Chapter 96 - Two Chapters Combined: August 28th, auspicious for groundbreaking...
Lin Chuntao left the courtyard after speaking.
They should choose an auspicious date to start construction as soon as possible, so that the houses can be completed quickly and the women can move in sooner.
On their way back, Yu Meixi and Sun Hu were still talking about the cedar trees in the Lin family's yard. The trees were big and would be perfect for making doors, windows, partitions, and even tables and chairs. It was a pity they weren't for sale.
Their conversation was overheard by Niu Hongxi and Lin Miaomiao, who were passing by. Niu Hongxi's eyes lit up, and he called out to the two of them, "Brother, how much does one of those trees in our forest cost?"
Sun Hu glanced at Niu Hongxi, someone he had never met before, and quoted a very conservative price.
"The biggest one, I'd estimate it weighs a little over two ounces."
Today, Lin Chuntao and the others took twenty-five trees. If the larger one weighs more than two taels, wouldn't they be able to sell just a few trees for ten or twenty taels?
With this thought in mind, Niu Hongxi made a plan. Right now, they were so poor that they didn't even have enough money to buy seeds next year. If they could sell trees to get some money, this problem would be solved, and they would have more money in their pockets and wouldn't have to be so careful with their money every day.
"Do you have any trees to sell, young man?" Sun Hu asked.
Niu Hongxi said, "We also have some trees in that cedar forest. Where does your home lie, brother? How can we find you if we want to sell trees?"
Sun Hu said, "We'll probably be back in the village in a few days. We'll be staying for quite a while. If you need to sell trees, just let me know then."
Niu Hongxi nodded and entered the courtyard with Lin Miaomiao.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, Lin Miaomiao asked, "What do you mean?"
Niu Hongxi said, “We didn’t know anyone was buying the trees before, so we didn’t distribute them. Now that someone has asked to buy them, they’re over two taels a tree. Selling one tree is equivalent to the money someone saves for eggs for several years. We went to the village head, and it just so happened that Lin Chuntao and the others had just distributed the trees. We’ll go and distribute ours too. We’ll sell a few trees. Anyway, we can’t use up all those trees.”
Lin Miaomiao was silent for a moment. Since the family split up, her neighbors, Lin Jialang and his family, had been living better lives than her. She thought that selling one or two trees would be fine, so she could make her life a little easier.
Niu Hongxi didn't have much time to persuade Lin Miaomiao before she agreed.
The two decided to go find Lin Cunzheng together.
When the two of them arrived at the village head's house, the village head had just finished looking up the almanac for Lin Chuntao. It was already the end of August, and there were several days in September, but the best day was tomorrow, the 28th of August.
Lin Cunzheng said, "September 6th is also good, but if possible, the previous date is the best."
"Okay, thank you, Grandpa. I'll go make the arrangements now."
As Lin Chuntao was about to leave, Lin Cunzheng looked at Lin Miaomiao and Niu Hongxi, who had just entered, and asked, "Miaomiao, is there something you need?"
Lin Miaomiao said, "Grandpa, we also want to divide the trees. Can you divide them for us?"
Lin Cunzheng frowned slightly and asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Lin Miaomiao pursed her lips, intending to tell the truth, but Niu Hongxi interrupted, saying, "Grandpa, it's nothing really. We were just thinking that since we've already measured the trees this time, in case it's troublesome to divide them again later, we'll take this opportunity to divide them for Sister Chuntao, and we'll also divide ours."
Lin Cunzheng looked at Niu Hongxi, then at Lin Miaomiao, and thought about how Yu Meixi and Sun Hu had asked if the tree was for sale earlier that day. Perhaps they wanted to sell the tree.
He sighed, wanting to try and persuade her, but Lin Miaomiao was so stubborn that she probably wouldn't listen to him, so he could only nod.
“It’s possible to divide them up, and it’s convenient. But Miaomiao, each family will only have about twenty trees. You won’t need them now, but when your brother grows up, if they need to build a house or something, they will definitely need them. You can use the trees you have cut down yourself. It would be much more expensive to buy them.”
Lin Miaomiao nodded and said, "Grandpa, I know."
