Although it's already mid-August, the evenings are a bit cooler than the days, but it's still very hot. Once the heated walls and kang (a traditional heated platform bed) are burning, it's unbearable to stay inside.
Chen Shuning added several large pieces of firewood to the stove connected to the fire wall and the kang (heated brick bed) and then quickly came out.
Because the house would get very hot in the summer if the fire was lit for cooking, Chen Shuning had Shen Dahe build two stoves. One was connected to the fire wall and the kang (heated brick bed) for use in winter, and the other, smaller one, was a separate stove for cooking in the summer when the kang was not lit.
Otherwise, like the old educated youth's houses, it's impossible to stay on the kang (heated brick bed) when cooking is done. Every day, you have to wait until the kang cools down before you can go to sleep, which is really inconvenient.
The water tank that Old Yang helped buy has been placed in the kitchen, and the two newly bought small iron pots have been installed on the stove. The water in one of the pots is bubbling away, and Chen Shuning has to keep an eye on it to make sure the water doesn't boil dry.
Adding firewood and water every now and then, it wasn't much easier than working.
Chen Shuning is quite impatient. In order to move into the new house as soon as possible, she is currently standing on the kang (a heated brick bed) hanging curtains despite the sweltering heat.
The curtain fabric was homespun cloth that Chen Shuning bought while traveling. In addition to the homespun cloth, she also bought a lot of bamboo baskets. She originally planned to use them to package the vegetables and fruits in her space in a high-end way before Singles' Day, but she didn't expect to come here before she even used them.
Fortunately, she didn't care about the price when she bought this handmade item, so that it doesn't feel out of place in this era at all.
The dark blue fabric with small white floral patterns has excellent light-blocking properties. She bought the nails and wires for the curtains at the supply and marketing cooperative; if someone saw her, they would at most say she was a spendthrift.
Looking at the room, which was becoming more and more like a home after the curtains were hung up, Chen Shuning suddenly stopped feeling hot.
Just as he was looking around with satisfaction at how to decorate his little home where he would live for many years to come, Shen Dahe, carrying an old hen, entered the yard.
Without even going inside, he stood in the yard and called out to Chen Shuning, who was standing on the kang (a heated brick bed): "Hey, young Chen, we three brothers feel really bad for accepting so many things from you. My mom asked me to bring you a chicken. See where I can put it?"
Looking out the open window at the still lively old hen that Shen Dahe was carrying in the yard, Chen Shuning hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should accept it. "Brother Shen, those things were originally meant by Lingling and me to thank you for your hard work building the house these past few days. How could we accept your things? You should take the chicken back."
Shen Dahe panicked when he heard that Chen Shuning refused to accept the chicken. If he took the chicken back like that, his mother would skin him alive. He dared not challenge his mother's authority.
So he immediately put on a pained expression and said, "Young Chen, please don't make things difficult for me. If I take this chicken back, my mother will definitely beat me. I'm a man with a son now, and it would be too embarrassing for me to be beaten in front of him."
Upon hearing this, Chen Shuning couldn't help but burst out laughing, thinking that Shen Dahe was indeed honest. Could one really say such a thing?
However, these words made Chen Shuning understand what the captain's wife meant, and he also felt that the captain's family was worth befriending, so he accepted the gift without hesitation, believing that only by exchanging favors could the relationship continue in the long run.
Another reason was that Chen Shuning was thinking that the workers had been coming and going late these past few days while building the house, which had affected the educated youth's rest. Now, giving this chicken to the educated youth was a way to make up for it.
Instead of having Shen Dahe help kill the chicken, they tied it up and left it in the kitchen, waiting for the educated youth to come back from work before delivering it to them.
After seeing Shen Dahe off, Chen Shuning continued tidying up the room. In summer, it gets dark late, so the workday ends a little later. Unless there are special circumstances, they usually finish work at 5:30. Looking at the room, there was still a good half hour before the educated youth finished work.
So Chen Shuning, like a squirrel in winter, went back and forth between the front and back yards, gradually moving all his remaining luggage into the small house.
The furniture for the cottage was delivered when she went to town, and several uncles from Grandpa Wang's family kindly helped Chen Shuning arrange the furniture.
The cabin has a typical structure of a rural house in Northeast China. Because it only has one room, Chen Shuning's cabin is not like Zhong Lingling's and the old house, which have a stove on each side.
Instead, there are two stoves side by side. The outer one is not connected to the fire wall or the kang (heated brick bed), while the inner stove is connected to both the fire wall and the kang.
Next to the two stoves side by side was a large water tank. Beyond the water tank was the bedroom door, and behind the bedroom door, on the wall opposite the kitchen door, was an L-shaped cabinet.
The cabinet has wooden doors on top, where pots, pans, and other utensils are stored. The bottom is a shelf without doors, used to store sauerkraut jars, rice containers, and other jars and pots. Chen Shuning plans to cut some fabric to hang them up later, which will make it look much neater.
Turning the corner, opposite the stove is a row of shelves, similar to a modern kitchen counter, with cutting boards, knives, and various odds and ends on them. Underneath the shelves are washbasins, foot basins, and other miscellaneous items.
It has to be said that Grandpa Wang's craftsmanship is really good. Chen Shuning only gave a general idea of the style of the kitchen cabinets and shelves, and Grandpa Wang made them out exactly as Chen Shuning wanted.
The bedroom furniture was also made with ready-made cabinets. The kang (heated brick bed) was moved over as soon as it was set up, otherwise it would have been inconvenient for people to carry firewood back and forth in the woodshed over there.
Chen Shuning's bedding was neatly folded on the kang cabinet, and Grandpa Wang had also made several compartments for her according to her request.
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