Quantum Leap Vol 8 Harris Treaty July 29, 1858

C015 Everyone's Getting Sick And Going To 7-11 To Buy Medicine?!?!?

I explained and she understood because she too would not stop working and turned into a housewife. For these 5 months, she had worked, she had saved more than 35 gold coins which she had not spent a single copper on it since food was readily available for her and the rest. Not to mention she also has a 2% share of the corporation and if she decided to pull out as a shareholder, she could easily have an estimated 320,000 gold coins as part of her retirement.

She leaned back even more, and held my arms and crossed it over hers, while she hung her head over it like a cute little puppy. We held each other close as the moon casts shadows on the looming new buildings beside us. The Dojo and community building for all to utilise very soon.

.....

The next day little Kaede came to the house to collect the pellets and was surprised that everything had been emptied and all the jars were filled. At this rate, a single herb would be able to produce more than she could achieve and in a single night, she had procured more than enough for those residents who came to patronise her little herbal hut.

I helped her to carry back to her hut and stacked the empty basket as well as jars onto the shelves at the back of the hut. There was a picnic table inside her house where she could entertain her patrons while waiting to receive their medicine.

A few patrons were entering the hut and greeted little Kaede and had related their problems with her. It seems these patrons were having the same problem as Hiko-sama. A wave of alarm washes over me and I went out to meet Kayu-San who was instructing his men on the projects what had been stalled and to forgo them and put the priority of making the paved brick Road as their main now.

"Kayu-San, may I know where this water that supplies the aqueduct comes from? It can't be flowing downstream right?"

"Ah, young master. The water from the aqueduct comes from the spring river from the mountainous area behind us in the northern area. There is a spring natural lake on top of the highest peak and was heated through its natural geyser that shoots of jets of hot air once every few days."

"This purifies the water in the lake and it is free from bacteria. The waters from the river were tapped and irrigated towards our underground aqueduct."

"What about our sewage water then? It should be directed away from any water source right?"

"Ah yes... The sewage line was connected to a sewage and filtration plant called Hyflux where it turned wastewater into energy that feeds into electrical grid lines to supply the other neighbouring towns."

I looked at Kayu-San and discovered it was my grave mistake into asking about where the sewage line goes to. Of course, it went into a filtration plant and turn that into energy. The energy that can supply electricity to other towns. Hahahahaha.

"Thanks for the info Kayu-San. So these paths would be completely dug in according to the depth by lunchtime? I hope we do have enough bricks to cover this paved road. The extras I think you should know where it would be used for right?"

"Yes, it would take an approximately 200 or slightly more bricks to build them about a meter from the base, making the houses to be more waterproof and termite resistant. The 3 buildings on your premise would end by tomorrow after the final laying of cement on the floors as well as part of the surrounding buildings. You wanted to pave the whole place, right?"

"That's right, Kayu-San. Alright, you may proceed. I would need to meet Wonder 8 now." I excused myself and bade farewell as I watched the workers finishing up with the digging of the ground to pave it with bricks later on. I saw more handcarts were pushed towards the first warehouse and stored there since the Tanukis had already settled in one of the longhouses.

=*=

I walked over to the grounds of where Saika, Enyo and his father lived and greeted him. Saika's father was nameless, so I have to make up a name and called him Shiko from Saika's grandfather, Shako.

He was quite a ladies' man, with his young and energetic looks, his trimmed thin moustache and a trimmed beard right under his chin, all the way to his sideburns. No wonder those ladies wanted to spend a bit of time with him whenever possible. He was pouring early morning tea and was sitting in the garden while Saika and Enyo were playing catch with a small ball they were throwing at one another.

I walked over and entered the courtyard "Good morning, Shiko-sama. How was your day?" I looked at him and he smiled back. The ladies swoon when they saw his wide smile. LADIES KILLER...!!!

"What bring you over here so early in the morning, Harune?" Enyo plopped down beside his father as he tried to catch his breath after playing the 'Rounders' game where one would chase another and try to hit the ball by throwing it against the opponent.

"Something's up with this village. I can't put a finger on it but the source might be from either Oshikiri River what was running through this town or the bigger Nigori River that the main supply comes from on top of the mountains. O River if I'm not wrong."

"Does anyone have a stomach ache recently? Like diarrhoea or something like that? My Sensei had a bout of diarrhoea last night and managed to stifle it with some herbs. I asked Kayu-San for the underground aqueduct and told me it was irrigated and supplied from the lake on top of the mountain area behind us."

