Chapter 37： Prepare to build a house

Chapter 37 Preparing to build a house

At this time, the three hundred golden ears at home have been sown, and he was about to go to the front yard to discuss with his parents and brothers, when he saw Chen Cunzheng standing at the door of his yard with his hands behind his back.

Muramasa Chen Sanyou is in his forties. He is gentle, polite and helpful. He is very prestigious in Dongchen Village, and his reputation is second only to his elder brother Chen Fu, the patriarch.

When Jiang Sanlang saw Chen Cunzheng coming, he hurried forward to greet him and said with a smile: "Uncle Chen, come in quickly and sit down."

 Chen Sanyou then walked in, looked around and asked: "Sanlang, I see that you are very busy recently, what are you busy with?"

Jiang Sanlang rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "I'm not busy with anything. I just picked some mushrooms from the mountain and came back to plant them."

“What mushroom?” Chen Sanyou was curious.

Jiang Sanlang led him into the bamboo shed, pointed to the twenty mulberry trees on the shelf and said: "I planted golden ears, which are said to be tonic."

Chen Sanyou stretched his neck and looked at it for a while, then realized that he didn't recognize it, so he muttered: "It's quite strange."

Jiang Sanlang smiled innocently.

 Coming out of the bamboo shed, Chen Sanyou said earnestly: "Sanlang, you can grow mushrooms, but you can't abandon the fields. Growing grain is the foundation of our farmer's life."

Jiang Sanlang nodded immediately: "Don't worry, Sanshu Chen, my family's fields are all cultivated, and not a single acre has been lost."

Chen Sanyou nodded and sighed: "I was notified yesterday that after the summer harvest, the court will collect a large amount of grain and cloth. The fields in our village will be taxed 10% per acre. Oh, you all should be careful. Well, if we don’t count enough by then, life will be difficult for you and me.”

Jiang Sanlang frowned: "Are you going to increase the tax? Sanshu Chen, is the court going to war with someone again?"

Chen Sanyou shook his head, "I don't know. There will always be a government order issued by then. Let's just wait."

He walked a few steps, stopped again, and continued:

"Also, you should cultivate the fields over there in Nanshan quickly. No matter what you plant, it is better than leaving it uncultivated. I think the price of food will definitely rise in the second half of the year. You can play around with that land a little, and it will be better in the winter. Hungry."

"That's what Uncle Chen San said." Jiang Sanlang said: "I am also planning to tidy up the land in Nanshan. I will ask Uncle Chen to give me some details."

“Yes.” Chen Sanyou was satisfied and left with his hands behind his back.

Sent Muramasa away, Jiang Sanlang looked solemn.

In previous years, before a war started, the imperial court would always levy grain and cloth. If the war was stalemate, it would also levy troops.

At that time, the people will probably experience another cold wind, snow and rain.

Fortunately, I earned dozens of taels of silver. Even if the army really had to be drafted, my three brothers could use the silver to buy more soldiers to go out in the army instead.

So, you still have to think carefully about building a house.

…

As the old saying goes, peach blossoms in March bring rain in April. It’s the end of April, and the sky is overcast, and it seems like a heavy rain is brewing.

Chunniang sat in front of the window, glancing outside from time to time, feeling worried.

She has been thinking about her daughter's words these days, and she is afraid that one day the river will suddenly flood and her house will be flooded.

“Sanlang, let’s build a house in Nanshan as soon as possible. Alas, I can’t even sleep well these days.”

Jiang Sanlang, who was teasing his son, was stunned for a moment, looked outside and frowned.

It rained a lot in early summer, and it hasn’t cleared up in the past few days.

He thought for a moment and said, "How about we build three huts on Nanshan first. If there is a heavy rain, we can go to the mountain to take shelter."

Chunniang nodded immediately, "Build a thatched hut, just build thatched hut, Sanlang, I really can't stand it anymore." I was so worried all night that I didn't dare to sleep a wink.

“Then I’ll tell my parents tomorrow and see if they can build it or not,” Jiang Sanlang said.

Chunniang glared at her husband and said, "You can just build it. Why are you always dragging your father, mother, eldest and second brother? If they don't agree to go, then won't you stop building it?"

