Era-Ch34

Chapter 34: The Carpenter’s Attitude

“Dad, has the house orientation been decided?”

When Lin Heng saw his father and the feng shui master enter the house together, he asked curiously.

Caiyun poured tea for the two of them. After Lin’s father took a sip of water, he said, “It’s been decided. The house will face southeast, with the back facing northwest. The piles have already been nailed down, so we just need to build according to the direction.”

“The orientation is already the best, but there are still some minor negative aspects. Just hang a mirror on the door, and everything will be fine,” said the old man in yellow clothes, Lin Heng’s uncle.

“Got it,” Lin Heng nodded, still feeling some excitement about building the new house.

After a sip of water and with mealtime approaching, a man in his fifties appeared at the door, carrying a pile of tools.

When Lin’s father saw him, he quickly walked over to greet him, his face full of smiles. “Carpenter Liang, you’re here! Come in and have some tea; dinner will be ready soon.”

“Hello, Uncle Liang!” Lin Heng and his elder brother Lin Yue greeted him with smiles, helping him carry the tools.

“Well, your place is really out of the way. I spent a long time looking for it,” Liang Gui said flatly, his tone indifferent, but carrying a sense of pride.

Carpenters were considered skilled workers in this time, and wherever they went, they had to maintain a certain air of superiority. When you paid for their services, you still had to consider their mood.

“Of course, it’s not as convenient as Baima Village,” Lin’s father responded, not offended, but smiling.

Baima Village was a bit closer to Huangtan Town than their Fengshu Village, but the place wasn’t as good as Fengshu Village. However, he didn’t say that part aloud.

Liang Gui sat down to drink some water and glanced at the old man in yellow sitting nearby. “You must be Lu Fuping, Master Lu, right?”

“Haha, yes, I didn’t expect you to recognize me,” the old man laughed heartily.

“Of course, Master Lu, you’re famous as a feng shui master in these parts. Who wouldn’t know you?” Liang Gui smiled, and they began to chat casually, appearing quite friendly.

This was completely different from how he treated Lin Heng and others. Since Lin Heng’s uncle was a capable man, Liang Gui’s attitude was naturally different.

Lin’s father continued to join the conversation intermittently, but Liang Gui’s responses to him were still rather indifferent.

After a while, Liang Gui spoke up, saying, “I agreed to work for one dollar a day because you know someone, but don’t delay the payment after I’m done. Pay me in full when the work is finished.”

“Of course, Carpenter Liang, don’t worry. We’ll settle everything on time,” Lin’s father replied, smiling.

Back then, building a house required a carpenter for everything, from processing wood to making furniture. It wasn’t like in the future when industrialization allowed you to buy everything you needed.

Liang Gui would stay at Lin Heng’s home for at least ten days, helping with furniture making and wood processing.

“As long as the payment is settled, that’s fine,” Liang Gui nodded, saying this in a flat tone.

In fact, the main reason was that the Lin family didn’t have much money. The carpenter’s fee was low because they had used their connections to get a good deal.

If they had offered two dollars a day, every carpenter in Huangtan Town would have fought for the job, and their attitude would have been quite different.

Lin Heng understood this completely, so he didn’t say anything, silently increasing his desire to make money.

“Dinner is ready, wipe the table and let’s eat!”

Lin’s mother called out, and Lin Heng stood up to wipe the table and get the wine jug ready.

Soon, Xiulan and the others brought the dishes. Since there were guests, the children couldn’t sit at the table, so Caiyun took them to eat in the kitchen.

Only the adults sat at the dining table.

Liang Gui wasn’t expecting much from the Lin family’s food. After all, they had negotiated a price for the carpenter, so the food couldn’t be anything special.

Lin Heng’s uncle, Lu Fuping, also had the same thought.

However, once they sat down, both of them were surprised. Not only was there meat, but there were also two dishes.

One was stir-fried sauerkraut with cured pork, and the other dish was meat that they didn’t immediately recognize.

“Uncle, Carpenter Liang, this is the rabbit that Lin Heng hunted yesterday. You should try it. We don’t have much in terms of dishes to offer,” Lin’s father smiled and introduced.

“Lin Heng can hunt?” Lu Fuping, the old man, was visibly shocked. He remembered Lin Heng as a notorious layabout.

Liang Gui also found it hard to believe. He hadn’t heard much about the Lin family, but Lin Heng’s reputation as a lazy person had spread to the neighboring village. How could he suddenly know how to hunt?

“He learned archery in the city and recently came back to hunt in the mountains. He’s getting the hang of it,” Lin’s father smiled, trying to erase Lin Heng’s reputation as a layabout by introducing him in a more positive light.

“Yes, my brother has been hunting quite a lot lately—wild chickens, pheasants, rabbits, all sorts of things,” Lin Yue smiled and added. He shared the same sentiment as their father and didn’t want Lin Heng to keep carrying the layabout label.

“That’s good, hunting can provide for the family. Keep at it,” Lu Fuping said, patting Lin Heng’s shoulder, genuinely pleased.

“Not bad, you’ve got some skill,” Liang Gui also smiled and agreed, though he didn’t think much of it. He figured Lin Heng had just been lucky in his hunting.

Lin Heng was touched by his father and elder brother’s efforts to change his image. He truly wanted to help his family become prosperous and stop living in such poverty.

Even simple things like hiring a carpenter made people look down on you.

During the meal, everyone chatted and laughed. Lin Heng was eating away, and he almost finished the entire plate of cold mixed vegetables by himself.

After dinner, Lin Heng’s uncle, Lu Fuping, was about to leave. Despite some polite insistence to stay, he finally left.

It was just politeness. There was no room in the house, and with another carpenter around, it was impossible to accommodate an extra person. Everyone understood this.

Although Carpenter Liang was somewhat arrogant, his work attitude was still fine. After the meal, he went outside to strip bark from the trees, preparing to saw the wood.

Lin’s father helped him, assisting where needed.

Lin Heng and his elder brother Lin Yue continued to work on the water well. They carried stones from the mountain behind the house to build a stone ring around the well.

This was to prevent the soil inside the well from eroding and making the well shallower over time.

Lin Heng wasn’t skilled at stonework, so he just helped by carrying stones for his elder brother to build.

“Phew, luckily the well isn’t too deep or large. We finished in one afternoon,” Lin Yue sighed around 5 p.m.

“Elder brother, you go rest. I’ll finish the rest,” Lin Heng said with a smile, as the work was indeed tiring.

Now the well was finished, and the ground around it was encircled with large stone slabs, raising it 30 cm above the ground.

However, because the spring kept flowing, a water outlet had to be made to allow the water to flow out, or it would overflow.

This was different from an underground water well.

But for Lin Heng, it wasn’t difficult. He found a bamboo tube with a 10 cm diameter and used it to create an outlet.

The well was located at the innermost part, close to the mountain, and the terrain was already 30 cm higher than the outside. Creating the outlet was easy.

Once it was done, a stream of water the size of a baby’s arm began flowing out, and soon the water in the well became clear.

Looking at the clear water, Lin Heng nodded in satisfaction. It was looking great.

He planned to dig the fish pond in the next couple of days, raise some grass carp fry, and then move on from there.

Just as he was preparing to rest in the yard for a while, his sister-in-law Liu Juan came over.

Seeing Lin Heng, she seemed hesitant, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Sister-in-law, is there something you need?” Lin Heng asked directly, not bothering with small talk.

“Lin Heng, I talked too much this morning. Please don’t take it to heart. I owe you an apology. Can you tell me how to catch those cicada nymphs?” Liu Juan forced a smile.

End of chapter.