Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 119 Aren’t you in a hurry to have a grandson?
After helping my sister Yu Chunmei make tofu for a while, she sent me out to rest.

In fact, making tofu is quite tiring.

A normal person’s body may not be able to endure doing this every day, let alone someone like my sister.

Therefore, Yu Qiutang now reduces the amount of Shenxian Tofu by half.

There aren't that many tofu leaves anyway.

But he did not suggest that his sister do nothing and just rest, as he was worried that his sister would not be able to bear it.

People with physical disabilities are most afraid of being given special care by others.

Not only will that not make them feel at ease, but it will tell them that you just need help from others and are not normal people.

On the contrary, it is a torture for them.

Yu Qiutang still hopes that his sister can stay in a good mood, thinking that she also helps do a lot of things at home and has a sense of participation.

There is also a sense of happiness.

Most people of this generation are very hardworking. They are taught by their parents to be diligent and brave, so they will not be particularly lazy when they grow up.

People like Wang Chunhua are a minority after all.

Since he was kicked out by his sister, he moved the puppy's basket out and put it outside to bask in the sun.

I started making the mold for the "base" myself.

This kind of mold is not difficult to make. It looks roughly like the Chinese character "口" and is about five or six centimeters thick. The horizontal plate at the bottom of the mold can be opened and closed.

After closing, shovel the moist loess into the base mold with a shovel, first compact it with your feet, then pound it with a stone hammer, after flattening it, open the baffle at the bottom and push the mold open, and you will have a ready base.

If the base is stacked vertically, it will be basically dry after a winter.

The base should be used up before the rainy season arrives next summer, otherwise the base will be soaked by rainwater and the bottom may even collapse, which will be a waste.

Yu Qiutang thought that if he used a foundation, he would definitely not be able to build the house in time for this winter, so he planned to use wood, red bricks, and gray tiles to build three rooms first.

People can move in before it gets cold.

Then call Wang Haofeng and Yu Qiujiang, and if that doesn't work, call Yu Qiyuan from Uncle San's family to help with the foundation. Before the ground freezes, make the foundation for next year.

When it gets warmer next year, we will tidy up the courtyard wall.

Although Yu Qiutang's carpentry skills are not as good as his father Yu Dejin, he can still make three simple molds.

As he was working, he was thinking about building a house. Suddenly, he remembered that Miyali's brother, his former brother-in-law, seemed to be a famous bricklayer. Since he was going to build a house, it would be a good idea to call him over.

By the way, tell my elder brother-in-law that he needs to bring a helper with him when he comes. But my elder brother-in-law is not married yet, so if he wants to bring a helper, he can only bring Miyali, who is good at work.

At that time, wouldn't he have the opportunity to have close contact with Miali?

As the saying goes, those who are close to water get the moon first. Take this opportunity to deepen your relationship with her.

After the New Year, when he turns 18, it would be a natural thing for him to propose marriage right away.

I am so smart.

The more he thought about it, the happier he became, and he couldn't help humming a little song.

“My family lives on the Loess Plateau.

A strong wind blew over the slope.

Whether it is the northwest wind or the southeast wind, it is my song, my song.

"Brother, please go west. I can't keep you here. Hold on to your hand...

The little swallow wears flowery clothes and comes here every spring. I ask the swallow where you come from?
Swallow said, the spring scenery here is the most beautiful..."

He actually seldom sings, and these are songs I've heard many times before.

When he sings now, he can't remember a few words of the lyrics, and basically he can only sing one or two words. But he still sings happily, and his face is filled with a happy smile.

The 3000 yuan hidden in a secret place is his confidence.

Yu Chunmei came out to splash water and saw her brother sitting under the eaves, working busily. In the box beside him, three little monkeys were whimpering and playing with each other.

She couldn't help but smile too.

Thanks to her brother Yu Qiutang, she can live the life she has now, without having to worry every day and being afraid of being criticized by Chen Meidi even when eating.

