The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 1946 - 1921: Hahaha

His son: ... Their family’s thatch is intended for building a shed for the cows. They don’t have much to begin with, and taking more out...

Patriarch Xia saw him standing still, so he shouted, "What are you standing there for? Hurry back and tell your wife to find more women from the clan to come and help."

Ms. Qian, holding a broom, smiled and said, "It’s best to bring wooden buckets, basins, and some old clothes you don’t need. There aren’t many things in this house, I’m afraid it won’t be enough."

Patriarch Xia forced a smile, nodded, and let his son carry out the instructions.

By the time the daughter-in-law of Patriarch Xia brought seven or eight women carrying wooden buckets and basins, Manbao and the others were already laughing and helping to move everything out of the house, including the bed, tables, and chairs.

Manbao looked at the broken bed that was moved out, then at the old bed in the dilapidated shed next to it. Although it was old, the patterns were still nice, and most importantly, the quality looked good. Though Manbao didn’t know much about carpentry, she could tell that the workmanship was decent.

Even though she really wanted to throw away the broken bed in front of her, she didn’t overstep by making the decision herself but instead looked up at the roof.

Zhou Dalang and his group had already stripped and cleared the roof. Removing the thatched roof wasn’t difficult since the removed thatch couldn’t be reused and was mostly used for firewood.

Someone handed up a hemp rope, and Zhou Dalang asked, "Who knows how to repair roofs? It needs to be someone experienced, or else stepping on it might cause a fall and serious injury or even death."

The enthusiastic young men suddenly backed off more than half, leaving only a few middle-aged and a little older men climbing the ladder onto the roof.

So those below passed tied bundles of thatch upward, and Zhou Dalang and his group squatted on the roof spreading the thatch...

The speed was not slow since they all had experience.

Ms. Qian led the women and a few older children inside to clean up the rooms, taking along Manbao and her friends as well.

It’s been years since anyone lived in Xia Yi’s home, and the corners hid dirt beyond count. Ms. Qian was straightforward; what could be washed was washed, and what couldn’t be wiped down with water, the rest was merely broom-swept.

People bustled in and out...

By noon, Old Zhou came back with others carrying mud for plastering the walls. He too was straightforward, picking out some serviceable thatch from the old thatch and mixing it directly into the mud...

Then Patriarch Xia watched them plaster the walls, covering up the holes and patches...

He looked dazed, wondering how the Zhou family was running his Xia clan’s affairs.

A clan elder watched for a long time and asked, "Patriarch, with so many people, should we only invite the Zhou family for dinner or include the children too?"

Patriarch Xia: ...

He replied grumpily, "Let them all go back to their own homes for dinner. We’ll invite them when Xia Yi returns in the evening."

Saying this, he glanced at the busy people in the courtyard and turned away.

Initially, the Zhou family just intended to try and lend a hand, but seeing that Xia Yi and his wife weren’t home and were still absent post-lunch, they stayed longer and managed to get the house sorted out.

Old Zhou led the Xia clan’s young men to pour mud into the gaps while smiling.

In half a day, the youths following Old Zhou had already gotten familiar with him, so one directly asked, "Uncle Zhou, what’s making you so happy?"

"Oh, nothing, just pleased for Xia Yi. He will be delighted to see the house sorted when he returns."

The youth nodded, "Well, if it were me, I’d go to the county and come back to find not only the roof fixed but the inside and outside all tidied, I’d be overjoyed."

Old Zhou laughed heartily upon hearing this, patting his shoulder, saying, "Good lad, this evening let Xia Yi treat you to some drinks."

"Yes, Xia Yi should definitely treat us to drinks; I didn’t even work this hard on my own house."

By mid-afternoon, after the roof was thatched, Ms. Qian directed people to move the furniture back inside. The old, broken bed was naturally not to be kept, and how to deal with it would be left for Xia Yi to decide when he returned.

She asked the three children of the Xia family and allocated spots for their respective beds to be moved in and assembled.

These beds were not hard to assemble; aligning the joints and inserting them sufficed, fitting the wooden boards in place, if not right the first time then a second, and they’d get it right in the end.

This task was for the men, while Ms. Qian led the women to lift chests into the rooms, set the tables and chairs, and clean them with old clothes cut into rags. The room soon became neat and orderly.

Although it was still far from matching homes in Songhua Alley, it was much better compared to before.

The three siblings who had spent two or three days at home and were on the brink of breakdown stood dumbfounded with cloths in hand at the side.

Ms. Qian finished tidying, turned, and seeing them standing there, reached out to shake the decrepit window, saying, "You can replace the windows once your parents return."

Seeing the youths who came to help resting in the courtyard, she told the three children, "I just tidied the kitchen a bit. There are few things at home, but there is water. You should go boil some; if not for tea, offering everyone a bowl of hot water would be nice."

She hinted, "Showing kindness and politeness will encourage the clan to help more in the future."

Xia Dalang raised his head to look at her, then said, "We have tea leaves."

Sister Xia exclaimed, "I know where they are. I’ll get them."

Saying so, she turned and ran into the room to search through the chests.

Xia Erlong scratched his head and turned to the kitchen to start a fire.

Xia Dalang stayed, hesitated a moment, then asked, "Is the house on Songhua Alley yours?"

Ms. Qian smiled at him, "It’s not mine, it’s your cousin’s. It was left by her grandparents and parents. Thanks to you all for watching over it all these years; otherwise, who knows how abandoned it might have become."

Xia Dalang’s cheeks flushed red. At just thirteen or fourteen, his face was still tender. Being thanked so earnestly by an elder made him blush like his face was burning.

He mumbled, "No need to thank."

Then turned and left, fished out some bowls, and washed them so they could fill them with water for everyone to drink.

Only then did Ms. Qian turn away to the next room; although assembling a bed wasn’t difficult, few had this experience. After all, most people would buy only one bed in a lifetime, typically installed by the carpenter, and would never move it again.

So Manbao and her friends rolled up their sleeves and did it themselves, teaming up three to a bed, chattering and messing around for two to three quarters of an hour before finishing, finally laying the wooden boards.

It was like a puzzle; if one board didn’t fit with another, they’d lay it aside, and soon enough the three had the boards properly placed, clapped their hands, and happily said, "The rest isn’t our job anymore. But wait, Xia Yi, ahem, isn’t Cousin Yi back yet?"

Bai Shan glanced at Manbao, who was overly cheerful, then turned to look out the window, "Logically, they should be back by now, shouldn’t they?"