Chapter 406: Reborn in the Nineties: The Tyrant Flower Chapter 409 — Sure Enough, a Shotgun Wedding

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Mi's heart gave a sudden thump; she thought, calculating by the timeline, could Sun Shengyue have already succeeded in her blind date? But her face remained impassive: "I remember. What about Cousin Shengyue?"

"Ha! What about her?" Sun Yujun seemed to have found a topic of interest, his voice rising a notch. "Great news! A few days ago they formally set the engagement! The man works at the town grain depot, a formal worker! You tell me, her mother hasn't been gone long, yet this girl is quick — she's settled her lifelong affair all by herself! Heard her belly's already showing, tsk tsk, a shotgun wedding, rushed fast enough!"

He deliberately bit down hard on the words "shotgun wedding," with obvious mockery; clearly his relationship with the deceased sister-in-law Chai Chunfang's family was indeed not good.

Listening, Chai Mi's mind instantly flashed to Sun Shengyue's pale, helpless face that day and her slightly protruding lower abdomen, and the three hundred yuan she had stuffed into her hand and that sentence "go to the city and find an honest man."

The corner of her mouth twitched downward almost imperceptibly, then she regained her calm, replying flatly with an "Oh": "Is that so. That's good then, at least she has a landing spot now."

Sun Yujun didn't see any special reaction on Chai Mi's face, a bit disappointed, but his mouth didn't stop: "Good? Heh, who knows! Would that man's family be willing? Heard their faces looked awful! The man's twenty-eight, looks aren't much either; if he couldn't really get a wife, he probably wouldn't want her. Sun Shengyue too — used to have high aspirations, dead set on marrying a city person, and look how it turned out… tsk tsk, her future days, she's got suffering ahead! If Chai Chunfang knew underground, she'd probably be angered back to life!"

Chai Mi didn't respond further.

She sneered inwardly: Suffering? This is only just beginning. That push I gave merely made the gongs and drums of this good show beat louder, that's all.

A shotgun wedding into an unwilling household — those chaotic days lie ahead. She could even imagine the scene of Sun Shengyue clutching a child, weeping and wailing as she returned to her mother's family — pity, she hasn't had a mother's family for a long time.

"Master Sun, is a pit this deep okay? The soil's a bit hard!" A digger shouted from over there, interrupting the two's conversation.

Sun Yujun stubbed out his cigarette butt, strolled over to inspect: "How deep is it so far? Not even close! Keep digging! Deeper, deeper! Shovel the sides straight up, don't let it collapse!"

Chai Mi also walked over, stood at the pit's edge and looked down.

The pit was already dug over a meter deep, the walls fairly even. She calculated inwardly: six greenhouses, at least seven or eight utility poles needed, so seven or eight pits to dig. This afternoon, getting the pits dug would be good enough.

"Everyone put your backs into it, dig to the depth Master Sun requires."

"Rest assured, Chai Mi, guaranteed deep and square enough!"

Sun Yujun gave a few more pointers on the pit wall angle, turned to Chai Mi and said: "Once the pits are dug leave them be, don't pour water in. In a couple days I'll come again, bring poles and transformers and such. Your side's progressing alright, road's repaired, pits dug, stronger than that lot down south dawdling away."

Chai Mi nodded: "Got it, Second Uncle. You go be busy, I'll have someone watch the pits once they're done."

Sun Yujun straddled his bicycle and left.

Chai Mi stood in place, watching the bicycle's back disappear at the end of the dirt road, then looking at the soil pit beside her growing deeper and deeper, her face expressionless, only in the depths of her eyes flashing a trace of cold, tiny delight at Sun Shengyue's upcoming lively days.

Chai Mi and Sun Shengyue didn't really have any deep grievance, but in her previous life those relatives who made things difficult for her living badly — her mood would always be a bit better.

Two days later, everything proceeded smoothly.

The utility poles already stood straight on the field ridges, the road also padded level with sand and gravel; though not yet very solid, a tractor driving on it no longer jolted.

Chai Mi stood on that largest greenhouse site at her family's north end, looking at the vast open stretch of land before her, mood good.

Song Qiushui squatted beside her, holding a tree stick scribbling randomly on the ground: "Chai Mi, look, six greenhouses. Just the two of us in our family can do heavy work, plus your dad and mom, and Liu San and his wife… six people build eight greenhouses? That'll take till spring! The ground's freezing up, what vegetables can you still plant!"

Chai Youqing shoveled soil slowly in the distance, hearing this he immediately chimed in: "Exactly! Chai Mi, why take on so much work? Biting off more than you can chew! If you ask me, let's just do our own two, steady! Those four can stay empty, waste if they waste, still better than working ourselves to death!"

