The next day.
Ye Caiping waited for Ye Erquan to return with the morning delivery before going to check on the bricks.
You don't need to go to the town to see bricks; you can go to Daliuzhuang.
There is a family in Daliuzhuang who runs a brick and tile kiln. They have a good reputation, and it's only a 15-minute walk from there.
Ye Bajin's ox was already very tired from making four round trips a day, so Ye Caiping felt sorry for it and decided not to take the car.
Ye Caiping, Old Man Ye, Ye Erquan, Ms. Wei, and Ye Yinhua, a group of five, set off chatting and laughing.
As we chatted, we arrived at Daliuzhuang.
Guided by the villagers, we soon arrived at the brick kiln.
In the distance, an elderly couple, around fifty years old, could be seen sitting idly at the door. Beside the brick kiln, there was a small brick house.
Seeing Ye Caiping and the others heading towards them, the elderly couple's eyes lit up, and they quickly stepped forward.
"Gentlemen, are you looking to buy some bricks?"
“Yes.” Ye Caiping nodded.
The elderly couple's surname was Liu. Grandpa Liu quickly led them to the small brick house, saying, "Look, our bricks are sturdy and the color is nice."
Ye Caiping wasn't very good at looking at things, so she touched it and looked back at Old Man Ye.
Old Man Ye and Ye Erquan immediately stepped forward, touching and tossing the blue bricks, and even had Aunt Liu bring out a ladle of water to pour on them.
Although their house was made of mud bricks, both Old Man Ye and Ye Erquan had built houses for others. They had even helped build the brick house for Ye Lizheng back then.
After looking at it for a while, the two of them both felt that the quality was fine.
"How much are these bricks?" Old Man Ye asked.
Grandpa Liu said, "Our price is very fair, two bricks for one coin. This is the price throughout the entire Dashu Town."
Old Man Ye knew the market rate: "Caiping, how big of a house do you want to build?"
Ye Caiping bought five acres of land, but it's impossible for her to build houses on all five acres.
Ye Caiping was prepared; she took out a drawing and handed it to Grandpa Liu:
"Grandpa, as for the house, I want to build a small courtyard with two courtyards on a plot of land of six fen. Outside the courtyard, on the right, I want to build a row of four rooms, which will be the cattle shed, pigsty, and other livestock sheds."
"On the right is a vegetable garden, and behind that, a row of 10 rooms will be built, which will be a small workshop. Then, the houses, livestock sheds, and workshops will all be enclosed by a wall."
Grandpa Liu was dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like this in his life: "Just what you've built... is at least one acre and one-tenth of an acre. And then there's the area you've surrounded, plus the open space, which is two acres."
"Yes. How many bricks do you think we need?"
Grandpa Liu, an experienced man, estimated: "It will take at least 120,000 bricks."
Wei stammered, "120,000 bricks... how much would that cost?"
"This needs to be calculated. Everyone, please come inside."
Grandpa Liu quickly led Ye Caiping and the others into his large brick and tile house.
Aunt Liu's heart burned with excitement as she looked at them; what a great business opportunity!
She hurriedly served tea and water to Ye Caiping and Old Man Ye, being very attentive.
Grandpa Liu sat at the table, clicking away on his abacus. After a while, he finally said:
“120,000 bricks would be worth 60 taels. But I’m afraid that’s too much. If you really want it, I suggest you take 100,000 bricks first, which is 50 taels. If it’s not enough, just let me know in advance.”
Ye Caiping nodded: "Okay."
As she spoke, she turned to look at Ye Erquan and Madam Wei: "Where are Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law?"
Mrs. Wei's face had already turned pale. The brick house was really too expensive!
Ye Erquan thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Liu, could you also do my calculations? I also want to build a house. My family owns 4 mu of land. It's a typical, ordinary courtyard."
This old man, Mr. Liu, was more experienced: "At least 30,000 bricks, 15 taels. But if you have a larger budget, it might not be enough, and you might have to add another one or two thousand bricks."
"Honey," Mrs. Wei tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "It's too expensive. Let's build with adobe bricks instead. Adobe bricks are free!"
Ye Erquan frowned, his heart pounding with anxiety.
He wanted to build a brick house, but Wei was right; it was too expensive. It would cost an extra 15 taels of silver.
Old Man Ye said, "Second son, I think we should build it with blue bricks. Caiping, what do you think?"
Ye Caiping said, "Building a house is a big deal, and it's where a lot of money should be spent. Second Brother's life will only get better and better in the future. If we build an adobe house now, we'll definitely regret it in the future. So if we're going to build one, we should do our best to build the best we can."
She's seen far too many people in modern times who settle for small apartments.
Even though they had money, they were reluctant to spend it, and bought a small house to save a few tens of thousands of yuan.
After moving in, I saw other people's big houses and felt that my house was not good enough in this way or that.
Selling the property to buy a new one would result in a loss, so I have no choice but to make do with what I have, and nothing is going right for me.
In her previous life, Ye Caiping would never have spoken up to remind others of such a thing, lest something go wrong and she be blamed.
But Ye Erquan was her brother, and she wanted to help him, so she kindly persuaded him.
Old Man Ye also said, "Cai Ping is right. Er Quan, build a brick one."
Madam Wei frowned: "Father, little sister... we still need to save the money in the house for Peng'er to get married."
Old Man Ye choked for a moment. If Old Woman Ye were there, she might have already given her daughter-in-law a good scolding.
As his father-in-law, he felt embarrassed to criticize him.
Finally, all I could say was, "Peng'er is only fifteen. It's not too late to wait another year or two. Don't you two both get paid every month? Can't you earn enough for Peng'er's wedding?"
Grandpa Liu glanced at Madam Wei speechlessly and chuckled, "If you have the money, you'll naturally build it well. Even if someone else borrows it, you'll still build it well. Unless you really don't have the ability."
Ye Erquan nodded: "Let's build a brick one! Let's get it right the first time."
Lady Wei was dizzy and confused. She hadn't even had a chance to warm up the 30 taels in her hand before she had to spend most of it!
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