klisemfg Chapter 217 Raising the Roof Beam of the New House
Chapter 217 Raising the Roof Beam of the New House
Motivated by the high wages offered by Liu Weidong, everyone was highly enthusiastic about their work. In that day, each person picked several full baskets of matsutake mushrooms. In just this small grove, they harvested a total of several hundred kilograms!
Not only were the other villagers amazed, but even Liu Weidong himself was surprised and beamed with joy at seeing so many matsutake mushrooms.
These semi-cultivated matsutake mushrooms are not only plentiful but also of excellent quality. They are generally uniform in size and rarely damaged by insects or animals, making them very appealing.
With so many matsutake mushrooms picked, Liu Weidong's yard simply couldn't hold them all, so he had to borrow the village's threshing ground.
The village committee naturally had no objection to this, and the other villagers were also very supportive. After all, Liu Weidong was practically the village's benefactor these days, and only a dim-witted guy like Sun Libing would dare to mess with him!
To ensure the matsutake mushrooms dried properly, Liu Weidong hired several villagers to keep an eye on them at the threshing ground. This served two purposes: firstly, to prevent birds, rats, and other animals from damaging the mushrooms, and secondly, to ensure they could be collected promptly if it rained.
After all, this is a huge pile of matsutake mushrooms. If they rot because of rain or something, Liu Weidong would be very distressed.
Now the village has reached a consensus that everyone must rush to do any work that Liu Weidong hires, and the pay will definitely be good!
This time was no exception, immediately attracting many villagers to sign up. In the end, five lucky people got the job, and they were all overjoyed.
The fifty yuan wage per person satisfied the group. They were very diligent, arranging the matsutake mushrooms neatly in the drying yard every morning and carefully collecting them after sunset. They stayed by the drying yard all day, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
In their words, drying matsutake mushrooms is a high-paying and easy job, and if you do it carelessly, you can't live with your own conscience!
Several hundred kilograms of matsutake mushrooms were laid out on the threshing ground to dry, creating a rather spectacular scene. Liu Weidong was very pleased to see the matsutake mushrooms neatly arranged.
Based on the ratio of four pounds of fresh matsutake mushrooms to one pound of dried matsutake mushrooms, this much matsutake mushroom can be dried into 150 to 160 pounds of dried matsutake mushrooms, which would fetch at least 30,000 foreign exchange certificates when sold to Pierre! If converted to RMB, that would be more than 40,000 yuan!
Liu Weidong has only been assigned to the forest for a month or two, and he has already earned so much money. He can earn at least 200,000 yuan a year! This annual income is top-notch, not only in the county, but also in the whole province!
However, Liu Weidong doesn't have much energy to deal with these matsutake mushrooms right now, because there's something more important at home—the new house under construction is finally going to have its roof beams raised!
Raising the roof beam of a new house in the countryside is a major event, almost as important as moving in on the first day. The homeowner must hold a grand ceremony to bring good fortune, otherwise, the household may experience unrest in the future.
So Liu Weidong started preparing several days in advance, and even went to the county town several times to buy things, which cost him a lot of money.
On the day of the roof-raising ceremony, almost the entire village went to the Liu family's new house to watch the festivities. After all, no one had built a new house in the village for many years, so everyone wanted to share in the joy.
Seeing that the time was almost up, the village's most senior elder, the Third Grandfather, shouted loudly, "The auspicious time has arrived! May the raising of the roof beam bring good fortune!"
As soon as the Third Grandfather finished speaking, the young men in the village lit the firecrackers. Anyway, Liu Weidong was not short of money these days, so this time he bought tens of thousands of firecrackers and hundreds of double-bang firecrackers, enough for the village's teenagers to have a good time.
Amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers, the main beam of the new house was slowly lifted onto the roof by the workers' efforts.
Unlike the wooden beams commonly used in rural areas, Liu Weidong's new house uses reinforced concrete beams, which are much stronger and more durable than wooden ones. In an era when steel and cement were in short supply, such a beam was the envy of many.
According to rural tradition, a red paper with the character "福" (fortune) was pasted on the main beam, and large red cloth flowers and tassels were hung at both ends. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, it slowly rose to the second-floor gable wall and was steadily placed in place.
"With the main beam in place, the family is at peace, and everything goes well!" The Third Grandfather shouted with great enthusiasm, his wrinkled old face full of smiles, showing that he was genuinely happy for Liu Weidong's family.
At the same time, Hao Jianjun and several other young men threw handfuls of snacks like cigarettes and candy into the crowd, which immediately drew cheers from the children watching the excitement, who eagerly began to scramble for them with their friends.
For most families celebrating the opening of a new house, they might just offer a few cigarettes and some peanuts and melon seeds. If they could add a few hard candies, that would be considered quite generous.
However, the house-raising ceremony for Liu Weidong's new house was certainly not going to be so shabby. Aside from a few peanuts and melon seeds, the majority of the items were fruit hard candies and White Rabbit milk candies, with even some chocolate added!
As for the cigarettes, they weren't sold loose; they were thrown down in whole packs. The worst were Daqianmen cigarettes, and there were even Phoenix and Peony cigarettes, better than the cigarettes people used for weddings.
The happiest people at this time were the children watching the fun, squeezing through the crowd to pick up the candies that were thrown down. The older children were quick and managed to grab quite a few White Rabbit milk candies and chocolates.
Tiger, who had just turned four, couldn't compete with the older children and didn't get a single piece of chocolate, so he cried loudly in frustration.
"Tiger, don't cry, here you go!" Liu Weidong pulled the child over and gave him a big piece of chocolate with a smile.
Tiger immediately stopped crying and laughed, loudly saying to Liu Weidong, "Thank you, Uncle Weidong!"
The child's actions amused the adults around him, creating a joyful atmosphere.
With a broad smile, Liu Weidong looked up and saw Wang Shujuan gazing at him affectionately from not far away, her pretty face also beaming with happiness.
If you were to ask who the happiest person is right now, it would undoubtedly be Wang Shujuan. Just over half a year ago, she was the one struggling to support her family. She was frequently beaten and verbally abused by Liu Weidong, and her life seemed utterly hopeless.
However, in just over six months, Liu Weidong seemed like a completely different person. Not only did Wang Shujuan not have to worry about anything, but he also showed her great care and concern.
Now, she has even built a two-story villa, making Wang Shujuan feel like she is swimming in honey, and her life has become incredibly sweet.
Liu Weidong winked at his sister, then walked up to the front of the new house and announced loudly, "Today is the auspicious day for the raising of the roof beam of our new house! Thank you all for coming! I've prepared a banquet in the open space in front of the village committee. Please come and join us!"