Chai Mi ignored her father's nagging, patted the dust off her hands: "Counting on just us few definitely won't do. Need to hire people, hire specialists."

"Hire who? At this critical juncture, anyone with strength is thinking about their own family's bit of work, or waiting to earn quick money before the freeze." Song Qiushui threw away the tree stick.

"I'll go ask Zhu Shukun. He has people under him."

Then Chai Mi mounted her bicycle and headed straight for Zhu Shukun's home.

He was squatting in the courtyard organizing tile knives, a stack of newly bought blue bricks piled beside him.

"Old Uncle-in-law, busy?"

Zhu Shukun raised his head, saw it was Chai Mi, smiled: "Chai Mi ah, rare guest. What, new house not comfortable? Or the kang acting up again?"

"House is fine, kang burns well too. This time it's something else." Chai Mi got straight to the point, "Over at East of the River, I've contracted six winter-warm greenhouse plots, positions all marked out. Road's through, electricity hooked up. Now just short of building the greenhouses."

Zhu Shukun's hand movements stopped, he straightened up: "Six? Whoa! You girl, guts are really fat! How to handle? Want me to go build them for you?"

"Right." Chai Mi nodded, "Just hiring you. You have people, have experience. You build kangs well, walling and plastering even more no problem. These greenhouses, plainly put, are just big warm houses; walls must be thick, roof solid, insulation good. I think you can do it."

Zhu Shukun didn't agree immediately, rubbed the mud off his hands, sucked his teeth: "Chai Mi, not that Old Uncle-in-law won't help you. This job of yours… too rushed. Six greenhouses, not six kangs. That rammed earth wall, one layer mud one layer millet straw, must be tamped solid, otherwise no insulation and prone to collapse. Roof frame, rafters, laying straw curtains, covering plastic sheet… which one isn't work? I've got some men under me, twenty-odd, but…"

"I know the schedule's tight." Chai Mi cut him off, "Must be standing before the ground freezes. I don't care how many people you use, I want fast. One to two weeks, six greenhouses, all built solid for me, the kind people can enter and work in."

"One week?!" Zhu Shukun's eyeballs nearly popped out, he waved his hands repeatedly, "Chai Mi, aren't you making things difficult? Even a god couldn't finish! That rammed earth wall, dry one layer takes half a day! Six greenhouses, just the walls encircle a huge ring! Even if I call everyone I know, twenty-plus people throwing themselves at it, fastest fastest… two and a half to three days, getting one done would be not bad! And that's if the heavens give face and don't rain!"

Chai Mi fell silent a few seconds, staring at Zhu Shukun: "Old Uncle-in-law, you're sure three days per greenhouse is the limit?"

Zhu Shukun patted his chest: "I've done this house-building roof-raising work so many years, would I fool you? This thing can't be rushed. More hands, some steps still have to wait, mud must settle, walls must dry. Three days per greenhouse, twenty-odd people giving it their all, maybe can squeeze it out. Six… eighteen days tops! One week? No way at all!"

Chai Mi was somewhat dissatisfied in her heart, but Zhu Shukun's words made sense, this work really can't be sped up.

Worst case build one well, lay one plastic sheet, that also saves trouble. She gritted her teeth:

"Fine, go with what you say. Three days per greenhouse, six greenhouses, eighteen days completion. People, you give me a full crew, twenty-odd, not one less. Wages, per head, per day, twenty percent higher than usual house-building."

Hearing wages raised, Zhu Shukun's face eased slightly, but still frowned: "Chai Mi, these people eat horses chew… twenty-odd people, eighteen days, just food alone is a huge sum. You…"

"Food not included." Chai Mi said crisply, "I'll add money. Each person each day, another five yuan extra. Let them bring their own dry rations, or pool together in nearby villages to solve it. I've got no pots no stoves here, can't attend to it."

Zhu Shukun froze, then smiled bitterly: "You this… Chai Mi, your abacus is really precise! Add five yuan no food… alright, heavy reward yields brave men. I'll go tell them, should work. All rough old men, gnawing cold steamed buns they can manage."

"Tools? Digging shovels and picks, ramming stone tampers, rafter-raising gear…"

"Most I have, not enough borrow from village, or let them bring their own. Millet straw? This stuff's usage is massive!"

"Millet straw village has plenty, river bend edges, threshing grounds, piled like small hills, tell the owners, buy cheap, or use finished millet straw stalks to offset some wages works too. Clay even simpler, our river bend side land is clay, ready-made." Chai Mi had planned it long ago.

"Deal! Chai Mi, you're straightforward, Old Uncle-in-law won't be vague either! This job I'll take! Tomorrow early, I'll bring people over to roll call and start work! Rushing at three days per greenhouse pace! If heaven grants favor, might even squeeze out half a day more!"

