Chapter 39 Chapter 39 Living in a new house.
The Chen family elders and Chen Da and his wife also returned home. Zhuang Hui Niang said:
"Mother, go and have a rest. I'll go make some water shield soup for the children."
The little brother and sister came running out. Chen Sui'er patted her belly and said, "My brother and I have eaten everything!"
Chen Gou'er said, "This is the food sent by Sister Feng and Xiaozhu."
Originally, Ji Xu thought that the adults of the Chen family were helping her at home and could not take care of her own dinner. Moreover, they were busy and tiring all day, so how could she let them go home and light a fire to cook? If she only invited the Chen brothers and sisters to eat, it would seem that others would be left cold. So she asked her two sisters to bring the food over while it was still hot. At that time, everyone was seated, so the Chen family members were not aware of anything.
"Why did you take it over? How can you not help and still eat for free?" Lu Mu scolded.
Chen Gou'er scratched his head. "Sister Feng said that Grandmother told us to continue eating."
Chen Sui'er pointed to the kitchen and said, "This one is for my eldest brother."
On the stove, there was a large earthenware bowl with rice covered with various vegetables, including chicken, meat, and ribs, all of which they had eaten there before.
Even Chen Che'er, who was working in the kiln and had not yet returned home, was taken into consideration. The whole family could not help but feel warmed. Lu Ai laughed and felt helpless:
"This Xu girl..."
Ji Feng didn't sleep much that night. Thinking about the fact that the earth walls around her would have to be knocked down and rammed again tomorrow, and the thatched roof would have to be replaced with tiles, she was very excited, and so was Ji Zhu.
Ji Xu was calm, but she was worried about the tiles outside the house, so she didn't sleep and listened to her sisters rustling for half the night.
Since he was still awake, he might as well make the steamed buns. He put on his shoes and got up. As soon as he opened the door, a dark shadow on the ridge that was about to come in was startled and ran away.
Ji Feng, who came out later, jumped up and shouted, "Catch the thief! Catch the thief!"
When Ji Xu went to the stove and lit a pine torch with a flint and chased out of the house, it was pitch black in the distance of the earthen ridge.
When the people at the nearby gates heard there was a thief, they all lit their lights, and the men at home grabbed the door bolts and came out to check.
Even Wang Mazi, who lived a little closer, jumped up from the bed, grabbed a bamboo broom and ran out. It wasn't because he was kind, but because he was worried that if he didn't show up, others would suspect he was the thief.
"Where is the thief?"
"Where?"
Ji Xu said, "Just as I left the house, he ran away down this road. I didn't see his face, only a dark shadow. Maybe he wanted to steal the tiles."
Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that he would be walking outside in the middle of the night and run away when he saw her open the door.
"Hurry up, are you short of tiles? They are four cents each." someone said.
Ji Xu had already checked and found that the pile of tiles was square and not missing any corners, so he said, "Quite a lot."
"We're lucky we didn't catch this bastard and gave him a good beating." The neighborhood men waved their fists.
"You babysitter with sores on your hands and feet, stealing tiles from my house! Don't let me catch you, or everyone in the neighborhood will see your dirty, rotten heart!"
Ji Feng cursed fiercely, mainly at the wall of the next courtyard. She felt that it was the Jin family who was not as good as her own family.
The gate to the courtyard next door was always tightly closed, which made Ji Feng even more suspicious. She turned Ji Xu over and leaned over to whisper:
"It must be my aunt! Otherwise she would have come out cursing! I'm afraid she ran far away and hasn't come back yet."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin from next door opened the door with a bang and cursed:
"Why are you disturbing me when I'm sleeping? You have a rotten tongue, and you're talking to my family. Bah! Don't you see what I live in? Why do you need to steal tiles?"
After hearing the response, Ji Feng stopped cursing, frowned, and couldn't figure out who had stolen the things.
"That thief must be a poor thief who stole things to sell for money."
"It might be from outside."
The men talked at once, but could not identify the culprit.
The old man from the Chen family, who lived a little further away, and Chen Che'er also came after hearing the news. Each of them held a big stick in his hand and asked about the whole story. Old man Chen said:
"After the house is built tomorrow, I will report this to the village and let Qiudao know that there is such a thief who tried to steal tiles but failed."
