Chapter 17: Building a House (Part 1)
On the way to work, she met Aunt Shufen. Aunt Shufen saw that Tangyue's steamed buns were green and asked, "Yueyue, what did you put in your steamed buns? Why are they green?"
"Aunt, I added vegetable juice. Just add it when kneading the dough. If you want to make steamed buns of other colors, you can use vegetable juice of other colors instead." Tang Yue replied when she saw that she was interested.
"As your aunt, I'm busy all day long. How can I have time to deal with these things? There are a few naughty boys at home, which is enough for me to be busy with."
"Auntie, it's a hassle. Just chop the vegetables into pieces, wrap them in yarn, squeeze out the juice and mix them into the dough." Several aunties gathered around, and Tang Yue told them which vegetables could be used.
I walked and talked with the aunts until we arrived in front of the team headquarters. The team leader was already standing on the platform. When everyone was gathered, he said directly: "Today's task is to continue turning over the sweet potato vines. Another task is that the educated youth Tang is going to build a house. We need to find a few strong men to help build the house. Don't worry, we will pay you. If you want to go, come to me to sign up."
When the captain said that Tang Zhiqing had built a house, everyone in the room immediately started talking about it. "It's amazing that Tang Zhiqing, an orphan, is quite rich."
Because the team work points were very valuable and the difference in a day's wages was more than one yuan, many people were still willing to go. Finally, the team leader picked out ten honest and lazy men and told them to dig the foundation first. The foundation of the wall also had to be dug, and they had to go to the commune to buy bricks and tiles.
Fortunately, when I gave him the blueprint yesterday, I told him that I wanted to have a yard. That side is at the foot of the mountain and there is wasteland all around, so the captain directly allocated two acres of land.
Since Tang Yue had given all the work to the captain, she was in charge. She received the task and started working. Tang Yue planned to take too much land, one acre was enough, and it was still early to finish the work.
Tang Yue went back to the dormitory to prepare to boil water. She boiled a full pot and put half of it in brown sugar. She tasted it and it was very sweet. There was too much water, so she added a little more brown sugar, poured the water into the bucket, and took a new enamel cup. Seeing that it was only eleven o'clock, she hurriedly put on her backpack and carried two buckets of water to the place where the house was built. When she reached the foot of the mountain, everyone was working hard. Although no one was watching, no one was lazy.
Tang Yue walked over with the water in her hand and called out, "Uncles and aunts, I made some sweet soup for you. You must be thirsty. Come and have some water."
"I'm really thirsty. Thank you, Mr. Tang, for making me some sweet soup." The uncles were very happy to see that Tang Yue had made some sweet soup. As honest men, they didn't say any words of thanks and only remembered to work harder.
Putting the bucket here, Tang Yue carried the backpack and went up the mountain directly from the side. There were so many mushrooms on the mountain, and it seemed that they would never be picked up. Unconsciously, she had been picking for more than an hour and had stored four backpacks of mushrooms in the space. The basket on her back was almost full.
I looked around and found that I had never been to a place before. The grass was lush and there was no road. I first knocked on it with a stick, then used a hatchet to clear a path. After walking for more than half an hour, I suddenly saw a chestnut forest. Unfortunately, they were not ripe yet. No one should have been here. There was a thick layer of chestnuts on the ground, and no one picked them so they fell to the ground.
Some of them took root and sprouted, growing into small saplings. Tang Yue took a shovel from the space, dug up about 20 saplings, put them into the space, and walked around in the forest. It was about ten acres in area, which was considered a small chestnut forest.
After passing through the chestnut forest, they were already close to the mountains. Tang Yue was ready to go forward, but he looked around and saw that the vegetation here was so lush. It seemed that there was a lack of water, so they should be far away from the water source. He looked everywhere on the edge and actually found a stream. He walked over and washed his hands. The water was icy cold, it was mountain spring water.
I walked upstream along the stream, but I still couldn't find the source after walking for a while. It was already one o'clock, so I took out two dumplings from the space and ate them. I drank a cup of spiritual water, which was considered a meal. I was ready to go back. As for the source, I will look for it when I have time next time. There are many aquatic wild vegetables on both sides of the stream. I picked half a basket, put mushrooms on it, and prepared to go back.
When I got back to the foot of the mountain, the uncles were still working. They were so hardworking. I said hello to them and took the bucket home. It was almost time to go to work, so I washed the pot and the mung beans, poured five pounds of mung beans into the pot, filled it with water, covered it with a lid, put on matches and cooked it slowly. I was afraid that the matches would be overcooked, so I put some clean coal in it, packed up my things, took the water and went out to work.
They met Zhao Yingying and her group on the road. No one spoke to each other, but Xiao Jun seemed to be hesitant to speak. Zhao Yingying pulled him aside, but Tang Yue pretended not to see anything and walked past.
I thought that if I isolate myself, I would rush to please them and be their free babysitter. It's just a dream. It's a beautiful dream.
As usual, Dong Yue received an acre of land and finished it in more than an hour. He asked the scorekeeper to check and register it. Tang Yue was ready to go back. When he got home, the mung beans were already cooked in the pot. He poured some sugar to make it a little sweet, and put it in a bucket to cool. It was just enough to fill a bucket, which should be enough for them to drink.
