After paying the money to order the earthen bricks and gray tiles, Gu Yanzhang brought his father, mother and eldest son to the Jiang family in Tongzhen every day to pick up his own earthen bricks and gray tiles.

Gu Yanzhang knew the rules of the Jiang family. If he asked the Jiang family to deliver everything his family needed, he would have to pay an extra amount of money according to the distance and difficulty of the road conditions.

Tongzhen, Chenjia Village, and Gujiagang are dozens of kilometers apart!

The road is winding and there are potholes everywhere on rainy days. It is really difficult to walk on the road. Therefore, Gu Yanzhang thought that he might as well bring all the bricks and tiles back with him.

In order to save a lot of money, Gu Yanzhang went out to pick up the tiles every day. Chen Xuanxuan racked her brains and made some delicious food for them, trying to make sure everyone had enough.

Just when Chen Xuanxuan was wondering how long it would take to get the bricks and tiles back, her eldest brother learned that her family was going to build a new house.

After visiting in person, Chen Daming started to scold her.

"There's such a big thing going on at home, why didn't you tell me?"

"No matter how great I am, your brother, I will still help you, right?"

Seeing that Chen Daming seemed to be in a bad mood at the moment, Chen Xuanxuan said awkwardly, "Brother, don't I see that you look very busy?"

"You haven't been to my house for some time. I was worried about my sister-in-law's illness. I always felt that these things at home were really nothing. So, I thought, it wouldn't hurt to let my family bring back the bricks and tiles little by little. After all, my family has very few houses to renovate. With the little money on hand, we can only build a new house at most."

Hearing his third sister say this, Chen Daming's face lightened up a little.

He had mistakenly thought that his third sister didn't consider him as her own!

Thinking that everyone in Chenjia Village had known about their family's movements, Chen Daming said to her directly, "Third sister, since you only plan to build a new house, then this matter is easy to handle!"

"I will bring your brothers and nephews over tomorrow. More than 20 people can help you get this done in ten days or half a month."

Hearing this, Chen Xuanxuan was also very happy.

"Brother, thank you so much."

After asking him to stay and eat a bowl of hot and sour potato and egg soup noodles, Chen Xuanxuan sent him out.

With the help of more than 60 people called by her mother's family, they picked up the more than 200 earthen bricks and several hundred gray tiles that the Chen family left at the Jiang family the next night.

Through this incident, Chen Xuanxuan deeply realized what it means that there is strength in numbers.

It took more than half a month for Gu Yanzhang, his parents, and Gu Dazhu to just get the earthen bricks and gray tiles back!

How could a normal person endure such a long time and such tiring work? The

reason why Gu Yanzhang and the other four did not complain about being tired now was because they did not work for a long time. If it took longer, they would definitely get tired and have a lot of problems.

...

After Chen Daming and his friends helped to transport the earth bricks and tiles back, they began to help build the new house.

Digging the foundation, tamping the earth, making drainage ditches, digging mud and sand... Chen Daming and his friends did it in an orderly manner.

The things that country people value most are just those few things. Getting married, having children, farming, repairing houses, doing corvée labor, doing odd jobs, making money...

Apart from these, there seems to be nothing else new.

However, today, those who came to help from Chenjia Village and Gujiagang also saw the excitement.

Because Chen Xuanxuan has repeatedly said that the foundation of her house must be built higher.

It is best to be more than half a meter above the horizon.

In addition, she also wants to build the house higher.

Chen Daming saw that she asked for too much, and after thinking about it, he could only do as she asked when building the new house.

After all, who calls his sister a real person?

Two meals a day. There is meat and fish in every meal.

If he doesn't bring everyone together to do her a good job, does he still have a conscience?

Chen Daming is a real person, and the other relatives who came to help are also real people.

In the eyes of those people, Chen Daming is still a capable person. You can't offend him no matter what you do.

With the help of nearly seventy men and women, the mud brick house carefully designed by Chen Xuanxuan was completely built in just one month.

Dozens of wooden beams that were painted with tung oil and varnished were purchased by the Gu family at a cost of three taels of silver after shopping around in Tongzhen!

In the area where Chen Xuanxuan lives, everyone is very particular about wooden beams.

Because in their opinion, no matter how many years the house is occupied, the wooden beams must be used for at least a hundred years. If the beams of someone's house break, then their family will definitely be in big trouble and something very bad will happen.

Everyone believes this, so there are still many merchants selling wooden beams in Tongzhen and the county town.

The beams that Chen Xuanxuan bought this time are neither good nor bad. As a person with particularly rich life experience, Chen Daming personally checked them.

As long as these beams are properly preserved, it is no problem to use them for a hundred years.

After the new house was built, Chen Xuanxuan had to pay a sum of money. According to the local customs, she invited those who came to help to have a drink. She also distributed a lot of melon seeds and wedding candies in Chenjia Village, Gujiagang.

At the end of September, Chen Xuanxuan chose an auspicious day and officially moved into the new house. She found that she not only had no money on hand. She even owed her eldest brother more than two taels of silver!

Building a new adobe house, plus the money for two kangs, cost nearly ten taels of silver in total. Chen Xuanxuan really felt that this money was like flowing water. It was really easy to spend...

Thinking of this, Chen Xuanxuan couldn't help turning her head and carefully looking at Gu Yanzhang next to her.

Seeing Gu Yanzhang

's cheerful look at this moment, she couldn't help but shake her head. He was born to be an optimist...

She had lived with him for half a year, and it seemed that she had never seen him look at her with a resentful face.

"Yanzhang, we are living in a new house now, are you happy?"

Gu Yanzhang listened, looked around the house where he was sleeping, crossed the threshold, and walked to the room where the children slept. He nodded heavily. "Wife, I'm happy."

"This house is spacious and well-planned. It faces south. The clan leader said that the feng shui is good. I think our family will definitely get better and better in the future."

Seeing his smiling face, Chen Xuanxuan was also deeply moved. She nodded happily, "That's right."