"Is the team going to dig out the canal in the next couple of days?" Li Long asked, getting straight to the point.
"Yes. What, you don't want to do it? If you don't, then don't go. It's not like you need those few work points." Xu Chengjun knew Li Long fairly well. Besides, for the sake of that piece of meat, he wasn't going to make things difficult for him.
"I'm talking about something else," Li Long said. "There's a Dry Ditch above our team's Little Haizi. Every year, floodwater comes rushing down from the mountains through there and tears a gap in Little Haizi's northern embankment.
"The children are in school at this time of year. Once the flood comes, the road through the reed gully becomes impassable, and they have to detour over Little Haizi's dam. The team even has to send people to escort them. It's not just a hassle, it's dangerous."
"So what do you want to do?" Xu Chengjun thought Li Long had a point, but he certainly didn't believe Li Long was quite that noble. He had to have some plans of his own in this.
"When the team clears out the Dry Canal, I want us to dig a connection between it and the Dry Ditch beside Little Haizi. When the flood comes, the water will flow straight from the Dry Ditch into the Dry Canal. That way, it won't breach Little Haizi's northern bank or rush down into the reed gully. The children's route to school won't be cut off, and it'll save the team some trouble too."
From his later life, Li Long knew these were snowmelt floods, and they came every year. In the past, when the flooding was light, the water rushing down the Dry Ditch above would