Chapter 98: If you're going to show off, show off big time; the showing off that isn't done in front of people

What can't a fisherman do?

Just for this bit of vinegar, Lu Yuan still ate this plate of dumplings!

At this moment, there were quite a few people in the courtyard.

In winter, everyone gathers to bask in the sun and chat; the Su clan's son-in-law has returned from the city, and besides, he's generous, so everyone naturally wants to come.

After Lu Yuan went out and greeted these people, hearing the commotion, Su Liyan came out of the house, looked at Lu Yuan, and smiled with pursed lips, saying:

Brother, let's eat~

Lu Yuan nodded, greeted the people in the courtyard, then entered the main hall.

Su Liyan opened the stove lid and took out the rice that had been kept warm for Lu Yuan.

Brother~ how about these? Do you want me to fry you another egg?

Su Liyan stood beside him, speaking delicately.

Lu Yuan immediately nodded and said:

No need, these are fine.

In the morning, just having a little something to get by is enough.

While Lu Yuan was eating, Su Liyan sat opposite him, helping him pick vegetables while saying:

Brother, are we going back this afternoon, or waiting until tomorrow morning?

Su Liyan knew the time, so she prepared a bit and tidied up.

After Lu Yuan thought for a moment, he directly said:

Let's go back this afternoon; tonight we'll go home to sleep.

This village is really too cold; getting up early tomorrow morning would be pure torture.

Given the current weather, if it's that early morning three or four o'clock...

Lu Yuan felt he really couldn't get out of bed.

Although Lu Yuan still misses fishing, given this weather it's better to forget it; after the house is built, he'll come fish comfortably.

That would be truly satisfying.

So, this afternoon around four or five, after eating dinner early we'll head back; once home we can tidy up and sleep.

Let Su Liyan get a good night's sleep, so she can go to work tomorrow, right?

Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Su Liyan nodded repeatedly and sweetly said:

Eh~ then after I finish lunch and tidy up, brother, after you finish eating, do you want to go fishing?

The things I brought back yesterday, I've already organized them for you, brother; you just need to take them.

Hearing his wife's words, Lu Yuan couldn't help but grin and reach out to touch Su Liyan.

Su Liyan blinked, then her face flushed with shyness as she leaned forward, bringing her exquisite face close so her man could caress it.

Looking at his lovely wife, Lu Yuan made up his mind.

He must practice fishing well, so that in the future he can bring his gorgeous wife along when he goes fishing.

That way, he can fish while embracing his wife.

What a beautiful thing that would be~

Right now…… it's not possible.

His fishing skills are a bit rustic; taking his wife along would expose the shortcomings.

After eating two bites of rice, Lu Yuan suddenly became curious and said:

By the way, do you have your family's land allocation map?

Su Liyan blinked her beautiful eyes upon hearing Lu Yuan's words and said:

The village's land allocation maps and such…… seem to be uniformly stored by the production team……

Su Liyan didn't understand why her husband wanted the land allocation map.

Lu Yuan, while eating his white flour steamed bun, shouted toward the doorway:

Changliang!!

As soon as Lu Yuan finished calling, Su Changliang came running in, drenched in sweat, somewhat out of breath, saying:

Brother-in-law?

Just now Lu Yuan saw Su Changliang lifting a stone lock there.

Lu Yuan, with his legs crossed, eating his white flour steamed bun, raised an eyebrow and said:

Go to the village's production team and fetch your family's land allocation map to show your brother-in-law.

Land allocation map?

What do you need that thing for?

Su Changliang found it strange, but didn't ask further, immediately nodding and saying:

Sure thing, brother-in-law.

Having said that, Su Changliang turned and left.

The Su parents in the courtyard also didn't ask why the son-in-law was sending their son off to do something.

Lu Yuan wants this land allocation map not for anything else, but to redesign the house.

Anyway, these dilapidated earthen houses will eventually be torn down and rebuilt.

Since we're going to rebuild, we don't have to follow the current house's layout; Lu Yuan can just design his own.

Su Liyan was also curious about what her husband wanted to do, but since he wasn't saying anything while eating, she didn't dare to ask; she just stood by, occasionally handing him a dish.

Not long after, Su Changliang returned with the map.

Lu Yuan pushed his bowl and chopsticks forward on the table and said:

"I'm full, let's clean up."

Su Liyan was startled, then hurriedly said:

"Brother, why did you eat so little?"

