Chapter 388 Good things come in hard times

Chapter 388 Good things come in hard times

Chapter 388 Good things come in hard times
For several days, everyone divided the work and did their own thing, and no one was idle.

Because the house cannot be used directly after purchase, it needs to be renovated, and this renovation will take at least two or three months, so there is no rush.

Han Xiaohui asked Zhang Fen to clean her house thoroughly, even painting it white and fixing what needed fixing.

After all this operation, Zhang Fen's room was not completely new, but at least it looked a lot cleaner.

Yu's mother asked Yu Xuewei to prepare bedding, including quilts, pillows, sheets and so on.

There are also some daily necessities, which are quite a lot, including enamel basins, thermos bottles, flashlights, vanishing cream, etc., all of which need to be new.

As for Han Xiaohui and Yu's mother, they would go to the marked places to ask about houses whenever they had time. Although it was not easy to find, they still found a few houses.

One is the backyard wing and ear room of a courtyard, totaling about 50 square meters. The location is pretty good, about 6 square meters.

One is the main room and ear room in the central courtyard, totaling about 60 square meters, which costs around 900 yuan. Although the location is good, it is also very expensive.

There are some other houses, but none of them can compare to these two, either because the environment is not good or the area is too small.

"Which of these two houses do you think is better?" Han Xiaohui asked Yu's mother who was standing beside her.

Mother Yu was troubled. "They are almost the same. They each have their own advantages, but they are still not as good as the house behind the house that Xiao Li mentioned."

Han Xiaohui sighed, "Yes."

These houses are either not that big or too expensive. Especially after decoration, the effect of these houses is not as good as that of the back houses.

After comparison, it is found that the old yellow house has the best location and is most suitable as a wedding room.

If they hadn't heard what Li Kailang said, they might have made their choice directly, but after hearing it, they always wanted a better one and didn't want to let their children down.

Although they are rich, they don't spend money so recklessly, especially since they have to decorate the house, which also costs money, and then they will have to spend money on the wedding banquet.

"Let's look for more. I hope Xiao Li can find a better house." Han Xiaohui said helplessly. She could only pin her hopes on Li Kailang, hoping that he could find a better one.

Yu's mother nodded: "If there is nothing suitable, let Xiao Li help with the planning and renovating the house."

"also."

What they didn’t know was that Li Kailang was in a similar situation to them.

Either the area is too small or the environment is bad. As for the price, it is not something he considers. Neither of the two companies is short of money.

The small area and poor environment are not something Li Kailang can change, which makes him a little anxious.

But there is someone who is much more anxious than Li Kailang, and that is none other than Old Huangtou.

Old Huang had seen Li Kailang's behavior over the past few days and was worried.

After work, Li Kailang went to each courtyard to ask, and he actually found out several residents who originally had no intention of selling their houses.

There were no competitors for him originally, but now there are a few more, which puts Old Huang under a lot of pressure.

Those people's houses are located in better locations than his and are priced similarly, but are just a little smaller in size.

That would have been fine, as no one had come to his house to inquire about the house in recent days. This give and discount made Old Huang even more anxious.

"No, we agreed at the beginning that you can buy it if you want. I can't lose face now." Old Huang was still stubborn and couldn't lose face.

But just because he didn't say it doesn't mean Li Kailang doesn't know that he is different.

At the beginning, every time Li Kailang passed by, Old Huangtou's eyes were always on him.

Later, whenever Li Kailang left a yard, Old Huang would follow him and ask the owner what was going on.

The answers from each homeowner were similar. "Master Li said he liked it very much, and if there were no other suitable houses, he would give priority to mine."

"He also said that he would give me an answer before the end of the month whether he would buy it or not."

"The end of the month?" Old Huang muttered to himself, which means that there will be a reply before the end of the month.

If Li Kailang doesn't want his house, then when will he be able to sell it? He has to go to live with his son before the New Year.

His son has written to him, asking him to sell the house as soon as possible.

It was Saturday night, and Li Kailang told several people about his achievements over the past few days.

"Xiao Li, how about I admit my mistake to Old Huang and we buy the house quickly?" Zhang Fen said anxiously.

