Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

There is also a transportation fee, which is 2.5 to 3 yuan per thousand bricks. However, this price only covers the area around Qingfeng Town; transportation fees outside the area will be calculated separately.

"Brother Zhao Lei, you said your home is in Heping Production Brigade, so let's calculate it at the lowest price of two yuan and fifty cents. In total, each brick, including transportation costs, will cost three and a half cents."

"Mr. Wang, approximately how many bricks will I need for this house?"

Wang Guohua's expression immediately darkened: "Oh dear, Brother Zhao Lei, this is the largest house I've ever taken over, so it'll require a lot of bricks. I've roughly estimated that it will use over 30,000 red bricks. Adding losses, if you don't add anything else, it should be around 35,000 red bricks. Let's take a middle value, about 33,000 red bricks."

Upon hearing the final amount of red bricks needed, Qin Bowen exclaimed in surprise, "Thirty-three thousand bricks! If each brick costs three and a half cents, that's quite a lot of money!"

At first, Qin Bowen thought that the price of three cents and two cents was not expensive; a few hundred yuan could buy thousands of red bricks.

Although he only had a high school education and wasn't particularly good at math, he managed to roughly calculate the cost of over 30,000 red bricks in a short time, and his expression immediately changed.

Wang Guohua laughed and said, "Haha, it seems you're quite educated, young man. That's right. Each brick may only cost a few cents, but the actual quantity used is quite large. Thirty-three thousand bricks, plus shipping costs, will cost a total of one thousand one hundred and fifty-five yuan."

With a loud bang!

This astonishing number left Qin Bowen and Wang Zongbao, who was standing next to him, completely stunned.

They originally thought that the five hundred yuan Zhao Lei had would solve the problem of the red bricks, after all, it was not a small amount of money.

Unexpectedly, it was far from enough; just buying red bricks cost 1,155 yuan.

Then there's the river sand, lime, cement, wood, and all the other consumables, not even counting labor. How much does it cost to build a house?

The two young people simply couldn't believe it.

At the same time, Zhao Lei appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was still shaken.

After hunting and selling Gastrodia elata in Qingshuigou last time, he earned more than a thousand yuan for his family in one night. He gave a thousand yuan to Jiang Xinyue, and sent five hundred yuan back to Jiang Xinyue's parents' home.

Including previous savings, the family's savings amounted to about seven hundred yuan.

He didn't give all the money to Jiang Xinyue; he still had over six hundred yuan left.

In other words, even if we take out all the money in the house now, we can barely afford to buy red bricks.

If you want to completely renovate the house, you'll need to spend a lot more on other materials.

Thinking about it that way, the money is far from enough!

fuck!

You don't know the cost of firewood, rice, oil, and salt until you're in charge of the household.

I thought that a thousand dollars would be a huge sum of money these days, enough to barely repair a house, right?

I never imagined it would be so far off!

Of course, this situation arose because Zhao Lei wanted to build a red brick house directly in one go.

If it's for building a mud-brick house, this thousand-odd yuan would be barely enough.

After all, mud-brick houses only require the purchase of small blue tiles and wood; the main expense is labor costs.

That's the advantage of earthen houses: you can just dig the soil locally and find an experienced craftsman to build a decent mud-brick house.

But Zhao Lei had already made his boast, so it would be too embarrassing for him to back down halfway.

the other side.

Wang Guohua, who was sitting at the desk, noticed the troubled expressions on Zhao Lei's and the others' faces and advised them, "Brother Zhao Lei, building a red brick house does require a lot of materials. Right now, we're only calculating the amount of red bricks needed."

You'll also need river sand; it's needed for both bricklaying and plastering. A two-story house will require about 23 cubic meters, which costs 2.81 yuan per cubic meter on the market, excluding shipping, so it will cost around 70 yuan.

"Also, quicklime, which costs 18 yuan per ton on the market. Your house will need about four or five tons. You also need to stock up on some cement. Cement is the hardest commodity to get; it's in short supply and you can only buy it with a quota. For parts like the ring beam and foundation, cement is a must for two-story houses, while the amount of cement used can be reduced appropriately for single-story houses."

"Moreover, cement isn't cheap. The official market price is close to sixty yuan per ton, and you simply can't buy it through normal channels. The price is even higher on the black market, basically soaring to ninety yuan, or even over one hundred yuan per ton!"

"In addition, there is timber. Although we are next to Qingfeng Mountain, you can go into the mountain to cut some down, but you can't cut too much, otherwise you will be reported and you will go to jail if you are caught."

Wang Guohua rattled off the prices of all sorts of consumables, making the three of them feel a chill run down their spines.

Zhao Lei's previously calm face finally furrowed.

What the hell!

Is this too much money?

No wonder many families have to struggle for decades to build a house; it's really not easy for ordinary rural people to build a brick house.

Zhao Lei steadied himself and smiled at Boss Wang, "Boss Wang, thank you for telling me so much. I did oversimplify things at first. But there's no turning back once construction starts; I'm determined to build this house. It's just that I haven't finalized the arrangements for the other building materials yet, so I came here today to ask your brick factory."

Wang Guohua smiled frankly: "Oh, Brother Zhao Lei, thank you for thinking so highly of our brick factory. We don't need to rush, let's take it slow and steady. But I have to tell you in advance that if you need such a large quantity of red bricks, you have to let me know in advance so that the kiln can reserve time for firing them for you. Otherwise, firing red bricks on the spot will take a lot of time."

Zhao Lei understood immediately, then gritted his teeth, pulled out two ten-yuan bills from his pocket, and slapped them on the table.

"Boss Wang, this is the deposit. Please reserve some time for the construction. I will let you know in advance before I start construction."

Seeing that Zhao Lei was insightful, sensible, and decisive, Wang Guohua immediately smiled and reached out to shake his hand.

"Alright, Brother Zhao Lei, you're a straightforward man! The firing time for 30,000 red bricks is about 15 days. Let me know 15 days in advance and I'll make the arrangements for you as soon as possible."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Wang. It's settled then."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Wang Guohua issued a receipt and wanted Zhao Lei and his group to stay for lunch, but Zhao Lei said he had other matters to attend to and got up to leave.

Wang Guohua received nearly 20% of the deposit, and the deal was considered done. He was very happy and personally saw the three Zhao brothers out of the brick factory.

As soon as the group stepped out of the factory gate, Wang Dazhuang, who was working, saw his cousin chatting happily with Zhao Lei and his group, and he was full of surprise.

"Huh? My cousin is being so polite to them, could it be that these people really came to buy bricks in bulk?"

Beside Wang Dazhuang, a man with a pockmarked face noticed his gaze. Following the gaze, he recognized the people talking to Boss Wang and let out a soft exclamation.

"Huh? It's him?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhuang turned to look at the pockmarked face: "What? You know this guy?"