Chapter 125: Father's Relics
The walls of the old house have been demolished. All that's left is to clean up the broken bricks and tiles, keep the ones that are intact and usable, use the decayed beams and window lattice as firewood, pick out the mud, ash, slag, etc. in baskets and dump them out, and keep the earthen walls for crushing. , raise the yard, and use it to repair the yard dam after laying the foundation.
After all, there is strength in numbers. A large group of people worked vigorously, and the backyard was almost tidied up in just half a day.
"Su Su, come out quickly. I have asked you to dig out the heirlooms of the old Chen family. Come out and see what treasures there are." The voice was loud.
This caused everyone in the front yard to run out in droves.
"Heirloom? What kind of heirloom? Let me take a look."
"What?"
"Isn't this just a grain bag, or just a few skewers? Liang Qian? I thought it was some kind of rare thing.”
“It’s not this, it’s a jar. It’s old and heavy, and there must be something good in it.”
Outside the hospital, Wang Xiuhua was holding a dirty black jar, and Chen Jiang's wife next to her was holding a faded red cloth bag.
Everyone knows that red cloth bags are either grain bags or money bags.
The older generation is particular about building houses.
Grains packed in grain bags, placed on beams, can ward off evil spirits and control the house.
Or you can drill holes in the beams and stuff some copper coins or silver dollars inside. Most of the copper coins have special words, such as "Shunzhi" and "Taiping", which are auspicious and also convenient for future generations. Take it when the time comes, and this is the top beam money.
I heard that wealthy people would hide gold inside, which is called hiding gold on the beams.
But Chen Ling’s family definitely doesn’t have gold.
He himself didn’t believe it. He shook his head and said to the crowd: "My family is a poor farmer for three generations and is not a landlord. What good things can I get?"
"What happened to the poor peasants? Do the poor peasants have no treasure? That’s not necessarily the case.”
A woman whispered.
It’s true that Chen Ling’s family were poor farmers, but his educated youth mother was not. Who knows if she left behind any valuable treasures.
“Open it, Susu, open it and take a look.”
At this time, Wang Xiuhua had already handed the jar to Wang Susu and asked her to open it.
Others also followed suit.
Wang Susu glanced at Chen Ling, and with everyone watching, she carefully opened the jar. When she looked inside, she saw a dark iron lock tied with a thick chain that had become rusty.
"What is this? It can't be a longevity lock, right?"
"It should be, there are words on it."
Wang Susu took out the iron lock, and when people took a look, it was engraved with birth date. The three most conspicuous characters in the eight characters are 'Chen Juncai'.
"I know, this is Uncle Juncai's longevity lock."
"You'd better put it away, Fugui."
"Either bury it again, or take it to Uncle Juncai's grave this year."
Chen Ling took it in his hand and looked at it. It was indeed his father's longevity lock. He nodded and silently took the iron The lock was put into the jar and sealed again.
"Fugui, when I visit Uncle Juncai's grave this year, will Aunt Junying come?"
"I don't know, I guess she won't be able to come, the road is too far."
"That's right. My mother also said that she had a dream about Aunt Junying a few days ago. She and I were close friends back then. When the team sent people to borrow livestock from Kinmen Village, they always went together."
"It's not easy to meet each other even though we are far away now."
"Who says it's not the case? It's better for my daughter to marry closer to her. It's hard to even go back to her parents' home."
Talking about Chen in the village When insulting his father Chen Juncai, he would never forget to mention his aunt Chen Junying.
No way, without Chen Junying, there would be no Chen Juncai.
At that time, because Chen Ling’s grandmother couldn’t raise the child, she either suffered frequent miscarriages or died when she was one or two years old. Later, she went to the goddess to see her and she said that she had a fetal problem and had to be adopted first. If a female baby overcomes the evil spirit, the evil spirit will become a fetal god, and only then can a healthy child be born.
It was not difficult to adopt a female doll in those days.
