Chapter 37 Preparing to build a house

Chapter 37 Preparing to build a house

At this time, the three hundred golden ears of his family have been planted. He was about to go to the front yard to discuss with his parents and brothers when he saw Chen Cunzheng standing at the door of his yard with his hands behind his back.

Muramasa Chen Sanyou is in his forties, has a gentle and polite temperament, and is willing to help others. He has great prestige in Dongchen Village, and his reputation is second only to his eldest brother Chen Fu, the patriarch.

When Jiang Sanlang saw Chen Cunzheng coming, he hurried forward to greet him and said with a smile: "Uncle Chen, come in and sit down."

Chen Sanyou then walked in, looked around, and asked: "Sanlang, I see that you are very busy recently, what are you busy with?"

Jiang Sanlang rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "I'm not busy with anything, I just picked some mushrooms from the mountain and came back to plant them."

"What mushroom?" Chen Sanyou was curious.

Jiang Sanlang led him into the bamboo shed, pointed to the twenty mulberry trees on the shelf and said, "I planted golden ears, which are said to be tonic."

Chen Sanyou stretched his neck and looked at it for a while, then realized that he didn't recognize it, so he muttered: "It's quite strange."

Jiang Sanlang chuckled innocently.

Coming out of the bamboo shed, Chen Sanyou said earnestly: "Sanlang, you can grow mushrooms, but you can't abandon the fields. Growing grain is the foundation of our farmer's life."

Jiang Sanlang nodded immediately: "Don't worry, Sanshu Chen, my family's fields are all cultivated, and not a single acre has been lost."

Chen Sanyou nodded and sighed: "Yesterday, I was informed that after the summer harvest, the court will collect a large amount of grain and cloth. The fields in our village will be taxed 10% per acre. Oh, you all should be careful. Well, if we don’t count enough by then, life will be difficult for you and me.”

Jiang Sanlang frowned: "Are you going to add more gifts? Uncle Chen, is the imperial court at war with someone again?"

Chen Sanyou shook his head and said, "I don't know. There will be a decree coming by then. Let's just wait."

He walked a few steps, stopped again, and continued:

"Also, you should cultivate the fields over there in Nanshan quickly. No matter what you plant, it is better than leaving it uncultivated. I think the price of food will definitely rise in the second half of the year. You can play around with that land a little, and it will be better in the winter. Hungry."

"Sanshu Chen is right." Jiang Sanlang said: "I am also planning to tidy up the land in Nanshan. I will ask Sanshu Chen to give me some details."

"Yes." Chen Sanyou was satisfied and left with his hands behind his back.

After seeing Muramasa off, Jiang Sanlang looked solemn.

In previous years, before a war started, the imperial court would always levy grain and cloth, and if the war was stalemate, it would also levy troops.

At that time, the people will probably experience another cold wind, snow and rain.

Fortunately, he had earned dozens of taels of silver. Even if the army really needed to be drafted, the three brothers could use the money to buy more pawns to take their place.

Therefore, you still have to think carefully about building a house.

…

As the old saying goes, peach blossoms in March bring rain to April. It's the end of April, and the sky is overcast with clouds, as if a heavy rain is brewing.

Chun Niang sat in front of the window and glanced outside from time to time, feeling worried.

She has been thinking about her daughter's words these days, fearing that one day the river will suddenly flood and her house will be flooded.

"Sanlang, let's hurry up and build a house in Nanshan. Alas, I can't even sleep well these days."

Jiang Sanlang, who was teasing his son, was stunned, looked outside, and frowned.

It rained a lot in early summer, and it hasn't cleared up in the past few days.

He thought for a moment and said, "How about we build three huts on Nanshan first. If there is a heavy rain, we will go to the mountain to take shelter."

Chun Niang nodded immediately, "Build a thatched hut, just build thatched hut, Sanlang, I really can't stand it anymore." She was so worried all night that she didn't dare to close her eyes.

"Then I'll tell my parents tomorrow to see if they can cover it." Jiang Sanlang said.

Chun Niang glared at her husband, "You can build it if you want. Why are you always dragging your parents, eldest and second brothers? If they don't agree to go, then won't you stop building it?"

