Chapter 137
In order to consider the homestead issue, Jiang's father specially brought a pot of rice wine and a large bag of cured chicken legs made by Jiang's mother.
Jiang's mother brought back dozens of pounds of cured chicken legs. She gave a bowl of them to this family and a bowl of them to that family, but they were still too much to eat. On the second day of the New Year, she planned to give some to her brother, younger brother, and younger sister's homes, and leave some for Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning to take to school to eat.
Thinking about the fact that Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning didn't come back this year, Jiang's mother thought bitterly, "I gave them meat to eat, but I wouldn't even feed them to the pigs!"
Of course, this is just a rant.
When Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning didn't come back, she was full of thoughts of getting mad at them and sending them flying. Now, like Jiang Song, she is left with nothing but worry. Now there are no letters and no phone calls. Even if she ignores Jiang Ning a lot, she doesn't think that her children are the kind of people who won't come home and have no news.
The impression of Jiang Ning being obedient and sensible over the past ten years was not erased overnight. Even if Jiang Ning had been rebellious before, she only thought that it was because she was unwilling to pay for her tuition. In Jiang Ning's character, even if she said that she could not rely on her in her old age, she still knew in her heart that if her daughter-in-law did not take care of her in the future, she could still rely on Jiang Ning.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, every household will welcome the daughters and sons-in-law back home. Those who live nearby the village usually come to the house on the first day of the New Year to have dinner and do business.
When Jiang's father arrived with a white wine jug, he stood outside the yard and shouted, "Second brother! Second brother!"
Jiang's father calls the brigade secretary "second brother" and calls the mayor Jiang behind the house "fourth brother". This does not mean that the brigade secretary is older than Jiang Zhen, but it is based on their respective rankings in the family. The brigade secretary is the second child in the family, and the mayor Jiang is the fourth child in his own family. Jiang's father is younger than both of them, so he calls them both "brother".
He shouted so many times, so many times that Jiang's father thought that the brigade secretary was not at home and had gone out to visit relatives and friends, and then someone inside opened the yard door.
It was Jiang Shengzhi, the son of the brigade secretary.
Jiang Shengzhi is one year older than Jiang Song and one grade higher than Jiang Song. He is now a sophomore.
I have to say that the brigade secretary has strong genes. His two children look like a copy and paste of the brigade secretary. They are not tall, with round heads and round faces, but perhaps because they are educated, they look very gentle.
He opened the courtyard door, and without a smile on his face, he asked coldly, "Is there anything wrong?"
Father Jiang smiled and asked, "Is Second Brother home? I came to ask him something."
Jiang Shengzhi had a blank expression on his face: "If you have anything to say, wait until after the fifth day of the New Year."
Father Jiang sensed something was wrong, but he still smiled and said, "I've been gone since the fifth day of the New Year, so it's too late. I just have something to do. Is your father home?"
Jiang Shengzhi shouted into the house: "Dad! Jiang Song's father is here to see you!"
Only then did a faint voice come from inside the house: "Come in."
When Father Jiang entered, the brigade secretary was not in the main room, but lying on the bed in the room. He looked a little unwell due to a cold. He was wearing a thick cotton coat, sat up from the bed, and looked at Father Jiang calmly: "Is there something you need?"
When Jiang's father saw the brigade secretary, he was shocked. He hadn't seen him for a year, but the secretary in front of him looked like he had aged ten years. Originally, he had only a few white hairs here and there, but now, most of them were white. Jiang's father almost didn't recognize him.
Father Jiang quickly put the things on the table, sat down in front of the brigade secretary and said worriedly: "Second brother, what happened to you? Why are your hair all white?" He looked around: "Where is my sister-in-law?"
The brigade secretary raised his eyelids, glanced at Jiang's father indifferently, pulled the corners of his mouth, sneered and said: "Your sister-in-law is in Wucheng with Hehua."
The fact that Jiang Hehua was in jail was strictly suppressed by the brigade secretary, and the couple did not reveal anything about it.
There are other students in the village who go to school in Wucheng, but the only ones who go to the two good schools, Wuzhong and No. 1 Middle School, are Jiang Ning, Jiang Hehua, and a boy from a big room.
The boy from the eldest house, like Jiang Hehua, is in Wuzhong, but in a different class. He is also in a key class. His father is a plumber in the village, and he himself also studies science.
