How Many Residents Lived in the Portable Abode?

Li Banfeng gently pushed open the door to Fifth Chamber, not wanting the projector to feel too embarrassed, only letting the projector know that he had come in.

The projector remained calm and greeted Li Banfeng, "Seventh Director, you're still awake?"

Li Banfeng smiled, sat on the sofa next to the projector, and quietly enjoyed the images projected onto the screen.

The left side contains text, and the right side contains shadow plays.

Li Banfeng had read this story in the newspaper. Unlike the traditional style of Black Stone Slope, this story was told in a subtle and tactful way.

The footage jumps between frames from time to time, clearly indicating it wasn't actually filmed.

Li Banfeng asked, "Who is this young lady? Aren't you going to introduce her to me?"

"You mean this girl?" The camera focused on the female protagonist, and the projector said, "This is just something I imagined."

Li Banfeng remained silent. After reading the entire story, Li Banfeng gave a comment. "It was filmed very well, but you need to put more effort into the editing."

After saying that, Li Banfeng prepared to go back to his room to sleep. When he reached the door, he heard the projector behind him say, "Seventh Director, my loyalty to you has never changed. On the battlefield, I am always willing to fight for you to the very last moment."

Li Banfeng nodded. "I have no doubt about that."

As an expert in this field, Li Banfeng can give an accurate conclusion: that woman was not something the projector imagined; she was too real.

It wasn't actually filmed, nor was it imagined, so what kind of person is this woman?

Li Banfeng sat in Sixth Room, lost in thought for a long time, when the sound of the projector came to his ears again, "Don't be shy, this is the honesty that comes from art!"

"But you're being too honest—"

"My heart is filled with nothing but the purity of art!"

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense, he has ill intentions."

There are still people!

More than one person entered Portable Abode!

There was another person whose voice was so soft that it was impossible to tell if they were male or female.

The voice didn't come from the Fifth Chamber. Li Banfeng stared at his own Sixth Room for a long time, feeling that the voice just now was not from the same direction as the Fifth Chamber.

He got up, pushed open the door to the Seventh Chamber, and listened for a while, but there was no sound.

Pushing open the door to the Eighth House Eighth House, it was empty and unfurnished. There seemed to be a faint sound coming from the empty room.

Li Banfeng couldn't tell what the sound was.

He was just a little short. If he could improve his Discern Spiritual Sounds Technique a bit more, he would be able to hear it more clearly. Li Banfeng focused all his attention on his ears until he felt a throbbing pain in his temples, but he still couldn't hear Eighth House's voice.

During this period, due to the promotion, the Discern Spiritual Sounds Technique has indeed improved, and improved considerably, but this infiltrator suddenly stopped talking.

Li Banfeng rubbed his temples and then walked toward the Ninth Room. Suddenly, he heard a woman's voice beside him.

"What's this madman up to now, not sleeping?"

Why is this sound so clear?

Li Banfeng suddenly turned around and said, "Who are you calling a madman!"

Red Lotus shuddered. "You heard that?"

Red Lotus arrived in this family even earlier than Portable Abode.

But this was the first time Li Banfeng had ever heard her speak.

Red Lotus's voice wasn't as sweet Wife's, but it had more of an intellectual and rational quality, reminding one of her short, ear-length hair, frameless glasses, and business suit.

Li Banfeng struck a match, lit the candle, and sat down next to Red Lotus: "I didn't expect your voice to be so pleasant."

"How can anyone compare to your Wife's voice?" Red Lotus snorted coldly, not wanting to pay any attention to Li Banfeng.

Seeing the halo around the lotus leaves and noticing that the Red Lotus was still Pill Refining, Li Banfeng asked, "This time, the pills that have come out of the furnace shouldn't be the Profound Essence Pill, right?"

"Does the Profound Essence Pill mean you nothing? Do you know how many Cloud Above Cultivators would risk their lives for this one pill!"

"But I'm not on the cloud now."

"You have to think long-term. I'm sincere towards you and I won't let you suffer any losses."

Li Banfeng smiled and said, "So it turns out I misunderstood you. It's really a bit unfair for you to stay here. I'll move you back to the second room."

"No need, this place is fine. It's peaceful here, away from that Wicked Woman."

"Do you really find it quiet?" Li Banfeng looked around. "Have you heard any noises?"

Red Lotus's lotus leaves trembled for a moment, and she said to Li Banfeng, "I did hear the sounds. I heard the sounds from every room."

