This is how it is in the countryside these days. As long as a family has problems, good relatives or friends will come to help without being asked. At most they will have a meal together. Talking about wages or something like that would hurt feelings.
The craftsmen and laborers hired to work were paid, but their meals were not provided. They only needed to be provided with cigarettes and tea.
Cigarettes are the cheapest spring farming food. Zhou Huaian bought them from Ning'an. One pack is ten cents cheaper than the one sold at the village agency store. He uses the money saved to buy tea.
Construction of four new houses started at the same time. Zhou's father hired more than a dozen villagers in the village to help with odd jobs, and there were also more than a dozen craftsmen.
A craftsman is paid two yuan a day, while a laborer is paid one yuan a day, so the daily expenses total several dozen yuan.
From the start of the kiln operation until now, the old couple have been receiving wages. Yang Chunyan feels that the money earned from selling vegetables in the past few months may not last for a few days.
Zhou Huaian opened the wooden barrel filled with honey and said, "You guys have performed well today. Come to Daddy's place and I'll give you some honey."
Zhou Jiakang immediately came over and said, "Dad, I don't want to eat honey. I want to eat honeycomb."
Zhou Xiaoru immediately let go of the dog and said, "I want one too!"
"Good fellow, you're so picky when it comes to eating for free!" Zhou Huaian saw several people reaching out to grab the food and said with disdain, "You just touched the dog and you want to eat it? Go wash it first."
"Oh oh oh! Time to wash hands and eat honeycomb!" Several children swarmed towards the basin.
Yang Chunyan washed her face with hot water and said, "Huaian, let's go to the earthen kiln and take a look."
"Yes." Zhou Huaian picked up the straw hat, said hello to the kids, and the two of them left the dog at home and went to the construction site.
The construction site was in full swing. In just a few days, the foundation was laid and brick walls had begun to be built. The thatched hut used for night watch was robbed, so the fence separating the hut was also dismantled and a few wooden beams were used to reinforce the support.
In the open space in front of the construction site, people carrying bricks, water, mortar, and workers carrying yellow mud were coming and going, busy all the time.
When everyone saw the couple, they all smiled and greeted them. Zhou Huaian quickly took out a cigarette and handed it to them, saying politely, "Thank you for bothering everyone!"
Zhou Huaigang and his brother were mixing mortar with their bare chests. The mason was bent over and scooped up the mortar in the bucket with a trowel, spread it on the bricks, and laid them up layer by layer.
Zhou Huaian turned his head and glanced at Yang Chunyan, "More people means faster!"
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan nodded, "At this rate, the beams can be put up in two months at most."
"Hey~ Master Zhou is back!" Zhou Huaigang greeted with a smile.
"Why are you washing my head?" Zhou Huaian took out another cigarette and passed it around, "Thank you for your hard work!"
Ever since he came back driving the tractor, many people in the village called him Master Zhou when they saw him. Although he was obviously the same person, everyone's attitude towards him seemed like a different person.
Uncle Zhao smiled and said, "It's not hard. I wish your family would build a new house every day so that we can have work to do every day."
"That's right. If I have work every day, my monthly salary will be higher than that of a substitute teacher in school."
"Substitute teachers have a lifelong job, but we just do odd jobs and once we're done here, it's gone."
When Yang Chunyan saw Zhou Huaian talking to everyone, she went to the earthen kiln. The bricks and tiles taken out of the kiln were piled there, still steaming, and the adobe bricks in the thatched shed had been piled up into a mountain.
In front of the drying shed, Zhou Jialiang was hunched over and putting adobe bricks into his basket. When he saw her coming, he ran over like a savior, "Auntie, you're back!"
Yang Chunyan saw that his face, which was already tanned like a loach, had become even darker. She took the sachet with a smile and said, "Dad has brought back some honey. Ask big brother to go back and mix it with honey water."
Zhou Jialiang licked his lips and looked at her with a smile, "Aunt Yao, I want to eat ice cream!"
"Okay! Let's have some popsicles!" Yang Chunyan gave him three cents and five cents, "Let's go to the agency store and buy one each."
