Chapter 221 Collapse of the Floor
The next day was the big day for pouring the floor slabs of the new house, so there was no need to go out to sea.
It was only six o'clock when Jiang Xia woke up, but Zhou Chenglei had disappeared and no one knew when he got up.
Is he a human being?
How come he has so much energy? Even though he went to bed very early last night, only around nine o'clock, it was still very late when he finished his work. It must have been twelve o'clock, right?
I don’t see you so early today. Did you go for a run?
Jiang Xia turned over while hugging the quilt. She was still feeling sleepy and weak, so she buried her face in the quilt.
She, who never stays in bed lazily, decided to stay in bed for one minute today!
The quilt is filled with the scent of him and her, a refreshing fragrance mixed with the smell of dry sunshine.
Zhou Chenglei pushed the door open and saw Jiang Xia curled up on the quilt like a lazy bug.
His usually stern brows were instantly tinged with a smile, and his cold and indifferent expression softened.
This was the first time he had seen Jiang Xia being so lazy in bed.
Jiang Xia sat up when she heard the door open. She relaxed when she saw it was him. She got out of bed and asked, "What time did you get up?"
"Five o'clock." Zhou Chenglei closed the door, came to her side, supported her, and picked her up.
Jiang Xia hung on him like a koala!
He pecked her lips lightly: "Are you tired last night? Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Jiang Xia shook his head: "No need to sleep. Isn't there a construction team coming today to topple the floor?"
Zhou Chenglei raised his arm and held her higher.
"Well, it's still early. I bought some fried dough sticks today and I'll make some porridge for you to try later. You should like it." He carried her straight to the room.
Jiang Xia's heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he saw him open the door and walk out: "Put me down, I can walk by myself."
Zhou Chenglei opened the door and carried her out: "Dad went to learn how to drive a motorcycle, Mom went to the vegetable garden, and Zhou Zhou was just called out by her brothers to play, so there's no one at home."
Zhou Chenglei carried Jiang Xia to the patio, and when he passed by the hall, he took a bamboo chair and put it on the ground, then put Jiang Xia on it. He prepared toothpaste, toothbrush and mouthwash cup for her, and asked her to brush her teeth and wash her face.
He ran to the town early in the morning and rode his bicycle back, bringing back some fried dough sticks and buns, and also bought some pork offal.
The last time he went to the city, he rode a bicycle to the town and then took a bus. Coming back he rode a motorcycle. The bicycle has been left at the town health center. Today he didn't have to go out to sea, so he rode it back.
Zhou Chenglei took the fried dough sticks and buns packed in oil paper bags from the basket on the front of the bicycle and put them on the eight-immortals table in the house. He then took the pork offal from another bicycle basket to deal with.
Last time at Jiang's house, Zhou Chenglei remembered Jiang Xia saying that fried dough sticks and soy milk are a perfect match, but Zhou Chenglei felt that Jidi porridge and fried dough sticks are a better match.
While brushing his teeth, Jiang Xia watched Zhou Chenglei squatting there busy preparing breakfast for him.
In the yard in the early morning, the sunlight was shallow and even the wind was gentle. The sunlight fell on him, and his profile was handsome and elegant.
This small courtyard, which was originally overgrown with weeds, now has flowers, trees, and swings. With them, it has become warm and cozy.
Zhou Chenglei cleaned all kinds of pig offal, cut them up, and put them into the porridge to cook a pot of Jidi porridge with enough ingredients.
Zhou's mother cooked the white porridge early in the morning. She put the porridge in the honeycomb coal stove and simmered it slowly before going to the vegetable garden to water the vegetables.
When Zhou Chenglei had prepared the Jiudi porridge, Zhou's father and mother just came back with Zhou Zhou from outside.
Since various ball games were available, Zhou Zhou would be called out to play as soon as he got up every day. This was also true on school days. He would only go to school after playing a round.
Jiang Xia didn't care. Studying is important, but a happy childhood is also important.
Children of this generation are not as competitive as those today, with all kinds of cram schools and interest classes.
As long as Zhou Zhou doesn't delay her studies and rest, she won't stop her from playing.
Everything is going well now. There are children coming to play with her every day, and she feels much more cheerful.
The family had a hearty breakfast.
