Ideals and Youth: I Too Had a Youth (Part 6)...

Even in farming novels, you still need a house at the beginning.

Now we have to build our own houses, and besides, we'd get angry.

Building only an adobe house, without bricks or tiles, is actually very cost-effective.

Everyone in the village knows how to make adobe bricks; it's not technically difficult.

The materials are loess from the wilderness mixed with reed stalks, which are then stirred together to form the product.

The high cost stems from the carpentry work; not only are the carpenters' wages expensive, but the wood itself is also costly.

Ye Xiqing used second-grade poplar wood for the doors, windows, and main beams, and the whole set cost about eighty yuan.

So why didn't you listen to her and have more ancestors?

If we had started planting timber back then, it wouldn't have become so expensive. When families moved houses, they would have had an ancestor to support them. How wonderful that would have been!

Poplar trees grow quickly and can mature in just a few years. They are everywhere in the countryside and are cheap, but they are not good for supporting heavy loads and are prone to insect infestation, so they are not good materials for main beams.

Ordinary people, who go to great lengths to build a house, value its durability and wouldn't choose such a large beam.

But if she can't move the house after the poplar wood gets infested with borers, then she should start over.

The entire house, only about 60 square meters, was built entirely of adobe bricks, without a single tile, just a mud roof, making it very energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.

But even such a small, dilapidated house exceeded Ye Xiqing's budget. So what to do? Borrow it.

Village chief, lend me twenty yuan. I'll pay you back thirty yuan once the grain is harvested.

village head:……

Why don't you just fly to the sky!

Ye Xiqing's mental state is already ahead of everyone else in this era. The village chief almost slapped her out the door. What a dream she's having!

Seeing the village chief's firm attitude, Ye Xiqing compromised and said, "Five yuan it is, five yuan is fine. When the grain comes in, I'll pay you back seven yuan immediately. I guarantee I'll make a profit."

The village chief looked at her with utter disdain. "How much grain do you have? You're borrowing from everywhere and returning it everywhere!"

Ye Xiqing glared at him, "Then why not?"

She has two mu of land, which can yield 1,600 jin of grain. After the two of them pay 400 jin of grain to the state, they still have 1,200 jin left.

Corn costs one cent per pound, but can be sold for 120 yuan.

Paying back this amount is more than enough.

village head:……

Are you a god? You just pay your taxes and then do nothing else, huh?

The thing Ye Xiqing was thinking about was something no human could come up with.

But five yuan wasn't a lot of money for the village chief, and Ye Xiqing kept pestering him, from the village office all the way to his house.

Finally, when I couldn't hold her any longer, I threw her five yuan, just to appease her like a beggar!

Ye Xiqing received the money and thought, "Wow, as expected of a rich person, they're so easy to talk to."

After borrowing from the village chief, he immediately went to borrow from the electrician and the women's director, borrowing money from higher authorities, only five yuan from each.

Once the loans from the higher-ups are exhausted, we'll borrow from the village. Instead of five yuan, we'll borrow one yuan.

The whole village was afflicted by the plague; upon seeing her enter, everyone wanted to hide as far away as possible.

Whether she knew them or not, Ye Xiqing would go to their door to borrow a dollar, or at least fifty cents if she couldn't borrow a dollar.

At first, the villagers didn't realize what was happening, but then they realized, "Isn't this just like forcibly begging for food?"

Ye Xiqing strongly disagreed with this, saying that not allowing her to return food would be considered begging, and if she did return it, it wouldn't be considered begging at all.

Begging can make a lot of money. With just a few cents, I managed to get about twenty dollars.

Then they received a strong supply of goods, as Bao Xiangqiao's family members arrived.

Bao Xiangqiao's father hated her for being divorced and ashamed, but Bao Xiangqiao still had her mother.

When she found out that her husband hadn't brought their second daughter back, Old Mrs. Wang had a huge fight with him and smashed a bowl in the house.

She then instructed her eldest son and eldest daughter to take her to Dayushu Village to see her second daughter.

