Chapter 49 Chapter 49 Preparing to Renovate the House
By July, the hottest month, the sugar was too hot to solidify into cubes. Miao Ying told Wang the peddler that they would stop making sugar for the time being. Relying on their sugar-selling skills, they had earned about two or three taels of silver in the past six months.
It rained all night last night, and Miao Ying slept against the wall. Huo Xing came back last night, and they stayed up late. The bed was small, and the two of them were close to each other. Huo Xing was like a big furnace, pressed tightly against Miao Ying's body. Miao Ying was sweating when he woke up early.
Miao Ying sighed, sat up from the bed, and looked at Huo Xing with sleepy eyes: "When are we going to build a new house? It's too crowded."
After careful calculation, they felt that they had enough money to build a house, so on this rainy morning, they decided to build a house for their family.
In Miao Ying's memory, if it rained on the first day and was sunny the next day, the mushrooms on the mountain would grow rapidly.
He wiped the sweat off his body, got up and washed his face with cold water. The family still had two meals when he was not working. He put on his backpack, said goodbye to his grandmother and mother, and went up the mountain with Huo Xing to pick mushrooms.
It was extremely hot from the beginning. Miao Ying felt soaked after just a few steps. Walking in the forest was like being trapped in a steamer. He felt like he was about to be cooked.
The heat disappeared without a trace when he saw a bunch of mushrooms. It was like a fairy tale world. There were plump and round mushrooms beside the green grass, and a small pit of water next to it, sparkling in the sunlight.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, carefully picked the mushrooms from the mushroom nest, and then buried the mushroom nest.
In the morning, they picked up a full basket.
Miao Ying was extremely greedy, but he still wanted to make more money. Such delicious food was at its best time to sell, and with the last cooperation, the restaurant owner should be able to give him a better price.
Huo Xing had long seen the greed in Miao Ying's eyes, so he picked out some mushrooms with some defects that looked like they wouldn't sell for a good price from the basket of mushrooms. Miao Ying took advantage of the situation and pretended to refuse, but still happily washed the mushrooms and went to buy some pork belly to make braised pork with mushrooms.
The weather was too hot, and Miao Ying was afraid that the mushrooms would go bad and not sell for a good price, so he asked Huo Xing to go outside and pick a few vegetable leaves, put the mushrooms in a cool room, and covered them with leaves, planning to go out early tomorrow morning to sell them.
The mushrooms are very fresh. They are so delicious that they can make your eyebrows drop with just a simple stir-fry. No other seasoning is needed. The mushroom soup should be served with rice. It is rare for their family to steam rice. Today, for the soup, Miao Ying steamed a pot of rice mixed with polished rice and brown rice.
The thick soup was poured over the rice, turning the originally unpalatable brown rice into a sticky paste. Then they ate the smooth mushrooms and the oily pork belly. The whole pot of rice was quickly eaten up, and even the grandmother, who was suffering from the bitter summer, ate a little more than usual.
Everyone was full after the meal, so Miao Ying made some hawthorn water for them to drink to prevent them from getting indigestion.
The next day, before dawn, Huo Xing woke Miao Ying up. The temperature was just right, with a cool breeze blowing occasionally. Miao Ying woke up and went out of the yard with Huo Xing.
When they reached the town, the sun came out and the temperature gradually rose. It was the same restaurant as last time. The manager still recognized Miao Ying. When he saw the baskets of mushrooms, his eyes widened. "I said it rained the other day, so we have to have some mushrooms."
Miao Ying watched them weighing the goods and chatted with the manager, "How's business lately?"
The manager was grinning from ear to ear. The method Miao Ying had given them last time had indeed improved their business a lot. At least when the whole town was in a slump, they could still have customers. The owner of the restaurant had already rewarded them once, so he, the manager, treated Miao Ying very well.
"Sure, sure." The steward said with a smile, "These mushrooms are fresh today, so I'll definitely give you a high price."
The manager was indeed not being polite and gave a good price. He gave them half a tael of silver for the basket of mushrooms and an extra ten cents for a ride home.
They were not in a hurry to go home. They wanted to find a house repairman in the town and get some preliminary understanding of the house repair process.
When they were leaving the restaurant, they happened to meet Qin Qiang. It happened to be his vacation those two days and he was about to go home. When he heard that they were going to look for craftsmen, he followed them. After all, he was very familiar with the town and was better than Huo Xing and the others who were completely in the dark.
"They built my house," Qin Qiang said. "The quality is good and the price is very reasonable."
Miao Ying expressed his gratitude to Qin Qiang and shared some of his own ideas. Huo Xing just followed suit and thanked him after he finished speaking. He agreed with Miao Ying's ideas.
Qin Qiang smiled and said, "You are different from ordinary couples." At least in their family, when it comes to matters like renovating the house, Ye Feng will only listen to him and will not express any opinions.
"What's the difference?" Miao Ying asked sincerely, "Shouldn't all family matters be discussed together?"
Qin Qiang quickly shook his head: "It's okay, it's okay. You guys are fine this way."
After a while, they arrived at the place where the craftsmen gathered, and Qin Qiang took them to find the bricklayer who had helped their family repair the house.
The man was about thirty years old and was tanned. The person next to him was a little thinner than him and should be his family member.
"What kind of house do you want? A brick house, a wooden house, or a mud house?"
Miao Ying thought for a moment and asked, "What kind of house is sturdy?" He really didn't know much about ancient construction technology.
"They're all solid," the man said. "It depends on how much money you have."
Miao Ying thought for a moment and said, "The most we can come up with is twenty taels to repair the house."
The man nodded. "There are many options. The most practical is to use rammed earth for the walls and wood for the structure."
Miao Ying really didn't know anything about repairing a house, so he could only look at them in confusion.
