Traditional customs can sometimes be truly harmful!
Here, people can't sleep in on the first day of the Lunar New Year because "sleeping in on the first day of the Lunar New Year means being lazy all year." So everyone gets up before dawn, makes dumplings, sets off firecrackers, eats dumplings, and then goes back to sleep.
It's utterly pointless!
However, at times like these, one's own father is unreasonable.
Jiang Youliang insisted on eating dumplings at six o'clock in the morning, so his son Jiang Xiaoman had no choice but to get up in the dark and follow his father to cook dumplings.
Fortunately, the dumplings were made last night, so they only need to be cooked quickly.
However, none of the three had much of an appetite. They barely managed to eat a small bowl. Jiang Youliang saw that his son's eyelids were drooping with sleep, so he waved his hand at him and said, "Go to sleep. I'll wash the dishes."
Jiang Xiaoman felt like she had been granted a pardon. She went back to her room, took off her clothes and shoes, and buried herself in the still-warm bed. After a couple of snuggles, with a belly full of dumplings, she drifted off to sleep...
I slept straight through until 3 p.m. on the first day of the Lunar New Year!
When I woke up, it was bright outside. I drew back the curtains and saw a world covered in snow, a scene of pure white beauty.
No wonder you slept so soundly!
Strangely enough, perhaps due to Jiang Xiaoman's constitution, his sleep quality is always exceptionally good whenever it rains or snows.
After getting dressed and going outside, I saw that the snow in the yard had accumulated to more than ten centimeters!
"Oh! Luckily, we built a new house this year. If we were still living in the old house, what if the roof collapsed under the weight of the snow? Ugh, ugh, ugh!" Jiang Youliang quickly spat twice to get rid of this unlucky thought.
His words unexpectedly reminded Jiang Xiaoman.
The house where Sister Lang Ying lived was an old house that had been in disrepair for many years.
I wonder if Yingzi's house can withstand this blizzard?
It wasn't appropriate to call directly to ask if the house had collapsed during the Lunar New Year, so Jiang Xiaoman touched her nose and secretly sent a WeChat message to Jiang Yu, asking him to find an opportunity to visit Sister Yingzi's house.
It's a pity that his house down the mountain has only just been built up; otherwise, it would have been better to let Sister Yingzi take the two children to stay there for a few days.
It was fortunate that Lang Ying and her two daughters were not destined to die. Jiang Yu came over and asked them if they wanted to go to Jiang Xiaoman's house to pay New Year's respects on the third day of the Lunar New Year. Lang Ying was boiling water in her room and was worried about the two little ones, so she simply carried one and held the other's hand as she came out to open the door for Jiang Yu.
Unexpectedly, just as she opened the courtyard gate and was about to invite Jiang Yu in for a seat, she heard a loud "boom" behind her. The already rotten roof beams could no longer withstand the weight of the blizzard and collapsed!
Jiang Yu's expression changed, and he picked up the big girl who was leaning against the door, grabbed Lang Ying who was still standing there in a daze, and ran more than ten meters away in one breath!
Turning around, I saw that the thatched house the Jiang family had built decades ago had become a pile of ruins...
Jiang Yu was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.
Could it be that the old shaman was right, and Jiang Xiaoman really is their lucky star of Langshan?
Otherwise, why would he have said he was worried that Lang Ying's house would collapse under the weight of the snow, and then the house actually did collapse shortly after?
The thought that if he had arrived even a moment later, Lang Ying and her two children would have been buried under the rubble made Jiang Yu feel like she couldn't stand up.
His legs went weak!
The loud roar startled the villagers.
Shan Yan was peeling pomelos for his three children at home when he heard a loud noise, seemingly coming from the riverbank. His expression changed, and he immediately stood up: "Shan Cha, you stay home and watch over your sisters!"
After saying that, he rushed out without even changing his rain boots, wearing the cotton shoes that Jiang Yu had bought for him.
He was tall and had long legs, and he ran fast, so he was among the first to arrive at the scene.
Even faster than him were the villagers living nearby.
When everyone saw that Lang Ying's old house had collapsed, they immediately cried out in despair!
The villagers had long thought behind Lang Ying's back that her former in-laws were too heartless. They were living in a newly built house and were about to buy a big house in the city, but instead they forced Lang Ying and her two daughters to live in the thatched house left by the old man!
Who doesn't know that's a dilapidated building?
Even the village children know not to go inside the house when they go out to play, for fear that the house might suddenly collapse and trap people inside.
