flstandardbreds Chapter 46 The captain supports Song Cenyue in building a house
Chapter 46 The captain supports Song Cenyue in building a house
"Uncle Captain, I have something I want to discuss with you, and I hope you can agree."
Song Cenyue suddenly remembered about building a house and spoke.
"What's the matter? Just tell me. As long as it's something I can do, I'll agree to it." Zhang Shengjin said proudly.
"It's like this. I think the youth cadre site is a bit messy and feels like a place of trouble, so I don't want to live there. I've heard that some youth cadres who went to the countryside applied to build houses in the places where they were sent to work. I also want to apply to you for a small piece of land to build a house." Song Cenyue said straight away without beating around the bush.
"You are really a smart girl. You have already figured out today that the educated youth site is a place of trouble!" Zhang Shengjin praised.
"Those old educated youth are not easy to deal with. The men are better, but the two women, Wang Ximei and Zhou Xiaoli, are always causing trouble. They often quarrel and fight. Living with them is definitely annoying. I'm afraid they will take advantage of me and I'll suffer a lot...
Although Wang Ximei and Zhou Xiaoli look young, they are both very calculating, especially Wang Ximei. If you have money to build a house, uncle will support you to build a house and move out."
"Thank you, uncle." Hearing that Zhang Shengjin not only agreed but also supported her in building a house, Song Cenyue was happy and thanked him immediately. "Captain uncle, can you please help me calculate how much it would cost to build a house with a living room, a main room, a room, a kitchen, and a toilet?"
I'm afraid I can't figure out how much it will cost, because I don't know the prices of materials and labor here. But the team leader has been here for many years and must have seen many people building houses. His house looks newly built, so he must be very familiar with the prices of materials and labor.
"It depends on how big or small you cover it." Zhang Shengjin raised his teacup and drank a sip of water. "Little educated youth Song, drink some water and eat some melon seeds. You're welcome." He noticed that Song Cenyue didn't drink any water or eat any melon seeds, so he hurriedly greeted her.
"How big can it be, and how small can it be?" Song Cenyue asked while nodding. After revealing a pretty smile, she raised the teacup and took a sip of the tea. It didn't taste very good, but it would be difficult for the captain to drink such tea. She would send him some tea next time.
He had previously looted some tea tickets from his scumbag father and bought two bags of tea weighing two kilograms. Although it was not a good tea, it was from the city after all, and was definitely better than the tea he got in the countryside.
Thinking about this, Song Cenyue grabbed two melon seeds and started to eat them. The melon seeds were okay, a little crispy!
"If you want a big house, you can build 60 square meters, or even 80 square meters. There is nothing else in the countryside, so you can only build the most on the spot. If you want a small house, you need a main room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and a toilet. If you do the math, the minimum is about 40 square meters. If it is smaller, it will be crowded and uncomfortable to live in.
Although building a smaller house will save money, a house is something you live in every day and it is a home so you must live comfortably. So I suggest you build a house of 60 square meters. 80 square meters is too big and it is expensive.
If you build a house of 60 square meters, you can have a main hall, rooms, a kitchen, a toilet, and a small yard. But the yard can't be very big, probably only about ten square meters, only a quarter of the size of my yard. But it's enough for you alone..." After answering, Zhang Shengjin gave some suggestions.
"I have a small yard where I can dry some things, like clothes. If I dry clothes in my own yard, I don't have to worry about them being stolen. If I dry them outside, I have to worry about them being stolen...
Although this village is relatively peaceful, there are always two thieves with dirty hands and feet in every village. Our production team is so poor that even rags are stolen...
Last year, Zhao Laoer's jacket with a hole in it was washed and hung outside, and it was stolen. In March this year, Kang Laotou's torn pants were also stolen after being washed and hung outside. This is the village. The educated youths are dressed better than the people in our production team, so they are naturally more likely to be targeted. The old educated youths who came here before were all stolen. "
Song Cenyue frowned, "So many people had their clothes stolen, didn't you report it to the police?"
"There is a Public Security Bureau in the city. There is no way we can deploy police forces in a broken mountain valley like this. We will send a special commissioner to each commune to be in charge of it. But there are so many production teams under a commune, and so many people in a production team. How can one special commissioner manage them all?" Zhang Shengjin waved his hand.
