Chapter 125 The Li family waiter always makes trouble In fact, when ordinary people build houses now, they only prepare some wood for purlins and rafters, which are basically purchased. The rest is prepared by themselves. They make the adobe by themselves, tie the reeds by themselves, pick up the stones for the foundation by themselves, and pull the soil by themselves. So building a three-room house doesn’t cost much, and it’s mainly physical work. The houses in northern Xinjiang are now made of adobe, with the north higher and the south lower, but they are different from the sloped houses in Gansu, which are higher in the north and lower in the south. The north side is usually only half a meter to one meter higher than the south side, so the difference is not particularly obvious. The reason why the north is higher and the south is lower is to ensure that no water accumulates on top, so that when it rains, it will flow down the roof. After the site for the entire house is determined, the alkaline soil on top must be dug out, and volleyball-sized stones must be picked up and piled up to form a shape according to the room divisions. Then loess is dug from other places and used to fill the foundation. The houses in the production team's settlement here are all built on alkaline beaches, so if the alkaline soil on top is not dug away, after the houses are built, alkali will return to the inside of the houses and white hair will grow. After the foundation soil is filled and compacted, the next step is to use adobe to build the house. Expanding soil is a necessary skill for both adults and children here. Adults have to build their own houses, and children have to complete work-study tasks in school. The specific steps are to find a loess area, dig a hole to loosen the loess, then soak it in water, and after soaking, use a clay pot to scoop out the yellow mud to form a bag like a grave, sprinkle it with wheat tails (yi) (the shells left over from the wheat ears after removing the wheat grains), wait for the yellow mud to dry slightly, then use your hands to pinch out a suitable ball, put it into the prepared soil mold, and flatten it - of course, your hands should press from top to bottom, with a more chic movement. If you know how to spread the soil, the shape you can make is square and full, while if you don’t know how to spread the soil, the shape it makes looks dry and thin.
After the walls of the house are built with adobe bricks, wooden purlins are placed on top, and then a layer of reed bundles are laid on top - long reeds tied into small bundles to form a dense layer, and then house mud is applied on top and smoothed. Once the mud dries, the house is almost built, and the steps to installing windows, doors, etc. are included. The house mud also needs to be applied again every two or three years because when it rains, rainwater will flow down the roof from north to south and carry away some mud. Apart from buying wood, the rest of the work is basically physical labor. Therefore, in Xu Chengjun's eyes, the only valuable thing about the horse horn is the wood. It is generally acknowledged that the labor of farmers is not valuable these days. At that time, northern Xinjiang was still vast and sparsely populated, with one production team and three settlements. No one really had any ideas about homesteads. After all, as long as it met the regulations, the team leader would approve it - a homestead plus a yard could be approved for two or three acres. Can you believe this? "Okay, three hundred and fifty." Li Long came with the money. He immediately took out the money from the inner pocket of his coat and said, "I'll give it to you now?" "No! You really took it?" Xu Chengjun realized it belatedly, "Wait for me to call the accountant over!" As he said this, he sent his son Mingwa to call the village accountant over. After accountant Chen Qiang arrived, he heard Xu Chengjun say that Li Long was going to spend three hundred and fifty to buy the team's horse number. He looked at Li Long as if he were a fool. What's so good about that crappy horse brothel that it costs three hundred and fifty? He thought it would be great if his yard could be sold for three hundred and fifty. Is this waiter from the Li family really stupid? But since they want to buy it and the captain has spoken and even written a note, just accept it. Li Long happily put the receipt and certificate written by the village committee into his inner pocket, and then said to Xu Chengjun: "Director, I will go into the mountains early tomorrow morning to bring the sheep back." "Okay, our village will divide the land in a couple of days, so we're just waiting for your sheep. We won't rent a carriage for this trip. This is an official business of the team. I'll give you a note, and you can tell Lao Luo." After returning home, Li Long told Li Jianguo about buying the horse number. "Why did you think of buying a stable? Three hundred and fifty is not a small amount of money!" Li Jianguo sighed, "What do you want to do with such a big yard? It's not like you can live there..." "I heard from a friend that in the mountains, the young of animals all give birth in the spring, so I wondered if I could catch some and raise them. Even if I can't, I can still raise pigs." "Raising pigs in a stable, you're lucky you thought of that." Li Jianguo shook his head, "Just buy it, maybe you can really catch something and bring it back." Ever since Li Long proved his ability to make money and catch fish, as well as provide valuable gossip from time to time, Li Jianguo no longer treats him as a child. Therefore, whatever Li Long buys is his freedom and he has his own considerations. He will not interfere too much. After breakfast the next day, Li Long went to the stable, harnessed the carriage and headed for the county. When he got to the county, he first went to the big meat canteen and bought two buns. After eating, he saw that it was time to go to work, so he went to the pharmaceutical company. There are no pharmacies in the county now, not even state-owned ones, let alone private ones. If you get sick, the bare-legged doctors usually treat you in the village, but you go to the hospital in the county. If you want to buy medicine, you go to the pharmaceutical company.
Li Long felt that the changing seasons would make it easier to get sick, so he brought some common medicines for colds, inflammation, diarrhea, etc. to Halimu. When they arrived at the mountain, it was already mid-morning. Li Long saw Halimu packing his things outside the winter den. "Li Long, Adasi, long time no see!" Halimu shouted happily when he saw Li Long, and the dog next to him also barked twice. Since the carriage couldn't get to Dongwozi in time, Li Long tied it to a tree on the side of the road. Half of the snow in the mountains had melted, but fortunately the road did not become muddy. The melted snow water flowed directly into the ditch, and the road surface soon became half dry. "I'm coming here to buy a sheep for our team," Li Long said. "We're going to divide the land." "I heard that the grasslands here will also be re-divided." Halimu said with a smile, "This is a good thing." After entering the house, Li Long handed several boxes of medicine to Halimu one by one while drinking milk tea. "Mark them yourself. This one is for reducing fever. It's for when you have a fever. One tablet for adults and half a tablet for children. This one is for treating diarrhea. Take two..." As Li Long spoke, he asked Halimu to mark it - he brought a pencil of Li Juan's when he came, and asked Halimu to mark it himself. After resting for a while, Halimu took Li Long to pick sheep. "Don't worry, I'll pick a big one for you. It'll be grand and prestigious!" Halimu assured Li Long. Halimu pulled out a big sheep from the sheep pen. Judging from its size and weight, it must have been at least 20 to 30 kilograms. Li Long was very satisfied. Because they were not going to be eaten right away, Li Long wanted to take the live sheep back. Halimu knew that Li Long had something to do, so he didn't force him to stay and sent him down the mountain. He turned his head to look at the wood piled next to his winter den and smiled. At this time, the news of Li Long buying a horse number had spread throughout the village. Li Long has become the focus of discussion again - this little dragon from the Li family is really good at making trouble! (End of this chapter)