Chapter 152 Construction Begins
"Okay then, I'll have to trouble Sun Lizheng!"
Pei Shaoling, Qiao Qiqi and Sun Lizheng were saying goodbye.
After Sun Lizheng left their sight, Qiao Qiqi looked at Pei Shaoling and said, "Husband, I have food and meat. We can go out of the city and get them later."
"Yeah. In that case, let's go around and make it look good!"
Pei Shaoling nodded and said softly.
In Hongyan Town, there are stone houses everywhere. Although it looks desolate, there are quite a lot of people.
The goods they sold were mostly wild animal skins and furs, as well as grain.
Of course, other restaurants, clinics, libraries, etc. can also be seen.
"Husband, let's go check out that place. They seem to be selling seeds!"
Qiao Qiqi got a lot of vegetable seeds in Youzhou City, but they were all ordinary seeds and could not be planted on the ground covered with stones.
The two walked over and found that what was sold there were seeds of root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams.
In the corner, there are actually watermelon seeds!
Before coming, Qiao Qiqi had already studied the soil at the foot of the mountain where they were.
In fact, those stones have rolled down from the mountain over the years, and there is soil under the stones, not sand.
In this case, as long as the layer of stones on the surface is removed, a lot of plants can be planted.
As for the safety issue at the foot of the mountain, we can just build a wall when the time comes!
As for watermelon seeds, you can buy some to take back.
Summer is coming, and this season is just right for planting watermelons.
So, Qiao Qiqi spent two taels of silver to buy dozens of watermelon seeds.
Watermelons are a rarity in this era, so it's natural that the seeds are more expensive.
Seeing that there were wild boar meat vendors in the town, Qiao Qiqi decided to buy some as well. Then, she could mix it with the pork in her own space. No one would notice, right?
Perhaps because wild boar meat is not a rare commodity, it is also cheap, costing ten cents per pound, so 100 pounds only cost one or two ounces of silver.
Afterwards, Qiao Qiqi and Pei Shaoling left Hongyan Town and headed towards Yandong Village.
On the way, they put a lot of rice, flour, pork, mutton and other things on the cart.
When they returned to the foot of the mountain, Qiao Qiqi found that the thatched hut was gone.
Instead, there were a few simple wooden houses on the side, which even had beds and tables inside.
"Brother, sister-in-law, you are back?"
Pei Shaoming said excitedly, "Among those people you brought back, some actually know how to build wooden houses. Look, these five or six simple wooden houses were built by them! They said that if they build a few more, we won't have to sleep on rocks tonight!"
Pei Shaoling and Qiao Qiqi looked over and saw that those people were busy cutting trees from the forest to build houses.
"Yeah, not bad, pretty good!"
Pei Shaoling nodded with satisfaction.
"Brother, that large area over there is where we plan to build a stone house! We can then build a stone wall to separate us from Second Uncle and the others, and that will be all!"
Pei Shaoming gesticulated as he described the plan they had agreed upon.
"Well, well done!"
Pei Shaoling looked at the busy scene and praised it.
"Mrs. Zhou, please prepare some food tonight. The repairmen will be arriving tomorrow, so we need to prepare three meals."
"Okay, Prince, I will be ready, don't worry!"
Mrs. Zhou was sorting the rice and flour and responded quickly.
That night, An Lei and his men also sneaked back and went into one of the wooden houses with Pei Shaoling to discuss things.
Qiao Qiqi helped her sister-in-law prepare food for the next day in the simple kitchen built by everyone.
The weather in Yandong Village is dry and cold, so the meat won't spoil immediately.
But just in case, Mrs. Zhou placed the pre-cut meat on a wooden plate by the stream.
This way it won't break easily.
However, Qiao Qiqi knew very well that it was not safe to leave the meat like this.
After all, this place is close to the mountain. If any wild beast comes down in the middle of the night smelling meat, it will be troublesome.
So she planned to put it into her own space later and take it out and put it back to its original place early tomorrow.
Qiao Qiqi has already discussed the three meals for tomorrow with Mrs. Zhou.
Eat pork-filled buns in the morning.
For lunch, there are three meat dishes and one vegetable dish, plus a soup.
The same is true at night.
However, since there are so many people, you still need to prepare in advance.
The next day, at dawn.
Qiao Qiqi quietly got up and put the bun filling and pork that Mrs. Zhou had cut last night back into the wooden basin beside the stream.
Soon, Mrs. Zhou got up and started steaming the buns.
Later, craftsmen from the town also came with tools and materials to repair the stone houses.
After breakfast, everyone started working.
Qiao Qiqi roughly told the head craftsman the size of the house and didn't say anything more.
Because she didn't plan to live here for the rest of her life, Qiao Qiqi simply asked the craftsmen to build a main hall and four main wing rooms, as well as two side rooms on each side, according to the layout of a normal house of that era.
Plus a kitchen and a washroom.
There are also the two houses owned by Mrs. Zhou and the Gu family, each of which consists of a main hall and two rooms on the left and right.
"Okay, Madam, if you don't have any special requests, I will definitely get you out within three days, but I'm still short on manpower."
The chief craftsman glanced at the people around him and said, "That stone is a big project, you should think of a way!"
"Let me do it. You guys handle it first. I'll go find the village head to borrow some people."
Upon hearing this, Pei Shaoling hurried towards the village.
Qiao Qiqi went to Mrs. Zhou and asked her to prepare more food for lunch.
Building a house in the village is a big deal.
Because after the house is built, the people who built it will invite the villagers to a big banquet.
In Yandong Village, apart from a girl's wedding in two days, there has been no happy event for a long time.
In addition, Pei Shaoling promised to pay the villagers who came to help fifty cents a day each.
So, more than twenty strong young men from the village came to sign up.
Pei Shaoling didn't pick and choose and took them back to the foot of the mountain.
The craftsman nodded in satisfaction. "With so many people, it can be done in two days. By then, I can even enjoy the feast hosted by your village head!"
Then he directed everyone to start construction.
At noon, three meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup.
They are braised pork, braised pork balls, potato and pork ribs, stir-fried potatoes, and mutton soup.
The dishes are almost the same in the evening.
There was so much meat in large portions that the villagers of Yandong Village, who had not had a full meal for a long time, ate until their mouths were full of oil.
Because this kind of dishes only appear when there are big banquets in the village.
Normally when they go to other families to help, the most they do is add some minced meat to the dishes.
When they returned home that night, Qiao Qiqi gave each of them two pork buns and asked them to take them back to their families to enjoy.
The next day, the entire Yandong Village praised the people who were exiled this time for their humanity.
So, more than a dozen young men came to help with the work.
Pei Shaoling and his team also accepted everyone who came to work. Anyone who came to work was provided with enough food and two buns in the evening.
Sure enough, just as the head craftsman said, all three houses were built by dark.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
