vrcanaries Chapter 25 Getting Started
Chapter 25 Getting Started
After returning home, the Xiao family members hurriedly prepared the gifts needed for the betrothal ceremony.
Three days later, Aunt Fang took the gifts to the Qu family to exchange their birth dates and times, and Xiao Siqi's marriage was thus arranged.
Today is March 19th, and the Xiao family is sitting together chatting as usual.
"Siqi's marriage has been arranged. After that, you two should hurry up and prepare the betrothal gifts and wedding items. This is the wedding of the eldest grandson of the Xiao family, so we should have a grand celebration." Old Master Xiao still cares a lot about his eldest grandson's marriage.
"Okay, Dad, I understand. I will definitely handle it well." Xiao Qiren knew what his father meant and quickly agreed. This was his son's wedding, and he wouldn't be careless.
"Grandpa, my eldest brother is getting married. Should we build a few more houses?" Xiao Siyue thought. The Xiao family has a lot of people, and the old house is not enough for everyone. She lives with her parents now, and her brothers also share a room with each other. Now that her eldest brother is getting married, they can't be without a new house.
“That’s right, old man, Siqi is getting married, and she can’t be without a new house. Our family isn’t short of money right now, so we can build two houses,” Old Mrs. Xiao chimed in.
"Hmm, okay, but if you're going to build one, build a lot of houses. The children in the family have all grown up and it's not suitable for them to live together. Let each of them have their own room." After thinking for a moment, Grandpa Xiao agreed to the suggestion of building houses.
The Xiao family residence occupies a large area. The main house faces the front gate, with the central hall and two rooms on each side. The Xiao family elders and their spouses, Xiao Qiren and his wife, live on the west side, while several younger members of the Xiao family live on the east side.
There are three rooms on the west side of the courtyard: one for Xiao Qili and one for Xiao Qiren, and the other for Xiao Siyu and Xiao Sining. To the east is an open space where some chickens and ducks are kept, and the kitchen is located in the southeast direction.
“Okay, then let’s move the chickens and ducks to the back of the main room and build four rooms on the east side.” Xiao Qiren thought about the current layout of the house and realized that it would be just right to build a few rooms on the east side.
"Grandpa, I also want a separate room." Xiao Siyue felt that with this arrangement, she would still have to live with her parents. She was already five years old this year, and it was a bit inconvenient for her to always live with her parents.
“Yes, old man, Yue’er is five years old now, it’s time to prepare a room for her,” Old Mrs. Xiao said, only then realizing that her precious granddaughter didn’t have a room yet.
“Yes, yes, let’s build another room on the west side for Yue’er to use as her bedroom.” Old Master Xiao had no objection and made the decision on the spot.
“Alright, then go find the village chief tomorrow and ask him to find a few people in the village to help build the house. Make sure you explain the situation clearly and calculate the wages. We don’t have enough manpower at home, so we need to find more people to finish the house as soon as possible,” Old Mrs. Xiao said to Old Mr. Xiao.
Although there are still two months until Xiao Siqi's wedding, there are many things to do and time is still a bit tight. It would be better to find more people and finish the work as soon as possible.
“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow. Then please prepare some gifts for me to take with me. We’re building a brick house this time, and we might need the village chief’s help to buy the bricks and tiles. Let’s talk about it when I go tomorrow,” Grandpa Xiao said to Grandma Xiao.
"Okay, I'll go to town and buy some today."
next day
Grandpa Xiao carried the three catties of meat that his wife had bought and took Xiao Siyue to the village chief's house.
"Xiao Yong, what brings you to my house today?" Aunt Fang asked, somewhat puzzled, when she saw Old Master Xiao carrying meat.
"Here, take this to your sister-in-law. I'm here to see the village chief today. Stay inside." Grandpa Xiao said, handing the meat he was carrying to Aunt Fang.
"He's inside, you can come in," Aunt Fang said, taking the meat. She knew Xiao Yong's character; he wouldn't ask them for something they couldn't do, so she accepted the gift.
"Brother, I have something to discuss with you today," Old Master Xiao said to the village chief without any politeness as soon as he entered the door.
"Just say what's on your mind," the two said, their relationship was good, and there were no formalities.
"Here's the thing, Siqi is getting married soon, so we're thinking of building a few more houses. We're a bit short-handed right now, so we were thinking of having you find a few people in the village, 30 coins a day."
“Okay, this is easy to handle. The wages you offer are high, and many people in the village are willing to pay them,” the village chief said. Normally, villagers who go to work in town can earn at most thirty coins a day, and most of them don’t earn that much. Moreover, it’s far away. Now that they can earn such high wages working in their own village, of course they are willing to pay them.
"Okay, thank you, brother. I estimate we'll need eight people." Old Master Xiao estimated that he and Xiao Qili would be making furniture, Xiao Qiren would be working at the restaurant, and Xiao Qinian would be studying, leaving their family without anyone else, so they would need to hire more people.
"Okay, I'll go find it for you in a bit." The village chief readily agreed; it was a small matter.
"There's one more thing," Old Master Xiao said, "I plan to build all brick houses this time, so I'd like you to help me buy some bricks and tiles."
"You want to build all brick and tile houses? That's not cheap. How many houses do you plan to build?" The village chief looked at Grandpa Xiao with some surprise. At this time, most people in the village lived in thatched houses, and some who were better off lived in mud-brick and tile houses. There were almost no brick and tile houses. His family had only built two houses a few years ago.
"I plan to build five rooms,"
"So many!" The village chief was even more surprised.
"Well, I think if we're going to build them, we should build more. The children are all grown up now, and they can't keep crammed together all the time," Grandpa Xiao said with a serious expression.
"That's true. Building five rooms would probably cost about 20 taels of silver." The village chief did a rough calculation, then looked at Old Master Xiao with some sympathy. He used to envy Old Master Xiao for having so many children and grandchildren, but he wasn't anymore. Having too many children was a burden. When the children were young, nothing happened, but as they got older, they all needed money.
She had to study, eat a lot, and now they even wanted to build houses for her. Despite her sympathy, she still admired Grandpa Xiao. He not only raised his children well, but also with great care. What other family could raise so many scholars?
"Okay, as long as we can buy it." Old Master Xiao had estimated the price in advance and was not surprised.
When do you plan to start construction?
"The sooner the better"
“Okay, then we’ll go look at the bricks and tiles tomorrow.” The village chief readily agreed. The matter of bricks and tiles wasn’t too difficult; he had bought them before and even had some connection with the person who had them.
"Alright, thank you then, brother. I'll head back now, and we'll go together again tomorrow," said Grandpa Xiao before taking Xiao Siyue back with him.
"Grandpa, should we ask someone to provide meals?" Xiao Siyue was thinking about this question, which her grandfather hadn't mentioned before.
"No need," Grandpa Xiao explained softly. "The villagers live close by and can go back to eat. I pay them high wages to reduce the trouble. Besides, they don't provide meals when they work in town."
"Oh, I see. I heard before that they provide meals when building a house in our village," she said, recalling what her mother had told her when a family in the village was building a house last year.
"That's because they didn't get paid for building their house; the villagers helped voluntarily. It wouldn't be fair to not provide them with meals."
"Grandpa doesn't want to owe too many favors, and besides, it's better to have wages for the villagers," Grandpa Xiao explained when he saw that Siyue didn't quite understand.
"I understand, Grandpa." He understood that a meal costing 30 coins was far more delicious.
In the afternoon, the village chief came to the Xiao family and said that the people had been found, a total of 8 people, all of whom were strong laborers in the village.
It's already agreed that it will start tomorrow.