Chapter 401: 120: Letting you watch people through the gap in the door, up on the beam!_5
Mo Qishen chuckled, “Yangyang, Daming is in this business. It’s just a few machines, not worth much money. You don’t have to feel pressured.”
Ni Yang laughed lightly, “Big brother Mo, do you realize, if others heard you say this, they might kill you.”
What others might consider hard-to-get assets were just insignificant machines in Mo Qishen’s eyes…
He could get as many as he wanted, simply by asking.
“Yangyang, accept them.” Mo Qishen said in a somewhat pitiful tone, “Are you going to reject my sincere offering?”
Ni Yang couldn’t say no. She accepted them, planning to repay him in another way someday.
When others in the yard learned that Mo Qishen had gifted Ni Yang with large appliances as housewarming gifts, they all came out to see.
“This is a refrigerator? I heard that ice pops are made by refrigerators!”
“Yes, yes! I’ve heard that too!”
“Yangyang, what is this?” An elderly woman with white hair pointed at the washing machine and asked Ni Yang.
Ni Yang replied with a smile, “Granny Chen, this is a washing machine.”
“Washing machine?” Granny Chen wondered, “What’s a washing machine? Can it wash clothes automatically?”
Ni Yang nodded, “Yes, it can.”
Granny Chen exclaimed in surprise, “Can this small cabinet wash clothes? It doesn’t even have hands, how does it wash clothes? Can it clean them properly? I’ve lived for so long and have never seen such a thing!”
“Yeah! I’m curious too! Can it really clean clothes?”
“And what’s this cabinet-like thing?”
“I recognize this cabinet! I’ve seen it before at my cousin’s place. It’s like an electric fan, but it can blow out really chilly wind in the summer, the kind that makes you shiver.”
“Cold enough to shiver? Aren’t you exaggerating?”
Who would shiver in the summer? Everyone found it unbelievable.
“I’m not exaggerating, not at all. At my cousin’s place, when it was 38 degrees outside, I still needed a quilt inside. What did my cousin call this thing? A window something? Oh yeah! A window unit!”
Ni Yang said, “Aunt Alan is correct. This is a window unit. It has cooling effects in the summer, much better than a fan.”
Hearing this, everyone exclaimed about how ingenious people are these days, even inventing such high-tech stuff!
Soon, Wu Daming returned with a bag full of cigarettes, “Brother Liu, here.”
“Thanks.” Mo Qishen took the bag and handed out cigarettes to the men.
Watching Mo Qishen distributing the cigarettes among the crowd, Wu Daming felt as though he was hallucinating.
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed what was happening.
It was soon 11:45. There were only 15 minutes left to the auspicious time for the raising of the roof beam at noon.
The raising of the beam refers to the installation of the main beam in the middle of the roof.
In rural areas, there’s a saying, “With a roof beam, there’s abundance at home; without a beam, the livestock won’t thrive.” Therefore, the raising of the beam is a particularly important tradition.
However, in modern times, people mostly buy homes in the city and gradually forget about this custom.
Before the raising of the beam, the carpenter would paint the wooden beam red. Then four carpenters and a male member of the owner’s family would lift the beam onto the roof together.
This male member could either be the man of the house, his son, son-in-law, or grandson. If there are no men in the family, a woman could perform the task.
“Big brother Mo, you should join the others to lift the beam.” Ni Yang turned to Mo Qishen.
“Me?” Mo Qishen widened his eyes.
Ni Yang raised an eyebrow gracefully, “What, you don’t want to?”
“Of course, I want to!” Mo Qishen nodded fervently.
He was just feeling unexpectedly overwhelmed because the ‘raising of the beam’ is a huge deal! He didn’t expect Ni Yang would let him take part.
It turned out that he held such an important place in Ni Yang’s heart!
With an excited heart, Mo Qishen went to join the others in lifting the beam.
As a series of noises sounded out, the carpenter started his chant, “Stairs step by step, holding a flower basket picking Immortal Peach…
After the beam was installed, the carpenter began the ritual of scattering sweets on the beam and sang again, “Holding the sugar as white as frost, from east beam scattered to the west beam. When scattered on the beam, blessed sons are born, the ends of the beams will produce scholars. Elders who pick it up will have blessings and longevity, the young who pick it up will have boys. Men who pick it up will be as strong as bulls, women who pick it up will be as beautiful as peonies.”