Chapter 33 2/2

Sang Luo nodded. “Yes, we’ll start the day after tomorrow.”

“How much money will that take?”

Sang Luo pondered for a moment. Wood and earth were indeed free, and the straw and bran were now exchanged for manure. She only needed to spend money to buy some reed mats for the roof, and the expenses wouldn’t be too big. She said, “It’s probably about the money for providing meals. It depends on how many people come and how many days they work. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

Without a close relationship, who would come and work for you for free?

So, who can be brought in to help will depend on today’s inquiries at the Chen family’s house.

When Shen An heard about providing meals, the porridge in his bowl suddenly didn’t seem as fragrant anymore. “I saw Erniu’s family building a house two years ago, and there were many people helping. A third uncle also went, and they were served white rice twice a day. Shen Jin said there was even meat.”

More than ten people, providing meals including meat, and for more than ten days? How much money would that cost?

Shen An couldn’t calculate it at all and immediately started to worry.

Shen Ning also recalled that incident. There was no way around it. Shen Jin had clung to his third uncle’s leg at the time, insisting on going to Erniu’s house to eat meat. It was unforgettable.

“Sister-in-law, should we also provide white rice and meat?”

Sang Luo nodded. “Yes, we won’t pay them, but we should make sure they eat well. Otherwise, why would they come to work for us for free, doing such tiring work?”

Seeing the two younger ones looking a bit downcast, she lightly tapped each of them. “Let’s eat, don’t worry. We don’t need to buy all the grain in one day. We earn money every day, so we can buy it every day. Don’t worry, make some more immortal tofu. We’ll be able to supply them for the next ten days or so.”

In the long run, it would be difficult. This stuff was best when it was fresh. Who would buy it every day as a staple food? So the best business would be in the first ten days or so, and then it would decline. But that’s okay. Just building a kitchen and a courtyard, compared to building a house like others, the construction period would definitely be shorter, and it probably wouldn’t take ten days or half a month.

Sang Luo didn’t see any problem with it.

Seeing that the two little ones were still a bit worried, Sang Luo smiled and said, “Don’t worry; worrying at such a young age will turn you into little old men and women.”

“When we build the house later, there will be more people here. It might be difficult to avoid being seen when picking the leaves of the fairy tree. I’ll try to come back early, but if there are more things to sell and I can’t come back in time, if I haven’t returned by noon, you can go pick some fairy leaves while everyone else is resting. Remember to only pick them around the village where people often pass by, don’t go too deep into the mountains, and cover them with some wild vegetables when you come out.”

Shen An and Shen Ning immediately became a bit more spirited when they realized they could help. They nodded and agreed to handle it.

…

The two younger siblings were worried that there wouldn’t be enough grain when their family built the house. After dinner, Old Man Chen also went out from his house to ask some familiar families if they could spare some manpower to help the Shen family build a kitchen, fix a courtyard, and repair a wall.

The first family they asked hadn’t spoken yet, but the woman was already worried.

“We can help, but do we have to provide meals ourselves?”

The poverty of the Shen family, who had to eat bran and wild vegetables, was known to every family in the village.

As soon as the woman finished speaking, she was secretly scolded by her husband: “There’s nothing wrong with it. Go back to the house and look after the children.”

The woman pursed her lips, partly provoked by her husband’s attitude, partly seizing the opportunity to speak up: “What’s wrong, Shi Er? Am I embarrassing you with my words? Uncle Chen is also an outsider to us. I didn’t say anything excessive. Grain is precious these days, especially since this spring’s grain was requisitioned early. Who has an abundance of food at home? Building a house requires a lot of physical strength. Is it not reasonable for me to ask this question? Uncle Chen, do you think so too?”

Old Man Chen knew they were talking to him and smiled, “No problem, no problem; it’s only right to ask.”

Then he said to Shi Erlang and his wife, “If you can provide meals, I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking you for help if you didn’t.”

Shi Erlang felt a bit awkward and said, “We’re all villagers, so even if we don’t provide meals, we should still help out.”

However, helping for ten days is helping, and helping for just one or two days is also helping. There was no need to say that out loud.

Shi Erlang wasn’t really annoyed with his wife; he just felt that it was inappropriate to ask such a question directly. He had come to Old Man Chen’s house to open up a conversation, and whether they provided meals or not, he would still go.

But if they really didn’t provide meals, his wife’s words were not wrong. Nobody could endure heavy physical work on an empty stomach. Doing a day or two’s work would be considered giving face to the Chen family.

So there was really no need to ask this question. If the Shen family really didn’t provide meals, asking this question would only embarrass Old Man Chen.

Shi Erlang’s wife obviously didn’t think so much. Her face visibly relaxed when she heard about providing meals and turned curious. “Haven’t they been eating wild vegetables for a while now? How are they going to provide meals?”

Her eyes widened suddenly as she thought, What if it’s vegetable soup?

Then she thought that if that were the case, the Chen family couldn’t set this precedent. She suppressed this thought and looked at Old Man Chen to see how he would respond.

Old Man Chen was also taken aback by the question.

They knew that Sang Luo could make money now, but they hadn’t realized that nobody else in the village seemed to know.

Right, the first time they went to the market, and yesterday when they went to the county, it was still dark when they left, and they didn’t enter the village when they came back; they took the small path through the mountains.

He remembered the first time Sang Luo brought a bowl of fairy tofu. At that time, she didn’t hide anything from them and said it was made from things in the mountains. Indeed, it wasn’t wise to draw too much attention to this thing.

Old Man Chen realized this and said vaguely, “Don’t worry, rice will definitely be provided. The Sang family is diligent and usually picks some wild vegetables to sell in the county. My daughter also goes with her, so maybe they don’t eat very well, but when we go to help build the house, rice will definitely be provided.”

It was true that they went to sell wild vegetables. One coin for two bunches. His daughter praised it for a whole noon, and in the afternoon, she searched everywhere for wild vegetables just to make a few more coins tomorrow.

Old Man Chen felt a bit more at ease in his heart. Well, he wasn’t exactly lying; he just didn’t say everything.

Shi Erlang and his wife finally understood why the Chen family was helping the Shen family’s main house set this precedent.

So Shi Erlang immediately expressed his willingness: “Uncle Chen, don’t worry, I’ll definitely come over the day after tomorrow. We have to cut down trees first, right?”

Old Man Chen nodded. “Yes, cut down trees first. They don’t have materials yet, so it will take a few days to process the wood. By the time the walls are built, the wood will be ready.”

“Okay, then I’ll bring an axe when I come.”

With this family settled,Old Man Chen turned and left, and Shi Er accompanied him to the door of the main hall, where Old Man Chen waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t need to accompany him anymore.

Before he even reached the gate of Shi’s house, he heard his wife murmuring inside, “How much money can these wild vegetables be worth? Aren’t they everywhere? Can they really build a house with that?”

Old Man Chen’s back stiffened, and then his footsteps visibly quickened. He took a few steps out of Shi’s courtyard gate.