An Jing and Xiao Changyi didn’t have to say anything; Wang Youbao, frantic with worry, rushed out, then boarded the carriage, and then went home.
Honestly, at this moment, he was really afraid that his father might have passed away while he was on his way here.
If that had been the case, he truly would have felt the lifelong regret An Jing spoke of!
Standing at the entrance of the main room, watching Wang Youbao’s carriage leave, An Jing sighed softly, reflecting that every family has its own challenges to endure. Then she went back into the main room with Xiao Changyi and sat down to continue eating.
Xiao Changyi didn’t say anything, but silently served An Jing another half bowl of rice.
Seeing her nearly finished bowl now topped up again, An Jing paused, then smiled, "Noticed, huh?"
Because of Wang Youbao, she hadn’t had much appetite earlier and had eaten less than usual.
Xiao Changyi didn’t answer whether he had noticed or not, he simply uttered one word: "Eat." At the same time, he added a good amount of dishes to An Jing’s bowl.
Their household now had a vegetable garden. Apart from selling vegetables to the Hundred Dishes Restaurant, they kept the rest for themselves.
It could be said that their household certainly didn’t lack vegetables to eat.
Although Xiao Changyi only said one word - eat - An Jing felt inexplicably sweet inside. She also added a fair amount of dishes to his bowl and smiled warmly, "You eat too."
After the midday meal, An Jing and Xiao Changyi went back to breaking ground.
Four days later, An Jing and Xiao Changyi finally cleared the land for building a house. The plot was quite large, covering more than an acre.
Since the land was for building a house, not for planting crops, there was no need to plow the soil.
Actually, building six rooms wouldn’t require that much land, but An Jing wanted to create a large courtyard.
Regarding the courtyard wall, they planned to make it taller and also set traps around the perimeter just to be safe. After all, the location was near the mountains, and there was no guarantee that wild beasts wouldn’t come down. This way, it would be safer.
An Jing wasn’t superstitious, so they didn’t consult anyone for an auspicious date to start construction; they built when she decided to build, and Xiao Changyi always followed her lead.
An Jing didn’t go into town to hire workers for the house; instead, she directly asked Shi Xiaolan to find ten robust young men from An Village, offering them fifteen coins a day.
It wasn’t common for farmer’s sons to take up work for others, and these ten men were very grateful to An Jing and Xiao Changyi for providing them the job opportunity.
Shi Xiaolan and An Fu also helped to build the house, but they refused to accept wages, saying that An Jing and Xiao Changyi had helped them a lot before. They also mentioned that - one being a woman and the other a disabled man - the two of them together could not match the work of one able-bodied man.
However, in the end, An Jing still gave Shi Xiaolan and An Fu five coins each per day.
Had it been helping out for just a day or two, An Jing would have accepted the good intentions of Shi Xiaolan and An Fu, but it took half a month to finish the house. There was no way An Jing would let them work so many days for her family without compensation.
After half a month, the house was built.
Here, it was customary to celebrate the completion of a house with a banquet, but An Jing had no plans to do so; it saved both the trouble of friends bringing gifts and the hassle for herself.
Once the house was built, An Jing and Xiao Changyi didn’t immediately move in. Instead, they began to set traps around the courtyard, digging pits and sharpening bamboo stakes and wooden poles. A wild beast falling into a trap would be impaled by the sharp stakes, meeting a certain death.
Once the traps were set, An Jing and Xiao Changyi began to prepare for the move.
Having a bullock cart at home, An Jing and Xiao Changyi used it to transport their belongings to the new house.
And just as An Jing and Xiao Changyi were moving, Lin Luye visited her mother’s home with her husband Pan Shuangquan.