At the end of September, the east building of the academy was completed.

The academy faces east, facing the direction of the rising sun at dawn. The east building is one of the main structures of the academy, with a U-shaped structure. The buildings here are used as classrooms for studying and teaching, just in time for the children to enter school in March next year.

The courtyard on the south is built as a dormitory for the teachers who come to the academy to give lectures. Most of the houses inside are of two-bedroom and one-living room or one-bedroom and one-living room structure, with independent bathrooms, and can be used as independent dormitories.

Now the construction of the entire academy is less than a quarter complete. The houses on the east side have been built, which can be arranged for the lonely elderly people in the village and some families whose houses are uninhabitable to live in this winter. After the winter, these people will move out in February or March next year. The academy will open in March next year, and this place can be used as a classroom for children to enter school.

From the end of spring to the beginning of summer, after the whole summer, autumn is about to end, and the cold winter is coming. Feng Guang brought this group of men who gathered from all directions to Caojia Village to work. Unexpectedly, this work lasted for a year, and they might work in Caojia Village for the next three to five years.

Fortunately, before the arrival of winter, the houses on the east side of the academy were also built in a hurry.

"Thank you for your hard work." Cao Xiangnan followed Master Feng through the houses and all the floor tiles were laid.

All of these houses were built in a short time by human and animal power. He knew that Master Feng and the men who worked on them had worked hard. His words came from the bottom of his heart, and he really knew that everyone had worked hard.

Considering that the houses here would also be used as classrooms for lectures in winter and people might be arranged to live in them, they also spent some time on heating when building these houses.

At first, Cao Xiangnan and Master Feng discussed this issue for a long time before deciding to use a "Hui"-shaped structure for this house. "Hui" means two mouths connected together, with a large heater in the middle. Once the heater in the middle is lit, the houses on all sides can be heated by the ground dragon.

Feng Guang has been building houses for people for half his life, but this is the first time he has built a house like this. These novel ideas have greatly facilitated the work.

"We deserve the hard work, but fortunately we have lived up to the trust of our young boss and have built all the houses in a hurry." Feng Guang was very happy that he could build all the houses in a hurry, and he also lived up to the trust of his boss.

It was hard work, but it was worth it.

At this time of year in previous years, Feng Guang would have already taken his men home to prepare for the winter. This year, he has been busy until now, and the boss has also allowed them to go home twice. Working from morning till night every day, I rarely hear anyone complaining about the hardship and tiredness. It's not that their current boss is good. Not only can they have three meals a day, but their wages are not paid every month, and they are never owed wages.

On this day, they finished work and went home for the holiday. In addition to receiving this month's wages, the boss also gave each of them a New Year's gift, two pounds of meat and a small jar of wine. After receiving the New Year's gift, everyone was very happy.

There are not many things, but for everyone, these are given by the boss, and they are all the boss's thoughts. They all remember them in their hearts. They are lucky to have met such a good boss, and they also gave them meat and wine to take home. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, they brought moon cakes back home, and everyone in the family liked them. This meat and wine are not bad, and I think everyone in the family will like them.

"This wine is really fragrant." There is no man who doesn't like this. When the seal of the wine jar is opened, the fragrance comes out. Smelling this smell, several people are intoxicated. Living in the same village, they agreed to go back and have a drink together.

"Let's have a good drink when we go back."

"Okay, okay, I'll cook a few good dishes for you, and we'll taste this wine."

This is a small jar for each of them, which looks like one or two kilograms of wine. It's a lot of wine for several people. Not greedy, just a few sips, but it's enough for them to drink for a long time.

After packing a few pieces of clothing, putting the package on their backs, hiding the wages in their inner pockets, and holding the meat and wine that their employers had brought back for them, the group of men left Caojia Village and hurried home.

"We will come when the first snow melts next year."

"Okay."

"See you next year, brothers."

"See you next year."

It was just in time to go to the town, and their carriage took Master Feng back to the town.

The houses on the academy side were built, the rooms inside were cleaned, and the simple wooden beds were transported over. These wooden beds were directly spliced ​​together when they were used, and they were very convenient to move. When they were not in use, they were disassembled and stacked. As for the dormitory arranged for the lecturers, the bed, cabinets and tables inside were all matched, and people could live there directly with their packages.

The carriage went to the town to pick up Zheng Shubo and his family of three, and took them directly to the dormitory in the academy. Considering Zheng Shubo's family of three, Cao Xiangnan gave Zheng Shubo and his family a two-bedroom, one-living room, which was just right for them to live in.

They moved all the things in the car into the room, which had been cleaned. The room was filled with bed cabinets and furniture, and people could sleep directly after putting the bed on. There were tables, chairs and tea tables in the living room, and people could drink tea here.

All the windows of the houses here were built according to his previous house-building standards. The windows were relatively large and had good light transmittance. In summer, the windows were opened to make the house bright and ventilated. As for winter, the wooden boards supporting the windows were taken down to block the cold wind outside. There is a fireplace in the wall of the house, and the house can be heated in winter by burning the fireplace.

"How is it, is it okay?" Cao Xiangnan led Zheng Shubo's family in and told them everything in the house. He told them how to use these things one by one.

The bathroom is divided into two parts, one half is the toilet and the other half is the bathroom. The cover of the fireplace in the living room can be opened to burn fire inside. Once the fire is lit, the house can be warm. The well in the yard has also been dug, so it is convenient to use water when living here. You can just go there to fetch water.

