Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 411: Many people helped build the house and lay the foundation

May 1984, 5, the 30th day of the fourth lunar month.

Today is the day when the Xu family starts laying the foundation. Liu Lizhen went to find Mrs. Zhang to calculate the date a few days ago.

Morning, around seven o'clock.

A group of people gathered next to the tractor parked in the yard of Old Xu's house. Almost all of them were Old Xu's relatives and friends.

There are Da Laba and Li Ye from Taipingtun. I won’t say much about Da Laba, but he will definitely come to help.

Li Ye came here on behalf of Lao Hu and Lao Deng, because Hu Zhibin was busy working in the county compound and his injury had not healed yet, so they definitely could not come. Li Ye had rested for a while after being scratched by a brown bear, and now his wound has healed. He can swing an axe and move wood, and it doesn't delay his work at all.

The person chatting with Guan Lei, Wang Hu and Sun Liansheng was Wang Shujuan's younger brother Wang Yuanjun. He came over last night and brought two bundles of aluminum wires, which were less than 200 meters long in total. These wires were discarded from the grain station, and Wang Minfu spent some money to buy them.

Wang Hu, Guan Lei, Sun Liansheng, Sun Lianfang and Guan Hua arrived home yesterday evening. As Guan Lei's new house had just been cleaned up, and I don't know whether Han Fengjiao did it on purpose or forgot, she didn't heat the kang in Guan Lei's new house. So Guan Hua slept with Han Fengjiao yesterday. The two mothers finally met and talked until midnight before falling asleep. As a result, when they woke up early in the morning, Guan Hua and Han Fengjiao looked listless, with dark circles under their eyes, as if they were wearing smoky makeup.

Since they had started building the foundation right after returning, Sun Liansheng didn't plan to leave. Sun Lianfang didn't want to leave even more. When she saw that there were many people in Qing'an Village who could play with her, such as Guan Hua, Meng Ziyan, and Xu Feng, she felt reluctant to leave.

In addition, there are Lao Wei who lives next door to Lao Xu, Lao Jiang, Yu Kaihe, Li Baoquan, Li Feng and others.

At this moment, they were all holding tools such as shovels, pickaxes, sledgehammers, axes, and saws.

Liu Lizhen, Wang Shujuan, Sun Lianfang and others each carried two thermoses. Han Fengjiao and Guan Hua worked together to lift a large basin with four teapots and more than ten teacups in it. Xu Feng carried five or six kilograms of tiaozi cake and struggled to hand it over to Xu Laonian who was smiling and talking to Lao Wei and others.

Xu Laonian took it and put it in the tractor's bucket, then clasped his fists and said to everyone, "My dear young and old men! I, Xu Chunlin, will not talk too much or too little. Now it's the end of the month and I can't leave the forest farm, so the house building is handed over to my son. You guys help him out. Thank you for all the trouble!"

"Why are you being so polite? We are all brothers from the same family..."

"Which one of us is following which one?"

"Not good!"

"..."

Everyone spoke to each other, and basically all of them meant the same thing, which was that since they had come here, they must do their best and there was no need to be polite.

"Okay! My wife and the others can all come over for lunch at noon, and don't leave at night! When I come back, we can all have a drink to relieve our fatigue!"

Yu Kaihe was the oldest among them, so he spoke first: "Okay! I'll definitely wait for you to come back, but don't drink too much at night, because we still have to work tomorrow."

"Haha, that's not a big deal! If you drink again and get drunk, and hit your head and bleed, won't we still have to meet Diao Chan at night?" Old Wei joked.

"Hahaha... forget it now, don't let my eldest brother's wife snatch it away." Lao Jiang said in a rather stuffy tone.

Then, the group of people laughed heartily until their cheeks became stiff.

Xu Laonian grinned and said, "Then I won't talk to you anymore. It's time to go to work."

"move!"

Just as Xu Laonian and Wang Erli reached the gate of the courtyard, Du Shoucai came over carrying a ten-jin pot of sorghum red.

"What are you doing, brother?" Xu Laonian asked puzzledly.

"You should go to work. I think we should drink less at noon."

"Brother, look at you..."

"Don't waste time. You'll miss the train if you waste time."

"Then we're leaving."

Du Shoucai waved his hand and walked into the courtyard. When the people in the courtyard saw Du Shoucai coming in, they greeted him. Du Shoucai responded with a smile and said to Yu Kaihe, Lao Wei and others, "Let's stay home and drink a little at noon. When Dalin comes back in the evening, let them drink with you."

"Brother Du, we are here to work..."

"Hey, it's okay to drink less!" Du Shoucai raised his hand to call Wang Shujuan, saying, "Juan'er, bring the wine to the room."

"Brother! Can you call Yue'e and the child home at noon?" Liu Lizhen said.

Du Shoucai waved his hand: "The child has gone to school. Yue'e will come over to help you with the chores later."

"No need, brother, these old people..."

