During times of famine: I have a spiritual spring space

Chapter 27 Building a Wooden House

Zhuang Liming saw Zhuang Lihui preparing to leave and asked, "Brother, are you going to help out again today?"

Zhuang Lihui nodded: "I estimate I won't be back until tonight, so don't wait for me for lunch, and also..."

After giving his instructions, he turned and left.

When they arrived at the agreed-upon place, Xiao Fan and Xiao Yu had not yet arrived. Taking advantage of this gap, Zhuang Lihui took out a large pile of peanuts from his spatial storage. They were mostly pulled from the ground, and if you got close, you could smell the fragrance of the earth.

After finishing his work, and still seeing no one arrive, Zhuang Lihui took out some dry food and three eggs from his spatial storage.

About five minutes later, Xiao Fan and Xiao Yu arrived at the agreed-upon location and saw Zhuang Lihui sitting by the roadside. They went up to him and greeted him, "Big Brother, we're here!"

"Are we picking peanuts again today?"

Zhuang Lihui saw the two of them and asked, "We're picking peanuts. Have you eaten yet?"

Xiao Fan said, "Brother, we've already eaten."

What kind of situation is this? We can only afford to eat two meals a day, and we can even burn incense and pray to Buddha. If we could eat three meals a day, would we even be able to survive in the future?

But this man had already helped them so much, they didn't dare to trouble him any further, so they had to lie.

An untimely sound came out; it turned out to be a rumbling sound coming from Xiaoyu's stomach.

Xiaoyu's face flushed red instantly, and she still tried to argue, "I'm not hungry, it's just..."

Zhuang Lihui didn't give them a chance to refuse, and directly stuffed the dry food and an egg into their hands.

Upon seeing the eggs, Xiao Fan immediately refused, saying, "Brother, eggs are so precious, we can't eat them."

After saying that, he took the egg from his sister's hand and placed it in front of Zhuang Lihui along with the one he was holding.

Xiaoyu looked at the eggs with reluctance. Although she was young, she knew how precious the eggs were, and her older brother had always helped them. She couldn't be greedy.

Zhuang Lihui said with a serious expression, "If you're not going to eat, you don't need my help."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Fan and Xiao Yu panicked and immediately compromised: "Big brother, we'll eat."

This is the family's only means of survival! If it's cut off, the family will soon run out of food and eventually won't be able to survive.

They were deeply moved to know that Zhuang Lihui was doing this for their own good, as no one, apart from their parents, had ever been so kind to them.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Why are you crying? If others see this, they'll think I'm bullying you."

He feels uneasy whenever someone cries.

The two little ones finally calmed down and ate their cornbread and eggs with great enjoyment.

Zhuang Lihui said, "You guys can start working after you finish eating. I'm going out for a bit, and I'll bring the food over again at noon."

Without giving Xiao Fan and the others a chance to refuse, they found a secluded corner and entered the space.

Today's task is to build the house. The ground has already been paved with cement, and it's already dry.

Looking at the wood on the ground, it has been planed and sanded, and all the tenons, mortises, and grooves have been pre-cut. The entire assembly was done by hand using only mortise and tenon joints, without borrowing a single iron nail.

Align the tenons at the ends of the front, back, left, and right bottom beams with the mortises and insert them into the mortises. Move the wood by hand to align them and gently tap them with wooden blocks to form the base frame of the wooden house.

Then, four load-bearing main columns were erected, with the column base tenons precisely inserted into the pre-reserved mortises on the bottom beam. The columns were then straightened and adjusted to be vertical, and temporarily supported by wooden poles.

Next, the horizontal beams are inserted, with one end tenoned into the mortise on the inside of the column, and each beam is fitted together and tightened. Then, the vertical wall panels are assembled, with the upper and lower tenons overlapping each other tightly.

After the wall is erected, the roof beams and ridge beams are placed on top, and the purlins are arranged in sequence, with all ends fixed by mortise and tenon joints. Finally, the rafters are arranged, and the joints are aligned one by one. Wooden wedges are then driven in to tighten and lock them in place. Doing it in advance makes a difference.

In less than half a day, Zhuang Lihui had already built the exterior of the house. Next, he just needed to assemble it slowly, like putting together building blocks. He estimated that it would take about the same amount of time.

I boiled a few ears of corn directly in the space. I didn't boil any eggs this time. There were more and more eggs in the space, so I put away the excess eggs to control the number. Otherwise, the entire space would be taken over by the chicken and goose army.

The corn was cooked quickly. There was already water in the gourd, but some was poured out and a little spiritual spring water was added as a reward for Xiao Fan and the others' hard work. It could relieve physical fatigue and improve their health, so it could only be said to be beneficial in every way.

After walking for a few minutes, we returned to the original spot and saw Xiao Fan and the others still diligently picking peanuts. Seeing a large bag full of picked peanuts, we knew they hadn't been slacking off.

"Let's eat something first!"

Upon hearing Zhuang Lihui's voice, Xiao Fan and the others quickly put down the peanuts they were holding and wiped the mud off their hands with grass. Not eating enthusiastically indicates a problem with their thinking!

This time, the two siblings didn't stand on ceremony and started eating the corn. Xiao Fan ate a little too quickly and choked, coughing incessantly.

Zhuang Lihui handed over the water bottle: "Eat slowly, no one will take it from you."

Xiao Fan took a few big gulps of food before recovering: "Big brother, thank you!"

"Don't mention it, we're just helping each other out."

Xiao Fan asked, "Brother, how much longer can you keep picking peanuts?"

If there are no peanuts to pick, we'll have to go back and cut down trees, which is much easier than cutting down trees. Besides, Zhuang Lihui is generous; the two of them get ten ears of corn a day, which is much more useful than money.

Having money doesn't guarantee you can buy food, but having food means you can definitely sell it for money—that's the difference between the two.

Zhuang Lihui saw through Xiao Fan's thoughts and assured him, "Don't worry, there will be enough for you to pick for a long time, until you don't want to pick anymore."

He can pick an endless supply of peanuts if he wants to, so it's not an exaggeration.

Xiaoyu said earnestly, "Big brother, I'll pick peanuts for you for the rest of my life."

Zhuang Lihui patted Xiaoyu's head: "Okay, pick peanuts for the rest of your life."

After finishing their meal, Xiao Fan and the others continued working. Zhuang Lihui found a secluded corner and entered the space, as today's task was not yet completed.

Continue to improve the house, pick up the wood and align it with the frame you just built, then fix it in place with wooden tenons.

As the amount of wood on the ground dwindled, the log cabin began to take shape. With the last piece of wood secured, the entire cabin was complete. Of course, this was only the framework; the roof and interior were still to be built!

All that's left is to nail the wooden boards on.

The three truckloads of planks he purchased were basically enough.

Not only the roof, but also the floors inside the house, he planned to use wooden planks. The fact that the spiritual spring space wouldn't get dirty was a great advantage, eliminating many concerns.

If you don't have iron nails, that's okay; you can use wooden nails, which is also a type of mortise and tenon joint. You can carve the wood into the shape of chopsticks, then drill holes in the board, nail the "chopsticks" in, and break them when they're almost in place.

Zhuang Lihui was very happy looking at the results of his labor.

Besides the house, the bed also needs to be assembled. And not just the bed, but other furniture as well. Of course, the other furniture is all ready-made, so he doesn't need to assemble it himself.