After Aunt Zhou finished helping out, she said to Jiang Yuwei:
"Yuwei, you can't cook here, why don't you come to my place for dinner tonight?"
Jiang Yuwei quickly waved her hand and said:
"You've already gone to so much trouble, Aunt Zhou. We went to the market today and bought some food, enough for dinner. You should go back and rest; you've been helping us all day."
Seeing Jiang Yuwei say this, Aunt Zhou thought for a moment and then whispered in her ear:
“Yuwei, I shouldn’t have said this, but I’ve been holding it in for so long. After you went to the market today, Chen Guixiang brought Sun Shi to your house. They even climbed over the wall and went inside, looking for something. I wanted to come out and stop them, but Uncle Cai insisted that I not get involved in your family’s affairs, since they are your mother-in-law and sister-in-law. So I went back inside. When I came out again, your house was already on fire.”
Upon hearing Aunt Zhou's words, Jiang Yuwei's expression immediately turned cold. Even though they had separated their households, they were still afraid that she would live a good life and came to cause trouble time and time again. It seemed that she really couldn't let them off easily.
Seeing that Jiang Yuwei looked unwell, Aunt Zhou quickly waved her hand and said:
“Yuwei, I really didn’t mean to not help you. You know your mother-in-law is very unreasonable. I’m afraid, afraid of being entangled by her.”
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei quickly grabbed Aunt Zhou's hand and said with a smile:
"Aunt Zhou, what are you saying? You've already helped us a lot. I know you're going through a lot. You should go back and rest. Thank you so much for today."
Seeing Jiang Yuwei's reaction, Aunt Zhou nodded in relief and went back.
Jiang Yuwei pushed Ning Huaizhi into the house, and smiled helplessly as she looked at the open roof:
“We’re going to suffer a bit tonight. My bamboo bed is burned to ashes. The four of us will squeeze together on the kang (heated brick bed). We don’t have blankets, but sleeping together will keep us warm. I’ll heat up the kang first, then we can eat some food and go to sleep.”
Ning Huaizhi looked at the house with heartache, then said to Jiang Yuwei:
“Yuwei, you’ve suffered since you came with me. I just regret that you’ve built this house bit by bit, and now it’s all gone.”
Jiang Yuwei patted Ning Huaizhi on the shoulder and said with a smile:
"It's alright, we're going to build a big house anyway. This time I'll definitely build a big and safe house, and I'll make sure no thieves break in again."
Ning Huaizhi's eyes darkened upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words:
"Yuwei, are you saying that this fire was caused by someone?"
Jiang Yuwei smiled reassuringly at Ning Huaizhi and said:
"Don't think about it too much, I'll go heat the kang first."
Jiang Yuwei took firewood, added water, and started heating the kang (a heated brick bed). Fortunately, she had stored the willow leaf buns in her spatial storage yesterday, so she could take them out to eat now. She also carried the silver with her in her spatial storage; otherwise, Chen Guixiang and Sun Shi would have taken them all when they came to search the house today.
She had never imagined that Chen Guixiang and Sun Shi were so inherently evil; today, unable to find their belongings, they even burned down their house. She was certain she would not let them off the hook.
Jiang Yuwei quickly heated the kang (a traditional heated bed), which was now much warmer. She added a few more pieces of wood and a large pot of water to the stove, intending to keep the kang burning all night, otherwise, without a roof or blankets, they would definitely freeze.
Ning Zhao and Ning Wan were still sobbing softly. After all, they were just children and had never seen such a scene before. Their beloved home had been burned to the ground, so naturally they couldn't accept it.
Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei handed each of the two children a large steamed bun and smiled:
"You two little crybabies, stop crying. Tomorrow we're going to build a big house. Eat up, you'll have energy to help build the house tomorrow."
Ning Zhao looked up at Jiang Yuwei with teary eyes and whispered:
"Mom, are we really going to build a house?"
Jiang Yuwei patted Ning Zhao's head and smiled:
"Of course, not only should we build it, but we should build a very big house."
Ning Zhao chuckled upon hearing this, and a snot bubble popped out of his nose. Jiang Yuwei quickly wiped it off for him with a handkerchief. Ning Wan laughed when she saw her brother laugh, and the two children went back to eating their big steamed buns.
Ning Huaizhi felt a surge of warmth as he watched Jiang Yuwei treat the two children with tenderness. This woman was indeed remarkable; she never complained even in adversity. Instead, she became the backbone of the family time and time again, making him, the man, seem somewhat superfluous.
Ning Huaizhi smiled wryly as he thought about it and began to eat the steamed bun in his hand. He wanted to eat more too, as he would help build the house tomorrow. Now that he had a wheelchair, it would be much easier for him to move around.
After the family of four finished eating, they squeezed together and slept for the night.
In the morning, Jiang Yuwei got up early and took out all the ingredients she needed for the day from her space when no one was around. After she was ready, the village head arrived with a large group of people.
Jiang Yuwei first poured water for everyone, then said to the village head:
"Today, we mainly need to repair the roof first, and then help me build a stove with a cooking pot in the yard, right here at the kitchen entrance. Later, I plan to dig a new foundation and build a large house on each side of this small house, and then build two side rooms directly on both sides. I plan to build a large wall around the two acres of wasteland behind as a backyard, and also build a large wall around the yard in front. We need to build large rain shelters on both sides of the entrance and in front of the house. Please help me build a pigsty and a chicken coop behind the house. I'll have to trouble you all for this."
The village head frowned upon hearing Jiang Yuwei's words and whispered:
"Eldest daughter-in-law, building like this will cost a lot of money, you..."
Jiang Yuwei smiled at the village head and said:
"Don't worry, village head, I've prepared the money. Just let everyone do their best to help me with the work, and I won't skimp on food or wages."
After saying this, village head Jiang Yuwei assigned tasks to everyone and got them to work.
Ning Huaizhi also wanted to do some physical labor, but Jiang Yuwei stopped him:
“Huaizhi, we’ve invited everyone to help out today, so as the hosts, we should naturally take good care of everyone’s meals. You, Ning Zhao, and Ning Wan can help me cook.”
Ning Huaizhi thought Jiang Yuwei's words made sense, so he nodded and started helping her chop vegetables.
Ning Wan was in charge of washing the vegetables, Ning Zhao was in charge of starting the fire, and Jiang Yuwei was naturally in charge of cooking.
Everyone was busy chatting and laughing. Chen Guixiang and Old Man Ning were on their way to work in the fields when they happened to pass by and saw the scene in Ning Huaizhi's courtyard. Both of them were shocked.
Chen Guixiang stared at the courtyard, muttering to herself:
"Where did they get the money to repair the house? I couldn't find it yesterday."
Old Man Ning, unaware of what had happened, wanted to go and see, but Chen Guixiang grabbed him, glaring at him angrily:
"Mind your own business. We've already separated our households, so it's none of our concern to interfere in his family's affairs. Are you not going to do the work in the fields anymore?"
Seeing that Chen Guixiang was angry, Old Man Ning didn't say anything more. He just glanced at the courtyard and walked away with his head down.
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