Li Mu, who had been waiting by the door, finally felt relieved and returned to the east room to rest when she saw her son and daughter-in-law return.
The next day, Li Rongguo went to the team to claim his homestead.
It was located west of Li Jian's house.
With the homestead secured, Li Rongguo was full of energy. He planned to make adobe bricks, but his cousin stopped him. Su Dan Novels Online.
"The adobe bricks are already made; the ones by Brother Wang's house are ours. The house and courtyard will be built with stones. We've already cut them on the mountain. You and Suozhu should carry the baskets and wait at the foot of the mountain. The roof will be tiled; I've already asked Lin Guangde to inform Ouyang Lei."
"Zhenguo, I, I don't have money."
"Consider it a loan. You can repay the money for the cement and tiles when you have it later. Nothing else cost money."
"Cement? I, I don't want to build such a nice house."
"I've already asked Ouyang Lei to deliver it. Building a house is a big deal; how can you make do? Build it right the first time, and don't rush the payment. You can pay it back slowly."
Zhao Xiaofang, who could now get out of bed, was shocked to hear about building a pure stone tiled house. "Damaie's father, we..."
"Zhenguo decided; I can't refuse. Let's build it. Zhenguo is right; building a house should be done in one go, so you don't have to spend money on it again later."
...
While carrying stones, Li Rongguo finally understood how the stones were brought down to the foot of the mountain.
"Why not bring them back directly?"
"To avoid suspicion. Otherwise, everyone would ask my wife for help, and would she refuse or not?"
Li Zhengguo looked at his elder brother, thinking that with this intelligence, it was no wonder he was so oppressed.
"Oh."
Li Zhengguo and his wife continued to carry the large woven vine stretcher bags and sprinted up the mountain. Li Rongguo and Chen Suozhu took turns carrying them.
Halfway through transporting the stones, Ouyang Lei arrived at the foot of the mountain. Seeing that Elder Brother Tian was using martial arts for such a task, he couldn't help but comment.
"Sister, we have as many red bricks as you want; why go through all this trouble?"
"I'm willing; I'm happy."
"Yes, yes, as long as sister is happy. The tiles and cement have been unloaded in your yard. Your mother-in-law took the large iron pot to grind something."
"Mmm, you can also pick some vegetables from the south vegetable shed. The cost will be deducted from this batch of vegetables."
"Then you be busy; I'll go now."
With the promise of vegetables, Ouyang Lei's nonchalance disappeared, and he turned to leave.
Li Zhengguo said to Chen Suozhu, who was carrying the load, "Suozhu, you go back and watch."
"Okay."
...
The stones were piled onto Li Rongguo's foundation, making the villagers extremely envious.
The five families in the middle were the most envious.
Of course, Zhang Fangcao's envy was unique. "Aren't the stones in this deep mountain also collective property? We only pick up stones exposed on the ground, but you're directly taking them from the mountain."
"Aren't the ones you pick up collective property?"
Tian Jing had finished transporting the stones from the mountain and came over to see how much more was needed. She heard Zhang Fangcao's sarcastic remarks.
"How about I pay for the stones? Then I'll count how many stones each household has, and we can all be good members who don't take any advantage of the collective, alright?"
Zhang Fangcao turned around, her slightly bulging belly prominent. "Alright, let's count them by the piece."
Tian Jing shrugged. "However you want to count, it will just take a little longer to count other people's stones."
But the villagers were not having it.
"Zhang Fangcao, shut your mouth."
"Exactly, Zhang Fangcao, do you think you're rich and powerful just because you're carrying a lucky baby? The stones on your maiden family's wall are higher than anyone else's, and your in-laws' courtyard is also entirely made of stones."
"Why remind her? It's not too late to remind her when her mother and sister-in-law come again and push her lucky baby away."
"Exactly, it's just picking up stones exposed on the ground, isn't it? The couple is incredibly lazy. They only picked up a few stones to build their house, and they almost didn't have enough for the foundation."
