Return to the small mountain village in 1986

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, it was still snowing.

This year is colder than previous years. It has snowed several times. Each time it takes many days for the snow to completely melt.

As the saying goes, snow is not cold but melting snow is cold. Although it is snowing in the sky, as long as people wear warm clothes, it will be fine.

The feet stepped on the thick white snow, making a small crunching sound.

After people walk through, they leave a series of footprints in the white snow.

After a simple breakfast at home, Gao Mingcheng took his wife and children to pay New Year greetings to his parents.

Naturally, I don’t go empty-handed when I say New Year greetings, but I bring two packages of gifts, a two-pound package of dried longans, and a bag of apples.

Because dinner was going to be at Grandma Xi’s house, she also brought Grandma Xi’s portion with her. It was a lot to carry, and she had to carry a child, so it was inconvenient to walk there, so Gao Mingcheng prepared to drive a tractor there.

"Mao Zi, we won't have lunch or dinner at home. You two brothers can cook whatever you want! If you get bored, just go to Uncle Chen's house and have a chat." Before leaving, Gao Mingcheng warned Mao Zi.

"Hey, brother Mingcheng, don't worry." Mao Zi said with a smile. There are still some leftovers at home. Besides, there are also a lot of various kinds of food.

This year, Maozi has lived a much more prosperous year than in previous years. He is okay. His younger brother Yangyang seems to have fallen into a nest of blessings. He chews snacks every day and eats deliciously.

After saying goodbye to Mao Zi, Gao Mingcheng drove his tractor and took his wife and children to the old village.

After getting off the bus, Duomei held her child while he carried his things. Everyone he saw along the way smiled and said, "Happy New Year."

There was red firecracker dust at the door of every house in the old village, and there was even a faint smell of gunpowder smoke in the air.

The children were wearing new clothes and running up and down the corridors of the village, bursts of laughter coming from time to time.

This time Gao Mingcheng took a detour and went to Grandma Xi's house first. After delivering the gifts, he went to his parents' house. The families in this village all lived together. No matter whose house he wanted to go to, he could go there through the path.

Today, many people from Grandma Xi’s house came to pay New Year’s greetings. These people are all juniors from the same house in the village. From a genealogical perspective, they are relatively close, but from a kinship perspective, they are not that close, so they just came into the house to pay New Year’s greetings and say a few words. As a lucky word, we sat down together to drink tea, eat melon seeds and chat, without leaving any food.

Gao Mingcheng didn't stay here long, and soon took Duo Mei and Xiao Xuxu to his parents' house.

When he passed by, the house was very lively, the main room was full of people, and the men were still puffing away, talking and laughing loudly.

This scene scared many beauties to the point where they dared not enter the house.

Gao Mingcheng looked around and said, "Xiuxiu should be in her own room. You go find her with your son in your arms."

Wang Xiuxiu has a big belly. There are many people at home today, so she probably doesn't need to work. She can hide in the house and rest openly in her husband's house, where she is not familiar with.

"Okay." Duo Mei thought this was a good idea, so she carried Xiao Xuxu to Gao Mingli's house. As soon as she entered, she saw Wang Xiuxiu in the house, but Wang Xiuxiu was not the only one in the house, there were also several people of the same age in the village. people.

Compared to Wang Xiuxiu, who married from another village, Dumei was more familiar with these people from the same village. As soon as she arrived, she naturally joined the conversation, and the group chatted and laughed.

Gao Mingcheng was relieved when he saw her outside the window. He generously walked into the main room carrying gifts, greeted all the uncles, and wished everyone a happy new year.

Gao Yuan sat with a smile on his face. When he saw Gao Mingcheng coming, he enthusiastically called Gao Mingli to pour tea for Gao Mingcheng.

This tea was bought at a cooperative. Although it is not very expensive, it is better than the crude tea made by myself. It does not taste as astringent.

Gao Mingcheng took a sip of tea, and someone asked him to eat melon seeds and rice krispie treats.

This rice krispie treat is made by a family in the village. His family is the best at making rice krispie treats, so one month before the Chinese New Year every year, they start ordering the candies. You can buy them with money, or you can exchange them with rice yourself.

In addition to rice krispie treats, there are also filling candies. The filling candies are made of maltose and are relatively sticky, so they are placed in the fried rice. If you want to eat the candy, you have to pull it out from the fried rice, and the fried rice tastes crispy and crispy. , can be eaten on an empty stomach or soaked in porridge.

"Ming Cheng, just now we said that your father is a good teacher and that all of his sons are promising. Your family is from the village!" The man said, giving a thumbs up, indicating that his family was from the village. The nicest family.

