The strong laborers who were busy working in the new house greeted Xu Youliang and Dali one after another.
"Second brother, is that your brother-in-law? Why haven't you seen him before?"
"Yes, uncle, he doesn't come often. It's too far. He only comes every two years.
Dali, you have to call this Uncle Cao. Have you heard of the four major surnames in our village? Uncle Cao is one of them.
Thanks to Uncle Cao who has been guarding this large area of rooms. Without Uncle Cao, it would not have been possible to build it so quickly. It all depended on him. "
Dali really knew the family of the Cao family: "I heard that my uncle and his family together have more than a hundred families. What's rare is that they are not separated into families. It is said in other villages that none of the children born below have been lost. In these ten miles Hachimura is indeed a wealthy family."
Dali's words are the greatest compliment to the head of the family.
Because in these days, the food, clothing, housing and transportation of every family look similar. They all eat the same vegetables and wear patched clothes.
But it can support more than a hundred people, and it can also raise children here who are weak and sick from birth, and not one of them is taken away and thrown away. This completely represents the prosperity of the Cao family. The fact that the Cao family is not divided also shows that they are very united.
And teamwork is also a type of strength. When a father and son fight against a tiger, they have to rely on their brothers.
Everyone in the area praises me like this.
I heard Uncle Cao happily placing tiles on the roof: "You will move around more often in the future, and will you help your brother-in-law here for a while? Come over tomorrow after finishing your work, let us have a drink."
"Okay, thank you uncle."
Xu Youliang grabbed his brother-in-law and introduced Wang Yusheng: "This is brother Yusheng. My brother and I grew up together as children. When my brother was here, they were better than me."
Wang Yusheng smiled and patted Dali on the shoulder and said, "Good boy, this is really a real in-law visit. Look at the relatives in the houses nearby. Real relatives of my aunt's family have finally arrived."
Wang Yusheng's words were true. The five families who individually bought wasteland to build houses have had many relatives come to the village one after another since the rainy and windy day. They came to the village to ask if they could help. Because everyone knows that Erdaohe guards the river and is busy building houses.
Like his family, his father-in-law and his uncle and brother-in-law came with all the rations on their shoulders. His Wang cousins and relatives from other villages are also in place.
For example, several girls and uncles who were married outside the Wan family also came. When they entered the village, they would yell at their necks: "Father-in-law, is everything okay at home?"
Even a handsome man, a son-in-law who came to the house, who was still clamoring for divorce a few days ago, was able to call two marginal relatives and said that he only needed to let Mei Zhuang do the work, and then the handsome man would be responsible for cooking. Plus doing collective work in the village.
Not to mention Uncle Li Zheng's family.
Uncle Li Zheng's younger brother and his family were taken to the village by Liu Jingdong's bullock cart as soon as they arrived in town to help Mrs. Pepper harvest autumn cabbage. In this season, no matter how awesome you are as a student or someone else, you still have to go back to your hometown to collect cabbage first.
So it was really only the Xu family who bought a large piece of wasteland to build a house on their own, and no one came to help.
If it hadn't been for the wind and rain, Capt. Zhao in the town was worried about the Xu family. He specially sent his men to the village to ask, only to find that the roof of the Xu family's new house had been lifted. They helped buy tiles and hired people to deliver two cars. , If Wang Yusheng had to speak his mind, the Xu family seemed weak just relying on the second and fourth brothers to support them in the past few days.
But when living in a village, no matter what kind of work you have to do, it is all manual work, and your life is just that of a human being. If there are few people and no one lends a hand, you will look pitiful.
Although the foundation, frame and walls of a house are done collectively, for a large house like the Xu family, just repairing the roof alone would take several days.
There was nothing he could do in the past few days, so Wang Yusheng put down his stall and came to help Xu Youyin work.
After hearing this, Dali felt a little regretful. It seemed that he came too late. He would have known better and brought it to Erli.