"I had it some nights ago, but it is quite alright now," Saika replied while throwing the ball out as Fujin rolled it with its feet towards Saika just like what a puppy would do.

"Same here, Harune. I had this terrible ache on my tummy and Saika went to the 711 and buy me some medicated oil and after running on it, it became farts..." Kaneko answered as he hopped on Enyo's lap.

I looked at Kaneko at the mention of a 711 store that could only exist in my era. Hahahahaha. Kaneko later corrected and says it was a stall that's open from 7 am to 11 pm, hence the name 711 came from.

"I would get some men to check out the source of the water first. Would there be anything else, Harune?" Shiko-sama inquired as he looked at my troubled face and hope it was nothing at all.

"Fujin and I will come along, let me change first and bring my Hiraikotsu and the men together to check... Would that be alright, father?" Saika requested to render her assistance as she and Fujin had not been to any adventure for some time now.

"Alright, bring Enyo along and 3 other men." Shiko-sama squinted his eyes and saw the mountain tops above. "It would take you about half a day trip and back in foot. The men would be on mounts so you would be able to cover the distances in a shorter period." he then continued.

"Alright father, we would take care of ourselves and not to put the men in harm's way," replied Saika as she made a little salute and ran off into the house.

"Thank you Shiko-sama, your assistance is greatly appreciated." I thanked and excused myself as I walked back to my grounds. Cartloads of mud were being transported and the job had been completed while porous sand was being sifted and poured into the ground to get rid of standing water.

I reached the grounds and sat in my garden while breakfast had been served by the 'aunties'. It was the Steamed Japanese Sweet Corn that had been grilled afterwards with a hint of animal fat. There were 4 cobs and I walloped 2 while the balance I reserved it for Hiko-sama that had just emerged from his shower.

"I've talked to Saika's father about the water supply for the underground aqueduct after I had discussed the matter with Kayu-San," I spoke to Hiko-sama as he walked over and sat down while taking a steam grilled sweet corn in his hands before biting into it.

"Uh...huh. So how does it go?" asked Hiko-sama and I related the whole matter to him as he listened and munch slowly on the cob in his hands.

"Aaaahhh... I'm done. Thanks for the medicine, kid. It works wonders and even if I became your Guinea pig last night, I had no choice my butt hole was spewing hot lava from the volcanoes within. Hahahahaha... Did I spoil your appetite or something?

Hiko-sama laughed while he slapped my back, as he recounted how his diarrhoea would look like if it is in an anime. Hahahaha.

Ara maa... I wondered if Hiko-sama was listening attentively to me or not as I had told him of the events that unfold after I had talked to Kayu-San and Saika's father.

"We enter the Realm of Mind right after this? I'm going to rope in all the cartloads of mud and bring everything into the Realm and then we can start the process. I guess we have about more than 50 handcarts here and approximately we would be able to churn out about 4000-5000 pieces of bricks."

"We gonna lock the warehouse up and it's going to complete once before the morning tea break."

"Alright, let's go then," Hiko-sama suggested before ensuring that there is nothing wrong with me today to head down to the Realm of Mind and ended up me getting a bout of hypoglycaemia before.

We went to the warehouse and took a rope where I lay it down on the handcarts and held on to it. I managed to rope everything up before we meditated and went into the Realm of Mind. We opened up our eyes and 50 odd handcarts were before us and we loaded them into the conveyor belts one at a time.

The moment the mud was fed into the mixer, it hummed to life and every 3 handcarts that we had loaded in, the mixer dispenses its mixture into the dispenser and the process began.

It took us less than 5 minutes to load the 3 handcarts of mud because it was lumpy and we simply poured its contents on the conveyor belt and it did the rest.

In less than half-hour had passed, and we had emptied all the 50 odd handcarts of lumpy mud into the conveyor belt and the 1st tray of bricks were about to be tipped over at the end of the firing chamber and into a conveyor of running water before it dropped into the huge netted platform that was made much earlier.

We roped the empty handcarts and then log off from our meditative state and return to our real world.

=*=

I waved my hands at one of the workers who were laying the bricks and admiring how it looked like when placed at an angle, rather than stacked undecoratively and unimaginatively in the ground.

He came over and asked what he could be of service. I told him I liked the way he meticulously placed each brick and used the cushioned monkey ram to place it firmly in the ground. He went down on his knees and bowed and I told him not to embarrass me and stand up.

I informed him in about 1 hour time after lunch by 1230 pm, the bricks would be ready to be collected from the warehouse and once I gave my signal he and some guys would come over and help to pull the wagons or get a horse to do it.