Lin Cunzheng frowned. He had made himself so clear, yet she still insisted on splitting things. What did she know?
Now that the tree has been separated, if Niu Hongxi wants to sell it, what can she do? Can she stop him?
Seeing the old man's expression, Lin Changzong glanced at Niu Hongxi and Lin Miaomiao and asked directly, "Miaomiao, do you want to sell trees?"
Niu Hongxi wanted to interject again, but Lin Changzong glanced at her and Lin Miaomiao replied, "Uncle, we don't even have the money to buy seeds next year. We were thinking of selling one or two plants so we could buy some seeds."
Lin Changzong said, "Buying seeds won't cost that much money. It's still a long way from spring planting. If you sell them now, the money will be spent very quickly."
Lin Miaomiao fell into deep thought upon hearing this. Niu Hongxi, who was standing next to her, was a little unhappy. She looked at Lin Changzong with a forced smile and said, "Uncle, we don't have any reason to spend money recklessly. We just need to eat a little. We can't be choking people now and then have to find money when we're starving to death."
He paused and then said, "If there are more than twenty trees, we'll just sell one or two. The rest will be enough for my brothers to use in the future."
Lin Changzong looked at this person. Of all the people who had moved to the village, Niu Hongxi was the one he disliked the most. This person hadn't done anything yet, but his appearance alone made him unlikable.
Lin Changzong used to think that judging people by their appearance was prejudice, but after hearing what he said today, he finally understood that it was not prejudice, but the truth.
Lin Changzong looked at Niu Hongxi and said, "Selling two trees this time, two trees next time, and two trees again the time after that, it won't be enough to sell several times."
Hearing this, Lin Miaomiao's heart skipped a beat. Yes, she sold two trees this time, but what if Niu Hongxi sold more next time?
Niu Hongxi said, "We're selling this time because we're really short of money and need to buy more seeds. Otherwise, we wouldn't be willing to sell."
"Besides, Miaomiao and I are husband and wife, and I am also the brother-in-law of my younger brothers. I treat them like my own brothers. I would never do something like selling all these trees to eat! Uncle, please don't worry."
After being lectured by Niu Hongxi, Lin Miaomiao made a decision on the spot: she would still divide the trees.
Since that was the case, Lin Changzong and the others didn't stop them. They went to call Lin Changhua and Lin Changsen to come over and prepare to go to the cedar forest again to divide the trees and plant stone stakes.
Lin Chuntao was in a hurry to catch up with Yu Meixi and Sun Hu, so she didn't stay at the village head's house for long and didn't hear about Lin Miaomiao and the others also sharing the trees.
She had a lot to do today. After meeting with Yu Meixi and the others, construction would begin tomorrow. She would definitely need to go to her uncle's house to let him know and also pick up the chili seeds and bitter vegetable seeds she had exchanged earlier.
Lin Chuntao took the seeds, borrowed a small mule cart from Aunt Guizhi, and hurried off to catch up with Yu Meixi and the others.
They only caught up with the two halfway there, because they were walking a little slower; otherwise, they might have had to chase them for a longer distance.
Yu Meixi and Sun Hu watched her catch up and asked with smiles, "Chuntao, have you chosen an auspicious day?"
Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, look carefully, it's tomorrow. Is it convenient for you?"
Yu Meixi said, "That's convenient. We'll come earlier tomorrow."
Starting work on this kind of day depends on the date; whichever day you choose is the day you start. There's no question of whether it's convenient or not, but the timeframe is indeed a bit tight.
Sun Hu said, "If we start work tomorrow, we'll dig the foundation first. Chun Tao, tonight you can find some scraps of cloth, sew a few cloth bags, put some rice and two copper coins inside, and sew four of them."
Lin Chuntao nodded in agreement, and Sun Hu added, "Sister, go and invite people to dig yellow soil today, and we'll get you a mule cart to haul the soil tomorrow."
"Okay, thank you for your help, sister-in-law and brother."
With the matter settled, Yu Meixi and Sun Hu left, while Lin Chuntao drove her mule cart to her uncle's house.