Li Banfeng asked in surprise, "You've heard of every single room?"

Red Lotus said angrily, "You book a room, and I move every time. I've stayed in every room, and I've definitely heard about every room."

Li Banfeng asked first, "How many people are there in Portable Abode Ju? I mean, people I don't know."

Red Lotus thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, there is at least one in each room."

"Who are these people?"

"I can't tell them apart; their voices are too indistinct, I can't even tell if they're male or female."

Li Banfeng said, "I just heard a woman's voice in the Fifth Chamber."

"I also lived in the Fifth Chamber and heard the voices, but I really couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. It's probably because that Wicked Woman's Discern Spiritual Sounds Technique is special, allowing you to hear them more accurately than I could."

Li Banfeng then asked, "Do you know what they said?"

Red Lotus said, "Then it's even harder to hear. I guess only your Wife in this house can hear it clearly."

Li Banfeng asked, "Couldn't the old man hear clearly?"

"Who knows? Maybe he's too lazy to listen."

The two were talking when a burst of laughter reached their ears.

"Hehehe—"

The laughter was indistinct, and it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

The lotus leaves of the Red Lotus were trembling, and she tried to trace the source of the sound, but she could not find it.

Li Banfeng asked, "Are you really willing to live in Ninth Room?"

"Just don't make me move again."

"Okay, then I'll call you Ninth Flower from now on."

Red Lotus paused for a moment, then said, "I have a name. I don't need a new one. My name, Red Lotus, is fine."

Li Banfeng went back to his Sixth Room to sleep.

The next day at noon, Li Banfeng went to the main room, cuddled with the record player for a while, and asked, "My darling Wife, did you hear anything last night?"

Breath~

The Wife smiled and said, "My dear husband, I did hear some of the commotion, but it's nothing serious. You don't need to worry. Just leave these matters to Little Slave."

With his Wife's words, Li Banfeng felt relieved.

The Wife knew where the voices were coming from, and she also knew that there were other guests in the Portable Abode. She couldn't say it now, but she knew how to deal with it.

Li Banfeng left Portable Abode just as the workers were taking their lunch break.

"Night Fragrance" is an evening newspaper, and the workload in the afternoon is very heavy. The lunch break is very short. The workers generally do not take a nap. After eating, they smoke a cigarette, read the newspaper, and then go about their own business.

The supervisor brought over the roster. We're printing more today; it's a lot of work. He asked the workers who were present to come and sign it. There will be a bonus at the end of the month.

Li Banfeng glanced at the roster and frowned.

In Black Stone Slope, there are indeed many people who can read, but not many who can write.

It's not that they can't write at all, it's just that their handwriting is so bad, crooked and messy, with missing strokes and a bunch of other minor flaws.

There's a new young man Xiao Fu who really can't write; he doesn't even recognize his own name.

They could only do odd jobs like folding and delivering newspapers.

After lunch, he followed the example of the experienced teacher, picked up a newspaper, and began to read it attentively.

But he couldn't read, he could only look at pictures. He couldn't even look at the few pictures in the newspaper for long, he finished looking at them in a few glances.

Others are still looking at the front-page news.

"Master Song, what do you mean by this passage?"

Master Song, holding the newspaper, lowered his voice and explained something to Xiao Fu.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Fu's veins bulged. "There's such a thing! This young lady would do something like this? Is it true or false?"

Master Song waved his hand and said, "Who can say for sure? You'll have to decide for yourself whether it's true or false."

"Distinguish? How can we distinguish that!" Xiao Fu got excited and stood up. He wanted to ask someone else, but after taking a few steps, he sat back down.

His pants were too thin.

"Master Song, tell me, what are the three characters of that young lady's name?"

Master Song laughed and said, "You little rascal, you haven't even learned your own name yet, why are you worrying about hers?"

"I just want to know where she is in the background—."

Li Banfeng stared at Xiao Fu for a long time, but then he heard Chuanzi say beside him, "When I first came to Black Stone Slope, I was also looking at paintings, and I thought the paintings here were particularly beautiful."

Later they told me that handwriting is much more beautiful than drawing. At first, I didn't believe it, but after they explained it to me, I found that handwriting really is more beautiful than drawing; it contains everything.

I kept pestering people to read the newspaper to me. Out of respect for you and Fifth Master, they would read a few sentences at first, but they got annoyed after a while, and there were some things I couldn't just read aloud.

