"Hahaha..." Ruan Jianguo laughed heartily, waving his hand, "Definitely, definitely. But there’s no need to wait for then, we can do it right now. Brother Wu, come to my house for dinner tonight. I was planning to treat these workers; you should join us and liven things up."
They were all villagers and close-knit at that. Furthermore, since Wu Guoqun felt that Ruan Jianguo was sure to achieve great things, not quite the same as the other peasants in the team, he was keen on fostering a closer relationship. He readily agreed, "Alright, I won’t postpone it then. It’s settled. I’ll bring the wine myself, some fine liquor sent from above that I’ve been reluctant to drink, hiding it away. Let’s have a good drink together."
Ruanlin’s wife also smiled, saying, "Good, I will go to the Scoundrel’s house later to get some rice wine."
The Scoundrel’s house was not far from their new building, right next to the Li Family, and it was convenient on the way back home.
They still had meat at home, and the vegetables had all come in; there was no need to buy more. All that was needed was to get some wine. Ruanlin’s wife was in a good mood and took Ruan Jiaojiao with her to the Scoundrel’s house. Considering the number of people, and that everyone had been working hard during this time, she decisively bought two pounds of rice wine to treat the workers well.
Lunch was a casual affair, since the main meal was for the evening.
After lunch, Ruanlin’s wife began preparing the dishes. Just so happened, Wu Le was off today and had come back from the town, joining in to help with the preparations.
Several boys came home from school, happy to know there would be a feast that evening. Together with other children from the village, a large group made their way to the new building.
Ruan Jianguo called the workers to finish up for the day while reminding the boys to be careful, as the windows were not sealed yet and he was afraid they might play around and fall out from the second floor.
Walking by his side, Ruan Jiandang looked a lot thinner, but his leg had mostly healed and fortunately didn’t have any lingering effects. His expression, however, was somber, and his gaze scanned around briefly, not spotting that annoying presence, which slightly improved his mood.
Ruan Jianguo knew what he was looking for and patted his shoulder, saying, "Let’s go, don’t think too much. Things will straighten out when we get there."
Ruan Jiandang nodded.
"Fourth Brother, this room is for you and Big Brother, right?" Little Fatty stood next to Ruan Jie, pointing to the easternmost room among the three rooms lined up, his tone full of envy. He too wanted to live in such a grand building.
The three rooms upstairs were roughly the same size, except Ruan Jiaojiao’s included a bathroom; the others were quite similar.
Ruan Jie was also quite excited. He glanced at the room Little Fatty was pointing to, about to speak when he heard Ruan Jiaojiao saying, "That’s Xu Brother’s room. The room for Big Brother and Fourth Brother is this one."
Ruan Jiaojiao remembered that the little antagonist had claimed the room on the east side for himself.
"This room here is not bad either," Ruan Qun commented. Little Fatty nodded along, expressing his wish to live in a building too.
Seeing his brothers so envious, Ruan Jie waved his hand generously and proclaimed, "What’s the big deal? In the future, if you guys want to stay, just come on over!"
"Really?!" The boys’ eyes instantly lit up.
Ruan Jie nodded affirmatively.
Boys who were not related to the Ruan Family could only look on with envy.
They wandered around the upstairs rooms for several rounds until a vendor’s cries from downstairs reached them—it was the Ding Ding candy seller.
Ding Ding candy was the most common candy in the countryside at the time, its preparation simple and rustic. As it was inexpensive, it was usually made in large blocks and sold by breaking pieces off with a small hammer, creating a ’ding ding’ sound as it broke, hence the name.