Traveling through 1942 with space

Chapter 166 Spicy Soup

As for firewood, it is naturally used for baking kilns. The newly dug kiln is very humid and the soil is wet. If firewood is not used for baking and smoking, it will easily collapse when digging.

So the kiln is dug by alternating between two holes. After digging a few meters, they bake and smoke it with fire to let it dry, and then switch to another one.

Otherwise, twenty people would have to work at least ten hours a day, and it would take more than ten days to build two six-meter caves.

The dug cave house was built with a kang, and the walls were smoothed with mud and wheat straw, and then a home was completed.

Originally, Hou Xiaoge meant to use twenty people for two days, and let these people help Erda's family to build the wall.

But Erda touched his pocket and refused to agree, saying that they would do it themselves.

The next day after the cave house was completed, Erda's family couldn't wait to move in, but they were stopped by their uncle and Hou Xiaoge.

Although the kang is made of old adobe bricks left over from building the house in my uncle's house and there is no need to worry about it collapsing, the new kang still needs to be dried with firewood for a few days, otherwise it will be too damp.

I have to say, once people have a home, things are immediately different.

Ever since the cave was dug, Erda's family has been working hard, spending most of the day working in their cave.

The couple often did not come back at night. Since they had a fire in the cave and did not feel cold, they made adobe bricks in the cave to build the courtyard wall.

Erda's leg had not yet healed, so he sat on the ground and smeared the soil, while Second Aunt used a stone hammer to pound the soil on the wooden frame.

During the day, the two older brothers of Erda's family and a group of nephews and nieces would come to the cave to help the couple. After setting up their stall and doing handicrafts every day, their uncle Hou Yangmin and their uncle-in-law Zhou Xinmin would also come to lend a hand.

In just six or seven days, the bricks made by everyone had filled up more than half of the two caves.

After making the adobe bricks, the couple planned to bring a group of children to build the wall around the yard themselves.

Hou Xiaoge didn't want to do the hard labor, so he asked Erda to pay a dollar to hire ten villagers. With strength in numbers, they built the wall in one day.

Looking at the fenced yard and the black wooden door, Erda and his wife sat on the doorstep, crying and laughing at times, and from time to time they kept muttering that they had a home again.

In years of disaster, no villagers would help build houses, so there was no moving ceremony or dinner.

After the courtyard wall was built, that afternoon after Hou Yangmin and several other families closed their stalls, the four families helped Erda clean the yard and the cave, and then moved in for Erda and his family.

When moving, Hou Xiaoge gave the bedding that Erda's family used to cover directly to Erda, and also took a ceramic pot from the space warehouse and gave it to Erda's family as a gift for the new home.

When Wang Maimiao, the stepmother, saw her son's bedding, she didn't want to send it anymore. Hou Xiaoge didn't say anything, but just asked her to give the torn cotton-padded clothes that Xiao Shuanniu and herself had worn to the second aunt.

The outer fabric cannot be used, so it can be used to make shoes. Take out the dirty cotton inside, wash it, and buy some more to sew a mattress.

Everyone in the family had new clothes and new bedding, so rich lady Wang Maimiao didn't care and generously gave the flowery cotton jacket she used to wear to her second aunt.

Second Aunt was naturally overjoyed when she received the pot knife and cotton jacket, as this saved their poor family a lot of money.

My uncle gave 100 kilograms of bran and 20 kilograms of cornmeal. With these food, my brother's family can have a good New Year.

My aunt-in-law gave us a quilt. After all, the one given by Hou Xiaoge was not enough, so adding another one was just enough.

The two quilts given by my aunt and Hou Xiaoge were both second-hand ones bought from Huayin. If they were new quilts, five dollars would not be enough to buy them.

With food, shelter and sleep, Erda's home finally looks like what it should be.

The day we moved also happened to be the Gregorian New Year, which was a festive day.

Hou Xiaoge braised a pig's head directly, and the whole family sat together to eat and drink to celebrate Erda's move and to satisfy their cravings.

"Heiwa, the pork head and meat steamed bun you made is so delicious!" Li Cuihua ate two large bowls in a row and stroked her belly which was now a little fatter, looking very happy.

"Haha! Eat more if you like it. We can have a meal together when we have time in the future." Hou Xiaoge laughed.

In fact, Hou Xiaoge also heard the whispers between Second Aunt and Erda in the cave at night during this period.

As the saying goes, what is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth.

After Second Aunt came to Qin Province, she saw her uncle, her aunt and Hou Xiaoge doing business. They were all brothers, so how could she not be jealous?

However, Hou Xiaoge thought of this business for his own family and his uncle and aunt. Three families are already enough, and the profit will be too little if there is one more.

Moreover, Erda's family has done nothing, but they just came and got involved in business and profit sharing. Not to mention whether my uncle and aunt agree or not, my stepmother won't do it either.

Wang Maimiao already had an issue with Hou Xiaoge letting his uncle and aunt run the business, and now that Erda had gotten involved, it would have been strange if she didn't get furious.

Besides, Second Aunt is a person who likes to take advantage of others and has a loose mouth. Hou Xiaoge doesn't like her to get involved in their business.

After much thought, Hou Xiaoge decided to set up a small business for Erda's family.

In this era, food was relatively scarce, and as long as you had skills and a recipe, you could make a living anywhere.

After much deliberation, Hou Xiaoge decided to let Erda's family do the Hu La Tang business.

They are from the Central Plains themselves, so they are naturally familiar with Hu La Tang, and there are many people from the Central Plains in the Daobei Railway Station area!

If Erda and his family run a Hu La Tang business, the dishes do not need to be too elaborate like in later generations. As long as the taste is good, there is no need to worry about bad business.

“Erda, Second Aunt, you have settled down now.

As the saying goes, a man cannot survive without a career.

You came too late, and the land distributed by the government has not been distributed, so you can only do a small business. " Sitting in front of the fire, Hou Xiaoge said.

Some time ago, the national government took the refugees of Nanjiagou Village as an example and donated more than 300 acres of hillside and rotten ditch land near Nanjiagou Village to Nanjiagou.

However, a lot of land was occupied by other refugees and would not be returned. Of the remaining 200 acres, each person in the village was given a little over one acre, and Hou Xiaoge's family was given five acres.

However, if these five acres of land are to be turned into good land, it will take at least ten to eight years. It would be good if the total output can be equal to that of one acre of good land.

Now that Erda's family has moved in, they are lucky to have a place to dig a kiln, so of course there is no land at all.

"Heiwa, your Erda and I don't have any cooking skills, so how about letting me sell the sesame cakes you make? I like them better." Second Aunt said tentatively.

“The sesame cakes are not good, we can’t make many in a day, and the profit is too low.

As for the braised meat business, the profit for the three of us is just right. If there were four of us, we wouldn’t make much money.

In this way, I will let my mother teach you how to make the cake, and I will pass on the skill to you and Erda." Hou Xiaoge said after pretending to think for a moment.

"What? What kind of skill?"

Second Aunt was disappointed when she heard that the braised meat business was not doing well, but then when she heard about the new skill, her eyes immediately lit up.

"Hu La Tang!" Hou Xiaoge said with a smile.

"Hu La Tang! Hei Wa, you can actually make Hu La Tang?" the young aunt next to her exclaimed in surprise.