While waiting for the mung beans to cool, Tang Yue had some free time, so she went to the well to fetch water, washed all the mushrooms she had picked the day before, spread a drying mat in the yard, and poured all the washed mushrooms on it to dry. There were a few too many, so the mat was too thick, but she didn't care and dried it for another day. She picked the leaves of the wild aquatic vegetables to feed the chickens, and kept the stems to stir-fry with bacon, which should be very fragrant.
After finishing the work, I saw that the mung beans were almost cool, so I took the enamel cup from last time, locked the door, and carried the mung beans to the new house. I didn't expect the captain uncle to be here too. He was so dedicated. "Captain uncle, have some mung bean soup. It's so hot in this weather. It's good to prevent heatstroke."
The captain drank a cup of mung bean soup before speaking: "The brick and tile materials will be delivered soon, and I have bought the glass for you. Is there anything else you want to change? Let's build it without waiting."
Tang Yue heard that it could be changed and said quickly: "Uncle, look at this picture. The front of this room is the living room and the back is the kitchen. The kitchen is a bit too big. I want to divide the kitchen into two parts, build a stove against the wall of the bedroom, and build a bathroom against the wall. But I have to bury a water pipe in the ground. If there is no water pipe, I have to think of other ways.
The captain said, "Okay, it's very simple. You can build this house in ten days. You don't have any beams prepared in advance. Do you want to buy them?"
"Yes, thank you for your help, Captain." Captain was very thoughtful. Tang Yue didn't expect that he would even need beams for the house.
Tang Yue saw that the uncles were still working, and hurriedly called them over, "Uncles, come and take a break and have a bowl of mung bean soup first."
"You are so polite, girl. Don't worry, we will definitely build it well for you."
"Uncle and uncle, I'm the one who's worried. I feel at ease with you. It's just that the weather is too hot and I'm afraid you'll get heatstroke, so I thought of cooking some mung beans to cool you down." The uncles felt comforted by these words and continued to work after drinking the tea.
Tang Yue didn't want to leave so soon. Seeing that the foundation was almost dug, she asked the captain, "Where do we get the stones for the foundation?"
"Just go to the river and pick it up. No one will say anything about it."
Tang Yue thought that if she helped to pick up stones, the house should be built faster, so that the uncles and aunts would not have to stop picking up stones alone. She quickly ran to the team headquarters, borrowed a cart, and ran to the river to pick up stones.
Tang Yue picked up stones one by one, and picked up a cartload of stones. It looked like it weighed about 500 to 600 kilograms, and she could push it with a little effort. After pushing it for about 20 minutes, she arrived at the foot of the mountain. There was still some distance from here to the river, so she placed a row of stones along the foundation, and then pushed the cart to pick up more.
Looking at the stunned looks of the uncles, I felt a little secretly happy in my heart. It really is true that women hold up half the sky. It takes 40 minutes to go back and forth, and it takes some time to pick up stones, which is about an hour for each trip. When the time difference was so great that it was around seven o'clock, the uncles were ready to go home.
Tang Yue greeted Captain 꺶, "Uncle Captain, I'm going to return this cart first. I still have to push stones tomorrow." Captain 꺶 nodded and said nothing.
Tang Yue put the bucket on the cart and pushed it directly back to the educated youth site. Looking at the mushrooms still drying in the yard, she quickly put them in a snakeskin bag and put them in the bedroom. She would have to take them out tomorrow to dry for another day. After packing up her things, she prepared to cook. She steamed rice in a pot and stir-fried wild vegetable stems with sausages. She also made a bowl of wild vegetable salad, washed the bucket, and went to the well to fetch two buckets of water to boil water for bathing.
After cooking, she put the dishes on the table. Maybe she had done hard work all day, so she ate two bowls of rice and drank a glass of spiritual water after the meal. Tang Yue found that her skin had not been tanned since she drank the spiritual water. Looking at her colleagues, even if they were perfunctory at work, they would still get tanned. She washed the pot and poured water into it, put on the fire to boil hot water, got the bathtub and filled it with hot water, put the clothes on the kang, and it was really comfortable to soak in the hot water. After soaking for more than 20 minutes, the water was almost cold, so she got up, put on her clothes, poured the water into the bucket, and carried it to the backyard to pour it on the vegetables, which was also considered saving water.
After Tang Yue had tidied up, she prepared to go into the space to sleep. She planned to get up early tomorrow, push a few more carts of stones, and get enough sleep in the space.
After waking up the next day, Tang Yue brushed her teeth, washed her face, had breakfast, and fed the animals with her mind before coming out of the space. She took her watch from the pillow on the kang and looked at it. It was just past four in the morning, and the sky was just getting light. After getting herself ready, Tang Yue locked the door and prepared to pick up the car before going to work.
I pushed the cart and went to the river to pick up stones. I filled the cart and put some in the space. I pushed it to the foot of the mountain. I didn't dare put too many in the space. After all, we were all blind, but we could still count. After pushing two carts, I heard voices. Everyone in the family got up. After picking up the last cart and piling it back, I met people who were getting ready to go to work in pairs.
Almost everyone knew that this educated youth was very strong. After pushing the stones to the foot of the mountain, Tang Yue was ready to go to work and finish the assigned task before pushing the stones. After all, the stones had too many gaps, and asking the uncles to pick them up would delay the construction period. Tang Yue hoped to build the house quickly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
