Chapter 23: Commencing Work

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Hua Yuanyuan got her period.

She couldn’t bring herself to use the red toilet paper at home.

She urgently contacted the system, and even the mechanical little voice sounded pleasant.

There were sanitary napkins for day and night use, and even sanitary towels – truly keeping up with the times. It was like it was custom-made for her.

Apart from being expensive, there were no flaws.

What was amazing was that the sanitary products could be flushed directly down the toilet.

With her worries resolved, Hua Yuanyuan finally developed a tiny bit of fondness for the system.

When working in the space, unlike before, she no longer ignored the system.

She actively chatted with the system; it would be more accurate to say she talked while the system listened.

This was progress of a sort.

Hua Yuanyuan became a chatterbox, talking about everything – what she did, what she ate, what her father did, what her brother did…

She also realized something: since the system could provide tampons, could it provide other things?

She experimented, and indeed it could, but sadly, everything was too expensive.

Underwear, even the most ordinary underwear, cost thirty hours of labor.

Dental floss, a box also cost thirty hours – and it’s a consumable item.

She thought to herself, she works three hours a day, that would take ten days!

Too expensive, she wouldn’t exchange it.

Her current cotton underwear was comfortable enough; only a fool would exchange it.

Hua Yuanyuan didn’t ask about other things; asking too much was pointless.

It was like being broke and going to the mall – she couldn’t afford anything.

Hua Yuanyuan truly felt that heaven was kind to her – resurrected? A second chance at life.

The golden finger was a bit underwhelming, but it was still okay. She already had a fitness habit, and she equated farming with fitness, so she accepted it immediately.

On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhang Guanghui and his son delivered a batch of bamboo strips.

They also helped Huayoucai with a practical demonstration in the yard, and after confirming there were no problems, the inspection was complete.

He was very reliable, so this deal was finalized.

Both parties were satisfied, and he would quickly finish the remaining goods and deliver them.

Huayoucai, along with his daughter and son, officially started work.

Before starting work, Huayoucai and his son went to a small forest outside the village to cut down some trees.

The temperature suddenly dropped, the sky was gloomy, and a cold north wind howled.

Hua Yuanyuan didn’t want her father to go, but he wouldn’t listen, insisting he wasn’t cold.

She was making a duvet cover on the warm kang, feeling a little guilty.

Then she remembered that they had deliberately changed into their new cotton-padded clothes and were wearing their old ones outside.

Their bodies were fine; they were given a drop of spatial water every few days.

But being healthy didn’t mean they weren’t cold.

The more she thought about it, the more restless she became. She put down her needlework, got off the kang, put on her shoes, and went to the outer room.

She added water to the pot, added ginger slices, and brewed a pot of ginger soup to ward off the cold.

The ginger was brought from her hometown, grown in her father’s vegetable garden.

Soon, snowflakes began to fall. Hua Yuanyuan stood in the yard for a while, and her little face turned red from the north wind mixed with snow.

After staying in the yard for a while, Hua Yuanyuan went back inside to work; waiting outside was pointless.

The two weren’t fools; they wouldn’t stay outside in the cold when it was snowing!

Huayoucai had already cut down two trees, and the third one was almost done.

It was snowing, and their gloved hands were icy cold.

The temperature had noticeably warmed up in the days after the New Year, but it suddenly dropped today.

Even Beijing wasn’t as cold as their hometown; their hometown was just too cold.

The father and son hugged a tree, dragged it forward a bit, put it down, and then changed to another tree…

Of the three trees, one was larger, and two were smaller.

They couldn’t handle a very large tree; they would need help.

Their daughter couldn’t specify the exact size, so Huayoucai did his best.

They finally arrived home, and just as they reached the door, the door opened from the inside.

Hua Yuanyuan had been listening for sounds; they came back from the west road, and she heard them as soon as they turned the corner.

They threw the trees into the yard and ignored them; the ground was covered in white.

When they came over, they had cleared the thick snow in the yard to the outside.

Huayoucai looked up at the sky and muttered, “Oh, heavens, please don’t snow too much; if it snows too much, building the greenhouse will be delayed again.”

He worried about the bamboo strips piled up in the yard, and the plastic film was placed in his daughter’s outer room; that stuff was precious.

“Dad, Sister made ginger soup, come in and drink.”

“Coming.”

The father and son washed their hands, changed out of their work clothes, and went to the kang.

Huafangfang served his father a full large bowl, and his own bowl was half full; he didn’t like drinking it.

The duvet cover was finished, only the inner duvet cover was made, not the outer one.

Xiaofang frowned, closed his eyes, and drank it sip by sip, feeling worse and worse.

“Sister, sew another duvet cover on the duvet cover.”

Hua Yuanyuan… “You can just wash the duvet cover in the future.”

Sewing another duvet cover was unnecessary.

Huafangfang continued to nag; his sister was easy to talk to.

“Sister, help sew another duvet cover; when washing, just wash the duvet cover as before, no need to wash the whole thing.”

…

“Sister, look, the duvet cover is so big, so much fabric, the duvet cover is much smaller than the duvet cover. Saves water, saves soap, saves everything.”

She understood; her brother wanted to wash less.

“Dad, look, my brother is getting smarter and smarter.”

“Hahaha, yes, look who his son is.”

Washing and rinsing were the son’s job; Huayoucai didn’t care much.

“Okay, I can sew. But I have a condition.”

“What condition?”

“You drink another bowl of ginger soup!”

Huafangfang… He had just been secretly pleased that he drank less than his father.

If he didn’t drink, his sister wouldn’t sew.

Humph! Drink it, who’s afraid of who.

Hua Yuanyuan didn’t have high standards for her father and brother’s hygiene.

She supervised their brushing after meals, soaking their feet before bed, and changing their underwear every day.

As for other things, she didn’t insist.

She showered in the space every day; if her father and brother wanted to shower, they could boil water and wash in the outer room.

She heard that there was a large bathhouse in the military family area; whether it was open to the public was unknown.

Rural people didn’t bathe in winter; those who were particular would boil water to wash, but it was inconvenient.

The hygiene of public bathhouses was also a problem.

The snow didn’t fall heavily; it stopped after a while.

Once the snow stopped, Huayoucai couldn’t wait; he and his son cleaned the yard and began planning.

By the eleventh day of the Lunar New Year, the greenhouse finally took shape.

The support frame was set up, and the central wooden stake was also in place.

This was the result of three people’s work over two days.

The work was slow, and Hua Yuanyuan witnessed her father’s meticulousness.

If one bamboo strip wasn’t enough, he would use two tied together.

The spacing between the bamboo strips had to be measured with a ruler, and they had to be exactly the same.

The height of each arc on all bamboo strips had to be the same…

And so on, in short, he aimed for perfection.

They worked from dawn till dusk, except for meals, almost all their time was spent working.

Hua Yuanyuan also discovered that when her father was stubborn, he was really difficult to deal with.

For example, it was so cold that morning; it would have been better to wait until the sun came out and warmed up before working.

Her father wouldn’t do it; Hua Yuanyuan could sleep in, but her brother couldn’t.

Seeing her brother’s pitiful look, since it was she who initiated the greenhouse project, she secretly gave her brother some money to bribe him.

With the small money his sister gave him in his pocket, Huafangfang had no problems.

While the three were busy, someone came to visit.