Han Qingsong didn’t appreciate the sentiment as it seemed like he pretended not to understand the implied meaning.
A few days later, he went to a few other Communes and bought all the wood that was available. He also collected several pieces of cloth and a few catties of cotton for Lin Lan as well.
Of course, he spent quite a sum of money. Technically, his spendings would be more or less the same even if he had the men of the Public Security Bureau deliver it to his doorsteps.
If he had chosen that method, the amount that he would pay would still be a bit lower than it was in the market price.
But by buying the materials himself, even if they didn’t need tickets, he bought the wood at a relatively higher rate than the market prices(2).
(T/N: To clarify, the other communes don’t know who he is. So when he buys things personally, sellers would think that he’s just a rich person and take the opportunity to sell it at a normal/higher price. But if he used the PBS’s name to buy the wood, the sellers would sell them at a cheaper rate to make sure that they would feel satisfied. There’s also a possibility that the men who deliver the wood would offer to pay some of it since they want to suck up to him.)
Han Qingsong thought about starting the construction process as soon as possible. Otherwise, he would have to wait until October after the autumn harvest to build his house.
In October, the weather would get chilly. The mud would also be cold and hard, so the wall would be affected by that time.
Although it was technically cold now, it would still get very hot at noon, so the temperature was generally suitable for construction.
When the materials were sufficient, he started looking for help.
Han Qingsong asked Carpenter Wang from Wanghetun to help him. In addition to building a house, he also asked him to help with some of the craftings. Wang Carpenter participated in the construction of the house. Once he was aware of the size of the house, he could get started on crafting some furniture. He worked on the spot and didn’t bother to take the crafting process back to his house since there were too many things he would have to move.
The masons were from Carpenter Wang’s village and they were capable. As he was the one taking the lead, it was no problem to have the workers pitch in their labor as well.
The other helpers were the villagers. This was also a common practice— whoever was building a house, the Captain would help by providing the young and middle-aged people who have good organizing skills and were not lazy.
Lin Lan suggested to Han Qingsong that while he was looking for helpers, whether it was from his own family or someone with a foreign surname, he should find folks that also applied to build houses. Hence, if they were willing to help, he could return the favor by helping them with their labor when the time comes.
This would save him some money and food.
Though, he could just forget about those who had an ulterior motive in helping him. It was easy for such people to make irresponsible remarks if they couldn’t achieve their goals.
Han Qingsong was kind and did what she said.
Before the peak of the autumn harvest, Lin Lan’s new house began to lay the foundation stones.
Dawang watched his family build a house and wondered if he could use his contribution as a way to get him out of school. Lin Lan didn’t give him the chance to play truant, “Go to school as usual. You can help after you finish classes,” His father didn’t even slack off on the morning training for his kids, let alone let Dawang skip school? The child must have been dreaming.