On the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, the villagers of Zhoujia Village ate breakfast early and went to the location of the new village to wait for the people they had invited to help build houses in the village.
At 9:00 AM, a procession of horse-drawn carriages, oxcarts, and donkey carts came toward the village.
The clan chief and his son, along with Old Man Zhou and his son Zhou Quan, led the villagers to greet them and then directed them to places to pitch their tents. Of course, they all chose nearby hilltops and small slopes so that even if it rained, they wouldn't have to worry about the tents being flooded.
These places were arranged in advance by the clan chief and Zhou Quan, and during the two days the villagers rested, everyone helped to level the ground so that these people could easily set up tents when they arrived.
A total of six construction teams arrived, each with forty to fifty people. Adding to the two teams that had previously worked for the clan chief's and Zhou Quan's families, there were now eight teams building houses in their village, with a total number of people estimated to be around three hundred and fifty to sixty.
The two groups had a total of forty or fifty people.
Among the six new teams, there were two foremen whom Zhou Quan had worked with before, and they had a good relationship. Zhou Quan had learned a lot about building houses and construction from them back then.
Later, when Zhou Quan had his accident, the foreman named Xu Hou came to visit him, bringing him money and food. In addition, since Zhou Quan had taken in the child of one of his coworkers who had the accident, Xu Hou had a good impression of Zhou Quan.
When Xu Hou came this time, he was very pleased to see that Zhou Quan had stood up and was walking freely.
Knowing that Zhou Quan was negotiating everything with them, he was relieved and even helped Zhou Quan negotiate with the other five foremen.
With the help of the two foremen who had just finished building houses for the two families, things went more smoothly for Zhou Quan.
The two members of Zhoujiacun's family who had been working away from home also returned during this period. However, because they hadn't finished their work elsewhere, they came back on their own to participate in the construction of the new village, without bringing anyone else to help.
They also organized the people they had previously worked with to help Zhou Quan check the delivered items for any problems, verify the quantities, and then each of them helped look after the items, trying their best not to let their own village suffer losses. After all, it was for building their own houses, so of course they wanted to use the best items.
For a time, the people of Zhoujia Village also witnessed an unprecedented unity in the history of the Zhou clan due to this disaster and reconstruction.
The elders felt that their responsibilities had come. They couldn't do the work of moving stones and hauling sand, but they were literate and could write!
Then, below, villagers were busy at the new village site, while on the mountaintop, several old men sat together, writing the Zhou family history with divine skill.
"In early July of the thirty-third year of the reign of the twenty-ninth clan chief of the Zhou family, Zhoujia Village experienced the worst continuous rain in its history, which caused a flash flood in Xishan Gully and submerged the entire village."
Fortunately, the clan chief, alerted by the Zhou family members Zhou Sanli and his son, led the clansmen to set up shelter tents on the mountain in advance, thus preventing the complete annihilation of the Zhou clan and saving more than a hundred people in the village..."
Li Mai knew that the elders of the clan sat together all day writing and drawing. She thought these elders were very endearing and valued the inheritance of the clan. With them around, it was actually quite good.
Fortunately, thanks to them, the Zhou family ancestral hall has not suffered any major damage. There was just some water in the courtyard, but the stones that came out of the mountains did not enter the courtyard of the ancestral hall.
That's because the ancestral hall was built in a small courtyard at the highest point in the village. The ancestral tablets are still enshrined there now, and they will be moved there once the new ancestral hall is built.
On the day that construction began at Zhou Quan's and the clan chief's houses, they went to the ancestral hall to kowtow and offer incense.
They had also gone there once on the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, but this time the villagers all went to kowtow to their ancestors, asking them to bless the new village so that it could be built smoothly, that no one would die, and that there would be no more continuous rain.
Seeing that the items ordered by Zhoujiacun were all high-quality, the new foremen knew that it was someone knowledgeable who had made the order.
After the clan chief greeted them, he handed over the task of discussing the construction of houses to Zhou Quan and Shi Fan. Then, he and Old Man Zhou were responsible for helping the villagers who didn't know how to build houses to continue preparing the sand, gravel, red clay stones, and other materials needed for the construction.
They had searched all the nearby mountains. Fortunately, they could find whatever they needed within a few miles without spending any money; all they had to do was put in the hard work to bring it back.
After the six foremen arranged for their men to set up tents on the designated hilltops and in the designated areas, they, along with the two foremen from before, were invited by Zhou Quan to his newly built house. In a room that had already been prepared, they began to look at the blueprints and discuss the next steps.
When Xu Hou saw the blueprint in Zhou Quan's hand, he looked at him with disbelief and said, "Little Zhou, not bad! You've improved a lot after two years of recuperation. This drawing is really good."
Zhou Quan smiled but didn't explain, not wanting to cause his wife any more trouble. He simply started discussing with them how to divide the area into zones and how to build the houses, explaining that they hoped to have the houses built within a month.
Upon hearing Zhou Quan's words, they were immediately astonished. Sixty courtyards, and you think you can finish them in a month? It will take at least three months.
Zhou Quan shook his head helplessly, "We won't be able to wait until then. It will be frozen in three months, and the villagers on the mountaintop, especially the children, won't be able to survive."
“We absolutely have to move in before the end of October. So, we have to get the house built within a month, then spend half a month on the housework, and another half a month drying the house. Plus, we’ll use the stove to help it dry faster. We must move in by the end of the month, otherwise the children won’t be able to stand the cold winter.”
“We’ve had this long rainy season, and the winter will definitely be very cold, that’s what the chieftain said, so we have to take all of that into account.”
"As for the courtyard walls or the main gate, you can pave them yourself after you move in. The roads in the village and the walls outside the village can also be paved after you move in. Besides, you can only stay here for a maximum of two months. By November, you'll be too cold to stay, right?"
After Zhou Quan finished speaking, everyone fell silent. It made sense, but it was indeed difficult to build so many courtyards in a month.
"Now there are 66 courtyards left, including a study hall, an ancestral hall, and a clinic. All of them are to be built in the style of a courtyard, making a total of 69 courtyards."
“Your six teams have more people, so each team will be allocated ten courtyards. We will divide them in rows, which will make it easier for you to build your houses. The other two teams have fewer people, so one team will be allocated five courtyards and the other four. The four teams will have two large courtyards and two small courtyards.”
"And there's something I need to remind everyone: the wall between the two houses' yards must be a double 37-meter wall, right next to each other. We don't want to leave trouble for future generations just to save a few bricks."
“Okay, I understand what you mean. Let’s divide it up first. After that, we can all go back and discuss how to proceed.” Xu Houxian stated.
He made his statement, and the others agreed as well.
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