Chapter 97 – Handing Over the Money
After listening to Lu Xia’s words, Jiang Junmo nodded and reached under the pillow.
“You left too quickly in the morning, I didn’t have time to give you the money. Take it now, and if it’s not enough, let me know,” he said, handing her a thick stack of bills, probably at least 300 yuan, and there were a lot of tickets.
Seeing the money he handed over, Lu Xia smiled, “We won’t need so much. The entire house construction will cost at most 150 yuan, and even with some extra expenses, it won’t exceed 200 yuan. We can each contribute 100 yuan.”
Frowning slightly, Jiang Junmo said, “Keep your money; I’ll cover it. You can accept this money, and in the future, whenever we need money in the household, you can take it from here.”
Noticing that Lu Xia seemed to want to say something, he cut her off, “Take it, we’re already married, and you’re responsible for managing the finances at home, right?”
Lu Xia raised an eyebrow at his sudden change. It was as if he had forgotten the reason they got married in the first place. However, she didn’t reject his offer and replied, “Alright then, I’ll accept it for now. But do you still have money on you? Would you like to leave some for you?”
Jiang Junmo looked a bit embarrassed and avoided eye contact, “No, it’s all here. Every month, my family will send me some money, but I hardly use it. From now on, you can hold onto it, and just give me some pocket money each month. Actually, you don’t even have to give me any; I don’t spend much here in the countryside.”
Amused by his words, Lu Xia chuckled, “Alright, I got it. I’ll give you pocket money regularly.”
Jiang Junmo blushed even more from her laughter and quickly changed the subject, “I didn’t expect that building a house in the countryside would be so cost-effective. Just over a hundred yuan is enough.”
Seeing his discomfort, Lu Xia didn’t continue laughing and followed his lead, “The main reason is that we are building a small house. A large house like the educated youth house costs more.”
“Huh? Aren’t we building the same kind of house as the educated youth house?” Jiang Junmo asked.
Lu Xia nodded, “We’re just two people; we don’t need three rooms. We’ll build a two-room house, one main room and a kitchen. The main room will also have a kang bed, but I’m worried that we won’t have enough space for our belongings in the future. So, I plan to add a small room behind the main room to store things. It will be convenient to access from the kitchen.”
Hearing her explanation, Jiang Junmo hesitated, “Actually, it’s not that much money. Why don’t we build a large house like the educated youth house?”
Lu Xia shook her head and explained her reasons for building the house this way.
Originally, she had thought of building a house like that, which would give them one room each since they had just married and weren’t that familiar with each other yet.
However, she later considered the current predicament of the educated youth spot, where there were too many people and limited space, making the sleeping arrangements very cramped. She wasn’t sure when the village could expand it.
Before that happened, if someone found out they were building a larger house with an extra room, they might not guess that they intended to have separate rooms for themselves. They might assume they’d have extra space to accommodate guests.
If anyone asked to stay with them, what would they say? Agreeing would be inconvenient since they wanted to have their own privacy and occasionally cook on their own.
Disagreeing could lead to awkward situations. So, it was better to prevent such misunderstandings from the start. Building a two-room house, where one room was for them to live in, would make it clear that they didn’t have spare space for guests.
Jiang Junmo understood her point and blushed even more, seeming to remember something.
Finally, he agreed to her proposal.
The next day, the preparations for building the house began.
The village head arranged for villagers to move stones and chop wood.
In less than two days, they had gathered enough materials.
*
Chapter 98 – House Completion
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During these two days, Jiang Junmo’s health had already recovered.
He couldn’t believe that he had recovered so quickly this time.
Lu Xia didn’t keep cooking special meals for him these two days. After preparing two meals, she stopped, but she made sure to boil red sugar water for him every day, helping him recover faster.
Normally, it would have taken him almost a month to recover. This was even with him taking medicine and taking good care of himself.
He couldn’t believe that this time it was so severe, yet he recovered so quickly.
Jiang Junmo attributed this to Lu Xia’s care. Every time he ate what she cooked, he felt comfortable in his body, which made him even happier and more grateful.
Once he was better, Lu Xia handed over the house project to him. After all, she was a girl, and it wasn’t convenient for her to interact with the men in the village who were doing the construction work.
Although Jiang Junmo didn’t like talking much, he was highly efficient and knew how to get things done.
Although they only provided money and didn’t provide meals, he still accompanied them, chatted, asked about the house construction, and made sure they didn’t overwork themselves. He would often give them breaks and prepare red sugar water for them to drink.
Everyone who came to help with the construction had no complaints about him. The only regret was that his health was not good enough to work alongside them; otherwise, they could have finished the construction even faster and saved some money.
Thanks to everyone’s hard work, the house was completed in about half a month.
Lu Xia was thrilled when she saw the new house; she even walked inside for a couple of times, and overall, she was satisfied. The only regret was that the windows didn’t have glass and were covered with plastic sheeting, making the interior a bit dim.
However, in this era, glass wasn’t commonly used, and it was acceptable to her.
The newly built house was still a bit damp, and even the kang bed needed to be burned for a few days before they could live in it.
This time, while constructing the house, Lu Xia had the wall connecting the kitchen and the main room made into a firewall. This way, when they lit the fire in the kitchen, the whole house would be warm, and they wouldn’t be afraid of the cold during winter.
The only downside was that it required more firewood.
However, Jiang Junmo had already considered this. After the house was completed, he had the villagers chop a lot of firewood for them. They purchased the firewood with their money and now had a pile in the yard. It was estimated to last throughout the winter, saving them a lot of trouble.
In addition to the house, Lu Xia also applied for a vegetable plot from the village, which was right in front of the house, not too big, just about 20 sqm.
They built a fence around the vegetable plot, making the house more secure.
In the coming spring, after planting vegetables, she could also raise a few chickens. This way, they would have meat and eggs for their meals, making life more convenient.
After everything was well arranged, Lu Xia was quite satisfied. Though she had spent a considerable sum of money, she finally had a place of her own, allowing her to finally relax.
After the house was completed, the other educated youths came over to take a look. The female educated youths were quite envious.
“It’s really nice. Although the house is not big, you can live on your own. Plus, you have such a big vegetable plot. It’s like starting a new life.”
“Yes, Jiang Junmo seems to be a good guy. He even prepared firewood for you, saving you from having to go up the mountain in winter to chop.”
Listening to everyone’s comments, Lu Xia smiled without saying anything. Only during this period did she realize that Jiang Junmo was not as silent and immature as she had imagined.
He was very thoughtful, and many things she hadn’t thought of, he had considered. It made it hard for her to see him as just a 19-year-old half-grown child. He seemed like a mature person; it’s just that his lack of talking before had given everyone the wrong impression.
Oh… connecting the stove to the bed is brilliant! Almost as brilliant as posting 3 sets of chapters a day, which keeps me coming back instead of letting them build up for a few weeks! 🤓
Thank you for the chapter ♡(∩o∩)♡
Thank you so much for translating.
He does indeed seem like quite a decent guy, but what was up with that first time she saw him?
Though it’s clear he really likes her and she only really appreciates how he looks atm, though well I guess that enough for most women to sleep and get together with a guy so that’s about right I guess.