However, this dilapidated house, which no one wanted, is now the only place where Lang Ying and her two daughters can stay.
Thinking of this, the villagers couldn't help but look at the mother and her two daughters with pity. Upon seeing this, someone immediately cried out—
"Hey! Why are you barefoot, girl? Where are your shoes?"
Jiang Yu just picked up Da Niu and ran like crazy, and the girl even lost her cotton shoes while running.
"Never mind that, let's go to my house first!" Jiang Yu handed Da Niu to Shan Yan to hold, and then helped Lang Ying hold Er Niu.
It's freezing cold outside; even adults can't stand it for long, let alone two children.
"No! My family's savings... all the savings of my mother and me are tied up in there!" Lang Ying cried anxiously.
She was just going out to open the door; she didn't even take her phone. Who could have imagined the house would collapse so suddenly?
Forget about the cell phone, the child support the Jiang family gave her and her two children, the few thousand yuan of her own savings that she had scrimped and saved over the years, and the more than four thousand yuan she earned with Jiang Yu and the others from making smoked fish, are all buried under that house.
She originally planned to deposit the money in the bank, but she was too busy before the Lunar New Year to do so. After finally finishing the job of smoking fish, the mountain roads were blocked by snow, so the money remained at home.
If someone manages to steal it while things are in the chaos, the three of them might as well not live either.
"Xiaoyu, take Da Niu and Er Niu back. Yingzi, you stay here. Let's dig out the money first."
Shan Yan made a quick decision, and just then the village chief arrived, calling on several young men from the village to lend a hand.
Fortunately, Jiang Erming's old house was a mud-brick house with a thatched roof, which was much easier to dig than a brick house. Lang Ying had been living here recently and knew the layout of the house very well. With her pointing the way, the group quickly dug out the wooden box where she hid her money.
The Jiang family's old house was such a small place, and soon, Lang Ying's suitcase, bedding, clothes, cell phone, and other belongings were all dug out.
They even found ham and salted fish that they had saved for New Year's feasts. Although they were covered in dust, rural people didn't care. They could still eat them after washing them.
Lang Ying was so moved that she kept bowing. The young men who came to help rubbed their hands together without saying a word. The village chief helped her up and sighed:
"Given your situation, the village should have asked Erming to take you home for a while, at least until the new house is finished. But Erming just took his parents to the city for the New Year recently, and we don't know when they'll be back. The gate is locked... Sigh!"
The village chief was also in a dilemma. Under normal circumstances, the houses of families who went out to work would be empty, and it would be easy to find a place to rent. But it was Chinese New Year, and all the migrant workers had gone home for the holidays. Some families had new additions to their families, and there weren't enough houses to live in. Where could he find a place to rent?
"Wait a minute, I remember Can Can's grandma rented a big courtyard, right? Her family has many houses, and usually just the two of them live in one room, with several rooms empty. Why don't we go ask them if they'd like to rent a house?" Someone in the crowd suggested to the village chief.
"Right, right! How could I forget her house? Yingzi, wait here, I'll go ask her for you right away!" The village chief patted his head and turned to run home.
Jiang Cancan's rented house was not far from the village chief's house, so why didn't he think of that?
Upon hearing that Lang Ying's house had collapsed, Grandma Jiang immediately stood up. Her eyesight wasn't good, so she could only grope her way to the village chief's arm, anxiously asking him repeatedly—
"Are Yingzi and her two daughters alright?"
"Where are they now? Tell them to come stay at my house right now! They can stay as long as they want!"
"What a tragedy! Yingzi is such a good woman, and Erming, that bastard, gave her and her daughter such a dilapidated house. He's taking their lives!"
After some questioning, the village chief learned that Lang Ying had been cooking for Grandma Jiang and her grandson lately. No wonder...
Lang Ying and her two daughters stayed at Grandma Jiang's house.
Grandma Jiang insisted on not taking her rent, saying that it wasn't good for the house to be empty and no one was living there, and that it would be more lively with the three of them coming over.
Lang Ying had no choice but to agree. She secretly decided that she would take over the chores of cooking, washing clothes, and growing vegetables for Grandma Jiang and her grandson, so that she wouldn't be living in their house for free.
When Jiang Xiaoman learned about this, Lang Ying and her daughter had already moved into Grandma Jiang's house.
"That's for the best! I just told Cancan a while ago that I asked Sister Yingzi to cook for Grandma Jiang until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. Now she won't have to run back and forth." Jiang Xiaoman didn't think there was anything wrong with the old house collapsing.