I didn't even dare to laugh out loud.

Now that none of that exists, she can do whatever she wants.

No more worrying about anyone talking about her.

Yu Qiutang not only gave her a stable life, but also gave her the rare dignity as a human being.

In fact, it was unreasonable for her to ask to follow Yu Qiutang when the family was divided.

Because the division of the family is not just a simple division of the family, but also involves the issue of household registration. If she follows her brother Yu Qiutang, she will not be able to register after she leaves, and will become an illegal resident.

Unless said.

Open her account separately and make it an independent account.

But this will bring new problems.

With her physical condition, how could she complete the payment of public grain, participate in voluntary work in the village and the team and other public activities.

If she can't do it, she will have to pay. Where will she get the money?
Therefore, relatively speaking, with her health condition, it is best for her to live in her parents' home. She doesn't have to think about moving her household registration out. All the things in the house can be kept with her parents, and she doesn't have to worry about it alone.

It was precisely because of this that when she proposed it on impulse, she didn't think Yu Qiutang would really agree.

No matter how you think about it, having her as a burden will make it very difficult for Yu Qiutang to do things in the future.

But she never expected that Yu Qiutang would actually agree just by trying to call out.

This formerly introverted and timid child, and her brother who shared the same suffering, began to show great courage at that time... or rather, from that time on.

It was as if his shoulders suddenly became strong and strong, fully able to carry the weight of two children and her disabled sister.

Her life was unfortunate.

Her mother passed away early and her own health was in such a bad state. It was hard for her to imagine that she would have a happy life in the future. She couldn't even dream of living that life.

She once thought that her life was like a cancer, which was impossible to recover from and that death would come at any time.

Although she is a young person, she has already lived one day at a time like many elderly people.

Perhaps God felt sorry for her and finally brought her brother to her, just like a piece of wood was handed to her in the flood, so that she could hold on to him tightly and avoid being swept away by the flood and drowned in the vast ocean.

She is really grateful to her brother.

thank you very much.

She had seen too many examples in the village of brothers and sisters turning against each other because of the slightest conflict of interest.

There is almost no family of brothers and sisters that can be truly close and united.

Even though they had a good relationship when they were young, once they grow up and face the division of interests, everyone's selfish side will be exposed, and they want to put everything into their own pockets. They will not take the initiative to give in at all, even to brothers and sisters who were once very close.

Around four o'clock in the afternoon, Yu Qiushi, Yu Xiaowei and Yu Xiaoyun came back. As soon as they came back, they quickly ran into their rooms. Even Yu Qiushi, who usually jumped a lot, became particularly obedient.

A few minutes later, Yu Dejin walked into the house slowly, carrying a tool bag on his back, rubbing his waist as he walked.

Seeing Yu Qiutang making a mold at the door, he walked over to watch for a while and said casually: "If you want to make this, just ask me to do it for you. Look at what you made..."

He said halfway but didn't expand on it. He just kicked one of the baffles with his foot and said, "This position needs to be curved, otherwise it will be split after a few uses and it will be useless."

Upon hearing this, Yu Qiutang stared at the mold and thought about it. He felt that what his father said made sense, so he found a chisel and slowly repaired it.

Yu Dejin looked at it for a while and said unhappily, "The things you chisel out are rough and will break easily when you use them as foundation in the future. You have to be gentle and patient. Without patience, you can't accomplish anything..."

Hey, I've been telling you for so long, but you're so clumsy. I really...

Forget it, just get out of the way and watch!"

As Yu Dejin was talking, he became annoyed and simply kicked Yu Qiutang away, then sat on a stool and started repairing the stone himself.

Although he is old, his hands are much steadier than Yu Qiutang's.

The chisel, which was deep and shallow just now, seemed to turn into a small and exquisite art knife in his hand.

The mold that was chiseled into a mess by Yu Qiutang was restored to its original shape by Yu Dejin. He then took out sandpaper from his canvas bag and polished the surrounding area to make it smoother.

