An old house stood alone behind the village. The houses in the village were basically connected to each other, but only this one here was independent, separated by about ten ters. There was also a pond in front of the house. The Zhao Family used to raise fish in this pond, so they built the house beside it. The water in the pond was dark green with several trees were on the bank.
Noticing that the roof of the house was tiled, Qin Mian was imdiately elated and quickened his pace.
Lei Tie’s eyes followed him all the ti. It was so easy to satisfy him?
“Hurry up!”
Qin Mian hurried and ran to the house. A mouse in the grass was frightened and quickly shrank back to disappear.
The lock on the door had been battered by wind and rain for a long ti, it was rusted. It took Qin Mian a while to open it. Pushing the door open, a burst of dust assaulted him. He sneezed a few tis and hurriedly stepped back.
“Cough…”
Sunlight shone obliquely into the door and one could see the dense dust floating in the air. Inside, there was an old table with its skin peeled off and three high-back chairs covered with a thick layer of ash. Dense spider web stretched from the table and chairs all the way to the beam of the roof, there was not even room for a person to stand.
Qin Mian was satisfied. This house was old, but if he could live in a clean place, it was many tis better than that thatched cottage.
There was a small bamboo forest beside the house, the green bamboo leaves rustled along the wind. He got an idea and ntioned it to Lei Tie: “You go back and move our things, I’ll clean the house.”
Lei Tie stood beside him, glanced inside and asked in a low voice: “Can [you] do it?”
“What can’t I do? Quick, you go. The sooner things are sort out, we can live here today.”
There was a worn out kitchen knife full of yellow rust in the corner of the wall. Qin Mian picked it up to cut the bamboo.
Lei Tie took out the table and chairs inside before he turned around and left. Walking out a few steps, he ca back again and took off his overall before throwing it to Qin Mian. Without saying a word, he left.
A flying object covered Qin Mian’s head. Unable to make head or tail of it, he pulled off the overall and conveniently hung it on a small tree. Then, he continued to cut the bamboo. When he used to live in the countryside with his grandparents, they would have a big cleaning before the New Year’s Eve. They would cut so bamboos and tied them together to make a long stick to clean the dust on the beams and high walls of the house, which was as easy to use as a feather duster. He was not unaccustod with these farm works.
The worn out knife was not making things easy. Qin Mian chopped more than 20 tis before cutting off a bamboo. He broke so branches below to reduce the weight of the bamboo pole. He took it to the house and began to clean the spider web and dust on the beam. Just after sweeping, the dust fell on his face and he spat out a few tis. All of a sudden, he realized that the man was very attentive.
He went outside and took Lei Tie’s overall to cover his head and mouth before he continued to clean. All of a sudden, dust and dead leaves were flying in the house, like a sandstorm struck in. The window papers were already broken, it didn’t make any difference whether the windows were opened or not.
There were three rooms in the house. After he was done cleaning, Lei Tie ca back with a big chest, followed after by Lei Xiangli, Lei Xiangzhi and Lei Chuntao. They all held things in their arms. Lei Xiangli was holding a bundle of firewood, which knew if he took it secretly from ho. anwhile, Lei Xiangzhi was holding a slightly smaller wooden chest.
Lei Chuntao put down the basin in her hand and walked over. She was a little shy, “I’ll help you, elder sister-in-law.”
How could Qin Mian let the little girl work? He hastily said: “No need, it’s dusty. Don’t dirty your clothes.”
Lei Chuntao thought that she couldn’t hold the bamboo pole and didn’t insist, “Then, I will help you clean the table and chairs after the dust have cleaned up.”
Lei Tie and Lei Xiangli went back to move the rest of things, while Lei Xiangzhi took the worn out kitchen knife to cut bamboos, helping to sweep the dust.
The second ti Lei Tie ca back, he borrowed a wooden ladder from the village.
Lei Xiangli, Lei Xiangzhi and Lei Chuntao all felt awkward. They were too embarrassed to say anything but worked in silence.
Qin Mian was wholeheartedly thinking to move in as soon as possible, not in the mood to chat.
After the cleaning, Lei Tie climbed to the roof and rearranged the tiles that had been moved because of the cleaning to ensure that they would not leak in rainy days.
After that, they swept the floor, cleaned the table and chairs, and wiped the windows. They had been busy for more than two hours before the house was cleaned and looked much more comfortably.
Lei Xiangzhi’s eyes fell on the broken window papers shaking along the wind. “Big brother, I have so unused paper. I’ll go back and get it for you to seal the windows.”
“Big brother, Chuntao and I are also going back.” said Lei Xiangli.
Lei Tie nodded.
Qin Mian felt sowhat helpless. He saw Lei Tie was quite shrewd before, why couldn’t he understand human relations at this ti? He had to speak, “Thank you all for your help today. It’s too late for lunch. In the evening, your big brother and I want to invite you all to dinner—— if it’s convenient.” Convenient or not, he was afraid they would have to ask Du Shi’s permission.
Lei Xiangzhi quickly declined, “It’s not easy for you and big brother now, so we won’t have dinner.”
Lei Tie said: “By that ti, I’ll call you all.”
Lei Xiangli and company had to agree.
After they left, Qin Mian began to count their property; a wooden bed, a low table, two wooden chests, a bow set, a wok, a square table, three chairs and a wooden basin. Other than those, there was practically nothing else. Fortunately, there was a room that was used as a kitchen and the stove was still there, so there was no need to build one.
The sun was very big, the washed table and chairs dried quickly. They moved everything in and put them in order. Three rooms; one for dining and entertaining guests, one for kitchen and at the sa ti storing sundries, which ant that he and Lei Tie still had to share one room or even one bed.
After finishing work, Qin Mian heated a big wok of water, washed his hair and took a bath, changed to clean clothes before switching with Lei Tie to take a bath. Not far away was the pond and he easily washed their clothes, but without a clothesline, he hung them on a small tree in front of the house. Inside the house, Lei Tie was repairing the broken chair.
“Lei Tie’s family [wife].” Zhang Dashuan strode over with a bundle of firewood on his shoulder and an expansive smile on his face.
“Brother Zhang, aren’t you busy.” Qin Mian greeted.
“What busy?” Zhang Dashuan set the firewood against the wall. “I heard that you guys split up with the family. I supposed you guys lack everything but I can’t help with the rest, so your sister-in-law and I gave this bundle of firewood for you guys to use.”
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