Love in the Siheyuan: Starting from Jia Dongxu

"Hey, why didn't you wake me up?"

Jia Dongxu rubbed his eyes and got up quickly. Jia Zhenye said last night that he would go to mark the open space in the house, so he had to go.

"Huai Ru, we are going to mark out a piece of land for our family to build a house. Do you want to go?" Jia Dongxu asked while putting on his clothes.

"Go, why not? That's ours. I have to watch over you and make sure you don't get left behind."

Qin Huairu said hurriedly, bringing a bowl of corn paste to Jia Dongxu, "Eat quickly, and then we'll go."

"No, the land allocated to our family will only be more, not less."

Seeing that Qin Huairu was a little anxious, Jia Dongxu said while eating that Jia Zhenye also said yesterday that the location at the foot of the mountain was more than enough to build more than 30 households.

Qin Dazhuang had heard Jia Dongxu get up outside the house. He also heard outside the door that Jiajia Village was going to mark out land to build houses and demolish the original houses to farm the land. He was wondering what was going on.

He stood at the door, waiting for Jia Dongxu to kick him, but Qin Huairu brought in a bowl of porridge for him and waited anxiously at the door.

"Dongxu, are you up?"

Without waiting for Jia Dongxu to answer, he continued to ask, "Why did your Jiajia Village suddenly move to the foot of the mountain to build houses?"

"Dad, you heard it too."

Hearing Qin Dazhuang's words, Jia Dongxu hurried out and said, "We decided this last night when we delivered the piglets. I was joking, but I didn't expect my second uncle to take it seriously."

"My Qin family is really bold." Qin Dazhuang sighed and pointed to his own house, "Dongxu, if I also refuse this one, can I go build a house?"

Qin Dazhuang thought about his two sons. If they could change their living conditions, they wouldn't have to look for residential plots in the village. Besides, the second son didn't have any land to farm. After demolishing the house, the second son would have a piece of land, and it would be easier for him to find a wife.

After he finished speaking, Jia Zhenye remembered that it was Jiajia Village that was dividing the land, and then he smiled and said, "This is your Jiajia Village's business. I will call Dahe to ask if our Qinjia Village can do the same."

"Dad, why didn't you go to open up the wasteland today?" Jia Dongxu asked curiously.

"Hi, your mother and second brother went to open up wasteland. I'm working at home today."

Qin Dazhuang was embarrassed to say that they were the ones who forced the second brother to open up the wasteland.

Now each family can provide one male laborer for land reclamation. In order to let his son work, Qin Dazhuang asked his wife to take him first and count him as a male laborer. When Qin Fujiang catches up with the progress, he will go alone.

This was something I discussed with Qin Fujiang this morning, otherwise he would not have gone.

The couple coaxed him for a long time, saying that they could share the money in the vegetable shed, which was better than farming. Only then did Qin Fujiang go there unwillingly.

"Second brother is really good!"

Jia Dongxu said casually and took the dishes to the kitchen to wash them.

"Dad, come with us to the foot of the mountain to see the land. We can discuss it with the people in Qinjia Village when we get there."

Seeing Qin Huairu already waiting outside the house, Jia Dongxu hurriedly spoke.

By the time the three men arrived at the foot of the mountain, nearly 30 people from more than 200 households in the entire Jiajia Village, including the elderly and children, had all come out.

Jia Zhenye and a few others were marking the ground according to the number of people in each family. When they saw Jia Dongxu coming over, they said, "Dongxu, your idea is great. Everyone supports it. Look, everyone in the village is here."

Jia Dongxu knew that Jia Zhenye was helping him to look good in front of the villagers, so he quickly said, "Haha, uncle, this is because you are so courageous. Otherwise, who would dare to make such a decision?"

While watching people marking out the residential land, Jia Zhenye pointed to the third plot in the group and said, "Dongxu, the third plot is yours."

"Second uncle, the first piece is yours, I have no problem with that, but whose is the second piece?"

Jia Dongxu asked with a smile, his third piece of land was comparable to the first and second pieces, Jia Zhenye really didn't treat him unfairly, although his house was slightly larger than others.

"The second piece is for Erzhu. He's getting married soon, so mark it out first. Your uncle and I are in the first piece."

Jia Zhenye said, glancing at Jia Dongxu, "Don't accuse me of taking advantage. If you give me a bigger share, your uncle's small house will also be used for farming."

Then he pointed to the land allocated to Jia Dongxu and said, "Dongxu, your house occupies a large area, so we allocated an extra piece of land."

"Uncle, even if we push this old house over and plant the land, it's still ours. Is it okay to divide it this way?"

"It's okay, just draw it like this, and consider it as our Jiajia Village's apology to your family."

"I have wronged your family over the years. Your second uncle doesn't have much, so I can only compensate him in this way. I have discussed this with everyone."

Jia Zhenye rubbed his nose and looked at Jia Dongxu and Qin Huairu. "When the time comes, we will organize everyone to build houses one by one. As for your house, we will build it for you when the time comes."

"How can this be possible?" he continued, shaking his head.

"Why not? If you didn't come, where would we be able to reclaim land and grow vegetables?" Jia Zhenye pointed to the reclaimed wasteland not far away.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take everyone to deal with it." Jia Zhenye said, and followed the others to see the next family marking out the land.

Jia Jiye came over at this time and asked, "Second brother, can my family allocate two foundations?"

Jia Zhenye thought about it. His homestead was the small plot of land of Jia Dongxu's family, and he also had two sons. He nodded and agreed, "It's better not to have your two foundations next to each other to avoid quarrels in the future."

"Uncle, our village has suddenly gained a lot more households, right?"

“51 households!”

Jia Zhenye smiled and said that in this way, these boys who were divided out would have land to farm at home, and it would be easier for them to find wives.

"Dongxu, there are only about 30 households growing vegetables now. It would be bad if the Seto that were divided out didn't have an income. Can you think of a way?"

"Uncle, you are exaggerating. Those who were divided out are all little brats!" Jia Dongxu pointed at some boys around twelve or thirteen years old who were divided into different households. These were from families with more than two sons.

"What do you think these little brats can do?"

"Why not? Cutting grass and cooking pig food for the pig farm is OK, right? Even though they are small, three of them can do the job of two adults."

Jia Zhenye was afraid that Jia Dongxu would underestimate these guys, so he spoke quickly.

"Uh, they don't want to study anymore? Aren't they supposed to study so they can go to the city and work in factories?"

Jia Dongxu was very curious, because he had agreed before that he would study hard.

"They are too old to study. They have already played around and don't want to go to school. Now those who go to school are the children."

Jia Zhenye said with a headache.

"Anyway, I can't make any arrangements with these guys."

Jia Dongxu was also troubled by this. Aren't twelve or thirteen the right age to go to school? Why didn't he want to go to school?

"Then let's arrange for them to grow vegetables, have them pick vegetables together, and give them some money. We can think of a way out for them when they grow up."