Chapter 193: Good Luck
August 8 is a good day to put up the beams.
"May the raising of the beam bring great luck, happiness, prosperity and longevity. May the house be peaceful and happy, and may the family enjoy peace for generations to come."
The beams and pillars were painted red, and red cloth and firecrackers were hung on them. On the altar were large red candles, incense sticks, three plates of cakes and fruits, and the incense was burning. Lin Youcai, Shen Xianglan, Lin Xianwen, and Lin Zisu knelt down and kowtowed three times in front of the altar and the beams and pillars.
After the old carpenter finished his auspicious words, he grabbed the big red rooster and wiped its neck, sprinkled the rooster's blood on the beams, and lit the firecrackers hanging on the beams. A man stood on each side of the high building, and as the firecrackers sounded, he pulled the rope to pull the beams up to the roof beams and stabilized them.
The other men standing high up in the house pulled two baskets covered in red and colorful ribbons up to the roof beams. The baskets were filled with candies, candied fruits, preserved fruits, small red-painted glutinous rice cakes, and copper coins bought from the People's Bank.
All the children in Qingxi Town gathered around, and the men grabbed the contents of the baskets and scattered them towards the people on the ground, throwing a handful in every direction, and throwing more times in places with more children.
The adults and children standing below were laughing and scrambling for the scattered things. Some people were hit on the head by candy, and they grabbed it with a big smile and stuffed it into their pockets; some people bent down to pick up copper coins and candy on the ground, but their hands were stepped on. They didn't have time to cry out in pain, so they picked it up and stuffed it into their pockets and continued to scramble; some children were hit by small glutinous rice cakes, but they didn't care about the pain and were busy stuffing their pockets. . .
After the candy money scattering ceremony was over and the beam raising ceremony was completed, the people on the beam pulled the rope, lowered the two baskets, and then went down the wooden ladder.
Da Mao was quick-witted and had four pockets stuffed full, with a few glutinous rice cakes in the pockets of his clothes. He looked around and saw two copper coins and two dried dates rolling under the board. He took two or three steps to dig them out.
The beam raising does not have to wait until the house is finished. When the frame of the house is completed or it is mostly built, you can choose an auspicious day to raise the beam.
There was a lot of wood piled up on one side of the yard, and many children were looking for copper coin candies that had fallen into the cracks around the wood and had not been discovered by anyone.
Lin Zisu and Lin Xianwen stood aside to watch the fun, but Zhao Zhuang and Lin Youxing on the beams rained down on the two siblings. The two were showered with glutinous rice cakes, candies, and coins, and they held their heads. But the children next to the two siblings were so happy that they all squeezed next to them.
The two siblings didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and gave all the things that fell on them to the children next to them.
Today is the day for the two brothers and sisters to raise the beam. Their family was built first, so it was built the fastest. Later, each family will raise the beam. Raising the beam is a major event in building a new house. You can save nothing but the ceremony of raising the beam.
So it was a good omen that the two siblings were "taken care of" by the men on the roof.
All the children from the local families in Qingxi Town came. The mayor did not allow the adults to go over, but agreed to allow the older and younger children to join in the fun, pick up some snacks, and share in the joy.
Only the children came to join in the fun, while the adults watched from the side, and they had agreed not to rob. There were so many people, and there was a fear of accidents when scrambling and picking up. It was supposed to be a happy event, but it would be a shame if someone got hurt.
According to custom, a banquet should be held when raising the beam, and everyone should be invited to drink and eat meat. However, every family was building a new house, so they didn't have the time to do that, so they just let the banquet go.
The beam-raising ceremony of Lin Youcai's house was completed. Everyone said a few auspicious words, took their children, and happily went back to their own yards to work.
From civil servants to ordinary people, there is no idle person in the country. They are busy with official duties, busy with school, busy with work, busy with the fields, busy with business... Everyone is busy in their own way.
Even children under the age of 6 have to spend a day in the nursery class. Children learn, play, and develop good living and learning habits under the guidance of teachers.
In early August, the Xinghai City government sent ten teams of carpenters, each with 8 people. Each team built a wooden house, and all 15 houses started construction at the same time, trying to complete them as quickly as possible. Later, many people came to settle down, and there were many houses to be built.
There are 69 wooden houses, some are one-story, some are two-story, some are big, some are small. The time and workmanship of building the houses are different, and the progress of the ten teams of carpenters is different.
The carpenter's wages are calculated according to the size of the area and the number of floors of the house, so it has no impact. After one building is completed, the next one will be built immediately.
The government of the country focused on the construction of Xinghai City, rebuilding and expanding the city inside and outside, increasing the population, and aiming to build it into a prosperous city.
Every day, masons, carpenters and other craftsmen come to Xinghai City by boat to work and earn money. The dock is bustling with new building materials arriving every day.
Throughout August, people would put up the beams every one or two days. The happiest people, besides the people who put up the beams, were the children of Qingxi Town, who would occasionally pick up cakes, candies, dried fruits, glutinous rice cakes, and copper coins, which made their mouths sweet every day.
The copper coins picked up by the children were confiscated by the adults. In the country, copper coins were not allowed to be used. They had to be exchanged for Chinese banknotes at the People's Bank before they could be used.
No. 1 is the home of Butcher Zhao. His four sons are all unmarried and cannot split up the family, so they are all registered under the same household. His family built a two-story wooden house with many rooms so that his four sons will have a place to live when they get married.
Although sons will move out after they get married, they can buy houses as an exception, which is a clear rule in the country. But they still have to go back to their parents' home during the holidays, and the sons, daughters-in-law and children must have a place to live when they come back!
Zhao Qiang and Li Juhua thought far ahead, and were very pleased to see the new house that was about to be built. They were from the north, and the common people there mostly built mud brick houses, while the rich built houses with blue bricks and tiles. Of course, the rich built wooden houses, but they were different from their wooden houses. There were many kinds of wooden houses, with different specifications and materials.
The first time they lived in a wooden house was when they came to China. The weather in the south was not as cold as theirs, so living in a wooden house was very comfortable.
Yard No. 1 and the two yards behind it were in a separate vertical row. The gates of Yard No. 2 and Yard No. 1 were opposite each other, and the walls of Yard No. 2 and Yard No. 3 were close together. Yard No. 3 was the yard of the Shen family, and Yard No. 2 was the yard of the dozen or so little beggars.
On the day of the beam raising for the No. 2 yard, everyone came to help. Everyone was really happy for these children. There was no adult, only half-grown children. It was not easy for them to live like this. Everyone also sighed that it was mainly because of the good government and the sincere kindness to the people.
More than a dozen children looked at the two-story new house that was about to be completed, their eyes were red with excitement, and the younger children cried loudly. The Xinghai government reduced all the construction costs of Yard No. 2 by half, and they only needed to pay half of the cost.
Dashu is the oldest. He borrowed a national loan with low interest and long term, so he can pay it back slowly. Since arriving in the country, the group of children have been treated well and are very grateful and touched by the government. The seeds of patriotism are planted in their young hearts.
The Shen family had three plots of land, so they built the house in yard 3 first, and then yards 4 and 5. The Lin family had a large population, so they built yard 16 for Lin Youcai and yard 21 for Lin Youfu first. The Lin Lizheng family was also large, with many people, many of whom had married, and a lot of land from the family split up, so they built two yards of houses first and lived there first.
Building houses takes time, so let those families with only one yard build their houses first and live in them. Those families with multiple yards should build houses that are big enough for them first, and then build houses in other yards last, so as not to affect their living.