A century of poverty

Chapter 63 The House

After the New Year, the farm workers came back to work, and the stable yard was full of people. Team leader Liu Hongpei spoke: "The New Year is over, it's time to get back to work. Everyone, get yourselves back on track. Today we're going to harvest black soil, so go home and get your shovels! Also, the newcomers, Old Zhang, Old Qu, Xiao Tie, and Wang Faliu, come with me in a bit, we'll measure your houses."

Hearing that they had been given land and houses, the families were naturally delighted. They approached Captain Liu, who said, "Let's go!" and led them out of the east gate of the stable, heading straight north. Arriving at the west side of Old Zhao's house, Old Fu's landlord pointed to the wasteland overgrown with reeds: "Qu Huaxin, this land is yours. Twenty meters away, you can build several spacious houses, hahaha!" This was the last street on the east side of the main road, separated from the west side by a hundred meters of wasteland. A few dozen meters to the north were rice paddies, and a few dozen meters ahead were the rough paths leading to the Zhao and Fu families' houses and a ditch.

After arranging things at Old Qu's house, Captain Liu led the other three families back, leaving a path through the back street, about a hundred or two meters away from the horse stable.

From the small path below the waterline on the west side, Captain Liu stretched out and took several dozen steps east before stopping: "Wang Fa is yours now." He then drew a line on the ground with his foot.

After finishing drawing, he stood still and continued to stretch eastward, taking several dozen steps: "Here, Xiao Tie, this piece is yours." After saying that, he drew a line on the ground with his foot as usual. Wang Tie found half a brick from where Old Fu's family dumped garbage and placed it here.

Captain Liu continued walking eastward, taking several dozen steps. Just as he was about to draw a path on the ground with his foot, he looked up and said, "You can have Zhidao now, since there's no one here anyway." There was a reason for his decision. Zhidao, which was further east, was the path people often took from the east gate of the stable to the north. It wasn't even square; it was a slanted triangle, and there was a puddle there. The puddle behind it connected to Old Zhao's house on the street, but it was shallower.

The land allocated to our three families was a barren, alkali-scarred area covered with a layer of white alkali.

The water supply line to the west of Wang Fa's house site was the water supply line from the Linggan branch that irrigated a large area behind Lao Zhao's house. Standing at the location of Wang Fa's house and looking south, you can see the manure pit of the stable and the path from the back street to the stable on the west side. Looking north, you can see a low-lying area overgrown with reeds and weeds leading from Lao Fu's house to the water supply line.

Xiao Tie's house site faces south across the pit to Li Kongzhi's house behind Ma Hao, and north to Fu Jianlou's house.

Looking south from my house, across the ditch, is the east wall of an empty, straight house, two empty mud houses, and the road leading out from the east gate of the stable. Looking north, it faces the empty space between Fu Jianjiu's house and the newly approved old Qu family's house. In the northeast corner is a ditch, which is deeper in the west and shallower in the east, leading to the road. This road turns east from here, leading directly into the large paddy fields of the sixth team.

One morning, Dad strolled out of the east gate of the stable and headed north towards the newly approved house site. He saw Qu Huaxin and his two sons pushing dirt onto our house site with a dump cart. He asked him, "Why are you pushing dirt onto my house site?"

Qu Huaxin: "What do you mean 'your family'? It's like pushing a millstone to claim a plot of land; whoever claims it first gets to keep it!"

Dad: "What you're saying makes no sense. That day, Captain Liu took several families with him, and he measured and decided on the land. Your family's land was behind mine. How can you come and take over the land that was allocated to me? If it were possible to take over land arbitrarily, why would Captain Liu bother to approve it from house to house?"

Qu Huaxin: "I don't care about that, what I take is mine."

Dad: "I don't believe you. Go ahead and pave it! You're just wasting your time pushing the soil." He then turned and left.

That evening, Dad told my eldest brother about what had happened that morning. He concluded by saying, "We need to hurry. Tomorrow we should borrow two dump trucks to reinforce the house! If we don't hurry, those old Qu family might really take it from us."

The older brother said, "Okay."

The next morning after breakfast, the three of them went to the house. It seemed that Qu Huaxin hadn't continued after her father left. There were still those two mounds of dirt that her father had seen yesterday.

"It seems they left after you left yesterday, otherwise they wouldn't have left such a small amount of soil. They were afraid of wasting our time," the older brother said.

"Let them pay more, and then we'll talk," the second brother said.

"That's not how it is. We're not after any bargains. Things will be as they are," Dad said.

Eldest brother: "Look, they've come to reinforce the house too. Look at the land that was allocated to them."

Father and Second Brother looked over there and saw Old Qu leading Qu Lao Er and Qu Lao San, taking soil from the back and pushing it forward. They were building the house to be the same height as their neighbors on the east and west sides, which was going to be difficult, as their terrain was clearly like a ditch.

In this situation, the house should be built as soon as possible; there's no time to wait, lest trouble arise. The stable was originally just a place to stand, not a place for long-term residence.

Observe the local earthen house structure; all the walls are made of earth. After a layer of clean reeds is laid on the roof purlins, two more layers of woolen reeds are laid on top, and then a thick layer of soil is laid on top.

Because the terrain is low-lying and damp, the foundation of the house needs to be raised. In addition, the walls of the four rooms require a considerable amount of soil, so the immediate priority is to prepare enough soil.

