On one side of Shen Siyue’s hut, there was already a large pile of wood that had not yet been processed.
On the other side, the stone rafters were neatly stacked.
After Shi Tou finished making the windows, he measured the size of the roof, planned the position of the beams, and began to prepare the wood to be used as the top beams.
If you want to build a roof, the surface of the wood needs to be peeled and the ends need to be processed.
Every night, Shitou would drag a piece of wood back to his yard and slowly polish it with tools.
These are all delicate jobs and cannot be done quickly.
In order to prevent others from gossiping about Shen Siyue, he would drag it back to his yard under the cover of night to deal with it, and then drag it back to the side of the small house when it was done.
Shen Siyue watched as she came every morning and there was always a piece of wood that had changed, and she felt helpless.
He took a day off and deliberately did not go home at night, but hid behind the earthen house.
Sure enough, the stone that was trying to "steal" the wood was stopped.
Shitou was also very surprised: "You scared me, why haven't you come home yet so late?"
After the last time Shen Hongmei framed Shen Siyue’s innocence, Shi Tou was always worried about Shen Siyue’s safety.
After all, even though Shen Hongmei is gone from the wolf den of the Shen family, there are still others!
What’s more, Wang Huilian is Shen Hongmei’s mother. The last incident made them lose face so much, and he was really afraid that Shen Siyue would be retaliated.
That's why he wanted to prepare everything needed to repair the house as soon as possible even if he didn't sleep every night.
Even when he was working every night, Shitou was thinking: It would be great if the weather could warm up right now and the ground thawed, so that we could start making bricks and put them on the roof right away.
If there are enough people, the house can be completely repaired in a few days, and Shen Siyue can move out of the house immediately.
But all this is just wishful thinking, the howling northwest wind won't allow it.
Shen Siyue pretended to be angry and looked at him: "Didn't I tell you not to help? I can do it myself."
Shitou rolled his eyes and said to her confidently, "Don't brag. You can't do these things."
Fortunately, it was late, and Shen Siyue couldn’t see his white eyes clearly, otherwise her little finger would have pointed to the tip of Shitou’s nose immediately.
But Shitou's words really left Shen Siyue speechless.
After brewing for a long time, Shen Siyue finally uttered a sentence: “The village chief said that he would find someone to help me in the spring.”
Shitou sighed, not wanting to break Shen Siyue’s fantasy, but he had to reveal the cruel reality: “At the beginning of spring, everyone has to be busy turning the soil and applying fertilizer, and I can only help you repair the house when it’s time to get off work.”
"So it's hard to say when it can be repaired. Do you want to delay it that long? Besides..."
Having said this, Shitou stopped talking.
Since someone comes to help, the host should at least prepare something to eat to show their appreciation.
But he guessed that Shen Siyue must not have much rations, and it was hard to say whether it was enough for herself, so how could she give it to others?
Another thing he didn't say was that although the villagers have known each other for generations, the relationships between people are also very complicated.
Maybe under the call of the village chief, others had to come and repair Shen Siyue's house, but they would never take it seriously.
After all, Shen Siyue was just an orphan at that time, with no relatives to help her, and she even had no contact with the Shen family.
In this situation, regardless of right or wrong, many people will stand on the side of the Shen family.
After all, it's a big family, and numbers mean strength.
In rural areas, the power of clans cannot be underestimated.
When there are a lot of people around, anyone who wants to bully you has to think twice before doing so.
If others help the Shen family, they may get help from the Shen family in the future.
But what can you get in return for helping Shen Siyue, an orphan?
Maybe, he would even become enemies with the Shen family.
In the future, it would be good enough if the people in the village did not take the initiative to bully Shen Siyue.
Good people are often bullied, and good horses are often ridden. This is an eternal truth.
As an orphan, Shen Siyue is considered a "good person" by people.
Thinking of this, Shitou crossed his arms and said worriedly, "Don't be mean to me. I have to do good things secretly. I am very sad."
Shi Tou was telling the truth, he was indeed a little sad.
There was a lot of work to do in repairing the house, but he had no right to work here openly, which made him feel very aggrieved.
Shen Siyue is not afraid of fighting with others, and she is not afraid of pinching waist and scolding others, but she can't stand others begging her softly.
His chest heaved and his mouth opened and closed, but still no words came out.
His usually eloquent mouth now acted like a dud cannonball, hitting his own hand.
Shitou saw her embarrassment, and in order not to embarrass her, he immediately changed his tone to a serious one: "You also said that the village chief would find people to help you in the spring, and I must be one of them."
"Just think of it as me finishing my own work ahead of time. Don't feel any psychological burden."
"Besides, my work is good. You can take your time now. You don't have to rush. You can be more careful. Cover it well the first time to avoid leaks in the future when it rains."
After saying this, Shitou waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, it's getting late, let's go back."
Shen Siyue wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the stone.
In this way, she was driven away from the place where her house was originally.
Shitou let her walk in front, and he followed far behind.
He put the wood at the door of his house, and then he didn't turn around and walk back until he saw Shen Siyue enter the gate of Shen's house.
From then on, Shitou took over all the work of renovating the house.
After dealing with the roof beams, he began to use the remaining wood to break boards, preparing to make a bowl rack.
Every time he came back from going out during the day, he would carry back a full basket of frozen soil.
Pour it on the ground in your house, smash it bit by bit, wait for it to thaw, mix it with some chopped straw, and then use warm water and mud, and start making adobe bricks in the house.
Adobe bricks have to go through the processes of mixing mud, pressing films, demoulding and drying. Although this process does not require much technical skills, it does take a long time.
The adobe bricks on the house become thinner as they go up the roof. Some of them have already fallen off and are unusable. They will definitely have to be torn down and replaced.
And it is also needed to build a kang, so a lot of adobe bricks need to be prepared!
Although this is slower, it's better to do it a little bit at a time than to do it right before you need it.
There are also some daily necessities.
Cover curtains, kang mats, brooms, etc.
Shi Tou lists all the things we need in life one by one.
According to this list, start helping Shen Siyue prepare things.
After returning home, Shen Siyue thought about it for a long time, and she couldn’t let him help like this for nothing.
I walked around the house, but apart from food, it seemed that there was nothing I could give as a thank you gift.
So, the next day, Shen Siyue baked a dozen pancakes with cornmeal and blocked the stone again at night.
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