But he, like Jiang Hehua, seemed to have a wall between him and other boys in the village who did not study. The boys in the village generally would not play with people like him and Jiang Hehua who had good grades. When he was in junior high school, some people would borrow his winter and summer vacation homework to copy. When he reached high school, there were very few boys in the village who were still in high school, not to mention that he was from Wuzhong.
The brigade secretary even went to his house after the holiday and talked to the boys in the big room.
When the boy returned home, he only told his parents that Jiang Ning won a prize in a competition and was admitted to Peking University in advance. When the boy's father met Jiang's father at the grave, he wanted to talk to him. However, Jiang's father felt ashamed because his three children did not come back. He had no mood to talk and just took the shovel and left.
The boy's father turned around and muttered to his sons, "How come both his son and daughter were admitted to college, and such a good college at that? Even if he couldn't set up a buffet for three days and three nights, he should at least put on a smile, right?" Why do you still have such a sullen face, as if a relative has died?
His wife glared at him and said, "If Jiang Song gets admitted to university, do you think they will have a three-day buffet?"
Thinking of the other two children of the Jiang family who were inconspicuous in the village, the plumber touched his head in confusion and muttered, "The big guy is also confused."
As for the other two, one studied at No. 2 Middle School, one studied at No. 3 Middle School, and several studied in the town. Too many of them were arrested during this year's crackdown, and everyone's focus was on the gangsters who were shot, rather than Jiang Hehua who was sentenced to three years. Many people only knew that there was such an incident, but did not know the specific name of this person.
Of the two boys from No. 2 Middle School, one moved to Wucheng when he was in junior high school. He also lived in a big house and rarely came back to celebrate the Chinese New Year. No. 3 Middle School is quite far from No. 1 and No. 2 Middle Schools. They knew about this incident, but didn't know that the person was Jiang Hehua from their village.
Jiang Qinqin had also heard about this matter. The normal school she attended was not called Wucheng Normal School. Instead, it was located between Wucheng and their city, in the suburbs. It took thirty to forty minutes by car from Wucheng. The location was far away from the main urban area, so the news was actually the least well-informed.
She didn't know that the two were Jiang Ning and Jiang Hehua at the time. She wanted to gossip with Jiang Ning about this matter when she came back. After all, Jiang Ning was also studying in Wucheng, closer to the gossip center, and perhaps she would know more. Who knew that when she came back to look for Jiang Ning, the door of the Jiang family was locked, and the weeds at the door were more than a person tall. There was no one in the Jiang family at all.
When she went home and told her mother about it, her mother spat, "You deserve it. Don't hang out with these gossipers when you're out there, okay?"
Jiang Qinqin nodded obediently, and then went to talk to her mother about the interesting things that happened in school, and how she participated in a singing competition during the summer vacation and made two good friends. Her good friends also asked her to go to her house for a few days after the Chinese New Year.
On this side, Jiang's father, hearing that Jiang Hehua and her mother were not at home for the New Year, asked the brigade secretary in confusion: "Hehua hasn't had her holiday yet?"
He thought to himself, is it possible that No. 1 Middle School and Wuzhong are fighting again? Is it possible that the school won't let anyone go home? No matter what, it is impossible to prevent students from going home for the New Year. If students don’t have a holiday, teachers must also have a holiday.
The brigade secretary looked at the clear and stupid expression on Jiang's father's face. Although he was sick, he was the most informed about the news of the entire brigade. Although he was not in the brigade headquarters in the past few days before the New Year, he knew everything that happened in the brigade headquarters. Naturally, he also knew that Jiang Bai called back and said that he would not have a holiday during the New Year while working and studying outside, and that Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Ning would come back to celebrate the New Year.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Song didn't come back and didn't call.
For a moment, he didn't know whether Jiang's father really didn't know or was just pretending to be stupid.
Father Jiang felt a little uncomfortable with the cold look from the brigade secretary. "Second brother, even if your work is important, you have to take good care of yourself. Why... your hair has turned completely white?"
He was genuinely worried about the brigade secretary.
The brigade secretary retracted his gaze and said, "Nothing, tell me what you want."
Father Jiang smiled and said, "Hey, it's about my homestead. You know, my house is the shortest in this area. We owed a lot of debts in the past few years. There's nothing we can do. Songzi is grown up now and will get married in two years. I thought, build a house first, even if it's a bungalow first, so that Songzi will have a place to live when she gets married!"