"Pa!" Without waiting for Li Kailang to speak, Zhang Jinwu slapped Zhang Fen on the head.

"Woo woo~" Zhang Fen covered the back of his head and gasped.

Zhang Jinwu said angrily, "Look at your ugly face. If you go and apologize to others, won't that mean that Xiao Li was wrong? Is there anyone like you?"

"Besides, if you apologize to someone, they will know you are just pretending, and they might even raise the price."

"I know you are anxious to prepare for the new house, but I don't know if you think you are deliberately playing tricks on Xiao Li."

After talking about Zhang Fen, Zhang Jinwu looked at Li Kailang and said in a gentle voice, "Xiao Li, don't worry about him. His brain sometimes doesn't work well. You know that."

Li Kailang waved his hands: "It's okay, it's okay. I know Brother Zhang doesn't mean that. If there is no house here, I will apologize when the time comes. I can't delay Brother Zhang's marriage."

Han Xiaohui also spoke up for Li Kailang, "Look, look at how Kailang does things, look at you like that."

She was so angry that she slapped Zhang Fen several times and said, "Stop talking. No one will think you are dumb if you don't talk."

Yu's father and mother were watching on the side and had nothing to say. What could they say? Could they say that Zhang Fen was stupid?
Zhang Fen must have said this for the sake of Yu Xuewei and their family. Isn't he talking about Yu Xuewei?

Besides, Zhang Fen didn’t really mean that when he said this.

Zhang Fen touched his head and apologized: "I'm sorry, Xiao Li, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean that."

"I know." Li Kailang nodded and didn't care about it. After all, it was someone else's wedding, and it was natural to say so.

"Kailiang, let's not worry about Old Huang's house. Just do our own thing. By the way, we have found a few houses. Please give us some advice."

Han Xiaohui introduced the house that she and Yu's mother had liked.

After listening, Li Kailang explained one by one. This time he picked out the good things to talk about and glossed over the bad ones.

How could they not know what Li Kailang meant? They couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, thinking it was rare to come across such a good house with a back house.

Everyone wanted to find such a good house again, but they didn’t expect it to be so hard to find. If it weren’t for Li Kailang’s detailed planning, they wouldn’t have even thought about it.

"Forget it, let's just think of it as good things take time. There's no rush to buy a house anyway, and I still have to renovate it. I'll just wait and get married first." Han Xiaohui thought to herself.

As a result, Zhang Fen and Yu Xuewei will have to live with the Zhang family for a while, but there is nothing wrong with this.

Whether now or in the future, there are many people who live with their parents after getting married.

After Yan Jiecheng and Jia Dongxu got married, they both lived with their parents. Yan Jiecheng was better off, as he later moved to the back house.

Jia Dongxu and his family have lived together from the beginning to the end, so it’s not a big deal.

This is the norm. Those who buy a house before getting married are always a minority.

"Thank you for your hard work, Kailang. I'm sorry to trouble you so much for Xiaofen's matter." Han Xiaohui expressed her gratitude.

"Nothing." Li Kailang waved his hand.

weekend.

"Oh my~" Li Kailang stretched on the bed. He didn't go to Xinhua Bookstore today.

He did not forget what he had agreed with Lou Xiao'e on Monday, that she would come over to play, so naturally she had no time to go to Xinhua Bookstore.

Suddenly, a voice came from the door.

"Li Kailang, here I come!"

"Oh, I'm here." Li Kailang responded, and saw Lou Xiaoe when he opened the door.

"You're here pretty early."

"Of course, I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

Hearing this, Li Kailang didn't know what to say, "Have you had breakfast? How about eating something?"

Lou Xiao'e nodded repeatedly and touched her stomach: "Okay, I came too early and haven't eaten yet."

"Okay, then you wait."

Li Kailang didn't have time to wash up and made some breakfast for Lou Xiaoe first.

After finishing the meal, Lou Xiao'e looked at Li Kailang expectantly, "Li Kailang, where are we going to play later?"

"Where should we go?" Li Kailang had no idea for a moment. He had been busy asking about the house this week and had no time to think about where to go.

If you can't think of one, then let her decide, "Where do you want to play?"

