Such a meal is pretty good for a poor place like Wushan Village.
During the meal, Xiao Yishan said, “When other families hire workers to build their houses, they usually provide meals. The workers usually have breakfast at home, lunch at their employer’s, and dinner at their own homes. We should follow the local custom and provide lunch. Some families don’t provide meals but offer higher wages, letting workers go home for lunch, but that’s just time-consuming. It’s more cost-effective to provide one meal.”
Qingyue nodded, “We should provide lunch. Second brother, how many rooms do you think we should build for our house?”
“One room for each of the three brothers, that’s three rooms, plus one for Yue’er…” he looked at her firmly, his resolute face slightly reddened, “that makes four. Later, when we have children, we should have at least three, one room for each, so we might as well build them all at once.”
Su Qingyue felt a little dizzy listening to him, three… that’s so many. And from the second brother’s words, he seemed to want her to bear a child for each of the three brothers…
Her hair almost stood on end from shock, but she still didn’t change her expression and nodded, “I also need two rooms for storing herbs and such, making it nine rooms total. Plus a kitchen, a storage room for grains, and I want to have a separate bathroom. Let’s build twelve rooms.”
“So many rooms…” Xiao Yishan was silent for a moment, “Usually, families build only three or four rooms; building twelve rooms would cost too much…”
Xiao Yuchuan understood that his wife was planning for the new house to accommodate everyone, even if they divided the family later. He looked deeply into his wife’s eyes, she was still thinking about… just fourth brother, probably.
A pain flashed through his heart, but he didn’t expose it.
Because he was determined to be with his wife, even if they were to divide the family one day, he would still be with her, “Four rooms usually cost around twenty taels, and twelve rooms will cost no less than fifty taels, even with necessary cost-cutting.”
Xiao Yishan calculated, “After buying the paddy field, foundation, and some other expenses, our family has sixty taels and five hundred seventy copper coins left.”
“Let it be expensive.” Su Qingyue said, “Second brother, I think this fence is not secure, we should build an earth wall around our yard instead.”
“That would cost another four or five taels of silver.” Xiao Yishan thought, “After the ground is cleared, we will need to hire another dozen workers to dig the foundation and build the house, which will probably take one month. Even if we save, we’ll need to spend 5 taels on meals. Sixty taels in total, barely enough if we tighten our belts. But then, we won’t have money for furniture.”
“Once the house is built, we can buy furniture slowly.” she said.
Xiao Yishan looked questioningly at Yuchuan and Qinghe, “What does third brother and fourth brother think?”
“Of course, whatever my wife says, we’ll build that many rooms.” Yuchuan grinned and winked at Qingyue, “Dear, I might not have money now, but if I did, I would build not only twelve rooms but also a hundred rooms for you.”
“Sweet talker.” she rolled her eyes at him.
“I really mean it.” he said firmly, “I will work hard to make money and ensure that my wife doesn’t have to worry about food and clothing.”
Qinghe also said, “I have no objections to whatever you decide.”
“Let’s do this: I’ll take care of buying groceries and cooking, fourth brother will be in charge of basket weaving, and second brother and third brother will be in charge of building the house.” Su Qingyue planned.
“Okay.” Xiao Yishan nodded.