Chapter 37: Buying Land and Building a House 3/3

Li Laogen thought he would live like this for the rest of his life. Who would have thought that Li Qingzhi would come back?

Although Li Qingzhi initially spent all of Jin Xiaoye’s savings, but later…

For the past two months, Li Qingzhi had been bringing delicious food home every day, and Li Laogen could show off his bowl of rice at the riverside every day!

He used to not know what to say to the villagers, but now, he could have a good chat with them about how delicious the leftovers from the Zhu family were!

In Miaoqian Village, whose old man ate better than him?

For the past two months, Li Laogen had been feeling quite elated because he was busy showing off the food at home every evening, and he no longer went to gamble.

But today, he wanted to try his luck. Mainly because when he was pulling weeds in the field during the day, someone invited him to play dice in the evening.

Before, no one invited him, and he usually joined in himself, but this time, someone actually invited him… so he came to ask Jin Xiaoye for money.

But now… Jin Xiaoye unexpectedly wanted to build a house!

How could Li Laogen still remember about gambling? He was only thinking about building the house now.

In fact, the house they were going to build wouldn’t be for him to live in. He already had a house. Most likely, the new house would be for Li Damao and Li Ermao.

But so what?

Their family was going to build a house, which was a matter of great face!

Their lives were getting better and better!

Jin Xiaoye said, “From now on, Qingzhi won’t copy books at the Zhu family anymore. He’ll do it at our own home. I plan to build a house for him as a study.”

Li Laogen was extremely disappointed. “Then will I still have the leftovers from the Zhu family to eat?”

“No,” Jin Xiaoye replied.

Li Laogen lost interest in the new house for a moment!

Jin Xiaoye continued, “Originally, Master Zhu let Qingzhi copy books out of pity. Qingzhi certainly can’t rely on the Zhu family forever! But without the leftovers from the Zhu family, we can make some delicious food ourselves. I plan to buy another pot so that we can cook and stew with just one pot.”

That sounded good too! Li Laogen became happy again. “Xiaoye, don’t worry. I’ll prepare the land tomorrow!”

“Dad, we also need to prepare some clay. You look for some, and if it’s not enough, I’ll go buy some,” Jin Xiaoye said. Many families dug clay from their own land, but their land was scarce.

You couldn’t just dig a hole in front of your own door!

In Chongcheng County, the most impressive houses were brick and tile houses, which looked very beautiful.

The worst ones were makeshift huts made of bamboo or similar materials. Some people who didn’t have land would build a small hut on vacant land by the river as a shelter.

The most common type of house was a mud house built with rammed earth walls.

Li Laogen said, “I know, Xiaoye, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to prepare the clay. I often help others build houses, so I know this best!”

Regardless of whose family was building a house, they would provide meals for the laborers. Therefore, whenever someone in the village was building a house, Li Laogen would always join in to help.

He was small and not very strong, so he couldn’t do much work, but he was always eager to eat.

“Dad, thank you so much!” Jin Xiaoye said.

“No trouble at all, this is for my good grandson!” Li Laogen looked at Li Damao and Li Ermao. “Are you happy that grandpa is going to build you a house?”

Li Laogen made it sound like he was the one paying for the house!

Jin Xiaoye didn’t argue with Li Laogen and continued to eat her food.

After saying a few words to his grandchildren, Li Laogen couldn’t sit still anymore and went back to the riverside with his bowl.

Li Laogen boasted every day at the riverside about what he had eaten. Everyone was tired of hearing it, so when they saw him coming, they all avoided him.

But Li Laogen had thick skin and approached them with his bowl. “My family is going to build a house!”

Li Qingzhi’s family was actually going to build a house? The villagers became curious.

Li Laogen didn’t mention that Li Qingzhi couldn’t go to the Zhu family to copy books anymore. He only said that Jin Xiaoye and Li Qingzhi had earned money and wanted to build a house. “You know, our house is a bit small. We only have two rooms in total. There wasn’t even a place to put a dining table before. Now that Damao and Ermao are getting older, we definitely need to build a few more rooms…”

The villagers responded, “…” Previously, it wasn’t that the Li family couldn’t afford a dining table; they simply couldn’t afford it!

Everyone in the village knew each other’s business!

However, now that Li Qingzhi could earn three taels of silver a month and Jin Xiaoye’s boat rental wouldn’t earn as much, they should be able to save up one or two taels of silver a month…

With a bit of money in their hands, it was normal for them to build a house!

The villagers congratulated Li Laogen one after another.

Elated, Li Laogen kept talking about this matter back and forth and completely forgot about the gambling.

At this moment, a woman in her thirties arrived at the riverside and asked the people around her, “Have you heard about what happened at Mr. Yao’s house?”

The villagers immediately forgot about Li Laogen and inquired, “What happened at Mr. Yao’s house?”

“Their family hasn’t been acting normal these past few days, so I was curious!”

“Did something happen to Yao Zhenfu?”

…

The woman speaking was Jin Xiaoye’s maternal neighbor and also her cousin-in-law. “Yao Zhenfu got into trouble. He found a lover in the county town, but when he got intimate with her, he was caught by the woman’s husband!”

“And then?”

“Has Yao Zhenfu lost his mind? With someone as beautiful and good-natured as Jin Moli, why would he go looking for a lover?”

“Exactly, Jin Moli is so much better.”

…

The villagers held Jin Moli in high regard. She was not only beautiful but also gentle. Before getting married, she didn’t like to work, but after marriage, she seemed quite diligent.

In the eyes of many, she was more suitable to marry into a family than Jin Xiaoye.

“And then? What else happened?” 

“Well, they have to compensate the other family! The other family is asking for a hundred taels of silver, and Mr. Yao is planning to sell their land!” Jin Xiaoye’s cousin-in-law said, “This is confirmed news. It was Jin Moli’s elder sister-in-law who told me. I heard that Yao Zhenfu used up all of Jin Moli’s dowry on that fox spirit. The Jin family is furious!”

No one expected such a thing to happen in Mr. Yao’s family!

What Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye wanted to do by adding on to their house was nothing compared to this! The Yao family’s situation was the real big news!

People started talking about Yao Zhenfu.

Not long ago, Yao Zhenfu was the only person in Miaoqian Village studying in the county town. The villagers always thought he was different, even though he wasn’t very nice to the villagers. Whenever they saw him, they would still praise him for his prospects and abilities.

But now, this person with prospects and abilities was caught having an affair with someone else’s wife in the county town!

The villagers became more and more enthusiastic as they talked.

When Li Qingzhi arrived at the riverside and felt the pleasure of being surrounded by living people, he realized that almost everyone in the village already knew about the Yao family’s situation.

He and Jin Xiaoye hadn’t said a word about it, but Jin Moli had let it slip.

But even if Jin Moli hadn’t said anything, it wouldn’t have stayed hidden for long. In rural areas like this, everyone was together all day, so no matter what happened in someone’s family, it wouldn’t take long for everyone to find out.