"For a minor incident like the stolen clothes, I went to the commune to find a special commissioner to report the case, but the special commissioner didn't care and didn't even come to the scene to check. Every time, I, the team leader, was responsible for finding a way to catch the thief...
But I have so many things to take care of every day that I don't have the time to slowly find this thief and catch him. I can only ask the team members to be careful when hanging clothes out to avoid being stolen. "
After listening to Zhang Shengjin's words, Song Cenyue remembered that there were no police stations in the countryside at that time. Police stations were only set up in the countryside in the 1980s.
"Thank you uncle for reminding me. For my sake, I will build a yard as you said and build a 60-square-meter house. By the way, can you dig a well for me in the yard? I think having a well in the yard will make it convenient to use water." Song Cenyue smiled at Zhang Shengjin.
Although there is spiritual spring water in the space, after you build a house and live in it, you can enter and exit the space freely and use the spiritual spring water at will without worrying about being seen. However, it is not suitable to use the spiritual spring water for washing things and cooking, which is too wasteful. Therefore, it is better to have a well in the yard so that you don't have to fetch water.
"Sure, just add one dollar to the salary." Zhang Shengjin nodded and agreed.
"Okay. Please calculate how much it will cost to build a 60-square-meter house according to my requirements, add a yard, and dig a well." Song Cenyue thought that digging a well would only cost one more dollar, which was really a good deal.
"It depends on what you want for the wall, earthen bricks or blue bricks. Earthen bricks are cheap, blue bricks are expensive. And for the roof, it depends on what you want, tiles or thatch? Tiles are expensive, thatch is cheap." Zhang Shengjin said.
Song Cenyue thought that she would stay here until the college entrance examination was resumed, which was still several years away. She would rather live here for a year or two, and it would be better to live in a better place, so she asked, "I want a house with blue bricks and blue tiles. How much does it cost?"
"The bricks and tiles are about 20 yuan more expensive than the mud bricks and thatched roofs. The bricks and tiles plus the cement, sand, lime, windows, doors, etc. needed to build a house, the total cost of materials is..." Zhang Shengjin calculated, and after a minute, he figured out, "A total of 65 yuan, this is just the cost of materials.
As for wages, we usually pay 50 cents a day to build a house, including food and drink. I will find two skilled masons in our village to build it for you, and I guarantee that the house will be built well...
They should be able to build your house in about ten days. One person a day is fifty cents, two people a day is one dollar, ten days is ten dollars, but you have to provide them with food and drink..."
"Uncle, you know my situation. I just arrived and I don't have many things. I don't have a kitchen knife, a chopping board, a cooking pot, or a rice cooker. In addition, the food I was given was very little. It was difficult for me to eat, so I couldn't provide food and drink for others...
Do you think this is okay? We will double the wages for the builders, one dollar per day, but we won't provide them with food or drink, so they can eat and drink at home." Song Cenyue interrupted the captain.
It's not that she thinks it's troublesome to provide food and drink for the bricklayers who built the house, but it's really inconvenient for her to provide them with food and drink given her situation.
Although she emptied the Song family's house before leaving for the countryside and had all the cooking utensils in the space, and there was also a kitchen in the villa in the space, she couldn't cook the meals in the kitchen of the space villa and serve them to the people who built the house, otherwise people would ask where you cooked.
Besides, the team leader only gave her a small amount of food, and the team leader knew how she could get any extra food to feed the people who were building the houses.
People will definitely be suspicious!
"It is indeed inconvenient for you to provide food and drink for the people who are building the house. Okay, I will double their wages as you said, one dollar per person per day. I think they will definitely be willing if you don't provide them with food and drink. Fifty cents more a day is more cost-effective than providing them with food and drink." Zhang Shengjin nodded and smiled.
"We are extremely poor here. When someone builds a house, the food they provide to the builders is usually not good. Some families are so poor that they can only afford one steamed bun for a meal. If you give them an extra fifty cents a day, how many steamed buns can you buy with that fifty cents?"
"Once you have found a site for building a house, I will then go find two of the best bricklayers in the team to build a house for you. By the way, do you want to go and see the site for building a house now or tomorrow?
I suggest you go and check it out tomorrow. It’s getting dark outside now and you can’t see clearly. I’m afraid you won’t make the right choice.” Zhang Shengjin remembered that he hadn’t chosen a site yet, so he quickly talked about choosing a site.