Chapter 316: Renovating The House ( 6 )
Hearing the craftsmenâs questions, Fu Chenâan said, "I also donât know what type of wood this is. I got this wood from the mountain forest."
As soon as they heard that he got it from the mountain, the craftsmenâs excitement died down. Although they would love to obtain good-quality wood, they were unwilling to hire people to go into the mountains. The cost was too high.
After giving them some instructions, Fu Chenâan went to the kitchen to help his wife prepare breakfast.
Since he had nothing to do at home, he went to the wasteland after breakfast and helped plant the land. Thanks to the good food they prepared, the workers worked harder than usual.
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Before sunset, they finished planting all the land. It usually took 25 days to complete the planting, but they only needed 17 days. This saved Yao Zhi a lot of wages.
At 4 oâclock in the afternoon, she was calculating the workersâ wages with Yang Dalang.
The total wages for 17 days were 117 taels of silver and 810 wen, including the Yang familyâs sons. As for Yang Dalang, he received 850 wen since his wage was 20 wen higher than the others.
After deducting the wages, Yang Dalang returned 381 taels of silver and 340 wen to Yao Zhi. This time, she didnât give him any bonus and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Dalang."
"This is what I should do," Yang Dalang replied with a smile.
When they finished calculating, Yao Zhi returned to her room. Inside, her husband had been waiting for her.
Seeing her coming, Fu Chenâan placed a pouch on the table and said, "Wife, this is the money given by the General. You keep it."
Yao Zhi didnât stand on ceremony with him and accepted the gold ingot. Then, she gave him 100 taels of silver and said, "This is your pocket money. If you need more, tell me."
Fu Chenâan nodded and kept the money. Both of them were no longer as polite as before and had become more comfortable with each other.
While her husband was busy counting his inventory, Yao Zhi opened her systemâs storage and took out a set of shampoo, body soap, and skincare products.
"Husband, these are for the General."
Noticing that the packaging was different, Fu Chenâan asked, "Wife, why does this set use such high-quality jars? It even has a flower pattern on the lid."
"Husband, the General paid 100 taels of gold for this set. Of course, we have to give him better-looking packaging," Yao Zhi explained.
"How about the quality?" Fu Chenâan asked curiously.
"Itâs the same as the one you use. Iâm just using different-quality jars."
When he heard this, he looked at his wife with admiration. His wife was so clever!
After sunset, they went to the shared manor to take a bath and then had dinner together with the Ling squad and Xi Yiâs family.
Since the plowing season was coming, the villagers and workers no longer continued to work for them. However, the land still needed to be taken care of. It was sandy land, and even with them covering the crops with mulch, they still needed to water and fertilize them.
During their meal, Yao Zhi shared her plan with them. "Tomorrow, I will go to the town to buy some people to take care of the farmland. Xi Yi, you have a good judgment of people. You will go with me tomorrow."
"Yes, Master," Xi Yi agreed readily.
Before Fu Chenâan could say that he would go with her, his words were cut off by his wife. "Husband, I need you to stay at home and supervise the craftsmen."
"Also, can you help me see if we can expand our room or rebuild it? We might need to build a few more rooms for the brothers. Itâs not a solution to let them squeeze into one room."
Fu Chenâan thought for a moment and replied, "Now that we have farmland, how about we build more rooms in the backyard? The land in the backyard is big enough to build 5 or 6 rooms."
Yao Zhi thought about it and nodded. "Then, letâs build 6 more rooms. Just use Shiâerâs room design as a sample. We also need to build a Kang bed in each room. This way, we donât have to buy beds, and it will save a lot of coal during winter."
After they experienced the comfort of the Kang bed, everyone nodded in agreement. If they felt cold, they only needed to burn firewood on the stove outside the room. The stove could even be used to boil water or cook simple food.
"Then, letâs build the rooms first. After the rooms are done, we can rebuild our room and get a Kang bed for ourselves," Fu Chenâan suggested.
"Okay." Yao Zhi nodded and continued, "Tomorrow, the brothers will help the craftsmen."
Hearing this, everyone nodded and replied in unison, "Understood."
After dinner, they returned to their rooms and went to sleep.
Early in the morning, Yao Zhi and Fu Chenâan woke up before dawn.
After they brushed their teeth and washed their faces, she went to the backyard while her husband went out for a morning run. As a soldier, he had to maintain his condition and couldnât slack off on his training.
Since they planned to build more rooms, Yao Zhi bought more wood and spent 100,000 points.
When she was done, she went to prepare breakfast. Today, she made scallion pancakes, sweet potato porridge, soy milk, and steamed eggs.
Since Xi Yi would be going with her, she prepared lunch in advance.
For the staple, she made scallion pancakes. For the side dish, she made radish bone soup and bought 25 portions of braised meat, costing her 100 points from the systemâs shop.
She opened the braised meat packaging and poured it into three earthen pots. This way, when her husband, the brothers, and the children wanted to eat, they would only need to heat it up.