The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 88 House Repair Matters
The Xiao family bought the Zuo family's old house and then bought more than two acres of land behind the house from Master Zhang, and began to work on building the house.

Chunnuan handed this matter over to Chunning to handle.

Chun Ning naturally sought help from Uncle Luo.

"When building a house, feng shui is still important, especially the location of the main entrance. We'd like to ask Mr. Xu to take a look. What do you think?"

"it is good."

Chun Ning had once suspected Uncle Luo and Mr. Xu, and still felt a little guilty, so she was determined to treat them warmly this time.

Mr. Xu was invited to the village again. He sat down in the old house, and Chun Ning quickly brought him tea.

"You really took over the land behind it?"

Mr. Xu was quite moved; after seeing so many plots of land for building construction, the open space behind his house was truly a good place.

I heard it belongs to Master Zhang. Master Zhang and my master are close friends despite their age difference. It's certain that Master Zhang knows that the two acres of land behind it are a good place for a dwelling.

Otherwise, the Zuo family would have bought it back then if they wanted to expand.

Master Zhang knew this was an auspicious house, but he still sold it to the Xiao family, which shows that the two families had an extraordinary relationship.

"Master Zhang is very generous; he sold us the two acres of land behind the house."

"That's your good fortune."

Mr. Xu believes even more strongly that this is the result of the blessings and good fortune accumulated by the Xiao family's ancestors.

"A house should have a bright space in front and a mountain behind it. It should be backed by mountains and face water, sheltered from the wind and gathering energy. Your house site is just that good."

Mr. Xu was full of praise for the house foundation.

After consulting Chun Ning's birth chart again, they told her that the new house's main gate should be moved two feet to the left of the current gate's location.

"The construction will begin in the morning..."

Mr. Xu then wrote a list of taboos and precautions on red paper and gave it to Chun Ning.

One of the most important things is installing the main gate.

Chun Ning gave Mr. Xu a tael of silver as a reward for his hard work.

"Uncle Luo, there are still many things I don't understand about repairing the house. Please give me some pointers."

"There are rules about hiring craftsmen to repair houses. Do they provide meals or not? If they don't provide meals, you have to pay them more." Uncle Luo naturally taught Chun Ning without reservation.

"Uncle Luo, our family isn't suitable for providing meals."

Apart from the older sister, everyone else was a novice cook. They were lucky if they could even cook something decent, let alone entertain the craftsmen, who were serving food for a dozen or twenty people. They really had no confidence that they could cook it properly.

"Then we won't provide meals." Uncle Luo thought that the Xiao family consisted of a group of women and children, so it was indeed not appropriate to provide meals. "Just add a little extra to their wages."

"Who should we ask for help? Will they come?"

“In our countryside, when it comes to building or repairing houses or other important events, there’s a system called ‘work exchange.’ You don’t have to pay wages. When you’re repairing your house, someone comes to help you, and when someone is repairing their house, you help them.” Uncle Luo thought for a moment and said, “Because you haven’t been in our village long and then moved away, you don’t know many people well, so it might be a little difficult to exchange workers.”

The reality is that the Xiao family consists entirely of women and children. No one would be willing to exchange labor with them. They can't do anything like carrying loads on their shoulders or backs, but they do need to eat with several other family members.

People in the countryside are simple and honest, but they are not stupid; they also know how to weigh the pros and cons.

"Then let's ask someone. Uncle Lao Luo can help with this too." Chun Ning knew very well that, based on her family's connections in the village, getting help wouldn't be easy.
It's easy.

"Chuning, I have an idea." Uncle Luo suddenly remembered something.

"Uncle, please tell me."

“I have dozens of brothers at the dock. In spring, there are fewer boats and less work to pull the boats. Many of them rest at the dock all day and don’t earn much money. Why don’t I ask them to help with the work?” Uncle Luo said. “They are all very strong and can definitely handle the work.”

Of course, the meals were great too. These problems wouldn't exist if meals weren't included, otherwise I'm afraid I would have scared the whole family.

"That craftsman?"

"The carpenter hires Carpenter Deng; his work is excellent, all his pieces are mortise and tenon joints, sturdy and durable. All the girls in our village have him make their beds for their weddings. The stonemason hires Stonemason Zhang; he installs the foundation stones perfectly. The tiler hires Tilemason Zhong..."

After listening to Uncle Luo, Chun Ning understood that for each craftsman, you only need to hire a master craftsman. They will bring a few helpers or apprentices according to your family's situation, and all the tasks will be arranged by the master craftsman.

"Finding the right master chef makes things very easy. The master doesn't need to worry about anything; everything will be arranged perfectly."

Another issue is the procurement of materials.

This was the first time Chun Ning had experienced such a major event, involving the purchase of stones and timber.

Uncle Luo was a very good mentor; he took him to compare prices at three different stores.

In fact, Lao Luo was already familiar with several material sellers in the town and knew which one had affordable prices and good materials. However, in order to let Chun Ning know more, he deliberately went around in a roundabout way.

Chun Ning truly benefited greatly from the entire procurement process.

He couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions. Back in the capital, he was a young master who had everything done for him. His grandfather supported him from the outside, and his aunt managed the household. All he had to do was study hard.

Back then, I thought going to school was quite tiring.

It's true what they say, you don't know the cost of daily necessities until you're in charge of the household; the money my sister gave me was simply not enough to live on.

After a round of shopping, it cost eighteen taels of silver.

Even Uncle Luo was a little worried for him.

"Chuning, how big is this courtyard you're planning to build? You..."

It's best not to ask too many questions about whether they have enough money, as it implies doubt about their family's financial situation.

You can't just pry into someone's financial situation.

"There are many people in the family. My eldest sister sent someone from the capital to deliver silver, hoping to build more houses. There are many brothers and sisters in the family, and as they grow up, it is no longer appropriate for them to live together."

Uncle Luo... My son lives in one room and my daughter lives in another room. Is that really inappropriate?
However, they still can't compare to the wealth and power of the Xiao family.

As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse.

Although the Xiao family had fallen on hard times, their eldest granddaughter, who was married in the capital, always thought of her family. Even the little money she managed to save was enough to build a large mansion.

People's fortunes truly change every thirty years; never underestimate a young person's potential. Don't kick them when they're down; you'll regret your decision when they rise again.

Uncle Luo went back and his wife told him about it.

"A hero needs three helpers, a fence needs three posts, and even a beggar needs several brothers, let alone a wealthy family like this," Aunt Luo said. "If they hadn't fallen on hard times, we wouldn't even have a chance to curry favor with them. We'll do our best to help them if we can now. I've seen Xiao Gang learn a lot from following you around lately. I'd also be happy if the Xiao family came back to the village to repair their house. I was thinking that Sanya could learn more skills by interacting with Chunnuan and Chunyan."

(End of this chapter)