"Oh~ Yeah yeah yeah~" Zhou Jialiang jumped up happily, "Brother, let's go buy some ice cream."
Zhou Jiaming couldn't close his mouth with laughter, and looked at the old man, "Grandpa, are we leaving?"
The old man looked at his great-grandson happily, "Your aunt is back to help, let's go!"
"Oh, let's go buy some ice cream!" The two brothers ran away.
Yang Chunyan carried the adobe bricks to the earth kiln and saw Zhou's father and two others, as well as Zhou's eldest brother, putting the adobe bricks into the kiln. Liu the kiln maker and his son and Zhou Huairong were standing inside stacking the adobe bricks.
Mother Zhou turned her head and smiled, "Chunyan is back! Is Huai'an back too?"
"I'm back!" Yang Chunyan put down her bamboo basket, "Are my sister-in-law and the others still sifting sand by the river?"
"Well! The sand is used up quickly on the construction site. Your Third Aunt and the others are here to help. I'll ask Huaishan and Huaijun to help sift the sand. You go and ask the youngest to drive the tractor over and bring back a load of sand."
Yang Chunyan nodded and looked at Zhou's father, "Old man, is your chest okay?"
Father Zhou smiled and said, "It's okay, it's just a shortness of breath, Doctor Wang will give me two injections and it will be fine."
Mother Zhou took over the conversation, "Everyone in the village says that you are an honest man. If it was our family that injured the old bear, I don't know how much money we would have to pay for medicine!"
Aunt Zhou put down a load of adobe bricks and said, "Second sister-in-law, I think what Second Brother did was right. It's not surprising that there is a lot of money like that."
Liu the potter also said: "That's right, look, the old bear has become weak all of a sudden."
"yes!"
Yang Chunyan picked out the adobe bricks from the basket, carried the bricks back to the drying shed, and seeing that Zhou Huaian had not come yet, she went to the construction site and asked him to fetch sand.
When she got there, she saw He Dakuan coming. The two of them were standing on the side of the road, talking about something. She felt a little puzzled. How did he know about it when she and Huai'an had only arrived for a while?
Zhou Huaian turned his head and saw her, "Can the old man and the others handle it?"
After Yang Chunyan greeted He Dakuan, she said, "Third Aunt and Dad are helping there. Mom told you to go to Yiding's house and drive the tractor to the river to haul sand."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian agreed and left with He Dakuan.
After an hour or so, he came back with a tractor full of sand and unloaded it. He made several trips before he transported all the sand and gravel from the river back to the construction site.
The couple didn't have a chance to talk on the construction site and they were busy until dark before they went home.
On the way home, Yang Chunyan still felt uneasy, "Huai'an, why did He Dakuan come to see you?"
"He said the coal mine was looking for a tractor driver, and the monthly salary was 60 yuan. Would you like to go?"
"Only 60 yuan a month for driving a car? It sounds like a lot of money, but it's not worth it when you calculate it."
"That's right. Third Brother said that he went to the cement factory yesterday and helped us haul some cement. He also brought a few people with him, so he earned more than five yuan per trip. He's going to go again early tomorrow morning."
Yang Chunyan calculated that she could earn more than three yuan for each trip. "So how do you respond to him?"
"What else can I say? I don't have time! He was a little unhappy, saying that I am now a rich man and he can't even look down on my salary of a few dozen yuan a month. He was so sour, just like those gossipy women in the village."
"People are like this. No matter how much money someone they don't know makes, they won't be jealous. But when people around them, especially friends or relatives, are better than themselves, they will feel jealous and uncomfortable."
"That's right, everyone has jealousy, but it's meaningless to say sour words."
"Chunyan," Li Qiuyue turned around with a smile, "What are you two whispering about in the back?"
Before she could speak, Zhou Huaian took over, "Third sister-in-law, you said it was a private conversation, how can I still tell you?"
Li Qiuyue rolled her eyes at him, "Stinky youngest!" (End of this chapter)
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