My village can't be like this

Chapter 472 Help renovate the house

In the last few days of June, although the heavy rain stopped its raging, it still continued to rain.

However, this haze only lasted until the end of June. After entering July, the rain subsided and the sky began to clear up.

Early in the morning, Zhang An was lying on the bed, still immersed in his dream.

During this half-month, he did nothing but eat and sleep every day. He completely forgot about his previous self-discipline and developed the habit of sleeping in.

"Xiao An, get up quickly. Mingsong's family has to pick out the roof today. He has already come over to call you and your dad."

But today was different from the past. Before he could finish his sweet dream, he was woken up by Wang Fang.

"Ah, Brother Mingsong's house is about to pick out tiles. Is it not raining outside?"

Zhang An had just woken up, looking sleepy, and unconsciously stretched out his hand to rub his eyes.

"It stopped at midnight last night. Now the sun outside has climbed so high that it's about to hit your buttocks. Mingsong finally came to see you. Get up quickly and help others."

Zhang Mingsong is the father of the second child, Zhang Jiahao. Their family is the same family as Zhang An's family, and they have a relatively close relationship.

Since people come to your door, if there is nothing special at home, they must go to help.

That's why Wang Fang came over to wake Zhang An up. If nothing happened, she wouldn't care what time Zhang An slept.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up right away."

People nowadays go to bed very early, and the quality of sleep is also very good, so Zhang An is awake as soon as he wakes up, and has no intention of staying up for a few more minutes.

When we came to the yard, as Wang Fang said, the sun had already risen high in the sky.

And at a glance, the sky is cloudless and completely blue.

Long-lost smiles appeared on the faces of everyone on the road, because in the past half month, everyone has been living in the rain and has not seen the sun for a day. It is not an exaggeration to say that one day without seeing it is like three autumns.

After all, the sun represents warmth to everyone, and it also means that we can go out to work.

Wang Fang is the only one at home now, because Zhang Jianguo has already gone to Zhang Mingsong's house to help.

As for Su Ying, she had already gone to school before Zhang An got up.

Originally, there were supposed to be final exams and holidays in the past few days, but because I was delayed for half a month, I must make up for it now, otherwise it will delay the students' courses.

In the yard, Zhang An's big dogs also crawled out of their pens and lay neatly in the yard, lazily basking in the sun with their eyes closed.

After all, they have been lying in the nest for half a month and have long been bored.

The Huatou family living on the roof also flew out of their nest at this time. They were now standing on the tree in the yard, stretching out their bodies and letting the sun dry their feathers.

Especially the leaves of the trees in the yard have been beaten clean by the heavy rains of the past few days, and now only the bare branches are left, which are suitable for the flowers to be used as clothes drying racks.

For the animals in the pen, when Wang Fang saw the sun rise in the morning, she had already opened the pen door and let them go to the back mountain to let them out.

The two fish ponds and the fish in the fish pond are now floating on the water and swimming around. Although they are aquatic animals, they also need to bask in the sun.

When it rained heavily a few days ago, they stayed at the bottom of the water, waiting for Zhang An to feed them every day.

After washing up, Zhang An changed into coarse cloth clothes for working. After saying something to Wang Fang, he went to see Zhang Ming at home.

This year, their family has been in quite a bad situation. There are more than a dozen families in the village whose houses have been completely damaged, and their family is one of them.

Their house is quite old, and the roof is covered with stone slabs that Erwa's grandfather carried back from the mountains.

After so many years of wind and rain, the stone slabs, which were not very thick to begin with, have become thinner due to weathering.

Their family originally planned to buy the tiles later and replace everything except the beams.

But it is a pity that God is not as good as man. This heavy rain came very suddenly, and it became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The stone slabs on their roof only survived the first few days, and many of them were damaged. Broken.

During the next period of time, the whole family moved to live with Erwa and his uncle's house.

I guess I saw that it was sunny after the rain today, so I quickly found someone to come over and renovate the roof first, so that I could move back to my home as soon as possible.

