To Lin Ying's surprise, on the day construction began, Li Yue'e and several military dependents from the family compound came to help Lin Ying's family.
Because Lin Ying doesn't usually chat with people or listen to gossip, she's familiar with all the military dependents at the military dependents' compound. Aside from those who had previously caused her trouble with Cheng Jiaojiao, she hasn't had much interaction with these people.
"Sister, this is Duan Wenbo's mother from the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment. The 1st Battalion Commander got married and asked his mother to come and help. You can call her Aunt Duan. This is Yin Dong's wife from the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment, this is Gao Chenjie's wife from the 3rd Battalion, this is Dong Laichun's wife from the 1st Battalion, this is Han Wei's wife from the 2nd Battalion, and this is Cui Jianguo's wife from the 3rd Battalion."
This lady is from the family of Zhang Shanlin, our logistics minister. Although Commander Zhao holds a high rank, you're so young, so let's stick to our proper titles. Just call them "sister-in-law," like you would me.
We came to help you build a house because we saw you were planning to do so.
Lin Ying really didn't expect things to turn out this way. If Li Yue'e hadn't brought them along, she would have thought they were here to cause trouble again.
Actually, to be honest, it was Aunt Duan who suggested that we come here to help. She came to the family compound a while ago.
As an invincible old lady in the village, the first thing she did upon arriving here was to take control of the situation.
So, in just two days, she became one with the old ladies and other military wives here.
They know the situation of each family very well.
What doesn't the old lady understand? Those people have been saying behind her back that the wife of the Third Regiment Commander has a bad class background, but she's doing just fine here.
Besides, she's not blind. She's incredibly capable. She can cut down trees, transport stones, and carry soil down the mountain. Even the men in the village might not be as efficient at it as she is.
Even in the countryside, women like this can earn full work points! Any family that marries such a woman would be overjoyed and unable to sleep for days.
To be honest, those who gossip behind people's backs are not as cultured as those with bad class backgrounds. What wife can build a house by herself when her husband is not at home? She certainly can't.
Besides, that man is her son's boss; she'd be eager to be on good terms with him.
So, when the old lady saw that Lin Ying was about to build a house, she asked Li Yue'e to help and ask her to mediate between them.
With the old lady making such a fuss, the wives of the other battalion commanders naturally wouldn't be left out, and that's how so many people came.
Seeing that Lin Ying was embarrassed to ask them for help, Li Yue'e waved her hand and said, "We all live in the family compound and see each other all the time. There will be plenty of times in the future when we need your help. Come on, tell us what you need and we'll help you."
It's different when someone helps. Lin Ying asked Aunt Duan to take care of everyone's lunch. She didn't know what to make, so she gave Aunt Duan her money and ration coupons and let her manage it. Vegetables from the garden were free to use.
In addition, she also brought out the cured pork and spicy meat sauce she made for Aunt Duan to see how she could make them.
The others followed Lin Ying to build the house.
When everyone saw Lin Ying's well, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Lin Ying smiled and explained to everyone:
“This area had been dry for a long time, and the corners of the walls were soaked through, which even caused the house to collapse. Later, they said they would rebuild the outhouse and started using this area.”
Just then, Old Zhao came back that day. He originally planned to remove all the wet mud to prevent it from getting damp again, but he didn't expect to dig up water.
I've noticed this over the past few days too; the water level stays here and won't overflow, which makes building houses much easier.
Nowadays, every household has to fetch water every day, so Lin Ying's family having a well naturally makes everyone envious.
However, Li Yue'e was very good at talking: "Oh dear, what's going on with the base of your wall? When everyone was choosing a house, they all complained that it was damp. Who would have thought that there was groundwater? By the way, was your toilet located here before?"
Lin Ying nodded, and Li Yue'e laughed: "Then I guess you haven't drunk any of the water in here during this time."
After Li Yue'e said that, everyone's displeasure lessened considerably. They had all looked at this house when they were choosing apartments, but ultimately chose other places. It could be said that they had turned misfortune into blessing.
If it were any of their families, when they first arrived it was still winter, and the houses were frozen, so naturally they wouldn't collapse. By then the roof would have been repaired, and it would be terrifying if it suddenly collapsed one day.
Things are better once they're talked about. The board in the well hasn't been removed yet, and Lin Ying plans to wait a few more days. To paraphrase Li Yue'e, she doesn't intend to drink this water anyway.
With everyone's help, the house was built quickly; half of the walls were built in just one day.
Lin Ying had originally planned to process the timber while building the wall, but now she had to process it overnight. The usable timber from the previous house also needed to be sanded and painted. The new timber had to be sawn into planks with a table saw, steamed, and then dried the next day before being painted.
We also need to prevent the planks from warping after heating. All the wood must be laid out neatly.
Aunt Duan is a skilled cook. She divided the four jin of meat from Lin Ying's house into several portions, using only one portion at a time. For lunch, she made coarse grain noodles and stir-fried a few other dishes. Lin Ying felt it wasn't quite presentable, but she didn't have time to go up the mountain right now. She could only wait until she was less busy to treat everyone to a proper meal.
The wall was built in three days. Since the other women didn't have the strength to carry the timber, Lin Ying had to do it herself.
The women only needed to hold the timber from below, and Lin Ying could place it properly while standing on top.
Because the partition walls haven't been built yet, and the underfloor heating hasn't been installed, two horizontal beams are needed.
Two thick, round logs were placed horizontally at both ends of the room as the main supporting beams.
The saying goes: "A pillar is a beam, a beam is a purlin, a purlin is a rafter, and a rafter is a tile."
Although Lin Ying had seen thatched huts before, they were small and there was no need to consider the roof beams. In addition, Mo Zi's memories were all of small houses that had been built, so she had no memory of this kind of three-room house.
It was the knowledgeable Aunt Duan who taught Lin Ying how to make the roof beams. It just took longer, but fortunately, things went more smoothly afterward, and the entire roof was completed in three days.
The roof was made of the same kind of grass as everyone else's, but Lin Ying still built it like she did with the shed, with wooden planks on top and a thick layer of yellow mud before the grass was laid on.
After a month of work and more than two months of various tasks, the framework of Lin Ying's house was finally completed.
It's already August, and winter is just around the corner. Lin Ying doesn't have much time to rest and is busy again. She needs to get the underfloor heating working first, then build the interior walls, and then plaster the walls. She also needs to build the stove, the kang (heated brick bed), the fireplace, the bathtub, and the outhouse.
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