Before and after work each day, the eldest brother would bring the second brother to the north edge of the Pubangkeng behind the horse stable to fetch soil and push it towards the house. The father would also often go and fill a few shovels and keep an eye on things.

In the north, Qu Lao Er and his eldest brother were about the same age, and Qu Lao San and his second brother were about the same age. Old Qu Tou, who was two years older than his father, was also working hard from dawn till dusk to build the house and prepare the soil.

Xiao Tie, my neighbor to the west, got anxious when he saw the Zhang and Qu families working together. He brought his eldest son, Xiao Wenzheng, to do the same work every day. But Xiao Tie was in poor health. He wasn't short, but he hunched over, his knees leaned forward, he had an ape-like forehead and a catfish-like mouth, his eyes were half-closed, his face was pale, and he didn't like to talk. His eldest son, seventeen or eighteen, was also short and hunchbacked, and didn't like to talk. Their progress was very slow.

Wang Fa was from our village, and we got our houses approved at the same time. Seeing that all three families were starting to prepare for construction, he approached my father and asked, "Uncle, are you building your houses?"

Father: "What can we do if we don't build? Living in the stable isn't a long-term solution. The house has already been approved; if we don't build, it might get lost, which would be even more troublesome. And you? Haven't I seen you bulldozing?"

Wang Fa: "What am I supposed to do? I have no money and no strength. I'll just wait and see." One night in a big month, the eldest and second eldest brothers were pushing soil, and Dad was using a shovel to scatter clods of earth on the ground.

On the other side, Xiao Tie and his son, Xiao Wenzheng, were handling the dump cart, with his father assisting. As they reached the roof, Xiao Wenzheng lunged forward, causing Xiao Tie to stumble. Xiao Tie then proceeded to punch his son repeatedly in the head, cursing, "You bastard, didn't you see me? You're just barging in like a madman..." Xiao Wenzheng remained silent, letting him punch him until he pushed the cart to load more soil. Xiao Tie continued cursing, "I don't care anymore, you bastard, do it yourself..." After he finished cursing, he stood there, shovel propping his chin, looking eastward.

A moment later, he came to his father's side and stammered, "Uncle."

"Hey! You two are taking a nap too?" Dad replied.

"Hmm, I heard he came to take this place from you?" Xiao Tie pointed northwards, pushing the land with his chin towards the Qu family.

Dad: "Hmm, what's he like? I heard you're from the same hometown, both from Lingyuan?"

Xiao Tie: "Who's from the same hometown as him? That old 'Kuomintang' was sent down from Beipiao to our Yingzhangzidi. He's no ordinary guy. He caused trouble for everyone back home and couldn't stay there, so he came here. You're right not to let him take it from me; I wouldn't want to be his neighbor!"

"Oh, I also heard that you all came to Old Liu's house at the east end!"

"It's my fourth brother, Xiao Cai. When he was a migrant worker here, he worked for the old man (Liu Shiheng) and stayed at his house. That's how we met."

"How did Lao Qu get to know them?"

"I don't know how that old bastard knows us. He's cunning and sly, always trying to curry favor with everyone—the old man even went to my fourth brother's house."

Hearing Xiao Tie say this, they have some clues about their relationship with Dongtou.

The earth for the walls is ready, but straw is also essential. Use as much straw as possible for the walls of the four rooms to increase their strength. Dad told Mom that the rotten rice stalks shouldn't be burned, but kept as straw; the rice straw shouldn't be burned either, but kept for making straw bags. The children should gather firewood for the stove pit.

Reeds for roofs are easy to buy; there's no shortage of reeds here. You can often see large trucks carrying reeds traveling from west to east on the county road.

Timber isn't produced here, so we need to buy it. After inquiring, Liu Shifu said, "There's no shortage of timber. Go east to Shaling and Tangshu, and you'll find plenty. The further east you go, the more you'll get." My father personally took a trip east by carriage, and it was true. Further east, in Dazhang and Gaolifang, the timber was even cheaper than in Shaling and Tangshu. Once we bought everything, we could bring it back in a small team of horse-drawn carts.

Everything is settled now; the first thing we need to prepare is money.

The family's points covered a year's worth of food rations, leaving them with only a few dozen yuan. After deducting the loans from the previous year, the remaining food rations weren't much either. Li Kong had already lent the two hundred yuan he brought from his hometown to his eighth uncle. Even with that two hundred yuan, it wouldn't be enough to build a house; they'd need to borrow more. But who could they borrow from? They'd have to go to Shangguanli again. Being new to the Northeast, they were strangers; it wouldn't be easy to borrow money without prior connections.

Dad said that I should write a letter to my eldest sister first, explaining the situation clearly.

Not long after, the eldest sister replied. It was brought back from the brigade by the bald man. The envelope had been opened, but the letter inside was still intact.

The reply essentially said that they understood the situation, and that Dad didn't need to come back to borrow money; they would bring it over themselves. The family had been separated for so long and missed each other dearly. Now that the weather was warmer, my second sister and I would take the children to Northeast China for a visit and stay for a few days.

Regarding the initial expenses for building the house, we can ask Uncle Kongzhi for the 200 yuan he borrowed. I heard he went back home after the New Year. We will go and get the money as soon as possible so as not to cause any problems.

This is good news; Dad believes what my eldest sister wrote in her letter. The whole family is very happy; my eldest and second eldest sisters are coming soon, and the family will soon be reunited.

Especially for us, mother and children, it's as if their arrival can quench our longing for our hometown and sweep away all the grievances we suffered in Jinhai.