Chapter 957: Drainage Ditch

Zao's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he became increasingly excited. He hurriedly said, "Hey, alright, alright! I will definitely complete the task and build it in places suitable for construction."

Baifeng looked at Zao's somewhat disheveled appearance and said with a bit of helplessness, "Alright, your journey here hasn't been easy. Go home first to wash up and get some good rest. I'll give you two days off; once the leave is over, get back to work immediately."

Zao's bottom had just started to lift, but he immediately sat back down because he had thought of other issues.

Baifeng asked suspiciously, "What is it? Are there other requests you want to make?"

"Hehe, King, it's not a request, it's just that I thought of a method for road drainage."

Baifeng's hunger was so intense he felt it sticking to his spine, but seeing Zao like this, he couldn't bear to interrupt him: "Alright, go ahead and tell me. Is it something like digging drainage ditches?"

Zao was extremely excited: "King, you had already thought of it! I was just thinking that on one side of the road, we could dig a drainage ditch. This way, the main water could flow away along the ditch and wouldn't stay on the road surface. Then, we pick a suitable location, dig a big hole under the road, and drain the water out. That would work, wouldn't it?"

"That is also a method, but have you thought about it? This is a major project, and the dug-out drainage ditch is actually loose soil. If you don't use stones to line it, or at least compact it, the water will gather together even more easily and wash the drainage ditch into a large gully, right?"

Zao was stunned for a moment. He really hadn't thought of this point. As expected, the King had already known this method, but because it consumed too much labor, they could only make do for now. However, Zao had more than just this one idea, and he continued: "King, besides the drainage ditch, I have another idea, which is to press the two sides of the road lower and keep the middle higher."

"This way, water won't accumulate on the road surface and will flow directly to both sides. I've already observed this on the way here, and this approach won't consume much manpower, um."

Baifeng pondered for a moment and felt that this approach was feasible. Moreover, Zao could now be considered an expert in this area; he himself was only talking on paper, and sometimes it was better to listen to the opinions of professionals.

"Hmm, alright, I approve of this idea of yours, but it still needs to be tested. How about this: for the remaining road, just follow your idea. In the end, we'll see which of the two methods is better."

"By the way, your idea of a drainage ditch cannot be completely denied either. Still, as I just said, in places where conditions allow, you can build drainage ditches. Also, you must consider the drainage location; you can build them, but you must use stones to line them carefully."

"Then, Huaxia City will allocate some Cement to you. If you're going to do it, do it right the first time."

Zao stood up excitedly: "Alright, alright, King, I've noted it down. I will definitely ensure the project proceeds smoothly, but could you give me a written order? After all, I am not the person in charge; I can only offer suggestions."

Baifeng nodded: "Alright, no problem. Come get it tomorrow; I will have the people from the Secretariat give it to you."

"By the way, you haven't eaten yet, right? Stay and eat together. The food should be delivered any moment now."

Zao pointed at himself: "King, I'm a mess right now, so forget it. I'd better go home to wash up and eat there. There's no shortage of food at home. You all go ahead and eat."

Baifeng waved his hand and let him go without trying to keep him. Baoxi had been watching Zao and listening carefully the whole time, finding it very interesting. Once he truly wanted to join Huaxia, these things that he previously couldn't understand, found boring, or that confused him, had now become extremely interesting.

He didn't need to figure everything out completely right now because he had plenty of time in the future. Regarding his soon-to-be-increasing lifespan, Baoxi was also full of hope for the future. He was actually still very young, and in the rest of his life, he could still learn many things and do many things.

The moment Zao left, the food was brought in plate after plate. The accompanying officials were also eating together now. Firstly, this was a major etiquette, and secondly, the standard of Baifeng's cooks was not something ordinary cooks could compare to, and it wasn't easy for them to get to eat it.

Baoxi didn't know how to use chopsticks. Fortunately, there were plenty of Iron utensils in Huaxia, so forks and spoons were specially set out for Baoxi, while the Huaxia officials all used wooden chopsticks. Baifeng was the most ostentatious; to show his status, he used gold chopsticks, though they were a bit heavy. Under normal circumstances, he also used wooden chopsticks, only using the more ornate ones on formal occasions.

The only outsider here was Baoxi. His Soldiers were not qualified to come in and eat here, but to save face for Baoxi, a table was set for them outside. If Baoxi had brought a formal diplomatic mission like Xuanyuan's, Huaxia would certainly have treated them equally, but the people Baoxi brought were really just guards protecting him.

Baoxi held his fork, looked at the chopsticks the other Huaxia people were using, and said, "Baifeng, how about I use those wooden sticks of yours too?"

Baifeng demonstrated with his chopsticks, picking up food twice, and said, "These are called chopsticks, the most convenient tableware, but they are not easy to learn. You can't use them without practicing properly for a while."

"How about you just use the fork today? When the time comes, I'll have someone specifically teach you how to use chopsticks."

Baoxi wouldn't give up and put down his fork: "Just get me a pair; I want to try it too."

A servant on the side hurriedly handed a pair of chopsticks to Baoxi. The servants were holding clean plates and bowls on the side, just to prevent the awkward situation where someone's bowl suddenly broke and there was nothing to use.

Baoxi got the chopsticks but didn't even know how to hold them. Zhigui hurriedly pointed to a servant and said, "Go, help Baoxi."

The servant hurriedly walked to Baoxi's side and taught him hand-in-hand how to hold them. The posture was correct, but Baoxi felt his hand was very stiff and still couldn't use them. After failing several times, he could only regretfully put down the chopsticks and pick up his fork again: "Sigh, as expected, one really has to practice more."

Everyone just smiled without speaking and continued eating. Because of other major matters, Baoxi hadn't had time to marvel at how delicious Huaxia's food was. Now, after a tiring day, he was even hungrier. Eating Huaxia's food, he only felt it was extremely delicious. Although there wasn't as much meat as when he ate in his tribe, this meat that Huaxia sliced up and cooked in some unknown way was simply unimaginably delicious.

For a time, he couldn't even spare the effort to talk and started continuously picking up food into his bowl, while the Huaxia officials were not surprised at all. Whoever came to Huaxia, didn't they all end up like this?