Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 43: Selecting a Site to Build a House
Qu Shaoyang's proposal was unanimously agreed upon by Shui Laowu and Lin Ruolan.

So everyone found an inn to stay in Maoer Mountain, and asked the innkeeper for help to search the surrounding houses and land.

At that time, the county town had not yet been built in Maoershan, and there were not too many residents around it. At most, it was slightly larger than a town, and the population was not that dense.

So Qu Shaoyang and his team quickly found a place that suited their needs at the eastern foot of Maoer Mountain.

This place is far away from the river and the terrain is higher, so even if there is a flood due to bad weather in a year, it will not be flooded.

"Shaoyang, why don't we build four houses first.

Since you haven't got a family yet, don't live alone. We can live together and take care of each other."

After choosing a location, Shui Laowu went to Qu Shaoyang to discuss building a house.

According to Shui Laowu, Qu Shaoyang is his apprentice, which makes him no different from his own son. Qu Shaoyang hasn't started a family yet, so it would be better for them to live together and have more fun.

"Master, you only need to build three rooms, and I will build two next to you.

Our two families live next door to each other, so we can still take care of each other." Qu Shaoyang had his own ideas.

The master and his wife are finally together, so they have to give each other some space and enjoy their own world.

It doesn't matter if Tianzhi is still young, but he is already seventeen or eighteen years old, and it will not be good to keep them together.

Qu Shaoyang insisted, and Shui Laowu couldn't say anything else.

So it was decided to build three rooms on Shui Laowu's side and two rooms on Qu Shaoyang's side.

You don't need to build it too big. If it is too big, it will be cold in the winter and no matter how much fire you burn, it won't be warm.

The two east and west courtyards are next to each other, making it convenient for them to take care of each other.

After choosing a location and deciding how many rooms to build, the rest will be easy.

There are no local residents in Maoer Mountain; all of them are people who came from Guandong.

Those people came here to open up wasteland, collect herbs, graze the mountains, and hunt. At first, the conditions were simple and they all lived in cellars.

Generally, a simple small house is built by digging a trench on the hillside to form three earth walls, a door on one side and covered with weeds.

There are also horse sheds made by digging a pit on flat ground, building a herringbone shape with wooden poles, and then covering it with straw.

In the early years of the Guangxu period, the "Ba Wang Quan" began to appear. It was a wooden house in which the two ends of the logs were hollowed into a concave shape, and then the joints were cross-jointed and stacked together to form a wall, and the seams were then filled with mud.

The houses where wooden guards live in the mountains and the raft workers' houses on the rafting roads are basically of this type, and they can be built bigger.

In recent years, Maoer Mountain has gradually become lively, and houses made of stone and blue bricks have appeared in the town.

Most of the inns, taverns, shops, etc. are of this type.

Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang both had money, so they didn't need that little bit of cash. Since they were just building a house, they might as well make some profit from it.

So after discussion, the two decided to use stones and blue bricks to build the house.

No matter what year it is, as long as you have money, things will be easy. You can just spend money to buy wood, stones, bricks and tiles.

At this time of year, the crops have already grown and there is no need to weed the fields, so many people are idle.

As soon as Shui Laowu spread the news that he wanted to hire people to build a house, many people who were carpenters and bricklayers came.

On July 26, the groundbreaking ceremony for the two families' houses began, and around August 15, the main frames of the houses were completed.

The stone wall was built to the bottom of the window, and then blue bricks were laid to the top. The roof was covered with fish-scale tiles, and the beams of the house were all high-quality logs with a diameter of more than one foot, which were quite strong.

After the house was basically framed, the carpenters and bricklayers who were working on it went back to collect the land. The remaining work of building partitions, constructing kangs, and setting up stoves had to be done by Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang themselves.

Fortunately, Shui Laowu was capable and could handle any job. With Shui Laowu leading the work, Qu Shaoyang assisted, and nearby neighbors who had free time came to help, the rest of the work was completed quite quickly.

"Shaoyang, the house is almost ready now. We just need to ventilate it. Once the house is completely dry, we can move in.

Well, we two have important things to do. The salaries of Da Kui and Song Laojiu are with me, and we have to deliver them to them.

It's just right, let your mistress and Xiaozhi take care of the heating and so on, and when we come back, we'll move into the new house."

After finishing work that evening, Shui Laowu discussed with Qu Shaoyang.

"Okay, Master, let's go as soon as you say." Qu Shaoyang had no objection to this.

As promised at the beginning, I would deliver the pay to the families of Zhao Da Kui and Song Lao Jiu on behalf of the second treasurer.

Because of the house construction, it has been delayed for a long time. If it is not sent there soon, the mountain site will start sawing work in a while and we will have even less time.

"Let's do it tomorrow. Let's get up early tomorrow and go to Dianzi Street to deliver Da Kui's salary.

Song Laojiu said, "Hamachuan is halfway to Tadian. We can deliver it on the way back to the mountain field." Shui Laowu had already made arrangements.

The new house here is not habitable for the time being, so Qu Shaoyang, Shui Laowu and others are staying at the homes of nearby families.

In the evening, Shui Laowu told Lin Ruolan that they were going to Dianzi Street and asked her to prepare more food for them, as the journey was quite long and would take several days.

The next morning, at dawn, Lin Ruolan got up and started cooking.

Both Shui Laowu and Lin Ruolan had quite a bit of money, but they were currently staying in someone else's house, so in order not to attract the covetousness of others, they ate very simply.

Lin Ruolan steamed a pot of pancakes made of two cups of flour. After the pancakes were out of the pot, she made a pot of soup with some potatoes and cut some pickled cabbage that she had bought. That was all she had for the morning.

While Lin Ruolan was cooking, Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang also got up to clean up.

To get from Maoer Mountain to Dianzi Street, you need to walk through the mountains.

It's the end of August, and it's quite chilly in the mountains in the morning and evening, so you have to bring a sheepskin coat.

"Shaoyang, clean those two guns and take all the gunpowder and gun sand with you.

We are traveling across mountains and hills, and we may run into any dangers, so we carry guns for self-defense."

Those two guns belonged to the Tianhu gang. Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang subdued those bandits and took the guns away.

Although this old-fashioned musket is not as good as a rapid-fire gun, let alone the semi-automatic ones of later generations, it is still a very powerful weapon in that era.

Since getting these two guns, Qu Shaoyang would clean, oil and maintain them whenever he had time.

Some time ago, he even went out of his way to buy gunpowder, gun sand, etc.

So when Shui Laowu said that, Qu Shaoyang immediately found the gunpowder and gun sand and loaded them up, then took down the gun hanging on the wall and checked it carefully.

After breakfast, the two men put on their leggings, carried their guns, packed dry food, pickles, water bottles and other things, and set off directly.

Starting from Maoer Mountain, walk upstream along the Erdaogou River, passing Naozhigou and Huashugou on the way, and then walk downstream from the Shitou River in Huashugou. The Shitou River merges into the Toudao Songhua River.

Zhao Da Kui's home is in a small village along the Songhua River in Toudao.

The journey is long and we have to cross mountains and rivers.

If they could come across a village, the master and his apprentice would stay there. If they couldn't come across a village, they would have to set up a shack in the mountains and make do.

Fortunately, they carried guns, so they were not afraid even if they encountered wild beasts, and they could occasionally hunt rabbits, pheasants, etc. to satisfy their cravings.

(End of this chapter)