PNB Chapter 247 The Stilted House is on Fire
Chapter 247 The Stilted House is on Fire
Without further ado, the two cleared out five acres of land along the river to the east to prepare for construction.
The inn is designed as a two-story building. There are no villagers living at the foot of the mountain to the east, so the place is quite spacious!
Next to the inn, Gao Mengli planned to plant a plum grove, but when she asked the price, it was about two taels of silver per tree, so she gave up the idea.
After all, Pingyao doesn't have plum trees, so they have to ask a security escort agency to buy them from other prefectures, which is a long and time-consuming process.
Let's leave it at that for now.
Given the size of the inn, the total cost would be approximately five hundred taels.
However, there are standard rooms and superior rooms, and then the money won't be enough.
The finest sandalwood used in the upper-class rooms alone costs five hundred taels of silver to build just two rooms.
Lin Xi looked at her money box and sighed repeatedly. After taking out two thousand taels, more than half of her money box was gone.
Gao Mengli couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw Lin Xi's greedy look.
After all, his daughter Xixi has always said she wants a gold or silver bed, but so far, there's not even a hint of that. No wonder he sighs!
Dou Weiyi attached great importance to his first inn in the county town, but unfortunately he had to go to the prefectural city to report on his duties at the end of autumn, so he didn't have time to supervise the construction.
Together with Tang Guangjun from the neighboring Pingding County, they went to Ling'an Prefecture.
Zhuangzhuang and Yang Qiao'er also got married. Gao Mengli and Lin Xi went for a stroll and ate at the banquet with eight large bowls of food. It was the first time they had ever joined in the fun.
The weather was getting colder and colder. Everyone slept peacefully that night, but in the middle of the night, a loud shout suddenly rang out.
"It's on fire, it's on fire!"
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi opened their eyes at the same time, rolled out of bed, dressed, and rushed outside.
Just as I stepped out of the courtyard, I saw flames shooting into the sky from one of the stilted houses on the west side.
Da Niu and A Li quickly grabbed the wooden buckets and rushed outside, with Gao Mengli and Lin Xi following closely behind, carrying wooden basins as well.
The fire raged, sparks flew everywhere, and the night sky was dyed crimson by the flames.
Gao Mengli was extremely anxious. As she ran, she shouted, "Everyone, don't panic! Splash the water in an orderly manner!"
The wind fanned the flames, causing them to leap higher and higher. A bucket of water poured on the fire would instantly turn into steam, having little effect.
Seeing this, Lin Xi had a sudden inspiration and shouted, "Let's clear away the flammable materials around us to prevent the fire from spreading!"
Everyone quickly did as instructed, and Da Niu and A Li used hoes to vigorously clear away the piles of firewood and debris near the stilted house.
Gao Mengli, along with several strong young men, went around to the back of the building in an attempt to stop the fire from spreading backward.
At this moment, the other villagers were also awakened and rushed to help.
Buckets and wooden basins were passed from hand to hand among the crowd, like a relay race.
With everyone working together, the fire gradually subsided, and it was extinguished at dawn.
The three connected stilted houses were all burned to ashes.
Du Hao was covered in soot and dirt, and the fire brought him back to where he was before the poverty alleviation efforts began.
She collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably: "My house! This is all the savings I've worked so hard to accumulate this year!"
The weeping was so moving that those who heard it were moved to tears, and those who heard it were heartbroken.
Dele, this is the aggrieved party, as everyone knows.
Lin Xi, covered in dust and dirt, knelt down beside Du Hao and gently patted his back to comfort him.
"Don't be too sad. The greatest blessing is that everyone is safe and sound. We'll find a way to rebuild the house, even if it's gone."
Gao Mengli stepped forward, her expression grave: "Alright, stop howling. How did your house catch fire in the middle of the night?"
Upon hearing this, Du Hao sobbed and looked up, his face streaked with tears and soot, and stammered an explanation:
"It's getting cold, and the wooden houses are quite cold at night."
So when I went to bed today, I lit a charcoal fire and forgot to put bricks under the iron basin.