Huo Xing nodded and told the man about the appearance of the house that Miao Ying had envisioned. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the man had already imagined the appearance of the house they wanted in his mind and drew a picture on the sand on the side.
Miao Ying's eyes lit up, and when he finished drawing, Miao Ying came over and said, "Yes, yes, this is what I want..."
Seeing Miao Ying gesticulating, Qin Qiang raised his eyebrows and looked at Huo Xing. Huo Xing just listened quietly. When others couldn't understand what Miao Ying said, he would help to repeat it.
"If we build it like this, twenty taels of silver will not be enough," said craftsman Li Jun.
"Can you make it more perfect based on this budget?" They couldn't use all their money to renovate the house, after all, they had a big family to support.
"If you're sure you want to build it, I'll have to go and see the land and confirm it," Li Jun said. "You'll have to pay a deposit of thirty cents."
Seeing how reliable he looked, they signed a document and Huo Xing pressed his fingerprints. Li Jun said he would visit their land in two days.
After deciding to renovate the house, they went home with Qin Qiang. After returning home, they told their grandmother and Li Hongying about the plan to renovate the house.
"Xiaobao has grown up and should have his own room. He can't share a room with you guys anymore." Miao Ying said.
"But..." Li Hongying was always worried. Seeing that life at home was getting a little better, if all the money was spent on renovating the house, they would have to return to the old days of fear.
"Mom, if you lose money, you can earn it again." Miao Ying comforted her, "Huo Xing and I are both good at making money."
After hearing what he said, Li Hongying didn't know what to say.
Li Jun came to see the foundation on the third day. Their residential land was neither too big nor too small, and the location was good. The foundation was also stable, so it was not difficult to build a house.
After reading it, he would make a series of preparations and told them what they should do. They would start working after the master calculated an auspicious time.
Soon, word spread throughout Rongshu Village that their family was planning to renovate their house. Ye Feng was the first to arrive, pulling Miao Ying aside and muttering, "How could you just listen to who my family member said was the best? Shouldn't the three families have settled such a big deal so easily?"
"Brother Qin said that your house was built by them, so it shouldn't be a big deal." Miao Ying said with a smile, "Huo Xing and I don't like to compare ourselves with each other, and Foreman Li also likes us."
"Why do we have to renovate the house suddenly? Are there any other difficulties at home?" Ye Feng asked again.
"Everything is fine," Miao Ying said, "but there are some things we don't quite understand, so I'd like to trouble you to teach me."
"Generally speaking, when you repair a house in the village, the people who use it are from your own village. We are all neighbors, and they provide a meal and give a few cents a day."
"Isn't there any worker from the foreman's place?"
"It's expensive." Ye Feng said, "Labor is cheap in the village."
Miao Ying nodded: "I understand. I'll have to trouble you to help me arrange it when the time comes."
"The village has rules for these things, and they're very simple."
After seeing Ye Feng off, Miao Ying found Huo Xing in the house. Seeing that Huo Xing was about to go out, he hurriedly asked him what he was going to do.
Huo Xing said, "We need wood to repair the house. We have to tell the village chief and give him some money."
Although the wood grows in the mountains and anyone can cut it down, they still need to pay for it since they use too much of it to build houses.
Miao Ying nodded: "Okay, then you go."
The house could not be built immediately. They had the most important thing to do. It was July, and it was time to harvest the crops planted in the spring.
Huo Xing did not go to Carpenter Yao during this period. He was the main labor force and was absolutely indispensable at this time.
They had to put the repair of the house on hold for a while. After all, it was harvest season and everyone was busy with work in the fields and had no one to help them with the work.
When it was time to harvest corn, the whole family went out. They originally didn't want Miao Ying to go, but Miao felt that the whole family should work together.
So Huo Xing could only wrap his head and hands tightly. "Corn leaves are sharp. If you touch them, they will make you red and swollen. Why don't you stay behind us and help us collect the picked corn."
Miao Ying nodded.
When he arrived at the field, Miao Ying realized that he didn't have to do what Huo Xing said. Huo Xing carried a basket on his back and picked the corn from the stalks neatly and threw it into the basket on his back. His grandmother and mother did the same.
After they had harvested half of the field, Huo Xing put down his backpack and started carrying corn home with a shoulder pole.
Miao Ying found an opportunity and started to harvest corn. After a while, the basket on his back became too heavy. He could only carry the harvested corn out first, pour it into the basket, and then carry the empty basket back.
Lunch was eaten in a hurry, with no cooked dishes, only dry food and water. Miao Ying untied the cloth on his face and found that his face was still red. After resting, sweat rolled down his face, bringing a burning pain.
At night, Miao Ying felt as if his body was not his own. When he got home, he washed his face with cold water and then drank a large bucket of water. He really didn't have the energy to cook, so he ate dry food again.
The weather was too hot, so there was no need to boil water for a shower. He just rinsed his body with cold water. After returning to the room, Miao Ying collapsed on the bed. When Huo Xing came back, he couldn't even open his eyelids.
Huo Xing walked into the room with a cold look on his face. Miao Ying only opened his eyes vaguely, and then felt a chill on his face. It was Huo Xing who wet the handkerchief and applied a cool compress to him.
Miao Ying sighed, opened his eyes, and found Huo Xing sitting shirtless on the edge of the bed.
He sobered up a little and saw two red and swollen marks on Huo Xing's shoulders: "What happened?"
Huo Xing glanced down and said, "It's okay."
It must be the marks from constantly picking corn. Miao Ying sat up, found the medicine in the bedside table, and helped him apply it: "Although I still have to work tomorrow, at least I'll feel better tonight."
Huo Xing gently squeezed his hand and kissed the back of his hand.
Miao Ying said that he had medicine in his hand, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.
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