As for building the house, Qin Xiangnuan and Qin Xiangyang were too young to know anything about it; it was entirely managed by Uncle Hua. As for Shenjia Village, Aunt Hua’s sister always helped by leveraging relationships. Regarding the questions from others about why suddenly there was a need to build a house, although Chen Ergou was a scoundrel, he wasn’t foolish. Of course, he wouldn’t admit that he had sold the homestead deed. If he dared to say that, the Village Chief would drive him out without the homestead deed and without any money.
He merely said he had made some small money, and naturally, he wanted to build a house first. Seeing his current generosity, the villagers did not suspect anything. When the house was almost finished, Chen Ergou and his family were preparing to leave, claiming they were letting a relative’s child live there first, and would return a few years later.
After that, they were never seen again; of course, these events were much later developments.
Once the house in Shenjia Village was built, Uncle Hua started building his own family’s houses. The two sons’ homes were very close to each other, so they built them together, started construction at the same time, and hired workers at the same time. The cars full of bricks, sand, stones, and cement were piled everywhere in front of their house.
The villagers were both envious and jealous, thinking that after the landlords were overthrown, whose family had built houses like these? Building two courtyanrds at once, all with red bricks and large tiles; just how wealthy must one be to afford such construction?
Hu Li was nearly driven mad by envy lately, cursing the Hua Family all day long, as if they had taken her money, which was like desecrating her family’s ancestral grave to her.
In fact, in her heart, if those two ingrates had transferred the shop to them, she would be the one building a house now. Would she need to scrape for food in the fields every day and pinch pennies?
"It’s all your fault," Hu Li said vehemently, kicking Qin Guohua, "If you hadn’t driven out the lad, the shop would have been ours."
"It was you who drove him out," Qin Guohua retorted with a kick back at Hu Li, feeling irritated himself, so Hu Li seemed unbearable to him now.
Aunt Hua’s new home had walls all built with bricks, which really made the villagers envious. Both sets of houses were strikingly well-built, with concrete floors, and even the doors and windows were fine craftsmanship from carpenters.
When the house was completed, Aunt Hua invited relatives and friends for a feast, and being well-regarded in the village, nearly everyone was invited except for the Qin Family, as the Hua and Qin families had been at odds for many years.
That year, because of land division in the village, many young men got married. Aunt Hua’s Eldest Brother also married a daughter-in-law, and the young couple moved into the newly built two-story house, which was the envy of many.
Qin Xiangnuan and Qin Xiangyang still lived in Chen Laosan’s old house, rarely leaving as they were always busy with school. Qin Xiangnuan, because she had things to do, didn’t find it unbearable and felt that time was passing too quickly. This year, she was about to be in sixth grade, and next year, they could move into the new house.
"Brother, shall we go buy some red paper?"
Qin Xiangnuan put down her brush and rubbed her hands together—indeed, it was cold. Next year, if they moved into the big house, it wouldn’t be so cold, as they could have a stove.