With more people comes more strength. Seven places were cleaned up in just one morning. These places only needed to be cleared and tidied without hoeing. After cleaning, the villagers began to work in groups to clear and tidied the land in other places.
At noon, everyone brought dry biscuits, and Chunxiao also brought steamed buns. However, it was cold and the steamed buns were cold and hard. The water was also cold, making it very uncomfortable to eat. There was no way, everyone was like this, and there was no place to make a fire in the wilderness, so they could only endure it.
Everyone worked all afternoon, and she spent the whole afternoon wandering around the fields. The location of the house was decided, but she couldn't decide the location of the well. It was not her decision where to dig the well.
Today, 210 people reclaimed more than 70 acres of land. Everyone worked very hard. Chunxiao was very satisfied with the efficiency. When he got off work, he expressed his gratitude to them and said that he hoped everyone could be as good as today in the future.
It was not yet completely dark when he returned to the town. As soon as the carriage arrived at the gate of the township government, he saw Shuwen standing at the door.
Chunxiao thanked the yamen runners and got off the carriage. "How's it going? Did you find the house?"
"I found it." Shuwen was very happy. "There is a small courtyard with three houses. It's not far from here, just an incense stick's time. The landlord said we would only rent it for one month, so the rent was expensive, 1 tael and 5 qian of silver. I listened to my aunt and rented it without hesitation. It has everything, including beds, cabinets, and washbasins. The front yard is quite large. Come on, aunt, I'll take you to see it. See if I have bought everything, including lamps and lamp oil. I spent nearly 10 taels of silver today."
"Auntie will settle the bill for you. Let's go get our luggage and say hello to the pavilion chief."
The two men found the headman, told him that they had found the house, and thanked him for his hospitality today.
"Okay, now that you've found a place to live, you should settle in. I'm already working on everything you mentioned, so don't worry. I'll have someone oversee the land reclamation over there, so it's up to you whether you want to go or not. The four of them will leave at 1:00 AM every day, so you can just follow the car. By the way, two bricklaying teams will be arriving tomorrow, so you can go directly there to discuss it. I've told them the work is urgent and they won't have any New Year's leave. You can discuss the wages between yourselves."
"Thank you so much, Chief." The two of them thanked him again.
Chunxiao followed Shuwen to the newly rented house. It was already getting dark, but some light could still be vaguely seen.
"Aunt, please look around first. There's a lamp on the table in the main hall. I'll go cook. The pots, stoves, and knives are all ready. I also bought some flour and vegetables today."
"Just make some dumpling soup. Which room do you live in?"
"I'll live in the room at the back on the right, and you'll live in the room on the left. The mattresses are all made up."
Chunxiao lit the lamp in the main room and went to the room on the left with her bag.
The room is actually very simple, with just a bed, a cabinet, two stools, and two basins beside the bed. There is nothing else. It’s good enough to be able to rent a room in such a short time!
She walked around the whole room again. Apart from the dining table in the main room, there were no other tables in the room, but there were several stools.
The back door led to a tiny courtyard, mostly just a toilet. There was nothing else. She went to the kitchen, where Shuwen's fire was already lit. "Where does the water come from?"
"There's a public well two lanes down. You should go there to draw water. Look, there's a water jar. I filled it up today." He was picking cabbage. "Aunt, I bought the two basins in your room today, as did the oil and salt in the kitchen. I also bought five mattresses today: three for your room and two for mine. The mattresses are so expensive; five cost over an ounce of silver. This is the first time I've spent so much money."
"If you can spend, you can earn. What's there to be afraid of?"
Chun Xiao looked at him and smiled. She didn't know who she had done a good deed for, but she had unknowingly cultivated a good husband for someone. "Do you often cook at home? You seem quite skilled at it."
"I don't cook often. I learned from Aunt Chun and the others at the farm. But they eat simple food, so I can't learn much. Grandma said that if I want to learn how to cook, I have to learn from you, but I see that you don't cook much either."
Chun Xiao was embarrassed. "Of course, I can't show off my fine craftsmanship every day." She was just lazy. "The pavilion chief said that two bricklaying teams will come tomorrow. Here's what I'm thinking: finish the main courtyard on my side first. If more people come later, we'll arrange for your main courtyard to be built. You can go over there and keep an eye on it. I still need to think about how to arrange the carriage. The pavilion chief said he can help us get a carriage. If the carriage takes a long time, we can buy an ox cart first. Otherwise, it will be inconvenient and troublesome to travel."
"I'll follow your instructions on how to do it, Aunt. Just finish building the main courtyard over there. Then we can move in and won't have to run back and forth like this. Aunt, if the carriage arrives, can I learn to drive it?"
"You don't just learn, you have to learn. Not only you, but I too will have to learn in due time if we want to be happy. Our place is so big, like a grassland, there's plenty of room for learning. I'm just hoping it doesn't rain or snow today, otherwise it will be troublesome."
"They say there's little rain here, and if it does rain there's nothing we can do."
In the evening, the aunt and niece hid in the kitchen and ate a bowl of steaming dumpling soup. After boiling water to wash, they went back to their rooms to sleep.
The efficiency of the bricklaying team is very high. After Chunxiao outsourced the entire project, they brought all the materials in two days and set up a simple sleeping area outside. Chunxiao admired them very much. It was so cold at night, and I don’t know how they fell asleep outdoors.
Chunxiao asked the yamen runners to help recruit another 30 people from the village. The conditions were the same, except that they had to work alongside the craftsmen. Although most of them were women, they were no less capable than the men at their work.
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