When Zhang An came to the yard, many people were already there. Some people were cleaning the broken slates from the roof so that they could be re-tiled later. After all, it is difficult to get good slates from the slate slopes now. , everyone naturally has to spend money to buy tiles.

The remaining people were sawing wooden boards with saws in the yard. They were sawing rafter strips that would be nailed to the roof beams to support the tiles.

Since the slate house was converted into tiles, the number of rafters needed was several times more than before. No wonder a lot of wooden boards had been moved to the yard.

Seeing this, Zhang An knew that everyone had been here long ago and had been working for a long time, and he was the last to arrive.

There was no ink at the moment, and I was going to climb the stairs to the roof to help clean the slates together.

"Xiao An is here, please stop going to the roof and help cut the rafters down below."

There are a lot of rafters needed today, so naturally the more people, the better.

Moreover, Zhang An was Lin Carpenter's apprentice. Although he had just followed his apprentice for a short time, he was now a carpenter. Zhang Mingsong did not want to waste his talents.

Only then did Zhang An realize that he was already a carpenter, and his role below was greater than on the roof.

He stopped going to the roof now. He set up the frame, found the tools, and started sawing the rafters together with everyone else.

Such a lively occasion is not limited to Zhang Mingsong's house. There are at least seven or eight families in the village who are busy, because there are many families who need to renovate their roofs today.

"Don't tell me, it's good when the sun comes out. I've been staying at home the past few days and I feel uncomfortable everywhere on my body every day. Today, as soon as I get the sun, all the discomfort is gone."

When people in the village work, they not only work with their hands, but also with their mouths. They always make dragon gate formations while working.

The topics are not fixed, everyone just talks about whatever comes to mind. By the time the Dragon Gate Array is over, the work in hand will basically be done.

"It's indeed good. Farmers just can't live without the sun. Being exposed to the sun like this makes people feel different. It's just that it's sunny today, but I don't know when the water in the fields will disappear. This year's rice seedlings may not be ready." ”

Some people talked about the sunny weather, while others talked about the flooded fields. They didn't seem to be on the same topic, but there seemed to be nothing wrong with them being strung together, and they could all start a conversation.

In fact, some of the water in the river has disappeared, and the water level has dropped quite a bit.

It’s just that there is too much flowing down the upstream, and this subsidence is not obvious.

As long as the seedlings soaked in water in the field are not exposed, everyone feels that the water has not subsided. "Don't count on this year's rice seedlings. I went to see them on the first day after it rained. They were not flooded at that time, but they were all beaten to the ground by the rain. Even if the water receded, these rice seedlings were almost useless. This year I’m afraid it will be difficult to get enough grain.”

As soon as millet was mentioned, many people joined the chat.

After all, millet is a vital crop to everyone in the village.

Because in addition to the family's food and clothing problem, selling the excess millet is also a part of the family's financial source.

"If it's gone, it's gone. We farmers only rely on the sky for our livelihood. If God doesn't give us face, we can't do anything about it. At worst, it will be a little harder this year, but there is still hope for next year."

Some people are sad, but some people are very open-minded and know that since they can't resist, they can only stay close to each other.

"Fortunately, I listened to Zhang An and didn't sell the old millet at home, otherwise I wouldn't be able to survive this year. But I heard that the price of food has increased a lot in the past two days."

Speaking of the millet harvest, some people said very happily.

At the beginning of this year, the purchase price of millet rose sharply. At that time, many people planned to sell all the millet they could sell at home.

Many people here have this idea. If it had been sold at that time, the consequences would be really unimaginable now.

The seedlings in the fields are still bathing in the water, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that this year's harvest is hopeless.

If all the food at home was sold before, I might have to buy food this year and next.

The floods this time are so serious, other places will definitely not be as easy as Changqing. From this look, the increase in millet prices this year will definitely become a reality.

Moreover, everyone has experienced famine before. In this situation, the food outside will not only increase a little, but will at least increase greatly and become high-priced food.

Rural people don't have much money to begin with. When the time comes, they will have to spend money to buy high-priced grain, and they won't be able to buy much at all.

The little money I spent to buy millet in the past is not even worth buying grain now.

