Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife-Chapter 1697: Prosperity 1

No need to make adobe bricks; once the cement, sand, and red bricks are in place and the foundation is laid, the house is built just like that.

Since Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue have been away for many years and couldn’t return in the short term, building two new houses at the same time would be too conspicuous. Therefore, Father Lu temporarily changed his mind and decided to build a house only for the two brothers in Guan Cheng. To the outside world, he claimed that Guan Cheng had become some kind of mechanical manufacturing engineer in the Capital, had received a raise, and wanted to build a house in the hometown for future ease of living when visiting home.

There are a large number of elders and children in the Lu Family; the eldest of the fourth generation, Lu Tianjun’s son, is about to turn two years old. Three earthen houses are too crowded to accommodate everyone. Everyone previously discussed why the Lu Family, having already married three daughters-in-law, still hadn’t built new houses.

The important thing is, they have a natural sense of awe for Guan Cheng, who has worked in the Capital for many years. It is also something to brag about, isn’t it? Those hometown folks with some spare money would also trouble Feng Qingxue during weddings or when marrying off daughters, asking Guan Yu to send letters and money to Guan Cheng for him to help procure some rare items they needed, which were benefits they enjoyed and gratitude they should remember.

The Lu Family’s connections have been maintained for over a decade.

So, upon hearing that the Lu Family was building a new house and that it was just the beginning of spring and not too busy, everyone, young and old, came to help.

Jin Ruochu designed the format for them: four rooms in the main house, convenient for future additions of floors, and three rooms each in the east and west wings.

The four rooms in the main house required thirty thousand bricks. The wings should not be higher than the main house, as making them single-story wouldn’t be aesthetically pleasing. So, in the design, they became brick-tile houses, requiring a total of twenty thousand bricks and two thousand tiles.

"Ten thousand bricks and a thousand tiles" refers to the three brick-tile rooms.

Considering the kitchen, bathroom, courtyard walls, and gatehouse, Father Lu decided on sixty thousand bricks all at once. He originally wanted to buy blue bricks because they are denser and more expensive, but unfortunately, none were available, so he had to settle for red bricks.

The best red bricks cost 2.8 cents each, making sixty thousand bricks a cost of sixteen hundred and eighty yuan.

The fifteen hundred yuan Guan Cheng gave to Guan Yu was a bit insufficient; cement, sand, tiles, floorboards, wooden beams, and doors and windows all required money. Even if the fellow townspeople said they didn’t want wages, they couldn’t leave without giving anything. Along with the two hundred spent on the residential land, before Father Lu could pay more, Zhou Zhou decisively sold a gold bar.

The Lu Family is united; no one cared about the money issue.

Those who have money offer money; those who have strength offer strength. Even if Lu Tianzhi wanted to offer money, he couldn’t, as he didn’t have any. The little salary Guan Yu earned was barely enough for the couple and Grandma Zhou’s living expenses.

After deducting materials and land costs, expenses in other areas were minimal.

With many people and strong forces, they capped off the house in less than half a month.

On the day of topping off, which meant laying the floorboards and beams, only one step remained before the house was complete.

The floorboards and beams were wrapped with a bit of inconspicuous red cloth. This is an old tradition, and they dared not be blatant, so they cut the red cloth into small, thin strips so that ordinary people wouldn’t notice.

Father Lu used Cheng Baoguo and his wife’s supply book ahead of time to buy a big package of hard candies wrapped in sugar paper from the city. Worried it wasn’t enough, he borrowed a few pounds of sugar tickets from Shen Feihong’s neighbors. In the hard candies were both two pounds of White Rabbit milk candy that didn’t require sugar tickets and Miao Fengqin’s shelled roasted peanuts. When the floorboards and beams topped off, candies and peanuts were scattered from the roof, causing women and children to scramble over them.

Even though the big men felt embarrassed and stood still with their eyes fixed on the floorboards and beams, some strong men reached out to catch a few candies from midair, quickly handing them over to their kids.

The children were the happiest with the capping of the house.

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