Chapter 113: The Free Furniture is Ready
The furniture was ready!
Jian Xingxia immediately replied, “Uncle Lu, I’m home! Send it over now. I’ll go to the main gate to meet you.”
Riding her tricycle, she arrived a few minutes early.
A few minutes later, Hu Lin’s small pickup truck drove up.
Jian Xingxia opened the main gate, allowing the pickup truck to drive all the way to the front courtyard entrance.
Uncle Lu brought Hu Lin along to deliver the goods and quietly told Jian Xingxia, “Hu Lin’s dad and grandmother absolutely insisted he come. They said if he doesn’t put his back into the labor today, he can expect a proper scolding when he gets home.”
Jian Xingxia raised an eyebrow. Well, that was perfect; she wouldn’t stand on ceremony then.
She directed Hu Lin, “Line all these chairs against the wall. Be careful with this long one; put it right here to use as a sofa.”
“Put one small table under the tree, and the other under the solar pavilion.”
Despite the breeze in the mountains on this scorching day, Hu Lin still worked up a heavy sweat.
He glared at Jian Xingxia. “Why aren’t you carrying anything?”
Jian Xingxia picked up two small folding stools. “Who says I’m not carrying anything? I am too.”
She and Uncle Lu stuck strictly to carrying the small items, leaving all the large pieces for Hu Lin. After all, she was a young woman without the strength to truss a chicken, and Uncle Lu was an elder past sixty; unless absolutely necessary, they weren’t going to exhaust themselves.
Hu Lin’s face turned black with frustration. He wasn’t afraid of Jian Xingxia, but he feared his father and grandmother. After all, the forestry farm was currently still in the hands of his father and his second and third uncles. He had several cousins, and if he made any major blunders, the heir to the forestry farm might not necessarily be him.
Jian Xingxia ran her hands over the furniture. They were all solid wood, mostly made from fast-growing timber. While they didn’t feel as heavily dense as aged wood, they still possessed the solid, substantial texture of real wood.
Uncle Lu had also carefully applied three coats of wood wax oil. “You were in a rush, and paint carries a strong odor. This oil barely smells like anything. It’ll be ready to use after airing out for a day or two, and it feels even nicer than paint.”
Jian Xingxia thanked Uncle Lu and prepared to settle the wages.
Uncle Lu shook his head. “The deposit you gave earlier to buy the wood wasn’t used. Hu Lin’s dad transferred it back to me, so that can just count as the labor fee.”
Six hundred yuan wasn’t a lot; a professional carpenter’s daily wage would easily run six to seven hundred.
Uncle Lu comforted Jian Xingxia, “I finished my daily work first and made these at home in the evenings. I didn’t have to travel anywhere, and it didn’t delay my chores in the fields. Earning six hundred yuan during the forestry farm’s downtime is already very good.”
Lu’an Village was so remote that it was highly inconvenient for them to find odd jobs outside, or for others to come looking for them. Being able to work right at his doorstep left Uncle Lu highly satisfied.
Facing a severe budget crunch at the moment, Jian Xingxia didn’t politely argue with Uncle Lu. “Alright then. I’ll count this batch as me taking advantage of you, Uncle. If I need more furniture made in the future, you must absolutely not stand on ceremony with me, okay?”
Uncle Lu smiled but didn’t say anything.
He and Auntie Lu were both feeling anxious in their hearts, unsure whether Xiaxia’s grand endeavor would actually succeed.
After Uncle Lu and Hu Lin left, Jian Xingxia closed the main gate using her phone’s remote control.
A-Feng, Lin Sanniang, and Da Hei also returned, hauling the bamboo.
Credit where credit was due, although A-Feng was young, he worked very efficiently. His posture while splitting bamboo was visibly far superior to the scholar’s from yesterday.
The split bamboo had splinters, so A-Feng used his machete to carefully shave them smooth.
Suddenly remembering something, Jian Xingxia went to the woodshed to fish out a stack of supplies, pulling out a few sheets to hand to A-Feng.
“A-Feng, use this sandpaper to polish it. It’s much more convenient than a machete.”
A-Feng felt that the machete at the manor was already incredibly convenient—far sharper than his grandfather’s back home—and didn’t require any effort at all. However, seeing this “sandpaper,” A-Feng couldn’t help but feel curious.
What kind of paper was this? The colors were different on both sides, and it actually carried grains of sand.
When a machete was used skillfully, the bamboo splits didn’t have many splinters to begin with. But when those subtle, rough spots were rubbed with this sandpaper, they instantly became smooth and rounded, ensuring they wouldn’t hurt one’s hands.
A-Feng instantly grew a few notches more trusting of Lin Sanniang’s words.
While cutting bamboo just now, Lady Lin had told him that this was a place where immortals cultivated… as long as he hid his presence and did exactly as he was told, he could obtain treasures. An immortal granting a machete was as easy as lifting a pinky finger.
