Survival skills maxed out, I feed my wife and daughter by catching fish and shrimp

Chen Changfan didn't say anything, but asked his wife instead.

“How do you think we should spend it?”

Shen Cuiyun suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "I am a woman in a family, and I have to listen to the head of the family. Besides, all this money was earned by you at your own risk. How to spend your money is up to you."

Chen Changfan smiled. "There's no such thing as yours or mine. This money is our common property, so how to use it needs to be discussed with you. I want to hear your thoughts."

Chen Changfan's words warmed Shen Cuiyun's heart.

It was not because of the huge sum of five taels of silver, but because Chen Changfan treated him equally.

Just this sentence is enough.

Even if it was only five copper coins, she would be happy.

She pondered for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "It's a disaster year now, and food prices are getting higher and higher. I'm afraid they'll double in less than a month. I think it's a good idea to stockpile more food. This hectoliter of rice is enough for us to eat for a year, but I think we should sell some more. If we really can't finish it all, we can sell some to others and maybe even make a profit."

When Chen Changfan heard Shen Cuiyun say that she was hoarding rice to make a profit, he knew that his wife had brains.

Although she doesn't like to talk much on weekdays, she still pays attention to food prices and has the courage to spend money to stock up on food instead of just holding on to the money in her hands.

He nodded and motioned Shen Cuiyun to continue.

"If you ask me, while the price of rice is still low, we should buy two more hu and store it. But we need to keep it a secret. If people knew that we had so much grain at home, I'm afraid it would bring disaster."

"I'll go to the rice shop tonight and ask Lao Wei to come with me to transport the rice back to our house."

Chen Changfan said.

"That's a good idea. We can avoid a lot of trouble when it's dark and no one is around. But can we trust Old Wei?"

"Old Wei is a smart man. He wouldn't casually tell anyone about this. If he really wanted to, he would have to consider whether he could bear the consequences."

Old Wei asked him to go to Dashi Village, on the one hand to introduce a blacksmith to Chen Changfan, and on the other hand to let Chen Changfan know where he lived.

This is the most direct way to gain mutual trust.

Old Wei had been to Chen Changfan's house and met Shen Cuiyun, so he took Chen Changfan to his home to meet his family.

To put it nicely, it is a frank talk; to put it bluntly, it is an exchange of bargaining chips.

Chen Changfan felt that he could have long-term cooperation with such a smart person.

"If he's trustworthy, it would save us a lot of trouble. Besides storing food, the courtyard walls should also be reinforced."

When Shen Cuiyun talked about this, she seemed like a different person.

She analyzed all the interests clearly and did not miss any details. Chen Changfan nodded repeatedly as he listened.

In a nutshell, the wall needs to be raised so that ordinary people can't get in.

On the one hand, it can prevent thieves, and on the other hand, it can avoid what happened today.

The wall of this courtyard is too low. It can only protect against gentlemen but not villains.

Shen Cuiyun's idea coincided with his, which could be simply stated in one sentence:

Build high walls and store up abundant food.

He suddenly had the illusion that he was stockpiling supplies in the end times, but if he didn't think about it carefully, it didn't seem to make any difference.

Isn’t this chaotic time like a zombie siege?

After adding up all the expenses, Chen Changfan felt that the difference should be about the same.

Two hu of rice costs two taels of silver, and the transportation fee can be ignored.

The cost of building a wall can be high or low.

He didn't dare to think about building a brick wall, so Chen Changfan wanted to build an earthen wall.

There are three ways to build walls: rammed earth, adobe wall and cement wall.

Among them, the cement wall has the best effect, but the process is the most complicated. It not only requires the configuration of cement, but also requires continuous compaction.

The cost is not something he can afford right now, so the most feasible way at the moment is to build adobe walls.

First of all, the cost of obtaining soil is very low, you can just go to the river bank and dig it.

The clay on the river bank has good adhesion and plasticity, and it is strong enough to be made into adobe bricks and left to dry naturally.

The second major cost is labor costs.

Digging, removing bricks and laying bricks all require a lot of manpower.

Those two carts of clay were barely enough for plastering the walls, but were far from enough for making molds.

Although he could dig the soil slowly by himself, building the wall was something that needed to be done sooner rather than later.

If we can find a few strong laborers to help, the adobe bricks can be made in about half a day, but the time cost is still too high.

In this weather, it will take at least six or seven days to dry the adobe bricks, and it will be even more difficult if it rains.

"I'll go buy some adobe bricks. You can pour some water on the wall first, and we'll build the wall today."

With that, Chen Changfan took two taels of silver and went out.

"I heard that Hu, the bricklayer in our village, built an adobe workshop by the river. Maybe he has it there."

Shen did not forget to remind him.

She watched her man's figure gradually disappear into the distance, then looked at the dilapidated low walls around her, and couldn't help feeling excited.

She felt that her life was visibly getting better.

First, separate from the family so that you don’t have to work hard and be scolded and beaten every day.

They ended up in a dilapidated temple, and she was still worrying about how they would survive the winter, but she didn't expect that they could only stay in the temple for one night.

She felt very happy that Chen Erlang had earned money to rent this house.

But after only two days of living there, they were able to start repairing the house bit by bit.

It all feels like a dream, and there is a sense of happiness that is not quite real.

As she felt emotional, she immediately started to worry about the many issues involved in building the wall.

"It shouldn't be hard to buy adobe bricks; it's just a matter of price. But Erlang can't build a wall, so we'll probably have to hire a mason, which is another expense."

"Also, that butcher Zhang rented the house to us but didn't agree to let us repair it. What should we do if he interferes or takes it back as soon as we finish repairing it?"

After thinking about it, she couldn't come up with any particularly good solution for the time being.

So he obediently followed Chen Changfan's instructions, filled the water from the tank, and poured it onto the wall with a ladle.

……

After leaving home, Chen Changfan did not go to the river to find Hu the bricklayer first, but went straight to Zhang the butcher's shop.

In order to prevent this guy from doing anything fishy, ​​he needs to make the wall construction matter clear in advance. Otherwise, when the butcher Zhang sees that the yard has become better, he may really take back the house or temporarily raise the price.

Chen Changfan would naturally not do such a thing as making wedding clothes for others.

Butcher Zhang was chopping minced meat on the chopping board. Seeing Chen Changfan coming, he didn't even raise his eyelids and said rudely, "Are you here to pay next month's rent? We agreed on a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent in advance, but you only paid one month's rent. I'm telling you, if you don't pay the rent, I'll start kicking you out!"

Butcher Zhang thought that after this threat, Chen Changfan would probably beg him to give him a few more days in a humble manner.

But Chen Changfan had an indifferent expression on his face and said lightly: "Your house is too shabby! I'm planning to give up the lease."

"What do you say?"

Butcher Zhang slammed the kitchen knife onto the chopping board and suddenly became anxious.