Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 175
Auspicious Installation of the Roof Beam
After waiting for Mo Feng to return with the carriage, Zhong Cheng and Mo Ling left. Ms. Liang sent them away, but instead of telling them to come back often, she told them to help out when they started to build the foundations for Mo Feng’s new house.
Mo Yan hadn’t been to the firm for two days already, and Lu Junming hadn’t gone back to the village in two days. Afraid something might’ve happened to the workshop or the firm, she was worried and set off to the firm early the next day.
Chuzi was already familiar with the operations of the firm, so aside from having to discuss any purchases with Mo Yan, he could handle everything else, including the accounts. Mo Yan planned on promoting him to becoming the manager of the firm.
The walls of Ms. Hua’s new house had already been completed, and they were installing the roof beams tomorrow.
Installing roof beams was a major event, and aside from having to thank the construction workers, they also had to perform ceremonies to usher in good luck. This was known by all of the people who lived in the countryside.
To serve the construction workers, they didn’t need dishes from Dengyun Tower, and something more practical would do, such as a large pot of stewed meat or buns made of white flour. At most, they’d add some cold dishes. Ms. Hua could do all of those, and would be fine with some help from Ze Wu, as well as Zhou Liangsheng’s assistance with buying some goods.
Early the next morning, Ms. Hua put a large pot of stewed meat in the courtyard, and the savoury aroma permeated the entire courtyard. The hungry construction workers couldn’t stop themselves from salivating.
These construction workers were all from agricultural families, and only got to eat meat a few times a year.
The head carpenter who was supposed to make all of the roof beams placed his timber in the courtyard, and was straightening and trimming them. Five copper coins tied with colourful silk threads had to be hung onto the main beam of the roof, and they also had to tie red chopsticks on it and wrap it with a red cloth.
In the north, there was a folk tradition where you had to eat buns when you installed roof beams, and no one knew where it originated from.
Ms. Hua couldn’t steam all of those buns in time, so Lu Junming asked Zhou Liangsheng to buy a few boxes of large meat buns from the bun vendor on the street.
The auspicious time selected to install the roof beams was in the mid-morning, when the sun was shining with full vigour, without any signs of faltering.
Seeing that it was about to be the auspicious time, the chief construction worker asked, “Has everything been readied?”
The construction workers on the walls replied, “It’s all ready!”
The chief construction worker grabbed a large pen, and wrote on the red cloth wrapped on the main roof beam: Auspicious installation of the roof beam at XX Year, XX Month, XX Day.
The construction workers hoisted the roof beam up using strings tied to it, and co-ordinated to place it onto the top of the house while shouting. The head construction worker shouted, “Auspicious installation of the roof beam!” His subordinates all shouted back in response, and the scene was very spectacular. [1]
After the main roof beam was installed, the head construction worker climbed up a ladder with an azure brick with words carved onto it in his hand, and personally placed the brick at the end of the roof beam.
Mo Yan asked Ms. Hua, “Godmother, what’s been carved onto the brick?”
Ms. Hua didn’t even need to think before replying, “‘Jiang Ziya is here, all gods abdicate.’ It’s meant to chase away the wicked and avert evil.”
Zhou Liangsheng returned with two employees from the bun vendor, who were carrying a large cage. After opening the cage, inside were large, hot and piping buns.
“The buns have arrived!”
The two employees placed the cage steadily on the ground, and then started throwing them towards the house. The construction workers all brushed their hands on their body before starting to grab at the buns.
The two boxes of buns within the cage had been emptied, but not a single one of the buns had fallen onto the floor. It seemed like both parties had some skill at this.
Mo Yan found it interesting, but Ms. Hua didn’t see anything strange about this, “What’s so special about this? This is one of the most basic skills of being a construction worker. It’s not just light buns either, they can easily and reliably catch azure bricks as well.”
After eating the buns, the construction workers worked together to put the supporting roof beams and the purlins onto the top of the house and install them as well. After that, they would cover the frame of the roof with reed mats, and cover and pack the roof with dirt.
Most of the houses in the north were built like this. The reason they didn’t use tiling instead was because the reed mats and dirt helped with insulation.
While the construction workers were taking a break for lunch, Mo Yan went inside the house to take a look. The roof hadn’t been covered and packed with dirt yet, so she could still see glimpses of the sky in some places between the reed mats.
