Two days later, the three Jiang brothers returned from hunting in Nanshan with their backpacks filled with pheasants and rabbits.
Jiang Sanlang was carrying a fat roe deer on his shoulder, which attracted many villagers to come and watch.
At this time, a thin man timidly walked up to Jiang Sanlang and asked in a low voice: "Sanlang, do you still need someone to make furniture for your family?"
When Jiang Sanlang saw that it was his childhood friend Wang Ke, he suddenly remembered that Sun Lizheng had brought people to his house to collect tax grain the day before yesterday, and he nodded subconsciously: "Yes."
Wang Ke showed a happy expression and asked carefully: "Sanlang, you see, I am also a carpenter. I made the doors and windows of your house. How about I make furniture for your family?"
Jiang Sanlang hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Okay."
Since we had to make furniture at home anyway, the wood had already been bought and was piled in the new brick house.
Wang Ke was so happy that he almost knelt down to Jiang Sanlang.
"Then I'll start work tomorrow, is that ok?"
Jiang Sanlang patted Wang Ke on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Okay, but the salary I pay is not high."
Asking a carpenter to make furniture for his home would inevitably provide him with two meals a day, so there was no need to guess what Wang Ke was thinking, Jiang Sanlang also knew it.
However, he also wanted to help this childhood friend, so he readily agreed.
"It's okay, it's okay." Wang Ke waved his hands repeatedly, scratching his head embarrassedly, "Just pay me as you see fit."
Early the next morning, Wang Ke carried the carpenter's box to Nanshan and brought his two sons to help.
The eldest son, Wang Dashan, is thirteen years old this year. He is as dark and thin as he is, and can measure wood and peel bark. The second son, Wang Xiaoshui, is nine years old this year. He can run errands for his father, pass things around, and polish things.
Jiang Sanlang didn't hesitate and told Wang Ke what furniture his family needed and what size.
"The kitchen needs a cupboard, a grain cabinet, a small dining table, six benches, and a pair of buckets."
"The main room needs an altar table, a large square table, four chairs, and six high stools."
"In the east room, make a dressing table, two suitcases, a clothes hanger, and a wooden bed."
"The West Room needs a wooden bed, a desk, two chairs, two trunks, a bookshelf, and a dressing table."
"That's all for now." Jiang Sanlang said in one breath, and then he saw Wang Ke drawing a picture with a piece of paper.
I leaned over to take a look, and saw that he had drawn everything he said on paper with charcoal.
Wang Ke pointed to the floor plans of the rooms on the paper and said, "I have drawn the furniture in each room. Do you think it is correct?"
Jiang Sanlang wiped his chin and nodded: "Yes, that's it, just get the size right."
Wang Ke laughed and said, "Don't worry, Sanlang, I will definitely satisfy you."
These furnitures were enough for him to make from winter to spring, and they could also provide food for himself and his two sons. When spring came, Sanlang would give him another salary, no matter how much, it would help his family get by.
After that, Wang Ke moved into the new house in Nanshan with his two sons. He worked hard every day to make every piece of furniture exquisite and smooth.
Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan now had company. Apart from cooking two meals a day, they spent the rest of their time taking Wang Xiaoshui to catch birds and rabbits in Nanshan to provide a snack for them.
Sometimes Jiang Sanlang would also visit and bring them some food and vegetables.
That day, Yingbao rode Yoyo and went to Nanshan with her father.
Nanshan Mountain seems not far away, but the path leading up to it is winding and it takes more than two or three miles to walk there.
After crossing a small stream, we finally reached the mountain.
This is not actually a mountain, it's just a high slope.
There are clusters of wild bamboo forests and large tracts of fields on the slope.
Because the soil in the fields is poor, wheat cannot be grown, so the villagers can only plant millet here. Now the millet has been harvested, leaving only mud covered with ice and snow.
The house of the three brothers of the Jiang family was built on their own permanent farmland, which covered a large area and was surrounded by inferior fields they had bought.
