The next day, Zeng Ruixiang was about to go out when Qiu Yu came over with a message saying that Xia Yu had set the 18th of August as the date and asked Shen Shi why she was in such a hurry without even sending a notice in advance.

  "Zhou's family came over on August 14th to send holiday gifts and discussed it, saying that they had found someone to calculate it. Originally thought you would come yesterday, but didn't know you didn't come, so father let me come today to tell you, asking all of you to go over." Qiu Yu said.

  Zi Qing thought to herself, it's a good holiday, the gifts have been given, and no one has asked them to stay for dinner. Who would have the nerve to join in? But then she said something like "I thought you'd come over", looks like this Qiu Yu really knows how to talk.

  Mr. Tian had wanted his son to take a day off, but Rui Xiang said that since it wasn't arranged in advance, there was no way to notify another teacher to substitute, so he still went to school. Mr. Tian was very displeased, originally he had been counting on his son to save face for him, but there was nothing he could do.

  When Ziyun's family arrived, they found that Chunyu's family had also come. Shen Shi quickly entered the kitchen to prepare food with Zhou Shi. Zilu carried Zixi and put her on Xiaoyu's bed, while Chunyu sat on the bed holding Simao. Before long, the Zhous arrived, led by Old Lady Zhou, accompanied by her three sons, two daughters, and the matchmaker.

  Zi Qing saw Zhou Jia's second and third elders each pick a pair of red gift boxes, various pastries, four pieces of fabric, including one piece of red satin, a bundle of cotton flowers, and a set that might be silver-plated headdress, which was indeed simple.

  Ziying didn't quite understand what they were saying about changing the date, but she did catch that the wedding day was moved to February 2nd. At this time, she heard that the meal was ready, so naturally, Ziying and the others didn't have a chance to sit at the table. The old master and Yan Renda accompanied the male guests at one table, while Tian Shi, Zhou Shi, and Shen Shi accompanied the female members of the Zhou family at another table. The children were waiting for the adults to finish eating before they sat down. Ziying ate a mouthful, but didn't dare to move forward, as her older cousin's children were really too overwhelming.

  After Ziying saw Yan Renda had enough wine and food, he sat there gesturing with his hands and feet, feeling annoyed, and wanted to go home. But Shen Shi said wait until the guests are sent off, there's something to discuss with the old master.

  When Shen's family was building a house, there really wasn't a man at home, and her husband couldn't get away from work, so she wanted to ask her father to go to the construction site every day to keep an eye on things.

  Yan Ren heard this and said, "Second sister, it just so happens that I have nothing to do. Second brother is not at home, why don't I go help you take care of things? I understand about building houses, buying bricks, tiles, wood and all that. What kind of house does second sister plan to build? How much silver is she prepared to spend?"

  "How can that be, your brother's family has a lot of people too, and it's harvest season, his elder sister just gave birth to a child not long ago, let him take care of his own family first." Shen Shi refused.

  Yan Renda wanted to say something else, but the old man said: "Your sister-in-law is right, go back home and take care of your own family."

  Then asked when Shen's family would start, Shen said that the wood is now ready, and tomorrow they can go to fix the green bricks and tiles. The workers who will build the house are the same ten who built the courtyard wall last time.

  As soon as they came out of the old house, Shen brought Zi Qing to San Bao's house and told her about their own house-building plans, asking her five sons to come and help. San Bao was very happy for Shen and patted her hand, saying: "Yu Mei, San Niang is really happy for you, you've finally made it through the tough times, San Niang won't say anything else, don't worry, my sons will definitely go. I always tell them that our Zeng family in the village is a small surname with few people, so we should be more united and help each other out when something happens, outsiders won't dare to bully us at random, if there's something going on, just hide and don't get involved, what kind of family is that? You can rest assured. There's just one thing, you're not allowed to spend any more money, I know about the fabric you bought for them last time, San Niang knows it's not easy for you to settle down now. When we divided the family property, San Niang didn't help you either." She even started crying at the end.