The brigade secretary drooped his eyelids, "Oh, you want a homestead." He didn't give Jiang's father any room for choice, saying: "The homesteads up here have all been allocated. If you want a homestead, you can only allocate it down below." He raised his eyelids again and leaned back on the bed: "I remember there are two acres of land in front of the brigade headquarters that belong to your family, right? Let's go there."
Father Jiang looked at the brigade secretary in surprise: "How can we build a house there? The land is too low. Wouldn't there be floods every year?"
The problem is that this piece of land is right next to a ditch. Every year, the hydroelectric power station pumps water from the river through this ditch. His family's field ridge is only slightly higher than the ditch, which is of course good for using as a paddy field. There is no need to find another way to get water. All you need to do is dig a small ditch, and the water from the river canal can flow into the farmland. It can be used as a residential land, but there are floods every year.
The brigade secretary raised his eyelids and said, "Why is that piece of land not good? Don't you have two sons? It's just right for each of them to have one mu of land. You can build on it and make a big yard. You can grow some vegetables. It's close to the road. When the road is repaired, you can open a store and you won't have to worry about business." The brigade secretary said to Jiang's father earnestly, "I thought of that piece of land for your own good. Think about it yourself. Apart from that piece of land, where else in the village can you find such a large piece of land, unless you want to build on the mountain."
He said calmly, "If you want to build on the mountain, that's fine. There are still some plots of land at the foot of the mountain."
Apart from those who originally live on the mountain, how many people want to build their house at the foot of the mountain? There may be mudslides, which is not only unsafe, but there are also wolves on the mountain.
Although their land is backed by mountains and faces water, the village is not at the foot of the mountain. Instead, it is between the village and the mountain. There are many mountainous areas. Most of these mountainous areas are planted with winter wheat, winter rapeseed, sweet potatoes, vegetables, etc. Even if a mudslide or something like that really happens, it will not affect the safety of the village.
Father Jiang wanted to say that there was a large piece of land next to the cinema. The brigade secretary seemed to know what he was going to say and said, "The land next to the cinema has been reserved for the young Aiguo and Aihong families. Besides, that is where the first and second wives live. Even if you don't give it to Aiguo and Aihong, are you going to live there?"
He advised Jiang's father: "If you think the terrain is too low, just raise it a little bit. I'm not forbidding you to raise it higher."
It's easy to say that the terrain can be raised, but in fact it costs more than 7,000 or 8,000 yuan. How can the terrain of two acres be raised just like that?
Father Jiang is not a fool. He has never encountered a flood. When a real flood occurred, the terrain where his family lives now is three or four meters higher than the two acres of land below. However, when there were floods in those years, the water level reached the stone steps of his family's waterproof platform.
The brigade headquarters was indeed located parallel to his family's fields, that is, behind them, but there was a road leading into the village between the brigade headquarters and his two acres of land. The actual terrain of the brigade headquarters was more than three meters higher than his fields, and the brigade headquarters itself was a brick and stone structure, and it was raised from the bottom.
Let’s not talk about anything else, just take the house next to the brigade headquarters. The terrain is originally two or three meters higher than Jiang Dad’s two acres of land. The waterproof platform alone is two or three meters high.
Some people may wonder, if others can build a two or three meter high waterproof platform, why can’t you?
But the terrain of the mountain is trapezoidal. Even though they are separated from the foot of the mountain by a large piece of mountain farmland, it still slopes down shallowly. Walking on the road and looking up, the waterproof platform of other people's houses is indeed two or three meters high, but in fact the homestead of his house has not been raised at all. When the yard was built, they used stones to make it as high as the threshold of his house, and then filled it with soil. It serves as both a vegetable garden and a waterproof platform.
But if Jiang's father uses these two pieces of land as residential land, it will be different, because this piece of land is no longer a mountainous land with a sloping slope, but a beach with more than 20 river beaches. If it weren't for Grandpa Jiang's generation, who used their shoulders to build a dam here to prevent floods and connect the hydropower station and Xujia Village, these two acres of land would have been real riverbed.
Although the hydropower station is still further down, it is located behind the brigade headquarters and has a higher terrain, about ten to twenty meters higher than Jiang Dad's two acres of land. Even if the brigade headquarters is flooded, the hydropower station will not be flooded.
