Seeing Xiaoque's aggrieved appearance, touching her head, I saw that the little girl's earlobes were still red, "My aunt knows, Xiaoque is back well!" If there is such a shameless person in the future, you will go back like this! If she dares to do something with you, you call someone! Ming'er's aunt doesn't go out, but she wants to see what kind of moth this Sun family's mother-in-law dares to make! ”

With the support of her aunt, Xiaoque was not afraid, and wiped her eyes: "Hmm! If the old lady of the Sun family comes again tomorrow, I will reply to her like this! I also want to say that she is shameless and steals our things! ”

Mei Xiaotong smiled and nodded, and let Xiaoque go out.

Because of listening to Xiaoque's words, Mei Xiaotong was a little absent-minded all night, and when she had eaten, everyone was tired for a day and wanted to go back to the house to lie down and rest.

Soon, the courtyard of the Mei family fell into silence, and everyone fell asleep.

Mei Xiaotong quietly opened the door, saw that there was no movement in the yard, tiptoed to the corner of the wall, kicked with both feet, and easily turned over the courtyard wall.

Before he landed, he was hugged into a steaming embrace in the air.

Mei Xiaotong's body stiffened, and her elbows turned towards the arms behind her, and halfway through, she smelled a familiar breath and a low laugh

, and suddenly stopped.

It's Anwar Hao.

patted him on the shoulder angrily: "In the middle of the night, what are you hiding here?" ”

An Huahao hugged Mei Xiaotong and kissed her forehead: "Wait for you." ”

……

After a long time, Mei Xiaotong said in frustration: "How do you know that I am going to come out in the middle of the night." ”

Anwar Hao smiled but did not speak.

Mei Xiaotong was absent-minded when eating, he knew that she had something on her mind, so he didn't sleep, listening to the movement in her house, before Xiaotong opened the door, he immediately turned out of the Mei family's yard and waited outside, sure enough, it was there.

Mei Xiaotong saw that An Huahao didn't answer, and she didn't bother to ask, so she said directly: "Today Xiaoque told me that the old woman of the Sun family wanted to snatch her silver earrings, but fortunately she was clever and ran away." There are only a thousand days to be a thief, and there is no thousand days to prevent thieves, if this continues, after a month, I am afraid that our family's things will be moved away by the Sun family——"

An Huahao looked at Mei Xiaotong's pouting and unhappy appearance, and couldn't help but bow his head and peck her on the lips.

Only then did he speak: "Don't worry, starting tomorrow, the mother-in-law of the Sun family will not come." ”

Mei Xiaotong was stunned: "What did you do to her?" ”

An Huahao smiled, "I didn't do anything, I just told Sun Lao Er that if I can make his mother not come tomorrow, I will privately give him the salary that should be given to the Sun family's mother-in-law." ”

Sun Lao Er naturally agreed, anyway, it wasn't for him not to come, he could continue to grind foreign workers, he could eat meat and drink wine, and he could get five cents for nothing, what not to do?

You must know that the mother-in-law of the Sun family manages the money tightly, even if she loves him the most, it is rare to get five big money from the mother-in-law of the Sun family that month.

As long as you move your mouth,

You can get a hundred or ten big bucks, and when the time comes, you can go to the town for a good meal, and you can do a few more good things.

Mei Xiaotong also breathed a sigh of relief, spending so little money to make the Sun family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law not come, that would be great.

The corners of his mouth curled, and he pretended to be dissatisfied: "Where do you have the money to give Sun Lao Er?" Didn't you hide my private money? ”

An Huahao hugged Mei Xiaotong tighter, making a pitiful look: "I have no money, so please take pity on me, do well, and give me some pocket money......

Mei Xiaotong couldn't hold back, and laughed, but immediately covered her mouth, for fear of alarming the people in the yard.

Since the last time the two kissed and exchanged hearts, they didn't even have time to say a few more words, there were people around them all the time, and it was rare at this moment, although the matter was resolved, they didn't say anything about going back to the house.

The ears and temples were grinding for a while, the night breeze in late autumn was cool, An Huahao practiced martial arts, and his body was good to bear, but he was still worried that Xiaotong would catch a cold.

ruthlessly, he jumped into the yard with Mei Xiaotong in his arms, reluctant to touch her head: "Come into the house quickly, be careful of catching a cold." ”

It wasn't until Mei Xiaotong entered the house that he went back to the house and didn't mention it.

