The House is Built
Yu Qingze and Chang Le sat for a while before they went to freshen up and prepare breakfast.
As the day grew brighter, households everywhere started lighting firecrackers to welcome the new spring. Yu Qingze also ignited firecrackers at the entrance of the courtyard to greet the new year.
As the firecrackers crackled, Chang Hao and Jiabao woke up and hurriedly ran to the door to watch. Chang Hao regretted waking up just a little late and missing the chance to light the firecrackers.
After they finished watching the firecrackers, Chang Le handed Jiabao the new cotton shoes they had just finished making last night and told him to put them on.
“Thank you, Brother Chang Le,” Jiabao’s nose turned slightly red as he held the shoes and looked at them for a while, reluctant to wear them.
Chang Le patted his shoulder, gesturing that there was no need to thank him.
“Brother Jiabao, hurry up and put them on,” Chang Hao urged him.
“Okay.” Jiabao put on the shoes, and after wearing them, he carefully admired them from all angles, a happy smile spreading across his face.
Before breakfast, the four younger generations took turns paying New Year’s respects to Grandpa Chang.
Grandpa Chang sat in his chair, very happy, and then generously gave each of them a couple of silvers as New Year’s money.
Chang Hao held the silvers and smirked. In previous years, Grandpa only gave them a token amount of two wen as New Year’s money. This year, it’s a lot more! Two silvers!
However, he just enjoyed the feeling for a moment. After breakfast, he handed the silvers to his older brother to keep. They were going out to pay New Year’s visits later, and he didn’t want to lose them. Otherwise, he would be heartbroken.
When the time was right, Chang Le placed the melon seeds, peanuts, and other snacks that were served to guests on the table, along with raisins and the like. They were waiting for someone to come and pay respects to Grandpa Chang so they could entertain them. Then he and Yu Qingze went out to pay New Year’s visits with the others.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, they didn’t visit relatives. Instead, they visited each other in the village to pay New Year’s respects. They would start visiting relatives on the second day.
Chang Le and the others first paid respects to the head of the Chang family and Chang family elders, and then they joined other members of the Chang family to visit the elders in the village and other villagers one by one.
The descendants of the Yu family were doing something similar.
In the morning, the whole village was bustling with New Year’s visits. Smiling faces and the scene of bowing and paying respects could be seen everywhere. The children were happily eating and holding various snacks given to them by the adults. Their pockets were full.
When they finished the rounds of visits and returned home, the house was lively. Many people were sunbathing and chatting at the door, mostly waiting for Yu Qingze to return so they could pay their respects to him.
Yu Qingze chatted with the adults while Chang Le was busy greeting guests. Chang Hao and Jiabao were playing with the other children in the yard. The younger boys enjoyed kicking shuttlecocks, while the little gers liked squatting and playing with fighting cocks or throwing stones.
It was very lively.
It wasn’t until close to noon that the villagers gradually went back home.
Since they had moved here and didn’t have relatives living nearby, Chang Le’s family didn’t have to visit relatives during the Lunar New Year.
During these few days of rest, Chang Le and Yu Qingze, along with the others, completed all the work that needed to be done in the fields. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have time to do it once the snack shop opened.
Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.
In the evening, after studying together for an hour, Chang Le started making clothes for the spring, and Yu Qingze continued to work on the unfinished toothbrushes. The two boys also helped him.
Through their experiments, they made a total of four different styles.
One style involved threading pig bristles through two holes and securing them with hemp rope or thin wire. The second style involved folding the pig bristles in half and pulling them through a hole, then securing them with wire at the bent part on the back. The third style involved creating a small wooden groove and embedding the back of the toothbrush into it, similar to a drawer, so that the bristles would naturally stay in place. The fourth style involved making the toothbrush hole narrow at the top and wide inside, resembling a gourd shape, and then folding the pig bristles and inserting them, with a small bamboo piece wedged in the middle to hold them in place.
Each style had its advantages and disadvantages, but at least they could be used for a while. They made several brushes, ensuring that each person had one, and the remaining brushes could be kept as replacements. Then they made two larger brushes specifically for washing clothes.
Afterward, the village chief came to find Yu Qingze and saw the toothbrushes and larger brushes. They discussed the idea of making and selling them.
Yu Qingze had no objections if the village chief could make them. Making money was always a good thing, so he explained the process to the village chief.
On the fifth and sixth days of the Lunar New Year, Yu Qingze took the two boys to pay New Year’s respects at the Cai family and Zhao family. When they went to the Cai family, they learned that Master Cai (Governor) and his family had also returned for the New Year but had gone back to Yunzhou on the third day.
Then, on the eighth day, the snack shop opened for the New Year. Yu Qingze gave everyone red envelopes and motivated them. The enthusiasm of the people was high, and they worked energetically.
On the opening day, many old customers came to visit. They were used to eating dim sum from here, and during the New Year, breakfast at home just didn’t taste the same; it felt bland. Now that the snack shop was open, they naturally couldn’t wait to come.
After the smooth opening of the snack shop, Yu Qingze began to consider building the house.
Because of the custom of “no construction during the first month of the Lunar New Year,” building a house had to wait until after the first month. However, this period of time could be used to prepare for the initial work.
He fenced off an additional two acres of land next to the plot he had originally chosen for the house, and then he went to Li Zheng with the village chief to pay for the two acres of land and complete the necessary procedures.
Coming back and looking at the large empty land, Yu Qingze started thinking about the style of the house.
Originally, he planned to build a four-bedroom, one-living-room house, but now he changed his mind. With the addition of Jiabao to the family, the house needed to be a bit larger. He also wanted to have a study and a storage room.
He made a good amount of money from selling cured meat before the New Year, and he could sell it for another half a month. With that, he would have enough money to build a bigger house.
In his mind, Yu Qingze drew several sketches of house designs. Some were based on the typical style of local residences, while others were new styles created by Yu Qingze combining modern architecture. There were also courtyard-style designs. He planned to discuss with Brother Le and see which style they liked.
On the evening of the eleventh day of the Lunar New Year, Yu Qingze specifically called Brother Le back home. After dinner, Yu Qingze took out the house designs and explained them to everyone, then asked them to choose their favorite design.
As everyone looked through the designs, the three younger ones chose the courtyard-style design, while Grandpa Chang chose a design where all the rooms were under one roof, probably because it felt more like a family.
Then the three younger ones started persuading Grandpa Chang, saying how nice the courtyard-style yard looked and how it wouldn’t feel so crowded to live in, and so on.
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Thandar: Does this mean the wedding date is soon? woooooo!!!!