"No way." Jiang Sanlang scratched his head in embarrassment: "Isn't it that if there is a flood one day, they can build a house on the south slope and have a place to stay."

Chun Niang's face brightened slightly, and she urged: "Then why are you waiting for tomorrow? It's not too late now, go and tell your eldest and second brothers."

"Oh, I'll go right away."

Yingbao didn't know that because of her words, her parents decided to build a house in Nanshan. Not only did my father go to build it, he also brought his eldest and second uncle along with him.

At this moment, she was busy in the cave, planting snow fungus on five mulberry trees.

After planting the snow fungus, I went to look at the golden fungus on the other five mulberry trees.

These golden ears have grown, but because of the bad weather, they were not cut down.

However, if they are not harvested for a long time, the mature golden ears will shrink, change color, and eventually rot.

The golden ears that my father planted have not yet grown up, so they will not be baked in the oven. And now it is the rainy season. The weather is humid and there is not enough sunlight. If the golden ears are not dried in time, they will rot and become moldy.

Hey, you must calculate the time for planting next time, otherwise your work will be in vain.

Ying Bao walked around the cave and saw the large field of bald grass again, which is the grass where water chestnuts grow.

Now that the water chestnuts are ripe, they will rot in the ground if they are not picked.

Yingbao scratched his head and squatted down to dig some water chestnuts.

After digging and pulling out only a few dozen clumps of stick grass, we harvested a large basket of water chestnuts as big as eggs, which made Ying Bao very worried.

If you can't finish it by yourself, and you don't dare to take too much out for others to eat, this will really cost you your life.

If only she grew up, she could take them to town and sell them. Or pretend to buy it from the market.

But she is only a two-year-old baby now, just a little taller than a small dining table. If she goes out alone, a child of several years old can carry her away.

I picked a dozen of the largest ones and set them aside for seeds, while the rest were temporarily placed in the basket.

After washing her hands in the pool water, Ying Bao began to think about the thirty mature golden ears again.

This thing was so valuable that it made her heartbroken to waste even one.

Looking around, Ying Bao saw the Wudingzhi on the stone wall and suddenly had a whim.

Pull out a few Wuding Zhi leaves, put them in a bowl and mash them into a paste, then scoop out some pond water and stir well.

The Wudingzhi juice melts into the water and is only slightly viscous, nothing else is noticeable.

Yingbao poured the bowl of water on the mature golden ears and wanted to wait a few days to see if they would mutate.

Anyway, the golden ears are already mature. If they are not picked and dried in time, they will become moldy. It is better to use them as an experiment.

If there was nothing unusual, she would cook the golden ears and feed them to her grandparents and uncle. It was not considered a waste. If they went bad, she would just throw them away.

When I came out of the cave, I saw dark clouds outside the window and it was already raining.

Ying Bao knelt down beside the Kang table, picked up an ink stick and began to grind the ink.

Since her father bought her pen, ink, paper and inkstone, she has another task every day, which is to copy copybooks and copy the Three Character Classic.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, hitting the window lattice and causing splashes of water.

Jiang Sanlang hurried home from outside, and his clothes were already soaked.

He took off his wet clothes, took the cloth brought by his wife to wipe his face, and said with a smile: "The eldest brother and the second brother have agreed to go to Nanshan to build a house with us. When the rain stops, I will ask brother Li Dayong to help us build adobe. In autumn, we will Start construction.”

Building a house is not an easy task, even if you build a thatched house. You must first dry the adobe required to build the house, and then prepare enough bamboo and thatch, as well as log beams, door frames and window frames. Play well.

Once everything is ready, you can hire someone to lay the foundation and build the house.

During this period, it is necessary to avoid the busy farming season, not to mention the freezing cold winter, because the soil easily contains ice. Once the spring comes and the flowers bloom, the ice melts, making the house unstable, and the walls will collapse within a short period of time.

Chun Niang pursed her lips and smiled, brought him some dry clothes to change into, and asked, "Should we still build an adobe house?"

Now that the family has money, they can build five large houses with blue bricks and tiles, which are clean and bright, and there will be no black bugs crawling down from the rotten thatch on the roof in summer.

Jiang Sanlang nodded, "Build three adobe houses for the time being. When we make some more money, we will build brick houses."