Chapter 142 A freeloader comes
Baoya slept until the next morning. She got up from the kang in a daze, grabbed her little jacket, put it on, and left the house.
After all, he is still too young. He practiced walking on wooden stakes for the whole afternoon yesterday. He didn’t feel tired at the time, but when he got home at night, he had to sleep deeply all night before he could rest.
She walked with her short legs to the yard. Yunyue was taking out her pennywort to bask in the sun, Yunhua was feeding soy milk to the big river clams, and Yun Chenglu followed behind his eldest and second uncles, handing bricks, tiles and mortar to the craftsmen who were building the house. Everyone was busy.
She stood in the yard, looking up at the new house whose basic frame had been built, the ground beams had been poured, the pillars had been erected, and the craftsmen were plastering the walls with bluestone bricks and mud.
"Baoya, what are you looking at? Why don't you get up and eat first? Your aunt is still heating up the food for you in the pot." Yunyue's voice came from behind.
Baoya turned around and pointed at the two-story building whose frame had already been erected. She said to Yunyue, "Fourth sister, I didn't know the second floor was this high."
"Pfft," Yun Yue laughed out loud. "We've seen quite a few in Ping'an Town, all this high. Some have fancy tops that are even higher than this."
"How come you look at our own and find it so fresh?"
"It feels different," Baoya said. "The town is full of two- and three-story shops and houses. It doesn't seem so high anymore."
"And you see, from now on when we stand on the corridor on the second floor, we might be able to touch the top of the tree." Baoya said, raising her little hand and pointing.
Yunyue looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, the big pillar was almost as tall as the old elm tree at the back door of her house.
"Then we can plant some mulberry trees. When mulberry ears grow on the trees, we can stand on the second floor and pick them!"
"We also need to plant hawthorn trees. When the hawthorns are ripe, we can make candied haws and sugar snowballs." Bao Ya said.
Hearing their lively conversation, Yunhua, who had just finished feeding the clams, came over and said, "Why don't we plant a few more jujube trees? The green jujubes are sweet and crispy, and they're really delicious."
"Okay, then let's plant a few more jujube trees." Baoya said, counting on her fingers, "We need to plant mulberry trees, hawthorn trees, and jujube trees..."
When he looked up, he saw Yun Chenglu wiping his sweat with a towel and said happily, "Second brother, what kind of tree do you want to plant behind our new house?"
Yun Chenglu had just overheard some of their conversation and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Then let's plant a few more peach trees."
He always felt that the peach forest with blooming peach blossoms outside Jingzhen and Nanxuan's courtyard was very beautiful.
"Okay," Baoya pressed down another little finger, "Second brother, do you know what kind of tree big brother likes?"
Yun Chengfu?
Yun Chenglu frowned. He felt that Yun Chengfu might not be interested in what kind of trees to plant.
But he remembered what Yun Chengfu often said when he preached to him: Even under heavy snow, the green pine trees remain tall and straight.
Then he said, "Brother, I think you like pine trees."
"Pine tree?" Baoya frowned. Her brother's preference was so strange. Pine trees couldn't grow delicious fruits, and their leaves were like needles, which hurt when they pricked people.
However, she still pressed down another little finger and added the pine tree that her eldest brother liked.
"Then we have to plant five kinds of trees behind our new house. I will ask grandma, uncle, aunt, and parents what trees they like."
"Haha, how big of a space can we have at our back door? The way you're planting, it's going to turn into a forest."
Zhao Zhilan, who had finished her work, came over and pinched the little hair on Baoya's head. "Go, have breakfast first. We have to make lunch for the helpers today. There are so many people, and we don't know when we can eat. If you don't eat something in the morning, you won't be able to concentrate."
"Yeah." Baoya responded and was led by Yunhua to the kitchen to eat. She kept looking back at Zhao Zhilan.
"Grandma, how many trees can we plant in our backyard? Can we plant mulberry trees? Can we plant hawthorn trees and jujube trees?"
When Yunyue said that just now, she started thinking about it. It would be so much fun to pick fruits while standing on the second floor. There would be all kinds of fruits to eat. It would be a pity not to plant some fruit trees.
Zhao Zhilan looked at her sparkling eyes and felt helpless. She waved her hand and said with a smile, "It's okay. We'll see what to plant later."
It’s okay to plant a few trees, but if you plant too many, they will block the sun.
Baoya followed Yunhua to the kitchen to have breakfast. The children played in the yard for a while and it was noon.
Zhao Zhilan, Wang Cailian and Li Rongyue were busy making steamed meat-filled buns, cabbage and tofu stewed with vermicelli, and a wild vegetable soup.
When the meal was ready, he called the two bricklayers, the three helpers they brought with them, and the five people from Feishui Village who came to help to stop for a while, eat, and rest for a while before continuing to work in the afternoon.
Among the five people in the village, Zhao Zhilan chose those who were honest and hardworking, including Qian Dacai who pulled the ox cart, Yang the hunter, Wu Ergou who had helped her family to kill wild boars before, the old man from the Wang family who lived across the street, and Li Chengyong.
Li Chengyong is in his thirties now. He has never gotten married because he burned his face and damaged his voice while making stove fire when he was a child.
He was quite hardworking, but poor. His parents passed away early, and his eldest brother was kicked out as soon as he got married. He lived in a shabby house at the entrance of the village by himself.
After Zhao Zhilan and her two daughters-in-law finished preparing the meal, they invited the children to come and eat. Yun Dalang and Yun Erlang were left to invite the people who came to work at home to eat together.
There were three large tables set up in the yard, and a large group of people were enjoying their meal when suddenly someone knocked on the front door.
Yun Chenglu ran over nimbly to open the door, and it turned out to be Zhang Xiuer who had caused trouble because of the division of pork.
The woman came in with a basket in her hand and smiled: "Aunt Zhao, you are eating. I came to give Fugui'er's brother something."
After saying that, he walked towards the table where a group of gentlemen were sitting.
Zhao Zhilan glanced at her and ignored her.
Wang Cailian rolled her eyes as she watched Zhang Xiu'er twisting and turning. "Tsk, she really knows how to pick the right time. She comes when people are eating to deliver something."
She didn't lower her voice, and it was high and loud. Zhang Xiuer naturally heard it, but she turned her face away and pretended not to hear it.
She walked over to Li Chengyong, lifted the cloth covering the basket, and took out an empty jar from it: "Chengyong, I borrowed your pickle jar last time, and your sister-in-law brought it back to you."
"Put it here." Li Chengyong bit the bun without raising his head.
His sister-in-law didn't like him, and he knew that his elder brother had kicked him out because he listened to his sister-in-law's advice.
I don’t know why, but today my sister-in-law came over in person to return his jar of pickles.
Seeing that he only responded with one sentence, Zhang Xiuer just buried her head in eating and curled her lips.
What a fool! She came all the way here to return something, but she didn't even know to let her go.
Li Chengyong finished the whole bun in a gulp. When he looked up, Zhang Xiuer was still standing behind him with a smile on her face.
He looked puzzled and asked, "What else do you want?"
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