She had her head pointed upwards when she saw something seem to move between gaps in the bricks. After taking a closer look, Mo Yan was so scared she ran outside with a sharp scream.
Lu Junming heard the sound and ran over urgently to ask, “What happened?!”
Mo Yan pointed towards the house, and started to babble, “There, there’s a snake!”
Ms. Hua and the construction workers also heard her, but weren’t afraid and instead very happy. They all said complimentarily, “Then this is an auspicious place! This is a really auspicious place, and it seems like whoever will be doing business here in the future will be able to have their business flourish.”
Mo Yan didn’t understand why, so Ms. Hua explained, “Vermin are the most adept at discerning the weather, and will choose to stay in places most suitable for them to live. That they’ve started arriving here as soon as the roof has been installed shows that this house is suitable to live in, and is an auspicious place.”
So that’s how it is!
“But how can it live here!”
Seeing her little face being so scared it had turned white, Lu Junming comforted her, “Don’t worry, it’ll stay in the walls and won’t come out often.”
A particularly-talkative construction worker added, “What’s so scary about this? If you dismantled my house, you could probably find a few bags’ worth of snakes and scorpions!”
When she heard that, Mo Yan’s body became agitated, and when she thought about the house she slept in every day being infested with snakes, her entire body started convulsing.
Lu Junming saw that she was genuinely afraid, so dragged her out of the courtyard and back to the workshop. She hadn’t fully recuperated from her illness yet, so with this scare, she felt her heart beat exceptionally fast, like it was about to jump about from her throat.
The two had just gotten onto the main road when a couple pushing a cart came over to ask, “Excuse me, is there a workshop here?”
Their accent didn’t seem local, and the two turned around to take a look. Aren’t those the couple who were selling beef noodle soup?
Mo Yan was both scared and joyous, “You’ve actually come!” After saying that, she pointed towards the house, “We’re building shops here, and we’ll reserve one of the storefronts for you. You can stay here for now!”
The woman saw that her complexion seemed ghastly, and asked, “Are you alright? Why does your complexion look so unwell?”
Mo Yan just felt sleepier and sleepier, and her eyelids refused to open. In her drowsiness, she mumbled, “Mum, Dad, I miss you so much.”
After saying that, her body went limp. Thankfully, Lu Junming was able to react fast enough, and scooped her up and ran towards the workshop. After exchanging a look, the couple followed them as well.
Lu Junming took Mo Yan inside the workshop and laid her on Ms. Hua’s bed. He reached over to feel her forehead, but there was only the faintest bit of heat, insufficient to make her dizzy. However, after calling Mo Yan right beside her eye for some time, she didn’t stir at all.
The couple had followed them inside the house, and seeing her white face, the woman said, “This child has a white face, her mouth and eyes are clamped shut and it looks like she’s been possessed. Has she seen anything unholy recently?”
Lu Junming replied, “She just saw a snake, and got scared.”
“Then she must have been possessed by a snake spirit!”
Lu Junming didn’t believe in superstition, such as gods and demons, so called Chi Jie over to take care of Mo Yan and he took the carriage to find Mr. Cao.
In his haste, he drove the carriage blindingly fast, and didn’t bother to speak to anyone he knew even when he encountered them on the road.
Ms. Hua returned to the workshop after being finished with her affairs on the construction of her house, and when she heard Mo Yan had been possessed, she was agitated. The house had just been constructed, how would Mo Yan have been cursed so soon?
According to the Zhen couple, they had to find an exorcist to get rid of the possessing spirit in a possession, but Ms. Hua didn’t know any exorcists!
Seeing how Mo Yan was acting dazed and sleeping uneasily, as well as her entire body shivering from time to time, mumbling something Ms. Hua couldn’t discern. In a sudden bout of emotion, Ms. Hua grabbed a few pieces of yellow paper and exited the workshop.
When people going back home after working in the fields saw Ms. Hua holding yellow paper in her hands, they asked, “It’s not the time nor the day for this, why are you burning paper?”
Ms. Hua replied with fear on her face, “Miss Mo Yan got possessed in my new house, and I’m not sure if my dead husband was the one to curse her. I’m going to talk to him, and tell him that she didn’t have any malicious intent.”
P.S. Do you think this will cause Liu Fengchun (governing official of Qianshui Town) to accuse Mo Yan of nefariousness? Thanks for reading!
[1] The weird phrasing (of this and the title) is because I just can’t figure out how to translate it naturally. This is the best I got.