"You must be careful when doing this. If you don't make it smooth, the edge of the base will not be neat, and it will be easy to damage the edge of the base when you break it after it dries.

You have to use your brain to do anything. You can’t just do it. You have to think about it first before you do it.”

As Yu Dejin spoke, he helped to prepare the second pair.

What could Yu Qiutang say? He had no way to refute, so he could only squat by and watch his father do it.

"Dad, have the school tables and chairs been repaired?"

"It's almost done. I've fixed a few, but there's still one chair that can't be fixed. I'll just pay them for it," Yu Dejin said, a little unhappy. "These bastards don't study hard in school..."

"It's fine once it's fixed," Yu Qiutang interrupted his nagging hastily, strangling his anger at its most basic level, "Dad, I want to ask you for a favor."

"help?"

Yu Dejin was stunned and looked up at Yu Qiutang. He was a little uncomfortable with his son's polite question. "What's the matter? Just tell me. I'm your father. There's no need to talk about whether I can help you or not."

"I want to ask, you have been working outside, do you know any bricklayers who are cheap but work quickly and well?"

"Why are you looking for a bricklayer...Oh, you're preparing to build a kiln, right?"

"I did have this idea, but I plan to build three brick houses first. I will wait until the spring of next year when the weather gets warmer before I start building the kiln."

Building a kiln and building a house are two different construction modes.

The so-called hoop kiln is to use a foundation to build the north and south walls, and then use mud to arch the walls layer by layer to form an arch, which is a bit like the arc of a bridge hole, and then build up the two sides to block it.

Such a kiln can basically maintain the characteristics of a dug cave, which is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is a very typical style of folk residence.

If you look from the outside, you can only see water flowing on both sides and a triangle with a high arched eaves in the middle. Many people don’t know that when you look from inside the cave, you can see an arc-shaped cave roof.

But this kind of kiln also has disadvantages. When it is built, like assembling building blocks, the east and west walls, north and south walls, and the kiln roof cannot be completely combined, and there will always be some gaps left.

As time goes by, the gaps at the joints at the bottom of the foundation will become wider and wider, and water will gradually leak.

Therefore, after living in this kind of building for more than ten years, almost every household will leak. People use cow hair felt to cover the roof of the cave to block the rain. It can barely block light rain, but it is useless for heavy rain. As long as it is an old house, there will be water marks on the wall.

In addition to kilns, there are two other types of houses. One is for daily construction, with walls built from the east, west, south and north, and then beams erected on the top.

This kind of house looks exactly like a kiln from the outside, but when you walk into the room, you can see that the supporting points are beams.

The supporting points of the hoop kiln are the mutual compression of the arches, and do not require separate beams for support. It is also the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people.

There is also a simpler house called "Xia Zi"

It is a house built on one side, leaning against the courtyard wall. From a distance, it looks as if the house was cut vertically in the middle of the ridge, dividing the house into two parts, forming two buildings.

According to the specific functions, the hoop kiln is generally used as a kitchen or bedroom. The master of the house is used to entertain guests, while the shazi is where the children live.

Why do children have to live in the shed? This is because children at this time have basically no status in the family and belong to the lowest "class".

They are not like the little princesses and princes of later generations who can enjoy the main status in the family.

Kids of this generation would want to worship their parents even when they sleep, as long as they don’t get beaten.

After hearing what Yu Qiutang said, Yu Dejin said casually, "There's no need to rush. If it's too late, we can wait until the beginning of next spring..."

"Let's move."

Yu Qiutang glanced at the kitchen and saw Chen Meidi cooking inside.

Yu Dejin was silent for a moment and nodded.

"That's fine. If you want to find a bricklayer, I'll ask him for you... If you want to find a bricklayer, then you have to buy bricks and tiles. Bricks and tiles are not cheap nowadays. Even if you build three rooms, it will probably cost several hundred yuan."

