Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The cellar is too small; we need to dig a bit more. Xu Li crawled out of the pit and pulled out a cigarette, offering one to the sweating Alexei beside him. After lighting one for himself and taking a couple of puffs, he gestured with the cigarette in hand. "This spot is for the living room, so you need to move the kitchen over here. For the cellar, instead of digging two small ones, it’s better to dig one large one in the kitchen's place."
Once the yard's fence is up, we can move some trees from other houses and start making canned goods. If the cellar is too small, it won't work; we need space for potatoes, cabbage, and jars of preserves. It won't hold much, and there won't be enough room for people to move around.
Alexei nodded and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Lana and I used to live at my mom's place, and their cellar was laid out like this. So I naturally dug it this way. I'll make it bigger later."
"Then I'll go weld some stakes for you to support the cellar. You should dig this pit a bit larger," Xu Li replied, nodding as he drove his small pickup truck back home.
Valery was busy welding things in his barn with his three sons. He held a cigarette in his mouth while carrying two thin steel channels. After measuring with a tape measure and marking with a chalk pencil, he took them to the cutting machine and cut them into three sections, welding them together into tool steel with steel plates on top.
It was already past ten at night, but the entire village felt like a bustling construction site, with busy figures everywhere. The children had long fallen asleep. Anna brought her husband a freshly chilled watermelon and shared some with Valery and his sons. Our village felt like it did over a decade ago when Kolechkin and others seemed to have made an agreement to come together in droves; we were also working tirelessly day and night.
"Hehe, back then my sister and I would just follow our aunt around all day," Larry said while munching on watermelon, his eyes filled with nostalgia. Xu Li chuckled as they finished their slices quickly and returned to welding. "Ask Daria if the kvass is chilled yet; we need to bring some for everyone. We can't work on empty stomachs."
Anna collected the watermelon rinds and passed by the yard, tossing them in front of Xiong Da and Xiong Er. The two big guys didn’t mind at all; they happily munched on the cool watermelon rinds with loud crunching sounds. Seeing Anna change into her sandals, Xiong Da quickly positioned himself so that Anna could sit on his back as he stood up and started walking out, gradually picking up speed under her direction towards the pasture.
After completing the first batch of fifteen wooden huts, everyone took a good two-day rest before continuing with the second batch of fewer than twenty huts. Xu Li took some time to visit Bratsk; Lekshev had already made arrangements with the locals beforehand. He simply reported his name and land construction plans, and within a morning’s time, he had all sorts of documents and permanent land permits sorted out.
On the way there, he also transported two loads of watermelons that Vasily had given him. This guy had followed Xu Li to the village, observing the bustling little construction site in the north while glancing at the sprawling wooden hut complex in the south. His heart was filled with emotion.
When he first left the village to work hard in Bratsk, there were only about ten households scattered around amidst wasteland and bushes. Now this village was clean and tidy, with dozens of children laughing and playing on dirt roads while several elderly folks watched them happily from nearby—everything felt so wonderful!
"Come eat watermelon!" Eva called out as she stepped into the dirt road wearing a floral dress and flip-flops, clapping her hands to gather the excited children playing nearby. They obediently lined up in the yard; naturally, bigger kids received larger watermelons while the little ones got smaller ones so they wouldn’t waste any.
"Thank you, Grandma Eva!" The children joyfully thanked Eva as she pointed at Vasily leaning against the barn wall smoking a cigarette. "You should thank Grandpa Vasily for buying these watermelons!"
Comment 0 Comment Count