I took a dictionary and studied on my own. If I didn't understand something, I would ask others. If they were unwilling to answer, I would offer them cigarettes. After a while, I could read a newspaper.

Li Banfeng stared at Chuanzi and said, "Just to read a newspaper, you learned to read all by yourself?"

Chuanzi scratched his head and said, "If it's reading, I can do it, but if it's writing, I'm really not good at it. I always make mistakes in the strokes, and my writing is ugly."

Yuwen Qi laughed and said, "When I was young, my handwriting was terrible. I learned to write on my own, so there were always some irregularities."

Later I met Lao Bai, who came from Ink Fragrance Shop. His handwriting was truly beautiful, each stroke precise and elegant.

I wasn't convinced, so I went to the street and bought calligraphy practice books. I learned to write characters and study literature at the same time, hanging out with Lao Bai, and eventually became a scholar myself.

It turns out that Yuwen Qi and Bai Qiusheng came from different backgrounds; he was from a working-class family.

Li Banfeng looked at the sign-in sheet again, and almost all the workers present were in the same situation.

Do they learn to read just so they can read newspapers?

Li Banfeng walked around among the workers who were taking a lunch break and found that their description was basically consistent with the Peddler's. About half of the workers could read.

During the lunch break, it's very easy to distinguish between those who can read and those who can't.

The literate workers would hold newspapers and discuss them amongst themselves, while the illiterate could only listen from the sidelines.

They didn't dare to speak, or even cough.

When it was time to start work in the afternoon, those who could read chose their jobs first, and the remaining jobs were given to those who couldn't read.

There's nothing you can do about it; illiterate workers can't even understand the work orders.

Gradually, a group of people will emerge from this group of workers who will force themselves to learn to read.

Is this the reason for the high literacy rate in Black Stone Slope?

That's not right.

The same thing happens in factories elsewhere: literate workers have an advantage, but other workers don't seem to take the initiative to learn to read.

Why is Black Stone Slope so special?

Li Banfeng was still pondering when Xiao Fu ran back, covered in sweat.

He was holding a dictionary in his hand, which he had bought from a fellow worker. It was very old and patched up in many places.

But he cherished it, carefully tucking the dictionary into his pocket, and occasionally taking it out to glance at it while folding newspapers, comparing it with the words on the newspaper.

As long as he can learn to read, every story in this newspaper will be a reward for him.

The reward was cheap; after seeing it, I shuddered and lost all interest.

No problem, there will be new rewards tomorrow, and the rewards will be different every day.

The more newspapers you read, the more rewards you receive, your social circle changes, you learn more words through communication, and your status continues to rise.

If they grit their teeth and learn to write, they will have the opportunity to work in the building in the backyard.

This is a virtuous cycle!

The key to the cycle lies in these newspapers, in the newspapers with the unique style and special content of Black Stone Slope.

Doesn't Green Water City have similar books and newspapers?

Yes, you can find similar books in the corners of bookstores, but you need to know how to find them and have some experience so that you can make a general judgment about the content based on the title and synopsis.

A person who cannot read is incapable of making judgments; he doesn't even have the courage to enter a bookstore.

What about Black Stone Slope?

Li Banfeng left the newspaper office and looked along the street. There were more than a dozen newsstands on the street.

Getting a newspaper was so easy.

The roar of the printing press interrupted Li Banfeng's thoughts and reminded him of something else.

Not only is buying newspapers easy, but printing them is even easier.

Black Stone Slope has paper mills and printing plants, and paper and ink are very cheap.

Newspapers have low basic costs and are inexpensive, so more costs can be invested in content.

This is another virtuous cycle.

This is how the cultural atmosphere of Black Stone Slope was formed.

Two virtuous cycles are motivating people to learn proactively.

Li Banfeng thought he was very familiar with Black Stone Slope, but he only now realized that there was a sophisticated strategy behind it that he had not noticed all along.

Who is behind this?

In an abandoned factory, Tang Shijiang took out a metal lunchbox from under a lathe and asked, "Are you hungry? Have something to eat first."

The Carriage Driver lowered the cart handle. "Brother, how can I eat anymore? I need your help!"

Tang Shijiang smacked his lips and said, "Could you please stop calling me 'senior brother'? It's kind of awkward to be your senior brother."

PS: Tang Shijiang is the Local Earth God of Black Stone Slope, and he likes people who have children.