Although Liu Xihong’s thinking was old-fashioned and she would privately educate her daughter, she wouldn’t say anything in front of Su Chenhuai.
If her son-in-law was concerned about her daughter, would she stop him? She was happy for her daughter.
In mid-October, the temperature difference was large, and it was cool in the morning and evening. A thin layer of frost formed on the windows, creating a hazy beauty.
After breakfast, Ye Linlin sat by the window translating a foreign novel.
She had translated this novel in her previous life, so she was now translating it with ease, and the speed was much faster than in her previous life.
Ye Linlin was concentrating on writing the translation in her notebook when she suddenly heard a roar. She quickly got up and went to the main room.
Inside, Ye Quangui was sitting in a chair, his face full of anger, and the hand holding his pipe was trembling.
The other three were also there, and their expressions were not good.
After breakfast, Ye Quangui took Su Chenhuai to the village brigade to apply to the village for building a greenhouse on their land.
In this era, land had just been distributed to individuals. If the land was to be used for purposes other than growing grain, it was necessary to apply to the village.
Several families in Dayu Village had also applied to build greenhouses on their land to sell some vegetables in the township, and the village had approved them.
So Ye Quangui thought there would be no problem and planned to apply in the morning and start building during the day.
But looking at the expressions of the others, it was clear that something had changed. Ye Linlin tentatively asked,
“What’s wrong? Did the village not approve the land application?”
Ye Quangui took a hard puff of his pipe and said hoarsely,
“Village Chief Qiao went to the township for a meeting. Wang Tiejun was at the village brigade. As soon as he heard that I wanted to build a greenhouse, he said it wouldn’t work. I think he’s just trying to make trouble.”
Wang Tiejun was Wang Junbao’s father and the deputy director of Dayu Village. If he didn’t agree, it would be difficult to build the greenhouse.
“Dad, calm down. Let’s wait for the village chief to come back and try applying again.”
Ye Linlin didn’t know much about the village brigade’s procedures and could only offer simple comfort to Ye Quangui.
“Alas! Even if the village chief comes back and agrees to the application, if Wang Tiejun objects, it will be difficult to do. But now we can only wait for the village chief to come back and see.”
After Ye Quangui finished speaking, he began to smoke his pipe again, his face full of worry.
After dinner, Su Chenhuai and Ye Quangui discussed the construction of the greenhouse again.
At this time, the greenhouse was just a shed made of plastic. When there was sunlight during the day, it relied on solar radiation to heat up, but once there was no sunlight at night, the temperature would drop rapidly, so the vegetables in the plastic greenhouse could not survive the winter.
Ye Linlin’s homestay in her previous life also had its own greenhouse, but it was a heated greenhouse.
Firstly, vegetables could be grown in winter to save costs, and secondly, guests could pick their own, which was more experiential.
So she knew a little about heated greenhouses.
Although many materials now needed to be replaced, and the effect might not be as good as in later generations, it would definitely be more practical than a simple plastic greenhouse.
“I saw a kind of heated greenhouse in a book before, where vegetables can be grown in winter.”
The people who were discussing how big to build stopped talking and turned to look at her when they heard Ye Linlin’s words.
“That kind of greenhouse has soil walls on one side and both ends, and the other side is made of plastic. Wait a minute, I’ll draw it for you.”
Ye Linlin hurriedly ran back to the house to get paper and pen.
She drew a simple shape of the side of the greenhouse on the paper.
“The two ends and this side are soil walls, and the curved side is plastic. The book says that the soil walls can absorb heat during the day, and the insulation effect is also very good at night. Then put some straw curtains on the plastic, roll them up during the day to let the sunlight in, and open them at night for insulation, so that the temperature in the greenhouse in winter can also grow vegetables.”
Su Chenhuai and the other three looked at the pattern Ye Linlin drew on the paper without saying a word. After half a minute, Ye Quangui took the lead and said,
“Which book did you see it in? Why have I never heard of it?”
“It was a book that a classmate brought when I was in school. I can’t remember the name of the book. I thought it was quite novel at the time, so I took a few more glances.”
Ye Linlin perfunctorily said a few words.
She didn’t know if there were such greenhouses in this era, and she didn’t know if those straw mats used in greenhouses could be bought now.
She didn’t even know how to build this greenhouse specifically, she just said what she knew from her previous life.
Ye Quangui shook his head.
“No, if you want the soil walls to be stable, they need to be very thick. Where are we going to get this soil? And where can we buy those straw mats? Most importantly, no one knows if this kind of greenhouse can achieve the effect you said.”
“We can dig up a layer of soil from the ground to build the walls. If we can’t buy the straw mats, we can sew them ourselves, just use dry straw.”
Ye Linlin tried her best to tell them what she knew, but unfortunately she wasn’t a professional.
“Even if what you said works, will our village let us build it? I told the village before that I wanted to build a greenhouse, but Wang Tiejun didn’t agree. If we need to move soil and build walls, it will definitely be even more impossible.”
Ye Linlin really didn’t know anything about the requirements for land use, so she stopped talking.
“I think we can try it.”
Su Chenhuai, who had been staring at the pattern on the paper, suddenly spoke.
“Dad, even if it’s an ordinary plastic greenhouse, the village may not agree to let us build it on the land. Why don’t we just build the greenhouse in the vegetable garden at home, so we don’t have to go through the village.”
After hearing Su Chenhuai’s words, Ye Quangui picked up the pipe on the table again. He didn’t nod, but he didn’t refute either. Seeing this, Su Chenhuai continued,
“Although the vegetable garden is not that big, it can still play a role for the restaurant. And I think Linlin’s theory is feasible.”
Ye Linlin didn’t expect Su Chenhuai to trust her so much.
Seeing that Ye Quangui was still smoking his pipe and didn’t say anything, Ye Linlin thought for a while and made a suggestion.
“Dad, why don’t we do a small test first? If it works, then we can build it in the vegetable garden.”
“No, it will take too long to do a test.”
Su Chenhuai shook his head, denying Ye Linlin’s suggestion, and said after thinking for a moment,
“Even if this kind of greenhouse doesn’t achieve the effect Linlin said, it will definitely be better than an ordinary plastic greenhouse. Even if it can’t survive the winter, it can extend the season for a while.”
“If it really succeeds, we can suggest to the village to build greenhouses together. This will also be good for the development of the village. I believe the village will definitely agree.”
Ye Linlin didn’t expect this. Su Chenhuai’s idea could not only solve the problem of land use, but also lead the whole village to get rich. It was indeed a good thing.
With Village Chief Qiao Zhengping’s character, if he found that doing so would help the development of the whole village, he would definitely agree, even if Wang Tiejun wanted to interfere, it would be useless, after all, his prestige couldn’t compare with Qiao Zhengping.
But all this was on the premise that the heated greenhouse Ye Linlin proposed could be successfully implemented.