Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

Chapter 208: Spring comes and the Li family starts building a house

Before they parted, Li Laosan put his arm around Lai Zi's shoulders and said, "Brother, talk to your mother when you get home. She will definitely be sad for a while after knowing the truth, so comfort her. I'll give you three days off so you can spend some time with your mother."

Lai Zi's eyes were slightly red, he said nothing and nodded.

The March wind brings the chill of spring and hope to the coastal towns. Farmers begin to prepare for spring plowing, waiting only for the April spring rain to completely awaken the earth that has been dormant for a whole winter so that they can start sowing seeds.

The fishermen had already repaired their nets and started maintaining their boats, checking for leaks and applying oil to prevent wind and sun from cracking the hulls.

The construction team that the Li family had agreed to build a house with also arrived. The village chief and the Cai family helped contact many villagers to work as laborers, paying them twenty copper coins a day, with one lunch provided.

During the lean season, this job was hard to find even with a lantern in Huihai County. It was close to home, and you could have a nap at noon. Every meal included dry food and meat.

Zhao learned how to cook pig offal from Li Mei'er. She couldn't afford pork, but pork belly was just as good as pork belly, with more oil and more flavor. When she was hungry and cold, she would have a bite and feel warm and comfortable.

The Li family simply distributed lunch according to the quota per person, just like the dock did. As for whether they could eat it themselves or take it home, it was up to them.

Ma Daqiang is a big and strong man. He works very hard because he is grateful to the Li family for saving Shanzi's life.

Old man Li was also an honest and good man, and he was fair in his dealings. The village chief was assigned to be the supervisor of the villagers, earning fifty copper coins a day. Ma Daqiang was assigned to be the team leader, responsible for leading the team with the heaviest physical work, earning forty copper coins a day. The wages of the laborers in their team were twenty-five copper coins each.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The signal gong sounded, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Li Erlang who was beating the gong.

Behind Li Erlang followed Old Man Li and Old Man Li, who were carrying a large wooden barrel.

Li Erlang shouted loudly: "Fellow villagers, stop for a moment, come over and drink some ginger tea to warm your body before you continue working!"

"Ginger tea?" Dashan had been thirsty for a long time, but his master paid him a high salary, and seeing that no one else was drinking water, he just endured it too.

The village chief, who was acting as the supervisor, shouted, "Don't rush, line up honestly, or you will all kneel down in the ancestral temple!"

After staying at home for a whole winter, the villagers quickly became dehydrated when doing physical work for the first time. Li Yuer specially had someone add sugar and a little salt to the water.

Dashan ran fast and was at the front of the line. He was the first to drink the ginger tea. "Mm, it tastes good. There's sugar in it."

"The Li family is very generous. We must do our job well."

"This guy, doing good things will bring good rewards, no wonder the Li family can become rich."

Fang Ziwu's work team was specially invited by the Li family from the town. They were introduced by the clerk. They have good skills and reasonable prices.

Master Wu is equivalent to the chief engineer. His main responsibility is to coordinate planning, guide and supervise whether the project is built strictly according to the drawings.

Li Erlang brought a bowl of hot ginger tea and handed it over, "Master Wu, it's still cold in spring, drink a cup of ginger tea to warm your body."

Master Wu took the ginger tea with satisfaction, "It tastes good, with just the right amount of spiciness and sweetness."

He doesn't like strong-tasting food, so this ginger tea is just what he likes.

He picked up the blueprint and took a look. The design of this courtyard house was drawn by the Li family. Many of the buildings were things he had never heard of before. He had followed his father to build houses everywhere since he was a child, including projects for wealthy families.

The design of this blueprint is exquisite, more exquisite than that of a wealthy family, but it doesn't cost much money.

Especially fireplaces and kangs. If these things could become popular, a lot fewer people would die in the north during the winter.

Thinking of this, he wanted to talk to the Li family about this matter. After drinking tea, he took the initiative to find Old Man Li and talked about this matter. Old Man Li said, "We have already submitted this to the county government."

After the New Year, Li Yuer handed the design drawings of the kang and fireplace to the clerk.

Because the Wu father and son were still in power at that time, this matter was suppressed.

The clerk had been an official for many years and was well aware of the dangers involved.

If the design drawings were given to County Magistrate Wu, given his greedy and selfish character, he would definitely take all the credit. Not only that, he would even let the people in the gambling house kill the Li family, and even he might be implicated.

So, after discussing with his father, he decided to hide the design drawings. It was not that they did not want to benefit the people, but the time was not right for the time being.

He had originally planned to take leave when he had the chance in the future to personally escort the drawings to Beijing to find the old county magistrate. Unexpectedly, the opportunity came so quickly. Magistrate Wu and his son were greedy and forcibly abducted women, which angered the public and they were wanted.

Something had happened to Magistrate Wu, and it was still unclear how the higher-ups had rebelled. Thinking of all the evil deeds they had committed in the past, the clerks would do everything they could to prevent the Wu father and son from being reinstated.

If County Magistrate Wei could make great achievements at this time, even if he was just a scholar, he would have a great chance of being promoted to county magistrate.

So he secretly visited Wei County Magistrate and handed him the design drawings of the kang and fireplace.

County Magistrate Wei knew that the two design drawings were of extraordinary significance, so he wrote a secret letter overnight, and Fei Ge first delivered the letter to the old county magistrate.

The matter was of great importance, and he soon received a reply saying that everything had been arranged and he could write a memorial and have it sent urgently to the capital, where everything would be arranged.

After hearing what Old Man Li said, Master Wu finally felt relieved. "That's great. Was it that I didn't think it through, or was it that the old man thought long-term? This design should be handed over to the government to benefit the people."

Old man Li felt a little guilty after being praised, because this was not his idea and the design drawing was not drawn by him.

When Li Yuer first got the blueprints, their family even raised their hands to vote on whether to build a courtyard house. Now it seems that Yu Baoer is not only smart, but also very far-sighted.

The Li family has produced a capable person.

Old man Li waved his hands and said, "No, it's all done by my children and grandchildren. I just have to wait to move into the new house."

"The old man is a man of great fortune. All his children and grandchildren are capable."

Master Wu glanced at the younger generation of the Li family who were walking among the crowd and said, "Have all the old man's children and grandchildren gotten married?"

Old man Li didn't think much about it and shook his head and said, "How can that be possible? Apart from my eldest grandson, I don't even know where the wives of the other two boys are."

While the house was being built here, the women were sitting around the table in the main room, making hair flowers.

Aunt Qiu'e pointed a red-and-dark-blue silk flower towards Old Mrs. Cai's head.

"This color is great, and it's just right for older women of high rank. Look, isn't it very elegant?"

Old Mrs. Cai picked up the bronze mirror and looked at herself, and said, "It really looks good. Qiu'e has a good match, and it will definitely sell."

Li Meir was keeping accounts and counting silk flowers.

"Great! Today we have one thousand of them again. We can sell them now."

After making the statistics, Li Meir took the finished silk flowers to the east room and started choosing shells to match with Guo Qingran.

Guo Qingran came from a noble family of scholars. She was well-informed and familiar with the popular accessories in the town, so she was the one who chose the shells to match.

Li Meir is quick and deft, and she is responsible for fixing it with needle and thread, or gluing it with fish glue.

The two of them worked in perfect harmony, and there was no backlog of goods at all.