Lu Guilan was even more tempted. She never expected to be able to return to her parents' home after getting married. Naturally, she was looking forward to it. However, she couldn't ignore Shen's feelings, so she asked, "Sister-in-law, are you willing?"
Madam Shen lowered her head: "I will listen to my sister-in-law."
Although it was indeed inappropriate for them to live with their sister-in-law at her parents' home, they knew it was the Lu family's way of showing their appreciation. Moreover, they knew from their journey together that the Lu family members were easy to get along with, and they figured they wouldn't feel uncomfortable living together in the future.
Most importantly, she knew that the Lu family had become wealthy, and that following them might make her life even better.
Lu Guilan knew that her thoughts were the same as hers, so she said directly to Sun Shi, "Okay, let's stay at home for now. When things get better and we save enough money, we'll move out to buy land and build a house."
Then, Mrs. Sun adopted the same attitude as before and asked, "Can you make that decision? Why don't you go ask Tiger's father?"
Lu Guilan didn't expect her mother to hold a grudge like that, and immediately laughed out loud: "It's okay, I can make the decision, he won't disagree, besides, we're not going to live like this forever."
Lu Guilan shared the same idea as He Jiuniang. Rather than borrowing money from her family to build a thatched house and living a very frugal life, it would be better to live with her family first and then build a better house once they had earned some money. That way, they would have hope for the future.
Besides, her own family members are all easy to get along with; there's no such thing as discord between them.
Sun nodded and went to tell the village chief about her plan to build a brick house, and that she wanted to build many houses.
The village chief instinctively looked at Old Man Lu, who was filled with helplessness. He felt that he had no place in the family anymore. His daughter-in-law would go directly to the old woman to discuss matters, and his lifelong reputation was ruined just like that.
Seeing this, the village chief knew things were settled. Just as he was about to ask, He Jiuniang spoke first: "I would like to trouble the village chief to help my family find some hardworking and honest strong men to help build the house. The more the better. The daily wage is fifteen copper coins, without meals. Do you think this price is acceptable?"
This price was something He Jiuniang had considered when she gave the village chief five coins before the work started. In those days, labor costs were low, and cleaning and repair work was easier, so five coins was about right. However, building a house was also physical labor, so she gave him fifteen coins.
Meanwhile, the village chief and other villagers who were watching were also discussing the price. Working in the county town would earn them twenty coins a day, without meals provided. However, walking to the county town was a long and arduous journey, and it would also take time and time. They would also have to spend their own money to buy food occasionally. But working in the village was different. They would walk much less and could go home for meals. All things considered, it was not much different from fifteen coins, so they were very satisfied.
However, because of the joke that Granny Zhang had made before, no one dared to speak carelessly. They looked at the village chief with some anticipation, hoping that he would choose them.
The village chief also had his own selfish motives. Without hesitation, he arranged for his three sons and two sons-in-law to be employed. Then he selected a group of hardworking people from the village. After all, he had taken money from He Jiu Niang, so he couldn't just not do any real work.
He looked sternly at the group of people who had been selected and said, "Since I've chosen you, you need to work diligently and conscientiously. If I find out that any of you are slacking off or doing anything underhanded, don't even think about me choosing you again next time! Do you hear me?"
"I heard you!"
Before long, the women who had gone home to get thatch also arrived. There were many people in the village, so there were quite a few of them. Cui'er and the others bought enough thatch for their own houses to build, and the rest were all bought by the Lu family.
"Isn't this enough?"
Looking at the pile of thatch in front of the Lu family, Cui'er felt a little embarrassed and wanted to share some of the thatch she had bought with them.
He Jiuniang said, "That's enough. We'll just build a few thatched huts for now. We'll buy tiles to build a house later."
People already knew his family was wealthy, so they were no longer surprised.
Every household made money by selling thatch, and most of the men in the families were chosen to help build houses. It was the off-season for farming, so the Lu family building houses at this time was like sending them money, so everyone was very happy.
Only a small number of lazy men, who didn't store thatch at home and weren't selected for the labor selection, went home in a huff.
Once the homestead was secured, it was time to pay the money and write the land deed. The village chief prepared in advance and quickly wrote the land deed and handed it to the head of each family. This time, Sun gave Old Man Lu face by saying that Old Man Lu was the head of the Lu family and asked him to take the land deed and keep it safe.
Then he took the money and had Old Man Lu hand it over to the village chief to prove that he was the head of the family.
Village Chief: ...Then let's pretend I didn't see that the money bag was taken out by the Sun family. You can be happy as you please.
Building the house can't be rushed, since many materials are still unavailable. But the thatched shed needs to be built as soon as possible, so the selected people started working right away. One group went up the mountain to cut down trees, while another group started building. Everyone was busy with their own tasks, and things inexplicably became harmonious.
Since it was convenient for Cui'er and her family to build their thatched houses, they didn't ask the villagers for help. Instead, they asked Lu Fugui and his family to help build theirs first. Once theirs was finished, they would go together to help Lu's family build theirs.
From the beginning to the end of their discussion, none of them mentioned wages, because they felt that it was insignificant compared to the help the Lu family had given them. Moreover, they already owed the Lu family money, so naturally they wouldn't bring it up. They only wanted to repay the Lu family's kindness with their actions.
The eldest and second eldest sons of the Lu family and the Zhang brothers naturally helped build the thatched shed. They just wanted to build one with a roof, and with so many people helping, it could be built before dark.
He Jiuniang handed the puppy to Sun Shi to look after, saying, "Mother, please take care of it. I'm going to the county town to buy some oilcloth."
"Why buy that expensive thing? It won't make it rain!"
Starting today, she'll be spending a lot of money every day, and just thinking about it makes her heart ache, let alone buying things she doesn't need right now.
He Jiuniang didn't explain much, only saying, "It will be useful, you'll find out when the time comes."
After saying that, he untied a horse and galloped away.
The villagers of Anping were stunned. Was this woman really that good at riding a horse?
No wonder she was the one making the decisions all along; she's got real skills!
Now, the villagers held He Jiuniang in even higher regard.
After making the arrangements, the village chief leisurely returned home and then took out the money bag that He Jiuniang had given him to count the money.
"There are sixty-eight coins in total. I didn't expect this family to be so generous!"
The village chief's wife, Liu, said with some surprise, and the village chief nodded with great satisfaction: "Being generous is one thing, but the most important thing is that they are rich but they don't look down on people. They have always been very polite to me and the villagers. I would be happy if a few more families like this came!"
The village chief laughed heartily and said, "His family wants to build a large brick and tile house, which will cost hundreds of taels of silver. Tell the eldest son and the others to work hard and not cause me any trouble. When I send the documents to the county town in a few days, I will definitely find out more about the background of this Lu family!"
Liu agreed, put away the money bag, and her smile widened.
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