Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 503 How much does it cost to build a house before the beam is put up?

The whole body of the big trumpet felt light and there seemed to be rippling water in his heart, and he was so beautiful that he almost lost himself.

In the past, Da Laba's family was poor, and most people in the village looked down on him, so why did he run to the mountains and work so hard to make money? Wasn't it just to create a superior living condition for his wife and children?

His income is not bad in Taiping Village now. He only sold meat for more than 6 days in June, and earned more than 20 yuan. So after his income gradually increased, Da Laba didn't have too many worries. The only thing he worried about was Huang Lin! He was not good at studying and had no skills. What would Huang Lin do when Da Laba and Zhang Guifang were too old to work? He and his wife discussed it and thought that they must arrange a place for Huang Lin to learn a skill...

But before he had time to worry about it, his younger brother Xu Ning had already finished the job!
Although Xu Ning did this for his two younger brothers, Wang Biao and Liu Tianen, he did not forget his nephew Huang Lin. What does this mean? Xu Ning really treated Da Laba as a brother and would always think of him when there was something good.

Comfortable, my heart is comfortable, my whole body is comfortable!
Da Laba walked into the outer room with a grin on his face, raised his head and winked at Zhang Guifang who was squatting under the kitchen washing dishes, which made Zhang Guifang stunned. She couldn't help but stare at him with her eyelids rolled up. Da Laba didn't care at all. It was only because there were many people in the room, otherwise he would have rushed over to share the good news.

Wang Hu rushed into the room and said, "Brother Huang, my second brother said that you, Brother Ye, Brother Feng, Brother Yong and the others have to go to the side room to accompany the guests drinking."

"Hey, I'll go right away. Do you need anything to play with? I'll take it all over."

"The dishes and chopsticks are all here. I guess there's nothing to do."

The loudspeaker called out to Li Ye, Li Feng and Hu Zhiyong, and they rushed out of the house. However, Xu Laonian, Lao Wei, Lao Zhang and others who had washed their hands in the yard were walking back into the house.

Xu Laonian said with a smile: "You guys keep me company! But you have to save some space, because we have to have a drink tomorrow."

"Hey, don't worry, uncle, I'll definitely give them the time to accompany those who can't get up from the kang!" Big Trumpet grinned.

"Hahaha, Guoxing is pretty honest."

Chai Bing, Li Fuqiang, Sun Lianjun and others had already entered the east wing. Da Laba saw Xu Ning, Yu Kaihe and Lao Qian standing at the door of the lower room chatting, but he did not go over. He only led Li Feng and Li Ye into the house. As soon as they entered the house, Li Fuqiang handed them half a pack of cigarettes and asked them to share it...

Xu Ning turned around and said, "My uncle is now thinking that raising a donkey is too troublesome, so why not try riding the donkey instead?"

Old Qian smoked a cigarette and nodded: "It's okay to change the channel and ride the donkey, but it's a pity to sell the donkey. How many years have you raised this donkey?"

Yu Kaihe said: "I have raised it for four or five years. This donkey is the offspring of the breeding donkey in the production team. I bought it for more than 200 yuan when it was seven or eight months old. At that time, I still owed the production team more than yuan, but I have paid it off in the past few years."

"You have a deep affection for this donkey, right? Uncle Yu, if you have an affection for this donkey, then I advise you not to buy it. My father used to raise a mule, but later he sold it because it was not in good health and could not be raised. Just three days after the sale, my father fell ill and said that he had a pain in his heart..."

Yu Kaihe frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "I must have some feelings for it after raising it for so many years, but I can't use it now. I used to be able to go to the mill to pull some wood, but I haven't been to the mill to work since last year..."

This statement is very clear. Although Yu Kaihe is a good man, he is open-minded and knows clearly that donkeys are just a means of production, not pets. Besides, how many people in the countryside keep pets?

For example, Xu Ning raises dogs for hiking, Liu Guangmin's family raises cows for farming, and Yu Kaihe raises donkeys for making money.

