Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 192
Repairing the Courtyard Wall
After ending the argument, the two elderlies were about to return home when Mo Yan curtsied towards them, “Could the two of you give me a moment of your time?”
The two turned back to ask, “Young lady, what’s the matter?”
“Owning a dog is the freedom of the two in my second brother-in-law’s family, and we have no right to interfere. However, my sister has been afraid of dogs since she was born, and when she comes to our workshop, the two puppies we own have to be locked up. Since our two interests are incompatible, how about we divide the courtyard and build a divider wall in the middle? That way, second brother-in-law and second sister-in-law can own their dog freely while my sister doesn’t need to suffer from frights.”
The fact that a simple divider wall hasn’t been able to be built to this day wasn’t just a matter of a lack of free time, but also a matter of sabotage. If that dog couple attempts to sabotage building the wall again tomorrow, it wouldn’t be able to happen again. It would be wiser to ask Zhong Cheng’s parents to make a decision while they were present. [1]
When they heard Mo Yan’s proposal, Zhong Cheng’s parents immediately assented, “Cheng’er has spoken about this before, but doesn’t he not have free time due to the harvest? We’ll tell him to build the wall after he returns.”
“Brother-in-law is very busy, and something as simple as this can be done by us two sisters. We’ve already found the construction workers, and they’ll arrive tomorrow morning.”
If we wait until Zhong Cheng returns, something else might unexpectedly come up. If the construction of this wall gets delayed, it might not happen anymore due to becoming the status quo.
Mr. Zhong said, “How could we bother our in-laws for these kinds of matters?”
Mo Yan curtsied towards them again, “It’s no problem, the two of you need not be overly courteous. In the future, my sister will rely on the two of you for assistance.”
Seeing that the two sides were getting along harmoniously, Zhong Yi’s wife was so furious she was about to choke, “Why are you building a divider wall for no reason and blocking the wind? The courtyard won’t be cool in summer anymore. And you’re even hiring construction workers, doesn’t that take a lot of money?”
Mo Ling replied, “I’m spending my own money to build a courtyard wall in my own courtyard, do I need agreement from you for that? If you’re griping about it blocking the wind, you can go live on the roof!”
“Your own money? How is it your own money, we haven’t separated families yet! It’s all communal money, how can you spend it wantonly?” [2]
“It’s money I earned myself. It’s reasonable for me to use it to be filial towards the older generation, but why should I share it with you?”
The woman found it unreasonable, and complained towards her mother-in-law, “Mother, she’s insisting on Cheng’er separating families after recently entering our family. She doesn’t have a single scrap of the virtuousness a wife should have.”
Mrs. Zhong sighed reluctantly, “The separation of families would have happened sooner or later, and each family will live their days according to their own abilities. If the families get along well, you might still be able to help each other out during times of difficulty. If the families don’t get along well, you will become strangers after a hundred years.”
She nodded towards the Mo sisters, “I’ll ask your elder sister-in-law to help prepare food tomorrow.” After saying that, the two elderlies left the courtyard.
As this matter had received the approval of the older generation, the dog couple wasn’t able to say much about it.
After a silent night, the Mo sisters woke up at dawn the next morning to sweep the courtyard, so work could begin as soon as the construction workers arrived.
Mo Yan looked around, but didn’t see the mud bricks Zhong Cheng had laid down, “Sis, where are the mud bricks?”
“The bricks are drying in the south of the courtyard.”
Mo Yan ran out to see two large piles of mud bricks drying in the south of the courtyard. Walking closer, a large amount of the mud bricks seemed to be missing chunks. The areas with missing chunks had faint watermarks, as well as marks left behind by tools. It was evident someone had intentionally destroyed the mud bricks by pouring water onto them before striking them with tools.
It went without question that this is the work of the dog couple from the east courtyard. Seeing that the construction workers were about to arrive, the divider wall wouldn’t be built if the mud bricks were destroyed.
Mo Yan ran back to tell her sister, and Mo Ling immediately wanted to get back on the two from the eastern courtyard when she was stopped by Mo Yan, “We don’t have any evidence, so why would they admit to it? We’d just be wagging our tongues futilely. The more they don’t want this courtyard wall to be built, the more we have to complete it today.”
“But the mud bricks have been ruined, what should we build it with?”
“Sis, are there brickmakers in this village?”
“Yes, there are two families.”
