Tian Gui's family homestead was small, and even with the small bamboo grove, it couldn't fit a "small three-story house," so it could only be divided into two floors.
There are three bedrooms: the main hall, the corner wing, and a total of three bedrooms.
Five steps down from the eaves are several more rooms, with pigsties, woodsheds, and kitchens built against a half-built earthen wall, complete with all the necessary living facilities.
Seeing his shack transformed into a mud-walled house in the blink of an eye, and with fruit trees and bamboo groves planted nearby, he would become a proper family. Tian Gui was full of energy, carrying wooden beams up the wall without feeling tired at all.
Peach's mother carried her baby, Xiao Si'er, on a backrest and weaved through the crowd, pouring water for everyone.
She has been helping to boil water for the past few days.
We work together, but everyone goes home for meals, so the water still needs to be provided by the host.
Since Peach's mother couldn't carry soil, she built a stove outside to boil water for each household.
The three siblings, Tian Tao'er, were also busy. Except for the youngest, Xiaoxi, they followed their mother to deliver water to various households.
Tian Tao and Xiao Quan were also moving sand and delivering tools. They were small and weak, but they relied on their quick legs and feet to earn a work point together.
When Jiang Zhi came over to take a look, the walls of the Tian family's house were already nearing completion.
"Tian Gui, the wooden planks you requested at the post station have been cleared out. You can pick them up anytime!" Jiang Zhi said.
Tian Gui didn't have enough money, so he had already arranged to borrow money from Jiang Zhi.
There's never a budget surplus for house repairs or construction; there's always a significant difference.
So Jiang Zhi privately told everyone that if they didn't have enough money, they could borrow some, and asked Xia Xiucai to help write an IOU, and he would use his own grain allowance to make up for it.
As for whether she has enough money for her own materials, she can withdraw cash at the end.
Upon hearing that the timber he needed had been found, Tian Gui quickly nodded, "Thank you, Village Chief!"
He had only planned to build two or three rooms when he was repairing the house.
But once you start working, and someone says something, you get carried away and think, "I only get a few chances to repair a house in my lifetime, so I might as well do it well. I'll work hard for a few more years so that my children can have a few nice houses to live in."
With this kind of expansion, the previous amount of money was clearly insufficient.
After the Tian family finished building their earthen wall, it was time to move on to the next family, just as quickly as ever.
But just twelve days later, the entire project came to a halt.
At this point, the house repair team had reached the home of Xia Xiucai, who was number seven in the family.
Xia Xiucai said he didn't need rammed earth walls; he wanted a house with walls made of bamboo and mud. If it was inconvenient, he would not build it for the time being.
This has put the civil engineering teams in a bit of a bind!
Bamboo-woven mud walls are also a common building method in Ba County.
A bamboo-woven mud wall, with a wooden board base and bamboo walls on top, can be used as a window throughout.
The house frame was made of wood, and the walls were woven from bamboo strips. Both sides of the bamboo walls were plastered with yellow mud mixed with hemp fibers and grass knots. When the mud was half dry, a thick layer of lime was applied.
Because it is made of woven wood and bamboo, it is easy to disassemble and can accommodate large windows, with sturdy walls and bright light.
White walls and green tiles, nestled among bamboo groves, make it ideal for lighting and ventilation in the misty rain.
The lighting and ventilation are unmatched by rammed earth walls.
Xia Xiucai said, "A bright window for reading and a wide corridor for embroidery are my family's wishes. If not, then there is no need to repair the house."
He liked to read by the window, and the scholar's wife also needed bright light to embroider.
The mud-walled house was not what he wanted. Living in a rammed earth house was not as good as living in the shack he was in now, at least there was a thatched shed built specifically for his family outside.
what to do?
The group members quickly met to discuss how to repair the scholar's house!
Xia Xiucai taught people to read in the village.
Although everyone doesn't have much time to study amidst their busy schedules, the sheer impact of each new piece of knowledge instills in the villagers a sense of admiration and respect.
Although the scholar's wife and her mother-in-law concealed the true situation during childbirth, everyone saw that after Tao'er's mother gave birth, her daughter Tian Tao carried blood-stained clothes and blankets to the river to wash them.