At the thought that listening carefully and working hard would net him the machete, A-Feng’s hands moved even faster.
Meanwhile, Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang were arranging the decor on the first floor.
Now that the furniture had arrived, everything needed to be positioned one by one.
Jian Xingxia cleared out the large communal platforms in the two west wing rooms, intending to set them up like a youth hostel. This way, if business truly boomed and the six guest rooms upstairs were fully occupied, the downstairs could serve as a temporary backup.
Moreover, the second floor had undergone a massive transformation, and Jian Xingxia had no intention of letting the villagers go upstairs. When the time came, the two guest rooms on the first floor could also serve to deflect the villagers’ curiosity.
In the process, she also tried to pry open the lock of the second east wing room. But for reasons unknown, no matter how she pried at the seemingly flimsy wooden door and the ordinary large iron lock, it wouldn’t budge at all.
She even had Da Hei give it a try.
The end result was that even a brute of a man like Da Hei failed to break it open.
Staring at the dilapidated, flimsy wooden door and the stubbornly unyielding iron lock, Jian Xingxia remained silent for a long moment before finally giving up on forcing it open.
Everything in the old house possessed its own set of rules. Having failed to open it despite living here for so long, it likely meant the timing wasn’t right yet.
As expected, A-Feng only managed to weave two bamboo crates in a single day.
Nevertheless, Jian Xingxia kept her word and gave the machete to him. The machete had been bought for 25 yuan; it was of excellent quality, satisfyingly heavy, and fit perfectly in the hand.
Holding the machete, A-Feng felt both overjoyed and ashamed. “Miss Xiaxia, I only made two crates. It’s truly…”
Jian Xingxia placed an advance order directly: “Go home and prepare. Bring some more bamboo items tomorrow. It doesn’t matter what they are; as long as your grandfather made them, bring them over. I’ll take all of them.”
A-Feng’s output for weaving crates was indeed not high, so Jian Xingxia didn’t specifically give him extra items. After inquiring about his grandfather’s injuries, she poured a tiny bit of Yunnan Baiyao powder into a bamboo tube. Combined with the machete, it perfectly aligned with the 6-yuan-per-hour wage standard for a skilled laborer.
A-Feng had no idea how effective this medicinal powder was, but since Jian Xingxia gave it to him, he put it away carefully.
He thought it over left and right. Although the mistress didn’t admit to being his grandparents’ ancestor, since he had come here following the guidance of his grandfather’s ancestors, he still needed to remain down-to-earth.
A-Feng said, “Miss Xiaxia, I will still calculate today’s machete at two taels of silver. The two crates I wove, combined with the ones from earlier, come to a total of eight hundred and fifty copper coins. I will bring more things woven by my grandfather and me tomorrow, and I will definitely make up for this deficit.”
“As for the medicinal powder…” A-Feng hesitated slightly. He knew medicine definitely wasn’t cheap, but he had no idea how to calculate the cost.
Jian Xingxia smiled. “It’s fine. Take it back for your grandfather to use. If it’s effective, you can pay me later… oh, I mean, you can just make up for it with goods or labor down the line.”
Following her instructions, A-Feng left the manor.
Once he departed, Lin Sanniang’s clock-out time arrived as well. This time, she took a large bundle of fine white cotton cloth back with her. “Miss, I’ll have Hehua and the others continue sewing the replacement sheets, quilt covers, and pillowcases.”
Between the six rooms upstairs and the two large communal platforms downstairs, they were going to need a lot of bedding.
With the grand opening imminent, Jian Xingxia didn’t stand on ceremony with Lin Sanniang anymore. “Sanniang, thank you so much for your help. When I’m able to hire more people in the future, bring Taoya along. I’ll pay you both a double wage.”
Lin Sanniang smiled without saying a word.
The amount she had received at the manor was already immense. Previously, her household couldn’t even save two taels of silver in a whole year, yet the items she brought back in a single trip now were worth far more than twenty taels.
Words were useless. Her current life of being free from worries about food and clothing, her family’s safety, and her friends’ well-being far exceeded her expectations. She now only wished to give everything she had to repay Jian Xingxia.
Furthermore, even if she didn’t take any wages and only carried fabric back, she was merely working three double-hours for free. But during those three double-hours, the meals and meat she consumed already far exceeded the compensation of an ordinary laborer.
Cradling the massive pile of fabric, Lin Sanniang returned happily to the Great Liang Dynasty.
On the other side, A-Feng also cradled the machete and the medicinal powder, following the route his grandfather had laid out before he left—
“Once you reach the place the ancestors spoke of, walk straight toward the southeast direction until you find the first tree. Walk around that first tree three times. No matter how you spin, stop, and then walk straight in the direction your toes are pointing. You will be able to return home.”
