Chapter 125

Actually, when ordinary families build houses now, they prepare some wood for purlins and rafters, which basically have to be bought. The rest is prepared by themselves. Adobe is rammed by themselves, reed bundles are tied by themselves, stones for the foundation are picked by themselves, and soil is pulled by themselves.

So building a three-room house doesn't cost much money; it's mainly manual labor.

The houses in Northern Xinjiang now are adobe houses, high in the north and low in the south, but they are a bit different from the single-slope houses that are high in the north and low in the south in Gansu. The north side is usually only half a meter to a meter higher than the south side, so the height difference isn't particularly obvious.

The reason it is high in the north and low in the south is to ensure that water doesn't accumulate on top, so when it rains, it flows down along the roof.

After the homestead is determined for the whole house, the alkaline soil on top must be dug away, stones the size of volleyballs must be picked to stack out the shape according to the rooms, and then yellow soil must be dug from other places to start filling the foundation.

The houses in the production team's residential area here are all built on alkaline beaches, so if the alkaline soil on top isn't dug away, after the house is built, the room will return to alkalinity and grow white hair.

After the foundation soil is filled and tamped, the next step is to build the house with adobe.

Ramming adobe blocks is an essential skill for adults and children here. Adults have to build their own houses, and children have to complete work-study tasks at school.

The specific steps are to find a yellow soil area, dig a pit to loosen the yellow soil, then add water to soak it. After soaking, use a hoe to dig out the yellow mud, forming a mound like a grave. Sprinkle wheat husks on top, wait for the yellow mud to dry slightly, then use your hands to card out a suitable lump, put it into a pre-prepared adobe mold, and press it flat—of course, your hands have to press from top to bottom, which is a relatively dashing movement.

Those who know how to ram adobe blocks will ram out shapes that are square and full, while those who don't will look dry and thin.

After using adobe to build the walls of the house, put wooden purlins and rafters on top, then lay a layer of reed bundles—that is, tie long reeds into small bundles to form a dense layer, then put house mud on top and smooth it out.

After the house mud dries, the house is almost built. The steps of installing windows, doors, and such are among them.

And the house mud also needs to be applied every two or three years, because when it rains, the rainwater flowing from north to south on the roof will take away some soil.

Except for buying wood, the rest is basically manual labor. Therefore, in Xu Chengjun's eyes, the horse stable is really only worth the wood. In this era, the strength of farmers is worthless; this is recognized.

At this time, Northern Xinjiang is still sparsely populated. A production team has three residential areas, and there is really no one who has any ideas about the homestead. After all, as long as it meets the regulations, the team leader will approve it—a homestead plus a courtyard can be approved for two or three mu. Do you believe that in the interior?

"Okay, three hundred and fifty." Li Long brought the money, and he immediately took the money out of the inner pocket of his jacket, "Should I give it to you now?"

"Don't! You really brought it?" Xu Chengjun realized it belatedly, "Wait for me to call the accountant over!"

Saying that, he sent his son Mingwa to call the village accountant over.

After the accountant Chen Qiang came, hearing Xu Chengjun say that Li Long wanted to spend three hundred and fifty to buy the team's horse stable, he looked at Li Long as if he were looking at a fool.

What's good about buying that broken horse stable, and it costs three hundred and fifty?

He thought if his own courtyard could be sold for three hundred and fifty, that would be great. This Li family's second son, is he really stupid?

But since someone wants to buy it, and the team leader has spoken and even wrote a note, then collect it.

Holding the receipt and certificate written by the village committee, Li Long put it into his inner pocket happily, then said to Xu Chengjun:

"Director, I'll go into the mountains early tomorrow morning to pull the sheep back."

"Okay, in two days our village should also divide the land, so I'll wait for your sheep. Don't rent the horse cart for this trip; it's public business for the team. I'll give you a note, go tell Old Luo."

Returning home, Li Long told Li Jianguo about buying the horse stable.

"Why did you think of buying the horse stable? Three hundred and fifty is not a small amount of money!" Li Jianguo sighed, "Such a large courtyard, what is it for? It can't be used as a home for people..."

"I heard from a friend that in the mountains, when spring comes, the cubs of those animals are all born, so I thought about whether I could catch some to raise, and even if I couldn't, I could raise pigs." "Raising pigs in the horse stable, you really thought of that." Li Jianguo shook his head, "Since you bought it, you bought it. Maybe you can really catch something."

Ever since Li Long proved his ability to earn money and catch fish, and occasionally had valuable inside information, Li Jianguo no longer treated him as a child.

Therefore, whatever Li Long bought was his freedom, and he had his own considerations, so he wouldn't interfere too much.

After breakfast the next day, Li Long went to the horse stable to harness the horse cart and drove to the county.

When he arrived at the county, he went to the meat canteen first, still bought two steamed buns, and after eating, seeing that it was time for work, he went to the pharmaceutical company. There were no pharmacies in the county now, not even state-run ones, let alone private ones. If you got sick, the village usually had barefoot doctors to see you, and in the county, you went to the hospital. If you wanted to buy medicine, you went to the pharmaceutical company.

Li Long felt that the change of seasons made it easy to get sick, so he brought some common medicines for colds, inflammation, diarrhea, and so on for Halimu.

When he arrived in the mountains, it was mid-morning. Li Long saw Halimu packing things outside the winter nest.

"Li Long, Adaxi, long time no see!" Seeing Li Long, Halimu called out happily, and the dog next to him also roared twice.

The horse cart couldn't get to the winter nest, so Li Long tied it to a tree by the side of the road.

The snow in the mountains had also thawed halfway. Fortunately, the road here didn't become muddy. The thawed snow water flowed directly into the ditch, and the road surface was half-dry very quickly.

"I came over to buy a sheep for our team." Li Long said, "We are going to divide the land there."

!.

"I heard about it. The pastures on our side are also going to be re-divided." Halimu said with a smile, "This is a good thing."

After entering the room, while Li Long was drinking milk tea, he handed the boxes of medicine to Halimu one by one.

"You mark them yourself. This one is for reducing fever, that is, for when you have a fever; one tablet for adults, half a tablet for children. This one is for diarrhea, take two..."

Li Long said while letting Halimu make marks—he brought a pencil of Li Juan's when he came, and let Halimu make marks himself.

After resting for a while, Halimu took Li Long to pick a sheep.

"Don't worry, I'll pick a big one for you, for the sake of face, you know!" Halimu let Li Long rest assured.

Halimu pulled a large ewe out of the sheep pen. Looking at its body shape and weight, it must be over twenty or thirty kilograms. Li Long was very satisfied.

Because it wasn't for eating right then, Li Long had to pull the live sheep back. Halimu knew Li Long had things to do, so he didn't force him to stay and sent him down the mountain.

He turned his head to look at the wood piled up by his winter nest and smiled.

At this time, the news of Li Long buying the horse stable had already spread in the village.

Li Long became the focus of discussion again—this Li family's Little Long, he really can do things!

(End of chapter)