"Where is fun?" Lou Xiao'e couldn't think of one for a moment. She had been to many places, but she didn't know which one was fun.

They are all just for fun, just for the sake of doing it.

"I don't know either. What about you?" Li Kailang spread his hands. "I don't know either. Since you haven't thought of it, how about this? Let's go out and play in the yard today?"

"In the yard? What fun things are there in the yard?" Lou Xiao'e was puzzled. What fun things could be done in the yard?

"Have you ever tried carpentry? Why not try it, it's fun." Li Kailang happened to be thinking about carving the furniture.

"Okay, I'll try it." Lou Xiao'e had seen it but had never played it.

"Okay, then finish your meal quickly."

After eating, Lou Xiao'e didn't even have time to rest and kept urging Li Kailang.

Seeing this, Li Kailang took Lou Xiao'e to the ear room. Looking at the furniture in the entire room, Lou Xiao'e was stunned.

"Wow, I didn't expect there were so many pieces of furniture?" There were more pieces of furniture in Lou Xiao'e's house, but the furniture was scattered around, which was far less shocking than seeing them all together.

As soon as Lou Xiao'e touched the furniture, she could feel that it was well made.

"Your furniture is no worse than the furniture in my house. Some of it is even better," Lou Xiao'e said sincerely.

Li Kailang patted his chest and said, "Of course, you don't even look at who made it. These furniture of mine, if used normally, will last for 10 to 20 years without any problems."

"Why?" Lou Xiao'e was even more curious. Her furniture had to be replaced every few years and was corroded and rotten. How could Li Kailang use it for so long?

"Hey, I can't tell you." Li Kailang said mysteriously.

In fact, it is not that mysterious. The finished wood boards will be baked once to remove moisture from the wood boards, and then brushed with tung oil.

The problem lies in removing the moisture. Furniture factories dare not use fire to bake the wood, but directly apply tung oil on it.

Wooden boards with moisture in them will be corroded by insects sooner or later.

The idea of ​​baking is actually not difficult. You can do it as long as you can think of it. But if you don’t think of it, you naturally can’t use it.

Just like woodblock printing and movable type printing, it just lacks that little bit of inspiration, and it won't matter once it's revealed.

"Forget it if you can't tell me." Lou Xiao'e rolled her eyes and said excitedly, "This is how carpentry is done. Teach me."

"Okay." Li Kailang looked around among the furniture and found a small object. "You can play with this first."

Li Kailang handed it to Lou Xiaoe. It was just an inconspicuous thing, but it would be nice to play with it.

"Thank you." Lou Xiao'e took it happily and looked at it curiously.

Then, Li Kailang took out the toolbox placed aside, took out some protective tools and handed them out.

"This is your first time playing, so please wear gloves and be careful."

Lou Xiao'e was very obedient and accepted whatever Li Kailang said.

They moved two small stools and sat at the door. Lou Xiao'e was very curious and started carving casually with a carving knife.

As for Li Kailang, he carved the wardrobe more delicately and carved out some patterns.

The appearance of the two people attracted Yan Bugui's attention.

"Xiao Li, are you carving again?"

"Yeah, what's up, Third Master?"

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm just taking a look out of curiosity." Yan Bugui said casually, walked closer to Li Kailang, and saw the pile of furniture in the room.

"So many!" Yan Bugui was also deeply moved. Looking at so many pieces of furniture in the room, such new furniture, his eyes showed extreme desire. He wanted all of them.

Li Kailang said calmly: "Uncle, don't even think about these furnitures. They all have owners. They are for weddings."

"Ahaha." Yan Bugui felt a little embarrassed when it was pointed out. But when he heard that it was used for people's weddings, he immediately changed his mind and nodded.

"Who would buy so much furniture for a wedding? This should cost at least 100 or 200 yuan. They are so rich."

"It's not anyone's. My master's son is getting married. These are all his."

"Oh, I see." Yan Bugui nodded. He felt jealous when he saw the furniture, but he didn't really want them that much.

After all, it's for people to use when they get married. If you take someone else's things, won't you be hated?

"Fortunately, Jia Zhang is in prison. If she saw you, she might come and steal your things." Yan Bugui said.