Donkeys have a strong ability to adapt, eat little, are resistant to hardship and hunger, have few diseases, and grow quickly, so they are known as the bronze mule and iron donkey.

If properly raised, they can be used for more than 20 years. There is a saying: Don't underestimate the donkey, it is a treasure of the mountainous area, its feces and urine can fertilize the fields, and it is the best at work. Moreover, its meat is of excellent quality, and it is said to be as good as dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat on the ground...

Before, Yu Kaihe drove a donkey cart to Lengchang to work as a donkey farmer. He could earn more than 2 yuan a day, and the manure accumulated in a year could be sold for 10 yuan. If there was not enough profit, who would have the time to keep it?

At the beginning of the year, Yang Liguo drove a donkey to Qing'an. At that time, there was a cloth bag under the donkey's tail to collect manure. Many people didn't quite understand why, but they knew that it was actually for collecting manure and saving it as fertilizer or selling it for money.

But Yu Kaihe is old now, and even if the donkey could do the work, he can't do it anymore. Besides, the family has extra money, and raising a donkey would become a burden.

Lao Qian heard this and said, "Ah, then I won't persuade you anymore. If you want to buy a donkey, I'll give it to you at the cost price, 130 yuan per piece."

Yu Kaihe was a little dazed, and looked at Xu Ning, and saw him smiling: "Uncle, this is really the cost price."

"I know! No, I mean, wasn't it sold for more than 500 before?"

Lao Qian smiled and said, "Isn't it for the purpose of making money? What is your relationship with Er Ning? In other words, without your help, my brother's house wouldn't have been built so quickly!"

Xu Ning replied, "Uncle, if someone asks you how much you paid for the donkey, just say you bought it on the street for 500 yuan."

Old Qian shook his head: "There is a discount on the street now. The total price is 470 yuan. Uncle Yu, do you think it's okay?"

"Okay! Why not? I've already gotten such a great deal. I'll give you the money tomorrow..."

Lao Qian did not refuse and said, "Tomorrow we will have a secret encounter, but you will have to wait for more than half a month. There is a lot of work now. There are two apprentices of Lao Jin on the street, and they are both very busy now."

"Okay! I can ask Guoxing to help me sell the donkey."

"Then it's settled. Let's go inside and eat!"

Yu Kaihe said with a smile: "You youngsters, come drink together. I'll go drink with your dad and the others."

"Row."

There were two tables in the east wing. Xu Ning, Hu Zhibin, Chai Bing and others sat at the floor table, while Meng Ziyan and children including Sun Lianfang, Guan Hua and Xu Feng sat at the kang table.

During the meal, Xu Feng was so busy that she stepped on her heels. She jumped from the kang to the ground with a soda bottle in her arms, and raised the bottle to toast Chai Bing, Lao Qian, and Hu Zhibin. She made the gentlemen sitting at the table on the floor grin from ear to ear. Xu Ning didn't even need to tell jokes, Xu Feng livened up the atmosphere by herself.

Hu Zhibin, Lao Qian and others did not mention their plan to get her to study in the city. They did things in a similar way to Xu Ning. They seldom spoke out about things that were not already decided. If they succeeded, it would be fine. If they failed, others would say that they were short-speaking and unreliable.

However, Wang Biao and Liu Tianen, along with Huang Lin, were set to go to the city to learn the craft from Lao Jin. Da Laba did not mention it to Zhang Guifang in front of everyone. When he mentioned it to Zhang Guifang, there was no one around, only the two of them lying in bed...

"What? Bro..."

The loud speaker covered her mouth condescendingly and said, "Keep your voice down! We can't let our son know about this now!"

Zhang Guifang blinked her tearful eyes and said excitedly: "Brother, have you arranged everything? Oh my god..."

Seeing her eyes filled with tears, the loud speaker was stunned and asked, "Why are you crying?"