He drifted off to sleep and forgot to put out the fire. When he woke up, he found that the wooden board under the iron basin was on fire, but it was too late...
Upon hearing this, everyone sighed.
The village chief shook his head helplessly and advised, "Du Hao, learn from your mistakes. Be extra careful with fire in the future."
Lin Xi and Gao Mengli were speechless.
It's incredibly lucky that this person didn't die from burning charcoal while sleeping at night.
However, winter is still a few days away, and heating is indeed a big problem.
Lin Xi tugged at Gao Mengli's sleeve: "Mengli, how about we ask the people in the back mountain to make some small iron stoves with chimneys for us?"
Gao Mengli's eyes lit up, and she nodded in agreement: "That's a good idea. With a chimney, we can both keep warm and expel carbon monoxide, which is much safer. Let's go to the back mountain to discuss it at dawn."
After all, they still have coal.
In addition, we didn't dare to use the iron before, but now it's different. Dou Weiyi has taken over, and there are professional blacksmiths and forges, so there shouldn't be any problems.
Moreover, it only requires a small iron stove for heating, so it doesn't use much iron ore.
The village chief, seeing the two whispering to each other, didn't want to disturb them.
With a wave of his hand, he ordered everyone to help clean up the site and rebuild three stilted houses.
As for the cost of the house, it will be temporarily paid to Du Hao on credit. After all, the village has income from the brick kiln and the Guanyin Temple, and the village coffers are bulging—they're incredibly wealthy! They can afford it!
Upon hearing that they were going to rebuild a house for him, Du Hao immediately stopped crying and started laughing. He quickly got up from the ground and joined in the cleaning.
Money can be earned again. There's plenty of work in the village, so he can take on several jobs and pay off the house construction costs as soon as possible.
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi returned home and boiled water for Da Niu to wash up first, since he still had to go to school!
Lin Xi looked at the disheveled and dirty-looking Da Niu in the bathtub and couldn't help but feel angry: "You're still a child, but you're always there for any excitement. Do you want to fly to the moon?"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Da Niu hung his head and explained in a low voice, "I heard someone shouting 'fire,' and all I thought about was how I could help. I didn't think about anything else..."
Lin Xi sighed helplessly, her tone softening: "Alright, don't go joining in the fun next time. I really don't know who you've driven away with your personality..."
Suddenly Lin Xi stopped. He and Gao Mengli were the "kings of gossip," always the two of them wherever there was excitement.
When it came to educating his children, Lin Xi found himself choking back tears.
Finally, he walked out of the bathroom looking constipated and unhappy.
Gao Mengli laughed incessantly when she saw this, but Lin Xi glared at her, and Gao Mengli immediately shut up.
She quickly went to Da Niu's room to find clean clothes to change her dead child.
It would have been better if we hadn't changed it; once we did, we discovered our own negligence.
Big Niu is growing very fast; he's already up to her trap now!
The sleeves of the clothes were too short, and the trouser legs hung above the ankles, clinging tightly to Da Niu's body, looking very awkward.
Da Niu didn't seem to care at all; once he put on his boots, the shortness of his trousers was completely hidden.
When practicing martial arts, you need to tie your sleeves, so once you tie them with straps, you can't tell that the sleeves are too short.
Given that the clothes were lined with fleece for winter, Gao Mengli felt it was normal for them to feel tight.
This is not normal, it's clearly too small and tight!
Gao Mengli poked Da Niu's forehead: "You brat, why didn't you say the clothes were too small?"
Da Niu scratched his head and chuckled, "I think it's alright, not too much of a problem, I can wear it. Besides, Mom, it's a cotton dress, just made this year, it would be a shame not to wear it."
Hearing this, Gao Mengli felt both gratified and heartbroken.
She held Da Niu's hand and said, "Silly child, you can't make do with clothes that are too small. Not only will they be uncomfortable, but they will also affect your growth. No matter how new the clothes are, they are useless if they don't fit."
Lin Xi's voice came from the courtyard: "Alright, go to school now. When you come back, I'll take you to your great-aunt's to take your measurements and make you two new outfits."
"Ugh!"
Da Niu happily responded to his father.
His father definitely loves him!