The family of three took the silver and returned to their room, where they were planning how many things to buy and how many rooms to build.
While listening, Li Yan drew the house she wanted on paper.
Lin said, "We still need to build a kitchen, and a toilet will be enough."
Li Erlang said, "Two rooms are not enough."
He touched Lin's belly and said, "There's another one here! If you forget about this one, he might accuse you of being partial."
Mrs. Lin couldn't help but laugh when she heard her husband say this: "It's too early to prepare this. Even when she grows up, she can still sleep with Yan'er."
Li Yan ignored her parents' nagging and handed them the simple blueprint she had drawn: "Don't move the original two rooms. We need to build four more."
Lin asked, "But our house is so small, how can we build a big house?"
Li Erlang thought for a moment and said, "We have two mu of low-quality farmland next to our house. If we fence off one mu of it, it's more than enough to build a house."
After hearing what her father said, Li Yan immediately said, "This is just enough for us to build a house and a large yard." She really didn't like others being able to see her house from the outside. There was no privacy at all, let alone safety.
After the three of them discussed the blueprint, Li Erlang got up and went to find Li Dalang.
He wanted to finish building the house as soon as possible so that she would have time to go to the bookstore to copy books and review her previous knowledge.
Soon Li Erlang found Li Dalang.
Li Erlang said to his eldest brother, "Brother, please go to the village and hire five people to help me build a house. I'll pay them twelve cents a day, plus lunch."
Upon hearing his brother's words, Li Dalang immediately assured him, "Leave this matter to me, don't worry. I know who in the village works hard and who likes to slack off."
This time, at Li Yan's insistence, Li Erlang decided to do it in one go and directly build a few new houses. The previous two houses not only often leaked on rainy days, but also had cracks in the walls. It was a good opportunity to renovate them all.
There is no particular requirement for building a house in the countryside. You just need to lay the corners of the wall and use homemade bricks made from earth. As for the roof, you can cover it with thatch and renovate it regularly every year.
These actually don’t cost much money. The biggest expense is just the wages for hiring villagers to do the work.
Li Dalang went to a familiar family and found five people to come over. The five people readily agreed. Everyone was short of money at the moment, and it was hard to find a job that paid wages and provided food.
When people in the village heard that Li Erlang's family was going to build a house, offering not only twelve cents a day but also a free lunch, many people rushed to come. They had to remember that working in town now only paid ten cents a day, and one had to bring their own food. Even such a job was out of their reach.
At one time, several people came to Old Man Li and wanted to get in through the back door. Some even said that as long as they were given a meal, they would be fine without any wages.
Old Man Li approached Li Erlang and said, "There are other people in the village who would like to come and help build our house. Some even offer free meals."
Li Erlang thought for a moment and said, "Since I said twelve cents a day, I must keep my word! We can hire as many people as we want. I'll feel more at ease if the work is finished quickly."
In this way, Li Erlang's family hired eight helpers in the village, plus Li Laodi and Li Dalang, a total team of ten people.
The wages are twelve cents per person as mentioned before, including lunch.
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