Upon hearing this, Chen Shuning chuckled and quickly replied with a smile, "That's wonderful! Captain, to be honest, I've always been in poor health and am particularly sensitive to the cold. So I came here to discuss with Uncle Shen whether he could help me get some bricks. I'd like to build a brick house, but I don't know if bricks and tiles are easy to buy."
Although he didn't want to attract too much attention, Chen Shuning thought about it all night and decided to build a brick house.
It's only 1968 this year, and there are still nearly ten years until the country resumes the college entrance examination. That means she will be living in this place for nearly ten years.
Anyway, she had no plans to return to the city before the college entrance examination. After all, the city was not very peaceful during that movement, and she was a person with secrets.
So, unable to sleep, she thought more and more that she shouldn't skimp on a few dozen yuan to build a mud-brick house. Since she had money in hand, she might as well just build a blue-brick and tile house, which was much sturdier and warmer than a mud-brick house.
However, these bricks and tiles could only be purchased with the approval of the commune, so we had to trouble the brigade leader for help. That's why we made this trip to the brigade leader's house early this morning.
The brigade leader was even happier when he heard that Chen Shuning wanted to build a brick house. He thought that if these two young educated youths could build a bigger house, it would be easier for him to arrange for other educated youths to come. The brigade leader smiled broadly and rubbed his hands together, saying, "Chen, Zhong, you both want to build houses. The price of building two small houses is about the same as building a big one. Why don't you two combine your efforts and build a bigger one?"
Chen Shuning didn't reply to this, but just smiled at the captain. Zhong Lingling, on the other hand, was not happy about it.
She spent money to build the house so she could live alone and have a convenient place to cook something nice for Wenqi to nourish his body. If the house is too big, what if other educated youth come and have nowhere to stay, and they have to be put in her room? Do you think she should let her have it or not?
Thinking of this, Zhong Lingling no longer cared about being shy and retorted directly, "That won't do, Captain. I spent money to build a house because I don't want to be crammed into one room with so many people. If I have to share a room with others, then what's the point of spending money to build a house? I might as well just stay at the educated youth settlement."
Embarrassed by Zhong Lingling's words, Shen Baogen felt too embarrassed to bring up the idea of the two of them building a big house together again, but he still felt a little regretful.
The money for building two small houses is enough to build a big one. If more educated youth come, he can squeeze a few more people in.
With a sigh of regret, he said helplessly, "Alright, then let's build two small ones. Zhong, do you plan to build a brick house like Chen, or a mud-brick house?"
Zhong Lingling, who was not short of money, answered without thinking, "Of course, I'll build a brick house. It doesn't make much difference in price."
Zhong Lingling's words made Shen Baogen and Wan Guixiang click their tongues in disbelief. A few dozen yuan wasn't much, but this Zhong educated youth was really rich. They wondered what kind of family she came from to give such a young girl so much money.
You have to understand that people in the village rarely earn more than a few dozen yuan a year, yet these two young educated youths were able to come up with several dozen yuan to build a house.
Although he felt that the two were wasting money, Shen Baogen didn't show it on his face at all. He looked at them with a smile and said, "No problem, there's a brick factory in the commune. I'll go to town in a bit and try to bring all the bricks and tiles back for you today."
Then Shen Baogen turned to his wife and said, "Go and wake up the eldest son and tell him to go find someone. He'll start digging the foundation at the educated youth compound in a little while. We'll use the pile of stones in the brigade headquarters for the foundation."
"By the way, girls, are you planning to use clay or cement for this house? Clay is available in the village and it's free, but cement might be a bit more expensive."
Chen Shuning thought that since he had already built it, and people would be envious anyway, he might as well build it well. So after thinking for a moment, Chen Shuning replied, "I'll use cement for mine. Captain, can you tell me how much it will cost? I'll give you the money directly in a bit. Also, Captain, I'm really afraid of the cold, so could you make the four exterior walls of this house thicker?"
Besides the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), I'd also like to build a fire wall between the kitchen and the bedroom. What do you think?
There was no way around it; although Chen Shuning was also from the North in his previous life, he was genuinely afraid of the cold.
“Okay, why not? Tell me what kind of house you want to build in a bit, and I’ll calculate how much material you’ll need.”
Chen Shuning had already decided on the style of the house, so he replied directly: "I just want to build a small house that I can live in by myself, plus a small kitchen. Captain, you see, we don't know much about building houses, so we can only contribute money. We'll have to trouble you to help us with the rest."
Since it was a two-person project building the house, Chen Shuning couldn't make the decision on his own. So after saying that, he looked at Zhong Lingling and asked, "Lingling, what do you think?"
Zhong Lingling, who knew nothing about these things, readily agreed, "I don't know anything about these things. Shuning, you're more thoughtful than me, so you can make the decisions. By the way, I'll also use cement. It's okay to spend a little more money, as long as the house is comfortable. I want to build two rooms plus a kitchen. It doesn't need to be too big, just enough for one or two people in each room."
Hearing his girlfriend's words, Wang Wenqi felt a headache coming on, but he only looked at Zhong Lingling with doting eyes, without any hint of resentment. He secretly decided that he would have to find some time to talk to Lingling about how she was likely to attract jealousy.
When the brigade leader heard Zhong Lingling say that she wanted to build two rooms, his brows furrowed involuntarily. He assumed that Zhong Lingling was building two rooms so that she could live with Wang Wenqi.
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