built well! But this is a vital Oilfield area, and they are all wooden houses; if a fire breaks out, who can take the responsibility?"

He Yuzhu's expression was calm as he said indifferently: "All flues are built with brick for heat insulation; the roofs are the same as the ones you built, and after spring begins, I will plaster the wooden outer walls with yellow mud for fire prevention; sufficient fire-prevention gaps are left between each building, and every house is equipped with a water vat and a sand box outside. My wooden houses are less likely to catch fire than the earthen ones!"

As soon as his voice fell, the whole room went silent.

Deputy Director Zhang opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word for a long time, his face turning from green to white.

Secretary Liu looked at He Yuzhu, his eyes full of admiration, "This competition's outcome is already decided. He Yuzhu's wooden house plan will be promoted throughout the entire Oilfield!"