In the afternoon, Zhang Hulan went to Zhao Guoliang's house to discuss building a house. They had chosen a location to build the house, which was not far from Zhang's house, with the homes of Liu Yongquan and Liu Yonggui in between.

Zhao Guoliang asked: "How many rooms do you plan to build?"

Zhang Hulan thought for a moment and said, "Let's build seven rooms. How much silver will it cost?"

Zhao Guoliang said, "It doesn't cost much to build an adobe house. You can go to the mountains to collect the stones for the foundation and cut the wood. You just need to buy tiles and lime. At most, you can hire a carpenter to make doors and windows, tables, chairs, benches, and beds. You also have to take care of the workers' daily food. You don't have to spend money on anything else."

"Then how much is a suitable daily wage for everyone to work?"

Zhao Guoliang said, "For a carpenter, it's fifty or sixty cents a day."

"What about the other workers?"

"What other workers? You just need to hire a carpenter?"

Zhang Hulan asked, "We still need to ask the villagers for help when building a house. How much is a suitable wage for them per day?"

Zhao Guoliang waved his hand and said, "What kind of wages do you want? When we build houses in the village, everyone helps out. Just provide meals."

"Isn't this... bad?"

Zhao Guoliang smiled and said, "What's wrong with that? It has always been like this in the village. Building a house is a big deal and a happy event. Everyone helps each other."

"Of course, this is all voluntary. You spread the word that you want to build a house, and those who are willing to help will come without you having to call them. If they don't come, you don't have to call them either."

"I understand." Zhang Hulan nodded and said, "Uncle Lizheng, my father is lying in bed and can't move, and I don't know anything about building a house. So I would like to ask you to help me build a house. I wonder if you..."

"No problem." Zhao Guoliang agreed readily, "When do you plan to start work? I'll let you know the news."

Zhang Hulan asked: "Does the groundbreaking for building a house depend on a date?"

"It depends on the date." Zhao Guoliang said as he walked into the house and took out an old almanac to look through it.

After a while, he pointed to the almanac and said, "Three days later is a good day for breaking ground, so why not choose that day?"

Zhang Hulan nodded. "I'll listen to you. That's the day."

After the date was chosen, Zhang Hulan went back. Zhao Guoliang quickly spread the news that Zhang Hulan was going to build a house. At the same time, she also spread the news that the relief grain had arrived.

The villagers were all very happy. In the evening, many villagers came to Zhang's house and said they would come to help build the house. Zhang Hulan and Wang thanked the villagers one by one.

Zhang Hulan and Zhang Hujun went to the county town to buy quicklime, and then went to a tile kiln to order tiles.

Zhao Guoliang also asked Zhang Hulan to buy incense, candles, paper money and a chicken.

On the next day, someone from the government office came and asked Zhao Guoliang to take people to collect relief food.

In order to avoid congestion in the county government office, Wu Deyong ordered that the relief grain be distributed according to inventory, and that each village should take the relief grain back to the village before distributing it to the villagers.

Each person received a small amount of food. Adults could receive 10 kilograms, while the elderly and children could only receive 5 kilograms. Although it was not much, it was enough for the common people. And everyone was prepared. Wu Deyong had said last time that each person could only receive a few kilograms of food at most.

On the day when Zhang Hulan started building the house, under the guidance of Zhao Guoliang, she set up the altar, placed the incense table and offerings on it, lit incense and candles, and burned paper money.

When the incense was one third burned, Zhang Hulan worshiped the land dragon god; then she worshiped the five wealth gods and the four directions.

After the process was completed, Zhang Hulan gave each villager who came to help a red envelope of five cents.

Hundreds of people came, and every family in the village came, many of them were couples. Zhang Hulan gave out hundreds of coins in red envelopes.

The villagers all refused, but Zhang Hulan said it was for good luck.

The villagers happily accepted it and started working.

Some people were digging the foundation, some were mining stones on the mountain, and some were cutting trees on the mountain. The scene was arranged in an orderly manner by Zhao Guoliang.

Wang and Li, along with several other women from the village, worked together to grind flour and steam buns. With so many people, cooking was definitely not practical. Zhang Hulan prepared five buns for each person per meal.

The flour is not white flour, wheat bran is mixed in the flour, and the steamed buns are black and yellow.

Zhang Hujun and Li were both busy helping out. Zhang Hubing didn't slack off either, and although he complained about being tired, he was still helping out.

Xiang Chunhua would occasionally help out, but she would just pick up a few stones or pass a few bricks, then say she was not feeling well and go home to rest. When it was time to eat, she would come to get the steamed buns.

Zhang Hulan turned a blind eye for Zhang Xiaobing's sake.

…

Legong Village, Chen family.

Mrs. Qiao rushed back from outside and said loudly to Mrs. Cao: "Mom, have you heard? Zhang Hulan has become rich."

Mrs. Cao asked, "How did she get rich?"

Mrs. Qiao said, "Mother, I just heard about it. Didn't Zhang Hulan come to our village to help find food last time? That was a job assigned to her by the county magistrate. The county magistrate gave her one tael of silver every day, and in the end he rewarded her with thirty taels of silver."

When Mrs. Cao heard this, her eyes widened. "Who told you that?"

"I just heard from the village head's daughter-in-law that Zhang Hulan is now building a house in Daping Village."

"Mom, how about asking my eldest brother to bring Zhang Hulan back?"

Mrs. Cao's eyes rolled around, and then she said, "Wait until your father and your eldest brother come back and ask them what they think."

Old Man Chen and Chen Dalang were both digging wells in the village. The people sent by the court were just in charge, and the villagers had to dig the wells themselves.

Three wells have been dug in Legong Village, but the locations were not correct and there is little water in the wells.

At noon, when Old Man Chen and Chen Dalang came back for lunch, Old Lady Cao told them that Zhang Hulan had more than thirty taels of silver.

Mrs. Cao said to Chen Dalang, "Boss, why don't you go and bring Zhang Hulan back? Tell them that you promise not to sell Daya anymore."

Chen Dalang asked, "Does she really have more than thirty taels of silver?"

Qiao said, "Yes, she is building a house now."

Chen Dalang snorted, "Hmph... I'll go find her this afternoon."

Mrs. Cao said, "Okay, I'll go with you this afternoon."

Qiao said, "What if she doesn't come back?"

Chen Dalang said, "How dare she not come back?"

Mrs. Cao said, "It's okay if you don't come back. At least we can get half of the money."

Qiao was delighted, "That's right, the person doesn't have to come back, but half of the money has to be paid."

Old Lady Cao continued, "If she dares not give them the money, they will take Daya and the other three away."

Mrs. Qiao said, "Mother, I think we should first capture Daya and the other three, and then ask Zhang Hulan to hand over the silver. This is the safest way. Last time she used Dabao to threaten us, so let's use the same method to threaten her."

Mrs. Cao thought Qiao's idea was good. Didn't Zhang Hulan care about those money-losing women? As long as she caught those three money-losing women, she wouldn't be afraid that she wouldn't hand over the money.