Dali was smart, he didn't even think about asking Xu Youliang why no one came from the other side of the room.
He didn't come. There was a reason for this. He just wanted to help his brother-in-law. He looked at the window frames that were still stacked together without even bothering to install them. There was indeed a lot of work to do.
And compared to Xu Lao Er, he has to pretend to be calmer. As a brother-in-law, he has to act like the boss. Xu Lao Si, Xu Youyinming
Showing more enthusiasm for Dali.
When he saw someone, he grabbed Dali’s arm and said:
"Brother Dali, come on, come on, my second brother doesn't know what's going on in the house, so I'll show you. Second brother, go to the backyard and help my sister-in-law measure how big the mule and cattle pen should be."
He also did not forget to send people to do some work.
Xu Youyin had a face as dark and thin as a monkey. He laughed loudly and grabbed his strong arm and said, "No, you're going to the wrong place. That's not our home. That's Brother Yusheng's home. If you go further, it's not our home either. It's Sister Mei Zhuang’s house. Which one do you guess from the rest? Yes, the four rooms in the middle are the most luxurious! To the right of our house is a large house owned by Uncle Li Zheng. Our house has the best location.”
Xu Laoer glared at his younger brother and asked him to keep a low profile.
In addition to the large area owned by Uncle Zheng's house, it's enough to be conspicuous by just a few houses in the village, and they always show off the fuss of their own houses.
Speaking of buying wasteland in advance to build a house in their own name, in fact, no one from the Wang family, Wan family, or Mei Zhuang family gave them any advice in advance. I didn't dare to say much at that time.
But it couldn't stop the three families from hearing that the Xu family and Liu Laozhu had taken action and bought a large piece of wasteland inexplicably. They just gritted their teeth and didn't ask what they wanted to do. They just followed the wasteland and waited there for three or four taels of silver.
Just like that, now that the news of mutual trading has come, there are several powerful people in the village who can only laugh in anger even if they are jealous. Who made them not have that courage in the first place.
And if I want to buy it now, let alone the government's unclear attitude, the land price here will definitely increase several times.
I heard that the villages outside are also watching and want to come here to buy land and build houses. Because even if the price increases again, it is still much cheaper here than the shops in town.
If you want to do business in the town and divide it into streets, you can buy a small house in the bustling market for more than a hundred taels. And with the market, the prices of the shops in the town have also increased? A hundred taels here can build several houses and rent them out.
Xu Youyin didn't care, because such a big house was there and he couldn't hide it. Instead, he pretended to be low-key in front of the villagers and said that it would be hypocritical to build a big house and not be happy about it.
What's more, whose house is that? That was the home of his mother, Hao Xianghua.
Hao Xianghua is the character who was born to occupy the middle position. Who dares to say harsh words!
If he really wants to talk about it, let's wait until his mother comes back. Anyway, he doesn't dare to offend others. The aunts and ladies in the village are all amazing.
This side Dali noticed something strange: "Your new houses are all next to each other, isn't it a separate house?"
Xu Youyin explained that it was two different things than a residence. On the day when the caravan came to have dinner, no matter how capable the family was, they would not be able to accommodate them all alone, so they would simply build them together from the beginning. And if the wall is next to the wall, wouldn't it save costs? It's also warm.
"Including the mule and cattle pens in the backyard, they are also in a row like the houses. We are the only ones who buy houses separately, and each house will be separated in the middle like a pig pen. The rest even the thatched roofs are unified, etc. When all the work inside the house is done, a large collective fence will be built around it." That's a big job, but I can't take care of it right now.
When Dali walked closer and saw the four big houses of the Xu family, his face was full of surprise.
Recently, people in their village always say that his sister is really marrying into a wealthy family this time. They also say that she is just a fool to make things happen if she is not blessed. His sister is a blessed person and does not need to be busy. Because the Xu family was so poor before, if you look at it now, it can only mean that his sister is blessed, and even a poor family can live well. And for some people, their husband's family was quite prosperous before, but their situation has become worse and worse.