Jiang Xia found that the Jidi porridge with fried dough sticks was really delicious! Probably because she liked to eat meat when eating porridge, Jidi porridge had a lot of meat. Moreover, Zhou Chenglei knew that Jiang Xia liked to eat meat, so he specially put a lot of pork offal and lean pork, as well as sea cucumber. In short, it was a bowl of Jidi porridge with enough ingredients.
The porridge made from fresh pig offal is already very sweet. Tear the fried dough sticks into small pieces and put them into the porridge. Eating the fried dough sticks mixed with the porridge is simply a delicacy!
Even Zhou Zhou's little stomach couldn't help eating two bowls of porridge, a fried dough stick, and an egg, and she didn't even eat the corn she usually loved! Jiang Xia also ate two bowls of porridge, and after finishing it, she wanted to eat half a bowl. She didn't want to eat the boiled eggs, corn, small taro, and sweet potatoes that Zhou Chenglei had peeled for her.
Finally, Zhou Chenglei peeled out the egg white and broke off a third of the corn for her to eat.
Eat a rich breakfast and a little bit of everything to stay healthy.
When he was eating taro and sweet potato, he would let her take a bite or two first. He would only finish the rest of the taro and sweet potato when she stopped eating.
Zhou Chenglei has always been a good eater. He ate three bowls of porridge, two fried dough sticks, a steamed bun, a corn, a sweet potato, two taro and an egg yolk.
Jiang Xia deeply felt that it was not easy for Zhou's father and mother to raise Zhou Chenglei and his brothers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s! It was already eight o'clock after breakfast, and the construction team for the floor slab came.
6◇9◇Book◇Bar
The alley is very busy today because Zhou Bingqiang's family next door also chose today to build the new house.
In the past, when building a brick and tile house, it was necessary to put up the beams, and putting up the beams was an important day. Now it is no longer necessary, so everyone regards the pouring of the floor slab as putting up the beams and will choose a good day.
Today is a good day, so the two families chose the same day.
Zhou Bingqiang and Zhou Guohua went out to sea today.
Yesterday, there was a family change in Zhou Bingqiang's family. Zhou Guohua's two elder brothers wanted to split up the family, so Zhou Bingqiang's family also split up last night.
Zhou Guohua and Wen Wan shared a new boat and this new house.
The family was divided, and the money they got was not much. Zhou Guohua needed to go out to sea to make money, and they didn't have enough money to build a house! So Wen Wan stayed in the village to watch the new house's floor slabs being laid, while Zhou Guohua and Zhou Bingqiang went out to sea early in the morning.
Wen Wan told Zhou Guohua about her dream last night and told him that he must go out to sea today. Just in time for Zhou Chenglei not to go out to sea today, he could get the two stones out of the water first!
Wen Wan came here early in the morning to supervise the work.
At this moment, workers from both families were mixing concrete in preparation for pouring the floor slabs.
Zhou's mother brought out a large pot of cooled soy milk and a large pot of water and told the workers that they could drink them if they were thirsty.
Jiang Xia brought out some bowls for the workers to drink soy milk and water.
She saw Wen Wan standing not far away, but she didn't care.
Zhou Chenglei, Zhou's father, and Zhou Chengxin all climbed to the roof to help.
Jiang Xia couldn't help but walk up to take a look.
When Zhou Chenglei saw her coming up, he hurried forward to help her.
The deck of the entire floor has been nailed in place, and a layer of steel bars and iron rods are laid on the deck, all tied together with wire in a regular pattern.
The construction team saw that the floor of their house was floating out a little, so they asked: "Your house has a great layout, but why is the floor floating out of the outer wall? Do you want to build a bigger second floor?"
Generally speaking, the wind would only blow out on the balcony, but in this house, the wind would blow out a little bit all around, but not much, only about ten centimeters.
If it only floats out ten centimeters, the second floor won't be much bigger, so it doesn't seem to make much sense! Father Zhou smiled and said, "This was proposed by my daughter-in-law. She said that it will not only look better in the future, but also prevent water leakage on the exterior wall of the house. Especially on the top floor, she said that the walls on the top floor are prone to cracking and leaking. If the floor slab is extended a little and a floating eave is made, the rain will not directly wash the wall, but fall on the floating eave and then drip down. This can prevent the house from leaking and seeping on rainy days due to cracks in the wall. Although it cannot prevent it 100%, it will be much better."
That was roughly the meaning. Zhou's father expressed Jiang Xia's words according to his own understanding.
Wen Wan also heard what Zhou's father said. She looked up at the floor of her house and found that nothing in her house was floating out!