Chapter 14 Moving into a new home

In the open space about five meters away from the courtyard wall in the backyard, there are three pomelo trees, two longan trees, one kumquat tree, two lychee trees and two peach trees.

Zhao Xiang enclosed a small piece of land, saying that he would plant a few bamboos there when the time came.

At this point, the family finally had a home and officially began to take root in Lingnan.

The day we moved into the new house, the whole family felt relieved and more at ease than ever before.

After everything at home was in order, Zhao Liya asked someone to dig a well.

Fortunately, the well digger chose a good spot and chose the backyard. Water was found less than two meters down. Now, using water will be much more convenient in the future.

These six taels of silver were well worth spending.

At Zhao Liya's request, Aunt Li Shiyi decided not to go back for the time being and stayed at the Zhao family.

Zhao Liya sounded very pitiful. Her family had no roots here and no one to help and guide them. She was afraid that it would be easy for them to get into trouble. Moreover, Zhao Lixiang and Zhao Lin were still young, and their mother was weak and difficult to take care of. She, her father and her brother had to work and were busy, so she asked Aunt Li Shiyi to stay for a while and help out.

Of course, Aunt Li Shiyi was willing to stay and help, with food and accommodation provided, and a monthly salary of 200 wen.

Aunt Li Shiyi agreed without much hesitation.

The Zhao family is a nice family, and she and Mrs. Deng get along well. The two children are sweet-mouthed, well-behaved and lovable, so Aunt Li Shiyi is actually happy to stay.

More importantly, her husband had passed away a long time ago, and her daughter had gotten married a few years ago. She was the only one at home, and her life was not easy and particularly boring.

Being able to stay in the Zhao family, with so many people, a good atmosphere, and getting paid, where else can you find such a good thing?

Deng was quite familiar with them, and was very happy to see that she agreed.

Aunt Li Shiyi went home that day to pack some clothes, entrusted her vegetable garden to someone to take care of it, and came here happily.

Early that morning, Zhao Liya and Hu Ling went into the city again.

Although most of the things in the house have been purchased, there are still some things that need to be bought.

In Zhao Liya's words, if we don't purchase now, it will be inconvenient to purchase in the future.

They have already started crying poor, saying that they have spent all the money in the family on building a solid house and have no money left!

Then in the future, at least you have to act like you have no money.

The Gu family is still trying to find trouble. Silver and money are too conspicuous, so they cannot make purchases frequently.

So today, Zhao Liya bought another 300 kilograms of rice, various seasonings such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, herbal tea, common medicines such as mosquito repellent and heatstroke relief, as well as a lot of fine cotton cloth, coarse cloth, ramie cloth, needles and thread, etc.

Cut the fine cotton cloth into a middle garment and wear it inside, and put on a coarse cloth garment outside. After a while, you can add two patches.

I also bought twenty adult chickens and kept them in a chicken coop. They should be laying eggs soon, and I can kill one if I want to eat the meat.

She also wanted to buy some ducks, but she didn't see any for sale.

The two men hired an ox cart to transport a full cart of supplies back home. Instead of going directly into the village, they unloaded all the goods and piled them beside the path. Then they transported them back one trip at a time along the path and entered the yard through the back door.

Fortunately, their home was on the edge of the village and no one saw them.

At this point, combined with Zhao Liya's planned purchase of supplies during the construction of the house, they now have more than 500 kilograms of rice, enough to eat for almost four months.

Fifty pounds each of sun-dried soybeans, red beans, mung beans, and peanuts. In a small storage room next to the kitchen, a row of knee-high jars held kohlrabi, pickled vegetables, and dried vegetables. There were also dried wood ear mushrooms, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried tofu skin, dried sea fish, and eggs.

It's a pity that it's only June now, so meat can't be stored. Otherwise, Zhao Liya would buy half a pig and store it to eat slowly.

If you have food in your hands, you won't be worried and can pretend to be poor in a low-key manner.

At noon, Aunt Li Shiyi came.

The Zhao family's main house and the wing rooms on the east and west sides are all two-story buildings. The bedrooms of Zhao Xiangdeng and his wife, Zhao Liya, and Zhao Lixiang are all upstairs in the main house.

Hu Ling and Zhao Lin lived in the upstairs bedroom of the east wing.

There was another bedroom upstairs in the main house, so Aunt Li Shiyi was invited to stay there.

The Zhao family wanted to make friends with Aunt Li Shiyi and the Zaihu Village behind her, so naturally they were unwilling to treat her unfairly.

Aunt Li Shiyi was very happy and stayed after a few brief declines.

The blue brick house was clean and tidy. The bedroom had a bed with a white cotton gauze mosquito net, a rectangular table at the head of the bed, a large wardrobe, and a chest of drawers, all of which were new things.

The house is built, and it's time to fence off the vegetable garden.

There is a large open space at the door, which can be fenced off and used to grow vegetables.

The next morning, Zhao Liya wanted to go up the mountain to cut bamboo and vines to surround the vegetable garden, but Zhao Xiang insisted that he should go alone. "You stay at home, girl. Let Dad do this kind of hard work! Dad may not know how to do it, but he will learn it slowly. These things, sooner or later, you have to learn them."

Zhao Liya felt that it made sense. Her father was not even forty years old yet. Coming to this place, he would have to learn how to do farm work sooner or later!

"Okay, then take it slow and be careful at first."

"Haha, don't worry, your dad is a quick learner!"

Hu Ling also smiled and said, "I'm here. I will take good care of my adoptive father."

Zhao Liya felt warm in her heart and smiled brightly: "Well, thank goodness I'm here!"

So, after breakfast, Zhao Xiang and Hu Ling carried their axes and went to chop bamboo and wood.

Aunt Li Shiyi couldn't sit still, so she found a hoe and a sickle. "Let's prepare the land first. Once we've fenced it off, it'll be just right for planting. Oh, the season is almost over. If we don't hurry, there won't be anything to plant. We'll have to wait until autumn."

Zhao Liya agreed: "Aunt Eleven is right, let's open up the land!"

It is now early June, and the cucumbers, eggplants, beans, lettuce, corn, pumpkins, loofahs, etc. in other people's vegetable gardens have already bloomed and borne fruit and are ready to be eaten. The planting season for many things has passed.

But the vegetable garden still needs to be opened up, and whatever can be planted can be planted.

When Mrs. Deng saw this, she told the two children to play in the yard and not go out, but also went to help.

Before Zhao Liya could say anything, Aunt Li Shiyi said "Ah" and stopped her with a smile: "Sister, you should stay at home and look after the children. Don't get tired working in the fields."

Mrs. Deng said hurriedly, "How can that be possible? I have housework to do, too!"

"Mom," Zhao Liya said with a smile, "We've had a very tiring journey from the capital. You're not feeling well. You should take a break first and relax. You can go back to work after a while. Otherwise, if you get sick, wouldn't it be even worse?"

Aunt Li Shiyi nodded: "Yes, yes, Aya is absolutely right. Sister, you must not be so stubborn. This work in the fields is not easy to do, you should rest first!"

(End of this chapter)