The fact that the scholar's wife could save someone from postpartum hemorrhage was considered miraculous, and everyone naturally thought of the learned scholar.
Now, the seemingly divine scholar only wants a bamboo-woven wall; it's not a huge deal, and there's nothing he can't do.
Tian Gui said, "If others are worried about wasting time, I will give up the house I repaired and rebuild the shack."
He would be eternally grateful to the Xia family, who had saved several of his family members' lives, and he was determined to fulfill the Xia family's requests.
Jiang Zhi was not there at the time; she had gone to Pingchuan County with Xiao Man.
Xu Errui said seriously, "I have already asked the carpenter about the scholar's matter. Wooden beams and pillars take a long time to prepare, and bamboo weaving also requires bamboo that is more than three years old."
There's still a month until the New Year, so we can only start by cutting bamboo to prepare. Also, my family and Xiaoman aren't doing any house repairs; we'll give that time to Xiucai Gong (a nickname for a scholar/official).
“Ah! If your family doesn’t repair the house, what if your mother finds out? Do you think the village chief will approve?” Xu Gensheng reminded her.
Xu Errui nodded: "My mother will definitely agree. Our house is still habitable. It doesn't matter if it's a day earlier or a day later."
He can make the decision!
Jiang Zhi had previously told Xu Errui that such a big project as building houses for the whole village was bound to encounter unexpected changes, and that they should be prepared to suspend or reschedule the work.
The original plan was to finish building the mud-brick houses for each family within two months before the New Year, so that they could avoid the continuous winter and spring rains.
So this is the invariant? Xia Xiucai can change it whenever he wants.
Although the village drew bamboo sticks to determine the order of each household, there was something fishy about it. Mother deliberately left her family's spot last.
There was no number written as 19 or 20. There were two blank tickets outside, and no matter how we drew them, they were always the last digit.
My mother said that although the house on the mountain was simple, it didn't leak rain or wind, and it had a warm kang (heated brick bed).
People can stay in the village warehouse anytime, instead of crowding in with the villagers like we do now.
Even though Xiaoman's family is number fifteen in line, they will find a reason to move it to a later number.
Xu Genyou, Tian Gui, and others liked Er Rui's understanding nature very much: the village chief was righteous, and her son was also straightforward.
Therefore, Xia Xiucai's bamboo-woven mud-walled house and the village's rammed earth walls were built at the same time.
As for the craftsmen... Xu Errui didn't even wait for Village Chief Jiang to return; he went to find Zhao Shuli himself, intending to hire a few craftsmen from the post station.
The craftsmen who were transferred by the government to repair the post station were all highly skilled, and they had been aware of the commotion in Xujia Village these past few days.
The news that new houses were constantly appearing in Xujia Village these past few days had already spread among the migrant workers who were performing corvée labor.
When Zhao, the clerk, came into the village to take a look, he noticed that apart from the fact that there were more people repairing houses than usual, he couldn't see anything special about it.
While muttering phrases like "strange things," "weird things," and "the villagers are indeed worthy of the county magistrate's constant praise," he had already elevated Xu Family Village to a much higher status in his mind.
Magistrate Zhang was the most concerned about the people's livelihood. Because of the grain delivery, he even sent a handwritten letter to the village chief, which must have been quite extraordinary.
Zhao Shuli was exceptionally kind to the people of Xujia Village.
The people under their command are naturally perceptive.
With Xu Changming acting as security, the migrant workers were stopped several times and unable to enter. However, the craftsmen still managed to find out the details from Zhao Shuli.
More than half of the villagers here are migrants, refugees who fled with their families... They have no money... They help each other repair houses... They keep work points...
These familiar or unfamiliar words are like waves crashing against everyone's mind.
Can't understand!
The strange and unusual things happening here have sparked a lot of discussion among the migrant workers who are building the post station, and their conversations are all about Xujia Village.
Now that everyone heard that Xu Errui wanted to hire people, they all looked at Zhao Shuli, hoping to earn some extra money and hear some excitement at the same time.
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