Chapter 94 Raising the Beams
It has taken a little more than a month since the ground was broken, and the house is almost completed, and the construction team is also very efficient. No wonder the houses in the city are built so fast. There is a reason. of.
At Zhang An's house now, only the top beam has not been installed, so the roof tiles have not been started yet.
But after looking for someone to check the date, it happened that there was a good day to go up in the past few days.
So Zhang An is not in a hurry. It just so happens that the doors and windows he had ordered made by someone before are now ready, so he can bring them over now.
You can ask the construction team to install the doors and windows first.
It’s just right to deal with the walls and floors first.
Floor Zhang An listened to Li Hongbin's advice and instead of laying floor tiles, he made a terrazzo floor.
But originally Zhang An had no intention of doing anything, and even just wanted to lay a cement floor.
Who knew that Li Hongbin still had these businesses, so he would just do it.
Terrazzo floors are much easier to use than floor tiles.
Especially in the past two years, floor tiles have just come onto the market and are ridiculously expensive.
Although terrazzo is also expensive, it is still much cheaper than floor tiles.
The key point is that the terrazzo floor will stay the same for many years. Its elegance never goes out of style. In the future, more than 20 years later, there will still be people using terrazzo floor.
Although Zhang An and Li Hongbin discussed it for a long time, in the end Li Hongbin decided to make his own decision.
He finally figured out that Zhang An was just an outsider and didn’t understand anything.
As for the homestead given to Li Hongbin from the neighboring village, they also found someone to look after the future.
The ground-breaking ceremony has been held before, and the foundation has been laid.
As long as Zhang An's house is completed, the masters can walk over and start building Li Hongbin's own house.
As for moving to Changqing Village, Li Hongbin persuaded Li Yao's grandparents at home for several days, and finally convinced the two old people.
Zhou Lan is quite happy, because Changqing Village is close to the town. If the two elders live in Changqing, it will be convenient for them to go back and forth on weekdays.
Unlike before, it took several hours every time to go back to my hometown.
Li Hongbin, an experienced driver, had to drive slowly on that mountain road, and Zhou Lan didn't even dare to drive.
The two elders didn’t want to move here at first. They kept telling Li Hongbin that they were used to living there and were reluctant to let go.
Actually, I have gotten used to living there, but I just can’t place the tombs of Li Hongbin’s grandparents. I feel that after moving away, it will be quite far away if I want to pay homage on weekdays.
Their family was not a local population before, but was moved here from other places during the war.
There are so many people like this in the nearby mountains that there is no such thing as the saying that it is hard to leave one’s homeland.
But in the end, with the persuasion of Li Hongbin and Zhou Lan, as well as Li Hongbin’s two brothers, they agreed.
Moreover, Zhou Lan said that if they asked the second elder to come over, they could bring Li Yao over and stay with them when Li Yao went on vacation.
When she was in her hometown, Zhou Lan was worried about letting Li Yao live there because of the long distance.
How could grandparents not like their grandchildren?
Especially the children of the eldest and second family. The two elders have taken care of them since childhood. They had no chance to take the only son of the third family with them.
As time went by, I didn’t kiss them very much, so Zhou Lan’s words were a sure sign of the two elders’ fate.
As soon as Zhou Lan said this, the old man did not hesitate immediately and moved. He moved as soon as the house was built.
On the day when their family broke ground and laid the foundation, they cooked food at Zhang An’s house for everyone to eat.
The time came on the morning when Zhang An’s family was going to the Liang Dynasty. Many people in the village who had nothing to do came to Zhang An’s house to join in the fun.
Two thick and long trees were carried from Zhang An’s old house to the new house.
These two big trees were cut down by Fourth Master Zhang’s family last year. They are high-quality wood and are the perfect choice for making beams. The length and size are just right.
Some time ago, Zhang An and his son originally wanted to invite someone to go to the woods on the mountain to cut down two suitable large trees to make beams. However, when Zhang An’s fourth grandfather found out, he said that he had some at home. No more cutting.
So these two pieces of good wood were carried to Zhang An’s old house. This morning, everyone carried them from the old yard to the new house together.
Two big trees were placed on the wooden horse, and the old carpenter in the village used tools to repair them.
