Aunt Tian wasn't short-sighted; she wouldn't accept a gift without careful consideration. "You're new here; have you encountered any difficulties?"
"It's not so much a difficulty, but there were six female educated youths living in one room, so you can imagine what the environment was like." Xie Yuyao paused for a moment, then said frankly, "Don't laugh at me, but I really couldn't get used to living here."
The brigade leader assumed they had come to urge the construction of the houses, so he said, "I know about the situation of the educated youth housing, but building houses requires money. We have already reported it to the higher authorities, and we will expand the houses once the commune approves the funds. Why don't you stay with a villager for a while?"
Before Xie Yuyao could refuse, Li Weidong explained her purpose: "How can we trouble the villagers? Xie, the educated youth, wants to pay for her own house to be built in the backyard of the educated youth settlement. This way, it will also alleviate the housing pressure on the female educated youth, which is a win-win situation."
Upon hearing Li Weidong's words, the captain's heart skipped a beat; this was good news!
If a few more people come to build houses, the accommodation problem for these educated youth will be easily solved.
He pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "How big do you want to build it?"
"I live alone, a one-bedroom apartment of 20-30 square meters is enough for me."
An old saying goes that poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people. Although Qingshan Village looks alright, it's always good to keep wealth hidden. If she were in a stable and peaceful environment, she would want a big villa.
The brigade leader encouraged, "It's a rare opportunity to build a house, so why not build a bigger one so it'll be more comfortable to live in?"
If the building becomes too large for the female educated youth to live in, then newcomers can be arranged to move in.
Xie Yuyao smiled as she looked at the brigade leader and said slowly, "I don't have much money on hand. Otherwise, it would be so nice to build a proper courtyard house with a separate entrance and courtyard."
From what the brigade leader said, it sounds like I built a big house so that I could share it with other people to live in together?
“Why would a person need a courtyard? Wouldn’t it be a waste to leave empty rooms?” Li Weidong looked at Xie Yuyao and discussed it seriously. “However, if you really build a courtyard, you can charge rent and rent out the empty rooms to other female educated youth. After all, you spent a lot of money to build the house, and no one can just walk in without a reason.”
The captain blushed, realizing that Li Weidong was subtly encouraging him, and that his own thoughts were indeed not entirely ethical.
Fearing that Xie Yuyao might get angry and refuse to build it, he quickly said, "It's okay, there's plenty of space now, you can build it however you want, any size is fine."
Seeing his guilty look, Xie Yuyao understood everything. She gave Li Weidong a grateful look, then moved on and asked about the house-building needs.
"Building an earthen house doesn't cost much. The labor, materials, and the heated kang (a traditional brick bed) will only cost about twenty yuan. If you want to build a blue brick house, it will cost about forty yuan."
Xie Yuyao calculated the money she had and decided to build a brick house without much thought. Since she no longer had a large villa, a brick house was the best option.
“Alright, I’ll give you the approval slip. You can take some people to the commune to buy bricks and bring them back. Liangmu Brigade has some; they can approve some for you directly. As for the tables and chairs, just find a carpenter in the village to make them. As for the villagers helping out, they don’t need to be paid; you just need to provide them with meals. All in all, sixty yuan is the maximum.”
Since they accepted her gift and agreed to her request, the brigade leader has made everything clear from beginning to end.
Upon hearing this, Xie Yuyao realized that she wouldn't have much money left after building the house. Fortunately, she had her spatial ability, which meant she could easily convert it into cash on the black market, and she also had dried fruit as a source of income.
Thinking of this, Xie Yuyao let it slip in advance: "I picked some sour pears on the mountain today and am working on making candied fruit. I'll send some to you and Aunt Tian to try in a few days."
"Okay, then I'll thank you in advance." The team leader's wife had also heard about the educated youth team picking sour pears. Seeing that Xie Yuyao was a shrewd girl, she thought that they might actually succeed.
"You're too kind."
The house construction was settled, and we just needed to finish the autumn harvest so we could start. We figured we could finish it before winter.
Xie Yuyao and the other person expressed their gratitude and then prepared to leave.
At this moment, Aunt Tian saw that there was still a packet of brown sugar in the bag, and insisted that Xie Yuyao take it back.
She looked at the charming and sensible Xie Yuyao and felt a surge of affection. She accepted the malted milk powder for her beloved grandson; accepting the brown sugar as well would be excessive.
Xie Yuyao had never experienced such a back-and-forth refusal situation before, and was extremely embarrassed.
She then made another request: "Captain, can I do the grass-cutting work from now on?"
This grass-cutting job only requires filling one basket at a time, and the rest of the time she can do whatever she wants. There's no better job than this.
The brigade leader, seeing that she could afford to build a house, assumed she wouldn't need to rely on earning work points in the fields to make a living, and so he went along with her wishes.
After Xie Yuyao expressed her gratitude, she placed the brown sugar on the table, which Aunt Tian accepted. She then went back into the house and filled half a bag with homemade dried sweet potatoes for her as a snack.
This trip was a happy one for everyone. Aunt Tian saw them off at the hospital gate and told them to be careful on the road.
Xie Yuyao smiled and agreed, and the two turned around and went back to the educated youth compound with flashlights.
Unbeknownst to them, this scene was witnessed by someone with ulterior motives.
Seeing that it was getting late, Yang Chunhua bid farewell to her sister-in-law with a worried look and started walking back. She had only gone a few steps from her sister-in-law's house when she saw two people turning and leaving the door of the brigade leader's house next door.
Wait a minute, that girl looks like Xie, the new educated youth. What does she want with the brigade leader?
After thinking it over for a while, Yang Chunhua passed by her own house without going in, and headed towards Aunt Tian's house.
Because the two families had a good relationship, Aunt Tian didn't hide it from her and told her why Xie Yuyao had come.
Yang Chunhua was overjoyed upon hearing this.
The eldest son looks down on his sister-in-law for being lazy and good-for-nothing. If he knew that Xie Zhiqing was giving gifts to avoid hard work in order to do the same grass-cutting work as his sister-in-law, what would he think?
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