However, the house was too damp, so the two planned to dry it for a while longer before moving in in September.
After three months, the house was finally completed. The sense of accomplishment was unprecedented.
Zhao Qinghuai's eyes softened even more as he looked at Lin Ying's happy expression.
Zhao Qinghuai had to go to work, so Lin Ying planned to deal with the deep water pit first.
Similarly, the formwork for the well has been removed, and the water pump has been installed. However, it will be used after the cover solidifies.
Like water wells, seepage wells are also constructed by directly stacking stones, and do not need to be sealed with mud to allow water to seep into the ground.
However, there weren't enough stones at home, and Lin Ying hadn't finished cleaning the corner around the well yet, so she decided to bring back some more stones first.
When Zhao Qinghuai went to the military base, the officers who returned from there all knew that Lin Ying had built the house herself, and that she had even burned her own lime to paint the walls white. It looked very clean and tidy.
Everyone admired Zhao Qinghuai's capable wife.
Of course, it's hard to say how sincere those words were. After all, they knew that even with all her busy schedules, Lin Ying was still a 160-pound woman.
Of course, there are also those who are genuinely envious, such as a few from the countryside who love this kind of plump wife who can work and doesn't cause trouble.
When Zhao Qinghuai heard that Lin Ying wanted to build the seepage well herself when he went to work the next day, he refused without thinking, saying, "I'll get up a little earlier tomorrow morning, and we'll do it when we have time. Don't go down there yourself while I'm not here! It's too dangerous."
Lin Ying looked at Zhao Qinghuai and knew that he would probably get really angry if she didn't do as he said. It wasn't worth causing a marital discord over this, so she agreed.
However, she didn't sit idle. Instead, she arranged the stones she needed and then began repairing the back wall.
To prevent rainwater from flowing down the mountain and impacting the house, Lin Ying built stone walls on both sides and constructed a drainage ditch around the perimeter of the walls. Additionally, she connected the existing drains from the kitchen and bathtub, as well as the well, to the outside through this corner.
In this way, water will flow directly from here to the outside, and rainwater flowing down from the mountain will also flow away along the irrigation ditch.
Of course, because iron is so precious nowadays, and Lin Ying was worried that a shield would freeze in winter, she could only use cement strips made of cement at the water outlet as iron rods.
After confirming that the drainage was fine, Lin Ying began to pave the ground, still using rammed earth as the base. The foundation was also quite sturdy.
After finishing the corner of the house, Lin Ying started digging a water channel. The channel was 60 centimeters wide, because there had to be a 30-centimeter wall and 80 centimeters high. The height could not be higher than the drainage, and the amount of rainwater drainage also had to be taken into account.
Before Zhao Qinghuai returned, Lin Ying had not only built the outer walls on both sides, but also paved the well and the corners of the walls with stone slabs.
Meanwhile, Li Yue'e and her group had already begun storing food for the winter and chopping firewood.
However, since Lin Ying's house is not ready yet, they can only start preparing after everything is settled at home.
At night, Zhao Qinghuai held Lin Ying's hand and felt a pang of heartache when he saw how rough her hands had become.
Unexpectedly, Lin Ying didn't care: "I'll come back after a month of good rest at home during winter. I have the formula."
During this period, Zhao Qinghuai felt sorry for Lin Ying and only indulged in light activities at night. Today, he was about to "let his beastly desires run wild" when Lin Ying refused him.
"Didn't we say we had to get up early tomorrow morning to build the seepage well? I'm waiting to finish my chores at home before I go up the mountain. If you delay my time to get up the mountain, I'll get mad at you."
Helpless, Zhao Qinghuai could only hold Lin Ying and close his eyes to sleep.
The next day, Zhao Qinghuai and Lin Ying got up early and started working with flashlights.
Because this needs to be wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, like a vase, it requires some technical skill.
It took two days to finally finish the work, and the floor in my house is finally flat again.
In Zhao Qinghuai's words, we can't delay your trip up the mountain.
Lin Ying has almost finished cleaning up the house in the past two days.
The new house is used to burn firewood every day, and the bathroom is now in use.
The bathtub needs to wait for the water in the outside drain to solidify a bit more before it can be used, but so far, Lin Ying's experience with it is quite good.
The only trouble is that you need to keep a bucket at home filled with water to flush the toilet.
But if it's done properly, not having to go to the toilet in winter is more important than anything else in this cold weather.
The house was finally cleaned up, and Lin Ying began collecting supplies.
Every day, she carries a large basket up the mountain to pick all sorts of wild vegetables and "wild vegetables." When she returns, she doesn't forget to bring back a large tree.
Sometimes, when she found a nest and the collection was fast, Lin Ying would go twice.
Before it gets dark, prepare all the vegetables that need to be dried or air-dried. Some can simply be laid out on the floor at home to dry.
Basically, if you put it out on the first night, you can take it in on the third day.
As soon as they got up in the morning, Zhao Qinghuai and Lin Ying started preparing the fire. At their rate of burning firewood, it would probably cost more than twice as much as other families.
But there was no other way; Lin Ying was strong and could carry two trees back in a day without any problem.
The firewood stacks were built little by little against the west wall. Once a row reached a certain height, they were covered with straw mats woven from Ula grass and the second row was built.
The firewood scraps were all collected in baskets that Lin Ying had casually woven and placed next to the woodpile.
When Lin Ying saw that the preparations were almost complete, she began to collect dead wood. Those needed to be dried for later use, as the firewood would still be needed for a period of time after the weather turned cold.
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