Therefore, many families who did not sell food are very lucky now. Fortunately, they listened to Zhang An's advice.

If you had a hot head before, got carried away by money, and sold all the grain, then the whole family would be ready to starve.

"Yes, yes, fortunately, Zhang An reminded me at that time. My family only sold more than a thousand kilograms, and now we have enough left to feed us for two years. Speaking of Anzi, how did you know that the price of food would increase this year?"

At this time, everyone looked at Zhang An, because everyone knew that Zhang An's previous words really saved many people in the village.

"Actually, I don't know, but the prices charged by grain dealers at that time were so high, and the sales must be higher. Otherwise, why would they be so active? Since the price of grain has increased, it proves that there is not enough food in some places. Price increases are an inevitable result.”

Of course Zhang An knew that food prices would rise, and they would rise sharply. After all, in his previous life, the money he worked so hard to save was only enough to buy food rations for his family.

Despite the state's regulation, farmers' production capacity is still small, and the domestic population is extremely large. No matter how much regulation is implemented, when supply exceeds demand, prices will certainly not be suppressed.

Of course, since there are those who listen to the advice, there are also those who don't. As far as Zhang An knows, there are several families in the village who only keep a little bit of food and sell the rest.

At that time, they were so happy with the money from selling food, their faces were beaming with joy.

I just don't know what they are thinking now, and whether they are still that happy.

As we talked, the time came to noon. Although the sun was scorching above our heads, no one seemed to be afraid of the sun at all. Maybe it was because they were moldy at home during this period and wanted to be exposed to the sun more.

"Okay, it's getting late, let's go eat and take a rest first."

At this time, Zhang An's sister-in-law, Erwa's mother, came over to inform everyone to go back for dinner.

No one was polite. They had to work and eat. They all came down from the roof to finish their work and go back to eat.

The place to eat is still at Erwa's uncle's house. After all, their house has been flooded, and it is still very damp now.

Moreover, everyone was cleaning the slates on the roof, and all the dust, gravel, and sand fell into the house, making it impossible for anyone to live in it.

Even after the roof is renovated, a major cleaning is required before it can be occupied.

"The tiles for Zhang Mingsong's house have been delivered. Come and unload the truck quickly. We have to rush to deliver them to the next house."

However, this meal was a little uneasy, because halfway through the meal, the tile seller in the town brought over tiles.

"Okay, okay, you drive the car to the yard next to it, we will be here right away."

At this time, everyone could only stop eating half of the meal and go to unload the tiles first.

Zhang Mingsong ordered the tiles in the morning, but because there were many people buying tiles today, they only delivered them now.

Fortunately, Zhang Mingsong arrived early. If it had been later, it might not have been delivered until tomorrow, and it might even be out of stock.

After all, there are many villages in the nearby area, and many houses have been damaged by heavy rains. The tiles are now in hot demand.

According to Zhang Mingsong, the tiles this time are much more expensive than before, but there are still many people who want to buy them but can't.

For example, some stores in Changqing couldn't buy it, and they had to wait until tomorrow because they were late.

"I'm really sorry for everyone, I made you get up and mess around in the middle of the meal."

After unloading the car, everyone came back and continued eating. Zhang Mingsong apologized to everyone with a very embarrassed smile.

"Hey, this is such a big deal. We are here to work. Of course we have to work first, and eating comes second."

Everyone didn't care about this. It's common for farmers to eat while working.

After dinner, Zhang Mingsong was ready to let everyone rest for a while, but everyone just drank a cup of tea and went straight to work.

Their house is a large house with three rooms, and the amount of work is not small. In addition, all the rafters need to be replaced, which makes the work even bigger.

If everyone doesn't hurry up, they may not be able to finish until dark today, so no one wants to take a rest.

Rural people are like this. No matter who they are working for, they always look at it with eyes. If they work less, they will have more rest; if they work more, they will waste less time.

Try not to let others delay the work that can be done in one day until the next day, so that it will be more convenient for the owner.

Finally, with everyone's persistence, they worked until seven o'clock in the evening, and finally built the roof of their house before dark.

(End of this chapter)