Chapter 72 Pond Excavation
After returning home, Lei Tia walked to the well and poured some water over his face.
Qin Mian frowned, "The water in the well right now is still very cold, you should be careful ?? ?? A cold."
"No, my body is strong." Lei Tia took off the towel on the clothes pole and wiped his face.
Strong body? Qin Mian's gaze swept from his broad shoulders to his thick chest, to his narrow waist, to his perky bottom, and then to his long legs.
"See a little white?"
Lei Tia said: "He probably went to the mountain."
Xiao Bai did not lose its wild nature because it lived with the two humans. From time to time, it would go to the mountain alone. Sometimes, it would go for two to three days, and sometimes, it would even bring back a small prey. At first, Qin Mian was very worried that it would not return home at night. But after seeing it, other than being dirty and tired, it had never gotten injured, so he just let it go.
Qin Mian lit up the room's light, went into the kitchen and took a bowl from it. After filling a bowl with Spirit Spring Water, he carried the bowl out and passed it to Lei Tia, "You can get two buckets of water and mix this with water, then pour some for every fruit tree."
Lei Tia did not ask anything and nodded. He carried the bowl and walked out.
From the kitchen window, Qin Mian could see him bending over to bring water from the well. His arms and shoulders were brimming with power, his back, waist and buttocks forming an enchanting arc. When Lei Tia's figure disappeared outside the courtyard, he suddenly realised that he had been looking at Lei Tia. He rubbed his face, calmed himself down and calmly scooped some rice. The two of them had already determined their hearts, Lei Tia was his home, wouldn't it be normal for him to uncontrollably stare at Lei Tia?
When Lei Tia finished watering him, he was suddenly grabbed by the neck by the neck and sucked on his lips. He was a little confused, but after seeing his wife leisurely walking away to continue cooking, he felt relieved and sat in his usual spot quietly, looking at the fire and firewood.
"We'll start digging the pond tomorrow. How many people should we hire?" Qin Mian placed the fried meat back onto the plate and smelt the aroma. He picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of the meat, and then placed a piece of the meat next to Lei Tia's mouth, "You try it too."
Lei Tia caught the chopsticks, glanced at him, and bit into the meat.
Qin Mian suddenly remembered that he did not change his chopsticks.
"Thirty people." "22 people digging, 8 people picking the dirt." Lei Tia said as he swallowed the piece of meat in his mouth.
Qin Mian began to cook the second dish, the dried red pepper fried the thin meat slices. Now, even without fresh or raw meal, he could still fry lean meat until it was tender and delicious. When he was wrapping dumplings on the ninth night of the term, he inadvertently recalled a time in his previous life where he forgot to buy the raw flour when he had finished cooking. An idea suddenly occurred to him: to use flour to save his life. The lean meat that was mixed and marinated with flour was very soft and tender. It didn't have the slightest bit of firewood.
After the oil pan was boiled, Qin Mian stirred up the marinated meat with the ginger and then poured in the dried red pepper and stir-fried it. The spicy smell made him want to sneeze, so he quickly turned his back to the pan.
"Digging a pond is also a big thing. Do you want to go to Deng Family Village and tell Grandfather and Grandmother about it? There were also two uncles and three cousins. If we find out later that we didn't ask them to help us dig the pond, we might think we don't care about them. As for whether they come or not, that's up to them. "
The villagers were all this particular. If there was anything important in the family, they would inform their relatives or friends to show their respect and express their good feelings for each other.
Lei Tia nodded his head, "I will go tomorrow morning."
On the second day, at dawn, Lei Tia drove a carriage to Deng Family Village. Qin Mian had breakfast prepared for him yet he did not come back, he had already eaten alone, he had just washed up and cleaned up his house, Lei Tia was back. Uncle Deng, Second Uncle Deng, Deng Quan, Deng Zhong and Deng Xiao jumped down from the carriage with shovels and baskets.
Qin Mian walked up to them in shock, "Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, Eldest Cousin, Second Cousin, Third Cousin, you've all come. "Please come in."
