CHAPTER 422: CHAPTER 0403: NEW SCHOOL COMPLETION (3)

The stability of a house depends on the foundation being firm and deep, the walls being solid, and the beams being placed steadily.

The foundation is the first step in building a house.

Liu the bricklayer, following the range designated by the Li brothers, led everyone to dig the pit.

However, since it was not for a high-rise but just a single-story house, the foundation wasn’t dug too deep, only about two feet deep.

By the time Li Yuzhu, Prince Luling, and Liu Yanbai returned in the afternoon, the foundation was already dug.

In another pit, there were some white substances soaking, emitting steam.

Li Yuzhu curiously walked over to take a look.

But was immediately pulled back by Mu Yuanxiu, who said nervously, "Don’t go, that’s limewater, the steam can burn your eyes, you need to watch from a distance."

Li Yuzhu smiled lightly, "I know, I’m not going to look at the limewater, I’m looking at the foundation you’re building."

"We can build half a wall by tomorrow," Liu the bricklayer said with a smile, "We have many people, so we build quickly."

Prince Luling walked around the foundation of the new house, praising everyone’s quick progress.

Liu the bricklayer laughed, "The two grandsons in our family want to go to school, so of course we need to be quick."

Liu Er followed with a laugh, "Learn more characters, so they can marry a good wife."

After he said this, everyone laughed.

It was almost time for dinner, so Prince Luling invited the Liu father and sons and Mu Yuanxiu to have dinner together.

They all said it was still early and they wanted to work a little longer.

Prince Luling laughed, "Okay, when dinner is ready, I will send someone to call you."

While Prince Luling was chatting with everyone, Liu Yanbai already ran into the house with his schoolbag.

He threw his schoolbag into his room and immediately went to the kitchen to help out.

Nanny Jiang was making dinner, and when she saw him running into the kitchen, she laughed and said, "Aren’t you doing your homework? You’re here again to help out."

The Li Family didn’t look at Liu Yanbai differently, treating him like an ordinary person. Since Liu Yanbai came to the Li Family for two days, he started to speak more.

He said, "There are more people for dinner today, so Nanny Jiang must be busy. I’ll help out a bit, I can do my homework later."

"You are such a good child," Nanny Jiang praised him with a smile.

Indeed, she was quite busy today.

With the Liu father and sons helping to build the house, along with Mu Yuanxiu, the number of people increased suddenly. Mrs. Li instructed her to prepare more dishes, especially meat dishes.

Cooking more rice is easy, just adding more rice to the pot.

But making more dishes is a bit troublesome, requiring more washing and cutting of vegetables.

Adding three dishes takes at least an additional two quarters of an hour.

Liu Yanbai didn’t know how to cook, but he could tend the fire, so he added wood to the stove and helped Nanny Jiang scoop water with a ladle. Although it was a small help, it sped up Nanny Jiang’s cooking a lot.

The rice was steaming in the pot on the stove, emitting hot steam.

The small stove had a pot of autumn radish and pork rib soup, which was almost ready. The kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma.

Four dishes were already set on the table.

One plate of stir-fried lotus root slices, picked from the marshland in front by Li Xing’an this morning.

The lotus root hadn’t grown thick yet, so he only picked two. One with four sections, and a total of eight sections, enough to make four large plates.

There was also a plate of boiled beans, a plate of stir-fried cabbage, and a plate of sour long beans. The sour long beans were made not long ago, stir-fried with shredded ginger, wild peppers, and garlic, making it very appetizing.

There was also a bowl of steamed egg custard, drizzled with a little sesame oil, for the three children.

In the pot on the stove, there was fish soup cooking, almost ready as well.

The fish was caught by Li Xing’an from the pond in the marshland.

In autumn, there were fewer fish, so he didn’t send any aquatic products to the taverns in the market.

The fish he caught each day was all brought home for the family to eat.

Now at home, they only occasionally buy some pork or beef, and the regular dishes they eat were either picked by Li Xing’an from the water or by Li Xingmao from the fields.

The main grains also come from the land, stored in the tile jars, enough to last until late spring of next year.

The family’s food supply is now almost self-sufficient.

Nanny Jiang looked at the agile Liu Yanbai and shook her head, saying, "The fire is doing so well, you must often help out at home, right?"

The Li brothers didn’t do much work, according to Mrs. Li, so the brothers didn’t know how to manage the fire. Sometimes they got interested in helping her, they would stuff the stove full of wood, not starting a fire but filling the room with smoke.

This Liu Yanbai managed the fire well as soon as he arrived, which shows he often helped out.

Liu Yanbai nodded, "After school, I go home to help my mom cook, but I don’t cook well, and my mom always calls me stupid."

He sighed.

Nanny Jiang said, "You’re doing a great job, why does she scold you? Your mom is just biased." She uncovered the pot lid and started ladling the cooked fish soup into bowls, "Er Dan, I’m not trying to bring up your mom on purpose, I just want to enlighten you; we don’t think you’re stupid."

Liu Yanbai nodded, smiling, "I know, Nanny."