"It's definitely not okay for you to let her cook. Let her come over and help. That's it. Why don't you look at Er Ning?"

"I went to Old Tang's house in front to buy a whip."

"Ah, then I'll go back first. The garrison won't work without someone watching over it."

"Well, brother, I won't keep you here."

Du Shoucai waved his hand and said, "Get busy!"

After saying hello to the people in the courtyard, he went out and headed straight for the village headquarters.

At this time, Yang Shuhua said, "Aunt, we'll go over first."

"Go ahead, come back and get whatever you need."

"Eh!"

Afterwards, Yang Shuhua, Wang Shujuan, Sun Lianfang, Zhang Guifang and others left with thermoses and large basins. They had to go to Li Fuqiang's house to boil water because Li Fuqiang's house was close to the new house at the north end.

Not long after, Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang came back carrying two sacks filled with small whips and double-shot guns. After entering the house, Xu Ning said, "Brother, throw the bag you gave me down the house and put it back up after the beams are put up."

"Okay!"

Wang Hu very tactfully took the sack and threw it into the truck bed.

Xu Ning took out the crank from under the seat, straightened his back and looked up and said, "Uncle, Uncle Jiang, just throw the shovels and other things on the car. It's so tiring to carry them in your hands. When you're done, all of you can get on the car at the gate of the courtyard. Brother, you drive."

"Okay! Uncle, Uncle Jiang, Uncle Wei... let's get in the car and go over first."

A group of people turned around and got on the Dongfeng 140 at the gate of the courtyard. Li Fuqiang held the steering wheel with both hands and drove to the residential land at the north end first.

After Xu Ning cranked the handlebars twice and the car started smoothly, Liu Lizhen anxiously reminded him, "Eight o'clock! No earlier, no later, remember?"

"Yes, Mom. Do you know how far the back wall of our main house is from the back mountain? Eighty-eight meters! The time calculated by Mrs. Zhang is about the same as I expected."

Liu Lizhen patted him and said, "What? Are you going to take action?"

"Haha, who doesn't like to count? Then I'm leaving."

"Go."

Behind the mountain, the new homestead. The tractor slowly drove over the makeshift bridge and stopped steadily thirty meters in front of the stream.

When Xu Ning turned off the engine, everyone had already picked up shovels and pickaxes and divided into two teams, heading towards the homesteads of Old Xu and Old Wang respectively.

The two residential plots had already been planned, and that evening Xu Ning worked in the west room until the early morning.

Since the area of ​​the new residential land is one acre and four fen, the front yard is too large, so he only paved the ground from the gate to the front of the main house with red bricks, and built a half-meter-high wall on the rest of the land, hoping to enclose a vegetable garden.

The positions of the two lower houses have also changed. The east lower house was moved two or three meters to the south because Xu Ning wanted to build a doghouse on the north side of the east lower house, which would be connected to the firewood room. The west lower house was turned into an ear room with two areas. The left side can be used to store farm tools and the right side can be used to build a stove, so that there would be no need to have a place to make fire and cook in the summer.

Xu Ning wanted to build a shed at the original location of the west house to park the tractor and eat in the shed in the summer.

There are five main rooms, and Xu Ning deliberately left a two-meter-wide platform. When the Xu family becomes richer in the future, or in winter, they can build a plastic shed to keep warm, and the windows of the main rooms can also be opened for ventilation, so nothing will be delayed.

The door of the main house is in the middle. When it is opened, there are the reception room and dining room. Further inside, there are two east-west doors leading to four rooms, and the kitchen at the back.

This is the general plan. Han Fengjiao and Wang Erli only felt that the layout of the house was novel. Who has a reception room these days? Everyone entertains guests in the house. Then Xu Laonian had a question. Would this turn away guests in the future and give people a bad impression?
Xu Ning said, "Then let's give him the whole house. The living room is where we usually eat and chat. I'll ask my father-in-law to get a few reclining chairs for him later. You'll know how comfortable it is when you sit on one."

Since both families agreed to let Xu Ning take charge of building the house, Xu Laonian and others did not say anything to refute. As Liu Lizhen said, if everyone has their own ideas, the matter will never be accomplished. Since it has been handed over to Xu Ning, let him do it. No matter what it looks like, as long as it can be lived in, it's fine.

At 8:08, Xu Ning and Wang Hu lit two strings of firecrackers on their respective homesteads. Li Fuqiang, Sun Liansheng, Guan Lei, Wang Yuanjun and others held their cigarettes and set off double-shot firecrackers in their hands.

For a while, there were constant crackling and clanging sounds.

"Auspicious time and day! Let's start the construction!"

Yu Kaihe shouted at the top of his lungs.

After Xu Ning and Wang Hu lit the whip, they took the pickaxes from the people around them. After they finished shouting about opening the river, they took turns digging the ground with the pickaxes.

Immediately, Lao Wei, Li Feng, Da Laba, Li Ye and others waved their pickaxes and shovels and started digging very hard.