With An Huahao out of the horse, I don't know how the second child of the Sun family went home, anyway, the next day, the Sun family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law did not come.

Everyone's ears are finally quiet.

Although the three men of the Sun family don't work much, they are not so annoying, but they look ugly when they eat, and the men are too lazy to care about them.

They are also accustomed to arriving every morning, eating well at noon, hiding behind stones, squinting under the walls of other courtyards for a while, seeing that the sun is almost over, they go back to Mei's house to find Mei Zhongzhong to settle the bill and go home, but they are all right. With the wine that Mei Xiaotong bought from the town, he sent two catties to the ground every day to warm up the men, and the mud bricks were increasing rapidly every day, and the rows of stacks were neatly placed, just waiting for the wind to dry, and then they could be used.

Shopkeeper Zheng really didn't lie, this wine was better than the last time I bought, the men drank it and said that it was strong, and when they took a sip, a fire went down their throats, and their whole bodies were warm.

Everyone is full of energy.

After the foundation is laid, the walls are built.

The first batch of mud bricks had been dried and moved to the new house, and Master Chiang, with his group of brothers, began to build the walls.

After the exterior wall is built, a thick layer of mud wrapped in cattail grass is applied inside and out, so that the wall is not afraid of rain.

Once the walls were built, the house was one day at a time.

The necessary stones and timber were successively transported to the new house.

The tiles needed for the roof have also been half burned and shipped over.

The new house is busy every day, and the people are buzzing.

On the side of Mei's yard, under Mei Xiaotong's insistence on logistics support, the level of food has been maintained.

Mei Xiaotong will be from wine

The few hands that Chef Lou learned from him were relayed to Wen and the other mothers-in-law who cooked.

The meal is also renovated every day, what pork stewed vermicelli cabbage, what meat stewed potatoes, cabbage stewed tofu, big herring stewed tofu with pot stickers......

More than ten days have passed, and it stands to reason that I will lose weight if I work hard every day.

Under such a sumptuous meal of the Mei family, I was stunned that I didn't lose weight, and there were many people who were doing some light work, and their waists were rounded.

Not to mention the mothers-in-law who helped with the cooking, in the past 20 days, their faces have become round, their chins have doubled, and their complexions have improved.

When the people in the village saw it, who was not envious in their hearts.

The Mei family is so willing, and the people who help also know in their hearts, the house that was supposed to be completed in a month was mostly completed in twenty days, and only the upper beams and the final cover tiles were needed.

The upper beam is the most important step in building a house.

The auspicious day has already been chosen, and those who clash with each other on the auspicious day of Shangliang cannot go to the new house, so they must avoid it.

Before going up the beam, you have to sacrifice to the gods, burn incense and pray.

Then, select two Shangliang masters who belong to the dragon and the tiger, and wear strips of red cloth around their waists.

The most important middle beam is selected by the master of the upper beam, the middle beam must be a fir tree, to be straight to the sky, the kind with lush leaves, the more small cedar trees around, the better, symbolizing the descendants of the lush and endless.

You can't choose a single tree.

When felling, there is also a requirement that the small cedar trees around them should not be overwhelmed, and the direction of the fall must be towards the south.

Before making the middle beam, the master has to light incense and set off firecrackers before it can be made.

Both ends of the beam should be hung with a copper coin tied with red silk thread to take the meaning of peace and shun.

As soon as the auspicious time comes, the two Shangliang masters will carry the middle beam, while singing the Shangliang song, and the people below will shout Shangah, good luck! Lift it up and put it away steadily.

After the middle beam is stabilized, the master of the upper beam will also sprinkle all kinds of peanuts, dried fruits and other things prepared by the main family.

Watching the lively men, women and children can go to grab it, the more people grab it, the more lively it is, the better the omen.

This is called beam throwing.

After throwing the beam, everyone has to withdraw from the new house and let the sun bask in a beam, which is called drying the beam.

For this day, the Mei family has long prepared firecrackers, red paper, red cloth strips, and sacrifices to the sky

of incense, candles, and offerings.

I also bought a lot of dried peanuts and fruits, ready to throw the beams when the time comes.

Sure enough, as soon as the auspicious time came, Master Shangliang had a strip of red cloth wrapped around his waist, and he put the beam steadily.