He is serious about the work of Zhang An's family, because this year Zhang An asked him to do a lot of door and window work, which made him make a lot of money. This is a business that he could not find in previous years.
The old carpenter’s surname is Lin. He is in his sixties and is the best at carpentry work in the surrounding areas.
If he hadn't been too busy by himself, Zhang An would have thought of asking him to do it all, because the doors and windows he made were beautiful and durable.
After some hard work by Carpenter Lin, the two square roof beams have been dug out.
Zhang An’s grandfather is no longer here, so the two old men of the Zhang family took the red cloth bought by Zhang An’s family and tied it on the main beam. They also tied the deed written by Mr. Kandi to the main beam. superior.
After doing this, everyone helped to send the two beams upstairs. There were many people, so they easily sent the two beams upstairs.
When the auspicious time comes, firecrackers begin to be set off in the yard, accompanied by a burst of crackling firecrackers.
"It's time to go up the beam!" The old man below also shouted loudly, and the people nearby also shouted, "It's time to go up the beam."
Everyone upstairs also helped to lift the beams that had been carried upstairs bit by bit to the top position reserved for the beams.
At this time, it means that the upper beam is successful.
Zhang An carried several baskets filled with candies and cakes and started tossing them down from upstairs. The adults and children below started grabbing them on the ground in a lively manner. It is said that the more they grabbed, the more excited they became. The better.
At noon, because there were too many people, we had to hold a big banquet on the drying ground. Today we invited Uncle Jianzhong and Zhou Yang from the second grandfather’s family to cook.
The masters of the construction team were also invited to have a meal.
Everyone was having a lively meal, as if they were having a banquet.
After the beams are installed, it is the work of the construction team in the afternoon. They quickly cover the top roof with tiles. Since then, Zhang An's new house has been completed and can be moved in as long as the water and electricity are connected.
Tap water is simple. You can just connect it to the branch in the village. But if you want to get electricity, you have to go to the county to find someone from the power supply bureau to get it, and you have to install an electric meter again.
The current power supply bureaus are all located in the county, and there are none in nearby towns or villages. It will be many years before township power supply bureau offices will be established.
So every time there is a power outage, it will take a long time before the call comes.
To collect electricity bills at this time, the power supply bureau will find a person in each village. When it is time to collect electricity bills, he will carry a ladder to read the electricity meters of each household, and then collect the money.
The next morning, Zhang An went to the county. Today he was going to the power supply bureau to find someone to open an account and connect the wires. He should go there early and come back early.
When we arrived at the bureau, the staff had already gone to work. Zhang An asked several people and found the person in charge. Finally, he paid 150 yuan. The other person gave Zhang An an order and said he would call tomorrow. People go to the wiring.
Zhang An thought that Li Hongbin’s family was also building a house, so he immediately said that there was a house building nearby and he could bring an extra meter there so that they could install it together and save them a few trips back and forth. .
The wiring in Zhang An's home has been laid. Once the electric meter is installed and the entrance line is connected, it can be used normally.
Now is different from later generations. Since people said they would install it for you tomorrow, they would go there tomorrow. Unlike in the past, they always said they would install it when they had time, but it ended up being delayed for several days. Monthly ones are available.
After finishing the matter and seeing that it was not yet noon, Zhang An went into the county town for a walk.
The dry toilet at home has been renovated recently. Zhang An planned to go to the place where electrical appliances are sold. Bathing in winter has always been a big problem, but he was confused when he arrived at the store.
Zhang An wanted to buy a water heater, but he didn’t see what Zhang An wanted in the store.
Nowadays, there are water heaters for sale in stores, but most of them are gas-fired water heaters used in cities. In the countryside, there is no way to use them without gas.
After checking several stores and finding nothing, Zhang An asked the bosses about solar water heaters.
Finally, a boss told Zhang An that because it often rains in this mountainous area and there are too few sunny days, as the saying goes, it never gets sunny for three days, so solar hot water is not very popular in mountainous areas now.
Because products such as water heaters are very expensive products now. Basically, people in the city will buy them. People in the countryside don’t have much money to buy them.
But if the sun doesn't shine often, the solar energy cannot play the role of hot water. I originally wanted to buy it to save some gas costs, but it turned out that I had to use electricity, which is more expensive than a gas-fired water heater. It’s expensive, why choose it?
