Chapter 11: Building a House
As soon as the Zhao family arrived, Widow Qu set her eyes on them. She intuitively felt that this family was not ordinary and might be someone she could rely on.
Looking at that young man Hu Ling again, the more I look at him, the more satisfied I feel.
However, since he didn't know much about the Zhao family, he didn't dare to speak rashly and wanted to wait for a while before speaking.
But in fact, she was already about 70% alert in her heart.
As for whether my daughter is willing or not, huh, that girl is just being stubborn.
Zhao family.
After the rice was steamed, the fermented black bean chicken, steamed pork with rice flour, and leek and river shrimp were put into the pot and heated separately. The family had a delicious dinner.
Three dishes cost less than eighty coins. The same meal at the inn on the road of exile cost four taels of silver. In comparison, it was simply too cheap.
No one felt bad about spending money while eating, but instead had a strange feeling that they had made a good deal.
After dinner, the family sat together. Zhao Liya and Hu Ling briefly recounted what they had done during the day so that their parents would have an idea.
I still sleep on the floor at night.
This won't work. Even with the bamboo mat between us, the moisture is still too strong. There are also too many centipedes, ants and other insects. If you are not careful, you might get bitten.
Zhao Liya planned to make a simple bed tomorrow. Even two long benches with a bed board would be better than sleeping on the floor.
No words were spoken all night.
The next morning, the family woke up early and cooked a pot of egg and vegetable porridge.
After eating in a hurry, I waited excitedly for Uncle Ruan Gui and others to come.
After a while, Uncle Ruan Gui and the others arrived, but what they said surprised the Zhao family.
"When we were about to enter the village, these two people said that you plan to hire villagers to build the house and asked us not to come. I thought you are not that kind of people, so I wanted to come over and ask in person, but who knew that these two people would stop us."
The group of young men around Uncle Ruan Gui pushed out the two people they were twisting with anger on their faces. They were Mao Ya and Hulu who had caused trouble two days ago.
Hu Ling waved his fist at Mao Ya and Hu Lu and shouted fiercely, "Why are you here again? What's going on? You want a beating, don't you?"
Mao Ya said stubbornly: "I didn't say anything wrong—ah!"
Hu Ling's fist slammed into Mao Ya's cheek: "I told you not to talk too much."
After Hu Ling's punch, Uncle Ruan Gui and his group looked much better.
Hulu's face turned pale, and he mustered up the courage to say, "Don't let outsiders take over the wealth, understand? You'd rather enrich outsiders than let the villagers do the work. The villagers are all dissatisfied. This is too disrespectful of you. Do you still want to stay in the village in the future?"
After hearing this, Ruan Guishu and the others couldn't help but hesitate. It must be said that this statement does make some sense. After all, the Zhao family is going to live in this village. If they offend the whole village...
It’s not easy to fall out with the Gu family brothers, but there’s no need to be nice to the Gu family’s dog.
Zhao Liya sneered, "Nonsense! You thieving scoundrels dare to represent the villagers? If you say another word, I'll beat you up! We are all kindhearted villagers, but you are the worst of us, trying to sow discord. Today is a good day for building a house. I won't bother with you. Get out of here. If you dare to mess around again, you won't be so lucky."
Mao Ya and Hulu looked at each other, said something harsh like "Just wait for me!", and left in shame.
Zhao Liya was still frightened. She gave Uncle Ruan Gui a wry smile and said, "Luckily, Uncle Ruan Gui, you guys are here, otherwise we would have misunderstood. Don't worry about those hooligans, just focus on your work. Let's do what we agreed on before."
"Well, good, let's get to work. This house needs to be demolished and the foundation laid."
"OK!"
Everyone in Zaihu Village was in high spirits and rolled up their sleeves to get busy.
To be honest, if the salary offered by the Zhao family had not been so attractive, they might have declined the job. Getting involved in such a dispute is always troublesome.
But the pay is worth the hassle.
It's only natural to work for money, what are you afraid of?
The brothers Li Guangwu and Li Guangxing also took the initiative to say: "Don't worry, boss. If someone comes to cause trouble again, you don't have to step in, we will do it. Dare to mess with us, huh, who are you looking down on?"
"That's right!" everyone echoed.
Of course Zhao Liya wouldn't refuse, she nodded with a smile: "Then I'll leave it to you!"
Zhao Liya was willing to pay such a high salary yesterday, intending to let them do their best to complete the work as quickly as possible, but she didn't expect that it would accidentally lead to a big trouble.
After the house was demolished, everyone built a temporary shack for them to live in in an open area.
Fortunately, I don’t have much belongings, so it’s easy to resettle.
Then, it’s time to clear the site and lay the foundation.
Various construction materials will be delivered to the site at noon and afternoon today. Zhao Liya and Ruan Guishu discussed and selected the place for stacking the construction materials in advance.
Hu Ling asked two young men from Zaihu Village to accompany him and drove the ox cart into the city again.
There were a lot of things I needed to buy: rice, meat, and various seasonings for lunch. I didn't have a large pot at home, so Uncle Ruan Quy and his family said we could rent one in town. I also needed to rent bowls and chopsticks. I also needed to buy a large water tank and a simple bunk bed.
Maybe you can’t buy everything in one trip and you’ll have to make two trips.
Ruan Sanniang and Aunt Li Shiyi, who were in charge of making lunch, started digging an earthen stove in an open space. They would boil a pot of water later and put it in a small jar with a wooden lid. They would wrap dried honeysuckle, imperata root, bamboo leaves, wild chrysanthemums, etc. in gauze and put them in to make herbal tea. When you are tired from working in the hot summer, drinking a cup of herbal tea can clear away heat and relieve summer heat.
Zhao Liya went to Widow Qu's house to buy vegetables.
Meat is bought from the city, vegetables, eggs and the like are bought from the village. If chickens and ducks need to be slaughtered one day, they are also bought from the village, so that the villagers can make some money.
Widow Qu was diligent. She and her daughter had a vegetable garden right between the Zhao family and theirs. The garden was lush and green, and was well-maintained.
Zhao Liya went to buy it, of course she was happy to do so.
There are radishes, eggplants, beans, peppers, lettuce, lettuce, cucumbers, leeks, onions, corn, etc.
The news that the Zhao family bought vegetables in the village while building a house spread quickly. The next day, Zhao Liya no longer had to go out to buy them, as someone came to her house to ask.
Whatever Zhao Liya needed, she would smile and tell people to go back and get it. She not only bought vegetables, but also eggs, and the price was very reasonable.
The amount of vegetables that more than 40 people need to consume every day is not small. The villagers who are diligent and have a lot of vegetables in their vegetable gardens earn a little money to supplement their family expenses. They can't help but feel good about the Zhao family. After getting in touch with them, they become closer.
The Gu family was very angry and wanted to make trouble, but they didn't expect the people in Zaihu Village to be so responsible. They actually left people here at night to guard the building materials, so that the Gu family had no way to make trouble.
Zaihu Village is mainly inhabited by families with the surnames Ruan and Li, with more than 300 households. They are native locals and the Gu family cannot afford to offend them.
(End of this chapter)
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