"After spring, Gao Fuqiang's family will build a house. Your house has been around for many years. Isn't it time to rebuild it? Mingcheng, your dad just said he wanted to build it, but he just doesn't have that much money. I said, what are you afraid of? He has four sons, and if each of them contributes a little, won’t this house be built? Mingpeng himself works on construction sites. He finds people to buy cement and steel bars and people to do the work. It must be cheap and good. !”

"Your grandma is old. She has suffered all her life. It's time for her to live in a new house and enjoy the blessings!"

The speaker was an uncle of Gao Mingcheng's. He didn't have much contact with each other on weekdays, but during the Chinese New Year, they definitely had to move around each other.

Gao Mingcheng also understood what he meant, and immediately said: "My uncle is right, it's time to build a house at home. Dad, do you plan to knock it down and rebuild it, or buy another piece of land? Do you plan to burn bricks or buy bricks?" As for the money to build a house, it’s not a big deal if a few brothers each contribute a little.”

He didn't do everything, but if his family wanted to build a house, as a son, he would definitely have to give some money.

When Gao Yuan mentioned the matter of building a house, his face lit up and he seemed to be several years younger.

The older generation of people in the village regard building a house as a big deal.

If you can build a good house in your own hands and leave it to future generations, that would be a very honorable thing.

Gao Yuan said: "Knock it down and rebuild! This piece of land is in a good location, and I don't want to build a house anywhere else. Besides, you don't live here on weekdays, so we might as well knock it down and rebuild. When we build a house, we will bring it with us." Your grandma moves to live with your eldest brother."

"Your elder brother will take care of the purchase of cement, sand and steel bars, so I can rest assured. As for the bricks... I think so, burn some of the bricks and buy some of them."

As soon as Gao Mingcheng heard what his father said, he knew that his father had thought it over carefully, so he nodded in agreement.

Baking bricks is a manual job and requires a lot of firewood.

If you want to rely on your own strength to bake the bricks of a house, that is a big project!

For example, Gao Fuqiang's family spent a whole year digging kilns, felling trees, making bricks, and firing bricks!

Throughout last year, his family was the only one burning bricks. When his family builds a house this year, the brick kiln can be rented to others to bake bricks.

Gao Yuanyuan felt that his manpower and firewood were limited, so he planned to only burn one kiln of bricks and spend money to buy the rest.

The reason why we still have to burn bricks in a kiln is because we can save money.

Because of this idea, Gao Yuanyuan began to save a pile of firewood this year. When talking about building a house, everyone in the hall was very excited and started talking about how to build it, where to build the kitchen, how many miscellaneous rooms to build, whether to build one floor or two floors.

Gao Fanmao strongly recommends building a two-story building.

He said plausibly: "Who will build a one-story house now? There is not enough room to live in it! What's more, your family has a large population. The son has found a wife, and the daughter-in-law has given birth to children one after another. In the future, let alone two-story or three-story buildings." It may not be enough to live in!”

Gao Yuanyuan said with a smile on his face: "Three floors are not necessary, two floors are enough. I have never lived in a building in my life. If I want to build this, I really need to build a two-story building! It's not just me, you will also build a building in the future." If you want to build a house, you have to build a two-story building.”

"That is, that is."

"I think so."

Everyone talked one after another and began to discuss the orientation of the house, the height and size of the rooms, as well as the styles of doors, windows and furniture.

Gao Mingcheng sat aside. He didn't speak much. He only said a few words when someone asked him questions.

Seeing how happy the elders were, Gao Mingli and Gao Mingwan found Gao Mingcheng. The two brothers gave Gao Mingcheng a look and signaled him to go out and talk.

So the three brothers quietly left the main room.

There were many people in the main room, and a brazier was lit for warmth. People sat inside and it was quite warm. When they came out, they were blown by the wind and snow. The trace of warmth that had just remained was completely dissipated in the wind and snow.

The three brothers walked into the yard. Gao Mingli first said: "Second brother, third brother, how much will you pay to build a house at home? If you pay more, I may not be able to pay as much as you!"

Gao Mingli earns a dead salary, unlike Gao Mingcheng and Gao Mingwan who can make money. Besides, he himself wants to save money to buy a house in the county.

Although it's nice to live in the second brother's house, you can't live there forever. You still have to buy your own house.

As someone who had experience in building a house, Gao Mingcheng immediately made a calculation for the two of them and said: "The house was built on the original land, so there is no need to spend money on the land. After the old house is knocked down, it will still be there." There are some better bricks and tiles, and these bricks and tiles can be used to build pig pens and chicken coops.”

