Lian Shouxin made a check mark in the ledger and tucked the money into his pocket before heading to the temple.
"...all the money earned in a day, just flowing out like water," Lady Zhang lanted as she looked at the ledger that had already gained so thickness.
Building a house, and to build it well, of course, costs money, Lian Manman chuckled to herself. In her view, it was actually quite economical. Besides paying the carpenters’ wages and acquiring the necessary materials like wood, bricks, and tiles, at least the stone and sand could be dug up from the riverbed, which only cost labor and not material fees.
After exchanging a few words with Lady Zhang and having already put away the ledger and money box, Lian Shouxin’s n arrived to deliver the sand and soil.
The mother and daughter hurriedly ca out to greet them, spreading the sand evenly on the ground of the chicken coop. The delivery man was a simple-looking young fellow. Besides the fine sand, he also brought so mortar and a trowel to fill the gaps between the larger stones around the chicken coop and smoothed them out.
"...Fourth Uncle ntioned he was worried about rats and such squeezing through the gaps in the wall and snatching the chicks," said the young man. "Fourth Uncle also said he could fix the feeding trough and the door before alti," he added.
"Okay, I’ve got it," Lady Zhang replied with a smile, then called out to the young man, "Co in and have a drink of water."
"No need, I should head back now. There’s still work to be done," said the young man before pushing his cart away.
Without a door, the chicken coop wasn’t ready for use. Lady Zhang and Lian Manman released thirty chicks from a basket, while Lian Zhizhi and Lian Yeye carried four large bowls, two with water and two with millet. They watched the chicks peep and scramble over to drink and peck at the millet. After feeding the chicks, they herded them together and covered them with a large basket, along with the water and millet, to prevent them from running around.
Lady Zhang looked up at the slowly westward-slanting sun and declared it was ti to start cooking. Whether for the hired carpenters or the village helpers, the Lian Family provided three als a day. Since the breakfast shop was just next door, that’s where they conveniently prepared and ate their als.
"Third Aunt-in-law, could you keep an eye on things inside and outside the house for us? I’m going to take the children to cook," she said.
Lady Zhang instructed Lady Zhao, but Lian Manman still locked the inner room’s door. The three of them, along with Lian Yeye, then proceeded towards the temple.
Upon reaching the temple, they could see from a distance the foundation and pillars of the new shop, sketching out the rough shape of the building, where Lian Shouxin was busy directing a group of n.
"Mother, I’ll go check on Father first," said Lian Manman.
"Go ahead," Lady Zhang nodded.
And so, Lady Zhang headed to the shop with Lian Zhizhi and Lian Yeye to cook, while Lian Manman made her way straight to the construction site of the new shop.
"Second Sister," Xiao Qi ran out from behind Lian Shouxin, approaching Lian Manman with a smile and looking up at her.
"Back from school, why aren’t you doing your howork?" Lian Manman touched Xiao Qi’s head and suddenly noticed that Xiao Qi seed to have grown taller again.
"I’ve already finished my howork," Xiao Qi quickly replied. "Brother went with the cart to haul bricks, and I ca to help our Father."
"This is not work fit for you two; go back to the store and see if you can help your mother with sothing," Lian Shouxin told Lian Manman and Xiao Qi.
The two children didn’t leave but instead walked around the construction site, looking this way and that.
The layout of the new store had been agreed upon by the family: it was to have five bays and a two-story structure. To convey an impression of spaciousness and grandeur to custors as soon as they entered, the floor height was designed to be one and a half feet taller than that of a typical dwelling.
The first floor, referencing the layout of the original store, would have a dining room, kitchen, prep and storage room, and a lounge; while the second floor was planned to be divided into private rooms for dining.
Judging from the current patronage in their store, the new store seed a bit large. But Lian Manman thought ahead; in the future, should their store limit itself to serving breakfast only, or could they change the single shop sign out front into two, or even three, making it a famous restaurant known far and wide?
"...Even if we don’t turn it into a restaurant, right in front of our house is the official road. We can start up a different business, and we’ll still make money." In any case, once the house was built, it would certainly have its uses and bring profits to their family.
That’s how Lian Manman persuaded Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang at the ti.
When Lian Manman and Xiao Qi ca around from the back of the house, they heard the increasingly close sound of horse-drawn carriages on the official road; it was the cart returning with bricks. The cart stopped in front of the house, and Wu Lang jumped down first, followed by the others who went forward to unload bricks from the cart.
Lian Manman followed to help with the bricks.
"These bricks are heavy, Manman. You should only carry two at a ti, don’t take more," Wu Lang instructed. "Xiao Qi, if you’re going to carry them, take just one at a ti."
Lian Manman, heeding Wu Lang’s advice, indeed only carried two bricks at a ti. As she took hold of the bricks, her arms couldn’t help but sink a little with their weight.
The size of these green bricks was roughly twice that of the red bricks purchased for building latrines, and they were thicker and denser, more solid than red bricks. A single brick weighed heavily in one’s hand, and by Lian Manman’s rough estimate, it was about three to four jin (approximately 3.3–4.4 pounds).
In terms of color, size, or weight, they imparted a feeling of solidity. One of these bricks cost two Wen Money, and within Jinyang County Town, only two brick factories could produce such green bricks. They were expensive but worth the price.
Lian Manman decided that any new houses their family would build in the future must use these green bricks!
After calculating the silver in her money box, Lian Manman clenched her fist. For a better life, she resolved to work harder and earn more money.
**...***
Author’s note: The green bricks I couldn’t lift, the heavy wooden doors, the fist-sized door studs, and the tall, eaved shadow walls are all fragnts of mories from when I was very young. Really just a fragnt, and the imagery isn’t clear anymore, because I was too small then. But the feeling upon seeing these objects has always stayed in my heart. Now that I recall them, I have a great fondness for those items—their sense of solidity spontaneously invokes a sense of gravity in people.
And it wasn’t so grand family estate; it was just a northern landlord’s residence. By the ti Ruoyan laid eyes on it, more than half had been destroyed. I rember that the green bricks from the doorposts could be sold for money, and they weren’t cheap either.
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