After Old Man Bao retired, his eldest son took over his job, and his eldest daughter married a worker. They were all doing alright.

My sister is in trouble, so of course I'll help her however I can.

Grandma Wang brought half a bag of millet, and Bao Laoda and Bao Dajie each contributed some money.

If that doesn't work, I'll have my second daughter stay with her older sister for a while.

What's the big deal about getting a divorce? In this day and age, no woman is unable to get married.

Given their family's circumstances, they can't find a new husband for Er Yatou!

The group rode in a donkey cart and arrived at Dayushu Village in a grand procession, where they saw Ye Xiqing and a group of people busily carrying soil to build a house.

He stood there, stunned. Huh?

Ye Xiqing was working hard when she saw them and her face lit up with joy.

It wasn't a wasted trip! It wasn't a wasted trip!

He handed the carrying pole to Brother Bao and ran to his mother and elder sister to complain.

My dear family! You've finally come! What kind of life has she been living these past few days?! It's been so pitiful!

She was carrying mud under the scorching sun, her sweat mixing with her clothes; she did look quite pitiful.

But I heard she's building a house for herself, something doesn't seem right.

The Bao family asked around and felt like they were listening to a myth, but since they were already getting the land for their house, all they could do was ask: "Do you need money to build the house?"

This was like a pillow being delivered to someone who was just about to fall asleep. Ye Xiqing replied without hesitation: "No!"

They originally came to help Bao Xiangqiao, and they didn't intend to take back the things and money they brought.

Now, suddenly it's all about building a house for Bao Xiangqiao to tide her over, and it feels completely different now, like we're making a major investment.

Grandma Wang was relieved and had a smile on her face when she went home.

If anything happens, remember to go home and find someone. Don't listen to that old man!

Ye Xiqing was very touched and wanted to invite them to stay for a meal, but the mother and daughter insisted on leaving.

She's probably struggling financially these days; we're not feeding her anymore.

Brother Bao, who works in an office job at the restaurant, has never done such dirty and tiring work before, and he is about to leave as well.

Ye Xiqing sincerely bid farewell to her family, hoping they would visit often.

Ye Xiqing took out the half-bag of millet and handed it to Cheng Er's sister-in-law.

Ask her to add a bowl of millet porridge to the helper's bowl when she cooks lunch.

Millet was considered a highly nutritious food in those days, and it was more expensive than corn, so ordinary families didn't eat it often.

Adding a bowl of millet porridge immediately made the helper happy, and he became more meticulous in his work, even thinking of things that Ye Xiqing hadn't considered.

With such support from various parties, Ye Xiqing's little house was finally built.

The house was very small, with only one room containing a kang (a heated brick bed).

Outside the house was a low mud wall, not even as tall as the little girl, and in the center of the yard was a modern hand-pumped well.

Apart from that, there was nothing else, but Ye Xiqing was quite satisfied with what she saw.

It's like a farming game where you start by clearing everything out and building your home.

Although it requires a very large investment in the early stages, once you start, you can enjoy more and richer gameplay options.

Create your own account, and everything will be yours. You can open your own bank account and have the money deposited into your own account.

Because the house is built with adobe and wood, it is made entirely of natural materials and contains no formaldehyde. You can move in as soon as it dries.

On the day Ye Xiqing moved, the villagers were even happier than she was, welcoming and celebrating with gongs and drums. "She's finally gone!"

Cheng Ersaozi called her husband to help her move. He used a handcart to load the daily necessities she had brought from the Zhou family onto the cart and carried them to the new house.

The revolutionary friendship forged through building houses together these past few days has allowed their relationship to evolve very well.

Once we arrived at our new home, we let the children roam freely.

The newly built house is actually not as good as the Zhou family's house at all, but Xiaoya is still too young to feel it.

These days, she's having so much fun playing in the mud and water that she forgets everything else. Kids like her just want to play.

Run around so fast, I love it!

