Chapter 34: Building a Siheyuan and Signing a Contract
He Jin also bought thirty kilograms, mainly because he was so tempted by the yield. Even if he couldn't sell it for thirty cents a kilogram, it would be good to keep it for himself.
After him came Chen Ming, who came with his elder brother Chen Fu. Both brothers were in their prime and strong.
Of course, there are many people in the family.
Grandpa Chen Qingfu is already seventy-one years old. He is the oldest and most senior person in the village and is respected as the clan elder by the villagers.
Their parents are still alive and are about the same age as Chen Afu and his wife.
The two brothers each had three children. Chen Fu's eldest son was already married, and his granddaughter was two years old.
This is the only family in the village with five generations living under one roof.
There are many people in the family and many of them are able to work, so the family is in good financial condition.
After discussing it, everyone in the family decided to buy 50 kilograms of potatoes and take a gamble.
With these families taking the lead, the rest of the families who were originally on the sidelines also came one after another. Some bought a few kilograms, and some bought thirty or forty kilograms. However, none of them surpassed Chen Qingfu's family. Xiao Ying explained the planting priorities to them one by one.
"Can I only buy two kilograms?"
Just then, a woman's voice sounded, with a hint of embarrassment and an uneasy look.
Xiao Ying was stunned to find that it was a woman in her early thirties, with a pale and thin face, rough skin, and patches all over her body, just like when she first came here.
The other person's information flashed through my memory. It seemed that her surname was Qin and she was called Widow Qin.
In this respect, it's exactly the same as her.
However, the widow Qin's family background was much worse than hers. She had a mother-in-law who was over fifty years old and was blind in one eye.
He has a pair of children, the oldest of whom is only thirteen years old, and he has no brothers to help him.
Being able to spend twenty cents to buy potatoes probably meant that he gritted his teeth and was stimulated by the high yield.
"Okay." She nodded.
Widow Qin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. She was really afraid that she would be laughed at or even kicked out if she bought too little.
Xiao Ying's guess was correct. Widow Qin had indeed gritted her teeth to take out the twenty cents, purely for the sake of production.
If the final yield is not that much, but as long as it is more than the rice, she will not lose money.
Chen Xinghai silently weighed two kilograms of potatoes for her, actually only two.
Widow Qin happily took the money in her hand and handed it to Xiao Ying.
"Xinghai, give her two more." Xiao Ying ordered.
"Oh, yes, mother."
Chen Xinghai was stunned, then took out two more and stuffed them into Widow Qin's hands.
"That's unacceptable."
Widow Qin was frightened and wanted to return the two potatoes because she had no extra money.
Xiao Ying patted the back of her hand: "Take it, it's a gift from me."
Seeing that the other party was about to refuse, she smiled and said, "For the sake of us being widows."
"Mrs. Xiao, thank you."
Widow Qin's eyes immediately turned red and she almost burst into tears.
"You are welcome."
Xiao Ying spoke in a gentle tone and told her about the planting matters. Widow Qin listened carefully and nodded repeatedly.
Cultivation is also about cultivating the mind, not just punishing evil and fighting cruelly, nor is it about cutting off all emotions and love and being unkind.
The purpose is to eliminate evil and defend justice, to fight against the strong and help the weak.
As soon as Widow Qin left, the village head Chen Jie came, followed by a man in his thirties who looked a little unfamiliar.
"Madam Xiao, your place is really bustling. I haven't seen you all morning. I didn't expect you to be selling potatoes."
Chen Jie smiled and joked, probably having heard about the potato incident as well.
"The village head wants to buy some?" Xiao Ying had already guessed his purpose.
"I was planning to buy some, but I came here today mainly to introduce someone to you." Chen Jie patted the man's shoulder: "This is the Chen Zhong I told you about yesterday. I brought him here specially for you to see."
He went to the town to find Chen Zhong early in the morning. After the negotiation, he went to the county to register Xiao Ying's house and land. When he came back and passed by the town, he took Chen Zhong with him, so he came now.
Chen Zhong has a dark complexion and a simple face, but a cheerful personality.