There are a lot of people who come to see the excitement, first, they all want to see the big courtyard of the Mei family, and secondly, they come to help the people who come to publicize, who doesn't know that the Mei family is generous, and today the beam will definitely not be stingy.

Sure enough, the master of throwing Liang went up with a basket, a lot of peanuts, dried fruits, and occasionally a few copper coins were thrown down.

Not to mention children, adults can't bear it

Live to rob, for a while very lively.

I only saw Mei Zhongzhong and Mrs. Li smiling.

The master of the beam throwing over there was still a word in his mouth: "Throw the beam to the east, and the sunrise in the east is full of red; Throwing the beam to the west, the unicorn sends the son to hang double happiness; Throw the beam to the south, and the children and grandchildren will be the champions from generation to generation; Throw the beam to the north, and hoard white rice at the end of the year. ”

Wait until everyone has finished grabbing these peanuts and dried fruits and dispersed.

Everyone quit the new house, let the sun shine for one day, and the next day they could go up to other beams, purlins, and so on.

At this point, the basic house is almost done, and only the final tiles need to be covered.

These are all in charge of the brothers brought by Master Jiang.

So after the beam, the Mei family has to invite all the helpers to eat, which is called remuneration, and thank everyone for helping.

On this day, several mothers-in-law who came to help used their skills to cure five tables of banquets, and they couldn't sit in the courtyard, so they were directly placed outside the courtyard.

On each table, there is a large pot of braised pork and stewed potatoes, a fish, a pot of braised chicken stewed mushroom vermicelli, a plate of fried peanuts, a plate of pig's head meat, and three side dishes, which are better than some people's happy events.

The most pleasing thing is that there is also a jar of wine on each table, about two catties.

Zhuanghu man, who doesn't like to drink a little wine, this is in the Mei family to help, can take two sips every day, as soon as you see the wine jar, the alcohol addiction will naturally come up.

Without the persuasion of the master's family, one by one they poured out the bowls and drank them.

It was so noisy that in the afternoon, they were full of wine and food, and they helped each other to go home with a drunken face.

When the banquet was over, the mothers-in-law who had been waiting for a long time neatly cleaned up the table, washed the pots and pans, swept the floor, settled the completion money, and went home happily.

The people of the Mei family can't rest yet, and they have to return other people's tables, dishes and chopsticks or something.

You can't empty your hands on the table, you have to put a few eggs, or a handful of peanuts or something.

The errand work was handed over to a few children.

Master Jiang and the others drank a little too much, and they all went back to the house to lie down and snored loudly after a while.

Several men in the Mei family are also a little tall, except for An Huahao, who is still awake, most of them are dizzy, and they also go back to the house to lie down.

Only Mrs. Li, Zhou and Wen were left, quietly discussing the arrangements for dinner and future cooking.

From today onwards, those helpers don't have to come anymore, and in the future, only Master Jiang and others will eat at home, and the Wen and Zhou families will be able to support them.

Mei Xiaotong is calculating how much money she has spent so far.

In addition to Master Jiang's wages, the rest of the material money and helper's wages have been settled.

Over there, Zhou Shi was picking vegetables and muttering: "I always feel like something is missing today?" As soon as these words were said, everyone was stunned, today was particularly smooth, although it was a good sign, but,

That's right! The Sun family didn't come today?

They all came to their senses, and Zhou blinked: "Why can't the Sun family come today?" Today is good meat and good wine, and the two drunkards, Sun Daming and Sun Laoer, have to crawl when they smell the wine. ”

Wen said softly: "Could it be that the Sun family has something to delay?" ”

Mrs. Li snorted coldly: "It's a good thing that their Sun family doesn't come, why, you still can't think about it?" ”

Zhou and Wen hurriedly bowed their heads and didn't dare to make a sound.

Mei Xiaotong looked at An Huahao, who was sitting next to him.

An Huahao blinked innocently and looked back.

Mei Xiaotong covered her hand in her sleeve, poked An Huahao, and asked in a low voice, "Is it you?" ”

An Huahao smiled, turned sideways slightly, opened his mouth, and a smell of wine mixed with the heat on his body came to his face, Mei Xiaotong's face suddenly became hot, and he wanted to push An Huahao away, but his hand stretched out, but he was soft and had no strength.

"Today is the most important day for our house, how can we let the people of the Sun family come? Isn't it bad luck? An Huahao smiled slightly, and the whole person leaned on Mei Xiaotong's shoulder.

