After buying all the ingredients, the two returned to Zhou's house. It was already half past eleven. Zhou's father was cooking, Zhou's mother was lighting the fire, and Zhou Yu was waiting to eat.
Zhou Xiang shook his head. It was a bit difficult to change his second sister. She was even lazier than his father. His father could be manipulated by other things, but he hadn't found his second sister's weak spot yet.
Today is the fifth day of the New Year. Zhou's father cooked a lot of dishes. It was still Zhou who ordered the firecrackers. Ling Ran hung the firecrackers and handed them the burning branches.
Looking at the little girl stretching out her arms, lighting the fuse from a distance, dropping the branch, covering her ears, and running back crying, Ling Ran thought she was cute no matter how he looked at her, but it was a pity that she couldn't come to his bowl yet.
After lunch, Ma Gua came with about ten people. They only brought cement and sand, so everyone sat down to drink tea and rest.
Ling Ran helped Zhou's father move the bed to the main hall, and Zhou's mother tidied up and cleared out the space inside so that the bricklayer would have room to work.
After the bricks were brought in, Ma Gua immediately asked someone to mix cement and sand, while Ling Ran took someone to the river to dig soil.
After a cart of bricks was unloaded, Ma Gua immediately led three people to build a kang in the main room. The earthen wall in the middle of the main room was also demolished, and a hollow wall with bricks was used as a fire wall. The fire inlet of the kang was left on the side of the main room.
The elder and younger brothers in Ma Gua brought two people to build a kang on the west wall of the kitchen.
Two people are responsible for mixing cement, two people are responsible for moving bricks, and two people are responsible for carrying mud buckets.
There is strength in numbers, and since they were all experienced in building kangs, two kangs and a fire wall were built in three hours.
Everyone started to build the small pot house again. The east wall of the small pot house did not need to be built, and the back and west walls were difficult to build because the courtyard wall was low, so they had to be rebuilt along the courtyard wall.
Zhou Xiang requested that the seams between the pot house and the courtyard wall must be filled with cement, otherwise rainwater would seep in between the two walls and the walls of the pot house would always be wet.
When the walls of the kitchen were all built and it was dark, Master Ma Gua took his people home and was unwilling to stay for dinner.
Zhou's father made dinner again because Zhou wanted to discuss things that needed attention with Master Ma Gua.
At the dinner table, Zhou's father said, "Think about it, you bought too many prefabricated panels, didn't you? I think there are fifty or sixty of them."
"Not many. Besides the prefabricated panels on the roof, the small pot room and the bathroom are also paved with prefabricated panels. There's no need to lay cement floors, which is convenient. Then in the yard, we've paved a prefabricated road from the main house to the door, and from the middle of the road to the courtyard door. We've also paved the road to the bathroom door and the small pot room door with prefabricated panels. The house will be much cleaner."
"You spent a lot of money on this, didn't you?" Zhou's mother was most concerned about money.
"Well, the materials cost more than 900 yuan, not counting the labor! Dad, you still have to help my second sister cook tomorrow. There are about ten of them staying for lunch. I'll go to the county and finish my business and then come back.
Ling Ran, can you help me watch over these masters at home? If there are any problems, Master Ma Gua can come to you for consultation. My parents and second sister don’t understand my ideas, only you understand my drawings. "
Ling Ran had previously planned to go to the county town with Zhou Xiang, but now that the little girl had spoken, and even said that only he understood her (automatically ignoring the last three words), he nodded happily, "Okay, I'll watch, you come back early this afternoon."
When Zhou's mother heard that it was over 900 yuan, she was heartbroken! All her life, she had only saved the little money her daughter gave her.
Zhou's father didn't expect that his little girl could easily come up with so much money. So, she earned at least more than 2,000 yuan in two trips. His little girl is really capable, so he should be nicer to her.
Zhou Yu's eyes widened. His sister had spent eight or nine hundred yuan casually, and his parents' monthly salary was less than thirty yuan. This was more than a year's salary for two people without eating or drinking!
It seems that my sister is very good at making money, but the family doesn't know how much she earns. From the expressions of my parents just now, it can be seen that my sister doesn't give them much.
She is so smart. She earns money and hides it for herself to please her parents. Her parents still don’t know how much money she has. I must please her in the future and not go against her. Maybe all the money she makes will be enough for me to spend.
"My sister is so rich!" Zhou Yu said with envy.
"That's what I earned in the middle of winter by begging for money. Now I've spent it all on bringing you back. I have to find a way to make more money."
Zhou Yu choked and said, "Well, sister, you have worked hard. Here, have a piece of meat." After saying that, he picked up a piece of meat and put it in Zhou Xiang's bowl.
"Thank you, second sister. Next time I make money, I'll buy you something."
"Thank you, sister." Zhou Yu didn't care whether his sister was telling the truth or not, but it sounded nice, and it was in front of everyone! He would definitely buy it for himself.
Mother Zhou looked at her clever little daughter and smiled helplessly. In this life, her older daughter would never be able to bully her.
At night, Zhou wanted to ask his mother to sleep on the kang with him. "It's too cold in the main room, so you can bring the quilt and sleep on the kang."
"Then Dad should be cold?" Zhou's father was envious.
"Dad, you're a big man with a lot of energy. Put two hot water bottles in at night. Keep doing this for ten days or so, and good days will come. I'll cover the coal you burn, and you can enjoy happiness early."
Father Zhou was so coaxed by his little girl that he lost his way and went back to the main house with two hot water bottles.
Zhou's mother tapped her little girl's forehead.
The mother, daughter and three other girls slept on the same kang and didn't feel crowded. In the morning, Zhou's father came and knocked on the door early.
"Open the door quickly! I'm freezing! The kang inside is damp, and it feels even colder."
Zhou's mother got up and opened the door. Zhou wanted to pull his second sister up, "Hurry up and warm up the kang for Dad."
Zhou Yu reluctantly climbed out of the warm bed. Zhou wanted to pull his father, "Come into Mom's bed and warm up. I'll go light a small fire and dry it slowly."
When I entered the main room, I found it was indeed as cold as my old kitchen.
He returned to the kitchen, picked up a few pieces of red coal, carried them into the main room with a shovel, and started to burn the fire and smoke the kang.
After a while, the room was filled with steam, and Zhou wanted to fill it with crushed honeycomb coal and seal the opening.
When I saw the sealing board, I thought of the clever mind of Master Ma Gua. He actually made sealing boards, smoke plugs and grates in large quantities by himself, and sold them directly to people when they were building kangs. He sold them for ten yuan a set, doubling his profit. What a talent!
I opened all the windows in the house and returned to the kitchen. "Dad, you can't go into that room. It's too humid. Stay in this room today! You can watch the fire yourself. Just seal the kang and make sure it doesn't go out."
Zhou's father nodded. Zhou Yu hadn't even started cooking breakfast yet. Zhou was getting anxious. "Second sister, no matter how much you linger, you can't escape the fate of having to cook. You have to accept your fate. Otherwise, even if you get scolded, you still have to cook. Why bother?"
After saying that, he lit a fire on the old stove, boiled a bowl of water, cooked two poached eggs, ate them and left.
Mother Zhou looked at her eldest daughter and felt so disappointed in her!
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