The entrance to the ancestral hall is particularly lively.
Forty or fifty women came to bring money to repair the bundles. They had all been short-changed before, and now they came to make up for it.
White rice, corn, white flour, eggs... and cloth for making clothes, all kinds of things are piled on the bluestone slab, like a hill.
The women in the village were afraid that Cheng Zhao wouldn't want it, so they dropped their things and left.
Cheng Zhao's mood was a little complicated. He said slowly: "Da Shan, help you get everything back."
Shen Zheng and Ah Fu also helped carry the things, and a group of seven people transported a lot of things back to Cheng Wanwan's yard.
It was so lively there, Cheng Wanwan naturally knew that it was the villagers who paid the repair fee.
She did some inventory and found that there were sixty kilograms of white rice, one hundred and twenty kilograms of corn, more than twenty eggs, a piece of pork, and seven or eight pieces of fine linen. Together, these items were worth close to one tael of silver.
Cheng Zhao deserves this.
She said: "Zhao'er, you sell these rice and millets to me, and I'll give you the market price. You keep the money as payment."
Cheng Zhao shook his head: "I have a way to pay for the exam expenses. Give this money to Li Zheng and let Li Zheng use it to build the school."
He copied books every day, and one book was worth a hundred words. If he was more diligent, he could copy three or four books a month, and he could collect the travel expenses.
Dahe Village needs this money more than he does. Without a school, the children will never be able to study well.
Cheng Wanwan looked at him with approval in her eyes. She really saw the right person. Her nephew was so outstanding, so excellent that she really didn't know what to say.
She pressed his shoulder and said: "Li Zheng has decided to gather the villagers to collectively build an adobe school. If you don't need the money, you can keep it yourself. Don't think that you can go to Huzhou to rush for the exam with just three to five taels of silver. You will spend it when the time comes." There’s plenty of room for money.”
She asked the children to move everything into the house and put it away, and then went to the wasteland to watch the progress of building the house.
There is strength in numbers. With the joint efforts of forty or fifty people, the foundation has been dug, and the green bricks from the town have also been delivered. The foundation is built with green bricks, and seven or eight experienced men are responsible for repairing it. The others were laying adobe on the built foundation. This was not a technical job, and all the men in the village could do it. More than 20 people came together, and in just three or four days, the walls were slowly erected one by one.
After the prototype of the wall came out, the villagers realized how big Cheng Wanwan's yard was.
An outer wall surrounds the courtyard. There are more than a dozen rooms in the courtyard, and each room is very spacious.
"These rooms are not for people to live in, they are kitchens, latrines, and bathhouses." Cheng Wanwan explained with a smile, "These are the rooms where people really live. My sons are all grown up and are about to get married. If you can’t afford a bigger house, what will you do if you can’t live in it in the future? You can’t borrow land from others to live in.”
"Dashan Niang is really rich. Isn't it just a hut for shitting? Why build such a big one? There is no place to spend the money." Mrs. Zhang mingled in the crowd, her voice was full of sourness, "You even built a special room to take a bath. , I don’t know if Mr. Wang’s wife is so particular about it.”
Cheng Wanwan twitched the corners of her lips: "Speaking of which, Granny Zhang's family is more particular. Otherwise, why would our Master Zheng not live in Uncle Li Zheng's house but have to live in the Zhang family?"
As soon as this was mentioned, the onlookers looked at Madam Zhang with eyes full of gossip.
It has been four or five days since the incident involving Master Zheng, and no one from the Zheng family has come to deal with the aftermath. I wonder how the Li family will deal with this spoiled yellow flower girl.
Mrs. Zhang's face was dark. It was okay if she didn't mention this matter, but she got angry when it was mentioned.
That day, Master Zheng was staying at her home, and he obviously also liked Xiuhong, so she asked Xiuhong to seduce her. Unexpectedly, it was already cooked, and she was afraid that Master Zheng would not admit it. After the two of them achieved good things, She kicked open the door of the house, intending to force Master Zheng to promise to marry her on the spot. Unexpectedly, Master Zheng called his servant in, put on his clothes and ran away.
The Zheng family refuses to admit their debt, and Xiuhong is looking for life and death every day. She doesn't know what to do next.
People in the village laugh at her all day long, okay, then she will go to Fenghuang Town tomorrow. Anyway, it is the Zheng family that is causing the big embarrassment. She is barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes.
Mrs. Zhang tossed her sleeves and left.
The people in the village kept talking. One moment they said Master Zheng was pitiful, another moment they said Li Xiuhong was shameless, and finally they scolded Granny Zhang for delaying her own niece in order to cling to rich people.
After the discussion was over, these people continued to focus on Cheng Wanwan's house.
Cheng Wanwan was discussing with Zhao Anjiang how to build the earthen kang.
She has read books on this subject carefully in the past few days and has memorized some key points. The earthen kang requires a lot of skills. The design is the most common type in modern times. The kang must be sealed to ensure that no smoke leaks. This It is the most basic. A wind-blocking wall must be built where the stove exhausts smoke, and there must be a wind-facing wall where the chimney is...
An earthen kang was slowly built in the main house.
Some villagers couldn't understand and gathered around curiously.
Zhao Mazi said: "I say Dashan Niang, your family shouldn't be so poor that you can't afford to get out of bed, right? You use adobe to build a bed. How do you sleep like this?"
Mrs. Zhu said with a smile: "When people get older, they like to sleep on hard beds, otherwise their backs will hurt. You will know it when you are my age."
"This is a Tukang, and the passage in the middle is used for burning firewood and exhausting smoke..." Cheng Wanwan explained carefully, "I am more afraid of the cold than most people. When winter comes, I feel like half of my life is gone, so I want to find a way Keep yourself warm. If you are as afraid of the cold as me, you can build an earthen kang at home."
People in the south generally survive the winter by stomping their feet, and this has been the case for thousands of years. When she was in the orphanage, she also relied on stamping her feet to get through the winter.
Later, she achieved some success. She could turn on the heating at home, and the company also had central air conditioning. It was difficult for her to survive the winter with integrity.
She tried hard to make herself comfortable.
Many men in the village are not afraid of the cold, and since it is still early autumn, they cannot think of the long term, so they do not take this matter seriously.
Only some women who are giving birth are more concerned about it. After a woman gives birth, if she does not sit well during the confinement period, she will slowly start to feel chills. This is a common problem that many women have. Once winter comes, the chills will become worse. Seriously, even if the hands and feet are cold, the lower abdomen and lower back are also cold. Women can't forget that feeling.
Four or five women gathered around Cheng Wanwan to ask some details, planning to let the men in the family build a simple earthen kang when they were done with their work.
Cheng Wanwan was explaining to everyone when Zhao Orion hurried over and said: "Dashan Niang, I just went to Lijiagou. The pregnant wild goat is still there. If you really want it, you can go and see it now." look."
Cheng Wanwan smiled broadly, her luck was so good, she really got what she wanted.
She washed her hands and followed Zhao Orion.
A group of women behind him couldn't help but talk about it.
"I heard that she was worried that Dashan's wife would have no milk, so she asked Orion Zhao to find the female goat."
"I have to say that Dashan Niang is such a good mother-in-law. Why didn't I notice it before?"
"That girl from the Wu family really married the right person. She has a honest and honest man like Dashan, and a mother-in-law like Dashan who cares about her daughter-in-law."
"It's not too early to say anything. If Dashan's wife gives birth to a girl, I think Dashan will regret bringing back a female goat."
"That's not possible. Dashan Niang gave birth to four sons in a row. Their family is destined to have sons."
"It's impossible to tell this kind of thing."
"..."