Yingbao was thinking about the fruit tree seedlings in the cave while sitting on Youyou's back and looking around.
There are three large blue brick and tile houses built side by side, with a courtyard wall more than one person high and covered with blue tiles, which looks neat and beautiful.
The yard is very big, more than three times larger than before, and you can even run a horse in it.
Under the front eaves of the three main rooms is a five-foot-wide corridor with wooden pillars, and two kitchens with earthen walls and tiled roofs were built on the east side of the main rooms.
On the west side of the yard, there were chicken coops, deer sheds, and a long bamboo shed, which almost occupied the entire west wall of the yard.
Jiang Quan poked his head out of the kitchen, saw his third uncle carrying a load on his shoulders and his little cousin riding a deer, and ran out immediately.
"Uncle San, why did you bring Yingbao here?"
Jiang Sanlang carried a load of food and vegetables into the kitchen and said, "Bring your cousin over to see the new home."
Yingbao glanced at her second cousin and said, "I came to see if you were slacking off."
Jiang Quan laughed loudly, lifted his little cousin off the deer's back, and led her into the house. "You came at the right time today. My brother and I just caught a wild rabbit and are stewing it in the pot."
The main room was littered with sawdust. A thin, dark man was sitting on the floor planing wood. Two young boys were helping to clean up the planed wood.
Yingbao recognized at a glance that this man was the man who died in the mountains in his previous life.
Apparently, the father gave the man carpentry work, so he did not go up the mountain to chop wood on snowy days, and did not die in the mountains.
Yingbao's mood suddenly brightened up and she ran around the two rooms.
The room is spacious and has large windows. The carved lattice windows can be pushed outwards to allow the winter sun to shine directly in.
A kang was built near the window, and the remaining space was more than enough for a small bed and a table.
Jiang Sanlang also looked around and said, "Bao'er, you will live in the west room from now on. When your brother grows up, Dad will build a new house for them to live in."
"Yeah." Yingbao touched the new kang happily, looked at the ready-made desk and dressing table, and smiled.
She is about to move into a new house, and she will plant all kinds of fruit trees in front of and behind the house. There will be fruit all year round, and she can pick whatever she wants to eat. If she can't finish it, she can transport it to the town to sell.
She also planted a lot of cotton in the surrounding fields and replaced the cotton-padded jackets of everyone in the family with soft cotton wool. The bedding also had to use this kind of cotton, which was warm and not prickly.
"Yingbao, second brother will take you to catch birds." Jiang Quan stood outside the window, holding a bamboo basket in one hand and shaking a bundle of thin hemp rope in the other.
"I want to see the water." Yingbao didn't want to catch birds. She wanted to investigate the surrounding environment and plan a planting site for her fruit trees and cotton.
"What are you talking about? Dinner will be served soon." said the eldest cousin Jiang Cheng.
It was already noon, Jiang Cheng had already steamed several trays of steamed buns and was just waiting for the rabbit meat in the pot to be cooked.
"Let's eat." When Jiang Quan heard that dinner was about to start, he immediately dropped the bamboo tray in his hand and rushed to the kitchen to set the table.
Today, Jiang Sanlang not only brought rice, but also some turnips and a jar of pickled cabbage for his nephews and Wang Ke and his son to eat.
There are not many fresh vegetables in winter, so most farmers eat pickled vegetables.
Jiang Cheng shredded the turnip and filled a bowl with it, then cut some pickled cabbage, took a pot of boiled rabbit meat from the pot and brought it to the table.
There was also a basket of steamed black-faced buns, which were bigger than an adult's fist, and each person was given three or four.
Because Jiang Sanlang was present today, Wang Ke and his two sons felt a little restrained sitting at the table and were too embarrassed to use their chopsticks to pick up food.
Jiang Sanlang didn't say much, just asked them to eat more and be full so as not to delay their work.