Lu Yuan, while placing the homestead map onto the table, looked up at Su Liyan and smiled:

"I ate too much last night, didn't exercise much, so I'm not hungry; get your brother a pencil and bring over a sheet of paper."

Su Liyan was stunned, her face involuntarily flushed, and she secretly glanced at Su Changliang beside her.

Seeing her brother's lack of reaction, she realized he didn't understand, so she felt relieved to go find paper and pen for her husband.

Lu Yuan looked at Su Changliang beside him and said:

"Clear away the food."

Su Changliang also nodded repeatedly.

When Su Liyan brought over the paper and pen, Lu Yuan, lowering his head to draw, said:

"Don't worry about me, I'll work on something; you guys go out."

Lu Yuan planned to build a house in a concave shape.

Of course, the father-in-law's house is actually also a concave shape.

It's a large house facing south, with three rooms; the middle is the main hall, where Lu Yuan currently is.

The east and west rooms; the father-in-law and mother-in-law are sleeping in the west room.

The east room holds some household sundries.

Besides the main house, the courtyard has two small rooms on the left and right; each is a single room.

Su Changliang sleeps in the eastern room, Su Liyan in the western.

Lu Yuan will certainly build the house following this basic shape.

Lu Yuan isn't saying he wants to build a two-story small Western-style building; that's really unnecessary.

He himself hasn't even lived in a two-story small Western-style building.

Moreover, such things are only for show, not practical.

In the future, Su Changliang and Su Liyan won't be home; just the old couple will live there—why build it so big?

This isn't just pure waste of money!

Cleaning up is also troublesome.

The shape is roughly like this, and it's built with red bricks and cement.

Then, most importantly, we need to build a closed large eave in front of the main house, then use this eave to connect the two rooms in the courtyard.

Then it truly becomes a concave shape.

This works well, it can increase a lot of living space, and moreover, coming out of Su Liyan's room, it's no longer a chilly courtyard.

For example, this morning Lu Yuan came out of his room, went to the main hall, and still had to cross a stretch of courtyard.

Although it's not long, just three or four meters, but it's still cold.

Moreover, doing this is also mainly for the Kang heating ducts.

Otherwise, we'd have to make three coal-burning openings for the three rooms?

Then we just need two.

One Kang heating duct runs through the east and west rooms plus the main hall.

The other duct manages heating for the row of eaves and also for Su Liyan's and Su Changliang's two rooms.

From now on, when Lu Yuan and the others return home to live, they will light both Kang heating ducts in the house.

If only the old couple lives at home, just burning the duct in the main house is enough.

Lu Yuan has basically thought it all through anyway.

He swiftly sketched it out on paper with a swish-swish-swish sound.

After designing the house, we need to figure out the route of the Kang heating ducts, where the smoke outlets are, and where the coal openings are.

Of course, there's still the most important thing.

This rural outhouse must be properly fixed, damn it!!

Lu Yuan truly can't stand this outhouse, damn it.

The outhouse here is just the standard rural dry toilet of the 50s-60s, 70s-80s.

Dig a big pit, then people squat on a platform.

Unlike public squat toilets, here you can see the big pit as soon as you enter, and the pit is full of night soil.

Of course, these things are good in the countryside; when it's time to farm, we take them out to irrigate the fields.

But Lu Yuan truly can't stand it.

What if, after drinking too much, one staggers and falls headfirst into it? How to deal with that?

This could really lead to drowning in night soil!

Or if someone has low blood sugar, after squatting a long time, wiping their butt and standing up, their vision goes black, then suddenly their body tilts backward.

Plop—

Lu Yuan just thinking about it is damn scary.

Moreover, it's still better in winter; if it were summer...

Good grief... at that time you'd see hundreds of thousands of maggots wriggling inside.

Flies fill the sky.

Lu Yuan really can't take it!

This toilet must be changed; although there's no flush toilet here, it can be converted into a fully enclosed squat toilet.

It's just like some people on Earth who live in apartment buildings and don't like using flush toilets, but instead use that kind of squat toilet.

Simply put, just cover the septic tank, and that way there won't be any flies, and more importantly, no bad smell.

After Lu Yuan finished drawing it with concentration, he then put the drawings away safely.

Lu Yuan had no intention of saying now that he wanted to build a house.

As for why.

Can this be said?

If this were said, my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and even my wife would definitely not let me build it.

If Su Liyan were to disagree, Lu Yuan could still glare, put on the authority of the household manager, and immediately suppress it.

But the father-in-law and mother-in-law are not easy to deal with.

Although, as long as Lu Yuan persists, this matter can definitely still be accomplished.

