CH 60

Li Changfeng’s eyes lit up, this thing is good! In winter, Xu Qing and the child will not be suffering from the cold!

“Okay, let’s do it!”

In order to build the house before the autumn harvest, Li Changfeng directly explained the plan to Uncle Xie, and then followed Uncle Xie to find some diligent and capable men. Xu Qing and Li Changfeng both discussed it, wages would be twenty coppers a day and lunch provided; it is very reasonable.

As for cooking the lunch, Xu Qing wouldn’t personally do it, and asked Xie Ama and Wei Ama for fifteen coppers a day. The piglet and chickens at home were relocated to a temporary and sturdy shed next to the building. As for Xu Qing and Li Changfeng, they were forced by Xie Ama to live in their house because the pregnant Xie Qing needed a quiet environment. Xu Qing lived in Xie Yu’s room, and Li Changfeng lived in another vacant room.

Although Li Changfeng was reluctant to sleep in separate rooms with Xu Qing, but now there is no other way, he can only watch Xu Qing enter the door alone every night.

On the second day when the house was to begin renovation, eldest Li came to Xu Qing’s house with a load of things on his back, “This is what mother asked me to bring here. Second brother, health is the most important, you take care of yourself. The family is looking forward to your child. Visit us when you guys can. Second brother, your life is good.”

Li Changfeng smiled and nodded, and after a few more casual chats, they he a meal together and then the eldest Li left.

Xu Qing looked at the food brought by eldest Li on the table and sighed, “mother didn’t have to do this.” Li Changfeng stepped forward and hugged Xu Qing gently.

***

Almost all the people in the village knew about such a big move of new house construction in the back mountain, and everyone was talking about it. Some people were sour, some admired, and some didn’t care. Zeng Ama was a typical sour. He thought that Li Changfeng was very capable. The reason why Xu Qing was able to repair the house so quickly was because Li Changfeng did woodwork and robbed his family of business, or else, how would he have the money to build a large tile-roofed house!

So when he went to other wives’ houses to chat when he had nothing to do in the past few days, he would be spouting all kinds of bad things that Xu Qing and Li Changfeng repairing the house was not good, they were doing this not good, that not good. After a few times, it even reached the ears of Xu Qing and Li Changfeng, but they were too busy, so they didn’t care too much.

The biggest concern while building a house in summer is that someone will suffer from heat stroke, so what Xu Qing does every day is to make mung bean soup in the morning with Xie Ama and the others. The men who were sweating profusely were very happy. This cold and sweet mung bean soup was very popular. After a few days, the purchased mung beans were gone. Please read this on ho lo lo novels, alright?

Li Changfeng was stunned for a moment, then slapped his head! How could he forget?! Now that Xu Qing is pregnant, and he is busy with the construction of the new house every day. Shopping for vegetables and groceries in this situation, while living at other people’s house, is troublesome. It would be better to buy a donkey cart, it’d be useful even during the autumn harvest.

So after Li Changfeng and Xu Qing discussed, Li Changfeng went out early the next morning, and when Xu Qing was having breakfast, Li Changfeng came back with a donkey cart. It took five taels of silver, including the costs to complete all the relevant procedures.

Xu Qing asked Li Changfeng to wash his hands and eat breakfast, after that he went out to look at the donkey. Seeing that it was in good spirits, but looking a little dumb, he named it: “Daodao.” He poured some spring water into its water tray.

Daodao leaned over and sniffed the water, its whole body twisted with excitement, but instead of drinking water directly, he rubbed his head gently on Xu Qing’s body before burying his head and drinking water. ,Xu Qing was stunned for a while, then smiled and patted Daodao’s head.

Seeing this scene, Xie Ama said with a smile, “I didnt know that it would be quite attached to you.” Xu Qing patted Daodao’s head and thought that it wasn’t that the donkey was attached to him, it was after the benefits from the spring water he gave.

There are many people to feed. Today, they all had meat for lunch. Even the unfinished dishes were distributed among the men with heavy burdens at home to bring back for their families. Everyone knows the situation of these people, and they were all kind enough not to be petty about it. What’s there to be unhappy about, there’s enough food, and occasionally there’s meat and wine. Everyone was full of energy and working hard. In just over a month, the house was built.

There are four large green tile rooms in total. The middle is the main room. The left side of the main room is a bedroom. This is for children. There are two rooms on the right. There is a compartment in the warehouse, one side is filled with grain, and a cellar is dug under this side to store other things later. On the other side of the compartment, a desk is prepared to be used when the children grow up and study. The entrances of all the rooms were facing the gate.

There is a kitchen built next to the well, and a path behind the kitchen. A few steps away are the pigsty, the chicken coop, and the donkey pen. One end of the path is connected to the kitchen and covered with a bamboo roof. Even if it rains, it will not affect going to the back and feeding the animals at all.

From the opposite side of the dining table in the kitchen, there is a door leading to a compartment divided, which is divided into two. The front is for putting some sundries or rice, and the back is the bathroom, while the kitchen and the bathroom is connected to the child’s room. As for the large room next to the warehouse, it is used to store firewood; it is very large and can be either used for firewood or woodworking materials.