It was late afternoon, the sun was blazing, and my uncle's whole family was resting inside. My aunts were still slicing potatoes, preparing to boil and dry them.
Upon seeing Lin Chuntao's sudden appearance, everyone was surprised and put down what they were doing.
"Chuntao, why are you here at this hour? Come in quickly! It's hot now, don't let the sun give you a headache."
As her aunt greeted her, Lin Chuntao smiled and said, "I borrowed a small mule cart from my aunt's house to drive here, thankfully."
As she spoke, she pulled the small mule cart inside as well.
My uncle came over, unloaded the mule cart, and tied the mule to a tree trunk nearby.
Her aunt invited her into the house, then went to make her a bowl of sweet soup, asking, "Have you eaten yet?"
Lin Chuntao said, "I've eaten it."
My aunt said, "If you haven't eaten, I'll boil you two eggs. You've already finished your lunch, and it will take a while to finish cooking."
Lin Chuntao waved her hand, "I've already eaten, I'm still very full, Auntie, no need to trouble yourself."
The eldest uncle, seemingly oblivious to Lin Chuntao's words, said, "Cook some for her; eggs don't fill her up."
As soon as she finished speaking, the eldest aunt turned around to get to work, but Lin Chuntao, who had been sitting down, quickly stood up and stopped her.
"Auntie, there's no need to cook. I really can't eat. I would have said so if I were hungry."
She pulled her aunt to sit down next to her.
"Where are Chun Tao and Chun Xing? Why didn't they come with you?" Second Aunt asked from the side.
Lin Chuntao said, "They are still busy at home. I called the house builders from the county town to talk to them. We agreed on a date and will start construction tomorrow."
"Building a house? Have you saved enough money?"
The second and third aunts asked in unison, and Lin Chuntao replied, "That's about enough. The main thing is to pay for the labor. We'll get the materials ourselves, like yellow clay and straw."
While the eldest aunt and the others were amazed at how quickly the sisters had saved money, they also asked her how to make yellow clay. Lin Chuntao relayed what Yu Meixi and the others had said.
The eldest uncle said, "This is better, it'll be faster. Otherwise, there won't be enough soil, and the craftsmen will have to wait." They still have to pay for waiting even a day.
"Have you invited anyone?" the eldest uncle asked.
Lin Chuntao shook her head: "I haven't had time to hire anyone yet. My house needs a lot of yellow clay, and it might take several days to dig. The white people definitely won't agree to hire someone to do it. It costs twenty coins a day, including lunch and dinner."
Lin Chuntao's words left them a little confused. The yellow clay used by each family in the village to build their houses was pretty much the same. Today I'll treat you, tomorrow you'll treat me, and a meal is enough. No one pays out of pocket.
The eldest uncle looked at Lin Chuntao and said, "Chuntao, it's not appropriate to give money. If you can't hire enough people in your village, I'll hire some from this village. Otherwise, people will have to pay you to dig the soil when they build houses in the future, and they'll talk about you behind your back."
Lin Chuntao hissed coldly and frowned: "I haven't thought about this yet."
“But that really takes many days to dig, and no one will help me if I don’t pay them. Uncle, can you help me find a few people? Just tell them you’ll pay me privately, and don’t tell anyone else. I’ll also go back to the village and find a few.”
"Hmm, how many people do you need?"
Lin Chuntao said, "Uncle, can you help me find five or six? I'll go back and find five or six."
"Do you need more than a dozen people to dig the soil?" My uncle was quite shocked, and then asked, "How big is your house?"
Lin Chuntao said, "We've allocated almost an acre of land for a house, to build a yard, a pigsty, and a storage room. I've already signed a contract to make soy sauce and sell it. We also need to build a house in the backyard specifically for making soy sauce. It will take a lot of soil to build all of this."
"One mu!!!"
This stunned everyone. They stopped saying they didn't need to pay people. They said that digging yellow clay would take at least ten days to half a month, and no outsider would be willing to do it for that many days except for their own family.
The eldest uncle said, "Okay, I'll go and get some people for you in a bit. Your second and third uncles can also help you dig."