"Right, right. I heard that Zhang's elder brother, who came to help, turned away in anger."
"How much do you actually know? I heard that the adobe bricks were also made with the help of Zhang's elder brother and Old Man Zhang. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a single adobe brick."
"Heh, why bring up these old stories? Let's talk about recently. They are lazy even with their own allocated land. They didn't sieve the soil carefully, so the seedlings didn't grow as well as those on the sides. Then they went to harm the seedlings on the sides, one of which belonged to their maiden family who helped build their house."
"A white-eyed wolf couldn't be more like this. By the way, how do you know the land wasn't sieved carefully?"
"When the team leader took people to investigate the stealing of seedlings, he flipped over some soil and found many broken stones."
"Huh? But the land looked entirely like soil from the surface?"
"Who knows if they sprinkled some well-sieved soil from someone else's house? It's not the time for calculating work points; who are they trying to fool?"
"I never realized before that these two people were so lazy."
"Nonsense, they didn't split up before. With Jianguo and his wife taking the lead, and besides, didn't the person who refused to do housework and said she was going to her ex-fiancé's house expose herself long ago?"
"Right, right. So, they were all just putting on a show? No wonder Accountant Li was so angry about the split and drove his wife away?"
"Wasn't he spoiled by his wife? She bossed around the eldest son so much that she turned the younger son into a good-for-nothing, who looks worse than Lin Er Lai."
"There's something wrong with what you said. Lin Er Lai used to be a scoundrel, but he changed after marrying a wife."
"Right, right, that's it. It seems that choosing a wife still depends on character. Aren't there two stark contrasts here?"
"Indeed, a wise wife prospers three generations; a foolish wife ruins three generations."
The villagers' discussion was heated, completely ignoring the main subject of the meeting. The main subject was so angry that she kept retreating.
"Stop, stop, stop!" Tian Jing shouted to stop her. "Zhang Fangcao, if you retreat any further, you'll fall onto the pile of stones. What are you trying to do? Are you trying to con someone?"
"Cousin Li is short on money. Everything he uses is borrowed from me. Speaking of which, he and Zhao Xiaofang are quite pathetic. Find someone else to con."
The villagers' discussion was interrupted, and dozens of eyes turned to Zhang Fangcao.
Zhang Fangcao was indeed not far from the stone pile.
Tian Jing took the opportunity to call out to everyone as witnesses. "Everyone, please bear witness. This pile of stones has been here for a long time and is within Cousin Li Rongguo's homestead. Anyone who tries to con will not be acknowledged."
"Tian Jing, what does 'con' mean?" Sister-in-law Niu asked, as she always asked when she had a question.
"Con is when someone carries broken porcelain in a cloth bag and deliberately bumps into you. The cloth bag falls to the ground, and the con artist claims the porcelain is priceless and was broken when you bumped into them, demanding compensation. You have to pay whatever they ask."
"Ah? Are there such black-hearted people?" Sister-in-law Niu's surprise seemed genuine. "So, is the porcelain in Zhang Fangcao's belly broken?"
Tian Jing shook her head. "Only she knows if it's broken or not."
The villagers immediately took a step back.
"Quick, quick, call Li Aiguo out to watch his wife. Don't let her harm others."
"Yes, quickly call Li Aiguo out."
Li Aiguo, with a stubbled face, was dragged out. "Why are you dragging me out?"
The two men who dragged him out pointed at Zhang Fangcao, who was being watched by two women by the stone pile.
"Quick, take your wife home. She's heavily pregnant and ran into Li Rongguo's homestead. What is she doing by the stone pile? If something happens, who will be blamed?"
Li Aiguo rubbed his sleepy eyes and yelled towards the west, "Zhang Fangcao, get back here."
Zhang Fangcao visibly flinched. She glanced at the two women beside her and then slowly walked over to Li Aiguo.
Li Aiguo gave her a fierce glare and turned back home.
Zhang Fangcao paused for a moment, then followed him into the courtyard.