Later, with the help of Shengnan, Zhou Bing and Mingwu, the six of them spent six days together to get enough sand, which was more than enough for building a house.
The next day after getting the sand, Liu's father took the villagers to the grain station to pay the public grain tax, and it was the beginning of October in the lunar calendar.
After paying the public grain, the villagers spent a few days sowing rapeseed, and the village became idle for a while.
Since there had been little rain recently, and the mushrooms hadn't yet sprouted, Liu's father recruited more than a dozen people from the village to help Xuemei and Han Chen build a house. Together with Liu Guanghui, Mingwu, and Zhou Bing, there were eighteen people in total. Xuemei and Han Chen agreed to pay each person 1.5 cents a day to build the house. It took them two weeks to complete, even putting on the tiles on the roof.
Xuemei used the wood and timber for the upper half floor, beams, windows, doors, etc. of the blue brick house that her family had saved over the years. Father and Mother Liu only wanted fifty yuan from Xuemei.
The windows and doors have not been installed yet, and it will take Wang Weimin and Wang Zhiqing some time to finish. They just finished making the big bed that Xuemei ordered some time ago. Xuemei took Han Chen's height into consideration, so she asked Wang Weiguo to make a bunk bed that was 1.8 meters wide and 2.1 meters long. Liu's father and mother told Xuemei not to make the other furniture for the time being, as they had prepared a lot of it in Xuemei's dowry, and they asked Wang Weiguo to start making it since Xuemei and Han Chen got engaged.
The newly built blue brick house has four rooms. On the left side is a pair of double doors, but of course they are not installed now.
Pushing open the double doors, you will see the main hall. Behind the main hall is Xuemei and Han Chen's new home, which is 20 square meters. On the right side of the main hall are two smaller rooms, each about 15 square meters. The doors of these two rooms are set together, separated only by a wall. Each room has a large window, and in order to have good lighting, the main hall also has a window on the side.
The total cost of renovating the new house was three hundred and eighty-five yuan and eighty-six cents, not including the money Wang Weimin paid to make the bed.
After Xuemei's house was repaired, Liu's mother started to go up the mountain to pick mushrooms. After a few days of picking, the villagers began to busy themselves with leveling the land, plowing, building ridges, dredging... Winter is a good time to accumulate fertilizer.
The villagers are busy, but some of them are too idle to do anything and make a lot of noise every day, like a grasshopper that can't help but jump when it hears something.
When Li Deliang's wife Yi Jiao was more than seven months pregnant, her younger daughter graduated from junior high school but failed to get into high school. She asked her younger daughter to go to work in his place, but she still received the salary.
Yi Jiao went home to wait for the birth of her child. She returned to her parents' home a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival. After the autumn harvest, she came back with a child in her arms.
Some wives and aunts in the village went to Li Deliang's house to look after the children and found that Yi Jiao's youngest son did not look like Li Deliang and his wife. Although Yi Jiao said that his grandson looked like his uncle, his youngest son looked like his two older brothers.
But many people in the village who had seen her two brothers knew that her youngest son looked nothing like her brothers, so the rumor began to spread in the village that her youngest son was not Li Deliang's. After Yi Jiao found out about this when she took her child out to play, she ran to Liu's house to cry to Liu's father and asked him to clear her name.
Father Liu was completely bewildered. What did she have to do with him? Didn't she know what she had done? It was obvious the child wasn't Li Deliang's. Otherwise, why would Li Deliang dislike his own son and instead hold his grandson in his arms every day after get off work?
Liu's mother came over after listening to this, and she stood up and scolded Yi Jiao out, saying, "What are you saying? You are not a clean person yourself, but you are dragging others into this."
During the time that Liu's father was leading the villagers to collect fertilizer, he was disturbed several times by Li Deliang's family. One time, because Yi Jiao had little milk, he asked her eldest daughter to breastfeed his youngest son. Li Fen and Li Deliang disagreed, so Yi Jiao took Li Deliang's money and bought wheat essence to feed her own child.
A few days later, Li Deliang discovered that the place where he kept his money had been turned over and some money was missing. After realizing that it was Yi Jiao who took it, the couple started arguing.
"You stinky bitch, you dare to use my money to buy things for this little bastard, get out of our house!" Li Deliang shouted angrily.
…
"Li Deliang, if you want to get out, you should get out. This house was built for me by my parents, and your job was found for you by my family. Your money is all mine. If you were useless, would I find someone else to give birth to a son?" Yi Jiao said without fear at all.
The two started fighting while arguing. When Li Fen called Liu's father and several other village cadres to Li Deliang's house, Yi Jiao was holding a sickle and Li Deliang was holding a kitchen knife. The two men were confronting each other fiercely, and the crying of two babies could be heard from the room.
When Liu's father and several other village cadres saw this scene, they quickly pulled Li Deliang away and asked Li Fen to pull Yi Jiao away. Just as they persuaded Li Deliang, they saw Yi Jiao angrily tied her youngest son to her back and rode away on a bicycle with the things.
The next day, when Li Deliang came back from work, his face was bruised and swollen. A few days later, when Liu's father was doing farm work, Li Fen came to call him again.
When he and Accountant Li arrived at the brigade headquarters, Yi Jiao, her two brothers, and Li Deliang were all waiting there.
"Village chief, Accountant Li. Li Deliang and I want to divorce. We have never obtained a marriage certificate. Please help us write a divorce certificate. That blue brick house was built with money from my parents, so it is mine. Li Deliang is now a temporary worker. Everyone in the village knows that my family has put in a lot of effort. He must give me at least half of his salary every month in the future, and the family savings are also mine!" Yi Jiao said as a matter of course.
Upon hearing this, Li Deliang jumped up from his seat, pointed at Yi Jiao's face and said, "You vicious woman, you wishful thinking. If you say that, I won't divorce you. Let's see what you will do. You slut, I'm telling you, if you want a divorce, the house must belong to me, and my future salary will also be mine."
When Yi Jiao's two brothers heard this, they were about to beat Li Deliang. Li Deliang quickly hid behind Accountant Li. He had been beaten a few days ago and still hadn't recovered. Accountant Li glared at Li Deliang, but he couldn't bear to see Li Deliang being beaten in front of him. He spoke out to comfort him, "Brother Yi, don't do it. Talk it over!"
Li Deliang felt even more confident upon hearing this. He even poked his head out and said, "If you don't do what I ask, that bitch Yi Jiao won't even think about getting a divorce!"
"Then forget about your job. I think you are more suitable for farming in the village!" Yi Jiao's second brother threatened fiercely.
"If you dare to get rid of my job, I will report Yi Jiao for having an affair with a gangster. When I see it, will she be worse off than me?" Li Deliang said angrily.
When Father Liu saw the situation, he didn't want to get involved and said, "Come back to me after you've discussed it. The village is busy now, and you can't delay the crops. I'm going to go and get busy first!"
After Mr. Liu finished speaking, he left. Accountant Li didn't want to get into trouble, so he quickly followed Mr. Liu away.
The next day, they agreed that Liu's father and Accountant Li would be witnesses, and Li Deliang and Yi Jiao would separate but not divorce.
There are three blue brick houses in total. Li Deliang built one himself and the other two belong to Yi Jiao. The family savings are divided in half. Li Fen and her son are under the care of Li Deliang, while Li Li and the youngest son belong to Yi Jiao. They will get their own salary in the future.
After Liu's father and Accountant Li finished testifying, they looked at each other speechlessly, hoping that these two troublemakers could leave Liujia Village as soon as possible.
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