Zhao Qing knocked on the cigarette pouch pot, blew the cigarette holder with his mouth, and nodded: "Well, okay, do as you say." This kind of work is a bit of a work, you still have to build a kang, first repair the roof of the West House, and then build a kang. I'll give you a touch of the material. ”

"Grandpa, what materials do you need? Is it good to find? Li Ziyu has no bottom in her heart, after all, she has not built a house in winter.

Zhao Qing fumbled for a bag of cigarettes, and Xiaoshan hurriedly lit it with the flint next to him. Zhao Qingba took a few puffs, exhaled a few puffs of cigarette, and inhaled in satisfaction.

Grandma Li next to her glared at the old man, and wanted to say something, but she couldn't help it. In front of the younger generations, she has to save some face for the old man.

Li Ziyu waited patiently with a smile.

Zhao Qing was too addicted to smoking, so he coughed and said, "Materials, this girder needs three, and the rafters need a large number, and it can't be too thin, about a hundred." Thatch and mud are good to say, just take them from the river at the bottom of your slope, there is no freezing there. It's just that the adobe bricks on the kang are not easy to find, and they are frozen, and they can't take off the blanks, so they can only touch each other. ”

"And where do I buy this wood?" Li Ziyu knew that although there was wood on the mountain, it was inconvenient to cut wood in the ice and snow, and the wood was also wet, so he had to buy dry wood.

"Don't worry about this, He Shigui's family has it, and the wood is all from his family." Zhao Qing took another puff of cigarette, glanced at Li Ziyu, and then said, "Girl, although it is to repair a house, it costs a lot of money." If you don't have the money, grandpa has it here, and you can repair the house with peace of mind. ”

"No, no, grandpa, I have the money to repair the house, I don't need you to pay it, I'll tell you when it's not enough. Grandpa, I'm not going to be polite to you. Li Ziyu hurriedly said. Although it is possible that Zhao Qing said kind words, her heart is still warm.

"You have to make a lot of rice soup from the live grass mud, and you have to boil it in a pot when the time comes," Grandma Li interjected beside her.

"Rice soup?" Li Ziyu hurriedly nodded, "Grandma, I remember." ”

Grandma Li said again: "You definitely don't know what to do, I'll ask your aunt to help you go then." ”

"Hey! Grandma thank you! Li Ziyu was really moved. In this world, it is said that it is easy to put icing on the cake, but it is difficult to send charcoal in the snow. For their six orphans, any heartwarming word is enough for them to remember for a lifetime.

Xiao Shan's eyes also flashed with excitement, and today's events injected a warm current into his cold and confused heart. Let him understand that there are still good people in this world.

Zhao Qing continued: "I'm going to find you ten people, the salary is generally fifteen yuan a day, and two meals are managed."

"Grandpa," Li Ziyu hurriedly intercepted the conversation, "My family doesn't care about food, but we will add ten more yuan to the salary, can you see it?"

Zhao Qing glanced at Li Ziyu in surprise: "Girl, are you rich?" If you can't see it, why will you get rich? ”

Li Ziyu chuckled: "Aren't you rich?" I went to the mountains to chop wood and ran into a stupid roe deer, and sold it for a few taels of silver, or where would I get the money to repair the house? Li Ziyu knew that it was better for her to make the money come from. After all, the fanfare of a few orphans repairing the house is very eye-catching. If you attract people with evil intentions, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Zhao Qing also instructed a few more things that need to be paid attention to when building a house, such as boiling rice soup requires a lot of firewood, preparing hot water, being careful of the safety of younger siblings, etc., Li Ziyu nodded seriously and agreed.

When he was about to go out, Zhao Qing's granddaughter Xiaohua ran out of the West House, this is an innocent, long-eyed and beautiful little girl, holding Li Ziyu's hand and saying anxiously: "Xiaoyu, come and play with me when you have time." I just wanted to talk to you, but my mother didn't let me, saying that you have something serious, so I'll go to play with you another day. ”

"Okay, Little Flower. I'm looking for you to play when I'm free. Li Ziyu hurriedly agreed, not only she needed playmates, but also her younger siblings.