"Good! A word settles it!"

Zhu Shukun smiled: "Then a word settles it!"

News spread back to the village, Chai Youqing was the first to jump: "What? Twenty-odd people! Each person each day another five yuan extra? Chai Mi! You got money to burn? How much money thrown in? Building a broken greenhouse, worth it?"

Song Qiushui also clicked her tongue: "Oh my mother, this wage paid out, a day costs six-seven hundred! Eighteen days… over ten thousand! Chai Mi, you didn't even spend this much building a house, right?"

Chai Mi didn't lift her head: "A house is for living in, slow is fine. This greenhouse delayed one day, the loss might exceed those. Money's dead, spent can be earned again. Time passed, the land's occupied for nothing."

She stood up, dusting off her hands: "Father, Qiu Shui, don't just stand there watching. When the workers arrive tomorrow, we can't sit idle either. Father, you go talk to the nearby households that have sorghum stalk stacks, agree on a price, and have them ready for us to haul as needed. Qiu Shui, find a few large vats first and solve the water problem. Tonight I'll go find someone to dig a well; without a well it's even more troublesome."

Although Chai Youqing was full of reluctance, seeing that Chai Mi had made up her mind, he could only go with a sigh.

Song Qiushui muttered: "Chai Mi, sometimes I really don't know what's inside your head, your guts are just too fat..."

Chai Mi curled the corner of her mouth: "What's inside is unwillingness to wait. Let's go."

The next day, just as dawn broke, the East of the River plot grew lively. Zhu Shukun indeed kept his word, bringing over twenty-odd strong men in a dark mass, each carrying tools — iron shovels, pickaxes, homemade wooden tampers, and shoulder poles with baskets for carrying earth.

With so many people, voices and the clatter of tools mingled together, and the originally empty wasteland instantly took on the air of a major construction site.

Zhu Shukun stood in the middle, his voice booming: "Everyone listen up! The Host Family is a fair employer! Wages are generous! But the work must also be done beautifully for me! Six greenhouses, positions all marked! Dig the foundation trenches first! Depth two and a half chi, width two chi! Pile the excavated earth at the side, for mixing sorghum stalks and clay! Move it, get moving!"

As soon as his words fell, the twenty-odd men immediately started work.

Chai Mi and Song Qiushui, leading a few village women helping out, were directing several borrowed donkey carts and ox carts, hauling bundled sorghum stalks back from nearby threshing grounds and the He Tao riverbank. The sorghum stalks were piled beside the ditches that would become the greenhouse wall foundations, like small mountains.

"Add water! Mix the clay!" Zhu Shukun inspected, and seeing the foundation trenches were nearly dug, immediately ordered, "Mix the clay and sorghum stalks evenly for me! Consistency just right! Don't give me thin watery gruel that won't hold a wall! And don't make it so dry it won't blend!"

Several men immediately dug shallow pits on the open ground with iron shovels and forks to serve as clay pits, dumped in clay, added water, then untied the bundled sorghum stalks, roughly cut them into sections with a straw cutter, threw them in, and jumped in barefoot to repeatedly tread and stir. Yellow clay wrapped around sorghum sections, gradually turning into a sticky, uniform slurry.

"Lay the clay! Tamp it! Pack the foundation solid, especially under that rear wall later — extend it out, build it one meter wide going up, until the top measures two chi, just as the Host Family said." Zhu Shukun said: "All of you be sharp, don't think just because there are many people working you can slack off, don't take me for blind. This is a big job; if you mess it up, you'll see whether I clean you up or not."

For a rural small contractor, these six greenhouses, twenty-odd people's work, truly counted as a big job.

Actually Zhu Shukun himself earned only thirty yuan a day in wages, but from the workers' wages below him, two yuan per person was actually his; with twenty-odd people that came to fifty or sixty, which counted as a huge profit.

The mixed clay was shoveled scoop by scoop into the dug foundation trenches, filled halfway. Several strong men lifted tampers — some were round stone blocks, some were square wooden frames filled with stones, essentially rollers, the small kind.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

When tamped solid, add more earth, then continue tamping.

The process wasn't very complex, just rather slow, all heavy physical labor, not the slightest possibility of slacking off.

That much rammed earth ultimately needed people to build it up bit by bit; if they slacked, the rammed earth wouldn't go up.

Since there was no need to provide meals, Chai Mi was much more at leisure, didn't have to worry much about going home to cook and such, and the household was also much quieter.

Actually, rural work is just like this — wages aren't necessarily high, but the food and drink costs are huge.

Chai Mi herself also cared a bit about face; if she did the hosting well, the cost would be too great, and it would be chaotic and hectic — better to just give some money directly for more peace of mind.