FMW – Chapter 006

Translated by Sakura Time

At present, there are only a few houses in the village that were built with bricks and tiles. Most of them are mud-brick houses. Using various methods, the yellow mud on the mountain is built into brick houses. Depending on different conditions, the roof is divided into two types: tile-laying and straw-laying.

Straw houses are easy to get wet and leak when it is windy and rainy. It needs to be repaired every year. Brick houses, on the other hand, are different. Once built, people won’t have to worry for more than ten years or decades.

Now is the slack season. But it’s different for the Zhang family; they have no slack season. The family collectively earn work points in the morning and go to the ground in the afternoon to take care of their private plots. They always have something to do.

Some of those who came to help came after they had finished their farm work in the afternoon, while others went straight to work after lunch.

Su Qianming brought Su Zhong with him and followed Zhang Quan and Zhang Gen to build the house.

Sun Qiang ordered five thousand bricks from the brick factory with some favors. In addition, the brick factory also provided a pile of old bricks that had been used by others before. They haven’t been moved since they were disassembled, but they can still be used.

These five thousand bricks are insufficient for the four rooms and one living room. It won’t be enough, even with the extra old green bricks.

At this time, cement was still a rare thing, and Sun Qiang made a lot of effort to outsource a little from other places.

Su Hui felt a little more at ease as the house was being erected one by one. Their five-person family had had enough of being crammed into a single room. Furthermore, because she was new to the area, she would only speak or do things that were absolutely essential during this time. She recalled some memories of the original “Su Hui” and had learned it by heart. Now, she won’t have to look for something in her original memories if someone asks her something.

If only her divine sense had not been damaged, with her being at the foundation stage, completely receiving the memories of the Su Hui from this world would not be so difficult.

Unfortunately, she is now injured and has nothing on her. It’s also a little hard for her to maintain the status quo.

Zhang Gen had three sons. His father didn’t have as many sons as he had. He only had one younger brother, yet his younger brother, who had four sons, had more sons than Zhang Gen.

In the village, their two families are the closest kin. As uncles and cousins, they will naturally come to help if their family wants to build a house. Zhang Ping’s childhood friends, neighbors, and others also came to help, totaling more than ten people in their prime, so the work was completed swiftly.

Nowadays, houses are not built with piles or anything else. The bottom is done directly, and then the bricks are stacked on top of each other like building blocks. In this way, the house was shaped very fast.

Su Hui’s mother fell ill when she gave birth to them. She can’t be too excited. She’s prone to sickness whenever she gets too emotional. She felt ill right after learning the dreadful news that her daughter had become a widow. So, Su Hui’s sister-in-law arrived instead, since her mother wasn’t well enough to come and help.

Helpers aren’t really compensated. They simply take care of their meals. They don’t need a lot of fish or meat for their dinner; all that matters is that it fills their stomachs.

Zhang Gen gave the word, took out enough grain, mixed the vegetables and a little bit of meat just for taste, and put a few drops of oil when cooking.

For them, this is already a decent meal.

Su Hui also had control over the money. She wanted to buy meat from time to time, so she asked someone to buy meat for them.

It’s just that sometimes money and meat tickets are useless, as there won’t be any meat left at the town market.

Apart from that, she solely spends money on the notes that Sun Qiang gives her every few days, stating the number and size of the bricks and tiles she has purchased. After that, she pays them accordingly.

The whole family was busy during the house-building period, going to class in the morning, coming back to cook together, going to the house to help with the other chores, and then making a meal for dinner. Zhang Gui was being watched by Zhang Gen, so he couldn’t find a chance to be lazy.

Several of the children are also doing their best to help. Su Hui’s eldest child, Zhang Baoguo, who is in first grade and is ten years old, also attends class in the morning. He comes home right after his class to help dig wild vegetables and pick up firewood in the mountains with his cousins.

Zhang Quan has three children with Zhao Laidi. The first is his son, who is 11 years old, one year older than Zhang Baoguo. The following two are girls; one is 7 years old and the other is 5 years old, the same age as Zhang Weiguo and the twins.

All of the children have to work, except for the three 5-year-olds.

They go up the mountains to hunt wild vegetables, feed the family’s chickens and pigs, clean the house, wash clothes, and so on. Even the children who do not have to go to the mountains are not free to play; they are responsible for watching the house.

At this age, children spend their childhood working, otherwise they will be hungry.

Su Qianming and Su Zhong are very hard-working. Every morning, after doing their field work, they hastily fill their stomachs and come over to help with the house. They were also the last to leave at night. The same with Zhang Gen and Zhang Quan. How can they be lazier than their in-laws?

The tired Zhang Quan lost a pound, while Li Manfen lost her temper at home.

“That house can be built little by little. Don’t you need to take a breather?!”

Zhang Gen slapped the table loudly, which made the atmosphere in the room serious.

“Have I ever been lazy at work in the morning? For a while, we’ve been eating good food and refined grains. Isn’t that enough?

Li Manfen didn’t say anything afterwards, but her heart was in pain after she heard what he said. She just kept what she was thinking to herself.

The food that was fed to the helpers was all theirs! It belonged to their family!

The house was up in less than a month. They also helped her solidify the land around the front yard and backyard. As for the vacant plot which is found behind the house, the soil is not too fertile and needs to be nurtured, but it has the advantage of being close by.

Su Hui also proposed drilling a well.

There are no lakes, ponds, or streams around here. If she wants to draw water, she has to go to Zhang Chengye’s place to draw water. It’s not far away, but she is a weak woman and her children are still young. She doesn’t have much energy to fetch water back and forth every day.

They’ve been able to save a lot of money thanks to the use of old green bricks. When they heard the idea of drilling wells, they felt that it was a little too extravagant, but they didn’t say anything. While everyone was still there, they found a drilling master and dug the wells neatly. This time, they found that the water resources in this place were quite rich. They didn’t even have to drill too deep before the water came out.

Su Hui looked at the built house, the newly drilled well, and the bright-eyed little carrots next to her. She breathed a sigh of relief.

The original Su Hui undoubtedly loves her children. She was unhappy with her in-laws in that home and had long wanted to move out and become independent. But her man was not around most of the time. If she moves out alone, she’ll need to worry about their safety. Besides, her brother-in-law isn’t married yet. If she had moved out, others would gossip about them, and it would affect her in-laws. Now that the house has been built and they have become independent, her next goals are to raise her children well, be filial to her parents, and finish whatever she had to do to pay back the karma.

With satisfaction, Zhang Gen stared at the newly finished house. “Big thanks for all your work, everyone. Now that the house is finished, it’s time to celebrate. We’ll eat meat later. Don’t be polite, ah.” He said gleefully.