In fact, this was just a gesture, just to seek peace of mind. However, people nowadays attach great importance to building a house, otherwise Liu Lizhen would not have gone to Mrs. Zhang to calculate the date.

There is a saying that you should not build a house in May. Xu Ning did avoid this saying. He started the work on April 30th of the lunar calendar, so it was not considered a taboo. Why is this saying so popular? The reason is that May is the busy farming season. At this time, people are working hard to grow crops and survive. Who has the time to build a house?

In just half an hour, a ditch was dug between the two residential plots. Then Lao Wei, Li Feng, Da Laba and others who were digging the foundation for Lao Wang's family came to Lao Xu's residential plot carrying pickaxes and shovels.

With such a small number of people, they definitely couldn't dig separately. Strength lies in numbers. With their joining, all the ditches on the homestead were dug in just one afternoon. The next step was to use pickaxes and shovels to deepen the ditches.

Old Wei came over and asked, "Hey, Erning, how was your trip into the mountains with Old Chang yesterday?"

"It's OK. I slaughtered two pigs and picked some wild vegetables."

"Yes, I have. Hey, I heard that Lingzhi is very valuable now. Why don't you go get some?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Uncle Wei, it's not time yet. The whole Ganoderma lucidum has to wait until July to open. The most valuable part of Ganoderma lucidum is the powder on it. Ganoderma lucidum without powder is worthless."

Lao Wei asked: "How much can it sell for?"

"I really didn't ask. What's the matter, Uncle Wei? Do you have it?"

"I don't have any, I'm just asking."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Uncle Wei, let me ask you too, where do you think we should dig a well in our house?"

"Dig a well? Then I have to take it home to get something."

"Okay, there's no rush now. I'll trouble you to dig the well, Uncle Wei."

"Look... you're still being polite to me. Ever since you went hiking, I've gained several pounds!"

In the past, whenever Xu Ning brought back livestock from the mountains, Liu Lizhen would cut some meat for the neighboring Wei family. Although it was not much, only two or three pounds at a time, the Wei family, who had not seen meat for many years, lived happily for half a year.

There are four children in his family. The third child drowned while playing in the reservoir two years ago. Only the eldest, the second and the fourth are left. The eldest child is three years older than Wang Biao and joined the army last year. The second child is a boy and is a classmate of Meng Yinhe, but this child is a bit cowardly. Meng Yinhe said that his classmates called him Wei Ernao, meaning that he was too honest and often bullied.

The fourth child is the same age as Xu Feng, but he is just in the fourth grade. Why? Because he is not very smart and has been held back for several grades.

The family is full of kids, so life is naturally a bit difficult, so if the Xu family has any extra things, they will give some to the Wei family.

Besides digging wells for others, Lao Wei also works odd jobs in various places like Liu Daming. Why doesn't he work often? He is the only pillar of the family. What will happen to the family if he leaves? Otherwise, it is said that every family has its own problems.

At this time, a group of old ladies came from a distance, carrying thermoses and cloth bags in their hands, which were filled with tea mugs and tea cups.

Han Fengjiao waved and shouted, "Brother Yu, quickly ask them to come over and have a drink of water."

Yu Kaihe turned around and greeted everyone, and then they came over. Wang Shujuan, Liu Yue'e, Sun Lianfang, and Guan Hua poured the tea in the thermos into teapots and teacups and handed them to everyone one by one.

The people who came to help with the work did not ask who Guan Hua and Sun Lianfang belonged to. If it was from another village, there would definitely be someone who couldn't control his mouth and asked random questions. But except for the talkative Daba, the other people who came to help were all very nice and knew what to say and what not to say.

Han Fengjiao called out to Xu Ning, "Er Ning!"

"Hey, Second Aunt."

"I think this place is too empty. There's not even a place to shelter from the wind and rain. You have to stand to drink water. If this gets out, people will laugh at you."

"OK……"

When Xu Ning was about to speak, Yu Kaihe, Lao Wei and others heard what he said and said bluntly: "Oh, it's okay, they are all family members, what are you afraid of..."

That being said, Xu Ning couldn't do it because he was well prepared.

"My uncle is going around the village borrowing carts. When I go back to get the cart, I'll just pull a table and stool over here. Lei Zi and my eldest brother are building a shed over there. It will be ready in a little while."

"Okay then. I'll come and call you when the meal is ready."

"it is good!"

At this time, Wang Hu took a sip of tea and pulled Han Fengjiao and said, "Mom, bring some more newspapers. There's no paper in the toilet."

Xu Ning replied, "Then why don't you come back with me? It's just right for me to get the cart."

"Okay, let's go now, brother."

"Let's go, Second Aunt, get in the car?"

Han Fengjiao waved her hand: "Come on, forget it, sit on the back of the four-wheeler and beat the thermos for me."

"Haha, then we'll be leaving first."

"Go!"

(End of this chapter)