"I couldn't help it. Oh, you think we would have to work so hard, but you solved it for us with just one sentence."

"It's not that bad. I still haven't recovered from the shock, but I feel relieved now."

"I feel quite relaxed."

"..."

July 1984, 7, the twelfth day of the sixth lunar month, Tuesday. Suitable for: getting married, learning a skill, getting engaged, building a house, hanging a plaque, making a stove, making a fire, cutting wood, putting up beams, erecting pillars...

Taboo: burial, bridge construction...

In the morning, 6:.

All three rooms of Old Xu's house were filled with people. There were three plates of marinated meat and a pot of hand-rolled noodles on the table.

They sat at the table with large bowls in hand, stirring the noodles and stew in them.

Although they had drunk a lot of wine last night, this group of people did not delay their business. They entered Old Xu's house one after another before 6 o'clock.

When they entered the room, Liu Lizhen, Han Fengjiao and others were kneading dough and had not even had time to roll out the noodles. However, as there were many old ladies involved, they divided the work and quickly put the noodles into the pot. Yang Shuhua also prepared three kinds of stews, including leeks and eggs, shredded radish and pork, and shredded onion and pork. After placing them on the table, Liu Fenfang brought the basin of noodles into the room and invited everyone to eat.

Xu Ning stood at the table eating two bowls of noodles. He looked up at the wall clock, then hurriedly put down his bowl and chopsticks and went to the lower room to look for firecrackers and ropes. He threw the firecrackers into the tractor's bed and the ropes into the trunk of the Dongfeng bus.

Then, Xu Laonian and others who had finished their meal in the main house hurried out and said to Xu Ning, "Are the ropes ready?"

"It's in my third brother's car. You can just take the window and door frames. You don't need to take the window fans..."

Xu Laonian curled his lips and said, "You are quite a worrier. You guys go and clean up first."

"Okay!" After Xu Ning responded, Xu Laonian took a group of people into three cars and drove towards Guan Lei's house.

They went to Guan Lei's house mainly to take the columns, window and door frames, as well as the top and wall panels for the window and door frames. Things like beams, triangular beams, purlins, etc. were all on the construction site.

It didn't take too many people to move the beams, so Xu Ning, Chai Bing, Sun Lianjun and others rode donkeys or walked to the construction site.

After jumping over the makeshift bridge, you can see two buildings with five rooms facing south. The windows are surprisingly large, at least three times larger than the windows of Chai Bing's house.

"How much material does it take to make this double-layer window?"

Xu Ning said: "According to the normal cost, it would cost less than 4000 yuan to build a five-room building like this, but with the help of my family, I have spent less than yuan in total so far."

Chai Bing was surprised and said, "It hasn't cost 4000 yuan so far? That's really cheap."

It was indeed quite cheap, and even Old Wang's family borrowed all of it. Xu Ning was very worried during this period, but when he asked his mother how much money she spent a few days ago, he was no longer worried.

Take the Xu family as an example. One cart of red bricks needed to build the house costs 50 yuan. They used 8 carts to build the house. There were 7 extra carts of bricks piled outside the yard. These bricks were used to build the house, shed, pave the yard and build the wall. It is not known whether they will be enough now, but 15 carts of red bricks cost 750 yuan.

Add the 1200 yuan for steel bars and cement, and Zhang Jinbao's carpentry labor fee of 700 yuan, the purchase of a set of copper rivets and door knockers for the elm door, plus the kang stone cost 120 yuan, the well digging cost 65 yuan, and there is also 500 yuan in compensation for the homestead.

The total cost is 3335. Since the wood is free, I also need to factor in the money for the waterproof cloth, the hard work pay for the head of the wood storage yard, the money for the workers' food and drinks during this period, and 1200 yuan for the terrazzo floor (including labor and materials).

Window and door glass? Boss Li from the brick factory said they were free! Add in the cost of interior putty and white lime, and it would cost about 5000 yuan to complete Old Xu's house!

