Chapter 231 - 231 He found it Blinding
231 He found it Blinding
Xie Yunjin’s cheeks flushed red due to the villager’s teasing. His eyes lost control and darted towards Lu Jiao.
Lu Jiao wanted to roll her eyes but she managed to stop herself. She pretended she didn’t hear anything and went to talk to the wives about what was planned for lunch.
Her reaction disappointed Xie Yunjin a lot. However, he did his best to not react but much light disappeared from his eyes. He gathered some people and told them more about the stone he wanted to find.
Lu Jiao went up into the mountains with the group. The four little ones wanted to tag along too but Lu Jiao didn’t let them.
“I’m going into the mountains with your second uncle to find a stone. We don’t have time to take care of you. Once I’m freer, I’ll take you into the mountains with me.”
The four little ones nodded obediently. Lu Gui took them outside while Lu Jiao took the group up the mountain.
There were some stones with holes in them, but none that they could put a rope through.
Lu Jiao knew it was next to impossible to find the perfect stone for the job. So she chose a rectangular rock with a small hole. She planned on using her drill to drill through the hole and perhaps create a few more in the same stone. That would be good enough.
Lu Jiao said to Xie Erzhu and the others, “Let’s split up. It’d be faster that way.”
Xie Erzhu was worried about Lu Jiao, “I’ll go with you.”
Lu Jiao declined. She wouldn’t be able to drill if anyone was there.
“Don’t worry about me. I come up here often to harvest herbs. It’s easier and faster if we split up and look separately.”
Xie Erzhu remembered that Lu Jiao was very strong and decided to let her be. However, he still reminded her, “Be careful.”
Once the group split up, Lu Jiao went to the stone she had her eyes on. After everyone disappeared from the area, she lifted the stone and went into her space.
The electric drill was in her space for emergencies. As a military doctor, she had lots of tools there that might come in handy for surviving in the wild.
It was the perfect opportunity to use it.
The stone Lu Jiao chose was a bluestone. Though bluestones were not as hard as granite, it wasn’t easily crackable like limestones.
Despite the bluestone’s hardness, it was no opponent to the electric drill. Lu Jiao managed to drill several holes before she left her space holding the stone.
The moment she left her space, she started to shout, “Second brother, brother Xu, brother Lin, come and see. I found a hard stone that could be used.”
To make sure nobody sees through her trick, she made sure the holes she created were big and natural looking.
Therefore, nobody doubted that stone was naturally formed and then found. Everyone then started to exclaim over Lu Jiao’s good luck.
“Yunjin’s wife has such good luck.”
“Yeah, we looked around for so long and found nothing. She found one right away.”
Xie Erzhu proudly said, “My sister-in-law’s always been lucky. She’s able to find silver while taking a stroll.”
Lu Jiao glared at Xie Erzhu. Was he still the humble second brother-in-law of hers? Why was he flattering her like this?
“Second brother, since we found the right stone, let’s go back.”
“Okay.”
Nobody asked Lu Jiao to carry the stone. Xu Duojin and Lin Erdan’s dad carried the stone down the mountain together.
Though Lu Jiao could easily do it herself, she didn’t want to steal the men’s jobs in case they got embarrassed.
Back at the Xie courtyard, everyone was surprised to see the stone Lu Jiao brought back, “Oh my, there really are stones with holes in them? How come we never thought of using that to make the foundation?”
“Foundation made from this stone must be sturdier than a foundation made from wood.”
“Yunjin, can we borrow your stone when the time comes?”
Xie Yunjin nodded. His gaze never left the stone. Staring at the holes, he felt like something didn’t look right.
Xie Yunjin wanted to observe longer but Lu Jiao stopped him, worried that he might notice the oddness, “Now that we got the stone, can we start building the foundation?”
She successfully distracted Xie Yunjin, who turned to her, “Yes, this afternoon, we’ll start construction in the east.”
Lu Jiao nodded, “When are we tearing down our current house?”
Xie Yunjin thought about it, “I want to get rid of the old building this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, we can finish up the foundation here as well. That way, we can start doing both courtyards together. If we only do one side at a time, it would take a lot longer.”
He wanted to move into the city as soon as possible. He wanted to start teaching those pupils and also buy Lu Jiao some clothes and jewelry.
The entire family except Lu Jiao wore new clothes. Every time he noticed that he found it blinding. All he could think then was how much Lu Jiao had helped them.
He originally wanted to make a trip to Qili. However, he never found the stuff in that town that attractive. Therefore, he figured he might as well wait until he moved to the city.
Xie Yunjin asked Lu Jiao, “Any thoughts?”
Lu Jiao just didn’t want Xie Yunjin to think too much about the holes in the stone. She had no thoughts regarding the new houses. After all, she wasn’t going to be living here.
Lu Jiao smiled, “You make the decisions.”
It was obvious that she didn’t want to get involved. Her statement affected Xie Yunjin’s mood and he quieted down.
Lu Jiao went on to take care of her own business.
Since so many people helped out, it only took two days to finish building the foundation. Two days later, classmate Han and his people came over with carriages worth of black bricks.
Every villager came outside to watch the bricks get dumped in Xie Yunjin’s home. Lots of people found this to be precious and even touched the bricks, “So these are black bricks.”
“Houses built from black bricks are very strong.”
“I want to use this later.”
“I heard that houses built with black bricks can last over a decade.”
“Several decades!”
“That’s nonsense! They last forever.”
Xie Yunjin and Lu Jiao asked Classmate Han to come in for water.
Since Classmate Han was going to write the September exam, Xie Yunjin felt really bad asking him for help at a time like this.
“Classmate Han, thank you for all your work. I really shouldn’t be bothering you these days.”
Classmate Han smiled at Xie Yunjin, “Yunjin, what are you talking about? We are good friends and I am so excited you’re moving to the city. Once you settle down in the city of Qinghe, you can teach me. That would boost my confidence greatly.”
Classmate Han drank some water and continued, “To help you with your house, I didn’t just lug over the bricks. I hired five construction workers to help you build the house.”