Lin Chuntao hurriedly said, "Uncle, there will be a lot of people there. You can help me supervise the construction. Aunt, are you free?"
The eldest aunt laughed and said, "Building a new house is such a big thing for you, we're sure we'll have time. Just tell us what you need us to do."
Lin Chuntao laughed upon hearing this.
"I need to cook for the craftsmen, but I can't manage it all by myself. I'll need your help, Auntie."
"Sure, no problem."
After saying all that, the topic of straw came up again. Lin Chuntao and the others didn't have any straw. The eldest aunt said, "We have straw at home, but we don't know if it's enough. Let's take it over first, and if it's not enough, we'll go to other people's houses to find some more."
After discussing the house construction, her aunts and uncles asked her about making soy sauce. Lin Chuntao remembered the two packets of seeds and hurriedly took them from the mule cart.
"Aunt, are you going to plant buckwheat in your field this year?" Lin Chuntao asked. Her aunt replied, "It doesn't matter whether we plant it or not this year. Do you need the land?"
Lin Chuntao said, "I need a lot of chili peppers and bitter greens. I brought the seeds with me. Here is a packet of chili pepper seeds and a packet of bitter greens seeds."
“In the past few days, I asked a cousin in the village to help me buy soybeans and chili peppers from various villages. There are too few dried chili peppers. Aunt, if you don’t grow buckwheat, then you can grow some chili peppers and bitter greens, and sell them to me later.”
The eldest aunt remembered that the young man from Shuangzizhai had been buying soybeans and chili peppers in the village a couple of days ago. She said, "So that young man was buying soybeans for you. Everyone's soybeans haven't been harvested yet. There will be plenty when the new soybeans are harvested."
“I’ll keep these seeds. I’ll sow the vegetable seeds in the next few days. We need to get the chili seedlings ready first, since we probably don’t have enough land to plant them all.”
Lin Chuntao said, "Auntie, you can also come and get some seedlings from people you are close to. I will also come and get some. I'll have to trouble you, Auntie."
The eldest aunt smiled and said, "What's the trouble?"
Lin Chuntao provided the seeds, and after the crops were grown, she even paid to buy them back. The eldest aunt felt that she had never encountered such a windfall in all her years of life.
With the matter settled, Lin Chuntao had many things to do and no time to sit and chat, so she got up and said she had to go back.
Her aunts and the others quickly called her back and hurriedly went to collect two sacks of potatoes.
“You brought the mule cart here, so you can take it back with you. You need to cook while building the house, so this can be considered a dish.”
Lin Chuntao said, "We bought some from people in the village."
"It's fine if you buy it, just take it back with you."
As they were talking, her uncle and the others quickly loaded the potatoes onto the mule cart, and Lin Chuntao didn't stand on ceremony anymore.
Her aunt and uncle saw her off at the village entrance before Lin Chuntao drove the mule cart away herself.
She still needs to go to the village to ask for help. There are several places to dig yellow clay, and she needs to go and take a look to choose where to dig.
All of this piled up at once, and the soybeans at home hadn't even been steamed yet.
Lin Chuntao pulled the mule cart directly back home. When Aunt Guizhi and the others saw her bringing things back, they rushed over to help her unload them.
"You chased him all the way to the county town?"
Lin Chuntao laughed and said, "No, I caught up with them halfway. I stopped by my uncle's house to talk about building a house, and they came to help. These potatoes were picked by my aunt, and the little mule brought them back for me."
As she spoke, she touched the mule, and Aunt Guizhi smiled helplessly.
Lin Chunxing was boiling braised eggs, Lin Chunhe and the others were steaming beans, and they also lit a fire in the yard.
Lin Chuntao asked, "Chunhe, are there still many beans left to steam?"
"There are still quite a few."
Lin Chuntao said, "Then you guys keep doing it. I need to go find Grandpa and the others again and ask them to help us dig up the yellow clay."
Sun hurriedly said, "Chuntao, rest for a while before you go. Your great-grandfather and the others aren't home."
Lin Chuntao: "Did you go down to the fields?"
Sun said, "Lin Miaomiao also wants to share the trees. She and her husband just went to look for them. Your great-grandfather called your second uncle and the others to share the trees as well."