Recently, Dali didn't take these words seriously every time he heard them. On the one hand, he knew that this house and the foundation and money were left to his daughter by his brother-in-law's eldest brother. Otherwise, how could his sister and brother-in-law have money? On the other hand, to be honest, he always wonders what kind of house can be built on wasteland? It's nothing more than a few thatched houses.
But when I saw it with my own eyes, the Xu family's house obviously had more bricks and tiles than other houses and was more luxurious. Where it didn't look like a yellow mud thatched house, the exterior walls had blue bricks. How could it be so beautiful?
"Bricks cost a lot of money, right?" Dali didn't want to ask for privacy, but he couldn't help but marvel.
Xu Youyin really regarded Dali as one of his family members.
Although his sister-in-law is always "mean" to him and has not prepared delicious food for him since his mother left, youyin knows that this is the first time that his sister-in-law has taken over the management of things when his mother is not at home, and he is afraid that the management will be ruined by his mother.
I wish I could go back and give it back to my mother completely.
Besides, didn’t my sister-in-law eat well?
As the house became more and more expensive, and some of the expenses later passed through the hands of her sister-in-law, Yu Qinniang was more stressed than her brothers, so she really tightened her belt and lived a life.
Yu Qinniang, the sister-in-law, didn't say anything.
So Xu Youyin didn't want to hide it from his sister-in-law's biological brother. He treated him like one of his own family members and told the truth after hearing the words:
"Don't mention it. At first, our family budgeted for two to three taels of bricks. Later, as the building was not enough, we bought several batches one after another.
That's how it is when building a house. I always wonder if I have to deal with this or that, otherwise it will be more troublesome to add to it after I move in. So why don't I break down the walls and dismantle them?
Just like this, we went back and forth until we finally got the account together, and we spent almost five taels of silver on bricks. "
Xu Youyin didn't know the specific amount.
Mrs. Xu hadn't left at that time, so he only made an estimate in his mind and never asked in detail.
The only thing Xu Youyin was curious about was how much money his elder brother had left behind. It was definitely not the amount his mother told him to bury at the root of the tree.
He is not a fool. He can't understand the detailed accounts, but can't he understand the rough accounts?
In those days when my mother was not gone, she was adding bricks, beams, wood, silver, and a lot of miscellaneous things. Every day, my mother could take out some copper coins from her pocket to subsidize this house, just like squeezing the blood from her fingertips. , do you think it’s strange?
This old lady must be hiding something from her brothers. Okay, hide it. I know I want to leave it to your granddaughter. Isn’t it okay to give all the money I earn to your granddaughter later? That little old lady is careful. Sometimes the three Xu family members couldn't help but laugh when they talked about this in private.
But at this time, Xu Youyin sighed again after saying: "After this strong wind, we added tiles and roofs. I haven't paid any money yet, and I owe Brother Dashan two taels. I don't know how to settle it. I heard that it was because he didn't pay his salary last month. My family has just put money in advance for my house, so we can only discuss it after my mother and my third brother and niece get home."
Logically speaking, these words should have made Dali feel depressed. That would be called famine.
A few taels is like tens of thousands of yuan in modern times. How can the farmers here pay for the famine with so much money when they can't even make enough money to survive by farming?
But as Dali walked into the middle room, he had something he didn't know whether to say or not.
I really can’t relate to Xu Jiala’s suffering from famine because he looks too rich.
It seems that the famine is more like...asking for it. This is too much. It was many times more decent than the restaurants he had seen in town.
Just looking at the design of the middle room, you will face a long counter when you enter.
Xu Youyin said that half of the place is where his mother collects cash, and the other half is where the niece and the doctor sell medicine together. When customers pass by after dinner, they check out and buy together when necessary. Currently, there is a medicine cabinet that is missing and has not been finished.