Furthermore, Chen Ling’s grandparents originally had the intention of adopting someone else’s baby if they were unable to have a baby, so they brought one back from Kuliu County next door without much effort.
But miraculously, within two years, Chen Ling’s grandmother actually gave birth to a healthy boy.
This incident was also spread around at that time.
People have been talking about it for many years, and many elderly people still tell it as a story.
However, although this matter is a bit legendary, after the two siblings got married, the relationship between Chen Ling's father and his eldest sister was not very good. Outsiders said that it was Chen Ling's mother who caused the trouble.
When rural people encounter a daughter who refuses to return to her parents’ home, most of them blame the sister-in-law for being unkind.
Actually, the eldest aunt has a good heart, but she is honest and has no independent opinions. After marrying a husband who loves to take advantage of others and is petty, she obeys her husband in everything. When she returns to her parents’ home, She always likes to cry about poverty and always wants to get something back. Chen Ling's mother is not a good person, so she is not willing to agree. As time goes by, there will naturally be a lot of conflicts.
There are fewer and fewer contacts.
In recent years, there have been two visits, including Chen Ling’s marriage and the death of Chen Ling’s father.
Other times, unless it is time to give up some of your money, you will definitely not come to the door easily.
As for now, her father has passed away, and this aunt's impression of Chen Ling is still the same dead look as before, and I'm afraid she can't avoid it.
It is equivalent to completely breaking off contact.
For Chen Ling, it was the same whether he had this aunt or not. It was just that when outsiders talked about him, they always liked to mention him in passing.
Especially "A handsome man, a handsome man, how can a handsome man come from without handsome men" is a sentence that people in the village always like to say when they talk about his father.
He doesn't care either. ......
"The beams have been lifted out. There is no rush to clean up the rest. Let's take a rest first and drink some water to cool off."
Chen Ling He put the jar into his home and said hello.
At this time, Wang Susu had already filled several tables in the courtyard with herbal tea. She also washed the grapes and peaches grown in the courtyard and put them out for everyone to enjoy while enjoying the coolness.
"This guy comes to work in a wealthy family and gets good treatment."
"That's right. He has food, drink, and enough meat. How comfortable he is."
"Get some rest later. "Fugui, come with me to pick out some beams outside the village." Gen, I happen to know someone.”
Chen Ling shook his head. The beams placed outside the village were all pulled from the lumber factory and allowed the villagers to use them as they pleased. This resulted in every household wanting to choose. It works well. For most of half a month, you pick and choose, but the rest are not very satisfactory.
He might as well go to Dongtian to pick out some good wood. For him, cutting down trees wouldn't take much effort. After being processed by the cave, it can be used directly.
The wood used for beams and columns is generally air-dried or shade-dried. It is easy to crack when exposed to the sun. It is often covered with straw mats and the like, but it must be ventilated frequently, otherwise some wood will become moldy.
Chen Ling has a cave in his body, so these are not problems.
"That's okay. Can someone go with you tomorrow?"
"No, I can do it alone, but I have to get up early and can't make breakfast for everyone."
"Hahaha, your son is so honest. Do you really want to control whether we have three meals a day? It's like the time when we had a big pot of rice."
"What you are saying is, in fact, now the government has The materials provided to build houses are no different from when the production brigades were still there. At that time, the brigades provided homesteads free of charge to those who were approved to build houses, as well as farmland for cutting adobes, and even the pine trees used for purlins, rafters, doors and windows were cut down at will. "
"The labor involved in building the house was allocated by the production team and given work points. At that time, the homeowners really had to take care of three meals a day."
"But it was hard at that time. Ah, how can it be like now? After the disaster, the materials were taken out of the village and used at will. "
"We did not produce lime here back then, and the quality of the lime sold in Huangni Town was not good and the price was very low. It’s still expensive. You have to go to Wangba City Kiln Factory, which is about 40 miles away, to pick it up on a load. The quality is good and the price is low, but the mountain road is difficult, there are only narrow paths, and you have to climb mountains and ridges.”
