A century of poverty

Chapter 31 Busy

That winter, on a gloomy and unusually cold day, suddenly there was a loud crash—Grandma felt a jolt. "Crash—" One wall of the house collapsed, and a blast of cold wind rushed into the room, making it instantly icy cold. Mom wrapped my eldest brother in a blanket and held him in her arms.

"Crash—" The sound of an old wall collapsing came from somewhere.

"The earth shook and the mountains trembled; beggars threw their ladles." An old man from who-knows-who said this in the western moat.

The panic caused by the earthquake made people run out of their homes and stand in small groups in the street talking and discussing who had lost a wall and whether anyone was hurt!

Fortunately, although several walls collapsed in the village, no one was injured.

In winter, the wall could not be rebuilt. Eight bundles of straw were used to plug the hole, but it was still drafty. The whole winter, the older brother "Shuangxing" developed bumps on his face from the cold.

The old house was no longer suitable, so Dad, Mom, and Grandma discussed that they had to rebuild it in the spring.

Building a house requires a certain amount of money, and if there is no surplus at home, one must find a business to run.

Just after the Spring Festival, Dad was reinforcing the movable stones by the street garden and leveling the surrounding land. All the work this year had to be done quickly so as not to delay the firing of the kiln and the production of the mutual aid group.

After finishing his meal, Zhang Xiaoyong went out the east gate of Beiyuanzi and looked east. His old friend was tidying up the garden. He came up the slope and said, "Why are you tidying up so early?"

"There's a lot of work to do this year, I'm afraid I won't have time if I'm late!" Dad replied.

Zhang Xiaoyong: "Today is only the second day of the Lunar New Year, there's still a long spring ahead."

Dad: "All you know is spring. Do you know what I was planning to do all spring?"

Zhang Xiaoyong: "I don't know!"

Dad: "I'm planning to burn the ashes. Didn't you see your brother's face is all frozen? The old house is in dire need of repair."

Zhang Xiaoyong: "Oh, setting up a lime kiln is a good thing, but you didn't do it all by yourself, did you?"

Dad: "I never said I'd do it myself!"

Zhang Xiaoyong: "My legs aren't good. You should take my brother Zhang Zhisheng with you. He should be thinking about making some money too."

Dad: "Okay!"

Father then asked Zhang Jingtang from Nandang Street, who cheerfully suggested bringing along his two uncles, Zhang Wenmao and Zhang Wenhe.

After the fifteenth day of the lunar month, they would go up the mountain to quarry stones, select a kiln site, build the kiln, and get to work.

Mom participated in the mutual aid group's labor and even caught two piglets. Grandma helped take care of the housework. The whole family worked together to build a house.

"Majiliang" is located outside Xishankou, on the northern slope of "Wushan", about six or seven miles from home. Wushan limestone is a high-quality raw material for making quicklime, which is an essential material for building houses in this area. In addition to other uses, the demand is very large.

After selecting a kiln site and building the lime kiln, they quarried bluestone from the mountain, broke it into pieces, and carried it in baskets, stacking it inside the kiln. The weight of each basket of stones bent the carrying pole, and they had to carry baskets in both hands, making several trips to fill the kiln.

After firing, they would stop and carry the ash out one load at a time. In order to save time, they would go into the kiln to pick ash before it cooled down. The ash pickers were shirtless, with a towel draped over their shoulders, wearing rags, and sweating profusely. It was extremely tiring and difficult. No one with any means would be willing to do this job.

They worked from dawn till dusk every day, eating lunch at the kiln and not going home. Lunch was delivered by the eight-year-old eldest sister and the four-year-old second sister, walking six or seven miles. The eldest sister carried a large aluminum lunchbox with a handle, and if she wasn't careful, she would bump her knee and get burned or spill the food. When the four-year-old second sister reached the western pass and couldn't walk any further, the eldest sister found a suitable place to put down the lunchbox and let her sit down: "Wait here, I'll find you some 'sheep's horns' to eat." Saying this, she climbed up the slope to gather a handful of sheep's horns and sheep's horns for her second sister so they could continue their journey.

The eldest sister tried her best to coax her younger sister, because she couldn't do without her second sister's company on this long and daunting journey.

Mutual aid groups were established in Zhuangli, based on the principle of proximity and voluntary participation of residents, with Beidang Street and Beiyuanzi forming one group.

