The next day, I got up early, and Leizi was still sleeping soundly in the quilt.

It’s cool and autumn. Sleeping in autumn is the most comfortable time, it’s just right.

I got up and looked through the old calendar. The old calendar shows that today's day should be built, migrated, sacrificed, bathed, tailored clothes, avoided marriage, burial, praying for blessings, digging wells, etc.

I nodded. In the old calendar, the first thing that is suitable for today is to build it. It seems that today is indeed a good day to repair a house.

According to legend, the old almanac was created by Emperor Xuanyuan, so it is called the "almanac". You can check the good and bad luck of the day. As for whether you believe in the old almanac, it means that people have different opinions.

But personally, I think there is no harm in looking at the old almanac. Since the old almanac can be passed down for thousands of years, there must be a reason.

I calculated it on paper again and initially set the time for diversion of soil at Si, that is, between 9 o'clock in the morning and 11 o'clock.

The animal represented by Si (si) is a snake, also known as the earth dragon. The earth dragon protects the house and protects the safety of the earth forever, so it is best to choose Si time to start the earth.

Then I went out early, bought a few yellow paper, a few strings of firecrackers, and prepared a large jar of grains, namely rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, beans, some incense candles, and a big red rooster.

When I returned home with these things in big bags, the people from the engineering team had already arrived.

A total of six people came to the engineering team. Zhao, the leader, was a small foreman. These workers all made a living with him. He had an engineering team under his command, who worked on the construction site in the city for many years. During this period, he returned to the countryside to help his family.

My father is familiar with Foreman Zhao, so he told Foreman Zhao that Foreman Zhao came over with someone.

I shook hands with Foreman Zhao. Foreman Zhao was not very old, probably in his thirties, black and thin, and very lean.

"You are Xiao Jiu, right?" Foreman Zhao asked me.

I nodded, and Foreman Zhao smiled and said, "Young man is not bad. He is very famous in the villages. When I came back this time, I heard several people mention your name and say you are very capable!"

I laughed and said modestly: "I dare not take it! I dare not take it! Everyone is making a living!"

At the same time, I was also secretly proud of myself, but I didn’t expect that I was so famous now.

I welcomed Foreman Zhao into the yard, and a round table was set up in the center of the yard, and wine and food were prepared on the table.

We rural people have to have a full meal and drink some wine before working.

Some people in the city are particularly unresolved. They eat some cakes, glasses of milk, and at most bowls of noodles to fill their stomachs. They are very surprised why they eat and drink in the countryside early in the morning. They always think that we are a local man, just like we have never eaten.

In fact, people in the city do not understand that most rural people do hard work and tiring work, and their physical energy is consumed a lot, so they must eat full before working to have the strength. Drinking two glasses of wine is one to express gratitude to the owner, and the other to warm the stomach, because in a lot of physically consuming labor, sudden diseases such as gastrointestinal cramps are prone to occur, while drinking two glasses of white wine can effectively prevent these sudden diseases.

My mother walked out of the kitchen with a pot of braised elbows and greeted Foreman Zhao and the others: "Foreman Zhao, are you here? Please sit down quickly! You can't respect me, so eat some casually!"

Foreman Zhao arranged for the workers to sit down and sit around the table: "Auntie, you are so kind. You have made such a sumptuous meal early in the morning, so why are you still simple to eat!"

Speaking of this, Foreman Zhao turned to the workers and said, "Auntie, you must do your work well!"

"Okay!" All the straightforward men here responded generously.

I also sat down next to Foreman Zhao, as the representative of the owner, and accompanied them to eat and drink.

Foreman Zhao asked me: "Where is uncle? Why didn't you see Uncle Xiao Er?"

"Oh, my father is feeling a little uncomfortable these days, so he's resting inside!" As he said that, I raised my glass and stood up: "Everyone, this glass is for everyone, I'll ask you about the house!"

The workers raised their glasses and responded: "Jiu Lizi, you are so polite. Everyone in the countryside and neighbors will definitely get this done for you!"

"Oh, why don't you call me when you drink?" Lei Zi walked out of the bedroom with his messy chicken coop head, yawning with his eyes, moved a stool, squeezed to me and sat down, grinned at me, reached out and pulled a chicken leg, and started chewing it.

While gnawing on the chicken legs, the kid waved at me: "Don't worry about me, you guys keep talking! Keep talking!"

I smiled helplessly and said to Foreman Zhao: "Don't mind, a silly brother from my distant room has been boarding at our house during this period!"

Foreman Zhao smiled and drank with me, looking at the old house in front of me: "Jiu Lizi, your old house is probably born a little bit old, right?"