"We rushed there after dinner at night, and the next morning each person carried back a hundred kilograms of lime. The soles of his feet were bruised with blood blisters. A family of four or five wanted to build a house, and they had to travel more than half a mile back and forth. Months and more than a dozen trips back and forth can exhaust a person to death. "
"Not to mention, people at that time worked hard to build new houses, and no one was afraid of encountering wolves while walking on the mountain road at night. There is a tree nearby and I don’t climb up. I just pick up the pole and go fight with the wolf.”
“Brother Dazhi, do you dare to fight the wolf now?”
< br>"I can't do it now. I no longer have the courage. I'm getting older. It would be nice if I didn't tremble when I saw the wolf's legs."
Everyone sat in the shade of the tree, drinking herbal tea and eating grapes. , Taozi, chatting.
After resting enough, he patted his butt and got up, yelled and followed Chen Dazhi out of the hospital.
"It's half past four. Hurry up and finish picking the soil. Raise the yard before dark. We can lay the foundation tomorrow."
"Li Xian, tomorrow Fugui will go to the county to pick up beams. If we are not at home, we will divide it into two groups, one with the tamping hammer and the other with the tamping machine. This will make it faster."
"That's fine, both ways." , if it works, then I will use a tamping machine. I have never used a machine to tamping it, hehe. ”
"What the hell, I haven't used it before, why don't you let me use it."
"Oh, if you want to use it, just take your turn. Just tamp it a few times and it will be fine. Why are you just like a doll?" , I’m still anxious, I’m not afraid of working hard.”
“I don’t believe it, I think you just want to be lazy. You just ate a lot of grapes and stuffed them into your mouth without spitting out the skin.”
“Hey, you are such a stupid Yuqiang, you will find trouble with me, do you want to fight?”
“Uncle Dazhi, look, Shui Wazi will beat me if you don’t say anything. , trying to bully others because of their seniority.”
"You know I'm senior, why don't you give me the rammer?"
"Okay, okay, hurry up and get to work. Isn't it embarrassing for you two? The kids at home are watching, and you still grab it. Even if it’s a rammer, it’s not afraid of making the dolls laugh.”
After Chen Dazhi said this, Chen Yuqiang and Chen Ze discovered a group of dolls squatting under the tree next to them, holding popsicles and laughing. Watching the excitement, I immediately felt my face getting hot. I glared at my baby angrily, cursed that I was eating popsicles, and was not afraid of a stomachache. I turned around and walked away with my load.
It made everyone laugh.
As for Chen Ling, he was left at home and started preparing dinner.
Carrying soil, pulling bricks, padding the yard, and laying the foundation.
There is no shortage of meat for two meals a day, and everyone is willing to work hard.
In this way, after five busy and lively days, the foundation was laid, the courtyard dam was repaired, and the house was built.
Only the beams are left unfinished and the roof is not repaired.
Because the third day of the eighth lunar month is not an auspicious day, it is not suitable to break ground, enter the house, repair, or dismantle it. It will take two days, and the appropriate day is to wait until the fifth day of the eighth lunar month.
On the fourth day of August, the beams were repaired, cut, and smoothed. On the fifth day of the eighth month, the beams were put on. On the third day of the third day, Chen Ling asked people to rest at home.
But no one really rests and does nothing.
Now that the seedlings in the fields are not high, the mother-in-law can take care of them at home, so the men continue to help him pull some tiles into the house, or cut some reeds, which are all necessary for building a roof. used.
"Come on, come on. A car has come to Uncle Fugui's house and they are handing out popsicles."
"What car, why didn't I see it?"
"It's a brand-new car, with a bucket, and it looks good. It has a cart full of food, and it's all delicious. I even give out popsicles."
"My mother ran over and grabbed it a long time ago. , I’m going too, I won’t tell you anymore.”
(End of this chapter)