There are people in the village who use plots of land like these two as homesteads, for example, the plot owned by Jiang Yueqin in the big house, because there is not enough mountain land, so the house is built downwards. However, the terrain on the big house's side is much higher than this side, so at most they add half a meter or one meter of water under the main house as a waterproof layer. Usually, firewood and coal briquettes are piled underneath, so small floods will not flood there. Unless there is a super flood that occurs once in ten or twenty years, this waterproof layer will work.
If Jiang's father uses these two acres of land to build a house, he must at least build a three or four meter basement under the main house as a waterproof layer. In other words, he must build at least three floors. Although the first floor is on the ground, it still has to be used as a basement. Only the second and third floors can be used for normal living.
Another problem is that when building a house here, the foundation will basically be soaked in water every year, so the foundation must be very strong and durable. Moreover, other people’s first floor can be used as a warehouse, but his first floor cannot even be used as a warehouse. It can only be used as a waterproof layer, and it is also flooded every year.
By the way, if it is built into a yard, it can only be used as a vegetable garden. If you want to plant some trees or flowers, it won’t work. It won’t take much water to drown all the fruit trees and flowers.
Father Jiang said he would go back and think about it again.
The brigade secretary said calmly, "Now we can either take the village head or the village tail, there are only two places, or we can tear down your old house and rebuild it, go back and think about it."
Jiang's father went back and told Jiang's mother what the brigade secretary said, and Jiang's mother was furious: "He's talking nonsense! I think he just doesn't want our family to be well! Bullshit, two brothers must live together! I think your father and your uncle grandpa don't live together, and it's okay? If you use that piece of land as a homestead, you can't stop it from spending an extra 10,000 yuan, at least 12,000 yuan, and who knows how many troubles you will have in the future!"
Father Jiang said helplessly: "Then what do you say we should do? The piece of land in the center of the village that I had my eye on has been allocated to the Aiguo Aihong family!"
Jiang's mother said: "If we had known this last year, we wouldn't have rushed to Shenzhen. We could have approved the housing plot first, laid the foundation, and then went to Shenzhen to look for pine nuts."
Now the pine nuts have not been found, and the homestead has also been lost. We have allocated a place like this as a homestead, which will cause endless troubles in the future.
But they also didn't want to tear down the house and rebuild it.
Although this house is a bit old, it is made of stone and earth bricks, and the floor is covered with cement. This is a house that Jiang's mother left for herself as a fallback. Even if she and her two daughters-in-law are unhappy in the future, she can still live alone with Jiang's father's class teacher. Next to her is her brother and sister-in-law's home. Her sister-in-law's eldest daughter-in-law is also a kind person, and living with her brother and sister-in-law, they can take care of each other.
It can be said that Jiang's mother is not stupid at all.
Although she favored Jiang Song and always said that she would live with Jiang Song and take care of her old age with her eldest son, she vaguely understood in her heart that if she had a conflict with her eldest daughter-in-law and she could not tolerate her, she still had her youngest son and Jiang Ning as a fallback.
But this feeling was not clear, like a beast-like instinct that made her unwilling to tear down the old house and rebuild it.
In the end, there was no way out. The brigade secretary refused to give in and only agreed to use that piece of land as a residential site. It was impossible for Jiang's father and mother not to build a new house, so in the end they had to use this piece of land.
Fortunately, he made a lot of money this year, otherwise he would not be able to afford the more than 10,000 yuan for the waterproof layer alone. But he made nearly 100,000 yuan this year. This first layer cost more than 10,000 yuan, and for his two sons it is more than 20,000 yuan. With more than 20,000 yuan, in this era, you can build a nice big building, or even buy a house in Xin Street, Shuibu Town.
But one thing the brigade secretary said touched Jiang's father's heart, which was that he hoped that his children could live together in the future. In fact, he was a very lively person.
The land is two acres in size, and each of the two sons gets one acre. Just like the eldest brother's house, the houses are built together, with one acre of land for each son and a large yard.
However, he planned to build a bigger house with more rooms, just like the one in Shenzhen. This way, when he and Jiang Ma get old, they can live with their sons, and when Ningning returns to her parents' home, she will also have a room to live in. When he has children and grandchildren in the future, they can each have a room and everyone will have a place to live.
Dad Jiang's plan for the house included Grandpa Jiang's room.