The Xu family certainly didn't have 5000 yuan, but when the house was built, Xu Ning would naturally have money to earn. Besides, he had a biscuit box with yuan in it, so he wasn't worried about it these days.

Xu Ning and others spread the firecrackers in the courtyard and at the door, and prepared the double-shot firecrackers. Then everyone walked into the shed. Chai Baotong took out five packs of economic cigarettes from his pocket and poured them into a clean enamel plate. Wang Hu also took two bags of peanuts and melon seeds and candy balls and poured them into two other enamel plates.

"Huzi, you and Baotong will go to your courtyard to set off firecrackers later. When mine goes off, you set off the firecrackers. The timing cannot be too different."

"okay."

Xu Ning took out a cloth bag from his trouser pocket, and poured out two sets of Five Emperors' Coins and two sets of Qian Dao Jia, saying: "This set of Five Emperors' Coins is for pressing the beams of the house, these two sets of Qian Dao Jia are for pressing the door thresholds, and the remaining two sets are for pressing the courtyard walls and the well."

Wang Hu took the ancient copper coins in his hand and looked at them, and asked, "Second brother, how much are these copper coins in total?"

"It's two dollars in total. When we get home, let my second aunt give your aunt one dollar and that's it."

"Yeah! Why is it so cheap?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "The person selling the copper coins is friends with our Uncle Sun, so the price is cheap."

One dollar is not much for the Xu family, but the Wang family must give it. If they don't give it to the Wang family, won't all the money they earn go to the Xu family? This is just like burning paper at a grave. Whoever spends the money gets it.

At around 7:, three cars slowly drove up to the construction site. Xu Ning and others quickly surrounded it. After everyone got off the cars, they split into two groups. One group unloaded the window door frames and pillars for Old Xu's family, and the other group unloaded them for Old Wang's family.

The window and door frames, pillars and other things were quickly unloaded to the base of the wall. Xu Laonian and Wang Erli helped to build the shelves under the two houses respectively. The shelves had actually been tied up long ago and only needed to be moved slightly. Then everyone started to move the beams, tripod beams, and purlins...

Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang, Sun Lianjun, Guan Lei and other younger generations were also busy. They took couplets and pasted them on the door, and pasted square couplets with the words "auspicious stars" on the outer walls. They also placed an offering table in front of the two main houses. On the table were incense bowls, two red candles, and five kinds of offerings: biscuits, trough cakes, bear meat, canned food and boiled eggs.

This is just a tribute, there will be chicken on the beam later...

Xu Laonian and Wang Erli each took a piece of red cloth, tied the Five Emperors' Coins to the red cloth, and wrapped something else inside the red cloth.

"Dad, where did you put the red envelope? I, Uncle Yu, will give you the red envelope later..."

"It's in your third brother's car. What time is it now?"

Xu Ning raised his hand and glanced at it, saying, "It's a little after 7:40. Don't worry. 8:28 is the right time."

When he turned around, he saw a group of old men coming over, including Du Shoucai, Chang Danian, Lao Hu, Lao Deng, Lao Yan, Lao Zhao and Lao Tang. These people were from Qing'an and Taiping, and Xu Ning had invited them door to door. However, they did not come at dinner time, but came before the beam-raising ceremony. This was the right way to do it!

"Hey, how come everything is ready? I was thinking of coming over early to help out."

Xu Laonian smiled and waved: "What are you busy with? There is not much to do in the first place. Now we are just waiting for the time to come."

Wang Erli ran over and said, "Brother, please sit down. There are some tobacco seeds and tea here..."

Chang Danian said, "Then we are waiting to put up the purlins, so you guys hurry up and get busy."

Du Shoucai said, "Well, let's chat here for a while. Oh, by the way, I ran into Niu Baotian on the way. The old Niu has difficulty walking, so I sent him back. I didn't let him come over. Let's ask Erning Huzi or someone else to go get him before dinner."

"That's it."

(End of this chapter)