Chapter 22 Building a House

In the evening, the rain stopped.

The news that Lu Yongfu's family ate separately soon spread throughout the village.

Shen Jiale also heard about it.

Li Mei said, "Everyone in the village said that Lu Mingfeng was the one who started the incident."

Shen Jiale said, "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

Tang Xiaotian said, "They also said that it was caused by the canned pears you gave them."

Grandma Zhou said, "Young girls, don't believe everything you hear. Some things may not be true even if you see them with your own eyes. You can't know a person's heart by his face. If you want to understand a person, don't make conclusions about him easily unless you have been with him or have come into contact with him."

Tang Xiaotian said, "I just feel sorry for Jiale. If people can say bad things about canned pears for free, it's better to keep them for yourself."

Shen Jiale would not take such a small matter to heart. She believed that Lu Mingfeng would handle it well.

What she had to consider now was building a house.

After the rain stopped, the village chief went to see the house of the educated youth and found that the wall had collapsed. It was not worth repairing, so he had to rebuild it.

The mud house didn't cost money, as the materials were available, but it took time and labor to tamp the mud into adobe.

The educated youth were very happy to have a new house to live in.

...

When it was time to go to bed, Shen Jiale took out two cans of peaches from the space and went out.

The lights in the village chief's house were still on, and Shen Jiale knocked on the door.

Wang Yanhong saw Shen Jiale and said with a vigilant look on her face: "You didn't bring us with you when you rented a house, so don't even think about living here."

Shen Jiale said coldly: "I just don't want to live here."

The village chief's wife opened the door and saw Shen Jiale, and asked: "Shen Zhiqing, what do you need at this time of night?"

Shen Jiale handed her two bottles of canned peaches and said: "Auntie, I have something to ask the village chief."

The village chief's wife took the cans with a smile, and said enthusiastically: "Come in quickly." She called the village chief to get up.

Shen Jiale waited for a while, and when he went in, he saw that the village chief was already dressed neatly and sitting on a chair.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Shen, what brings you to me so late at night?"

"I heard that the house where the educated youth live needs to be rebuilt."

"Well, the walls are seriously damaged. In order to ensure the safety of the educated youth, it has to be rebuilt."

"I want to live in a single room."

"That won't work. If all the educated youth want to live in a single room like you, we will have to build 12 rooms. No village can meet such a requirement, and the villagers will not be willing to do so." "

You just need to allocate a piece of land to me, and I will find someone to build the house. When I return to the city in the future, I cannot take the house with me, it will still belong to the village."

This is a good thing. If the educated youth are willing to build their own houses, then he will save himself a lot of trouble.

However, the village chief did not show it on his face. He still looked very embarrassed and said, "Other educated youth will raise opinions."

Shen Jiale took out 5 yuan from his pocket and said, "I am not using the homestead for nothing. This is the rent money."

The homestead belongs to the village. As long as he doesn't say it, no one will know that Shen Jiale gave the money, and it will go into his own pocket.

The village chief's wife tugged at his sleeve and said, "There are many vacant lots in the village. Whoever has the ability to build a house alone can build it. Shen Zhiqing can find someone to build it himself, so it won't delay everyone's work points."

The village chief asked, "Who are you going to find to build the house?"

Shen Jiale said, "Just find someone in the village. I will provide food and pay wages. However, I want to find someone myself. I heard that my auntie cooks delicious food. , and I want to ask my aunt to help me cook, and I will pay her."

The village chief's wife looked at the 5 yuan in Shen Jiale's hand. She was afraid that her husband would not agree if she cooked. She urged the village chief and said, "You don't need to worry about it. The place of the educated youth institute is so big, just mark out a piece of land."

Seeing that the village chief did not nod for a long time, Shen Jiale put the money in his pocket.

"If the village chief is embarrassed, I won't bother you." He stood up and was about to leave.

"Wait." The village chief stopped Shen Jiale, "The homestead belongs to the village, I can't make the decision alone."

