His family had the most wood; it was all that Yan Jiefang, Yan Jiekuang, and Yan Jiedi, the three siblings, had brought back piece by piece late at night.
"Wait!"
Everyone looked at the fat man with a puzzled expression. He walked to the middle of the crowd and said to Yan Bugui, "Uncle, we dare not use the wood from your house. Have you asked your two sons and daughter? Good heavens, what if they come and tear it down as soon as it's built?"
Yan Bugui got anxious: "No, Fatty, what do you mean?"
The fat man ignored him and said, "Listen up, everyone. We have plenty of wood at home. Men, please help me move wood to build an earthquake shelter. Women, please take care of the elderly and children first. Also, no one should go inside the house. There will definitely be aftershocks! Everyone should stay in the open space in the yard."
There were 14 people in the entire front yard, half of whom were men, three were children, and the rest were women.
Fatty's words quickly gained everyone's support. They all lived in the front yard, and everyone knew that it wasn't easy to take advantage of Yan Laoxi's family.
Besides, Fatty wasn't bragging; he had an abundance of wood. Over the years, he had chopped down more trees in Stardew Valley than Bald Qiang had, accumulating at least 10,000 to 8,000 trees, more than enough to build a small earthquake shelter.
People in this era are simple and honest; no one shrinks back. Even Yan Jiecheng, who was always misunderstood by Yu Li as being a bit "effeminate," works very hard.
Interestingly, Sha Zhu didn't set up an earthquake shelter in the middle courtyard; instead, he brought Xiao Dang to the front courtyard.
Upon seeing the fat man, he said, "Is there enough wood? If not, come get some from me."
The fat man said to him mockingly, "Hey, isn't this Sha Zhu who doesn't live in the main house? What are you doing in this poor, remote place?"
Xiao Dang came over and kicked the fat man: "Uncle Fatty, you're not allowed to bully my stupid dad!"
The fat man continued hammering the nail in exasperation: "Hey, Sha Zhu, did you save the world in your past life? Otherwise, how did you end up with such a lovely girl like Xiao Dang in this life? Now you finally have someone backing you up, I can't afford to mess with you!"
It made everyone in the yard laugh out loud.
With Sha Zhu joining the team, the progress accelerated significantly. Under Fatty's direction, they worked non-stop until the wee hours of the morning and finally built a spacious and sturdy earthquake shelter.
After setting up the tent, Fatty led Sha Zhu, Yan Jiecheng, and Liu Jiacheng's father, who had finally found his underwear, to inspect each house again.
After confirming that it was safe, everyone entered the house in an orderly manner and salvaged many urgently needed supplies.
Things like clothes, bedding, fans, and most importantly, food and water.
Xiao Dang was sent to check on the middle and back courtyards, and learned that they were also setting up earthquake shelters.
Needless to say, the Intermediate Court is still there; even without Sha Zhu, there's still Bang Geng. The young man is in his prime, and Yi Zhonghai is extremely satisfied with him.
Yan Zu and Fatty suggested that Yi Zhonghai's plan from the beginning was to have Qin Huairu support him in his old age.
Previously, it was Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu. After Jia Dongxu died in a work accident, it became Qin Huairu and Bang Geng. As for Sha Zhu, he wasn't even a backup option. He was just a tool for changing backup options. Otherwise, why would they rather watch him become childless than help him find a wife?
With Xu Damao gone back to the countryside to hide from his enemies, Liu Haizhong has once again become the backbone of the group.
He was a level seven fitter, and with plenty of wood, he was the first in the entire yard to set up the shed.
The fat man was initially worried about his precious daughter, but he found that Chen Mengqi actually enjoyed the novel experience of living in the shed. Plus, with people playing with her, she was quite happy.
With two cooks on site, the preparations in the front yard were also the most thorough.
The fat man moved the stove out overnight, and together with Sha Zhu, they built a shed and set up a fire.
Sha Zhu boiled water pot after pot, filling all the salvaged thermos flasks.
A person can go two days without food, but not two days without water.
Putting aside the question of whether the water pipes are damaged, the fact that Yi Zhonghai and his men are controlling the Central Courtyard makes it a hassle for people to fetch water in buckets of all sizes.
It's strange, usually in a large courtyard like this, the water tap is usually installed near the entrance, because people often come in to ask for a drink of water while passing by.
These children run back and love to splash their feet under the tap; the older women scold them for it: "Wasting water is a sin, you might not have any water to drink one day!"
Old Beijingers cherished water like sweet dew, treasuring every drop. The water taps in the traditional courtyard houses were also a social setting, with countless unwritten rules!
For example, not everything can be brought to the sink to wash; even when washing sheets or clothes, you have to make sure the tap isn't busy; special cases such as people giving birth or recovering in the yard can be given priority, and so on.
At the same time, the area around the tap was also a perfect place to talk about the big and small things happening on the street and the everyday gossip of the people in the alley.
So Qin Huairu has been hogging the tap for so long, wasting water resources, and no one has done anything about it. This is the most strange thing about this courtyard.
※※※※※※
Just as dawn was breaking, a sudden downpour began.
Yan Bugui sat on the mattress with a look of emotion: "I don't remember the capital city rarely experiencing such heavy rain. It's all thanks to us for setting up this earthquake shelter, otherwise we would have suffered terribly."
Everyone chimed in, "Thanks to Fatty's decisiveness, he united us all, and we were able to set up the shed before the rain came."
Upon hearing this, the others also quickly thanked the fat man.
He clasped his hands in a respectful gesture and bowed to everyone, saying, "Please, everyone, don't flatter us. Our front yard is full of hidden talents; everyone has their own role, and we can't function without anyone. Thank you all, thank you all..."
As they were talking, a person burst in through the courtyard gate.
To be precise, there were two people. The one in front was soaked to the bone, and he was carrying another person on his back, who was wrapped tightly in a raincoat.
The fat man exclaimed in surprise, "Shi Bowen?"
Shi Bowen wiped the water off his face and hurriedly came over. He carefully put the person on his back down and said to the fat man, "Please, Fatty, this torrential rain has soaked my house to the bone. I'm fine, but my mother isn't well..."
The fat man quickly stopped him: "Alright, there's no need to say anything more."
Only after that did he explain to the people in the yard, "This is also from our factory, and he is my best friend. During this period, all expenses have been covered by my family."
Yu Li and Chen Yan helped the old lady take off her raincoat. Seeing that she was quite dry, they couldn't help but admire how filial Benleihu was.
The fat man looked at Shi Bowen, who was soaked to the bone, and said, "Don't stay wet. Come inside with me and find me some clothes to wear first. Be careful not to catch a cold again."
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