"Yeah, I calculated that we'll need about 8,000 bricks, and a little less tiles, so I think about 1,000 or 2,000 will be enough."

"That's going to cost a lot of money."

Yu Dejin finished polishing the second mold and started working on the third one.

"I've inquired about it. Bricks are 3 cents a page, tiles are 5 cents. I roughly calculated that I can get 400 yuan back at most... including shipping and loading and unloading fees."

"More than 400?"

Yu Dejin's hands trembled visibly, and he hesitated slightly, "This is not a small amount of money. How much have you saved?"

Before Yu Qiutang could answer, Yu Dejin immediately said, "If that doesn't work, I'll find a way to add some for you."

Yu Qiutang was a little surprised to hear his father say this.

He felt a little relieved that his father took the initiative to offer to help. This was much better than before.

"No need, Dad. I made some money recently, which is almost enough."

"That's fine," Yu Dejin nodded. "You've been tinkering with those things recently, and you can make some money, but you have to learn to save money and don't spend it carelessly. You're not young anymore, and you'll be able to find a wife soon..."

Having said that, Yu Dejin paused for some reason.

Then he said, "You have to save money anyway. Without money, you can't accomplish anything. No girl will want to be with you."

"know."

"You need a bricklayer, I can help you..."

"Do you know Mi Wenzhong?"

"?"

Yu Dejin was stunned. "Are you talking about that idiot from Mijia Village?"

"What are you talking about? How can I be considered a fool?"

Yu Qiutang smiled bitterly, "He is just a bit honest and stutters a bit, how come he becomes a fool in your mouth?"

"I don't think he's very smart. His brain is just a little dumber than the average person. But he's a good worker and has solid skills... By the way, how do you know him?"

How could I not know him? He was my brother-in-law in my previous life.

The two have a pretty close relationship.

Mi Wenzhong is Mi Yali's eldest brother. The Mi family now has six children, three boys and three girls. Mi Yali is the second child and younger than Mi Wenzhong.

But in fact, between Mi Yali and Mi Wenzhong, two children died young, so Mi Wenzhong is 27 years old this year, and Mi Yali is less than 20 years old.

It is said that Mi Wenzhong was frightened by an old boy when he was a child, which caused him to stutter. He is not a fool, but his brain is slightly worse than that of ordinary people.

In his previous life, when he was in his thirties, he married a widow who gave him a son and a daughter. He worked hard to raise the two children. After the widow died, the two children moved to the city and basically ignored him.

They are all over sixty years old and still working on various construction sites, which is quite difficult.

Although he had some physical defects, he was honest and warm-hearted, and he got along very well with Yu Qiutang.

"Well..." Yu Qiutang wanted to find a reason to make up, but then he thought, there was no need to hide anything from his father, and it was not shameful to like Mi Yali.

"Actually, this is what happened. I was at a street market a while ago and I met a girl. I was attracted to her at first sight.

As for me, I asked around and found out that he was from Mijiazhuang..."

Yu Dejin looked at his son, suddenly revealing a hint of mockery.

"You wanted Mi Wenzhong to come earlier from the beginning, not a bricklayer, right? It would be best if he brought his sister with him, so you can take the opportunity to observe the girl again."

Yu Qiutang felt a little embarrassed when his father pointed it out directly.

He smiled helplessly and said, "Not entirely. I do need a bricklayer, but this is not a coincidence."

Seeing that his father still had that half-smile in his eyes, he simply said, "Dad, you also said that I will be 18 years old in the new year, and I can have a date, right? Now that I have this idea myself, isn't it better? If I can succeed, you will be relieved, and you won't be anxious to hold your grandson, right?"

"It's not like I don't have grandchildren," Yu Dejin scolded with a smile, "That's true, if I'm not careful, it will be time for you to get married.

All right, I know what's going on in your mind. I'm not familiar with that young man, but I know other people in their village. I'll ask someone to ask for you."