"You girls should go back inside and sleep. Leave my car outside to watch over this pile of tiles."
Ji Xu said: "Che'er has to go to the kiln to work during the day, so it's not good to take a nap. I am also going to make steamed buns, so I won't sleep. I can watch it.
The thief was so frightened that he probably wouldn't dare come again. Father Chen and Che'er can go back to sleep."
Old Man Chen thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "If anything happens, just shout loudly. I, Old Man Chen, may not have much else, but I still have the courage to deal with thieves."
"Oh, I see." Ji Xu said.
Then he thanked the neighbors who came out with weapons.
Gradually, everyone dispersed, revealing the person standing at the back. Feng Yun had also come, with a copper lamp in his hand that he never put down at night.
Just as I turned to leave, the wick went out with a click.
I saw that black shadow had stumbled somewhere, and it was so big that it fell down with a bang.
Ji Xu came over with a torch, and he got up and was groping for the lantern.
She picked it up and looked at it. It turned out to be the oil in the lamp that had burned out. She said, "It's amazing that you are night blind and still come out."
After saying that, he took the lamp, went to the kitchen, picked out some lard paste, melted it with a pine torch, and re-lit the wick. Lard is not as hot as sesame oil, and it produces a lot of black smoke when it burns, but it is enough for him to come here, after all, he came here because he cried thief in his own house.
"Take it to light the way." He handed it back to him.
"Do you finally remember to talk to me?" Feng Yun didn't respond for a moment.
Ji Xu said, "The lamp oil is about to burn out. Let's go back quickly."
He put away the lamp and went back to the house to make steamed buns.
He used the broth from yesterday's chicken and added two handfuls of rice to make porridge. He chopped the lean meat from the two breasts into small pieces and added it to the porridge. When serving, he poured some fried chicken oil on it, sprinkled some chopped green onions, and called his sister over.
"Come for breakfast. Sister made chicken porridge."
Feng and Zhu were still groping outside, carefully counting the tiles. When they heard the sound, they came in and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally I've counted them all. There are a thousand pieces. Luckily, there's not a shortage."
"Sister, who do you think the thief is?" Ji Feng asked.
“I can’t think of it for now.”
Seeing their worried and thoughtful expressions, Ji Xu said,
"Once the house is finished, there won't be any eye-catching tiles in front of the door. Sister will go buy an iron lock and lock the kitchen too. We'll bolt the door when we go to bed. If the thief comes again, the neighbors will hear him yelling, and he won't get away with anything."
"It would be best if Qiudao was arrested." Ji Feng said angrily.
Jizhu also clenched her fists and said, "Lock him up!"
Later, I ate the thick, fragrant and warm chicken porridge and temporarily forgot the unpleasantness.
When Ji Xu and Ji Feng came back from buying vegetables that day, Ji Zhu was already waiting for them at Fengzipo. She came over happily and said:
"The wall is finished!"
In order to start a new life today by knocking down the wall, they had earlier moved all the items in the room, such as the preserved eggs in the jars, the tube of yeast hanging on the wall, the bed for sleeping, the leftover food, and even all the cooking utensils in the kitchen, to the west room of the Chen family. Fortunately, there were not many belongings, so the Chen family could store them all.
We have to borrow the Chen family's kitchen to cook today's dinner. We will bring firewood and use our own seasonings.
When she got back, she found that the walls had been rammed. She didn't have enough money to buy six or seven stones of chalk and lime to plaster the walls inside and out. She could only afford half a stone, which was only enough for the toilet.
However, the men used ladders to apply some fine mud on the walls to make them look smoother.
"Miss Xu, come and see how well Uncle Chen's toilet is built!" Old Man Chen waved and called out.
I saw that toilet, with tiles on top, a bluestone basin placed in the pit, two stepping stones on the side, and the back connected to the pit. A bucket of water was placed in the corner, and the water could be scooped out and flushed after use, which was clean and convenient.
"My aunt, is this the toilet?"
"But how can I use it?"
The onlookers were amazed.
"Miss Xu, do they all use toilets like this in Chang'an? Tsk, it's not as convenient as mine."
Ji Xu also laughed.
To the west of the toilet is the original bathroom, which is now covered with a roof. You can wash here regardless of wind or rain, which is much better than before.