Shen Jiale took out the money, put it in the village chief's wife's hand and said, "Then I'll trouble the village chief to take care of it."

The village chief's wife smiled and sent Shen Jiale out the door: "That's for sure, Shen Zhiqing, it's dark, the road is not easy to walk, walk slowly."

Shen Jiale glanced at the figure at the foot of the wall and walked away as if nothing had happened.

...

When he arrived at the door of Grandma Zhou's house, he saw Lu Mingfeng talking to Grandma Zhou.

Grandma Zhou said she was going to boil water and let them talk.

Lu Mingfeng took out the money from the bicycle ticket and gave it to Shen Jiale.

"I asked a friend to help sell the tickets, and I sold them for 72 yuan."

In fact, the price that Lu Mingfeng's friend bought was 70 yuan, and the 2 yuan was a kickback to Lu Mingfeng.

Lu Mingfeng felt that Shen Zhiqing had given him too many things and even asked for money for her, so he couldn't take advantage of her anymore.

Shen Jiale counted out 50 yuan and gave the rest back to Lu Mingfeng.

"I said, just give me 50 yuan."

Lu Mingfeng quickly stuffed the money back into Shen Jiale's hands.

"Your ticket, the money from selling it is of course yours, I don't want it."

"What can I do? I still need your help with something, if you don't accept it, I can't ask for it."

"What is it, just tell me, I will definitely help you."

Shen Jiale shook his head and handed the money over again: "No, if you don't accept it, I can only find other people in the village to help me build a house."

"You want to build a house? Do you want to build a single room for yourself?"

"Yes, I have already told the village chief."

Lu Mingfeng took the money and said, "I will help you build it."

"Find another person to work with you, and I will also ask you to help buy stones for laying the foundation."

"Don't worry, just leave it to me."

...

The next morning.

The news that Shen Jiale wanted to build a house spread throughout Yaoshui Village.

The village chief said that those who built new houses for the educated youth would receive work points, but Shen Jiale would be responsible for all expenses for her house.

The villagers who came to build the house asked if she would share her work points with everyone.

Shen Jiale shook her head.

The villagers would definitely not be happy to work for nothing, and immediately said that they did not have time to help her build.

Lu Mingfeng came over and said, "I'll do it."

Everyone laughed at Lu Mingfeng in their hearts, saying that he worked for her for nothing just to please Shen Zhiqing.

Shen Jiale said, "I don't earn much work points, and I'm afraid it's not enough to share with everyone, so I will pay you in cash."

"Then how much money can you give? If it's suitable, we are willing to do it." The villagers changed their minds when they saw that there was money to be made.

Shen Jiale said, "Someone has already helped me, so I won't bother you."

...

Lu Mingfeng wanted to ask his eldest brother to come and help build the house, but Lu Yongfu didn't want his son to work for free.

Although Shen Jiale said she would pay him, she didn't say how much she would pay, so everyone thought Shen Jiale was just saying nice things to save face.

In fact, she was just relying on the fact that Lu Mingfeng liked her and was embarrassed to take her money. Since

his eldest brother didn't come, Lu Mingfeng asked a teenager named Gou Wa in the village to help.

The foundation of the house of the educated youth had stones, so there was no need to prepare anything else, and they could just tamp the earth to make adobe bricks.

Lu Mingfeng took Gou Wa to the mountain to chisel stones.

At noon, when the villagers who were building the house finished their work and were about to go home for lunch, they saw the village head's wife coming over with two bamboo baskets.

In one of the bamboo baskets was a small pot of pork, cabbage and vermicelli stew, and in the other was sorghum rice.

"Hey, you're preparing meals for us, that's great, and we can save a meal." The villagers were very excited when they saw the meat.

The village head's wife said, "That's a nice thought. This is what the educated youth Shen prepared for the people who helped her build the house. There's no share for you."

The villagers felt a little regretful when they smelled the aroma of the meat. Even if the educated youth Shen didn't give them work points, he still had to provide meals.

That was meat!

One's work points for one day were not enough to buy a pound of meat.