Uncle Deng still remained indifferent and only nodded.
Second Uncle Deng had a gentle smile on his face as he said, "Thank you, Big Brother Xu."
Deng Quan, Deng Zhong and Deng Xiao all smiled as they greeted Qin Mian. They did not call him "Cousin Sister-in-law", but rather "Brother Mang".
This was the first time they had been here, so they couldn't help but curiously look around.
Deng Quan smiled and said, "Your house is not bad."
Deng Zhong nodded in agreement. The most eye-catching thing in the hall was the walls. They were not like the bricks of the villager's house. There were a lot of dry mud between the bricks, but they were all polished and flat. There was a calligraphy hanging on the wall opposite the door, a small flower basket on each side of the room, and two objects facing each other. There were four exquisite bamboo candlesticks at the corners and at the shoulders of the room ?? a few exquisite objects and elaborate arrangements that easily drew the attention of anyone who entered, and thus diminished their interest in the wall itself.
The furniture in the hall, the dining table covered with a red-brown, white-checked tablecloth, the tea set on top, two neatly cut gray fur cushions on two backrest chairs side by side, a fruit basket on the spotless coffee table with a few apples and oranges in it, four large cushions on the sofa that looked soft, and to the right a three-storey wooden rack, not too high or low, on the top of which was placed a wooden knife rack, on which rested a polished wooden knife, and next to the knife rack was a small bow; a wooden carriage model and a sailboat model, both opposite to each other, were placed on the middle of the table. Continuing to look to the right, he saw a waist-high cabinet in front of the window. There was a vase on top of it, and in the vase were a few flowers that bloomed brilliantly. A closer look revealed that the red flowers, yellow flowers, green leaves and the flowers in the wall-hanging baskets were all made of cloth. The entire living room gave off a very warm and cozy feeling, as well as a sense of elegance.
Deng Xiao joked, "It's been cleaned so clean that we don't dare to sit."
Qin Mian took out some good tea leaves from the cabinet and poured them all in tea and said humbly: "These are all for messing around when I have nothing better to do."
Lei Tia took the dessert plate into the kitchen and came out after a while with a few plates of pastries. The pastries on the plates were piled high.
"First uncle, second uncle, and three elder cousins, feel free to go." Lei Tia said succinctly.
Deng Quan hastily replied, "No need to be polite."
"Eldest Uncle, Second Uncle, the weather is warm now. Why didn't you bring the kids here to play?" Qin Mian asked. Lei Tia was too bored, he could not rely on him for matters like these.
Mentioning the children, Uncle Deng's expression softened, "We are here for official business, what are you bringing them for? "It's too noisy." Having said that, there was no disdain in his eyes. It was obvious that he was very fond of his grandchildren.
Qin Mian hurriedly said: "It's a good thing for children to be more lively. The pond we're going to dig is very big. We'll probably have to dig it for two or three days. Wasn't it time for such a big boy to play with mud? It's healthier to run and jump. As for the girls, I can watch them. I should take advantage of the fact that I'm still young to go out more and take a look. "
His arrangements were very thorough, and his words were sincere. Second Uncle was the first to be moved, "Alright, then I'll bring them over tomorrow."
Uncle Deng also nodded.
The expressions of the Deng brothers became warmer. The reason Qin Mian valued their children was because he valued them.
Qin Mian then continued: As for grandfather, grandmother, aunt, second aunt and three cousins, I'm afraid that they are not well-received. When the flowering and fruiting period of the fruit tree arrives, I will invite them over to have a good time.
Uncle Deng and the rest all had smiles on their faces.
"Then it's a deal." Deng Zhong chuckled and said, "Once the fruit trees bloom, we'll bring them here to look at the flowers."
"It's a deal." Qin Mian smiled and nodded, "I will get Lei Tia to fetch you guys when the time comes."
After chatting for a while more, Deng Quan took the initiative and said: "It's getting late, shall we head over now?"
