Chapter 25: Building a House (Catching Bugs) His grandfather was not happy and retorted to him...
Chapter 25: Building a House
The houses of each family in the village were built slowly by several generations.
When you have no money, build a house to live in. As time goes by and the population grows, add one or two more rooms.
After a generation or even two or three generations of hard work, the original house was transformed into a large courtyard with three main rooms and side rooms, which was considered very good for a farmer's family.
No one in the brigade was surprised that the Yan family wanted to rebuild their house.
The Yan family has been living in a very tight spot these years, and everyone in the village can see it.
Many people even thought that Yan Jiuru should have built a new house when he got married, but unexpectedly, they just added a small ear room.
His father-in-law said, "Your family is a little different from other families. It's not like uncles and brothers living together, but four generations of the eldest son live together. The two generations above you all live in the main house. Add you two young people, and the house we have now is a little tight."
To say it's tight is actually an understatement.
They have no shortage of land, and residential land is not valuable. Even newly separated families can get a residential land for free. The ten people in the Yan family live in such a close proximity, which is rare in rural areas.
If he hadn't seen that their family members were sensible and easy to get along with, and that this boy wasn't pedantic and useless, he wouldn't have married his daughter to the Yan family just because of the two levels of mother-in-law.
What's more, in the countryside, the eldest son and grandson of the eldest family are responsible for taking care of their parents in their old age and seeing them to the end of their lives, which is a considerable burden.
"Are you going to expand it directly into five main rooms, or add side rooms?"
Yan Jiuru said, "I plan to build a three-sided courtyard, but not a traditional one. I still want to keep the vegetable gardens in front and back."
Who knows what policy changes will happen in the future? If private plots are taken away, the vegetable garden in my yard will be in great need.
"Have you asked someone to check the terrain?"
Although we are now against feudalism, people still have to secretly find someone who knows feng shui when building houses, digging wells, and lighting auspicious signs in rural areas.
Yan Jiuru used to be a great demon king. With this skill, he could become a folk Feng Shui master, so it was natural for him to check the Feng Shui for his own home.
But he wouldn't say he saw it himself.
Yan Jiuru just nodded.
***
Yan Jiuru chose a good day and first took people to level the residential land in the east.
These jobs don't require outsiders. Our family members and Uncle Yan can do it. The children from both families also come to help after school, picking up stones, raking weeds, and doing other work within their ability.
More than a dozen people from the two families cleaned up the land in just two days.
Later, Ruchun and his wife heard about it and came to help.
Ruchun complained, "Big Brother, why didn't you ask the third brother to tell us about such a big thing? We only heard about it from someone else. Do you despise us?"
Yan Jiuru slapped his forehead: He really forgot. After all, he was not there and could not think of it.
He apologized quickly, "I'm sorry, big brother didn't expect that you guys are so far away and have to work in the fields, so how much free time do you have?"
Nowadays, if you don’t inform others when something important happens at home, you will really be looked down upon.
It was his negligence.
Chen Yin thought more about it and whispered to Ruchun, "You didn't ask someone to check your pulse. If you're pregnant, it would be bad if you're still tired from work."
Yan Jiuru heard it and glanced at Ruchun, "It's not easy to get pregnant without gaining ten or twenty pounds!"
Wen Weidong grinned, "I've gained more than three pounds recently."
He gave all the good food at home to Ruchun, and he didn't believe that he couldn't afford to eat more meat.
***
Because the current house needs to be rebuilt, it has to be demolished, and the whole family needs a place to stay for a month or two.
Yan Jiuru had already discussed with the team leader and decided to temporarily live in a few empty houses behind the team headquarters.
It was a bungalow built when the army was stationed there. Because it's drafty in the winter and it's government-owned, it's always been empty. With a little tidying up, it could be used for a month or two. In that case, the rent would be just a few cents.
Chen Yin and two generations of mothers-in-law went to clean up the house over there.
There were six rooms in a row. Yan Jiuru scanned the room and picked out four relatively good ones. "Grandpa and grandma and Ruyue have one, dad and mom have one, we have one, and the second and third kids have one."
His grandfather objected, "Just make do for a month or two, there's no need to go through all this trouble. Your father, the second and third children, I'll have one room, your grandmother, your mother, and Ruyue will have one room, and you and Zhuangzhuang will have one room, so there's an extra person to cook and eat."
Okay, that seems to make some sense.
***
As the saying goes, a broken house is worth a fortune. It took me two days to pack up the things in the house, and it took some effort to move them over there and put them in a simple place.
There were a few small surprises.
"Hey, isn't this the eraser I lost? It's actually here!"
"Ahhh, this is my spinning top. I always thought XX took it."
"My homework book actually fell into this crack, and the teacher made me stand in the classroom as punishment..."
Chen Yin couldn't help but smile when she heard the joy.
But when I saw the various reptiles that were exposed, I couldn’t laugh anymore.
"Ugh, that's so annoying~"
She was most afraid of this kind of soft, leggy thing.
Yan Jiuru was amused. She wasn't afraid of firing guns, firing cannons, or practicing with bayonets, but she was actually afraid of a few reptiles! Women, it's hard to understand.
He turned his wife's face away with both hands and said, "Don't look at it if it bothers you. When we build a new house later, I'll sprinkle realgar and lime powder inside and it will be fine."
More importantly, he drew a few simple talismans. The conditions were simple and the effect was not very good, but it was enough to deal with these mortal insects.
***
While they were moving things, Grandpa Yan, Rushan, and Rusong were over in the empty house, building a new stove and digging in the kang. The old stove had collapsed a long time ago, but Uncle Tian had already brought over a cartload of bricks, so they could use it first. They also needed to add a layer of thatch to the roof, otherwise it would leak during the heavy rains of the next two months.