All the land, seeds, livestock, farm tools, and sweet potato baskets prepared for production, including those from my family's well, were collected and handed over to the collective. The sweet potato baskets that my eldest sister planted last year, which had been drying on her head, were pulled up from the well in the spring and placed on the sweet potato kang (heated brick bed) in the group.

To avoid delaying the planting season, the lime kiln was shut down for spring sowing.

During the few days my father was home, he took the opportunity to go up the mountain to break rocks. He filled a bag with crowbars, hammers, shovels, chisels, and wedges, and carried a big hammer up the mountain.

When he saw the people coming down to work, he came down to work with them. After the people finished work and went home, he continued up the mountain.

They carefully removed the pieces along the grain, breaking the larger chunks with the wedge. They carried them down the mountain, then moved them one by one to a pile, hauling them home truckload after truckload.

People often say: to build three rooms, you need a whole lot of materials for three rooms. Once everything was prepared, the family moved to the old, dilapidated wing house in the southeast corner. Dad found his friends from the lime kiln to tear down the old house, and found carpenters and bricklayers from the village to rebuild on the same spot.

The day the roof beam is raised is the most representative day in the construction of a house.

The whole family was beaming with joy; the carpenters and bricklayers were all there, making it especially lively. Dad, being a bricklayer himself, was even happier today as his own house was being built.

Grandma held her eldest brother, "Shuangxing," with his leopard-like face and flowery eyes, in the newly built cooking shed.

One said, "Second Aunt is so lucky! She has such a handsome grandson." Another said, "Second Grandma's good days are finally here; she's moving into a big new house." Grandma was beaming with joy.

My mother was busy cooking for a dozen or so people at the stove, my eldest sister was helping to tend the fire, and the neighbor's mother, "Da Wu," also came over to help.

A large bowl of dry rice had already been scooped out. Seeing that someone else was coming to help, and worried that there wasn't enough rice, he called out, "Auntie Wu, can you knead some more dough for me?" He then baked a millet pancake.

She stewed a large, thick piece of braised pork, and also made "flying chicken" and "walking fish," traditional seasonal dishes. My mother's sister-in-law comes from a family of chefs and knows many dishes that ordinary people can't make. Today, my mother showcased the skills she learned from her sister-in-law, doing her best to prepare the food to express her joy at building the house and her gratitude to the villagers for their help.

The aroma of food wafts into people's nostrils, stimulating their desire for delicious food and arousing their excitement.

Grandma called out, "Put down your work, wash your hands, and eat!"

Dad, beaming, looked around from the scaffolding: "Put it down, put it down, let's go eat!"

A few square beams and round stalks form a frame, covered with reeds. Tables and seats have been set up in the makeshift awning.

People chatted and laughed as they sat down in the shade.

Bowls of steaming hot dishes were served, and people ate with gusto, their spirits high, praising the food endlessly.

Some people gave a thumbs up, saying that Zhang Xiwang, who doesn't flaunt his abilities, rebuilt his house without making a fuss, and is still so arrogant despite his talent, has strategy.

From then on, the saying that Zhang Xiwang had strategic acumen spread like wildfire. Whenever anyone in the village had a problem they couldn't solve, they would come to him for advice.

The year was also quite good.

The lime kiln not only solved the problem of producing lime, but also solved part of the funding problem.

After the autumn harvest, the family was able to repay the grain they had borrowed for building the house, and their food rations were just about enough.

The two piglets caught in the spring were fattened up, and they were slaughtered and sold at the end of the year to make money to build a house and alleviate the famine.

Building a house involves many expenses, and there are always unexpected costs. Although the plans made in the spring were realized, there is still a small amount of debt that has not been paid off.

Despite the bountiful harvest, the family did not enjoy a prosperous life.

Life may seem prosperous on the surface, but it's empty inside. The house has been rebuilt, but due to various limitations, it's still just an outer room with two kang beds inside. Three generations of the family still live on one kang.

Housing conditions have not been fundamentally resolved.

It is particularly worth mentioning that last summer, when planting sweet potato shoots, my eldest sister got sunburned. My father promised to buy her a floral jacket after selling the sweet potato shoots, but he still hasn't bought it for us this year. The sweet potato shoots were donated to the mutual aid group, and the dream of buying a floral jacket has vanished.