Seeing his cheerful smile, Nanny Jiang also smiled, "The food is ready, go call everyone to eat."

"Alright," Liu Yanbai put down the firewood in his hands, gathered the scattered firewood at the stove entrance, patted his sleeves, and ran to call everyone to eat.

In the past, it was Nanny Jiang who would call everyone to eat every day, now it’s Liu Yanbai.

Everybody gradually came to the kitchen, washed their hands, and sat around the table.

The three children were looked after by Chai Eying and the Princess Consort Luling.

They could all eat by themselves now, without needing adults to feed them.

Even Guoguo could hold a small spoon to feed herself, and she would point at the dishes on the table, asking Chai Eying to help her scoop.

She loved eating fish.

But it was a dangerous food, and Li Xingmao wouldn’t let her eat it.

Chai Eying came up with an idea, placing a piece of fish on a small dish and carefully used chopsticks to remove every little bone, feeding Guoguo small pieces of fish the size of a bean.

Even so, while Guoguo was eating, she regularly reminded her, "If there’s a bone, you must spit it out."

Chai Eying was very careful, and Guoguo never encountered a bone.

"No bones." She exclaimed in not-so-fluent words.

The Princess Consort Luling learned this trick and told Chai Eying to eat her meal while she fed Guoguo fish.

But after two bites, Guoguo spat out a small bone, startling the Princess Consort Luling.

Chai Eying laughed, "Mother, let me feed Guoguo. I used to feed Tian Lang fish, so I’m skilled at it."

The Princess Consort Luling felt embarrassed, "But you need to eat too, the food will get cold."

"I’m eating just fine." Chai Eying said with a smile, feeding Guoguo a bite of fish, then taking a bite of rice herself.

By the time everyone else had almost finished eating, she had only eaten half of her meal.

The Princess Consort Luling had to ladle a bowl of meat bone soup and kept it in a small pot on the stove, saving it for Chai Eying.

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During the days of building the house, it didn’t rain.

The Liu Family’s father and two sons arrived every day at dawn, working until sunset.

Mu Yuanxiu also came to help every day.

After two days, two and a half rooms were completed.

A large room was designated as a classroom for the students; the small half room on the left was for the teacher to rest, and the room on the right was the kitchen.

The children would eat in the kitchen of the school, and in the future, a cook would be hired.

On the day the roof beams were finished, according to tradition, Li Xingmao set off firecrackers.

On the third morning, Liu the bricklayer led everyone to paint the inside and outside of the house.

With green tiles and white walls, it looked very beautiful.

The enclosing wall was not built with bricks as it would be too expensive for the 300-foot perimeter.

Fortunately, the mountain where Mu Yuanxiu lived had an abundance of bamboo, and most of Li Family’s walls and houses were made of bamboo too, so Prince Luling suggested using bamboo for the fence.

Make it taller and denser, then enclose an area with it.

It made things much easier.

Liu the bricklayer’s father and sons, along with Mu Yuanxiu, Li Xing’an, and Li Xingmao, went up the mountain together to cut bamboo.

With six people working, cutting the bamboo and building the fence, they finished in just one day.

Additionally, they built a latrine for the students at a slightly distant location.

As for the children’s desks, Li Yuzhu suggested Prince Luling buy all the old desks and chairs from Mr. Song’s home.

Mr. Song was no longer teaching, and those desks and chairs were just for show. By buying them, they could also provide an additional income for Mr. Song’s family.

When they asked Mr. Song about this, he readily agreed and refused to take money.

Prince Luling insisted on paying, but Mr. Song smiled and said, "I still owe Miss Li some medical fees and besides, I still need Miss Li to check up on me. If I give you money for medicine and you give me money for desks and chairs, wouldn’t it just be unnecessary trouble? Why not offset it?"

New desks and chairs were valued at 100 wen a set, 32 sets would be 3,200 wen.

The ones the children had been using were a bit old, but even at a discounted price, they could be worth over 2,000 wen.

The medical fees Mr. Song owed were just over 200 wen.

There’s quite a price difference, so Li Yuzhu prepared some good medicine for Mr. Song and told him she would visit him often.

Mr. Song laughed and said, "That’s right, I still need to see the doctor anyway."

Thus, 32 desks and chairs for the children, along with a set for the teacher and a small bookshelf, were all transferred to Prince Luling.

When teaching, Prince Luling announced the moving date to the children.

Fearing the children wouldn’t find the place, on that day they only had a half day of class. After lunch, he led the children from Mr. Song’s house to the new school on foot.

The children were delighted to see the spacious and new school.

The lively ones rushed into the room, looking everywhere.

Though it was just an empty room, they were still very happy, sometimes admiring the white walls, sometimes the windows.

Sometimes they ran outside to look at the flat playground.

Sometimes they looked at the bamboo fence.

Prince Luling told them that in the afternoon carts would be arranged to move their old desks and chairs here, and the next day they wouldn’t need to go to Mr. Song’s house. They could come straight here, and the children all cheered together in joy.