Free Web NovelChapter 282: Chapter 282: Location
Gu Kaiyuan thought for a moment, and agreed that it made sense. They were now building a farmhouse, and constructing a garden here would indeed seem out of place.
Following Bai Suihe’s words, "I wonder what kind of fruit the madam would like? I will have someone find a way to get some saplings."
"Well, let’s look at what’s suitable to plant here?" Bai Suihe knew the varieties of fruit trees available, but was unsure if any still existed at this time. "We have such large mountains, if we plant fruit trees everywhere, we’ll need quite a lot of saplings and probably have to inquire around properly."
"I’ve already asked Lin Wei to arrange it. Even if there are none here, we’ll try to gather more from other places," Gu Kaiyuan pondered. "But since the winters here are cold, some Lingnan fruits might not be suitable. We should first see what is appropriate to plant here."
If they wanted more varieties of fruit, they’d have to travel another one or two hundred li further. When their pardon comes and Bai Suihe’s baby is born, he could take the madam and the child further ahead.
As for returning to Shangjing, Gu Kaiyuan truly had no such thought now. That place would be a place of conflict for a long time to come.
Through inquiries over the past few days, Bai Suihe roughly understood that this place was future Xiang Province, located at the junction of the Nanling and Luoxiao Mountain Ranges, but currently under Yue Province.
The most difficult seasons here were spring and autumn, with sometimes over a month of continuous rainy weather, making it exceptionally damp and cold.
Winter was even worse. Although it wasn’t as cold as the north, the warmth of the south did not quite reach here due to the mountains. Without heating stoves and fire walls, the winters were endured solely through resilience.
Bai Suihe thought that although they wouldn’t sleep on heated beds for long, it was essential to have them.
Besides combating the chill of that short period, she hoped to use these heated beds to dispel some of the dampness during rainy weather.
"By the way, when the weather warms up, there will surely be plenty of snakes, insects, mice, and ants. We should have them build the walls a bit higher," Bai Suihe was also afraid of these creatures, an inevitable part of rural life, yet she could minimize their appearance as much as possible.
"These instructions have already been given," Gu Kaiyuan also didn’t want their future life to be pried into, so he had planned from the start to build the walls higher, hoping for some boundary even while living in the countryside.
Though it might seem out of place, he didn’t want anyone casually dropping by with a bowl in hand.
Not because of disdain for others, but fearing that their quality of life might attract envy or gossip over time, and it would be better to clarify boundaries from the start than to remedy later.
After waiting several days, the construction team found by the Gu Family finally arrived in the village.
Furthermore, these were not the people Gu Kaichen had initially found; they took other jobs in nearby villages because they felt there was too little work here.
"You can’t blame the previous crew," the foreman who came to work helped by saying, "If you had given some earnest money at the time, they wouldn’t have been able to change their mind.
It’s because many people recently came to Zhang County, and most are hiring workers to build houses, so if someone offers a higher price, they make new choices."
Gu Kaichen, "He could have told me about the earnest money! Just leaving without a word left us idle for a few more days."
Primarily, he had been scolded quite a lot these few days, seeing the grand house on Gu Kaiyuan’s side almost completed while they just began excavation.
Especially not far was Zhou Gang and Chen Dafu’s families. Their houses were finished because they were small.
Zhou Gang hired villagers for work, not expecting these farmers could build houses that looked quite legitimate.
As for Chen Dafu, he was truly stingy, unwilling to hire anyone, relying solely on his sons to gradually build up their house.
Though it looked decent, Gu Kaichen was sure it wouldn’t last long; the next heavy rain would collapse that adobe and thatched house first.
He overlooked that other village homes were the same type of house, yet they lived well in the village.
"What can I say, sometimes contracting people rush the jobs," the foreman was surprised at how chatty this man was, having been talking since early morning; at first, he echoed back a few words, but he ran out of patience now.
Some understanding of why the previous foreman didn’t take the job, too hard on the ears.
"You won’t quit midway, will you?" Gu Kaichen stared doubtfully at him.
The foreman almost threw down his tools, "How could I do that? But it would be better if you could pay me some wages in advance."
Remembering the last time the workers didn’t show because he had not advanced money, Gu Kaichen readily pulled out the silver Bai Jiang gave him, "I’ll give you ten taels of silver first, make sure you and the brothers do a great job."
The foreman happily accepted the silver, "Of course, I’ll make sure the brothers work hard..."
Seeing the crew genuinely working hard and quickly completing the foundations, Gu Kaichen felt satisfied and immediately went to Bai Jiang to report.
Noticing the crew was indeed working diligently, Bai Jiang even praised, "They did a fine job, this house will be finished quickly, you’d better contact someone about the tiles."
Not knowing how long they would stay, it was only a matter of a few extra taels of silver, so of course they wanted to build a better house, more comfortable to live in.
Gu Kaichen extended his hand, "Then Dad, please give me some more silver, I’ll order it immediately."
"Didn’t I just give you ten taels of silver? Have them deliver first, and we’ll pay later."
"I just gave it to the foreman; for them to work, we had to pay upfront."
Bai Jiang saw no issue with that and handed him another 20 taels of silver, "Remember to buy more grain when you return, I thought we’d bought plenty earlier, but with so many people working, it’s running low."
Gu Kaichen readily agreed, taking the ox cart with his son out of the village.
Xu Shuanghong hesitated to speak several times, feeling that the second Gu brother was not very reliable, but given her awkward position, she could not offend anyone.
Oh well, let them do as they pleased, perhaps the Gu family could return to the capital in no time, getting what they wanted, and then she would find a way to disengage.
Facing Bai Jiang’s grim face daily, even her appetite dwindled.
"Mom," Fan Meibao cried, "my hand really hurts, I can’t do any work..."