"This is Madam Xiao, right? I heard you're planning to build a brick and tile house, or a courtyard house?"
Xiao Ying replied, "I want to build a larger courtyard house. I drew a rough blueprint last night and will give it to you right away."
The drawing was made with charcoal and she had been working on it last night while the children were doing arithmetic.
When Chen Zhong saw it, he was very surprised.
It’s not that the drawing is so good, but the area is too large.
There are three main rooms, each of which is five meters long and wide, and there are two side rooms on each side.
There are three wing rooms in each of the east and west wings, as well as quite a few houses on the back. There are also ear rooms on both sides, and a backyard, which is specially used for raising chickens, ducks, cows, etc.
In the middle is a huge courtyard with a pavilion and a corridor.
This configuration is better than most of the wealthy families in the town. If a house is built like this, it basically requires maids and servants.
Not to mention Chenjia Village, even the nearby villages combined don’t have anything like this.
"This courtyard house must have cost a lot of money."
He has been renovating and building houses for twenty years, and he can basically calculate the approximate price just by looking at the blueprints.
"How much does it cost?" Xiao Ying asked.
"If you don't bring the furniture, it's estimated to be around 120 taels." Chen Zhong said immediately: "Of course, this includes the workers' wages."
He has his own construction staff, so the owner won't need to pay him extra wages.
Xiao Ying nodded. It was about what she imagined, not expensive.
Today I made nearly ten taels of silver from selling potatoes. Adding the one hundred and five taels from Manxiang Garden and the final payment of forty-five taels tomorrow, I now have more than one hundred and sixty taels.
Of course, they still had to pay 15 taels of tax, which left them with about 150 taels, enough to build a house.
"If I leave it to you to build, how long will it take?"
Chen Zhong answered without hesitation: "One and a half months at most."
That was quite fast, Xiao Ying was quite satisfied.
"Well, I can provide a meal at noon, and the rest is up to you."
Chen Zhong was delighted. Madam Xiao was actually offering meals? That would be a great bargain for them.
Most families do not provide meals. After all, they have been paid enough wages. They either eat the food they bring with them at noon or have someone be responsible for cooking for them.
There are very few people like Madam Xiao who would take the initiative to provide lunch.
"Then I would like to thank Madam Xiao on behalf of the workers."
Xiao Ying waved his hand nonchalantly: "Sign the contract now?"
"No problem, I have it with me. Madam Xiao, please take a look."
Chen Zhong happily took out the contract from his arms. Xiao Ying quickly scanned it and handed it to Chen Xinghai to read. After all, he didn't recognize almost one-third of the words in this world.
Chen Xinghai looked at it very carefully, and sometimes communicated with Xiao Ying. Only after confirming that there was no problem did he sign it with Chen Zhong's brush.
The words were written by Chen Xinghai. Although they were not very beautiful, it could be considered as an agreement.
The contract stipulates that Chen Zhong must complete the work within fifty days starting from tomorrow.
If the work cannot be completed beyond the specified time, Xiao Ying will no longer pay the wages.
The reason why it takes five extra days is because Chen Zhong needs to prepare the materials first, such as bricks and wood.
Xiao Ying will pay in three stages, and one third must be paid today so that Chen Zhong will have money to buy materials.
The second part of the payment is paid after the main body of the wall is completed, and the last part is paid after the beam is installed.
After the contract was signed, Xiao Ying took out four ingots of ten taels of silver.
Then the two sides discussed some details, such as Xiao Ying wanted to build a kang, and he explained to the other party what a kang was, which made Chen Zhong marvel.
In addition, there is a biogas tank that is used to store excrement to prevent the yard from smelling bad.
Building a biogas digester can also be used as fertilizer, killing two birds with one stone.
For example, she wanted to use glass to make windows. There is glass in this world, but it is called colored glaze, and it is very expensive, requiring her to spend extra money. She can only find a way when the time comes.
After the discussion, Chen Zhong felt that he had benefited a lot, and even looked at Xiao Ying with more respect.
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