Qin Mian waved his hand: "Big Cousin, there's no rush. You guys stay here for a while longer, I'll go get the others. "
After Qin Mian left, the house became quiet for a while.
Deng Quan looked at his depressed cousin and helplessly shook his head, thinking to himself that in terms of personality, his cousin was quite compatible with Brother Xu.
Second Uncle Deng, who was bored, stood up. "Tia, bring us over there first and take a look at your orchard."
The few of them carried their shovels and baskets as they walked out of the house with Lei Tia.
Because he was going to hire a total of 30 people, other than the 5 from Deng Family, Qin Mian went to find 25 more people from the village. The diggers work harder, eighty cents a day; the diggers work relatively easily, fifty cents a day. It is fairer to pay according to the amount of earth you dig and pick up, and it prevents people from slacking off. Considering that they were all fellow villagers, Qin Mian did not do so. Being too fussy is not the way to go about things.
The high pay caused the villagers to swarm over. If Lei Xiangyi, Lei Xianglee, Zhang Dashuan and the others did not get the notice first, they would not have gotten the spots.
Qin Mian had even asked two of his sister-in-law to move the pot to the ground and boil some water to bring the tea. The two sister-in-law were gri
ing from ear to ear. Just sitting there boiling water to earn twenty dollars was such a good thing.
After Qin Mian returned home, the door was already locked, he did not enter the door, and went straight to the ground.
Just as he took two steps forward, an old man walked over with his hands behind his back. His eyes were bright and full of spirit. His body was lean, but his pace was steady. It was clear that his body was healthy.
Seeing that he looked like Fang Wu, Qin Mian smiled and greeted, "Elder Faang."
"Haha ??" Elder Faang squinted his eyes and smiled, then gestured for him to come along, "Young lad, you have pretty good eyes."
Qin Mian looked at him as he shook his head, "The Fang family's Second Brother said that you're already sixty-one this year, he must have guessed it because of me. I can tell that you're at most fifty, you're getting stronger from your age."
"Hahaha ??" Elder Faang laughed loudly, "You brat! He didn't fool you. I've agreed to what Fang Wu said. In the future, I'll have to ask this young lad to take care of me. "
"Elder Faang has destroyed a part of the younger generation." Qin Mian replied politely, "It's Lei Tia and I, the younger ones, who asked the Elder Faang to take care of us."
Old people like people who are modest and polite. Elder Faang stroked his beard and nodded, "Sure."
Qin Mian replied: "I don't know ?? ??"
Elder Faang saw what he was about to say and waved his hand, "Let's go take a look at those trees first."
Qin Mian moved like the flow and made a "please" gesture.
When the two of them reached the orchard, Elder Faang saw the fruit trees. His eyes were filled with excitement and he quickened his pace, unknowingly walking to the front.
Judging from his expression, he really did know a lot about fruit trees. Qin Mian's heart was finally at ease as he quietly followed behind.
Elder Faang used his nails to dig out a small piece of tree bark from a tree branch. After looking at the color of the core beneath the tree, he continued to walk forward.
After walking around in the fruit forest for a while, he stopped and turned to Qin Mian: "You guys bought a lot of different types of fruit trees. Three of the trees were dead, and it would be difficult for them to survive. The others were all chosen well. However, transplanting an adult tree was originally a difficult task. It had only been transplanted for a single day, so for the time being, he wasn't able to see much of anything. If, after five days, these trees have not shown any signs of withering, then there will be no big problems. "
On this point, Qin Mian was not worried at all. He was confident in his Spirit Spring Water s.
"I'll have to trouble Elder Faang in the future." Qin Mian muttered to himself for a moment, "The fruit has a period of three months. I give Elder Faang two hundred coins per month for the fruit. I am not familiar with the market price, if your arrangements are not suitable, Elder Faang can speak. "
Elder Faang laughed and waved his hand, "There is no need for that much. It costs one hundred gold coins per month and another twenty gold coins per month. "Then it's settled."
After he finished speaking, he did not wait for Qin Mian's reply and walked towards the place where he had dug for a pond with his hands behind his back.