Yan Laoer took Qi Si to a brick-burning house on the edge of Xiqiao Town.
The person in charge is a very energetic old man. He is skinny and skinny, with an unusual red or black color on his face and hands.
"Young man, I look so strange to you, where are you from?"
"Old man, we just settled here. You know the forest to the north of the town? To the west of the forest, at the foot of the wasteland mountain, the great master has allocated that land to us, and we plan to build a house there."
"Oh, the wasteland in Linxi, are you planning to open up wasteland there?" The old man knew the identity of the visitor as soon as he heard it, and he also knew the policies for resettling the refugees.
Yan Laoer said: "Yes, I plan to build a brick house. Lao Li from Hujucheng Kuaiban introduced me to buy bricks."
The old man glanced at him a few times, then looked at Qi Si, and said: "My eldest son has gone to work as a corvee, and now my youngest son and I are busy. Li Ma, please tell you no. I am slow to produce bricks. How much do you want?"
"
"I asked around before I came here and they said they have blue bricks and red bricks. I wonder what they cost?"
"Green bricks are not easy to bake. If you go fast, you can only produce one kiln every half a month. I am a small kiln and only have 10,000 bricks at a time. When the red bricks go well, I can fire them three times a month."
Blue bricks are more expensive, while red bricks are cheaper.
Seeing that you are also inexperienced, the old man will talk to you a few more words.
The blue bricks are strong and frost-resistant. If they are directly exposed to the outside, they will be fine in strong winds and rain.
Red bricks are not good. If you are building a wall, you have to put mud on the outside, otherwise the bricks will loosen in ten or twenty years.
There are some very particular families who use blue bricks for their kangs. It’s not necessary, just red bricks. The old man thinks it’s warmer than those made of blue bricks.
You want to build a masonry house, have you gone to the quarry?"
"No, I plan to leave from here and go over again."
"Then you went the other way. Go to the quarry first and see how much scrap they sell you, and then come to me to order bricks. If they can give you more evenly, you can save a lot on the bricks." The old man said.
The honest way.
Yan Laoer: "Old man, I can't come here in vain. Can you book it for me first? Book it for our two families first. Then I will ask others later. Even if we build a house for the hundred or so households, we don't need it."
, the Kang bed is suitable for both young and old, take a look, we have ordered a lot, can it be cheaper?"
The old man stared. He hadn't said how many cars he wanted, so why should he negotiate the price first?
"A blue brick costs seven cents, and a red brick costs one cent."
"Can you please calculate how many bricks I need to build a house?" Yan Laoer asked.
The old man said: "It depends on how many houses you want to build. If it's six houses, it's almost 40,000 yuan. If it's three houses, it's 20,000 yuan. How many houses will you build?"
"Six rooms."
"What about his house?" The old man pointed at Qi Si.
Yan Laoer answered helpfully: "His house will be divided into three rooms first."
The old man could tell who was the talker.
Then he said to Yan Laoer: "I will give you half of the measurement here first. When you come back from the quarry, you can tell me the exact number."
"By the way, old man, do you burn coal here? How do you sell coal? Is it expensive?"
"Why are they not expensive? One hundred catties are one cent for three cents. When winter comes, they will be sold for one cent and five cents." The old man sighed: "Don't think my bricks are expensive. My family will only earn one cent."
"Is it okay to burn charcoal?"
“Charcoal is even more expensive, costing three cents per hundred catties, and three cents and five cents in winter.
I don't need it as a brick-burner, it's just for ordinary people to cook, it's less cigarette-burning and won't choke people."
Yan Laoer smiled, showing his white teeth.
"Then I'll order 20,000 green bricks and 20,000 red bricks first, and I'll calculate the cheaper price."
The old man said: "They are all real prices. You have not made false claims. In this way, Qingzhuan will give you one penny and six."
"Old man, we will have a lot of bricks over there in the future. Please give us some more space to attract repeat customers."
Old man: How can your family still build a house every day?
But he was also afraid that these people would go to Dongqiao Town on the Gufeng side to buy it. They said they were two big mansions, but they were actually very close to each other.
If you don't mind the long journey, go to Changning, where there are several brick-burning companies. Their brick kiln is small and the bricks are produced slowly.
Seeing the old man's hesitation, Yan Laoer decisively killed him with a knife: "Old man, the blue brick is twenty thousand and thirty cents, and the red brick is twenty thousand and eighteen cents. What do you think of the total of forty-eight cents?"
The old man calculated silently for a while, and found that the price was four cents less than the price he quoted.
I feel so distressed.
"Pay half of the deposit first."
"Okay!" Yan Laoer agreed happily. "I didn't bring it with me today. I'll give you the money tomorrow."
The old man nodded in understanding.
Anyone who can carry dozens of coins out will not be allowed to die.
Yan Laoer and Qi Si left the brick factory and went straight to the quarry.
On the way, Qi Si said: "Brother Yan, I brought some money."
Yan Laoer chuckled and said, "I brought it too, but I don't want to give it to you today. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
He planned to go to the quarry to see if the settlement was done in copper coins. If so, he would exchange the silver for copper plates and then pay with copper plates to make a profit.
…
The homestead foundations on the east, west, and north sides have been drawn, and the families who have not yet been assigned the homestead sites gathered at the big rock. Village Chief Luo held a straw stick of different lengths, hid the tail, and asked everyone to draw lots.
.
Whichever one is the longest will be picked first.
Yan Yu squeezed in to join in the fun. She climbed up the big rock and stood tall, so no one paid attention.
After comparing the longest one, the person cheered and ran with his family to the place of his choice.
Once things are put away, the land is considered occupied.
What caught her attention was Grandma Rong.
Her father secretly found her last night and wanted her to take over the homestead closest to the mountain.
as their secret warehouse.
Grandma Rong's luck didn't seem to be very good, and the straw stick in her hand was very short.
Yan Yu was secretly anxious.
But as she looked at it, she felt that her worries were a bit unnecessary.
The closer the homestead is to the center of the village, the more popular it is.
In the end, Grandma Rong easily took over the homestead near the foot of the mountain.
Looking at the back of Grandma Rong carrying the bamboo basket, Yan Yu fell into deep thought.
It seems that they also want to build a house for Grandma Rong...
Not too small.
Yan Yu counted the money.
Not the entire Yan family, but their small family.
Sadly, I found that I didn’t have much private money.
Probably we can only use the most economical method to build an adobe house for Grandma Rong.
…
At noon, Yan Laoer and Qi Si came back.
The two men happily pulled half a cart of stones.
He was immediately surrounded by the villagers.
Qi Si moved down and he introduced others.
"These are all scraps. One hundred cents per cart. Their cart is small. It's full of rubbish. That's all I have in my car.
You don’t have to choose the size, just put whatever you want on it.”
Someone asked: "Yan Er, are there many stones like this in the quarry?"
Yan Er nodded and shook his head, "The big ones are less, the smaller ones are more."
He pulled out another thin stone slab and showed it to everyone: "There is another one like this. The steward of the quarry said that this kind of stone slab can be used for the kang."
What Yan Laoer didn't say was that he also planned to use this kind of stone slabs to pave the floor.
What's wrong with the irregular shapes? This is called the art of splicing.