Guan Ertuo said too much about this cabinet, but he had to pay for the lumber, money and hiring people to work and take care of the food. He would also teach Xu Tianxin how to recognize and take medicine, and later he and Xu Tianxin would stand in front of the counter and make a fortune. Get rich. But the wood is still not in place.
Every time I ask when will it be given? So that Xu Laoer can lead the people in the village who are good at carpentry to open the cabinets quickly.
Guan Ertu said, "You are waiting for your mother to come back. Why bother?"
Xu Youyin pointed to the walls on the left and right and introduced:
"At that time, things will be hung in these two places. For example, the Jingtan shoes you asked your aunt to make will be hung up for display. I will ask my aunt to make more, and people will wear them after buying them. My mother said, if everything goes well The snow here is thick. When a caravan comes and puts on wet shoes, they will buy them all. Think about it, the heat can take off your clothes. I can't bear the coldness and wonder if I can save money, so I just buy it. Still. There are pipes made by my second brother, and everyone in the village who knows how to do manual work will hang them here."
Dali was very touched that even Xu Youyin cared about his family.
But he didn't have time to be polite. He touched each round table like he didn't have enough eyes and said: "There is a pot in the middle of the big table. There are not wooden stools and chairs beside the table? But seats made of bricks?" Even the tables are made of bricks. Made of yellow mud and bricks.
Set up in a half circle, with two sides facing each other, and horizontal ones inside, one table can seat fifteen or six people.
A lively fish stew in a pot.
Xu Youyin said: "How else can I spend more money on bricks? Just spend it on it. I just throw a pine tree tower under the table to make a fire. I don't even use firewood or else I will bury the food. The vegetables in the middle pot are almost stewed. The ones under their butts The seats are like hot pots, all heated, including the table partitions where their backs are leaning, which are also made of fire walls, so they are also warm even if they are leaning against them."
And like this, there are ten large tables in two rows in this room, six of which are already set with stone pots, and the remaining four are embarrassingly empty.
In Mrs. Xu’s words, it’s not that our family can’t afford a pot, but if those tables want to eat stir-fried vegetables and have more than ten dishes at a time, and don’t want to eat stewed fish, stewed chicken, stewed goose or something like that, then what? Normally, the pestle pot in the middle would be more in the way.
In short, at first glance, this room looks like a big shopkeeper in a caravan.
The big shopkeeper can afford to order expensive dishes individually, and can decide whether to buy medicine, shoes and souvenirs before leaving.
This is why the special products are displayed in this room, so that people who can decide the matter can't help but look at them. You can sell when you chat. It is also the only place in Erdaohe Village on this side of the wasteland that can entertain distinguished guests.
This does not require modesty, and cooking skills do not allow for being low-key.
The supporting facilities for the caravan managers are next to this room, and the room next to it is where goods are stored. The Xu family just built a big house to store goods. For example, if someone comes to sell jewelry, they will be designated to unload the truck, and they will also have their own people watch over the shift for meals. Having an empty room to store important goods is also a point that can compete with the shops in the town to retain customers.
Xu Youyin introduced it to Dali: "In addition to the unfinished wooden table for my brother and your brother-in-law, there are also two large Kangs in this house that is currently being stocked. I was thinking that people could still live in the Kangs if they were not stocked with goods."
Dali's eyes were filled with admiration: "If you don't worry, you can still live here with us and your belongings, even the accommodation fee is charged."
"That's right, but if the caravan really stays, my mother said that this place can only accommodate a few people, unless every family in the village can spare a room to entertain them. This is incomparable with the inns and restaurants in the town. We will slowly come back later Let’s study it. Let’s go, I’ll show you the other two big rooms and the Kang. Those two rooms are places for eating big pots of rice. They don’t stir-fry or cook, they just cook.”
Noodles, dumplings, wontons, steamed buns, porridge.
"Selling grass seed porridge?"
"I won't sell it. My mother said we should go high-end and let the villagers work on the grass seed porridge in other houses."