"Okay, it's already very good." Zheng Shubo looked at this small room that had everything in it. Some of the things here were very unique to him. They were simple, but he liked them very much.

Liang Yan was holding a child in her arms. The child was crying, and his little face was happy and excited. He thought he liked this place. He also liked this room very much. There were two rooms here, and this one could be used for the child to live in.

When the child grows up, he can also study in this academy. He heard that children do not need to pay tuition when they go to school from the age of four to seven, and only half of the tuition is required when they are from the age of seven to ten. But if my husband takes the imperial examination in the future and becomes an official, I think they will have to leave here.

Cao Xiangnan also told them that if her husband taught in this academy for the rest of his life, the academy would be responsible for their old age when he could no longer teach. Liang Yan suddenly had an idea in her mind that it would not be a bad idea for them to stay here for the rest of their lives.

"This is the small kitchen, you can cook here. Someone will deliver rice to you every month. As for meat and vegetables, I will arrange them for you this winter. You have to prepare them in advance in the future." So here, rice is provided every month, but it does not include daily meat and vegetables. Because of the special situation this year, Cao Xiangnan will arrange it for them. "

Okay, Xiangnan, please. Shubo doesn't know what to say about this. You have considered it so carefully for us." If he hadn't met Cao Xiangnan, Zheng Shubo would not know where to go with his wife and children. The arrangement here is already very good for him. Everything is arranged for them.

Before he came, Cao Xiangnan had already explained to him the reason for his coming. As long as he worked as a teacher here, the academy would arrange accommodation for him, provide him with a monthly supply of rice and grain, and also receive a salary.

"This is what I should do. I invited you from thousands of miles away, so I have to make arrangements for you. If you need anything, just let me know. I didn't open the academy, but I can have a say."

"When school starts in the future, there will be a special cafeteria in the academy, responsible for the meals of students and teachers. If you don't want to cook, you can eat in the cafeteria." Cao Xiangnan said, "But if you don't go there, you will also be given rice and grain here every month, and you can come back here to cook for yourself." According

to him, who has eaten in the cafeteria for more than ten years, although the food in the cafeteria is not very good, it is cheap and can fill the stomach, so he is still a person who deeply likes the cafeteria.

"Haha, okay." Zheng Shubo smiled.

"There are still a few houses here. The village will arrange for some people to live here, and they will leave after this winter. When we invite teachers to teach at the academy next year, they will live here. This year's situation is a bit special." After going out, Cao Xiangnan pointed to the several houses that had been built next door and said.

So even if they live here this winter, it's not just their family of three. There will be other people, but they will leave after the winter, so it won't be too noisy for some people to live here.

If a year later, those families in the village whose houses are dilapidated and uninhabitable are still living in dilapidated houses when others have started to build green brick and tile houses, then that's their own problem. In addition to the obligation to take care of some lonely elderly people in the village, Cao Xiangnan also thinks that those lazy and unproductive families should be given aid every year.

Cao Xiangnan took Zheng Shubo's family to the dormitory, arranged accommodation for them, and told them about the situation in the academy.

He only brought people here and arranged everything for them. He would not be so detailed as to take care of their daily food, clothing, housing and transportation. They still had to live on their own in the future. What he could provide them was a job and corresponding treatment.

After they lived here for a while, Cao Xiangnan thought that Zheng Shubo's family should have no problem living here. It

is neither far nor near from the academy to the town. Now that the road has been repaired, it is definitely much better than before. In the village, meat and vegetables are sold every day, but when winter comes, no one sells anything. The same is true in the town. There are no people selling meat and vegetables.

People here will prepare food before winter comes. Those who have vegetables and meat are better off. Some families can only cook a pot of porridge, and each person in the family can only drink one bowl. For the people here, if they don’t work, they have no food to eat. The memory left by the original body is that Mao Dong would sleep with an empty stomach in the house. That was not a pleasant feeling.

The problem is how can you sleep with an empty stomach? Lying in bed is cold and hungry. But for people of this era, winter is just a hardship to get through.

This year is a new beginning for the people in Caojia Village, and it is different from previous winters.

After bringing Zheng Shubo and his family of three here, Cao Xiangnan invited them to his house for dinner, thinking that it was their first day moving in. After dinner, he sent them back to the dormitory of the academy.

After instructing them to close the gate of the yard and bolt the door of the house at night, Cao Xiangnan did not stay here and went back home.

"I will, don't worry." Watching the carriage leave, Zheng Shubo looked at the people who left, closed the gate of the yard, and lowered the bolt inside. For the time being, only the three of them were living here tonight.

The sun in the west slowly set. Water was boiled in the pot in the small kitchen. Liang Yan gave the child a bath and put him to bed. The quilt on the bed was brought from the town. These things were prepared by Cao Xiangnan after they came here. Even the clothes were prepared for them.

The child couldn't walk yet, but he could sit and crawl. He was very active. If no one was watching, he could easily fall off the bed. Liang Yan was worried about the child being left alone in bed, so she said, "Husband, please look after the child."

"Okay." Zheng Shubo sat by the bed and teased the child, trying to get him to stand up and walk.

Seeing the father and son, Liang Yan smiled and turned around to get busy.

It was getting dark outside, the oil lamp in the house was blown out, he and his husband lay on the bed, holding the child in the middle, one on each side, the child was sleeping soundly. The wind was whistling in the window, but their room was warm and quiet.

The voices in the room gradually stopped, and the people inside fell asleep.