"How about this? Can you give me this cloth? I'll go up the mountain and cut down a few trees for you another day. I'll use the wood to make this hat for you, okay?"
He Wan's eyes lit up. "Of course!"
Brother Fu Jun and Uncle Li Er quickly blocked the view of others and said, "Girl, leave this fabric for now. We'll get it after we finish work. Tell others that you paid three yuan to have us hang a roof for you."
He Wan was a straightforward person and said, "Okay."
When He Wan finished work that evening, she gave the dozen or so feet of cloth to Brother Fu Jun.
Over the next two days, the roof of the back row was completely finished; all that was left was to build the kang (heated brick bed).
The brigade leader found them two older men in their fifties from the village who were quite experienced.
It's slow. It takes three or four days to build a kang (heated brick bed) with a stove. With just these few kangs, it would take half a month to finish them all.
These past two days, Brother Fu Jun and Uncle Li Er have been going up the mountain to cut down trees after work.
Then I went to Uncle Li's house in the village to help saw it open and cut it into boards.
Preserving the handmade items is a bit of a hassle, but He Wan said there's no rush and it can be done after the kang (heated brick bed) is finished.
After the house was finished, He Wan chose a door at Uncle Li's house.
All of them chose their cars from Uncle Li's house; Uncle Li was the carpenter in their village.
I usually make cabinets, build furniture, or order wooden basins for people.
They also receive work points, and the money collected from the furniture sales still goes to the village.
They usually stay at home, but during busy farming seasons they have to go to the fields.
In addition to these, He Wan also ordered a two-tiered kang cabinet, a kang table, and a kang mat in advance.
A desk, a chair, a long table for filing, a cutting board, and a small stool.
That's all it took to spend two pounds of brown sugar, a bar of soap, and three yuan.
Uncle Liu can keep the brown sugar and soap for himself, but he has to hand over the money.
Uncle Liu was clever enough to know that they would definitely need this when building their new house, so he made two or three sets in advance.
While waiting for He Wan to put wood on the roof.
Su Ranran and Zhang Cuicao asked curiously, "Why are you doing this? Why don't we have it?"
He Wan said, "I paid for it privately, and asked Brother Fu Jun to help me get a roof so that it wouldn't get dusty."
Xie Meihui also came over to take a look and wanted to do it too, but when she asked, she found out it would cost three yuan.
Considering how much they spent building a house for their wedding, I'll let it go.
Wang Xiaorong, Li Zheng, and Li Chunsheng didn't care about these things.
Su Ranran and Zhang Cuicao also knew about the dust accumulation; that's how it is in communal sleeping areas—you have to clean it regularly.
Three yuan was indeed expensive, and after thinking about it for a long time, they decided not to join in. Chen Qing, however, seeing that He Wan had done it, couldn't let herself suffer. So she asked Brother Fu Jun for help.
Three yuan! Timber from the mountains is free. Fu Jun and Liu Er were naturally happy to accept such a good deal.
However, everyone started thinking about the bathing issue.
Before, I would just bring a basin inside and wipe myself with a towel. Now that I live on my own, I also want to take a good shower.
Qin Xuxiang also strongly agreed with the idea of getting a bathroom.
He couldn't let his wife suffer.
So the families in the backyard discussed it and decided to build a simple bathroom using thick wooden sticks, a few meters away from He Wan.
Four men went into the mountains to collect timber, while the women searched outside for flat pebbles to lay inside.
For the sake of secrecy, a roof made of straw was also built on top.
Fortunately, Brother Fu Jun was there, so he helped them secure it.
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