Chapter 216 215: Unexpectedly
When the two walked to the foundation of the new house at the intersection, they saw a lot of stones of different sizes piled on the side of the road.
Walking forward is a corn field. The corn stalks have been cut down and Zhao Huifang and others are busy working in the field.
Zhou Huaian glanced at her and said, "I'm going to the earthen kiln."
Yang Chunyan said, "Brother and his friends are picking up rocks in the wasteland. You can go and have a look."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian waved his hand and left.
Yang Chunyan went to the corn field and asked, "Sister-in-law, there aren't many corns left, right?"
Zhao Huifang turned around and asked, "Hey! You guys are back?"
Before Yang Chunyan could answer, Li Qiuyue asked again: "Why did you come back so early? Is it hard to find herbs in the mountains?"
Yang Chunyan shook her head. "We have been looking for it in the ravine in front of the forest farm for the past two days. We came back after lunch."
Li Qiuyue breathed a sigh of relief. "Now the hills near the village are full of people looking for herbs. If I want to find them in the future, I will have to go to places farther away."
Zhang Xiuxiang took over the conversation, "Chunyan, without you leading us, we can only look for what you taught us. This morning, we went to the woods to look for a long time and cut some chicken shit vines, found some mushrooms, and dug up a dozen chicken mushroom eggs!"
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "A dozen chicken fir eggs are not bad. If the quality is good, they can be sold for 20 or 30 yuan."
Zhao Huifang pointed at the foot of the mountain and said, "Chunyan, the old man said that we should dig more than one meter into the foot of the mountain, build a retaining wall against the mountain, and then build a few animal pens next to the retaining wall. What do you think?"
Yang Chunyan looked back and said, "Of course this is good. It's convenient to have the front and back yards to dry things."
Li Qiuyue said happily: "The old man said that after the millet is harvested, the sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and beans in the fields will be ripe, and it will be the right time to start the work."
Zhao Huifang also smiled, "Yes, I heard from my boss that several groups of masons and carpenters came to me, all wanting to take on our work!"
"According to what the old man said, he plans to hire more workers and start the work together. The old man is still asking what to do with the small compartment you mentioned?"
Yang Chunyan looked at her in surprise, "Did the old man really agree to build a small second floor?"
Zhao Huifang nodded repeatedly, "Yeah, the old man asked the boss if he wanted to repair the kind you mentioned!"
Li Qiuyue smiled so hard that she couldn't close her mouth. "Let's start the construction together. Then we can move into the new house together."
Zhang Xiuxiang also smiled happily, left the corn field, stood by the road and looked at her private plot, "Next year there will be four new houses here. You can see them from the bridge head after turning around Guanyin Mountain."
Yang Chunyan and the other two also stood on the side of the road.
Li Qiuyue looked around and said with a smile: "Now it seems that the feng shui here is really good. There are mountains behind us and water in front of us, and we don't have to squeeze with others."
Zhang Xiuxiang: "At noon, I heard from my second brother that they were also going to build a new house on the land below the bridge slope."
Li Qiuyue asked hurriedly: "Which family wants to repair the area below the slope?"
Zhang Xiuxiang thought for a moment, "Secretary Xu's third child, as well as Old Xiong's third and youngest children, a total of four or five families will approve that."
Yang Chunyan remembered that someone had indeed built a house there before, "The location is also good, it is much more convenient for going to the market."
Zhao Huifang nodded. "I heard that many people in the team went to the coal mine to earn money. Although it was hard work, they could still earn dozens of yuan a month. Gradually, more and more families came to repair their houses."
Li Qiuyue said: "It's better to earn some money to repair the brick and tile house. The straw in the thatched house needs to be replaced every few years, otherwise there will be big leaks and small leaks."
Zhao Huifang: "We only changed the straw last year when the youngest son and Chunyan got married and built that house. Before that, it was raining heavily outside and lightly inside. The yard was full of mud, and there was no place to dry the grain."
Zhang Xiuxiang took Yang Chunyan's arm and said cheerfully, "You don't have to worry anymore. Not only will you live in a brick house, but the yards in front and behind will no longer be earthen dams. They will all be concrete. You won't need to use a drying mat to dry millet, rapeseed, herbs, etc."
Zhao Huifang smiled and held the two of them, "Get to work, chop down the last two acres of corn stalks, and then go to the wasteland to help carry stones."
"Yes!" The sisters-in-law returned to the corn field and continued to work.
The corn has been picked, and the corn stalks are not very old. After they are cut down, they are chopped into short sections. The tender ones are left to feed pigs, and the old stalks are dried and used as firewood.
When Zhou Huaian arrived at the earthen kiln, he saw Zhou's father, the old man, and Liu the kiln craftsman and his son making bricks and tiles. He smiled and walked over to greet them, and then asked, "How was Jiaming's work yesterday?"
The old man laughed and said, "After working all morning, he was clamoring to go back to class in the afternoon. Your eldest brother forced him to work all day, and when he woke up this morning he was still complaining about sore calves."
"Haha..." Zhou Huaian laughed, "After being disciplined once, I realized that it is better to study in school."
Liu the potter laughed and said, "All children are like this. My eldest grandson once said that if he didn't want to study, he would learn to make kilns from me. I took him to work for a whole morning, and he went back to study obediently."
He paused for a moment and continued, "I heard that recruits must at least graduate from junior high school, so I thought I would let him join the army once he graduates from junior high school."
The old man nodded and said, "It's good to be a soldier. If you work for a few years, you may even be able to get a national hukou. My youngest son had an appendectomy, otherwise he would have joined the army."
Liu the Potter: "Your youngest is doing well now. Many people in the team are praising him now!"
"You're just too lazy. You just stand there with your hands behind your back, not even asking to help with the work." Father Zhou said, looking at Zhou Huaian with disdain. "Have you seen the foundation that Secretary Xu marked out for you?"
Zhou Huaian: "I didn't go to see it. You guys are just watching me scratching it. Why would I go to see it?"
Father Zhou said unhappily, "If you have nothing to do, go to the wasteland and help your eldest brother and his friends push the chicken bus."
The old man also said: "That's right, those bushes on the wasteland need to be cut down, and the new house needs stones to lay the foundation. You can't just wait for your eldest brother to help you!"
"Morning..." Zhou Huaian suddenly remembered what Yang Chunyan said and swallowed it back, "I came here to help."
Father Zhou waved his hand in disdain, "Then go quickly, we don't need you here."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian walked towards the barren mountain. Halfway there, he saw Zhou Huairong, hunched over, pushing a chicken cart, sweating profusely.
He stepped forward quickly, "Brother, you put it there and I'll push it."
Zhou Huairong put down the chicken bus, picked up the handkerchief tied around his neck and wiped his sweat, "The road here is narrow and the bus is very heavy, can you push it?"
The bamboo baskets on both wings of the chicken bus were full of big stones. The path in the barren mountain was very narrow, and the chicken bus would overturn if you were not careful.
“Let me try!”
Zhou Huaian looked at his face tanned by the sun and his tanned arms, smiled, walked forward, held the handlebars tightly, and started pushing the cart.
Zhou Huairong followed him for a few steps, and seeing that he walked steadily, he felt relieved, "If you push it over and make a pile over there, I won't go with you."
“Yes!” Zhou Huaian pushed the squeaking chicken bus forward, “Damn it, I didn’t expect that I could push the chicken bus so smoothly here!”
(End of this chapter)
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