But all the back-and-forth chatter in between is unnecessary.

Although when the two sides talk, it will make the villagers envious, thinking Lu Yuan is very capable.

But is Lu Yuan the kind of person who would show off in such a low-class way?

Tomorrow Lu Yuan will return to Huangcheng, directly buy all the stone, timber, cement, etc., and have them sent straight home!

If Lu Yuan wants to show off, he has to go big.

Showing off without people seeing it—that's what's really high-class.

When these things are sent home, the villagers aren't idiots; how could they not know Lu Yuan is going to build a house?

This also avoids all that talk in between.

Perfect~

After putting the drawings away, Lu Yuan walked out the door feeling satisfied.

He found a stool and sat in the sunlight.

Although he wanted to go fishing.

But with so many people in the courtyard, going fishing right after eating would seem a bit out of place.

So this morning he'll just chat for a while, wait for these people to go home for lunch at noon, then Lu Yuan will go fishing and can fish the whole afternoon.

Just as Lu Yuan sat down, Su Liyan, who was guarding the seat where Su's mother was sitting, immediately brought a small stool over to his side.

This husband-and-wife-in-unison manner truly earned some praise from the villagers.

No wonder the daughters of the Su Clan are so popular with prospective sons-in-law.

After chatting with everyone for a while, Lu Yuan suddenly looked at Su Changliang, who was holding a stone lock, and said:

"Changliang, we're heading back this afternoon; when are you leaving?"

Su Changliang was startled, then lowered the stone lock in his hand and looked at Lu Yuan, saying:

"Brother-in-law, I'll leave tomorrow morning; tomorrow I'm on night shift, so I'm not in a rush to go back—I'll take the ox cart tomorrow morning and arrive in the afternoon."

Hearing that, Lu Yuan also nodded and said nothing more.

Lu Yuan then said, "Why isn't Changliang in a hurry to leave today?"

After chatting a bit more in the morning, everyone then went home to cook.

Lu Yuan only went fishing after finishing his lunch at noon.

It wasn't until after three in the afternoon that Lu Yuan returned carrying a bucket of water.

For the reservoir of Qiu Qiu Village, Lu Yuan gave just two words of evaluation!!

Treasure land!!

Look!!

Another huge grass carp weighing two catties!!

Lu Yuan is really going to love this Qiu Qiu Village to death!

And he's becoming ever more determined to build a house here—this is absolutely right!!

While Lu Yuan was humming a song and on his way back, he became dazed.

Wait……

My wife…… is she…… going to empty out my father-in-law's house?!!!!

The courtyard was stacked with a huge pile of things!!

All kinds of mountain produce, dried mushrooms, dried chili peppers, plus some miscellaneous scallions, ginger, garlic, and the like, in strings upon strings.

There were also some yellow-heart potatoes and big cabbages; basically, everything the household had, Su Liyan was going to take it all.

Plus three large sacks, all filled with white flour!!

"By the way, I'm going to catch two chickens at my second uncle's place to bring back; my husband especially loves my stewed chicken soup~"

Su Liyan said this while turning and heading outdoors.

And when Su Liyan turned around, she saw Lu Yuan standing at the gate with a dazed expression.

Su Liyan was startled, then she beamed with joy and said:

"Brother~ you're back…… uh, brother you caught fish again~~

"Brother~ how are you so amazing~"

Immediately, Su Liyan hurried over to help carry the fish.

At that moment, Su's mother looked at Su Liyan and said:

"Your second uncle's place should have enough chickens; go check at your third uncle's—they should still have a few, and catch them all."

Su Liyan nodded repeatedly and said with a smile:

"Sure thing~"

After Su Liyan finished speaking, she turned her head to look at her husband, smiling, and said:

"Brother~ you first sit and rest a bit~"

"I'll go catch a chicken for you to eat~"

After saying that, Su Liyan was about to go outside, and Lu Yuan, who had come to his senses, hurriedly grabbed Su Liyan and said:

"No…… don't…… don't take…… that's enough…… too much……"

Lu Yuan felt that he was quite good at taking advantage.

But he didn't expect……

His wife is even more capable!!

Last time Lu Yuan had already seen this trait in his wife, but back then it was in the night, getting up after two o'clock, and he was bustling about.

This didn't give his wife room to shine.

But now the time prepared for his wife……

Good fellow……

His wife is really fierce!!

Lu Yuan felt that if he came back a little later, his wife would be fierce enough to leave a house for his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

(End of chapter)