As for the kitchen, the walls were raised and the original jar-shaped windows were replaced with wooden windows. Once inside, it was bright and spacious, and Ji Xu was very happy.
When the sun is high in the sky,
"Let's put up the beams—"
The children began to sing and followed in a lively manner. The men carried a beam with a red cloth bag in the middle filled with rice, millet, sorghum, wheat and foxtail millet.
Ji Xu spent twenty coins to buy a small foot of red cloth in the morning at the local market. He made a cloth bag here for the beam, which was a good omen. In the future, he could use it to make shoe uppers or belly wraps, which would be useful and would not be wasted.
There were six kinds of grains in it. The rice was from her own family, and she got the sorghum and foxtail millet from people who grew them in Benguli in exchange for the rice. As for millet, sorghum and wheat, they could not be cultivated in Huainan, so she bought one liter of each from the grain store.
The men on the wall and below worked together to lift the beam up and install it in the slot. Lü Mei happily said:
"A good harvest, great luck in raising the beam—"
At the back, the beams and purlins were gradually put in place, and then they started picking up tiles. People stood below, picked them up in baskets, pulled them up to the roof with ropes, and gradually spread them out.
Her room was not big, and it was finished in just one hour.
"Anmen..."
I saw four men carrying the door that Chen Da had made and heading towards the main door of the main hall. Many children followed and shouted, making a lot of noise.
At the foot of the doorpost, Ji Xu placed five coins on each side, in accordance with Lü Ai's suggestion.
Lu Mu said happily: "Walking on gold and silver, the house is full of wealth——"
The wealthy and sophisticated families in the village would bury silver cakes under their doors, and they would put some copper coins, also for the same meaning.
"Open the left door and the right door, people come in from the left and money comes in from the right——"
According to the ancient custom of Chuyue, a sheep's head was hung on the door, which was bought from the butcher early in the morning.
There was also a bunch of peach branches hung, tied with reed ropes. They were picked from Niupi Mountain and were not expensive.
As Ji Xu pushed open the two elm wood doors to the left and right, Aunt Lu beside him spoke in a loud voice.
"well!"
This is the last step. Everyone’s faces were beaming with joy and they applauded.
Especially the two sisters Feng and Zhu, whose small bodies stood in the front of the crowd, occasionally pushing and shoving the children next to them, and their smiles were so wide that only their glutinous rice teeth were visible.
I saw that the dilapidated thatched hut two days ago had been replaced by a tiled house. The mud walls were solid and there were no cracks anymore. The inside and outside were covered with fine mud, making it very smooth. The windows were no longer jar-shaped, but latticed windows covered with linen.
The layout of one hall, two rooms, plus a kitchen, although not luxurious, can at least shelter them from wind and rain, and Ji Xu felt comforted.
The food had been prepared earlier, and incense was lit on the table. Ji Xu followed Aunt Lu's instructions and first prayed to the earth god, chanting:
"Repairing the house, digging the earth, and when the work is done, thank the earth god."
The three sisters bowed their heads and worshipped. This kind of earth-breaking ceremony was to thank the earth god and avoid disasters.
After this, they invited everyone to take their seats and had a feast of meat. Ji Xu also bought two jars of sorghum wine from a Liang wine maker. Everyone drank and ate, and it was a very lively occasion.
Passersby smelled the aroma of wine and looked at the dishes, and they all sighed that the host was really generous. They regretted their decision and thought they should have agreed to help in the first place.
While people were drinking and laughing on this side, Jin from next door was about to bite her teeth off. She spat at the other side and guarded the yard, not allowing Ji Huhai to go out and look like he was begging for food.
Ji Huhai smelled the fragrance and his soul was drawn to the meat, but he was afraid of being beaten, so he had to play with the clay dog in the yard. When he saw Jin enter the kitchen, he tiptoed out.
"Where are you going?" Jin shouted.
Ji Huhai fought with his two legs, and squatted with the stubborn tile dog, muttering, "I'm not going anywhere."
After being treated so attentively by the host for two days, everyone was very motivated. They originally thought that due to lack of manpower, the work would be delayed, but they unexpectedly finished it in the second half of the afternoon. It was not even dark yet after they had finished their dinner.