Later, Zhao Qing took Li Ziyu and Xiaoshan out of the house and went to Yang Shigui's house to approve the timber.

He Shigui's house is on a gentle slope on the south side of the trail, not far from his brother He Shixiang, and is three spacious tiled houses. He Shixiang and He Shigui are both carpenters, and they are relatively wealthy families in the village. The brothers and the bricklayer Wang Ruiqing worked together to build houses outside the house all the year round, and the house was equipped with wood, masonry, tiles, nails, wires and other materials needed for construction. When Li Ziyu and the others went, He Shigui happened to be at home.

"Uncle Zhao, why do you have time to come over? Come on in. He Shigui greeted warmly.

Li Ziyu and Xiaoshan followed Zhao Qing into He Shigui's courtyard, and nodded politely to greet him: "Uncle Gui!" ”

"Hey, isn't this the Li family's Xiaoyu and Xiaoshan? Ouch, it's grown so big. I'm not usually in the village, but I didn't expect to grow so big, or else this day passed really fast. Uncle Zhao, do you still remember when I was a child, I was so angry that you chased and beat me, and in a flash, I was in my thirties, and Uncle Zhao, you are also fifty, right? ”

Zhao Qing nodded with emotion: "Yes, it's fifty-one this year, and the days are really fast." ”

Li Ziyu took advantage of the time for the two of them to chatter and looked at He Shigui: This is a rugged-looking, tall and burly man, and from what he treated people and talked just now, he knew that he was a well-informed person. I glanced at the courtyard again: three wide tiled rooms, and three spacious wings on the east and west. It seems that the east wing is inhabited. Two rooms in the west wing were stuffed with wood, and the other room was filled with carpentry. The bricks and stones covered with snow and ice were piled up in an orderly manner in the yard, and they did not look messy at all. In the southwest corner of the yard, two barns were erected, one for a cow and the other for an ox cart. A young man was sweeping the road leading to the east wing, and when he saw Zhao Qing and them, he hurriedly came over to salute and say hello: "Grandpa Zhao!" Xiaoyu, Xiaoshan. ”

Li Ziyu and Xiaoshan also hurriedly saluted: "Brother Dashan! ”

This is He Shigui's eldest son, He Dashan, who is eighteen years old this year, with good facial features and tall and big. The marriage that became a relative last winter, married Zhou Xiaomei, was from Xiaodonggou, which was more than ten miles away from Yangcaogouzi Village. I heard that I was pregnant, and it has been more than five months.

He Shigui and the two of them enthusiastically let them into the house, and it was snowy outside, and it was not suitable for talking. Zhao Qing took Li Ziyu's sister and brother into the east room.

After everyone sat down, He Shigui's wife Aunt He took her daughter-in-law Zhou Xiaomei to serve tea, and after serving tea, Zhou Xiaomei retreated. Zhao Qing took a sip of tea and opened his mouth first: "I brought Xiaoyu and Xiaoshan to order wood for three rooms with you today, not too good, just generally." You also know the situation of their family, the house will collapse if it is not repaired, and it will not be able to live in it. You're still a good at wood, aren't you? ”

"All subjects (all subjects mean complete), there are all of them, I don't know what to use?" He Shigui replied repeatedly.

"It's only a day or two, the sooner the better, as long as it doesn't snow, the construction will start."

"Okay, I'll pull the wood in an ox cart."

Li Ziyu wanted to ask the price, but seeing that Zhao Qing didn't ask, he didn't squeak. She thought it would be the same if she would pay for the timber when it arrived.

Coming out of He Shigui's house, Li Ziyu said goodbye to the old village chief and returned home with Xiaoshan. When I got home, it was almost mid-the-clock, and it was time to make dinner.

Li Ziyu still cooked sorghum paste, and ate dinner with roe deer and meat. A few pieces of wood were thrown into the stove, and the two adobe bricks were still tightly blocked.

