playful peasant girl

Chapter 9 Building a New House
Thinking about building a house, Xia Lan felt that she had to make a good plan and build a small courtyard for leisure in the countryside.

Xia Lan thought, the house doesn't need to be very big, but it needs to be small and complete.

The kitchen should be bigger, and the stove should be repaired like a modern rural area. Although it still burns wood, it will be cleaner. Then the living room should be bigger and have the feeling of a modern living room. Two main kitchens should be built in the bedroom. I share one room with Niu Niu, and build two guest rooms. After I make good friends, I can bring friends to live at home, and build a warehouse. The walls of the warehouse should be thicker than the other rooms, and the bathroom should be modern. She couldn't bear to dig a hole casually, so she built a small flower garden of seven or eight square meters in the yard, where she could plant a plum tree and some beautiful flowers, and build a small garden in the corner of the yard far away from the room. The chicken coop can feed six or seven chickens.The most important thing is to build the courtyard wall higher to block those who don't have eyes.

For the 280 taels of silver sold for ginseng, more than ten taels of silver were used to buy things, and even if it was 260 taels of silver, Xia Lan felt that according to her design, 60 taels of silver should be able to be repaired.

The next day, Xia Lan asked Niu Niu to look after the house, and went to the town in a bullock cart to buy rice noodles, paper and pens.After returning, Xia Lan drew a sketch according to her own design blueprint and used her sketching ability. She asked the house builder in Niuniu Village who knew that it was Uncle Liu in the village.

The next day, after returning from practicing martial arts with Niu Niu on the mountain, Xia Lan took the drawings to Liu Sanshu's house and asked Liu Sanshu to estimate how much money it would cost.

"Xiao Lan, according to your request, it will cost more than 50 taels of silver. If the roof is made of gray tiles, it will cost more than ten taels of silver. Do you have so much money now?"

"Third Uncle, Xiaolan will not hide it from you. The money I exchanged for the pawned things is enough to repair the house and there is still a little surplus. It is enough for us to use it for another two or three months to harvest the crops. It's just that Niu Niu and I have returned Small, it’s not safe to store so much money, and you can’t keep things at home, and if you put something in it, you will lose it. You know this, so I hope you can keep it a secret.”

Uncle Liu is an honest person, and he immediately agreed to Xia Lan's words.

"I would like to ask my third uncle to help me buy materials." Liu Sanshu thought about Xia Lan, a little girl's family, and agreed. Xia Lan asked the workers the daily wages they should pay each day, and asked Liu Sanshu about other odds and ends. Thanks, I went back.

After that, I stayed at home to practice martial arts every day. There were things in the house that needed someone to take care of them, and I took time to purchase materials with Liu Sanshu, and prepare things for building a house and work.

As for the auspicious day for the start of construction, as a modern soul, she doesn't have many superstitions about it, but according to the custom, let the old people who understand these see it, and set the start of construction in seven days.

Seven days passed quickly, and everything that should be prepared was ready, and the day to start construction had arrived.

Early in the morning, the workers who came to repair the house came. Xia Lan and Niu Niu had already moved their things to Grandma Liu's house next door. Grandma Liu generously asked Xia Lan to live in her house first.

Because he had to take care of the workers for a meal at noon, Xia Lan gave Niu Niu a tael of silver and asked him to go to Uncle Zhu's house to buy a few catties of pork.Xia Lan went to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables.

At noon, Xia Lan fried the meat and vegetables together, and steamed the rice. The workers had never seen such a generous home repairer for anyone. Those people only fried vegetables and made porridge, for fear of losing money.Everyone was very grateful to Xia Lan, and consciously repaired the house faster.

In the next few days, every two days, Xia Lan would ask Niu Niu to buy a few catties of pork to improve the food, so the workers also consciously repaired the house, even if Xia Lan was not around, they never cut corners.

In the meantime, Mrs. Li wanted to get things done again, euphemistically saying that Xia Lan was too young to be busy alone, so if she wanted to help her, just ask her to pay twice as much as the workers.

For this kind of shameless and invincible person, Xia Lan naturally drove her away unceremoniously.

People like Li, who scolded Li Li, pretended to be disdainful and left, Xia Lan thought it was funny, don't come if they disdain you, why are you here!As for Mrs. Li, she just scolded Xia Lan if she had nothing to do. Xia Lan didn't care too much, just scolded. A few scoldings won't grow on your body, and you won't lose a piece of meat. If you are bitten by a dog, you can't bite back go back.

Half a month passed quickly, and because the workers all volunteered to process, the house was repaired four or five days ahead of schedule.Xia Lan specially gave everyone an extra [-] Wen when paying wages, but everyone refused to accept it. Due to Xia Lan's insistence, they all accepted it. After more than ten days of getting along, everyone also liked Xia Lan very much. Lan and Niu Niu, two sensible children, both enthusiastically and sincerely confessed to Xia Lan what troubles she would encounter in the future, so don't hesitate to ask them for help.

Originally, Xia Lan just thought that people's work was very energy-intensive, so she bought some meat from time to time to improve her food, but she didn't expect to gain people's hearts, which was quite an unexpected surprise.

Xia Lan and Niu Niu moved their own things back, thinking that there was no decent furniture in the house, so they thought about harvesting the crops, and finding a carpenter to build some furniture when they were free.

During the half month of building the house, Xia Lan and Niu Niu practiced martial arts, and Xia Lan obviously felt that her physical fitness was much better than before.

If I want to practice basic skills for another two months, I will probably be able to learn some moves and start to learn inner skills and mental methods.

Xia Lan thought about giving Niu Niu a name. Niu Niu's name was called by someone else, and she didn't even have a decent name. Xia Lan couldn't help but feel sad.

Furthermore, the people here are not well-educated, and they can’t get a good name. Boys are given nicknames like Zhuzi Gouzi Erdanzi, and their first names are Dasheng, like Dasheng. As for girls, it’s even better. What peach blossoms? The ones of pear blossoms are basically flowers anyway. The Lan in my name was originally the orchid of orchids, but it turned out to be this Lan because the head of the household register in the county made a mistake. Xia Lan really wanted to thank that master book , Wrong too right.

What's a good name for Niu Niu?After thinking about it, I decided to call it Xia Haoxuan. Hao can be majestic and upright, and Xuan has the idea of ​​making people feel like a talented person.

Xia Lan firmly believed that under her own training, this sensible younger brother would not lose to those children from big aristocratic families.She will do her best to create the best environment for him.

After the house is repaired, there is a custom of asking the neighbors to set up a running water mat to avoid evil and pray for blessings.Xia Lan is really tired these days, and decided to invite the villagers to a banquet in a few days. Although she is not interested in these things, she still has to go to the ceremony.

(End of this chapter)