The two skinny boys in their teens discussed with each other:
"You and I are weak and can't do the work as well as the other adults. I heard that a new house needs a lot of firewood to keep the stove burning. Why don't we go to the mountains to pick some firewood while it's still early to bring good luck? It won't waste the good meals that Xu Nu has had these past two days."
Their family was poor, and they signed up to help in order to have a good meal. Now the other one also nodded,
"Okay, let's pick some more!"
They were not as good as the grown men in carrying stones and soil, but they were quick at picking firewood. They went twice and brought back four large bundles of firewood, which they quietly piled under the eaves of Ji Xu's house, which looked festive.
The two smiled at each other, clapped their hands and left.
At this moment, Ji Xu and the others were at Chen's house, delivering the borrowed dishes and chopsticks, and then moving their own belongings back.
The plank bed was naturally placed in the east room, and the miscellaneous items such as preserved eggs and grains were placed in the west room.
I saw a hemp rope hanging down from the beam of the west room, with a wooden hook tied to it, which was convenient for hanging things in the future.
The doors of the two inner rooms, east and west, are covered with linen, and one can enter by pulling up the curtains. The door of the main room can be bolted from the inside and locked from the outside.
The lame Chen Da brought over two dining tables and said, "These are the two old doors of your house. I modified them and made two dining tables. What do you think of them?"
Ji Xu said happily, "Great, that's great. This is exactly what our family needs. Uncle Chen's carpentry work is really good."
We used to eat around the ceramic stove at home. Without a food table, it was difficult to cook, especially for the side dishes, as there was no place to put them.
Now these two low-legged dining tables are wide and long. When stacked together, they become a two-layer table for placing things. When she wants to eat, she can just move the lower one up. It is so cheap and saves her the trouble of finding a carpenter to buy one.
Chen Dahan said honestly, "I'm just speculating randomly."
After everything was tidied up, they boiled some water for washing. As they were tired from moving things today, the three of them took a hot bath.
The two sisters loved the covered bathroom very much. The water was boiling hot and they could wash comfortably. Now, their head lice had been eradicated and they had been gradually trained by Ji Xu to be clean. They washed their faces and buttocks every day and could not sleep without washing for a day.
Now Ji Feng happily used the new towel to water the plants, saying, "A bathroom with a tiled roof! How nice!"
The two sisters were lying together and talking, they were too excited to sleep.
"This room is really big."
"Yes, it's much emptier now."
"The window is covered with linen, so the wind can't blow in. It's not cold at all."
"That's right, Xiaozhu can finally stop clinging to her sister like a kitten." Ji Feng breathed out a breath and tickled her, and the two of them laughed and played together.
Suddenly, Ji Feng whispered, "Shh, sister is asleep."
I saw Ji Xu on the outside, his washed black hair hanging on his arms, his white skin bathed in the moonlight, his eyelids closed, and his breathing even.
The sisters then covered their mouths and lay down quietly. Although the room was airless, they still huddled together.
"What?"
When the cockcrowed, a dim yellow light shone through the kitchen window, and Ji Feng, who was burning the fire, screamed.
It turned out that she had just asked Ji Xu how much money was left in the family. When she learned that there was not a penny left, she hurried to the east room to count her money.
She originally hid the money in a rat hole, but now that her house was brand new, there was no rat hole, so she hid it in the gap under the bed.
Now Jizhu was still fast asleep. She rustled and took out the purse, brought it to the kitchen, counted it, and said:
"Fortunately, I still have twenty coins."
Because Ji Xu had spent all her money yesterday buying vegetables, wine, and sheep heads, she said in a good mood:
"We can still make some money selling steamed buns today. Once we get the money, buy us a pair of iron locks as soon as possible and make winter clothes for the three of us."
Speaking of winter clothes, it was already chilly that day, and she and Ji Feng both wore two sets of clothes.
It will be the beginning of winter in two days. If the temperature drops suddenly, they will shiver in their thin clothes. They need to make winter clothes stuffed with cotton as soon as possible.
Ji Feng agreed immediately, and the family had a tiled house. Her sister also prepared to buy iron locks and make winter clothes.
Although all the money is spent now, the days are full of hope, just like the fire in the stove, burning brighter and brighter.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
