Chapter 146 Building a House
As Li Zhan was speaking, his hands had already started moving on Xia Juanjuan.
Xia Juanjuan blushed and grabbed his hand, and asked angrily and amusedly, "Who told you all this?"
Li Zhan said: "Brother Fu San said so. The last time you went to Beijing to see me, you saw me in the hospital..."
Xia Juanjuan: “…”
What kind of crappy doctor is this? Why is he teaching her these things about men for no reason!
Seeing that Xia Juanjuan didn't respond, Li Zhan called out softly with a pitiful look on his face: "Wife... I will be gentler..."
After hearing Li Zhan's tone, Xia Juanjuan thought that he would leave early tomorrow morning and she didn't know when he would be back, so she couldn't help but soften her heart and let go of his hand.
…
The fierce battle lasted until the second half of the night. He got up to get some water to clean Xia Juanjuan, and then went back to sleep for a while.
Soon it started to get light outside. Lizhan was a light sleeper, so he got up quietly and put on his clothes.
Looking at Xia Juanjuan who was still sleeping soundly, Li Zhan leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips with pity, not intending to wake her up.
However, Xia Juanjuan was worried about Li Zhan leaving early in the morning, so she woke up immediately.
Seeing Li Zhan dressed neatly, I felt a little lonely and asked softly, "Are you leaving?"
Li Zhan knew that he had woken him up, and there was nothing he could do, so he smiled softly and said, "Well. You are in a heavy state now, so don't get up to see me off. I'll go by myself."
Xia Juanjuan didn't listen to him. She still struggled to get up and went to the kitchen to make him a bowl of noodles, sprinkled some green vegetables on it, and laid two eggs.
Li Zhan originally wanted to do it himself, but was pushed out by Xia Juanjuan: "This time you come, you must have a meal cooked by your wife, right?"
Li Zhan had no choice but to follow her.
After eating the noodles, Liezhan was ready to set off, but she was only allowed to take him to the gate of the hospital and not any further.
Xia Juanjuan also knew that he was afraid that she might fall when returning from the village, so she did not insist.
This time, I didn't ask him to bring anything. I just packed the remaining four or five sour beans and meat dumplings I made last night into his bag. I also put a large bag of tomatoes and cucumbers in it for him to eat on the way.
Arriving at the gate of the courtyard, Li Zhan looked at Xia Juanjuan with some reluctance, sighed and instructed: "Write me at least once a month in the future. If you don't have time, a telegram will be fine. I asked Secretary Zhao yesterday. If it is inconvenient for you to go to Zhenshang County, just give the letter to Secretary Zhao and he will ask someone to deliver it in the county. You are not allowed to go without a message for several months..."
Xia Juanjuan couldn't help but smiled and said, "I understand."
Li Zhan squatted down and said to Xia Juanjuan's belly: "Little bastards, don't bother your mother, do you hear me? Otherwise, when you are born, I will show you how I will deal with you..."
Xia Juanjuan found it funny and said angrily, "Do you think what you said sounded like a father?"
Li Zhan grinned, hugged Xia Juanjuan tightly again, and then said softly: "Wife, I'm leaving."
Xia Juanjuan's nose suddenly felt sore. She nodded quickly and said, "Okay. Let's go."
After Lizhan walked away, she stood at the gate of the courtyard and looked into the distance for a long time.
When Lin Yuru came over, she couldn't help but lament, "Oh! If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have slept that long. Look what happened. Auntie left hungry."
Xia Juanjuan forced a smile and comforted her: "Mom, I made him a bowl of noodles this morning, and I also let him take away the steamed buns I made yesterday, so he didn't leave hungry."
After hearing this, Lin Yuru gave up and quickly helped Xia Juanjuan back to the house, saying, "Go back to the house and sleep for a while. I'll go cook for you and the kids."
A few days later, a brave comrade-in-arms came with a letter of introduction and brought cement and wooden beams for building a house.
Xia Shuangshan also arranged to bring in red bricks and tiles from other communes. In addition, the communes near the river that could dig sand also brought in sand, and the communes near the rocky mountains brought back large stones for the foundation.
The construction of the house has officially started.
Xia Juanjuan had originally thought of various designs, such as building a suite, a two-story building, and not having tiles on the roof, but just a bungalow, so that she could dry food and vegetables on the roof.
We also need to build a separate bathroom. It is a bit difficult to install a shower, so at least we can get a big bathtub, so that we don’t have to use a basin to wipe every time.
In addition, you need to pull the wires.
But ideals are full of hope, while reality is cruel.
As for the electricity supply, there is no such condition. Now only the county town has electricity. There are very few towns with electricity, let alone the countryside below? Even the power poles are not pulled down!
We have to put this one aside and wait until electricity becomes popular in rural areas in a few years.
The plan to build a two-story building was also abandoned because of money. Building a bungalow was also difficult. A tiled house with a large wooden roof would save a lot of money.
It is different for bungalows. First of all, the cement used for pouring the roof is several times more than that for building walls. In addition, cement alone is not enough, steel bars must also be buried in the cement. The cost is secondary, the question is whether you can buy it or not!
Even the little bit of cement used for building the walls was obtained by Li Zhan’s old comrade through connections, using a lot of industrial coupons!
In the end, the only thing that could be achieved was to build an extra bathroom.
Xia Juanjuan had no choice but to live there for a few years and then renovate it and build a country villa or something.
