CH 299

The base of the wall and the front of the house were also reserved for planting trees. Wooden trees and fruit-bearing trees could probably be planted in the spring of the following year.

In the countryside, the villagers generally liked to plant pomegranates, apricot trees and jujube trees in the yard. They would also plant wooden crops such as the acacias, Japanese pagoda trees and sycamore. Those who had a group of children would especially make it a point to plant the trees. When the children grew up, they would cut down the tree to make furniture or use it as a dowry for their future wives.

Even if their small courtyard was the size of a palm, the members of the Commune were reluctant to give up any functional space, which was how the tree-planting tradition came to be as it utilized and would bring about the most profits.

Upon entering the house, the space was broad and wide all the way to the end as there were no other pillars in the middle. In order to make the spaces divided to have the north and south kangs arranged, pillars needed to be added in the middle for most houses.

For a compound with only a main house, it was pretty expensive when the total price amounted to about 1,900 Yuan.

It could be seen that no matter the era, building a good house would not be cheap.

The only thing that saved their expenses was for the labor of workers as there was no need to pay wages nor was there much to do in terms of providing their meals. In the future, they would repay them by returning the favor.

Naturally, she and Han Qingsong had more detailed requirements to fulfill as the house they built was tall and spacious. If it was a smaller house, a lot of the bricks, tiles and wood could have been saved. After all, trees that were 10 or 20 years old were much more expensive than those less than 10 years old. Sometimes, there would even be a 3 to 5 times difference in their prices.

If they were to build a small house, they didn’t even need 1,000 Yuan— 800 to 900 Yuan would have been sufficient.

However, with Lin Lan’s idea of ​​spending money, how could it be possible to cut their expenses? “This would seem better if it was a little bigger, that one is just a bit more expensive but a better quality”, she would say. Going to and fro like that made their total cost for the house skyrocket.

Originally, Han Qingsong’s estimated budget of 1,000 Yuan should have been enough, but it was tarnished by Lin Lan’s plans.

In short, although it cost a lot of money, Lin Lan was very satisfied with this house. After all, in this era, neither business nor private enterprises were allowed, so their money could only be spent on improving their welfare and living environments.

In this regard, Han Qingsong had already helped her and she was very grateful.

She was busy going in and out all afternoon. Upon seeing that it was getting dark, she hurriedly prepared dinner.

She was too lazy to pluck the hairs out, so she just placed the pig’s trotters and pig tail on the fire. Then, she boiled the water to remove the blood, scalding and washing it clean. Afterwards, she placed them inside the pot with cold water and threw the aniseed ingredients to continue cooking.

After the contents were boiled, it was then simmered on a low heat. When it was almost done, she dished out a portion of the meat to savor later on. The rest of the pot was added with vegetables such as potatoes and pumpkin whereas pancakes were placed on the side of the pot to simmer.

The aroma could be scented almost five miles away.