Over dinner, Li Long told them what had happened that day and explained his decision.
"Yes, it's time to put the roadwork on the agenda." Gu Boyuan slurped a mouthful of porridge, then said, "Xiao Long, with this national Advanced Individual award, you've already benefited enormously, just from those courtyards in Yanjing alone.
"Aren't all these people coming to sell things every day because of that reputation of yours? Since we have that reputation, and we've made money and benefited from it, we need to get things done."
"Yes, that's right," Li Long said. "I reckon most of the fieldwork should be finished in the next couple of days. We might as well go to Qingshui River, round up some people, and start building the road into the mountains."
"I think so too. Actually, after my colleagues heard about this, some of them asked me whether you'd be doing any more roadwork in the mountains soon. I told them you definitely would, but didn't say when. People are really quite interested in your roadbuilding."
It made sense. It wasn't easy for Ma County to produce someone who received national recognition, so naturally people would pay attention.
With that settled, Li Long planned to buy supplies the next day. A tractor would be useful on the first stretch of road into the mountains, and people would also be needed to cut down trees-this stretch was fairly level, but there were plenty of trees along both sides that would get in the way of the small four-wheel tractor.
So felling trees would be the main task in the initial stage.
Li Long needed to buy axes, rope, and other supplies. Of course, once the trees were felled, the timber could be hauled out and used.
Although he was a part-time forest ranger,