"Haha, Dad, these bricks are all top-quality blue bricks. Although they're old, they'll definitely be fine for building a house!"
Yun Goudan, covered in mud, was loading the old bricks and tiles that the Yun family father and sons had picked out onto the cart...
Yun Wangcai searched around for a long time, muttering, "I really didn't expect those Yun family folks to be so capable of enduring hardship."
"In just a few days, they've picked out so many good bricks!"
In fact, there were even more bricks that had already been transported to the construction site at the east end of the village...
The bricks in front of the ruins were what the three of them had picked out over the past two days and hadn't had time to transport away yet.
Lu Jinping wiped the rain from her face and said with a smile, "Dad, now that we have bricks, we can build a small house. Then Gou Dan and I can move in!"
"Tch, why are you always thinking about that?" Yun Goudan glared at her. "Even if there's a new house, Dad should live in it first. How can you even think about it..."
They used to live in thatched cottages with mud walls and had never lived in brick and tile houses before.
Those Yun family men worked their backsides off, but in the end, they didn't get to keep anything.
Thinking of this, Yun Wangcai felt particularly pleased.
"Forget it, forget it, let's not talk about this for now. See those logs? Let's take them all away too..."
Yun Wangcai directed his son and daughter-in-law to work, while he stood guard.
The rain was falling nicely, drizzling down, perfectly masking the sound of loading bricks.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound echoed from the mountaintop.
It sounded like something had fallen...
Yun Wangcai squinted and looked up. He saw a large quantity of rubble piled inside a big net bag, with a lot of mud and sand overflowing.
"Whoa, this side of the mountain is going to collapse. You two hurry up, don't dawdle!" Yun Wangcai urged.
If they delayed any longer, the three of them would be buried alive.
Yun Goudan and Lu Jinping worked with all their might, panting and sweating, their minds growing hazy...
The donkey cart couldn't carry too many bricks at once, requiring several trips back and forth.
By the time they had transported all the old bricks, tiles, and wood, it was almost dawn.
The light rain had only lasted for a while, and by the time the sun rose, it began to clear up...
Fu Daqiang and his wife got up early. After a simple meal, they went into the tofu workshop to start working.
Old Man Yun, with his hands behind his back, strolled around the fields, draining the accumulated water from the irrigation ditches.
He also casually picked a handful of wild apricots, intending to take them back for his little daughter to eat...
"What a beautiful day!" Old Man Yun sat by the field ditch, puffing on his pipe.
The village chief, carrying a hoe, passed by and asked with a smile, "Old Yun, has your house been built yet?"
"Almost, almost!" Old Man Yun looked at the clouds in the sky, thinking about what he could do in the county town.
He had no skills, no expertise, and couldn't do business. What could he do in the county town?
The village chief sat down next to Old Man Yun, picked up his pipe, and took a couple of puffs. "Old Yun, who exactly is Young Master Xiao?"
"Why are Prefect Chen and the Governor so eager to please him?"
"Did you see yesterday? Oh my, those people on horseback surrounded Old Man Du San's house so tightly, they looked like a formidable force..."
Old Man Yun glanced at the gossip-loving village chief, then looked away, tapping his pipe. "I don't know. His background has nothing to do with us!"
"How can it have nothing to do with us?" the village chief became animated. "Didn't you see that Young Master Xiao seems to have a soft spot for your Tian Bao?"
"You're his father, and you haven't noticed at all?"
Old Man Yun: "..."
What if he noticed?
His daughter was only five years old.
And Young Master Xiao wasn't that old either. If children held hands and liked to play together, did that mean they had feelings for each other?
Was their emotional awakening really that early?
"I didn't notice..." Old Man Yun said faintly.
The village chief chuckled, annoyed. "By the time you notice, it'll be too late!"
"Oh, I've been working all morning. I need to go back and eat a bowl of noodles. If you're not dead, you have to work!"
The village chief stood up, patted his backside, and carried his hoe home.
He had no children and no worries in his life.
It was unclear if it was due to Liang Yue Shui or the village chief himself, but over the years, there had been no sound of children calling out in their home...
Old Man Yun sat in the field for a while longer before returning home for breakfast.
Zhao Guihua was not one to sit idly. After taking the pregnancy-stabilizing medicine given by Little Tian Bao, her stomachache subsided.
Feeling better, she wanted to go to the kitchen to cook.
Breakfast today was millet porridge, served with their homemade pickled turnip and a few leftover cornmeal pancakes, which were also heated up.
Zhao Guihua separately steamed a bowl of egg custard for Little Xi Tian, sprinkled with vibrant green chopped scallions.
It looked golden and tender, very appetizing.
As soon as it was served, Liu Cuirong scooped a large spoonful into her mouth. "Oh, it's hot, it's burning my mouth..."
Zhao Guihua was speechless and shot Liu Cuirong a look. "Hey, how can you snatch even the child's food? Don't you have any manners?"
The move had made the hens reluctant to lay eggs.
Zhao Guihua had managed to save a few and planned to steam egg custard for her sister-in-law.
Who would have thought that Liu Cuirong, that blockhead, would reach out and snatch it...
"What's wrong with eating some egg custard?" Liu Cuirong rolled her eyes. "You're so stingy. You ate the fish and shrimp I bought yesterday!"
Zhao Guihua: "..."
Well, she figured this incident would be talked about for two years.
She had realized that some people's things should never be eaten.
They were clingy and demanding.
Seeing this, Little Xi Tian waved her little spoon. "It's okay, I can't eat it all anyway. Second Sister-in-law, I'll give you the remaining half bowl!"
Alas, her second sister-in-law was holding one child and had another in her belly. She dared not be too calculating...
Yun Erman's brows were tightly furrowed. The sight of his own wife made him lose his appetite.
Old Man Yun slurped down two bowls of porridge, then put down his chopsticks and filled the large teapot with tea.
It looked like it would be another hot day today, and he would sweat more than he urinated, so he had to drink plenty of water.
Heatstroke was not a pleasant experience...
"Dad, should we just transport the remaining bricks?" Yun Daman asked.
The efforts of the past few days were finally paying off.
They had almost gathered all the bricks and tiles needed for building the house without spending a single copper coin.
It was just that some of the wood was severely rotten, and they would have to spend money to buy new ones...
Young Master Xiao hadn't said anything. After the bricks and tiles were delivered, he tacitly instructed the craftsmen to use them all.
Not a single brick or tile should be wasted.
Old Man Yun grunted, "After we finish this batch of work, we need to go into the mountains to collect some wild goods. I heard that the mountain celery has grown so tall. Chopping some pork and making dumplings with a generous filling, wouldn't that be satisfying!"
Every day he saw others returning to the village with large sacks, their harvests full, and he was envious...
Yun Erman responded, "Okay, let's finish this work cleanly, and then we'll have peace of mind. Let's go!"
So the three of them put on their gloves, picked up their tools and water bottles, and headed to the mountainside.