"Yes!" I poured a glass of wine for Foreman Zhao: "Foreman Zhao, look at my house, should I repair it or build a new building?"

"How do you say this? It mainly depends on what you mean. We will do whatever you want!" said Foreman Zhao.

"My father may want to keep this old house. You know, older people must have feelings for the old house! However, this old house has been born for too long, and I am afraid of safety risks. So personally, I want to build a new house. Our family has only three people, and the second floor and one bottom is enough!" I said.

Foreman Zhao nodded: "I understand what you mean, let's do it. Let's take a look at the situation of the house later. If there is indeed a safety hazard, I will recommend that you demolish the old house and rebuild a new house!"

"Foreman Zhao, you quote a price. How much does it cost if you build a new house? How long does it take?" I am also a cheerful person and don't like to beat around the bush.

Foreman Zhao said: "Jiuyizi, everyone is a neighbor, and I don't make any money. Anyway, just manage the wages of the workers' door enough! Let's do this, a fixed price of 50,000! Is it time? It's very fast. If it's the second floor and the bottom, as long as we work day and night, we can get a skeleton out in more than ten days and build it in less than one month. What do you think?"

"Okay!" I nodded: "Then when construction starts later, you can see the situation of the house!"

After all, I will have to work later, so I can’t drink too much wine, just do it in moderation.

Almost one person drank two or three taels of white wine, and then each cooked a large bowl of white rice. I looked at the time and it was already past 9 o'clock in the morning and it was already siren.

When everyone had enough food and drink, my mother removed the table and then went to the kitchen to work hard to prepare lunch.

When workers come to work at home, they have to take care of all three meals a day. This is an unwritten rule. You can't come to work at home, just be hungry from morning to night.

Leizi and I carried my dad out of the bedroom and let him bask in the sun in the yard.

Regarding the house, I also explained the situation to my father. Anyway, according to Foreman Zhao and others, if there is indeed a safety hazard in the old house, then demolish it and repair the new building on the spot. If there are no safety hazards and you can continue to live after repair, then there is no need to demolish it, just sew and repair it.

Although my father was a little reluctant to part with his old house, he still agreed with me. After all, this is the house he lives in, and it is amazing that there are safety hazards.

Before starting work, according to convention, you must do some rituals.

Now that Chen Xiucai is not here, all the rituals can only be done by me personally.

I lit three incense sticks, stood in the center of the yard, and bowed three times in the four directions, southeast, west and north, and then knelt down devoutly, bowed three times incense sticks, and finally inserted the three incense sticks into the soil.

Before we get to the ground, we must worship the Lord Tudi, which is what we call Lord Tudi.

The Lord of Land is in charge of the land power and wants to break ground, so he naturally has to inform the Lord of Land first.

I gently blew three incense sticks and found that the incense thread had not been extinguished, which means that the Landlord allowed us to dig the ground.

Remember, if the three incense sticks are extinguished at this time, it means that the Landlord does not agree. It is best to stop the groundbreaking, otherwise an accident may occur.

After sacrificing the incense to Master Tudi, I brought a brazier and placed it in front of the threshold of the lobby.

Then I took out the yellow paper I bought and started burning the paper into the brazier. The flames burned vigorously and reddened my face.

This is a kind of blessing. If the flames burn vigorously, it indicates that the days will become more prosperous in the future. At the same time, the burning flames can also drive away bad luck and unclean things from the house to ensure safe and smooth construction.

As the saying goes, "A fire is used in front of your home, to drive away evil spirits and ghosts and avoid disasters!" This is what it means.

After burning the yellow paper, I killed the big red rooster and poured the red hot chicken blood into a brazier filled with paper ash, stirring it into a paste, emitting a fishy smell.

I held the brazier, picked up a brush, walked around the room, dipped the brush in this basin of chicken blood paper ash, brushed the beams and pillars in the room, leaving a bunch of blood marks, which is also a way to exorcise evil spirits and keep safety.

Finally, I left the house, stood in the yard, and moved out the jar of grains.

Foreman Zhao and the workers gathered up. Each of them grabbed a handful of grains and threw them on the roof and under the corner of the wall until the jar of grains were thrown cleanly before he could finish his hand.

Grains mean a bumper harvest, and everyone wants to have a good omen, so when repairing the house, sprinkling some grains is more of a beautiful blessing, in addition to ensuring safety.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and let out a long sigh. The ritual before the ground was basically completed successfully. Next, the workers can enter the site.

I looked at the time and it took about an hour to do the ritual, and it was about 10:30 am now.

I asked Leizi to take out two strings of firecrackers and hang them on the main entrance of the lobby, one on the left and one on the right.

The sound of firecrackers is booming.
Chapter completed!