Because Lizhan had made arrangements in advance, after the construction of the house began, every household in the village came to help for a day or two.
There was no need to pay for these two days, but the people who came to help had to eat. Zhou Qiuhe, Wu Xiaoyun, and Aunt Wu also came with her new daughter-in-law Chen Qi to help, but it was exhausting enough.
If you have to take care of the food for 20 to 30 people, you definitely can’t use only white flour or mixed flour.
Cornmeal cakes and sweet potato cakes were the main dishes. They rolled sweet potato flour and added a little white flour to make noodles. They picked all the vegetables in the small vegetable garden, and made vermicelli with sweet potatoes. Xia Juanjuan also asked them to cut more than ten pounds of fat pork, boiled the fat into oil, and cut the lean meat into pieces and stir-fried it with various vegetables. They stir-fried it into a big pot of vegetables with soup and water. Each person had two cornmeal cakes, a bowl of noodles, and a spoonful of vegetables.
Even so, the meal was much better than the usual meals at other restaurants. Apart from anything else, almost everyone could get two or three pieces of meat!
After the busy first two days, Xia Shuangshan took the lead in finding some handsome bricklayers to do the work. He paid them wages every day, and these people just brought their own dry food to eat, so the Zhuang family no longer had to provide them with meals.
However, Xia Juanjuan and Lin Yuru still went to the butcher shop in the town to buy some big bones, and boiled a big pot of bone soup, putting some carrots, white radish, potatoes and so on in it. Sometimes they would also cook some tomato and egg soup, and the egg drops could be scooped out easily.
After more than a month, the three main rooms were completed, and there were still the side rooms and fences to be built. However, it was also the time for autumn harvest and winter planting, so the work was temporarily stopped. Everyone was busy with the autumn harvest and would continue building during the winter when they had some free time.
Autumn harvest is much busier than summer harvest. In summer, only wheat is harvested, while in autumn, corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton, mung beans, etc. must all be harvested. After the harvest, winter wheat must be planted in time.
Xia Juanjuan has been pregnant for more than seven months and is almost eight months pregnant. She will give birth in two or three months, so it is naturally impossible for her to go to the fields to work.
It was Li Zhan's comrades who came to help, and Xia Shuangshan and Li Jie were also there to help.
Lin Yuru now helps with the housework and taking care of the three kids. Zhou Qiuhe, Wu Xiaoyun, and Aunt Wu's family also come to help from time to time.
Xia Juanjuan couldn't get to the cowshed by herself, but she still asked Xiaowen to deliver supplies over every now and then.
Xiaowen mentioned several times that he had encountered Aunt Wu's daughter-in-law going to the cowshed several times. Sometimes she went with an old lady, and they all had things in their hands.
However, he always waited outside, and only went in to give things to Grandma Shen and Grandpa Yang after they had gone far away.
Xia Juanjuan immediately recalled the time when she went to Aunt Wu's house for a banquet and met the old woman from the black market.
I remembered the "Sister Wan'er" mentioned by the old woman. Isn't there a word "Wan" in Shen Wanxue's name?
Later, she found a time to go there and mentioned the matter. Shen Wanxue did not hide it from her and said that the old woman's surname was Yao and her husband's surname was Chen. She was the nanny who took care of her when she grew up in their family. After she came here, she took good care of her.
Xia Juanjuan thought that the pair of jade bracelets in her space should also belong to Shen Wanxue, so she told Shen Wanxue about it.
They both sighed. It was hard to explain God's arrangement. Who could have imagined that one day she and the owner of the pair of jade bracelets would become so close as mother and daughter?
Xia Juanjuan was planning to return the pair of jade bracelets and the golden beast incense burner to Shen Wanxue, but was rejected by Shen Wanxue.
"Juanjuan, those things are in your hands because of God's arrangement. The care you have given me over the past six months cannot be compared with any other rare treasures. Just keep them!"
Xia Juanjuan thought about it and did not insist. If she gave it back to her now, it would not be safe for her to keep it here.
Yang Qiushi also came over to check Xia Juanjuan's pulse and the fetal position, and said with a smile: "The fetus is healthy and in the right position, so it should be possible to give birth smoothly. However, the conditions in the village are simple, and you are pregnant with multiple babies, so it is still a bit dangerous to give birth at home. There is a hospital in the county, so you should ask the village to issue a letter of introduction and have your family send the baby to the hospital in advance for delivery."
Shen Wanxue also said, "Yes, Juanjuan. Lizhan is from the army, you can send him a telegram to discuss it, and also ask him to report to the army. If he is a military dependent, the hospital will also pay more attention to it. This is a matter of life and death, we can't be careless!"
Xia Juanjuan listened to their words, nodded, and said with a smile: "Auntie, Master, I've been thinking about this too. But the due date is still more than two months away. If I go too early, not only will it cost money, but the hospital may not be willing to accept me. I'll write a letter of introduction after some time."
After Xia Juanjuan came back, she thought about discussing the matter with Lin Yuru and Xia Shuangshan the next day. She also had to write a letter to Li Zhan, as she didn't know if he could come back in time when she gave birth.
However, Lin Yuru did not come early the next morning. She came only in the middle of the morning with red eyes from crying.
Xia Juanjuan hurriedly asked what was going on.
Lin Yuru was trying to force a smile, but then she couldn't help but wipe her tears with her clothes, saying, "Juan'er, your father was arrested by the police early in the morning!"