Lin Chuntao was somewhat surprised, "Why do they suddenly want to break up?"
Sun said, "I just heard your great-grandfather say that they want to sell two trees to get some money to buy seeds for next spring."
Lin Chuntao frowned slightly. It was still a long time before next spring's planting, and selling trees for money would mean that the twenty-odd trees would be sold out in no time. Moreover, if it were just the three of them, there would still be someone else around, but they didn't even know if they could save enough money to buy seeds.
Lin Chuntao remained silent; Lin Miaomiao's affairs were none of her concern.
Aunt Guizhi and the others nearby just sighed and didn't say anything more.
With Lin Miaomiao's personality, if you talk too much, she might think you have ulterior motives; Fan Liniang being scolded is a perfect example.
So everyone just shut up.
Lin Cunzheng and his group went to divide the trees and didn't return for more than an hour.
When Lin Changsen and Lin Changhua were called away, they didn't say anything. The other members of the family didn't know what they were doing either. Now that they've returned, everyone is asking what they were doing.
Lin Changzong replied, "I went to distribute the trees to Miaomiao and the others."
"Huh? Why are we dividing up the trees again? Are Miaomiao and the others going to build houses too?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Changzong didn't try to hide anything and said directly, "Miaomiao and the others want to sell two trees to buy seeds."
"Selling trees? How much per tree?"
Lin Changzong said, "I don't know how much it costs; you'll have to ask Miaomiao and the others."
And just like that, Lin Miaomiao's little courtyard suddenly became very lively, with people coming to ask them how much each tree cost. Niu Hongxi and the others told them the truth, and the other families were also restless. After discussing it at home, they also went to Lin Cunzheng to divide the trees.
Seeing that they all wanted to sell trees, Lin Cunzheng took a deep breath and advised, "You're happy when you're selling them, but you probably won't be happy when you need them later. Are you as eager as Miaomiao to buy seeds?"
Li Honghua and the others didn't say anything, but they still insisted on dividing the spoils.
Lin Cunzheng sighed deeply. Only Lin Jialang and the others hadn't come. Lin Cunzheng said, "If everyone wants to divide it up, then let them. Let's invite Jialang and the others too. From now on, each family will take care of its own affairs."
It was almost evening, and the whole family was still dividing up the trees in the cedar forest.
Lin Chuntao and the others finished steaming all the beans before Lin Cunzheng and the others finished distributing them and returned.
Her uncle helped hire five or six people, so she hired five or six people from the village as well.
With so many things to do, Lin Chuntao needed to finalize the appointment first. She couldn't even wait for dinner, so she went to invite the person over.
Lin Cunzheng was in a bad mood. Lin Changzong said, "It's better to separate them. Otherwise, if Miaomiao and the others sell their goods and make money, they will complain that you didn't give them a share and that you delayed their sale."
Lin Cunzheng said, "It would be difficult if we didn't have it when we needed it."
"We don't have it when we need it, and they can't find our house anyway, so whatever."
As the two were talking, Lin Chuntao glanced at the gate at the entrance of the courtyard. Chen Dongniang saw her and hurriedly invited her in. Lin Chuntao mainly asked Lin Changzong and the others to do these heavy chores.
Since it would take several days, Lin Chuntao also shared her thoughts.
Lin Changzong said, "Your second and third uncles can go, but do you want to invite your Uncle Changsen? If you want to invite him, I can go and talk to him for you."
Lin Chuntao said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle. Could you please invite Uncle San and Uncle Si as well?"
Lin Changzong said, "I'll call them over."
Lin Changsen's house was right next door. He stood at one end of the yard and called out, and Lin Changsen and the others came over. When they learned that Lin Chuntao had asked them to dig yellow clay and was even offering them money, there was no reason for them to refuse.
After the others agreed, Lin Chuntao said, "I'll have to trouble you uncles to bring me a dustpan and a hoe, I don't have enough."
“Okay, we’ll take them with us tomorrow morning.”
After the matter was settled, Lin Chuntao explained where to dig first, and only after that did she go back.
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