Ye Xiqing didn't actually dislike children. Watching them run around, she found it quite peaceful and idyllic, a sign of a prosperous and peaceful country.

If this child were from another family, it would be even better if she didn't have to wipe his/her poop.

I really don't understand why this game needs to be so realistic. Is it necessary to recreate every single detail?

Oh well, what's done is done. Time to start a new chapter.

Ye Xiqing stirred up such a storm in the village that everyone's eyes were on her, expecting her to do something big again. But unexpectedly, she suddenly went silent.

Ye Xiqing doesn't talk much usually. It's not that she's deliberately trying to be profound; she's just in a standby state and doesn't want to do anything too energy-consuming.

She has never been interested in socializing. Being good at socializing doesn't mean she likes it. Every time she socializes with others, she feels like she has to appease herself.

Once the goal is achieved, there's no need to maintain a high-energy-consuming state anymore.

People who can maintain an optimistic attitude and laugh all the time must have a pretty amazing body mechanism.

Once everything was done, she just wanted to save her emotions.

The people of Dayushu Village all grow corn, a crop that Ye Xiqing really likes.

It's easy to grow and highly productive; it grows in the ground and basically doesn't need any care, allowing for plenty of downtime during the farming season.

Ye Xiqing used her spare time to tidy up the garden step by step.

The designated residential land is not arable soil; it's very hard and contains some loose rocks. The soil needs to be replaced before vegetables can be grown.

Ye Xiqing dug little by little, carried it out, and then replaced it with fresh soil to fill it in.

Too lazy to borrow farm tools from others, he bought his own hoe and shovel, even if it cost more money, so he could use them whenever he wanted.

I'm working for myself, there's no need to act like someone's chasing me, I'll just take my time and do things my own way.

She cleared a plot of land and immediately planted vegetables. She could take her time, but vegetables couldn't.

Make sure she grows quickly, and before the ground freezes, she must produce some results.

Because of building the house, the season was delayed, so now we can only hurry up and plant some autumn vegetables.

At this time of year, you can still plant carrots, radishes, spinach, and the king of vegetables, Chinese cabbage.

It's unbelievable that there's such a perfect vegetable as Chinese cabbage, but for Ye Xiqing, this perfect vegetable has one major flaw: she doesn't like to eat it.

Because she didn't like to eat them, she didn't plant them and instead planted only red radishes.

Red radish, also known as water radish, is a fruit-like variety of radish.

It has a red skin and looks good. Once you bite a hole in the skin, you can peel the whole skin off little by little along the hole.

The radishes inside are crisp and sweet, and they taste good even when eaten with the skin on. They are a rare treat for rural people to satisfy their appetites.

It's just that it's small, and nobody would specifically grow this kind of thing. There are only two rows left, so people just plant it to satisfy their cravings.

Ever since she got together with Ye Xiqing, her second sister-in-law, who is married, has only been close to her and wants to come to her house every day to see what she is doing.

Seeing that Ye Xiqing was going to plant radishes all over the land she had just cleared, she couldn't help but say, "Why plant these things? They don't even provide any food."

As Ye Xiqing planted, she replied, "My garden has only just opened, and nothing grows here. I might as well plant some edible things. You can come here to eat them when you want."

Upon hearing this, Wu Guiyun was immediately delighted: "Okay, then my family won't plant radishes this year. Let's plant different ones. If you want to eat vegetables, just come and pick them from our yard."

It was a good solution, and the two of them were quite happy. Wu Guiyun sat down and, while sewing the shoe soles, excitedly told her about the fun things that happened that day.

The two women were chatting, while the two children played on the side.

Wu Guiyun has three children. The youngest is still breastfeeding, the eldest is about to start junior high school, and the youngest is about the same age as Xiaoya, so they can play together.

Kids only behave when playing with other kids; they internalize their thoughts, which is really reassuring.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was quite pleasant, but the system remained silent, watching Ye Xiqing leisurely tending the garden.

No, you're a purebred 24K!