“Go to them to buy azure bricks. Since it’s to repair a courtyard wall, the necessary bricks don’t need to be high-quality, just usable.”
The sisters went to the brickmakers’, where there were many bricks which had been rejected by their buyers due to a poor appearance. The brickmakers were just worrying about how to deal with the azure bricks, as they had no way to destroy them, and no way to dispose of them, while piling them up was just a waste of space.
Hearing that they wanted to buy those bricks, the brickmakers immediately agreed. Not only were they sold at a discount, they even delivered the bricks.
When the construction workers had arrived, the brickmakers’ bricks had just been delivered. As they were lighter than mud bricks, the construction workers were naturally more willing to repair the courtyard wall.
Seeing the courtyard to the south being busy with construction work, the woman living in the eastern courtyard was fuming.
Zhong Cheng’s elder sister-in-law went over to help make a meal, while his elder brother went over to keep an eye on the construction. It went without saying that both were ordered by his parents.
Elder sister-in-law was really an honest and hard-working person, and she didn’t slack off at all when working. She was constantly working to knead dough for steamed buns and washing vegetables, but didn’t let Mo Yan interfere at all, “All young ladies love staying clean, just leave this kind of work to us womenfolk!”
By noon, the steamed buns and congee had been completed, and only the other dishes were left. Elder sister-in-law said that she was afraid she wouldn’t put enough seasoning, so let Mo Ling handle the cooking while she tended to the fire.
After the oil became hot, Mo Ling put the chopped up spring onions into the wok to release the fragrance. She was just about to put in the food when she felt something rolling in her chest, and wanted to vomit but suppressed the urge.
After suppressing it twice, she couldn’t stand it anymore and handed the bowl that would be used to hold the food to elder sister-in-law before running to vomit by the side. However, after vomiting for quite a while, nothing came out of her mouth.
When Mo Yan ran over to ask if she was alright, Mo Ling replied, “It might’ve been because I didn’t sleep well last time, which is why I feel uncomfortable.”
When she returned back in front of the stove, the food in the wok had basically finished cooking. Elder sister-in-law was adding salt to the wok and flipping the food while giving Mo Ling a secretive smile, “Did you only want to vomit after you smelt the fragrance of the spring onions in oil?”
Mo Ling thought about it for a while, “I think so.”
Elder sister-in-law checked there wasn’t anyone besides her and smiled, “Is your period overdue?”
Mo Ling was shocked, “It was! But it had been unreliable in the past, do you think…”
Elder sister-in-law nodded her head, “It seems like it. Let’s go and find a physician to take a look at it later!”
Mo Yan asked delightedly, “Are you saying that I’m about to get a nephew?”
After the meal was ready, Mo Ling called the construction workers over to eat. She took a low table over to the courtyard with Mo Ling, and then went back to the kitchen to serve the bowl with the food. Elder sister-in-law hurriedly grabbed the bowl, “You’re already pregnant, you should be more careful with your body.”
Mo Ling said disgruntledly, “This isn’t very heavy, and besides, we don’t even know if I’m pregnant yet!”
“You still have to take care of your body.”
After the food was set down, the construction workers washed their hands and moved a few bricks to sit on before starting to eat.
In the countryside, white steamed buns, two dishes, one vegetarian and one meat dish, and green bean and millet congee was considered pretty good food.
After working from the morning to nightfall, the courtyard wall was basically complete, and it was only missing a few decorations at the top. The foreman said that he would take two people over to deal with the finishing details the next day.
The construction workers had just left when Zhong Cheng returned home. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the completed courtyard wall. He knew what had happened, so didn’t ask about it further and only said that they had worked hard.
Since he had returned, Lu Junming would probably have returned as well. Knowing that Mo Yan had come here, he would definitely come here tomorrow to pick her up. However, Zhong Cheng said, “Lu Junming hasn’t come back. He wanted to accompany the people taking the supplies to the frontline.”
“What is he going there for?” Mo Yan asked.
“He was probably worried about his father and wanted to take a look.”
P.S. Real life stuff has taken up far too much time of mine, including a move that has happened this week. November has been incredibly hectic, and January seems like it won’t be much better either. Anyways, thanks for reading!
[1] Saying ‘dog couple’ is easier than ‘second brother and sister-in-law’.
[2] Separating the families is…essentially what it says on the tin. They still have to pay respects to the same parents but aside from that they are considered to have no familial connection.