So now many owners of home appliances don’t dare to buy goods, because if they can’t be sold, they have to throw them away.
In the end, Zhang An gave up the idea of buying this thing.
I found a place that sold other home appliances, shopped around and picked out a washing machine for my mother.
Because no matter it is spring, summer, autumn or winter, the laundry at home is washed by hand. It is the most difficult to wash clothes in winter, so Zhang An also bought one.
Especially in winter when washing quilt covers, sheets and thick clothes, it is very inconvenient.
At this time, the washing machines only had two drums, one drum for washing and one drum for dehydration. Zhang An chose a brand that would be used by his own family in later generations.
Because in later generations, my family also bought a double-tub washing machine like this. It was used for more than ten years without breaking. It left a deep impression on Zhang An.
Every time Zhang An asked for a new washing machine, Wang Fang always said that the one at home could still be used and that he would buy a new one when it broke. After waiting for nearly twenty years, Zhang An finally bought it. New, it's not broken yet.
In Zhang An's impression, the washing machine seemed to have cost six hundred and eighty yuan. After calculation, it only cost more than thirty yuan per year. It was a great deal.
It didn’t wear out, but the motor of the drying bucket broke down in the middle of the process. Wang Fang couldn’t bear to sell it as scrap. In the end, she spent more than 100 yuan to find someone to replace the motor, which lasted another seven years. Eight years.
The quality is simply not good. Many household appliances in later generations are very durable and of good quality after being used for five or six years at most.
Compared with it, it is completely dwarfed, a far cry from it.
There is no need to buy a refrigerator. The one Li Hongbin sent to me is big enough and can be used when it is moved there.
Walking to the display counter where the TVs were placed, there were already color TVs for sale, imported from abroad, but after looking at the price, Zhang An thought about it and decided not to.
It’s not worth spending thousands to buy a small color TV set. If Zhang An buys it back like this, he will definitely be hit hard by Wang Fang at home, who will criticize him for spending money arbitrarily.
Nowadays, this thing has been updated a lot. After a few years, the price of this color TV will plummet. There will be many opportunities to buy it in the future, but I am not in a hurry now.
Moreover, Changqing Village does not yet have a closed circuit that can put a TV. There is no small satellite pot on the market in later generations. They only sell antennas and very large pots.
If you buy an antenna, you can receive several TV stations, and the big antenna is easy to break.
After thinking about it, Zhang An didn’t even buy a black and white TV set.
In the end, Zhang An just bought a washing machine and went back.
Before going out, I checked the refrigerator and there was no meat in it. Although Zhang An doesn’t enjoy eating without meat now, sometimes it’s better to cook with some meat.
So he went to the meat stall in the vegetable market and cut a few kilograms of good pork belly.
Seeing that the quality of the meat on the meat table today was very good, I bought more. I planned to go back and let my mother fry some crispy meat.
When I got home, Wang Fang had already prepared lunch.
"What did you buy again?"
Seeing Zhang An move a big box from the car, Wang Fang gave him a hand.
"I bought a washing machine so that you can wash clothes without using your hands in the future."
When Wang Fang heard that it was a washing machine, she felt that she must have spent a lot of money, and she couldn't help but feel a little worried. Spending money is a bit aggressive.
"Xiao An, this washing machine is not cheap. Our family has just spent so much money to build a house. We should save money. I can just wash these clothes by hand. Why spend this money? "
As the saying goes, if you have money in your pocket, you won't panic. During this time, money from Zhang An's family was flowing out, and Wang Fang became more and more panicked.
She was worried that her family's money would run out, and what would happen if something urgent suddenly happened.
Zhang An also knew what his mother was thinking, "Mom, I will save some money from now on, but I still have to buy this washing machine. It's fine for washing thin clothes, but this one washes sheets, quilt covers and thick clothes. It’s hard to wash at this time, especially in winter when cold water is a problem and it can’t be dried even after washing for several days. With this washing machine, it’s much more convenient.”
Zhang An knew that his mother was used to saving money, so he did this. Spending money lavishly gave her a sense of unreliability, so she didn't say anything about money being a bastard. If we don't make it anymore, she will only be more worried and anxious.
I just followed my mother's advice and said that I would not buy it next time and save money in the future, so that she could feel at ease.
(End of this chapter)