A small plot was arranged in the backyard to grow side vegetables in the future. The pepper tree was also moved to the side. A pear tree and a jujube tree were also planted behind the firewood building. A stone table was placed next to the corner of the wall. Small stones were placed in the path from the door to the main room and the kitchen. They were pressed in the ground. They were non-slip and very beautiful. Xu Qing and Li Changfeng waited for a few days. After planting odor-removing plants, Li Changfeng’s newly-made furniture was moved into the room piece by piece.

Xu Qing looked at the brand new house and felt that during this time, his belly had changed a little bit. He was very satisfied. When making the kang, no one else was involved, but Li Changfeng and Uncle Xie finished the work on their own. In addition to the kang, Xu Qing also let them build a fireplace in the hall.

After listening to Xu Qing talking about the benefits of the heated kang and the fireplace, Uncle Xie directly pulled Li Changfeng and built a heated kang at Xie’s house. As for the fireplace, they didn’t make it.

In the evening, Xu Qing personally cooked and made a stir-fried pig kidney, fragrant twice-cooked pork, egg custard, and big bone soup. This was the first meal for the two of them in their new home. According to local customs, the first meal when you move into the new home, even If no banquet is held, you have to at least set off firecrackers at the entrance of the courtyard, indicating that you will move into a new home, auspicious and stable.

Stir-fried Pig Kidney/爆炒腰花

(credit: sohu)

Twice-cooked Pork

(credit: chinasechuanfood)

Egg Custard

(credit: Omnivore’s Cookbook)

After the discussion between the two, Xu Qing and Li Changfeng decided not to set up a banquet. They were moving into the new house and if they wanna hold a banquet at a time like this, it would be too much trouble.

So when the villagers heard the sound of firecrackers coming from the back mountain, Zeng Ama dressed up and went out, “How’s it going? I’ll say that this person has spent all his money in one fell swoop, but he can’t even hold a banquet!” Zeng Ama was very proud. Back then, when they had built a new house, their family invited the villagers and held a banquet. Everyone gave him face.

A skinny Ame curled his mouth, “If I have to say, building such a beautiful house, they should be saving money now, otherwise it won’t be enough for future expenses!” The two young people in the back mountain have no elders in their families, and they are not sensible, building such a big house, exhausting all their money!

Zeng Ama doesn’t care what others think, anyway, he is very comfortable now. Even if he sees Xu Qing and Li Changfeng again, he will no longer be depressed.

***

After Xu Qing and Li Changfeng finished their meal, they began to do some accounting.

“We spent 15 taels to repair the house plus the workers’ wages, and 3 taels for grocery shopping, new quilts, new bed covers, new pillows, and our new clothes, which cost a total of 5 taels. The donkey cart is 5 taels, so we spent 28 taels in total.” Xu Qing counted the money for this month, “We had a total of 165 taels, and we spent 28 taels. , we still have one hundred and thirty-seven taels of silver left.”

In this way, they are still very rich! Xu Qing was very satisfied, “We are now people who have a car and a house.” Li Changfeng was a little confused, “What is a car and a house?” Xu Qing stretched out his hand and touched Li Changfeng’s chin teasingly, “It’s just a house to live in, with a donkey carriage!”

Li Changfeng allowed Xu Qing to misbehave on his face. Hearing this, he nodded in a obedient manner, “You forgot one thing.”

“What?” Xu Qing didn’t know what he had forgotten no matter how he thought about it.

Li Changfeng looked at Xu Qing’s belly tenderly, “You forgot, we still have a child on the way.” Xu Qing touched his nose, but he really forgot that in the past month or so, his body has completely recovered; eating and sleeping feel fragrant, and there is no discomfort at all.

“Let’s visit the your natal family’s residence tomorrow.” Xu Qing thought about how the old yard of the Li family had delivered things several times during the past couple of days. They haven’t had a chance to thank them. They have to back for a trip, otherwise he’d feel sorry.

Li Changfeng packed up the tableware and chopsticks, “Listen to you.” Whatever Xu Qing said what to do, he would do it. This time he was really grateful of the love of the old house, and he had to go back no matter what, but Li Changfeng thought about what his older brother told him in private, he frowned slightly, the peaceful days in the Li family are about to come to an end.

The next day, after Xu Qing and Li Changfeng had breakfast, they drove the donkey cart packed with gifts and headed to Jixiang Village. On the way, they happened to meet Butcher Liu, said hello, and after a brief chat, they went on to the old yard of the Li family.

Li Xiao’er was cooking when he heard a knock on the courtyard door. He frowned, afraid that it was the matchmaker again. These days, the most visited people in their house are the terrible matchmakers!

ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi folks, I guess you already noticed that the website was running ads for about 48 hours. But the “reputable” ad company I chose was not so reliable and had shady codes mixed in with the ads. I sincerely apologise if it caused any of you to be negatively affected. I would like to thank to some readers who reached out, notified me of the issues, and even complied after I asked them for help with some things. Why you guys so nice??? 

Yours truly,

Thingyan

Administrator/translato