Li Kailang replied: "Yes, I opened the door because Jia Zhang was not here, otherwise I would rather close the door."

"Xiao Li, I'm here." Suddenly, Zhang Fen's voice came from the gate of the courtyard.

Li Kailang immediately put down what he was doing and went to look at the gate of the courtyard.

There were several carts at the door, loaded with wood.

"Xiao Li, I brought you all the wood that we agreed on earlier. How is it?"

Zhang Fen pointed at the seven or eight types of wood, including golden nanmu, red sandalwood, huanghuali and other woods.

He came here today to indirectly apologize for what he said yesterday, which was indeed inappropriate.

"This must have cost a lot of money," Li Kailang asked.

Zhang Fen waved his hand and said, "How much can these cost? Even if you add them together, they are not as much as you earn from the furniture. Instead, I earn money from you. We agreed that you should accept all of these."

"Row."

"Come on, Master, give me a hand and help carry it in." Zhang Fen directed the masters to move the wood into the ear room, and now the ear room was full again.

"So many furnitures." Zhang Fen was still extremely surprised when he saw the furnitures again. "Who else would prepare so many furnitures for a wedding like mine?"

"This is unique. After all, no one is like me, having such a good junior brother."

Thinking of this, Zhang Fen couldn't help but smile happily.

The masters were carrying things, and Zhang Fen pulled Li Kailang away, "Is there something I need to trouble you with?"

"what's up?"

"We discussed the chef for the wedding banquet yesterday. We all know your cooking skills. I wanted to ask you to be the chef for the wedding banquet and help me. I don't trust anyone else."

What Zhang Fen said was very technical. He mentioned that Li Kailang was a good cook and expressed his trust in him. Who would not agree with this?

It was obvious at first glance that this was not something Zhang Fen could have thought of. Someone must have taught him to say this. Given Zhang Fen's carefree personality, he would have just said that he was invited to be the chef.

"That's no problem. Have you decided what to cook?"

"I've thought about it, this is what we decided yesterday, take a look." Zhang Fen handed over the note in his pocket.

Li Kailang took it and looked at it. There were six dishes and one soup, one of which was a meat dish, and the dish was not difficult.

Li Kailang said calmly: "Okay, let me take care of the dishes. You take care of the rice, flour, vegetables, etc., and I will take care of the remaining oil, meat, etc."

The Zhang family had rice, flour, vegetables and other things in their cellar, but a lot of them were consumed just by doing this.

"By the way, how many tables do you want to set up?"

Zhang Fen: "Not many, just 6, 3 for me and 3 for Xuewei. I invited all my relatives, friends, and people from the same courtyard to eat together. No money was required for the meal."

"You know what's going on out there now. I don't dare to treat you too much, or else I'll end up going broke."

Based on the current environment, the wedding banquet certainly cannot be as grand as last year. No one has enough food, and the Yu family does not know the situation of the Zhang family’s cellar.

They didn't even dare to hold a grand banquet, so this was already very good.

"That's right." Li Kailang nodded. Fortunately, he didn't have to pay a gift. If he did, the whole family would come, and there wouldn't be just dozens of mouths to feed, but hundreds.

After all, since you can have a free meal, why not come with the whole family? The money for the contribution is not as much as you spend.

"Okay, leave it to me. Is there anything else?"

"That's all. I'll give you a big red envelope on the day of my wedding." Zhang Fen said gratefully.

Li Kailang took on so many things by himself. It would be great if he could show his ability. Whose apprentice/junior brother made such a great contribution?

In other words, Li Kailang has many skills and can take care of so many things at once, which makes them feel more at ease.

While the two were chatting, the craftsmen had finished moving the wood.

"Okay, Brother Zhang, just go do your thing. I have to hurry up and carve the furniture for you." Li Kailang said.

"Oh, that's hard work for you."

"It's okay." Li Kailang waved his hand.

Seeing this, Zhang Fen also left.

Li Kailang looked at the dozen or so pieces of furniture. Not only the Zhang family had to be busy, but he himself had to be busy too.

"Just think of it as good things taking time."

(End of this chapter)