Li Mai's reputation once again resounded in the ears of every villager in Zhoujia Village. Every family, upon returning to their own small tents, would always say that Zhou Quan's wife was like a shrew, and quite formidable!
But the next day, when facing Li Mai, they had to be on high alert again.
When only the four of them were together, Zhou Daniu's wife gave Li Maiqiao a thumbs-up with admiration, saying, "Xiaoquan's wife, you are the woman I admire most over the years, without a doubt."
"Those few you've tamed these past few days used to be the toughest women in the village, always thinking everyone else was wrong and only she was right," Zhou Shifan's wife said with a smile in a low voice.
Zhou Kun's wife laughed, "I must say, I think the three of us had good judgment in choosing Xiao Quan's wife to be in charge from the beginning."
Li Mai chuckled, "I mainly have a loud voice, so I'm not afraid of them messing with me. Let them yell back and see who has the loudest voice."
The three of them looked at each other and then laughed together.
Of the four people, only Zhou Daniu's wife is an elder; the other three are of the same generation.
"By the way, Auntie, have you found the silver pouch that went missing from your house?" Shi Fan's wife asked Zhou Daniu's wife.
Da Niu's wife shook her head, getting angry just thinking about it.
Li Mai asked curiously, "What exactly happened that day? Auntie, weren't you in the tent? Could it have been one of the families in your tent?"
Da Niu's wife shook her head. "That day was chaotic. Many families were moving away, and we went out to see people off. For a while, there was no one in the tent. I couldn't possibly carry the silver bag around the whole time I went out, could I? Who knew it would be gone in just a short while. Luckily, I hid the others well and they weren't discovered."
After listening, Li Mai nodded. Indeed, it was hard to say.
Many people entered their tent that day, and many people left that day as well. It's really hard to investigate this matter.
"You still remember your family's silver pouch, right? Remember it, keep looking, maybe you'll find it someday!" Li Mai patted her shoulder to comfort her.
Aunt Da Niu gave her a wry smile and sighed.
"Maybe it's better to lose money than to suffer a greater disaster. If it weren't for the unexpected windfall from our ancestors, I think I would have been furious if we had just lost all the money we worked so hard to earn. I've been so angry that my chest has been aching for days," Aunt Da Niu said helplessly.
In the days that followed, Zhou Daniu comforted her, saying that she hadn't been this upset even though so many pigs had been washed away by the flood, and that it was just like losing a dozen or so pigs.
Thinking about it that way, she wasn't so sad anymore, and she's felt much better these past few days.
"By the way, Li Mai, Auntie wants to raise pigs. My family happens to be the one furthest west. Do you think I could ask them to build a few pigsties for me?" Auntie Da Niu asked Li Mai.
Li Mai nodded, "It should be fine. You can ask Uncle Da Niu to tell Uncle the clan chief that you can contribute some money for your trouble. The reason my family is paying for the house ourselves is because my mother-in-law wants to raise rabbits and chickens and wants to build chicken coops and rabbit pens on the west side. That's why we chose a place on the side. If we build it ourselves, we can build it according to our own wishes."
Aunt Da Niu's eyes lit up instantly. "That's right, I didn't think of that before. I'll have Da Niu tell the clan chief at noon."
Li Mai nodded, "Give it a try. Living next door makes it easier to raise things, and it won't bother the neighbors. After all, these days everyone lives next to each other with walls between their houses."
The other two nodded as well.
However, neither family raises livestock. At most, they keep two laying hens in the yard, enough to feed their children. They like to plant flowers and plants in the yard, which they have already told Chief Zhou Quan about.
That year, everyone spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in tents.
However, Li Mai still led these women to bake some mooncakes.
I don't know whose mooncake mold it was, but in the end, although everyone had a tough time, they all managed to eat mooncakes on Mid-Autumn Festival.
Li Mai also made extra, giving a few to each family as snacks for the children.
During this time, the children were also busy. During the day, the older children would lead the younger children to cut grass for the cattle on the mountain. When the cattle returned after a long day of work, they would eat the grass that the children had cut during the day.
Each family also brought their own large earthenware jars that hadn't been washed away. The clan chief arranged for several people to fill the jars with water every day, so that everyone could wash up after a busy day and also so that the cattle could drink water.
The water jar for cooking was placed in the kitchen, and the water inside was drawn from the village well.
After several days of cleaning, the dirty water in the village's wells has been mostly removed, and now the water drawn up is clear.
They only use this water for cooking.
In the new village, well diggers have already started digging wells at the locations designated by the clan chief.
The construction of the new village of Zhoujiacun is proceeding step by step according to their plan.
With money, manpower, and a plan, Zhoujia Village, even after suffering a great calamity, is destined to succeed and rise again.
As the project progresses faster, people from the surrounding villages will come to Zhoujia Village to watch the new construction after the autumn harvest, and some will even volunteer to help.
However, the more they looked at it, the more curious they became. With such a huge project, what would the village look like in the end?
In late August, the houses of Zhou Quan's family and the clan chief's family were completed.
On the day of the roof-raising ceremony, the two families treated the villagers to a feast. The meal included fish and meat, and the villagers also had a half-day rest. They helped the two families raise the roof in the morning and rested in the afternoon.
On August 27th, all the external work was completed, the carpenters had installed the doors and windows, and were making the furniture.
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