  Zi Qing thought San Popo was particularly good at talking, really warming people's hearts, and Shen Shi accompanied her for another half day before returning home.

  The next day, the old man found the village's head builder, Luo Shifu, who often built houses for people. Together, they looked at the drawings left by Zeng Rui-xiang. The key places were explained in writing, but unfortunately, Luo Shifu was illiterate. Zi Qing took over the drawings and explained them in detail. It turned out that Zeng Rui-xiang had drawn a traditional northern Chinese quadrangle courtyard house. The main house had five rooms, facing south and sitting north. The length of the main house was sixty feet, and the width was fifteen feet. The middle room was used as a living room, with one side being slightly longer due to the need to consider the heat in the summer. The height of the house was set at nine feet, with the highest point of the roof being ten feet. The ceiling was made of wooden boards, and Zi Qing knew that houses here were all made with wooden ceilings, forming a small attic for storing firewood, straw, and other items.

  The east and west wings each have four rooms, the same size as the main house. The east wing is for living quarters, while the west wing has a kitchen. One side connects to the dining room, and the other side connects to the bathroom. Three of the rooms are connected, and the bathroom has its own independent stove for boiling water. Shen Shi dislikes washing pots and pans with oil residue, so one of the rooms adjacent to the main house is used as a study. The rear building is also four large rooms, two on each side, with a courtyard door in the middle. Originally, the entire house was shaped like a concave character, but Shen Shi thought it looked bad, so Rui Xiang later changed it by adding a gatehouse to the courtyard door, forming a complete "kou" character. The large windows all face inward and have eaves and three-foot-wide corridors. In the middle is an empty space, and the well is located outside the corridor of the kitchen door.

  Zi Qing calculated that the entire building occupies an area of about 600 square meters, with a construction area of 340 square meters. The yard has 200 square meters of empty space, not including the corridor. Luo Shifu looked at the drawings and listened to the explanation, only saying one sentence: "My dear, how much silver will this cost?"

  At this time, the third son of San Bao's family, Zeng Ruiyu, came over. The old man and Zeng Ruiyu, along with Luo Shifu, went to the only brick kiln in the town together. They first settled on the green bricks and tiles, and had a portion delivered first, with payment upon delivery.

  That afternoon, Ziqing's several uncles brought in a few carts of large stones, saying they were bought to build the foundation. The stones are more durable and cheaper than blue bricks. Zeng Rui Xiang instructed them to find them from nearby villages. Shen Shi hurriedly asked for the price and paid the silver. Several uncles said that these were not enough, and they would continue to bring more tomorrow.

  The next morning, ten workers came to work. They drew lines and laid the foundation. This time, Shen asked for their opinions and was willing to pay forty cents a day without providing meals. However, Shen usually steamed a pot of buns and stewed a pot of bone soup at noon and had them delivered to the workers, who worked even harder as a result. The wheat harvested this year had not been sold yet, which turned out to be useful now.

  Zeng Lao Yezi comes over every day to do some trivial tasks within his power, and usually stays for lunch. Shen Shi takes the time to bring Zi Lu to harvest the soybeans in the field, and it took five or six days to get everything back home. The soybean stalks were dried as firewood, just like the rape, not a bit was wasted.

  Zi Qing felt that this time was easier than harvesting rape and wheat, because the soybeans burst open after drying in the sun, so she didn't have to use a wooden mallet to pound them, saving herself a lot of effort.

  At the end of the month, Zeng Rui Xiang returned home to find that all the foundations had been laid and the slope of the clean room was also done. The old man secretly asked Zeng Rui Xiang where he got so much silver from, and upon learning it was earned from selling watermelons, praised him with a sentence, "It's still your wife who has the plan." And didn't say anything else.

  The foundation was laid, and the wall was quickly built up. After all, the green bricks were flat and didn't need to be leveled like stones before being plastered. Half a month passed, and the wing room and the inverted house were basically completed. The ground was also paved with neat green bricks. The main house still lacked a roof. At this time, it should have been necessary to hold a banquet and invite people to raise the beam, which was considered a big event.