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Chu Yue looked at Lu Xinghe with admiration on her face. “Husband, you’re amazing!”
Lu Xinghe smiled, taking Chu Yue’s hand.
“Let’s go. Mother probably has breakfast ready. After we eat, we still need to go check on the new house’s foundation…”
As he turned to open the door, the smiles on their faces froze when they saw three people standing there.
“Mother?”
Yun Cuihe’s face showed a momentary awkwardness, but she quickly forced a smile and said, “Ah, breakfast is ready, and I was just coming to call you for it. I was about to knock, but it seems you two are already coming out.”
She said this while naturally guiding her two sons away, heading towards the kitchen.
“Hurry up, after breakfast, our whole family needs to go check on the foundation.”
Chu Yue covered her mouth and smiled, following Lu Xinghe into the kitchen.
After breakfast, the family closed the door and headed out.
When passing by the neighbor Sun Dazhu’s house, Yun Cuihe handed a small handful of peanuts to his youngest son and asked Luo Shi to keep an eye on the house.
Luo Shi quickly agreed, then quietly asked, “Sister-in-law, I heard Lu Shanshan caused trouble at your house yesterday? These past few days, I’ve seen her lingering around here. Could it be that she wants to try her luck again now that you’re building a house with blue bricks and tiles?”
“She won’t get another chance,” Yun Cuihe said, leaning closer to Luo Shi, whispering, “Sister, did you see anyone else at my house yesterday? My two taels of silver went missing, all hard-earned money. It infuriates me.”
Yun Cuihe had a worried look on her face.
Luo Shi gasped.
“Two taels of silver is not a small amount; it could feed a family for almost a year.”
“I only saw Lu Shanshan. I didn’t notice anyone else,” Luo Shi said, grabbing Yun Cuihe’s arm and whispering, “Yesterday, I overheard Lu Shanshan saying she knew who stole from your house. She even knew things we didn’t. How did she find out? She’s been sneaking around your place. Could she be the thief?”
Yun Cuihe glanced around and quickly pulled her hand away. “She just said that, but we have no proof. Don’t spread rumors. We might end up offending the village chief, and that would make things difficult for us.”
Luo Shi sighed.
“Why should she be treated differently just because she’s the village chief’s daughter? Sister, I’m not saying you should be too kind.”
Yun Cuihe patted her hand. “Alright, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I have to go check on the foundation; the kids have already left.”
Luo Shi quickly responded, “Go ahead, sister-in-law, I’ll keep an eye on the house.”
“Thank you so much.”
Yun Cuihe thanked her before rushing to catch up with Lu Xinghe and the others.
When they arrived at the foundation site, Lu Laifu and Lu Laicai had just gathered the carpenters they had hired, waiting for the family’s signal to begin work.
Yun Cuihe buried the blessings and offerings for the foundation, then lit incense and led her family and the workers to pray in three directions. After inserting the incense into a corner of the foundation, with a loud cheer from the carpenters, the new house construction officially began.
This was a custom—almost every household would perform such a ritual when building a house, praying for good luck and safety for the family.
Lu Xinghe took out the blueprints he had brought with him. It included the layout of the house and some detailed construction elements, which he had devised based on Chu Yue’s suggestions. He handed the blueprint to Lu Laifu and Lu Laicai.
“Uncles, take a look at these blueprints. Will it work if we build according to them?”
The two uncles examined it carefully and nodded.
“It will work.”
Since it was the first day of construction, Lu Xinghe and his two brothers stayed behind to help.
Yun Cuihe and Chu Yue returned home, needing to prepare water and food to send to the site. There was still plenty of work to do at home.
However, as they passed by the old house, they were stopped by Wang Xuelan.
“Daughter-in-law, wait a moment.”
Yun Cuihe turned around. “Mother, what’s wrong?”
Wang Xuelan hurried over and, pulling Yun Cuihe’s arm, quietly asked, “I heard someone say that two taels of silver were stolen from your house?”
Yun Cuihe looked around to make sure no one was listening and whispered in Wang Xuelan’s ear, “Mother, it’s not that much money, just that a thief broke into the house. Xinghe said more than necessary to catch the thief.”
Wang Xuelan immediately cursed, “Those damn thieves, breaking into the house! If my son were here, no one would dare to bully you!”
Hearing this, Yun Cuihe’s eyes reddened.
“Mother, let’s not talk about the past anymore. We should look forward. As long as the kids are healthy and filial, that’s enough for me.”
Wang Xuelan patted her hand.
“The kids are all sensible, and you’ve raised them well. Good days are ahead.”
Then, she added, “These days, you can prepare food for the carpenters at the old house. The kids are still small, and Xinghe needs to study. It will save you from running back and forth to deliver water and food. We can also have Xiuqin help out, since you gave the fourth one extra ten coins for work. You won’t be shortchanged, right?”
Yun Cuihe smiled.
“I was just thinking that it’s a bit far from home to here, and the daily trips are troublesome. Since you’ve mentioned it, I’ll stop being polite.”
Wang Xuelan smiled as well. “Why be polite with me? But you’ll need to chop some firewood yourself, or else we might run out at home.”
Yun Cuihe quickly responded, “That’s expected. We’ll go back now and bring the tools.”
She then grabbed Chu Yue’s hand, and the two headed back home.
They borrowed a cart from Lin Shi’s family and loaded it with the cooking pot, a small jar of pickled vegetables, seasonings, 30 pounds of brown rice, and a bundle of firewood. They pushed the cart toward the old house.
The items were light enough, with Yun Cuihe pulling from the front and Chu Yue pushing from the back. Though neither had much strength, they managed to get everything to the old house.
Out of breath, Yun Cuihe sat down in the courtyard of the old house, holding her chest. After not doing physical labor for a long time, she realized she wasn’t as strong as she used to be.
“Yueyue, after resting for a bit, go return the cart to Aunt Lin’s. I’ll put the pots and pans away, and then fetch some water from the well.”
The old house was close enough to the new house that it didn’t take long to fetch water from the well, which was less than half a mile away. This saved Lu Xinghe the trouble of fetching water every morning.