After finishing the stove, they prepared the cornmeal for the next day's steamed buns. After a simple dinner, everyone dispersed.
The night passed without incident, and the next day arrived in the blink of an eye.
In the morning—to be precise, at 4:30 AM, while the sky was still in that half-dark, half-light state—the whole family woke up. Before 5:00 AM, Shen Wei arrived leading Xiao Lai-jie.
Following them, Eldest Aunt Xu Yongfeng and her two daughters-in-law, and Second Aunt Yao Ping and her daughter-in-law, also arrived.
Unexpectedly, Widow Zhao also arrived early with her child.
Of course, given Widow Zhao's current situation, coming early to work was far better for her than staying at her own home.
Although Wang An's family didn't actually need that many people to help with the cooking, as long as she came to work, she and her child would be able to eat a full meal this morning.
One must realize that for people who are constantly starving, the temptation of a full meal is absolutely immense; it could be said to be stronger than anything else.
Adding two more mouths to feed was a trivial matter for Wang An's family.
After all, even the daily feed for the dogs in Wang An's house was damn better than the food eaten by the vast majority of people in the village.
While saying this was ironic and made one feel particularly unbalanced, it had to be admitted: this was the truth!
Seeing Widow Zhao enter the courtyard looking very hesitant, Liu Guilan was startled for a moment, but she quickly grasped the crux of the matter and immediately said to Widow Zhao
"Cuiyun is here! Quick, quick, quick, we happen to be short of people to knead the dough. Hurry and wash your hands, then go knead the dough."
After arranging things for Widow Zhao, Liu Guilan pointed to Wang Xiaomei, Wang Xiaoli, and Xiao Lai-jie, and said with a smile to Widow Zhao's son
"Goushengzi, go lead those three to play. We'll eat once the buns are cooked."
Immediately after, the large group of women became busy.
Kneading dough, stoking the fire, squeezing water from the cabbage, cutting meat... in short, not a single person was idle.
Meanwhile, Wang Dazhu and Wang An, father and son, began feeding the livestock and poultry.
Around 5:30, the tofu shop owner arrived on his donkey cart, delivering three slabs of tofu.
By this time, the women had already put the sliced meat, dried cabbage, and dried potato slices into the pot to stew.
The "big pot meals" of this era basically consisted of cornmeal buns or flatbreads, paired with a large pot of stewed vegetables. Aside from the effort of washing the vegetables, the actual cooking wasn't difficult at all.
The moment the tofu shop owner entered the courtyard, he was shocked by the things inside. A four-wheel vehicle, a walk-behind tractor, a crawler tractor, and a sidecar—four things that were not common at all in this era, yet Wang An's family had them all.
Consequently, the phrase "Holy shit!" never stopped flowing from the tofu shop owner's mouth.
Seeing Wang An, the tofu shop owner pointed to the bricks, tiles, and agricultural vehicles in the yard, giving Wang An a thumbs-up as he said
"Not bad, brother! Your life is just too prosperous. In our DJ County, you're at least at the top of the heap."
Wang An smiled and handed over a cigarette, saying
"Hahaha... it's not as extreme as you say, brother. We've barely started."
The tofu shop owner took the cigarette and said with a serious face
"Really, brother, I'm not talking nonsense. I go door-to-door every day; there's almost nothing in the western townships of DJ County that I don't know. There's definitely no one whose life is as good as yours."
Wang An pulled a "Big Unity" ten-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it over, laughing
"Hehehe, is it really that wild? Anyway, brother, here is the money for tomorrow's tofu."
To be fair, while the tofu shop owner's words might not have been perfectly accurate, they weren't far from the truth.
While waiting for the women to collect the tofu, the tofu shop owner suddenly said to Wang An in a mysterious tone
"Brother, do you have any money-making businesses that need an errand boy? I zip around every day; just let me get a small piece of the action."
Hearing this, Wang An was momentarily stunned. He simply couldn't figure out why the tofu shop owner would suddenly say such a thing.
Since Wang An's rebirth, aside from supporting Qiao Xiaohu, which could be considered a business, he hadn't engaged in any business at all.
Seeing Wang An's confusion, the tofu shop owner put on an "I already know everything" expression and said
"People in the county are saying the 'Big Madman' has made a fortune. I've been to your village several times, and the people here say the same. So I figure you must be doing some big business or have befriended some big figures. Otherwise, I know that some of these gadgets can't be bought even if you have the money."
As he spoke, the tofu shop owner pointed again to the crawler tractor and the four-wheel vehicle.
Only then did Wang An realize that he had actually become famous in this regard, which was something he truly hadn't expected.
Seeing that the tofu had been collected, Wang An replied with casual politeness
"What business? I've just been foraging in the mountains. Anyway, brother, come inside for a bit. The food is almost ready; have a bite before you go back."
As the saying goes, "people fear fame and pigs fear being fat." Wang An didn't want to dwell on this. Besides, what business did he have? It was clearly just baseless gossip.
Seeing that Wang An wouldn't bite, the tofu owner felt embarrassed to continue and hurriedly waved his hand
"I won't impose then, brother. I won't go inside. I'll bring you more tofu tomorrow morning."
With that, the tofu shop owner drove away on his donkey cart.
Watching the tofu shop owner's departing figure, Wang An couldn't help but ponder. Luckily he had listened to the advice and decided not to build a second story; otherwise, the rumors of his sudden wealth would probably spread beyond DJ County!
Damn, just imagine the daily hassle.
While Wang An was lost in thought, the women had finished slicing a slab of tofu and put it in the pot.
Liu Guilan called out to Wang An
"Xiao An, hurry over to the building site and set off a few firecrackers to call everyone over for dinner."
Actually, eating was one thing, but this also served as a groundbreaking ceremony—or more accurately, "starting work with good luck."
However, since many superstitious practices were forbidden in this era, setting off firecrackers was the simplest way.
To put it plainly, it was to blast away the bad luck so that everyone would be safe during construction and no shitty accidents would happen.
Mainly, building a house was never a small matter; it involved many aspects and was a massive joyous event for any family.
In a lifetime, how many times can a person build a house for themselves to live in?
Hearing Liu Guilan's instruction, Wang An agreed, grabbed the sack of firecrackers and a iron shovel, and walked toward the building site to the west.
Soon, two strings of 1,000-crack "Great Earth Red" firecrackers and sixteen "Two-Step" rockets were lit by Wang An in succession.
After the firecrackers finished booming, Wang An randomly dug a few shovelfuls of earth at the site, and the entire ceremony was concluded!
(End of Chapter)