Siheyuan: Starting from Building a Village

While taking a break, Liu Guozheng said, "Brother Song, there is something I need to trouble you with."

"Brother, if you have something to say, please tell me."

"Brother Song, I have the bricks, but does anyone know anyone who can handle cement, lime, and fine sand?"

Liu Guozheng was not polite either. After all, he only knew Lao Song, so there was nothing he could do about it.

"Brother, if you use cement and other materials, the cost of building your house will be high."

Old Song naturally knew that houses built with cement and fine sand were strong and durable, and the cost was of course much higher than that of lime and loess.

"Brother Song, these are not a problem. I have no money or tickets. I will exchange them all for meat. It's not expensive. Anyway, whoever kills the wild boars and wild goats in the deep mountains owns them."

Is it expensive to get something for free? If Zhang Long and Zhao Hu were allowed to hunt as much as they wanted in the mountains, they would be able to kill all the wild boars in less than a year.

"Okay, I'll do it for you, brother."

This was a good thing for Lao Song, and he had no reason not to agree. Not only did he not have to use his connections, but the directors of the cement and gravel factories would also treat him to a drink, and it had to be good wine.

"Then I'll leave it to Brother Song. I'll definitely reward you handsomely when the task is completed."

"Haha, you're welcome, bro."

The two men reached an agreement and the bricks were unloaded.

"Wow, pork, two ends at that."

"Now we have meat to eat tonight."

"That's great. My wife and children at home can also satisfy their cravings."

When Wang Erleng heard what they said, he curled his lips and said nothing. He ate meat every day, but recently he wanted to eat some vegetables, but unfortunately there were none.

"Sanwa, Gousheng, what are you still looking at? Load the meat onto the truck. Hurry up, we can still make another delivery."

"okay!"

If you have meat, you will naturally be more energetic and won’t feel tired.

Several people worked together to load both pigs into the car, and each person was given a pound of potatoes. The three people expressed their gratitude again. Two potatoes plus a corn tortilla could be considered a meal for an adult, which was a very good meal in those days.

"Brother, I will go back now. Don't worry, I promise I will do everything for you."

"Okay, I'll trouble Brother Song then."

"Oh, by the way, brother, you are very kind, and so am I, Old Song. I will send you bricks twice a day."

"Brother Song, that's a good feeling."

Liu Guozheng naturally would not refuse if he could make one more delivery every day.

"Brother, what kind of house do you think we should build?"

After the car left, Wang Erleng squatted and asked while eating potatoes.

"Winter is just over a month away, so let's just build a few simple rooms that can accommodate people."

There is still more than a month to go before the beginning of winter. If I follow my original idea, it will definitely be too late. I can only build a row of houses in the originally designated residential area, five meters away from the central street. They can be used as warehouses and as offices for the village in the future.

"Brother, can you do masonry work? And carpentry work?"

"will not."

After hearing Liu Guozheng's answer, Wang Erleng was obviously stunned for a moment. Wow, after all this time, neither of them can do it. I guess Zhang Long and Zhao Hu don't know how to do it either.

"What should I do? I don't know how to do it."

Wang Erleng couldn't eat the potatoes anymore.

"Go ask around in the nearby villages tomorrow. You should be able to find masons and carpenters."

Liu Guozheng had thought about it a long time ago. Now it is the slack season for farming, so it is easy to find some people in the village.

"How can we negotiate the wages? We don't have any money."

"Ok?"

After thinking for a while, Liu Guozheng thought about it and said, "Two yuan a day for wages, two meals a day, and meat and potatoes instead of wages. No one will refuse this. It is more useful than money."

"Yes, I understand."

After Erlang finished speaking, he continued to show off potatoes without even raising his head.

"Erlang, kid, eat less. Are you not going to eat dinner tonight?"

"You take care of unloading the truck later. Zhao Hu and I will go dig the foundation."

Liu Guozheng had already seen Zhao Hu coming back carrying the wood, so he decided to build the foundation first. When all the materials and labor arrived, he could start working right away.

Liu Guozheng went to the fish pond to get a shovel, and called Zhao Hu to push the stone roller from the foot of the West Mountain over.

Let Zhao Hu measure (scan) the dimensions. It is 20 meters from east to west and 5 meters from north to south. There are five rooms side by side, and each room is 20 square meters. With this calculation, 20,000 bricks should be enough for the five rooms.

We plan to build it like this first. After all, there are only four of us now, and two of them are robots that are not afraid of extreme heat or severe cold. We can finish it with just one cave.

When more people come, we will build more.

"Brother, I can help too."

Seeing Liu Guozheng and Zhao Hu digging the foundation, Wang Erleng stopped eating his potatoes and came up to help.

"Erlang, just take a rest. We will be unloading bricks soon!"

Liu Guozheng said as he dug the soil. We can't just use people like cattle just because they are capable.

The foundation is not going to be dug very deep, about one meter is enough.

The two of them worked together to dig out one room first, and then Liu Guozheng continued to dig the rest. Zhao Huzheng was pushing the stone roller back and forth to pound the soil, just like the threshing ground in the countryside in the 1960s and 1970s. A hundred or so trips back and forth would basically be enough. If Wang Erleng hadn't been standing by, Zhao Hu could have just thrown it up and dropped it like tamping, which would have had a better effect. In order to avoid being too shocking, he decided to use the stone roller to pound the soil slowly.

Wang Er was standing there in a daze. Zhao Hu didn't look like a very strong man. Brother Zheng said that the stone roller weighed two thousand pounds!

The strongmen in storytelling are all the type with broad arms and broad waist, and are ten feet tall.

Maybe this is the innate supernatural power mentioned in the storytelling?

If Zhao Hu could lift the stone roller, it would be even more amazing, he would be like the King of Chu in the past.