Chapter 163 - 159 Copper Coins at the Second Watch
Entering the mid-August, the capital’s weather remained sweltering. The electronics and clothes fabrics had arrived three days earlier, and Li Xianglu had cleared out a room in the backyard to store everything, but food and edible items, as well as Trauma Wine, were all stored in the Storage Ring.
Qin Xi inspected the courtyard’s power supply and found it unsuitable for so many appliances to operate simultaneously, so a large workforce was brought in to reinforce the interior of the houses and to rebury the wiring, rerouting the whole electrical system.
They had no choice but all of them moved to the last courtyard at the back, which had three rooms; Qin Xi and his brother shared one, while Grandpa Li and Li Xianglu each had their own room.
Since the interior of the houses was to be reinforced, old bricks and tiles were needed to match the original building materials, though stronger modern materials could be used inside.
The first task was to reinforce the foundation to prevent the structure from being top-heavy.
With many people working, the job was done quickly. In two days, they had dug up the foundations of the two courtyards. The agreement made with the construction workers entailed digging out the entire foundation, inserting rebar, pouring concrete, and connecting the extended part of the rebar with the later stages of the house reinforcement to strengthen the overall structure.
Hiring workers required a daily payment of 50 cents per person, along with four jin of two-mixed flour buns, which was considered exceptionally good food and wage conditions. Normally, workers were given food but no money. Qin Xi wanted to speed up the process as they would start school in mid-September, and he aimed to tidy up the place before school commenced.
Steaming the buns was handed over to the spouse of a worker. The man worked in construction; his wife, from the countryside, hadn’t received housing allocation in the capital. Her household registration hadn’t been transferred, so only the man received rationed grain. Thus, Qin Xi had hired her to steam the buns.
This woman, being from Beihai, was adept at steaming buns, kneading the dough for a long time which resulted in firm and chewy buns. She, too, was paid 50 cents for four buns and was very grateful and worked diligently.