Father Yan, along with Uncle Yan, Wen Weidong and others, began to prepare materials such as wood, bricks, bluestone, cement, sand and gravel on the new foundation.
In order to facilitate the transportation of materials, Yan Jiuru borrowed several carts, which was much more labor-saving than carrying them on a shoulder pole.
As soon as the old house was cleared, Yan Jiuru led his men to smash the wall with sledgehammers. Perhaps the house was too old, and half of it collapsed after just a few hits.
Grandpa and Grandma Yan stood with their hands behind their backs, watching the house they had built collapse under the sledgehammer. The feeling in their hearts was indescribable.
"It collapsed so easily. The house is really ruined." He didn't know whether he was comforting himself or his wife.
There is almost nothing reusable in this kind of mud and thatched house except the beams, and most of the mud bricks are badly broken and can be directly cleared away.
***
We don’t dare to hold any ceremony now. The demolition of the old house is considered the official start of the work, and everyone in the village who can help has come.
For things like building a house, there is no need to hire anyone. The villagers just help each other. It can also be said to be another form of labor exchange. You help him and he helps you. That's how it all works.
If someone helps you but you don't go when they have something to do, you will be despised in the village and no one will associate with you. No one will lend a hand even if you have something to do. If you invite someone to dinner, you will just have to face an empty table with no one showing up.
This is a question of character.
Fortunately, the farm work in the brigade is not so busy now. We only need to go to work for half a day. There are dozens of people, and the progress is not slow even if we work for most of the day.
Yan Jiuru spent most of the day coordinating back and forth at the construction site. If there was a lack of materials, the depth and width of the excavation, or how to mix the concrete, all kinds of miscellaneous matters could be dealt with by him.
Helpers are required to provide one meal.
Dad Yan reserved a room in the original warehouse as a temporary kitchen. Aunt Yan, Grandma Yan, Second Aunt Yan, and Ruchun were busy together. The younger ones also came to help pick and wash vegetables when they had time.
Feeding dozens of strong men, even just one meal a day, is a huge expense.
The food supply was not bad. Yan's father exchanged two sacks of cornmeal and a bag of second-grade flour from the brigade. He just had to bake cornmeal pancakes or steam a few pots of steamed buns with two-grade flour every day.
With so many people, we can’t even get enough rice.
This is how it is for everyone who builds a house.
As for vegetables, the vegetable gardens in the front and back yards are still there, and all the melons, vegetables and leafy greens can be eaten, which is easy, but meat is a bit more troublesome.
If you do this kind of physical work, you have to add some meat dishes every other day.
"Meat?"
Yan Jiuru thought about it for a while and decided to go to the mountains.
***
In the evening, Uncle Yan's family and Ruchun and his wife who came to help had dinner together.
He said, "Tomorrow morning I'll take the second and third sons to the mountains. Whether it's a wild boar, a roe deer, or something else, if we kill it, it's meat. They should practice their skills, otherwise they'll starve when they have no food to eat."
As a result, the eyes of all the men at the table lit up.
His grandfather said, "I'm going too. I was thinking of going for a walk in the mountains."
His father was not optimistic. "You are so old, just stay at home and take care of the house. I will go! I can hunt wild boars and other things. I have experience."
If I hadn’t been so busy here, I would have gone there long ago.”
Rushan and Rushong looked excited. No matter who went, they had to be taken along.
"How old am I?" His grandfather was unhappy and retorted to his father, "With your two knives, how many big things have you beaten? They are not even as much as you eat."
Who is the father after all?
The big and small Wangs have to figure this out.
Seeing that the father and son were about to start a quarrel, Yan Jiuru hurriedly said, "No need, I'll just take them both with me."
His grandfather and his father objected at the same time: "That won't work."
Yan Jiuru had a headache. "We three have to leave one person to look after the house, right? What if the one who's in charge isn't at home?"
The third child said weakly, "How about you and my dad play rock-paper-scissors?"
His grandfather glared.
It was Grandma Yan who spoke up: "Let the eldest son go, so you don't have to complain about his lack of skills. Let him practice more."
Grandpa Yan despised his son's words, but he couldn't refute them, so he could only say angrily: "Let the second son go and help."
Uncle Yan, who had been eager to try but didn't want to be caught up in the war, immediately agreed.
"Well, I'll go too. I'll practice with you." Wen Weidong raised his hand, but he was suppressed by the men of the Yan family and his momentum could not be raised at all.
Yan Jiuru, considering Ruchun's face, said despite his disdain, "Can you take care of yourself? We are really going there to get something, not just to play."
"Yes, don't worry, big brother."
***
Back in the small house where he lived temporarily, Yan Jiuru dug out his old hunting equipment and started packing it up.
If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools.
His father was also sitting on the stone at the door, sharpening a hatchet and dagger. His grandfather was packing up bows and arrows, trying out the bows, and checking the bowstrings. His two younger brothers were excited to be told to do this and that, and followed suit to help.
Yan Jiuru also found a stone to sit on, poured some water on another whetstone, and began to sharpen the arrowheads and his own sword.
Apart from his father occasionally hunting and bringing back some prey, Chen Yin's family had never seen such a big scene, so he brought his son out to watch the fun.
Maybe it’s boys’ nature, Zhuangzhuang watched with great interest.
If anyone blocks his view, he will make "oh, oh" sounds and wave his hands to ask people to get out of the way.
Yan Jiuru said proudly: "What do you think? It's obviously my child!"
What nonsense!
Chen Yin kicked him angrily.
Yan Jiuru also realized that what he said seemed to be inappropriate, and immediately begged for mercy: "I was wrong, I was wrong, my lady, spare my life!"
Little Zhuangzhuang thought his parents were just playing around and laughed out loud.
His grandfather and his father both turned their faces away in disgust, unable to bear to watch.
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