Lang Ying had previously asked him how much it would cost to build a house, and Jiang Xiaoman thought at the time that she probably wanted to save money to demolish the old house and rebuild it.
Now that's good, the house collapsed on its own, saving Sister Yingzi a lot of money on demolition.
Nowadays in rural areas, it costs around a thousand yuan to hire a few people to help demolish an old house.
Chapter 139
Based on the classic saying among netizens, "Don't get close to men, or you'll become unhappy," we can work backward to arrive at a new theory: "Stay away from men, and you'll be blessed by Lady Luck."
This theory was perfectly exemplified in Lang Ying's life.
The villagers thought it was really unlucky that her house collapsed during the Lunar New Year.
Unexpectedly, before the year was even over, the town notified all villages to report the number of people affected by the snow disaster, especially those whose houses collapsed due to the blizzard. It was said that post-disaster reconstruction subsidies would be distributed.
The village chief quickly reported Lang Ying's family's situation.
It was probably because of this blizzard that the Langshan area was severely affected by the disaster. Two days later, the town officials actually broke through the icy mountain road to come to their village to comfort the disaster-stricken people!
Lang Ying had lived in the mountains since childhood, and the highest official she had ever met was the village chief. When she heard that the person who came to offer condolences was the town mayor, she immediately didn't know what to do with her hands and feet.
Seeing that she was carrying one on her back and another hanging on her leg, and dressed very shabbily (actually, she had changed into old clothes specifically for working), and hearing that she had divorced because her husband had cheated on her, and now had two daughters to raise, with no source of income, the town officials sighed repeatedly.
First, they delivered rice, flour, oil, and other gifts to comfort her, and then promised to help her rebuild her home. The town's propaganda officer even took a camera and went to Lang Ying's old house to take some photos.
The town resumed work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and on the ninth day, Lang Ying received her post-disaster reconstruction subsidy for her dilapidated house. It was a total of 15,000 yuan, which I heard was the highest subsidy available.
Immediately afterwards, the town's women cadres made a special trip to Langshan Village to deliver 5,000 yuan in consolation money to Lang Ying—it was said that the county women's federation had seen the materials submitted by the town and specially applied for subsidies for Lang Ying and her two daughters.
"That's great. Twenty thousand yuan is enough to build three bungalows. You can add more when you have more money later."
Jiang Xiaoman didn't recommend the contractor she was currently using because his family's contract price for both materials and labor was quite high. Instead, she recommended the small contractor that Jiang Youliang had previously hired to build his house.
"As for bricks, tiles, and other materials, I asked my dad to copy down a few phone numbers. You can just call them to place your order. They deliver directly to your door these days; you only need to pay for shipping."
"If we calculate it this way, besides the three main rooms, we might still have some money left to repair the wall and build a cowshed or chicken coop on both sides." Jiang Xiaoman gave Lang Ying the phone number he had copied down and told her that if she didn't have enough money, she could borrow some from him first.
Although he knew it was pointless to say such things, Lang Ying's bad temper was just like his uncle's! She would rather eat chaff and wild vegetables than lower herself to ask for help.
However, ever since Lang Ying moved to Grandma Jiang's house, Grandma Jiang and Yueyue's quality of life has visibly improved by more than one level compared to before.
Previously, Jiang Xiaoman hired someone in the village to help clean the house once a week for Grandma Jiang. At first, the woman was okay and cleaned fairly well, but later she gradually became perfunctory. Taking advantage of Grandma Jiang's poor eyesight and Jiang Yueyue's small size and inability to speak clearly, she would only clean the areas that she could see each time she came.
The same goes for laundry; she only washes the dirty clothes she can find. If the bedding or other items are dirty, she pretends not to see them as long as they are still usable.
When sweeping, he doesn't even bother to use a dustpan; he just sweeps the trash under the bed and calls it a day.
Lang Ying, who was diligent and loved cleanliness, simply couldn't stand it anymore.
Less than three days after moving in, she changed all of Grandma Jiang and Yueyue's bed sheets and blankets to clean ones, and took the dirty shoes to the river to wash them clean and dried them by the fire pit.
A huge pile of trash was swept out from under the bed!
They even had several litters of mice!
Since the two families are now living together, Lang Ying told Jiang Xiaoman that they should eat together as well, and their food expenses were combined, so the meals were more plentiful than usual.