Very soon, the matter of building the house was put on the agenda by both families. Old Man Zhang went back to Xia Liang Village to dispose of his family’s dilapidated house; at any rate, he managed to sell it for a little over one string of cash. Even the smallest mosquito was still meat, wasn’t it?
The people of Shang Liang Village were, for the most part, simple and honest common folk, aside from a few sharp-tongued ones... Though a few had rather formidable mouths, they were basically still good people.
Li Dazhu’s family prepared several fine dishes—stewed pork tripe, twice-cooked pork, braised pork hock, hot-and-sour pork intestines, cold-dressed pig’s head meat... They invited the village chief and some of the clan elders from Shang Liang Village.
As the saying went, those who ate another’s food found it hard to speak harshly, and those who took another’s gifts found their hands shortened. Besides, they had even prepared a red envelope for each person. With both food and gifts received, Old Man Zhang’s family very quickly settled their household registration in Shang Liang Village.
Moreover, the Li family spent only a little over one tael of silver to buy up a large stretch of wasteland around the Li family’s shabby house.
That entire area was sandy soil where grain could not be planted, allowing the Li family to pick up a bargain; for a little over one tael of silver, they bought nearly ten mu of land.
Though grain could not be grown there, Li Menglan had other plans.
Now that she had money on hand, since they were going to build a house, they could not build it too poorly. Li Menglan planned to fence off four mu of land and, together with the existing courtyard, build a large and beautiful compound. As for the houses? On top of the previous plan, they would build one more building. Naturally, this additional house would be for Old Man Zhang’s family to live in.
It was currently the slack season for farming, and most households had little to do. The wages offered by the Li family were also high—meals included for each person every day, plus thirty wen a day—so they quickly hired enough hands.
Li Dazhu and Zhang Wenli drove the ox cart to Changban Town many times, buying back the blue bricks and small tiles needed for building the house. The wasteland outside the Li family courtyard was piled full of timber, bricks, and tiles, as well as the sand the two brothers Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao had carried from the Yun River, and the sticky clay dug from Crooked-Neck Mountain. These were all necessities for building a house.
The next day, just as the sky began to brighten, the hired helpers from the village arrived. Those digging the foundation dug the foundation; those tamping mud bricks and carrying stones all busied themselves one by one. The entire construction site was a scene of bustling activity.
Li Menglan, Zhang Yuniang, Lin Sanniang, and Wang Shi—the women of the household were not idle either. They began making breakfast. There were already ten or twenty hired workers, and with both families added in... preparing food for thirty or forty people was no easy task.
It was not only Li Menglan. The Li family, the Zhang family... old and young from both families were all so busy their feet barely touched the ground. They were exhausted!
Li Menglan could only keep comforting herself. Er... fortunately, once this house was built, they would live in it for decades. They only had to suffer through this once. If they endured and gritted their teeth, it would pass.
On the first day, Li Dazhu, Wang Tiezhu, Zhang Wenli, and Wang Tiezhu’s two brothers—Wang Tongzhu and Wang Tietou—built a simple thatched shed in the courtyard. The household belongings had long since been moved inside the shed.
With the arrival of the village helpers, the old, shabby house was pushed down amid the cries of the crowd. Looking at the dust-filled ruins and broken walls, faint smiles appeared on the faces of the Li and Zhang families.
Li Menglan revised the original plan so that each house would have three additional rooms. These extra rooms would be used as guest rooms or later for storing miscellaneous items.
The pigpen, chicken coop, and latrine... were all built in the rear courtyard, and covered corridors were built between each building. This would make it convenient to walk around when it rained, and they could also be used to store things. To prevent rainwater from splashing up and wetting the corridors during rainy days, Li Menglan deliberately had the corridors built one step higher.
The rear courtyard was still to be a vegetable garden, only it would be more than twice as large as before. The well could not be moved and remained in the middle of the courtyard, so Li Menglan cleverly bought several peach trees, pear trees, and apricot trees from families in the village who had fruit trees at home, and planted them around the well.
Although it was autumn, the autumn heat was still rampant, and the weather remained a little hot. This was especially true for the villagers doing the work; one by one, they stripped off their clothes and worked bare-chested in full swing.
This time, although Li Dazhu had hired many workers, altogether they came from only seven or eight families. In ancient times, ordinary households usually had several brothers and sisters; very few families were like Li Dazhu’s, with only one son—such as a family with a single heir for three generations.
For example, in Wang Tiezhu’s family, all three brothers had come. There were also several other families who usually had good relations with Li Dazhu: Liu Aizi and Liu Dashi’s family, as well as the father and son Zheng Ershun and Zheng Changfa.
The three brothers Li Damao, Li Dashi, and Li Dajun also came, along with Zhou Changming, Erlengzi, Uncle Lin... A large, clamorous crowd arrived from the village. Some dug earth and built walls, some carried bricks, and some shouldered timber. People came and went throughout the entire courtyard without pause; it was extraordinarily lively.
Because there were too many people, the cooking area also became a temporary open-air setup. Perhaps because the Li family’s food smelled too fragrant, even the dogs in the village were drawn over, darting in and out beneath the table where Li Menglan had placed the pork and pig offal.
In order to let the villagers eat better, brewed chrysanthemum tea was always set out at the construction site. Aside from breakfast, which consisted of flatbread, steamed buns, and the like, the noon and evening meals were both solid, proper rice. As for the dishes, that went without saying even more—braised pork, twice-cooked pork, cold-dressed pork tripe, hot-and-sour pork intestines, pig’s head meat... In short, they were all made in rotation.
Every person who came to work ate to their heart’s content. The Li family paid high wages, and the three meals a day were also extremely abundant. Naturally... the villagers worked especially hard.
In private, some people occasionally discussed Li Dazhu’s family... “Brother Tiezhu, you usually have the best relationship with Li Dazhu’s family. Tell me... with them buying land and building a house like this, could it be that they suddenly struck it rich?” The one who said this was the youngest of the three Li Damao brothers—Li Dajun!
Wang Tiezhu’s face darkened, but before he could speak, Uncle Lin opened his mouth. “I say, Third Li! Even if Dazhu’s family really did get rich, what business is it of yours? They invited you here to help and are paying you wages, and they’re feeding you good food at every meal. What the hell do you want? Why are you asking so much?”
The three Li brothers were not bad people, but this youngest one had a bad habit since childhood: he liked to be greedy for small advantages. To put it plainly... his hands and feet were occasionally not too clean.
Originally, Li Dazhu had not wanted to invite the three brothers, but he could not withstand their thick skin. On top of that, they shared the same surname and clan as him. Li Dazhu was an honest man, so he silently agreed.
“Third Brother, shut your mouth.” Li Damao clearly also knew his younger brother’s rotten habit. He immediately glared fiercely at him and warned, “You’d best not cause trouble, or don’t acknowledge me as your big brother anymore.”
“Hehe... Big Brother, don’t be like that. I was just asking casually, wasn’t I?” Li Dajun laughed awkwardly.
“Hmph...” Li Damao gave a light snort through his nose, clearly not quite believing what his younger brother had said.
“All right! Everyone’s rested enough. Get back to work!” Uncle Lin waved his hand and said, “We’re all folks from the same village. When doing things, everyone ought to act according to conscience. Dazhu’s family hasn’t had it easy either, and they’re providing us with good food and drink. When we work, we have to do a proper, clean job for them.”
“Uncle Lin’s words are very reasonable. Come on... let’s get to work!” Wang Tiezhu was the first to stand up.
“Mm... everyone, disperse!” Once someone took the lead, the others stood up one after another and went back to their tasks.