The afternoon passed quickly. After school, Wan Feng walked back with his schoolbag on his back, Jiang Jun, Yuan Yimin, An Bo and Chen Wenxin.
This time, Wan Feng did not go back to his grandmother's house first. Instead, he and Chen Wenxin carried their schoolbag and went from the Waqian team's headquarters to the back street of the Waqian team.
The back street of Waqiandui is at the end of Xiaonan Mountain. From the front and back streets of Waqiandui, go up the mountain and you will reach the Wahoudui Youth Center.
"You really don't welcome me to visit your home?" Wan Feng asked when they arrived at Chen Wenxin's door.
"Not welcome." Chen Wenxin quickly stood in front of her house's gate, pretending to be a door god, with an attitude of guarding the border for the motherland.
"Women are really ungrateful. They change their attitude faster than turning the pages of a book. If they don't welcome me, I won't bother to go there."
Wan Feng curled his lips and turned to his aunt's new house.
My aunt's new house now looks a bit like a house. The gables on both sides are neatly built and the roof frame is up. Wang and his son are riding on the roof frame and nailing the rafters.
Because the roof needs to be tiled, both the rafters and purlins must be relatively dense, otherwise they will not be able to bear the weight.
There are only four or five bricklayers here, led by Zhang Guangpu, who are working on seaming the gables.
"Master, are you the only ones here?"
"The rest of the people are paving the ground at the foot of the mountain. Is the floor of this house also paved with cement?"
Wan Feng nodded: "Yes! Let's also apply the cement floor."
When all the families in the countryside lived on land, my aunt's house had a cement floor, which Wan Feng thought was quite impressive.
"Once the beams are put up, we will clean up the house. Did you see the day for the beams?"
"My future uncle went to see the day of the beam raising. I didn't ask clearly."
"Raising the beams is a big deal, so don't be careless. You should buy everything you need. If you have any questions, you should ask the carpenter."
Wan Feng had experienced many beam-raising ceremonies in his previous life, but in later life, almost no one built houses in rural areas. Everyone moved to cities and lived in high-rise buildings, so the beam-raising ceremony gradually became less common, and he couldn't remember many of the details.
Just then, Mr. Wang came down from the beam, and Wan Feng grabbed the old man and asked him.
Old Master Wang started to talk without stopping as if he was giving a commentary, explaining everything from choosing the date to choosing the beams to singing the beam-raising song and setting off firecrackers and throwing steamed buns.
"I've already chosen a good beam for you. There's a very good one in the pine forest behind."
Willow, poplar, birch and other woods are not recommended for main beams. Pine wood is usually used in this area.
There is a small red pine forest about thirty meters behind my aunt's new house. It was planted by the first group of educated youth who came here to work in the countryside. The trees are about ten years old and of just the right thickness.
Old Master Wang also took Wan Feng to the pine forest to take a look.
The old man's favorite tree was a red pine tree as thick as a bowl, which was the largest in the eastern part of the forest. It was straight without any bends, with lush branches and leaves facing east.
Wan Feng also took a liking to the tree at first sight.
"That's it!"
After selecting the right beam, Wan Feng chatted with Old Man Wang for a few minutes and then went down the mountain to Luan Feng's house.
Several bricklayers from Luan Feng's family were plastering the floor of the house, and they were almost done.
Wan Feng leaned on the window and took a look inside. The walls inside were painted with snow-white lime and looked bright.
He was going to take a few more looks, but the smell of paint on the window frame put him off.
The smell of paint is poisonous, so it's better to stay away from it.
Meiying and Liqing have returned to Black Lagoon, and the house seems a lot quieter.
Wan Feng didn't stay in the house. He chatted with a few girls and then came out, carrying his schoolbag and going home.
During the meal, Wan Feng asked his aunt, "Did Jiang Li go to check the date? They've all started preparing for the beam raising, so why isn't he doing anything?"
"I'll ask tomorrow."
"Don't ask tomorrow, ask tonight."
Zhu Yan acted shy, and Wan Feng pouted in anger.
"I asked you to ask him if there is a date, not to hug him..." He stopped talking when he remembered that his grandfather was still sitting next to him.
"Have him prepare copper coins, red cloth, buckets, sorghum, steamed buns, and so on. I have to worry about these things. Oh, it's best if the copper coins are Shunzhi's. If you can't find Shunzhi Taiping, it's fine. If you can't find any, then whatever happens."
He is in charge of building houses, does he have to worry about these cat-headed and dog-eared things?
"It's not a good idea to leave the new house empty after it's built." Zhu Yan muttered.
"Why don't you just let Jiang Li live there after it's finished? If that doesn't work out, you can move in too. Sooner or later, you'll have to live together anyway."
Zhu Yan started coughing violently and quickly drank a sip of water to suppress it. How could they sleep together before they got married?
She was speechless about this nephew, who had no taboos in his words.
"I'm not responsible for the other expenses of raising the beam. Let the Jiang family take care of it."
Putting up the beam is a big deal and requires eating, and gifts must be accepted. Wan Feng will not get involved in this, because his family cannot afford to compensate him anyway.
Before they finished their meal, Zhang Hai came over on his bicycle.
Zhu Ping quickly stood up and went out to greet him: "Have you eaten?"
“No.”
"That's great, let's go inside and eat together."
When Wan Feng heard that this guy hadn't eaten, he quickly picked up a large piece of fish and put it in his corn porridge bowl.
"Look at your spirit." My aunt said contemptuously.
"If you don't pick it up, he'll eat it all. This guy is really good at holding the table."
Tonight's dish is stewed potatoes with late beans, steamed salted hairtail, a plate of chili sauce, and grandma also fried a plate of peanuts.
During this period, this was the only food people in the countryside ate. There was nothing else to eat.
The food wasn't great, but there was wine, so Grandpa and Zhang Hai started toasting each other.
If they started talking, it would probably go on forever. Wan Feng hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of food and prepared to escape.
"Don't leave. I came here mainly to see you. I'm going to the commune today."
Upon hearing this, Wan Feng sat down again.
"What did the commune secretary say?"
"He said he would talk to Xue Jianguo and asked us to make do with it."
"What's your attitude?"
"I said I'd go back and study it."
"Go tell the secretary tomorrow and say you can't compromise. Even if he talks to Xue Jianguo and he changes his ways, do you think he won't hold a grudge? There might be some shady things going on with the project, and we can't just sit there watching every day. We have to replace the person. If the commune can't send anyone else, just say you'll give us the construction fee and we'll find someone ourselves."
Zhang Hai was silent for a moment: "Don't you think this won't offend people?"
"Haha, you're only thinking about offending someone now. You already offended Xue Jianguo when you reported this to the commune secretary. But it's okay. He's just a construction team leader. How can he bite his balls?"
Wan Feng, a construction team leader in 1980, is really not taken seriously now. He doesn't use the sunken bricks and tiles when building projects, for fear that they will be damaged.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