When she found out that Father Jiang actually wanted to build such a big house, she was against it. She felt that the best house in the village was Uncle Jiang's house. Wouldn't it be enough to build a house as big as Uncle Jiang's? Why build such a big one?
Although she also saw houses in Shenzhen, that's in the city and they are in the countryside, so how can they be the same?
But Jiang's father would give in to her on other matters at home, but he would not back down on something as big as building a house. He even thought that Jiang's mother was short-sighted and ignored the quarrels between Jiang's mother and him, and went to discuss the matter with Jiang's uncle.
Although Mr. Jiang himself had not systematically learned how to be a bricklayer, he was smart and quick-witted. He had only helped Uncle Jiang a few times when he was young, so he knew what he needed to know. He was also good at science, so he understood everything, like water and electricity wiring.
Uncle Jiang also didn't quite agree with him building such a big house.
Uncle Jiang has never been to a big city. The farthest place he has been to is the neighboring city. From his perspective, the best house he has seen so far, except for the one on Xin Street in Shuibu Town, is his own house.
In this era, the common design of his house was a living room on the first floor, with two main rooms, all facing south, and two rooms upstairs, with a large terrace for drying clothes and quilts. It had a good orientation and enough rooms to live in.
But the shape of Jiang's father's house is somewhat like those storefront houses in Xinjie. The front can be used as the main room and the storefront, the middle is the stairs, the back is the kitchen, bathroom, and another room. Because of the orientation of the house, this room is behind the main room but it also has sunlight. As for the main room next to the main room, it is naturally his and Jiang's mother's room, on the first floor. When he and Jiang's mother get old, they can live here without having to move rooms. As for the main house on the left, that is Grandpa Jiang’s room.
The three rooms facing south upstairs are, from left to right, the leftmost one belongs to Jiang Song, because he is the eldest and will live in the main house; the rightmost one belongs to Jiang Bo, who is the second oldest; the south-facing room in the middle can be used as a reception room upstairs, and there are three rooms at the back, with worse orientations and less lighting. The one with better orientation and more lighting belongs to Jiang Ning, the middle one is the bathroom, and the room above the kitchen on the left can be given to grandchildren in the future.
According to the current family planning policy, even if you secretly have more than one child, the maximum number of children you can have is two. Two rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, are enough for you to live in. If that doesn't work, you can use the upstairs living room as the child's bedroom.
The main room is built large and faces the main road. When they get old and can no longer work, they can open a small shop and sell things.
After hearing his plan, Jiang's mother said nothing more.
In fact, Jiang's mother felt insecure. When she heard Jiang's father say that they could open a convenience store when they were old and still earn money on their own, she was speechless.
After Jiang Song's house is built, they will go to Shenzhen to sell boxed lunches for two years. By then, Jiang Bai will be graduating from college and will be looking for a partner, so they will build an identical house for Jiang Bai.
Dad Jiang had a very good plan. After discussing with Uncle Jiang the style of the building and how to lay the foundation, Dad Jiang was anxious to go out and make money, so he started construction immediately.
Grandpa Jiang stayed with Jiang Ning until the second day of the Chinese New Year, but he couldn't stay there any longer and wanted to go back to Wucheng, his hometown.
Although it is comfortable to live here, I still have to open the shop in Wucheng. If I stay here all the time, it will be warm, but I won’t make any money.
Jiang Ning advised Grandpa Jiang, "My second brother came to the school to register alone last year, and we haven't accompanied him to the school to register yet. Why don't we go and take a look this time? We should also go and take a look at my apartment."
Grandpa Jiang hasn't visited Jiang Ning's apartment yet, just because he has her exaggeratedly large villa in front of him. After seeing the apartment decorated so luxuriously, although Grandpa Jiang was still amazed, he didn't think he was dreaming like he did the first time he went to the villa.
But this time, he clearly felt that his eldest granddaughter had really made it. She had bought these two large houses in Shanghai by herself, without anyone knowing, and also helped her second brother buy another one with zero down payment.
On the one hand, he was pleased with his granddaughter's success and knew that he no longer had to worry about their future. On the other hand, he was worried that his granddaughter was so bold that she owed so much money in loans.
Afterwards, Jiang Ning brought Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Bai to the gate of Jiang Bai's school. She came mainly to see if there were any shops to buy nearby. If there were any houses, she would also buy them.
Alas, after the publication of White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality, I received two more royalties. I had too much money to spend, so I had to use it to buy a house and a shop.
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