The doghouse was next to the woodshed, the two were right next to each other, and when they were built, they just had to put up a wall in the middle to separate them.
Lu Chuan plans to use tiles as the roof for this firewood shed instead of thatching it, which will save him the trouble of frequently replacing it later.
If all goes well, the woodshed will not be demolished after it is built, and the layout of the house will not change much.
"Are these still being built the same way as before?" the Taoist priest asked.
Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan checked the materials and replied, "No, we'll build it the same way we built houses before, making it as sturdy as possible so it will last longer."
"In that case, I'm afraid we won't have enough roof tiles in the house."
"It's alright. When we went to the county town last time, didn't we inquire about buying bricks and tiles? We can build the main beam with bamboo and wood. If we don't have enough tiles for the top, we can buy them when we go to pick up the boat."
Xu Han looked at the already planned layout and said, "Building the woodshed and doghouse together won't make it very big. After building it like this, will there still be some empty space next to it? Should we build that space to store miscellaneous items?"
"That's exactly what I was thinking, so I prepared extra materials. We'll build it together and use it as a storage room."
"Yes, we can temporarily store things we don't need at home here, which saves us from piling them all up inside the house."
“Okay, then I’ll include these open spaces in the plan, and build them all from the chicken coop to the other side, dividing them into individual rooms. We can change what to put in them later.”
“That works too. It’s just a matter of adding a few more pieces of wood. Let’s build it together. It won’t take much trouble,” the Taoist priest said, agreeing with the two.
Now, thanks to Lu Chuan's long-term training, the dogs in the house can get along peacefully with the chickens, ducks, geese, donkeys, and cows.
At least it won't be as chaotic as before.
Otherwise, the group wouldn't have dared to move the doghouse to the backyard.
Actually, it's not accurate to say the doghouse is in the backyard, because most of the time the dogs lie in the porch in the front yard.
The dogs only go back to their kennels when the weather is cold.
Since the number of dogs in the family has increased, Xu Han no longer lets the dogs stay inside during the winter, because there are simply too many dogs to fit in.
So later on, Lu Chuan built a doghouse in the front yard.
However, as the dogs have grown bigger, their current kennel has become a bit cramped, so this time we moved it directly to the backyard.
The newly built doghouse is much larger than the old one, and more importantly, it's much taller, no longer as low as before where people couldn't even fit inside.
Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest were building a house in the backyard. Xu Han watched for a while and then went to the front yard to work on her own.
The vegetables grew exceptionally well in May, and a large quantity of them were ripe and ready for harvest.
Xu Han first went outside the yard and picked all the ripe vegetables from the vegetable garden.
Then I washed the vegetables that I had picked and took some out of the space.
Today's main task is to replenish the family's stock of pickled vegetables.
The last time Xu Han made pickled vegetables was three years ago, before the drought. She made a lot of pickled cucumbers, pickled chili peppers and other small pickled vegetables.
We ran out of all the pickled vegetables we had at home a while ago, and now we only have some pickled bamboo shoots and other things that we made recently.
Because she's been quite busy lately, Xu Han hasn't had time to do these things.
I happened to have some free time today, so I did all of these at once.
Of course, this time we definitely won't be doing several years' worth of usage all at once.
There won't be any more food shortages in the future. We grow vegetables at home every year, so we'll cook less this year and continue cooking when we run out next year.
After washing the vegetables, Xu Han went to the backyard to scrub the jars used for pickling clean.
I didn't make many pickled vegetables this time, and many jars are now empty.
Xu Han bought a lot of these jars and pots back then, and used them to store things during the famine years; she used almost all of them.
As the food was gradually eaten up, many jars and pots became empty.
Fearing the dogs at home would break them if they were left outside, Xu Han simply piled them all up in the room where Yunhua used to live.
Once the storage room is finished, we can put all these things in, saving us from taking up a perfectly good room.
After finishing all that, Xu Han ate a cucumber she had just washed and walked to the backyard. "It only took a short while, and all the supports were buried. You two are really fast workers."
"Haha, of course! The materials were all prepared in advance, so we can get things done quickly."
After finishing the cucumber in her hand, Xu Han clapped her hands and helped with the task.
Lu Chuan pointed to the bamboo next to him and said, "Wife, could you please hand me that bamboo?"
"Okay, is this it?" Xu Han asked, picking it up.
"Yes, just hand it to me carefully."
And so Xu Han resumed her work as a helper until it was time to prepare lunch. Only then did she stop and turn to the kitchen to cook lunch.
When we're not busy, we prepare three meals a day at home as usual.
Although the space can store food, it feels strange to always eat the food from the space and never cook at home.
It lacked any sense of everyday life and didn't seem like a family living a normal life.
So the family unanimously decided to prepare three meals a day as usual to improve their quality of life.
Although it's a bit tiring, it would be really boring if I didn't even cook.
In ancient times, there were not many forms of entertainment, and people couldn't just sit around eating and waiting to starve. Xu Han didn't like that kind of life, and neither did anyone else.
A home should have a homely atmosphere, and three meals a day are the best way to reflect that feeling.
Of course, during busy farming seasons, or when she doesn't want to cook or doesn't have time to cook for other reasons, Xu Han will directly provide everyone with the food from her space.
After all, you can't be too hard on yourself. If you're already exhausted, having to cook is just making yourself suffer when there's no suffering to be had.
"Dinner is ready, come and eat."
"Coming, coming, Mother, I'm here."
When Xu Han called for dinner, Mu'er was the first to run.
It's obvious that he's been studying all morning and can't sit still anymore, and he must be hungry since he hasn't eaten anything all morning.
"Go wash your hands first, then go to the backyard and call your father and Taoist priest grandfather back for dinner," Xu Han said to Mu'er while serving the dishes.
"Okay, Mommy, I'm going to wash my hands." After saying that, she ran off happily.
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