Chapter 154: Plan (Additional chapter for Yunqi's recommendation votes of 120,000)
After Manbao fell asleep, Qian frowned and looked at Old Zhou. "Build seven rooms, are you serious, or are you just trying to appease Manbao?"
"Of course I'm serious. Would I lie to a child?" It's such a big deal. Manbao is so smart. What if the child learns bad things from him?
Old Zhou had his own considerations. He said, "Didn't you say the other day that Fourth Brother's debt was about to be paid off?"
Qian hummed softly and said, "It's not much different."
No one expected that the ginger grown by a few children would be so valuable.
The piece of wasteland that Zhou Silang reclaimed was not very big, only about six or seven mu. A small half was planted with yam, and the rest was planted with ginger.
The yield from that small piece of ginger was very high. During this period, the family sold at least 40 kilograms of ginger every day, so we had a fixed income every day.
The others didn't know, but when the fifth brother and his friends came back, they would settle accounts with her. After paying the public debt, they would give her the fourth brother's share of the money. Apart from Manbao, Qian knew the family accounts and everyone's savings best.
I'm afraid even Zhou Wulang and others involved are not very clear about it.
Before we knew it, the family had saved a considerable amount of money.
But we need to build seven brick and stone houses...
Qian frowned and said, "I'm afraid it's not enough."
"Almost," Old Zhou murmured, "the money I saved last year, the money the fourth brother returned, and the money I've saved this year, should be around thirty-five taels, right?"
Qian said "hmm".
Old Zhou said, "Since there's so much money in the public treasury, the boss and his family must have some too. This house was built for them to live in. Manbao has already contributed money, so naturally they should contribute. This is enough. I estimate that it's enough not only to build the house, but also to furnish the interior."
Old Zhou calculated, "We'll make a bed for each room. If they have more rooms, we'll need a better table and chairs. At most, we'll buy them a set of quilts. They can take care of the rest themselves."
All of this money costs money, and it seems not enough when you calculate it all, especially the bed, which is a big item.
Old Zhou felt like he was craving a cigarette again. He thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry. There's still a lot of ginger in the fields. It should be almost done once we sell it all."
Qian glanced at him and said, "Have you forgotten that you still need to find a husband for the fourth child?"
Old Zhou was almost dying of worry and said, "Why not let him wait another year?"
"Next year I'll be nineteen."
Old Zhou sighed, "I am a bit old."
The couple didn't speak for a long time.
Old Zhou smacked his lips and said, "How about borrowing some from Hexi?"
Zhou Xi also had a good harvest of ginger in her field, and she also had to hand in a portion to the public treasury. However, because she was a married woman, she might not get a share of the family's belongings in the future, so Qian decided to take only 30% of her share and keep the rest for herself.
Of course, she also had to share some with Manbao and the others, but the proportion was smaller. In the past ten days, she had been carrying more than ten to twenty kilograms of ginger every day and brought back a lot of money, so Old Zhou guessed that she should have saved some money.
Seeing that he had figured everything out, Qian said, "Go and talk to her."
Old Zhou grumbled, "I'll go if I want to."
But in the end, Mrs. Qian still didn't let Old Zhou go. Except in front of Manbao, he never said soft words in front of his other children. Asking him to borrow money would not only make him uncomfortable, but also the people being borrowed would be uncomfortable.
However, there was still some time before the house was built, and Qian only mentioned it to Zhou Xi, but did not ask for money immediately.
In the village, everyone would help each other build houses without asking for any wages, but that was when we were building thatched houses, which were simple, convenient and fast.
At most, they would stir some yellow mud and paste it on the earthen walls to make it more cold-proof. If the Zhou family wanted to build a stone house, they would not only have to provide two meals a day, but also pay the workers.
Even if the villagers get less, it will never be less than eighteen cents.
So the wages are one sum.
They also have to buy stones or quarry them themselves, and the wages for this part are calculated separately, but they don't need to buy too much wood.
Because their allocated land is basically mountainous land, the trees on the mountains belong to them. Old Zhou decided to go to the mountains to look at the trees tomorrow. If he needs to buy some, he has to make an appointment with someone in advance.
The next day, before Old Zhou went to see the tree, Manbao walked to the open space next door with his hands behind his back and walked up and down like a king patrolling his territory.
Xiao Qian, who had just finished making breakfast, couldn't find her. She went out and saw her pinching her waist and nodding her head. She didn't know what she was thinking. She called out, "Manbao, what are you looking at? Come back and have breakfast."
Manbao looked at the large open space and nodded his little head. "I'm looking at my future room. Sister-in-law, I want a red curtain. Can you help me make one?"
"How can there be a red curtain? Your sister-in-law has lived for so many years and has only seen green curtains." Xiao Qian pulled her back and said, "Don't look. There's no sign of any house yet."
She felt that building a house was still a long way off, so Manbao should just go to school first.
Xiao Qian took Manbao back to have breakfast, put a small school box on her back and let her go to school.
Manbao went there happily, and when he saw Bai Shanbao, he said, "My family is going to build a house. When I move into the new house, I'll ask you to come and warm up the house."
Bai Shanbao perked up and asked, "When will we move into the new house?"
When their family moved into their new house, Manbao filled a bamboo basket with a lot of candies for him, saying it was a housewarming gift. He decided to give Manbao a gift as well when she moved into her new house.
Manbao kept saying, "It's almost there, it's almost there!"
As soon as he got home from school that day, Manbao ran to find Old Zhou and asked, "Dad, when will my house be built?"
Old Zhou, who was drinking water, almost choked. He said, "It's far away. Dad just went up the mountain to check the trees today. We don't have enough to build a house yet. We need to buy some from others, and we also need to quarry stones and dig foundations... You are still young, so you can live with us first. There is no rush to move."
"That's impossible," Manbao shouted, "I've already told my classmates that they'll come and warm my room the next time we have a day off."
Old Zhou was stunned. He hadn't expected his daughter to speak so quickly. He quickly said, "How come you're here on your next holiday when the house hasn't even been built yet? Just tell them it'll take time to build and then hire them later."
"How long is a while?" Manbao said, "Building a house is very fast, isn't it? It's done in a flash. Even if you're slower, Dad, then six or seven days will be enough, right?"
"Six or seven days..." Old Zhou shouted, "We haven't even dug the foundation in six or seven days. We can't move into the new house until at least the New Year."
"Dad, you're too slow. I've already told my classmates..."
"Then tell them again."
"I'm so embarrassed," Manbao cried, "My whole class knows about it. They all said they've prepared gifts and are waiting for me to invite them."
(End of this chapter)
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