When Qi Yongfu asked this question, both the Sheng father and son were stunned and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Liu Changde, however, reacted quickly and immediately laughed.

"What? You've taken a liking to my apprentice and are planning to introduce him to someone?"

Your eldest daughter is already married, and your youngest is only fifteen, isn't she a bit young?

They were all from the same village, and Liu Changde knew the Qi family's situation better than anyone.

Qi Yongfu shook his head upon hearing this, "Don't say that my family doesn't have a suitable one, even if we did, they wouldn't be a good match for me."

I'm talking about my sister's daughter. She's a substitute teacher at Donggang Commune Elementary School, 21 years old, and still single.

"Oh, I know who you're talking about." Liu Changde nodded, then explained to Sheng Liancheng.

"Old Qi's sister got married in Donggang, and her husband is the deputy secretary of the commune."

Her daughter graduated from middle school and was hired as a teacher at Donggang Commune Primary School.

"Yes, I've met that girl. She's alright, quite pretty. She's just a year older than Xiping."

Sheng Liancheng then realized what was happening and immediately laughed, "Oh, I have to thank Brother Qi for thinking so highly of our eldest son."

However, he already has a girlfriend, who is a former educated youth from our forest farm.

"Isn't that right? I just applied for public housing with the venue, and I was planning to tidy it up so my child could use it for their wedding."

Since Sheng Xiping and Zhou Qinglan have already established a romantic relationship, the Sheng family cannot be fickle and go on dates with other girls.

Therefore, no matter how good Qi Yongfu's niece is, the Sheng family will never agree to it.

"Alright, Lao Qi, you're too late. My apprentice is good-looking and capable; he's in high demand."

Upon hearing this, Liu Changde quickly stepped in to smooth things over and avoid an awkward situation for both parties.

"That's right, that's right. My nephew's character and looks are so good that countless girls are eyeing him."

I just said it offhand, just said it offhand.

Qi Yongfu wasn't stupid, so he quickly went along with Liu Changde's words, laughing it off to let the matter drop.

The group took another sip of wine, and then Liu Changde remembered something and asked Sheng Liancheng.

"Brother, how many public housing rooms are there? Are they enough?"

So, are you planning to leave the new house for Xiping to get married, or what?

The alkali field is so close to the forest farm that even if you don't visit it often, you should still know something about it.

Unlike rural areas, forest farms are not spacious, and every household has several large houses.

The public housing in this forest farm is small; it's considered good if each family can get one and a half or two rooms.

With such a large family like the Shengs, how could there be enough room for everyone?

"Yeah, we were just discussing it. I said we should give the new house to the eldest son for his wedding, and we'll still live in the old house, but he wasn't happy about it."

Then we discussed adding a room and a half to the east side of the house.

This should be enough space; the eldest son can have his wedding in the west room.

Sheng Liancheng and Liu Changde had known each other for many years, so there was nothing to hide and he told the truth.

"Yes, that works. A bigger house will be more spacious."

Besides, the young couple just got married; they don't know how they'll manage their life together.

If you just distribute them directly, wouldn't you be in a complete mess?

With you two by my side, guiding me, and my younger siblings helping to soothe and comfort the baby, it's really nice.

Upon hearing this, Liu Changde nodded, agreeing that building a house was indeed a reasonable approach.

"So what kind of house are you planning to take on? A brick or tile house? Or a log cabin like this one?"

Liu Changde was Sheng Xiping's mentor, so he naturally paid more attention and continued to ask questions.

“Once you build one, you can’t build another log cabin, can you? I’m thinking, even if it’s not all brick and tile, it should at least be brick-encased.”

We'll have to discuss this with the forestry farm later; it would be best if we could get some from them. Transporting it back from Songjiang River is just too inconvenient.

Sheng Liancheng took a sip of wine, put down his glass, and said.

"We have timber at home, and we're not short of sand either. We can just dig some out of the river."

"I plan to go to the quarry and carve some stones. It's only a room and a half; we won't need many."

"No need, no need, Stone, don't bother." Liu Changde waved his hand immediately upon hearing this.

"When my family built our house, we still had quite a few stones left. You can hitch a ride to my house and bring them back later."

If we don't have enough bricks, we have large bricks at home, like you said, we can use them to build brick walls.

"I told you, a large, unfinished wall is still warmer. If you fix it up properly, it can last for decades." Upon hearing this, Liu Changde quickly waved his hand.

Nowadays, most families have to find their own ways to prepare the materials for building houses.

Liu Changde's family has many sons. He originally planned to prepare more stones and large bricks so that he could build a few more houses when his third and fourth sons got married.

As a result, the third brother joined the army and did very well there. He'll probably get promoted to officer, and even if he retires, he definitely won't come back to this little mountain village.

The fourth brother is studying in Donggang, and from what I've heard, it seems he doesn't plan to come back.

These materials are useless at home and just sitting there is a waste. Since my apprentice's family is building a house, I might as well give them to the Sheng family.

“Brother, I also have some stones and large blanks at home. If you don’t mind, you can go and bring them back to use.”

Qi Yongfu quickly chimed in.

"Perfect, it saves us the trouble of chiseling stones. We can build the house sooner, and after we're done, we'll need to ventilate it and stuff, right?"

Sheng Xiping had done the Qi family a great favor, and the Qi father and son were worried about how to repay him.

It's just some stones and rough stones, nothing valuable, but it's worth it as a gift to do someone a favor.

"When are you going to build the house? I'll have my eldest son come and help."

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