1983, Northeast China

Chapter 45 Repairing the Old House

Yaya received her new cotton-padded coat the night before and was so excited that she didn't fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

He kept talking to Chen Xiulan and Aunt Wang, overjoyed and unable to share his happiness. He even brought the white tail tip to him and showed it off for a long time.

The next day, when Chen Shi got up, he saw that she was sleeping soundly. Chen Xiulan and Aunt Wang also tacitly did not wake her up and cooked quietly.

Chen Shi pulled Li Cheng out of bed.

Li Cheng's hair was a mess from sleeping, and his eyes were still closed. Last night, he was just as excited as Ya Ya.

"What's going on? Have those bastards come into the village again? I'm going to sleep a little longer until they get inside."

"They're cleaning up the old house."

"Oh." Li Cheng breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that it was about this, and reached for the blankets again. "No rush, the old house isn't going anywhere."

Chen Shi picked up his socks and threw them at his face. "Last night, I don't know which of Ya Ya's uncles promised to build a stove for Ya Ya."

Li Cheng took the sock off his face, sat up abruptly, still muttering to himself, but his hands moved much faster.

"You're so boring, trying to intimidate me with a little kid."

"You agreed to it yourself, so who's to blame?" Chen Shi said. "My godmother said she was coughing and was afraid of infecting the child, so she went home to sleep. You're warm here, though."

Li Cheng didn't say anything more, quickly tidied up, and followed Chen Shi out the door.

The old house has three mud-brick rooms that have been uninhabited for about half a month. When you enter, the feeling is... not exactly desolate, but a bit sloppy.

The hinges of the courtyard gate creaked when pushed, and the firewood shed was piled haphazardly with firewood that Chen Shi had chopped before winter, some of it not stacked neatly and just lying around.

Half a hemp rope hung at the entrance to the main room. The latch was broken. In the past, Chen Shi would just hang a hemp rope as a latch to save trouble when going in and out.

The house was quite large, but it looked like a makeshift place for a single guy.

The kang (heated brick bed) in both rooms was cluttered with messy things, and the windows were covered with old newspapers, the edges of which had been blown open by the wind. It looked like Chen Mancang had covered them up before.

Half a bag of corn husks lay in the corner, and less than half a meter away, there was a pair of frozen, stiff cotton shoes.

"You used to live like this?" Li Cheng clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Hmm." Chen Shi rolled up the old quilt on the kang and put it aside.

"I'm not saying this out loud, but even if a rat came into your house, I'd curse it out." Li Cheng also wanted to do something, but after wandering around for a while, he didn't know where to start.

Chen Shi climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), looked at the window paper, pressed it down with his hand, and found it was still drafty. "I used to live alone, and all I needed was a place to sleep."

"And now?"

"Now we need to make it feel like a home."

Li Cheng scratched his head, suddenly unsure how to respond to that.

He knew what Chen Shi was like before. This time when he came back, he felt that Chen Shi had matured all of a sudden. It was as if he had seen through many things and didn't care about them anymore. His heart and eyes were only focused on the few family members in front of him.

Han Changgui's death had a significant impact on Chen Shi. In his opinion, Han Changgui died too late. If that Han had died earlier, Chen Shi would have followed him and lived a good life.

Chen Shi only saw Li Cheng standing there in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking, so he called out to him and started assigning tasks.

"First, we need to get the kang (heated brick bed) and stove ready. If the kang isn't warm, neither the old nor the young can live there. Then we need to paper the windows, replace the door latches, and repair the courtyard wall. As for the doghouse, I'm thinking of putting it in a spot that's visible from both the front gate and the woodshed."

Li Cheng was completely bewildered. "Speak slowly, I only have two hands."

"Go to the back of the mill and dig up some yellow mud. If you can't carry it all, come back a few more times. I told Uncle Zhao about the grass yesterday, and he'll have someone send some wheat straw over later."

"What about nails, window paper, and stuff like that?"

"I traded fish and rabbits, and I'll make a note of what's left over and get more later."

"Sure, now you can write down the accounts without batting an eye, just open your mouth and write it down."

Chen Shi glanced at the money and goods he had obtained in exchange for the sable fur. It gave him confidence, but he wouldn't tell the villagers or let people like Tian Youshan get a whiff of it.

A short while later, Zhao Defa arrived with Sanzhu and Old Scarface.

Sanzhu carried a bundle of wheat straw, while Lao Batou carried half a bag of broken bricks.

Zhao Defa entered the courtyard and looked around for a while. "Did people live in this house before?"

Li Cheng quickly interjected, "He lives there, but whether he's like a human being or not is another matter."

Chen Shi raised his foot to kick him, but Li Cheng seemed to have anticipated this and dodged to the side. "I'm not bragging, but apart from my mother, no one can ambush me."

Zhao Defa sighed, "When your father was alive, this house was always so tidy. Later, when you lived alone, you just muddled through. But things are different now. You have to live like a man."

Old Scarface put the broken bricks on the ground. "The team leader said your stove and kang (heated brick bed) need to be repaired. I'll do it for you so you young people don't know how and mess things up."

"That's great! Uncle's skill in making kang (heated brick beds) is second to none. Chen Shi, how did you manage to get Uncle to agree to it?"

"Mancang helped me back then, so helping him with this little thing is nothing."

Sanzhu also said, "That time in Houhegou, if you hadn't seen through the chicken's intestines, my son would have gone even further. My mother asked me to come and lend a hand."

Li Cheng winked smugly at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi ignored his maniacal behavior. "There's nothing much to offer. We'll have a pot of fish soup for lunch, and plenty of cornbread."

"Who's after your food?" the old scarred man said, already starting to tidy up the bits of dirt around the kang (a heated brick bed). "But put extra salt in the fish soup, I like it salty."

Someone passed by outside the yard and stood by the fence for a couple of glances.

"Is the Chen family going to renovate again?"

"It seems that Chen Shi has become quite assertive lately."

"It's better to stand up straight than to be like that before. If that bastard hadn't stopped us, we might have gotten much closer."

Some people can't stand seeing others do well, and they say sour things like, "Where did all that stuff come from, pasting up the windows and making the whole kang (heated brick bed)?"

Someone nearby immediately chimed in, "He's just fishing and catching rabbits to make money. If you're envious, go and meet those scoundrels yourself; you could build a villa that way."

The person who was being criticized fell silent. Chen Shi heard these words but pretended not to hear them. People in the village couldn't keep quiet. Some were simply envious, some were jealous, and some would even have bad intentions.

Li Cheng carried yellow mud in, his shoes covered in mud, leaving footprints all over the room, and was scolded by Old Scarface.

Sanzhuzi was also skilled at his work. He chopped the wheat straw into short pieces, mixed it with yellow mud, and used it to smooth out the seams of the kang (a heated brick bed).

Chen Shi cut the new window paper, then removed the old newspapers and smoothed them out layer by layer with cornmeal paste.

After Li Cheng finished picking out the yellow mud, he came over to help press down the paper. He probably had never done such delicate work before, because he immediately pressed down a few folds.

Chen Shi clicked his tongue in disapproval. "What are you doing, pasting up the windows or something?"

Li Cheng looked down and saw, "The paste is thick and has wrinkles."

Old Scarface was laughing so hard he was coughing.

With the original foundation in place, the stove and kang (heated brick bed) only needed minor repairs, without major changes. Around noon, I tried burning some firewood.

After lighting the fire, smoke came out of the crack, so Sanzhu quickly added more grease to seal it up, and the kang (heated brick bed) slowly warmed up.

The room gradually warmed up.