"Ah Xun, did you go play in the mud today?" Zhong Qingyi noticed that his trouser legs and shoes were covered in yellow dirt when she helped him wash his clothes.

"Uncle, I'll wash my own clothes from now on. You don't need to help me. I can do it myself." Ye Moxun was helpless. He didn't know how many times he had said this, but his uncle would agree and then wash his clothes for him instead, not letting him do any chores. He was going to spoil him rotten sooner or later.

"Ah Xun, just focus on getting better, don't worry about anything else." Zhong Qingyi smiled indulgently.

Knowing that nothing he said would make a difference, Ye Moxun stopped dwelling on the matter and instead got down to business, "Uncle, let's lay the foundation first and not rush to build the house. Let's wait a few more days and see."

"What's wrong?" Zhong Qingyi finished hanging up the clothes and came over to look at him.

“I once read a book about making bricks and tiles, but I didn’t pay attention to it before. Now that I see everyone busy building houses, I suddenly remembered this and decided to try to make bricks and tiles. If we can, we won’t build mud houses, we’ll build brick and tile houses.” Ye Moxun looked at him calmly.

Seeing his seriousness, Zhong Qingyi believed him. After a moment of surprise, he grinned and showed a set of white teeth. "Ah Xun, you are really capable. The foundation of our house has already been laid, so there's no rush to build adobe bricks. I'll make bricks and tiles with you."

This? That works too. With my uncle's involvement, the experiment will be completed faster.

The next day, not only Zhong Qingyi joined the brick-making experiment, but Song Zhuiyan also came after hearing about it. With two adults helping, things went much more smoothly, and it took another three days for the bricks to be fired.

Everyone was happy. Although the quality wasn't great, it could be improved gradually. It was still better than a mud wall. They weren't professionals, so it was impossible for them to succeed on the first try. Things that look easy to others to do are actually quite difficult to do in practice.

They experimented for two more days and finally produced high-quality bricks. They were confident that as long as they followed the improved method, they could produce good bricks. So the next problem was to build a large brick kiln.

That evening, Zhong Qingyi and Song Zhuiyan went to find Lin Fuhai, the village chief of Linjia Village, and told him about their plan to make bricks.

Lin Fuhai was stunned after hearing this. After regaining his senses, he was very excited and asked, "You really know how to make bricks and tiles? You're not lying to me, are you?"

This is a technical skill. If you learn this skill, you won't have to worry about starving to death when you go out. You can make bricks and tiles to sell for money. That's how Zhong Qingyi and Song Zhuiyan taught the people in their village the skill of making bricks and tiles.

"We're sharing our technology with you so we can build the house faster. Do you think we're just idle and like to joke around?" Song Zhuiyan retorted coldly.

Lin Fuhai was speechless and dared not say anything more. He then carefully discussed the matter of firing bricks and tiles with the two of them. They decided that the house would not be built for the time being. They would talk about it after the bricks were fired. Since they would be making the bricks themselves and would not have to buy them, who would want to build an adobe house?

It took four days to build the brick kiln. Fortunately, there were many capable men in Linjia Village. Once the kiln was built, they started firing bricks for the first time. This time, they started firing bricks seriously, unlike before when they only fired a few bricks as if it were just a game.

First, the loess, water, and mud are mixed together and shaped into bricks. After the bricks are made, they need to be dried. After drying for about a day, when they are lifted up without breaking, they are ready to be loaded into the kiln and fired.

Making bricks requires a lot of firewood, so the task of gathering firewood was left to the women and children. Everyone was very busy and no one was idle. The brick kiln was not very big, and it took three days to fire one batch of bricks. People took turns watching the fire day and night, and the first batch of bricks was fired on the third day.

Ye Moxun and Song Tantan inspected them and found that the quality was not very good; some broke easily, but a small number were of acceptable quality. However, they were not suitable for building houses.

"Auntie, the first few kilns of these probably weren't very good quality. They'll need to be improved a few times before they can be used to build houses. We'll use the lower-quality ones to build pigsties, but we'll need to find a suitable site for pigsties." Song Zhuiyan will definitely raise more than one pig. Back in her hometown, she raised more than a hundred, and now she'll raise at least a dozen or twenty.

“I’ve already found a place. It’s over here past the brick kiln, on the way home, in that open area. There’s a stream there, and the water doesn’t go to the waterfall, so I don’t have to worry about polluting the water source when I discharge sewage.” Song Zhuiyan’s smile deepened.

"Once we have more pigs, we'll build a biogas digester, which will immediately solve the sewage problem and we won't even have to worry about fertilizer. It's a pity we don't have a gas stove, so we can't burn gas." Song Tantan pouted, somewhat disappointed. The gas stove in her space definitely couldn't be used.

"Don't set your expectations too high. Things are slowly getting better now, and they'll only get better in the future." Song Zhuiyan picked her up in her arms.

"Oh, Auntie, don't keep hugging me. I'm quite heavy now, it's tiring to carry me." Well, actually she's shy, after all, she's not young at heart.

A few days later, the quality of the fired bricks was still relatively poor. Lin Fuhai and the others thought it was very good, but Song Zhuiyan said it was not up to standard. She still had people move the bricks to the place where she was building the pigsty. After the third batch of bricks came out, they could be used to build houses.

Building a pigsty is relatively simple; Song Zhuiyan can even lay bricks herself. However, she was too slow on her own, so she hired three strong men from Linjia Village to help her. They provided her with lunch and two ounces of rice every day.

Zhong Qingyi's house was the first one to be built. Since the brick-making technique was developed by Ye Moxun and Song Tantan, the first batch of qualified bricks would be used to build a house for him first. This was agreed upon beforehand, and no one else had any objections.

With a large workforce, it took a month to build a four-room house, plus a kitchen, a main hall, and three bedrooms. Originally, Zhong Qingyi thought two rooms would be enough, but Ye Moxun insisted on adding a guest room. He didn't like the house to be too crowded. What if someone came to visit and had to squeeze in with him or his uncle?

It's too inconvenient. It's not like we don't have enough land to build another room. Land is free, and the bricks are already fired. Naturally, we should build the house to be more spacious and have more rooms. My uncle will get married and have children in the future. If there are too many people, where will they sleep?

Just a few days after the new house was built, Ye Moxun and Zhong Qingyi moved into their new home. That evening, they invited Song Zhuiyan and Song Tantan to their house for dinner.

Well, then Zhang Qingyu and Zhang Qingling also came with Shen'er. Ye Moxun's idea was not to invite them, but Zhong Qingyi felt that this was not good. After all, they had lived under the same roof for more than a month and had become familiar with each other.

Even if they move to a new house and don't live together anymore, the new house is right next to the stone house, so they'll still see each other every day when they go out. It would be really inappropriate not to invite them over for meals.

Besides, Zhong Qingyi and Zhao Zhongnian are colleagues, both having started as guards, and they have a lot in common. Even if it's just for Zhao Zhongnian's sake, they would still invite the Zhang Qingyu sisters over.

"I was just thinking that we don't have much food at home, so we should eat it sparingly," Ye Moxun replied matter-of-factly.

"...Ah Xun, don't worry. Your uncle has brought back a lot of wild rabbits and pheasants these past few days. Let's cook more meat. The house is built now, and your uncle goes hunting and chopping wood every day. We'll definitely be able to get through this winter." Zhong Qingyi's ears turned slightly red, feeling very guilty. Ever since Ah Xun started living with him, it seemed like he had never had enough to eat. He was so useless.