"My parents, eldest brother, and you have a lot of good wood in the mountains. This wood is enough to make beams, purlins, and rafters. This saves money on buying wood."

"Cement, steel bars, etc., can be made a little cheaper if a big brother comes forward. This part is the money that should be paid. The bricks are planned to be fired in one kiln, and the rest is bought with money. The bricks in this kiln can only cost about 10,000 yuan at most. brick."

"Dad plans to build a two-story building. I estimate that there will be four rooms on the first floor and eight rooms on the upper and lower floors. A total of more than 5 bricks will be needed. If the building is wider, it will require more. In addition, there will be more The kitchen and bathroom probably cost more than 7 bricks in total. And the tiles are estimated to cost about pieces. If you want to spend money to buy them, the price of red bricks is cents a piece, and small tiles are cents each. Li Qian."

"As for the workers who are building the house, my eldest brother is already a big worker. If we hire a big worker and a few small workers, and people from the village will come to help for a few days, the wages will not be much."

"I did some rough calculations, and I can build a house for about five thousand yuan."

It's just 90, wages haven't risen much, and prices are still OK. By building a house in the village, you can save some money, just counting the cost of building materials and labor.

After Gao Mingcheng finished settling the accounts, Gao Mingli lowered his head and thought deeply. He frowned tightly and glanced at his second brother and third brother uneasily.

As if he guessed what he was thinking, Gao Mingwan said: "Mingli, you are the youngest and you have just started working. If you pay less, no one will say anything."

After hearing this, Gao Mingli breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that all he needs to do is provide some money, and the bulk of the money will come from the other three brothers.

Well, the most important thing is that the second brother and the third brother come out.

Gao Mingwan looked at Gao Mingcheng, and Gao Mingcheng was also happy and said: "I'll give you one thousand yuan, you can tell. Besides, my parents must also have money. I reckon it's around three or four thousand!"

Gao Yuanyuan can make a lot of money a year by making wine for others. In previous years, he usually earned 1,600 to 2,000 yuan. He raised two pigs at home, and after selling them at the end of the year, he made another fortune.

In addition, the vegetables from the fields are sometimes sold at Junling Laoji, and the money earned from going to the mountains to collect medicinal materials every year is also a small amount of money.

Another thing, during the holidays, their brothers also gave more or less money.

If building a house costs 5,000 yuan and Gao Mingcheng pays one-fifth of it, no one can say that he can't do it anymore.

Gao Mingwan stared at the old house and said, "Actually...there are six rooms built up and down, which is enough to live in."

Gao Mingcheng also took a look at the old house and said, "If you make up your mind not to live here in the future, then six rooms will certainly be enough."

The eldest brother Gao Mingpeng has bought another house to live in, and he has also moved away. However, Gao Mingwan and Gao Mingli have not separated yet, and Gao Shufang is not married yet, so when Gao Mingcheng settles the accounts, he divides the family into eight. It’s calculated on a per-room basis.

However, although Gao Mingwan and Gao Mingli have not separated, they probably will not come back to live in the village.

As for Gao Shufang, she is a girl and will get married sooner or later.

Speaking of Gao Shufang's marriage, Gao Mingcheng also started to choose someone for her, but he didn't find the right one for the moment.

But there is no doubt that Gao Shufang will marry into the county.

"I also think six rooms are enough! Look, there are three rooms on the first floor. The middle room is the main room. The one on both sides is for my parents and one for my grandma. There are three more rooms upstairs. Shufang lives in one. When we go home during the New Year and holidays, my third brother and I will live in one room each. That’s enough!” Gao Mingli’s eyes lit up and he immediately agreed.

If you build two fewer rooms, you will naturally spend less.

But Gao Mingcheng told them that even if they built two less houses, they would only lose some money for bricks and tiles. In addition, the calculation he made was only for the money to build the house, and the furniture was not included.

But Gao Mingli had already relaxed a little, and he said, "What's the point? Although the beds and cabinets in the house are a bit old, they are still usable!"

He was very open-minded. He didn't want to live in the village permanently anyway, so it didn't matter if he just made do with it. As long as he wasn't allowed to spend a lot of money, he could accept it! If there is really no bed, just make a bed on the floor!

Gao Mingwan also said that a bed and a cabinet in the room are enough.

Gao Mingcheng couldn't help but laugh when he saw this.

It was because he was overthinking, always thinking that since a new house was built, everything in the new house must be new, so that it would be appropriate. (End of chapter)