"That's great." Yu Qiutang was satisfied.

This matter cannot be too obvious, otherwise Mia Li will see that he has ill intentions, which may backfire.

People of this era did not have the lively and open consciousness of later generations.

"Okay, this shouldn't be a problem," Yu Dejin put the last mold aside, "Do you need my help with the foundation?"

"No need. I've called Fengzi and Brother Jiang. If that doesn't work, I'll ask Qiu Yuan to help out when he's free."

"That's fine. I'm old now, and my back hurts when I do some work, and I can't do much heavy work. When the time comes, let me know what furniture you need, and I'll help you prepare it."

"it is good."

After Yu Dejin finished speaking, he wanted to stand up, but halfway through, he almost collapsed on the stool because of the pain in his waist.

Yu Qiutang was quick to act and quickly supported him.

He suddenly felt that his father's body was very light, much lighter than he had imagined, and he could hardly feel any weight.

Such a common supporting action made both of them a little dazed.

"I'm really old." Yu Dejin shook his head again and smiled bitterly.

Yu Qiutang slowly let go of his father's arm and watched him slowly walk towards the kitchen, feeling a little dazed.

He felt very unfamiliar with his father in his previous life. It seemed that except when his father scolded him, he had hardly ever had a proper conversation with his father.

I have hardly ever experienced this kind of warmth between father and son.

"Oh, by the way, aren't you going to go find Qiu Yuan? By the way, ask them when your grandma will be back. I heard that she was going to come back in the past few days, but there's no news now."

"understood."

Yu Dejin then lifted the door curtain and entered the kitchen.

The moment the door curtain was opened, a stream of hot air rushed out from inside and floated into the air.

"You son of a bitch, you only know how to eat. Let me make it clear to you. If you cause trouble again, I will break your legs."

"understood."

"Why are you so angry? You are so polite in front of others, helping this and that, but now you come here and show off your power?"

Chen Meidi threw a bowl of noodles in front of Yu Dejin. "I don't serve you well all day long. If you lose your temper in public, who will you show your displeasure to?"

"What are you talking about? When have I ever given you the cold shoulder..."

"How else are you going to shake it off? Look at that long face of yours, it's almost touching the ditch, and you're still going to tell me you didn't shake it off?"

"It's just..."

"Go wash your hands, and you just picked it up and ate it? Look at the smell on you. How many times do I have to tell you..."

Yu Chunmei quietly opened the door a crack and said, "Tangtang, come in and eat."

Yu Qiutang turned and went into the kitchen.

Tonight Yu Chunmei steamed alfalfa sprout buns and fried eggs with bear fat inside. They tasted so delicious.

If there weren't two people watching on the side, Yu Qiutang would have wanted to kill seven or eight of them in one breath.

Also be the greedy Zhu Bajie for once.

After dinner, he went to a small shop, picked up a bottle of wine, a bag of cakes, and weighed half a pound of fruit candy, and took them to his third uncle Yu Deshui's house.

Yu Deshui and Yu Qiutang are in the same team, but the two families are a bit far apart.

Logically speaking, even if the brothers move out separately, they won't be too far away from each other, so they can take care of each other if anything happens.

But at that time, Yu Deshui and Yu Detu had a very tense relationship. Since Yu Detu lived at the southernmost end of the third team, Yu Deshui simply built the yard at the northernmost end.

Although they were in the same team, they were three or four miles apart.

It is difficult to tell who is right and who is wrong when it comes to issues between brothers. Yu Deshui has a bit of a temper, but overall he is a very honest and filial person.

Yu Detu, on the other hand, is relatively stubborn. Once he makes up his mind about something, he likes to stick to it to the end.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have ended up down that path.

There were conflicts during their lifetime that were never resolved. After the person died suddenly, Yu Deshui regretted it so much that he was too embarrassed to move in with them, so he had to stay away.

(End of this chapter)