"It's not just these. Dazhuang said to lay them out however you like. I'll cover the whole yard with them, or... maybe we can cover the house with them too?"
Seeing his wife glaring at him as if she wanted to eat him alive, Li Chenyang added one last thing: "And they're all set up near the entrance."
"Can you really pull this much with just ten yuan? Do you think I'm stupid?"
Even with all these useless broken bricks, it would take quite a bit to lay all this. Did you get ripped off by Lei Dazhuang?
Ye Xiaoxiao was convinced. She hadn't originally planned to pave the entire yard; she just wanted to pave a path.
In a few years, when she has more money, she will rebuild the house.
Even if we come back to clean it up later, digging it all up will be a hassle.
“This…he, they burned a whole bunch of things that nobody wanted, but we just need to pave a yard, I think we can use them.”
Li Chenyang dumped the entire truckload of broken bricks into the yard.
He wiped the sweat from his brow; pulling it all by himself was too tiring. He planned to call his third and fourth brothers for help later.
"Make more food for lunch, and I'll call the third and fourth brothers to help out later."
"Alright then, call the younger ones over too. Have Yanni come over and help me watch one of the kids."
Li Yanni has already started her winter vacation. She has to go to move the stove in two days, and she will still need the help of her third and fourth brothers.
There was no other way; we didn't have a three-wheeled vehicle or anything, so we had to use a wooden cart to haul it back.
However, after visiting the blacksmith's shop, Ye Xiaoxiao felt relieved; at least the washing machine would work if she really needed it.
They already have welding machines, but those things consume so much electricity. What's a washing machine compared to that?
Ye Xiaoxiao's family was bustling with activity again, and Ma Yanling even came over.
Upon entering, I saw a pile of broken bricks in the yard.
"Sister-in-law, what is my brother doing at home? Where did he make all this mess?"
"Oh, this? Your older brother said the yard gets all muddy when it rains, so he wants to pave it with these bricks. Wouldn't that make it cleaner?" Ye Xiaoxiao invited Ma Ailing inside to sit down.
"Oh, sister-in-law, you even have a stove in your house. That's so nice. It's very warm."
As soon as Ma Yanling came in, she looked at the new quilts and new wardrobe on the kang (a heated brick bed), and felt envious of everything.
She had previously thought that Old Li had six brothers, and that Ye Xiaoxiao's side was probably just as poor as hers.
I never expected that things would be so much better on their end.
Everything was new—chests, cabinets, tables, even the quilts on the kang (heated brick bed) and the children's cotton-padded clothes were all clean. And then look at my own child.
They looked like beggars. Seeing this made her feel a pang of sadness.
“Your family is so nice. Unlike our family, we have nothing.” Ma Yanling sat down by the stove.
"Hey, I just got married! Look at you, my child is about the same age as yours, and I'll be just like you now. What are you thinking!"
Seeing Ma Lingling's envious eyes, Ye Xiaoxiao immediately comforted her, reminding her that they were neighbors and would need to take care of each other in the future.
"Brother, where did you get those broken bricks? Do you want money for them?"
Ma Yanling felt a pang of warmth as well; her family had lived here for almost two years, and it was always the same.
When it rains or the snow melts, the ground is all mud. It's difficult to even go out.
"Ah, this? It was brought over from Lei Family Village. Didn't the Lei family plan to start a brick kiln earlier this year?"
These weren't fired properly; all the ones that came out are unusable. I was going to ask your older brother to buy a thousand good bricks.
We can just bring them back to pave a path in the yard. When we build a new house in the future, we can dig these up and use them again.
Who would have thought he would bring these back to us, saying we could use them and cover the whole yard?
"It still cost ten yuan, what's the use? When we build a new house later, we'll have to dig all that out again, it's still useless. It's just creating trouble."
Ye Xiaoxiao treated it as a casual chat and didn't think much of it.
Upon hearing this, Ma Yanling's eyes darted around:
"Sister-in-law, do you think it's okay if my brother gives me ten yuan? I can use it however much or however little I want."
"If that's the case, could I perhaps have Shengli pull some of it back as well?"
"Oh, that's not a good idea. That's what people say, but we can't go too far."
Ye Xiaoxiao really wanted to slap herself. Who would have thought that Ma Yanling was such a person who loved to take advantage of others?
"Didn't you say to use them as much as you could? They're all broken bricks anyway, we can't sell them. Isn't that what you just said?"
Ma Yanling seemed unable to understand human speech.
"Well, they're just being polite. If your family wants it, you should at least have Shengli give them some money as a token of appreciation."
I think if you don't need much, just take three or four yuan with you, and they'll let you take it.
Ye Xiaoxiao didn't think three or four yuan was much. But when it came to Ma Yanling, it was like setting off a bomb.
"Oh, three or four pieces? That's too much."
Ma Yanling thought that her son Shengli should use Brother Li's name to bring back two truckloads of goods, but she felt uncomfortable when she heard this.
It seems that Ye Xiaoxiao is not a good person either.
That's so stingy. They said they could use it however they wanted, and she's acting like she's being stingy on their behalf.
"Sister-in-law, I have something to do at home, so I'll be going now." Ma Yanling was mistreated on her first visit to Ye Xiaoxiao's place.
"Oh, then you go ahead and do what you need to do." Ye Xiaoxiao, still holding the child, saw them to the door.
They hadn't thought much of it. But while they were busy, Lei Yueying came to tell her the next day that Ma Yanling had been saying in the village that she was stingy. She went on and on.
"Didn't I say that my family paid money to get the broken bricks from the Lei family? Is she sick in the head?"
I told her to take three or four yuan, and they let her pull the cart, but she didn't pay a single cent, and now she's blaming me. She really wants to take advantage of everything.
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