Now that Secretary Lai had quit, they went to the brigade leader's house and asked him to approve a homestead. The brigade leader was very easy to talk to and approved the homestead for Luo Jingyan with a wave of his hand. It was located 200 meters away from the educated youth settlement, but closer to the cowshed.

Luo Jingyan quickly took out two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes from her pocket—actually, from her spatial storage—and offered them to the captain. The captain declined, but Luo Jingyan insisted, and only then did the captain accept them.

The last time Luo Jingyan repaired her house, the brigade leader helped her find bricklayers. At the time, she didn't know if it was because the bricklayers' skills were not good or because the house itself was too old, but the house started leaking not long after the repairs were completed. This time, Luo Jingyan didn't ask the brigade leader to find someone for her; she wanted to find someone herself.

She told Xue Yanchen about her concerns, and Xue Yanchen said, "I'll be supervising this time, so I'm not worried that any of them will be lazy."

"OK."

They went to Zhang Laibao's house. Luo Jingyan asked Zhang Laibao to make door and window frames for her in advance, and then make doors and windows. She also asked him about the bricklayers in the village. Then they went to find the bricklayers themselves and found six in total. According to Zhang Laibao, these six people were all senior bricklayers with excellent work skills.

Luo Jingyan knew the future historical trend. Her parents would return to the city, and she and Luo Changtian would have to take the college entrance exam. It was 1973 now, and they only needed to live here for a little over four more years. Therefore, she did not plan to build a brick house. Instead, she built four mud-brick houses, two for living, one as a living room, and the other as a kitchen.

Secondly, as a sent-down youth, building a brick house would inevitably attract the attention of others, so there was no need for it.

The first step in building an adobe house is to cut adobe bricks.

Adobe bricks are made by mixing loess with chopped wheat straw, wheat husks, or hay, kneading it into mud, and then placing it into a special wooden mold for making adobe bricks. Adding those plant debris to the loess helps to strengthen the adobe bricks.

Only after the adobe bricks are made and completely dried can they be used for house construction.

Of course, when making adobe bricks, the foundation also needs to be dug, and the two are done simultaneously.

Once the adobe bricks are made, the foundation will also be dug. Both of these need to be dried for a period of time, which will take about half a month to a month.

After construction began, the six bricklayers that Luo Jingyan had hired all came to work. Some of them made adobe bricks, while others dug foundations. The work was divided according to the amount of labor required.

Xue Yanchen would come over almost every morning and not go home until it was almost dark.

He not only had to work alongside the bricklayers, but also help Luo Jingyan supervise the work of those people.

These bricklayers are quite diligent and honest; they've been working steadily and reliably, which is commendable.

Besides Xue Yanchen, who is busy here every day, his good brother Zhao Jun is also not idle at all. Like him, he comes to the construction site every day. He is an honest man who is sincere to his brothers and will do his best to contribute as much as he can.

Of course, if he were a cunning person, Xue Yanchen wouldn't have become good brothers with him.

Luo Jingyan had agreed with the bricklayers that their wages would be 50 cents a day. If meals were provided, they would be paid 10 cents less. The bricklayers, being reluctant to spend the money, all chose to go home for meals.

When they got home, each of them had two cornbread buns made from mixed grains, a bowl of wild vegetable soup, and some pickled vegetables. It didn't even cost them five cents, which meant they indirectly earned an extra five cents.

Luo Jingyan also found it too troublesome to entertain them, and she was willing to pay an extra two cents.

Thus, only Xue Yanchen and Zhao Jun, who didn't want wages, remained to eat, so Luo Jingyan naturally treated them to a good meal.

She alternates between white flour steamed buns and multigrain steamed buns for breakfast and dinner, along with sauerkraut and pickled radishes. Luo Jingyan is a good cook; even the most ordinary dishes can be transformed into delicious delicacies by adding some seasonings.

There was meat at almost every lunch, because Xue Yanchen knew that Luo Jingyan had found a wild boar before, so he didn't suspect where the meat came from.

After Zhao Wensong fell ill, Lai Chuncao encouraged him to work for two more days and tried her best to help him, but Zhao Wensong showed no reaction at all.

Lai Chuncao originally wanted to take him to the hospital for treatment, but the hospital fees were too high, and their family's situation was no longer what it used to be, so they simply didn't have the money to treat Zhao Wensong.

Their village is nestled against a mountain with many medicinal herbs growing there. The elderly villagers often use these herbs to treat their own and others' illnesses. So, she decided to go up the mountain to collect some herbs to make a decoction for Zhao Wensong.

However, there was one problem: she didn't know what kind of herbs Zhao Wensong's condition required, and she needed to ask some elders for advice.

As a young woman, she felt somewhat embarrassed to go out and inquire about such matters. She first asked Lai's mother, who was unfamiliar with the subject because such a situation had never occurred to the men in their family.

As for her eldest son, since he had already gone mad, Fan Jinglan didn't care about that matter and hadn't told them. In addition, Lai Chunming and Fan Jinglan had children, so they didn't ask much about it. They didn't know whether Lai Chunming could still function.

Lai's mother couldn't help but scold Lai Chuncao: "Look at the son-in-law you chose. He's so thin and weak. He can't do farm work, and he's no good at sleeping on the bed. He's such a good-for-nothing. If you had listened to your father and me earlier and hadn't married this kind of person, you wouldn't be in this mess today."

"Mother, it's too late to say anything now. We should hurry up and think of a way to treat Wensong, otherwise, your daughter will be a widow for the rest of her life."

“I’m worried too. I’m afraid that if he’s like this, you won’t have any children. What will you do when you get old? Don’t panic. We’ve never had a patient like this in our family before, but other families must have. Let’s go to our relatives’ homes or ask around in the village. Maybe we can find a folk remedy to cure that disease.”

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!