“No way.” Jiang Sanlang rubbed his head in embarrassment: “I wasn’t thinking that if there was a flood one day, they would build a house on the south **** and have a place to stay.”

Chunniang's face brightened a little, and she urged: "Then why are you waiting for tomorrow? It's not too late now, so hurry up and tell your eldest and second brothers."

“Oh, I’ll go right away.”

Ying Bao didn’t know that because of her words, her parents decided to build a house in Nanshan. Not only did my father go to build it, he also brought his eldest and second uncle along with him. At the moment, she is busy in the cave, planting snow fungus on five mulberry trees.

After planting the snow fungus, I went to look at the golden fungus on the other five mulberry trees.

These golden ears have grown, but because of the bad weather, they were not cut down.

However, if they are not harvested, the mature golden ears will shrink, change color, and eventually rot.

The golden ears my father planted have not yet grown up, so they will not be baked in the oven. And now is the rainy season, the weather is humid and there is not enough sunlight. If the golden ears are not dried in time, they will rot and become moldy.

Hey, you must calculate the time for planting next time, otherwise your work will be in vain.

Yingbao walked around the cave and saw again the large field of bachelor grass, which is the grass where water chestnuts grow.

Now the water chestnuts are ripe, and they will rot in the ground if they are not picked.

Yingbao scratched his head and squatted down to dig some water chestnuts.

After pulling out and digging, only a few dozen clumps of stick grass were harvested, and a large basket of water chestnuts as big as eggs was harvested, which made Ying Bao very worried.

You can't finish it by yourself, and you don't dare to take too much out for others to eat. This is really going to cost you your life.

If only she grew up, she could take them to the town and sell them. Or pretend to buy it from the market.

But she is only a two-year-old baby now, just a little taller than a small dining table. If she goes out alone, a child of several years old can carry her away.

Selected a dozen of the largest ones and set them aside for seeds, while the rest were temporarily placed in baskets.

Wash your hands in the pool water, Ying Bao began to think about the thirty mature golden ears again.

This thing is already valuable, and it makes her heartbroken to waste one.

Looking around, Ying Bao saw the Wudingzhi on the stone wall and suddenly had a sudden thought.

Pinch off a few Wuding Zhi leaves, put them in a bowl and pound them into a paste, then scoop out some pool water and stir them well.

Wudingzhi juice melts into the water and is only slightly viscous, nothing else is noticeable.

Yingbao poured the bowl of water on the mature golden ears and wanted to wait a few days to see if they would mutate.

The golden ears are already mature anyway. If they are not picked and dried in time, they will become moldy. It is better to use them as an experiment.

If there was nothing unusual, she would boil the golden ears and give them to her grandparents and uncle to eat. It was not considered a waste. If they went bad, she would just throw them away.

When I came out of the cave, I saw dark clouds outside the window and it was already raining.

 Ying Bao knelt down beside the Kang table, picked up an ink stick and began to grind the ink.

Ever since her father bought her a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, she has another task every day, which is to copy copybooks and copy the Three Character Classic.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, hitting the window lattice and causing splashes of water.

Jiang Sanlang hurried home from outside, and his clothes were already soaked.

He took off his wet clothes, took the cloth brought by his wife to wipe his face, and said with a smile: "The eldest brother and the second brother have agreed to go to Nanshan to build a house with us. When the rain stops, I will ask brother Li Dayong to help us build adobe. In autumn, we will Start construction.”

Building a house is not an easy task, even if you build a thatched house. You must first dry the adobe needed to build the house, and then prepare enough bamboo and thatch, as well as log beams, door frames and window frames. Play well.

Once everything is ready, you can ask someone to lay the foundation and build the house.

During this period, it is necessary to avoid the busy farming season, not to mention the freezing cold winter, because the soil easily contains ice. Once the spring warms and the flowers bloom, the ice melts, making the house unstable, and the walls will collapse within a short period of time.

Chunniang pursed her lips and smiled, brought him some dry clothes to change into, and asked, "Should we still build an adobe house?"

The family has money now, so they can build five large houses with blue bricks and tiles, which are clean and bright, and there will be no black bugs crawling down from the rotten thatch on the roof in summer.

Jiang Sanlang nodded, "Build three adobe houses for the time being. When we make more money, we will build brick houses."

(End of this chapter)