Mei Xiaotong looked nervously at the courtyard, Mrs. Li was talking about her two daughters-in-law, and she didn't have time to look at them.

The hot body temperature, mixed with the smell of wine, surrounded Mei Xiaotong.

In the past, Mei Xiaotong hated the smell of alcohol on other people's bodies the most, and she only felt a foul smell, which was uncomfortable to smell.

But now, although An Huahao has also drunk, this smell of alcohol makes her dizzy.

I don't know where to put my hands and feet.

After hesitating, Mei Xiaotong felt An Huahao's breathing becoming more and more stable, and when she turned her face to look, she actually fell asleep.

I haven't seen An Huahao asleep again, Mei Xiaotong looked fixedly, and An Huahao, who was asleep, didn't have the cold air that rejected people thousands of miles away when he was awake, and he was a little more peaceful.

Long eyelashes spread over the eyelids, outlining the shadows.

The tense brows on weekdays have also relaxed after falling asleep, and at this moment they can really see his age, and he still has a little youthful spirit.

Mei Xiaotong was looking at it intently when she heard a voice: "Xiaotong, you-"

Looking up at the three pairs of eyes of Mrs. Li, Zhou and Wen, she was immediately embarrassed, but she soon regained her composure and got up to help An Huahao: "Brother Song is drunk, I'll send him back to the room to rest, and I'll talk about it later." ”

Then under the gaze of the three of them, they calmly sent An Huahao back to the room and let him lie on the kang with Mei Changgui, touched his cheeks, took a deep breath, and walked out.

As soon as she walked out of the room, An Huahao, who had been asleep, opened her eyes, showed a smile, turned over, and fell asleep again.

Mei Xiaotong endured being uncomfortable and went to the yard: "Mother, what are you looking for me?" ”

After Mrs. Li sent her son-in-law into the house, she glared at Zhou and Wen: "What do you see?" What's there to see? ”

Zhou and Wen hurriedly lowered their heads.

At this moment, seeing that the girl came out, she hurriedly pulled Mei Xiaotong into the house.

After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Although you have already made a marriage, you should also pay attention, if you see something at home, you can only pay attention to it outside......"

What else could Mei Xiaotong say, so she had to nod and say yes.

Mrs. Li also reached the point, she originally had something important to ask: "I see that you are settling accounts first, and then there are other beams left."

purlins, and cover tiles, only Master Jiang's wages and food expenses for the past few days are left, these are all fixed, you put it together, let's build this house, how much silver did it cost? ”

Mrs. Li has no bottom in her heart, she is worried about spending money like money every day, for fear that she will spend too much, and then she will have to make up for it with her daughter.

Mei Xiaotong took out the bookkeeping book, and counted it to Mrs. Li one by one, and in the end, even if she added Master Jiang's wages and the reserved food expenses, a total of four hundred and forty-five taels and five yuan were spent.

This also includes a small yard on Anhuahao's side.

An Huahao's courtyard, Mei Xiaotong only went to take a general look today, he only lived alone, and made a courtyard form.

There is a main room, there are east and west wings, and there is an inverted seat room, and behind the main room, there is a back cover room, which is neat and tidy.

There is also a small garden in the middle.

The area is about the same size as the courtyard of the Mei family, and the location is slightly behind the fourth entrance of the Mei family's courtyard, between the two courtyards, a corridor was built, and at both ends of the corridor, the two families each opened a door, which is convenient to come and go, and each has privacy without disturbing each other.

After such a calculation, there was still a slight balance, and Mrs. Li was relieved.

I thought about it in my heart: "The remaining fifty taels of silver, there are still a lot of furniture to be beaten, and your father is now almost beating the furniture for the fourth marriage." There is a lot of wood in the house now, and I think there are two carpenters in Master Jiang's gang who have good craftsmanship, and I can see the carvings on the doors and windows, which are much stronger than your father's craftsmanship. Why don't we leave people at home for a few days and knock out the important furniture first? ”

Mei Xiaotong thought for a while: "It's okay!" But we have to fight Brother Song's side first, if we move to a new house, we still have the old ones that can be used to make do with them, but Brother Song has nothing on his side, and we have to re-install them, otherwise if we move in, how can we live in them? ”

"Besides, this brother still settles accounts, and I have made a separate account of his expenses, and a total of only seventy taels of silver was spent, and half of the rest of the money was from his side."

(End of chapter)