Chapter 168 New House Completed
Little Qian whispered, "This year, our family has acquired another twenty mu of permanent farmland. Just doing this will take up a lot of time, so how can we find time to take care of the wasteland? Besides, it's winter now, and we have to build a house, so we won't be able to spare the time to reclaim the wasteland."
Zhou Dalang sighed and said, "Aren't Datou and Daya not too young now? Daya, especially, will be able to get married in a few years."
The Zhou family is not divided, so the betrothal gifts for the grandchildren's marriage proposals are naturally paid by the father. Zhou Dalang is not too worried about Datou and Santou, but Daya is a girl, so it will look good if she brings more dowry when the time comes.
Xiao Qian thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait until next year to see if the family can handle it. If they can, we can choose a better place to open it. Besides, Datou and Daya will be a year older next year, so they can help more with the farm work."
Zhou Dalang had no choice but to agree.
There are regulations on what can be planted on the allocated land. For example, permanent land can only be used to grow grain. Even if the county has a loose management, at least 80% of the land must be used to grow grain.
Therefore, it is impossible for them to occupy too much fertile land to grow ginger, yam and other things that cannot be used as food.
Besides, Old Zhou is also very cautious. This year, ginger and yam did bring great profits to the family, but that was because they were planted in small quantities, so they could be sold. But if they were planted in large quantities, could they be sold out?
Apart from anything else, ginger and yam are not something that needs to be eaten every day, so it is already a risk for him to be willing to set aside several acres of land to grow them.
So he was not very happy about his third son's decision to open up wasteland and grow ginger.
"There's a lot of work to do in the fields. If we don't do it more carefully, the grain yield will definitely decrease. It's okay for the fourth brother and the others to mess around, but why did the third brother join in the fun?"
Qian said, "The eldest daughter is a good cook and has a job at the school, so she earns money every month. The second daughter, with her bamboo weaving skills, earns as much as the eldest daughter every month. But what about the third daughter? He has no other skills except farming. The fourth daughter is already three years old. If we have another child, it won't cost money to raise him."
"There's nothing we can do to keep them fed and well."
"Is raising a child just about food and drink?" Qian said angrily, "Does it cost money to make clothes out of cloth? For example, if he wants to make a bowl of brown sugar water for his wife, does he have to ask the old lady for money? Let him do it, and they can take 70% or 80% of the profit, and they can also make a profit."
"What about the land?"
Qian closed her eyes and said nothing.
Since this matter was not discussed for the time being, they did not show any dissatisfaction. Zhou Sanlang knew nothing about it. He took advantage of a gap to walk to the side of the mountain and finally chose a piece of land not far from Zhou Xi's wasteland.
He circled it and decided to open up the land when he had time.
However, he will not have time in the near future because the Zhou family has already started digging the foundation and building a house.
Stones collected from the mountains were delivered one after another, and the construction of the Zhou family's house began.
Manbao was so happy that he would walk around the house every day after school before going to Bai's house to do his homework.
With enough materials and many people, the houses were built quickly. The Zhou family was not like the Bai family. Not only did they build many houses, they also dug a pond in the yard. Therefore, the seven brick and stone houses were built in less than eighteen days.
After settling the wages, Old Zhou looked at the remaining money in the cash box and said with a bit of heartache, "I still have to prepare bedding."
"And a bed!" Man Bao had just finished touring his new room when he rushed in and asked Old Zhou, "Dad, I want a new bed."
"Isn't your little bed still slept in?"
"I don't want it anymore. Give it to Santou," Manbao said, "I just promised Santou that I would give him my small bed when I move to the new house. Dad, please make me a new bed."
Old Zhou said with a bitter face: "I have no money left."
"I have it." Manbao ran back to his room and soon took out two strings of money. He stuffed them into his pocket and said, "Dad, you must help me make the bed bigger so that I can invite my friends back to chat with us late into the night."
Old Zhou almost choked. He widened his eyes and asked, "Who is your friend? Girl, you are a girl, you can't lie in the same bed with a boy."
"I know," Manbao said perfunctorily, "The friend I'm talking about isn't Bai Shanbao and the others, but Miss Fu Er. She said she wants to come to our house and play, and then I can sleep with her."
Old Zhou heaved a sigh of relief, but before he could completely calm down, he suddenly remembered Miss Fu's identity and his heart started to rise again. "What? The Miss Fu you're talking about is the second daughter of the county magistrate?"
"yes."
Old Zhou swallowed and looked at his wife.
Qian also sat up straight and asked, "Did Miss Fu Er really say she wanted to live with us?"
Manbao nodded, "It's written in the letter."
Manbao took out the letter and showed it to them. However, the couple were illiterate, so Manbao read it to them. "She said that now she is confined at home to learn the rules, and it is not easy for her to even go out. She envied me so much that I can go out without any restrictions. She thought it would be great if she could come and live with us, so I have written a letter to invite her to visit us. She may come in a while."
Old Zhou and Qian's backs relaxed and they breathed a sigh of relief. They wondered why the county magistrate's daughter would come to their poor mountain village.
Glancing at his gullible daughter, Old Zhou chuckled and agreed, "Okay, I'll make you a new bed."
Don't even think about getting a king-size bed; a regular one will be fine.
Of course, Manbao’s money was not enough, so they had to add to it. Old Zhou felt heartbroken just thinking about it.
For a bed, not counting the wood, the wages for the carpenter alone would be more than two hundred coins, so Manbao's two hundred coins was far from enough.
But Old Zhou said nothing. The next day, he took the money and went to Dali Village to find a carpenter to add another bed.
After the new house was built, they did not move in immediately. Firstly, the beds and other things had not been made yet, and secondly, new houses are always a little damp, so they had to be warmed up with fire.
Manbao was very keen on lighting a fire in his new house. Every day he would volunteer to hold a torch and wave it here and there.
Bai Shanbao also liked it, so he competed with her to play with it. Datou was so scared that he snatched the torches from both of them and then kicked them out, saying, "Playing with fire will make you wet the bed!"
Manbao retorted: "Nonsense, what does playing with fire have to do with wetting the bed?"
"That's right, I've never heard of someone wetting the bed after playing with fire."
"That's what the adults said," Datou extinguished the torch and said, "Anyway, you are not allowed to play. Grandpa said that baking the house is the adults' job. Aunt, if you don't listen, I will tell Grandma and Mom."
Manbao was angry but dared not speak out, because what she feared most were her mother and sister-in-law.
(End of this chapter)
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