Seeing that there was still a little light, Li Ziyu turned out the cloth head she bought, planning to make a pair of cotton shoes for the two small ones first. Although there is a memory of the original owner, after all, it is the first time to make shoes in two lifetimes. After comparing for a long time, I searched my memory carefully, but I didn't dare to cut the scissors directly. I had to put it down again and talk about it tomorrow.

On this night, everyone fell asleep in the double excitement of building a new house and building a new quilt. I imagine how beautiful and happy it would be to be able to live in a house that does not leak rain and snow in the near future.

The next day, Li Ziyu got up early and wanted to go to the mountains to see how to chop some firewood, after all, he had two meals, and breakfast had to be eaten at about midnight (ten o'clock in the morning in modern times). It was seven o'clock in the morning when she got up, three hours, half an hour to cook, and two and a half hours. She wanted to use this time to cut out the firewood needed to build the house. didn't wait for her to go out, Xiaohua came.

Xiaohua took the sewing basket and shouted before she entered the hospital:

"Xiaoyu, are you at home? I'm coming. ”

Hearing the shout, Li Ziyu hurriedly came out of the house, ran to the courtyard gate, untied the cloth, and enthusiastically let her into the house: "Xiaohua, are you here?" Fast into the house. ”

Xiaohua watched Li Ziyu untie the cloth, knowing that her family's life was difficult, and she didn't say anything sensible.

The two entered the house, Xiaohua greeted Xiaoshan, Xiaowen, Xiaowu, Xiaohu and Xiaolan one by one, and everyone rarely saw their playmates, and they all talked to her enthusiastically and quickly played together.

Li Ziyu thought of making shoes for the two little ones, so she humbly asked Xiaohua for advice. Xiaohua was also not stingy and actively instructed her. At home, my own needlework always displeased my mother. Now that she can teach Xiaoyu, she is full of excitement and a sense of accomplishment. So, in two hours, Li Ziyu learned that the first thing to do to make shoes is to paste the cloth board, that is, to paste the old cloth one by one onto a wooden board. After drying, cut the shoe sample, lock the edge with a strip of cloth, and glue at least five pieces of cloth board together with paste, and then put the sole of the shoe after drying. After the sole is stowed, the upper is cut, the cotton shoes have to be covered with cotton, the upper is locked around the edge, and then the upper and the sole are put together, and the shoes are successful.

Li Ziyu opened the wooden box and turned out the old clothes that could no longer be used from inside. The sorghum flour mixed with some white flour was used to make a paste. With the help of Xiaohua, several panels were pasted, and the cutting board was pasted on both sides. Compared with Xiaohu and Xiaolan's feet, the upper was cut and the cotton was wocculated. The two of them were busy together, and they actually finished the uppers of their shoes. Through practice, Li Ziyu found the feeling in his hand, which is simply all-in-one, and the memory in his mind is also powerful, and he is very satisfied with the upper he made. Through memory, she knew that it was Aunt Yang, who lived closest to her house, who taught her to do needlework. Aunt Yang's embroidery work is quite famous in the village, and she earns a lot of silver because of her embroidery work. When my mother was alive, she was the best with Aunt Yang, and the six sisters and brothers were also taken care of by Aunt Yang.

When it was close to midday, Xiaohua went home for dinner. Li Ziyu was embarrassed to leave Xiaohua to eat, but she really couldn't get the food.

Breakfast or lunch is more appropriate, Li Ziyu sorghum noodles mixed with some white flour and a little salt, and baked more than a dozen dry cakes. Even without oil, the kids were crazy. This is a cake, and they usually eat sorghum batter and are half full, and they can't believe that they will be able to eat bread one day. This meal, eating dry cakes without oil, with hot water, is called a sweet one. It's just the hill that slammed the door, and he didn't say anything.

Li Ziyu's heart was full of enthusiasm, and her younger siblings were too satisfied. They are so happy to eat a mixed bread, they are too pitiful. No, you have to think about it, why don't you have enough to eat. What can you think of? Li Ziyu was worried.