Chapter 55 Obedient Bai Nuo

"Nono, you're back?"

Sun Yuxi and Chao Xianhua rested for a while in the courtyard and now look much more energetic. They opened the door and came out when they heard the noise.

"Well, I went to the brigade headquarters and bought some furniture and the wood we need. I also ordered the materials for building the yard, the kang (heated brick bed), and the stove. Have you decided how to repair the house?"

“I’ve thought it through. I also want to build a wall. I just saw the wall that Qin, the educated youth next door, built, and it looks pretty good.” Sun Yuxi nodded quickly.

The single room next to hers belonged to Qin Xuehua, a former educated youth. Before they came, there were only three single rooms in this area, all enclosed by walls. They looked quite nice, with a great sense of personal space.

"You don't need to build a wall around the flowers anymore. After Nuonuo and I build walls on both sides, the back of your house will become a yard. If you want to keep a gate, just open one."

Sun Yuxi had just walked around this area and already knew the location and terrain of the three families.

"That's great! But we'll split the cost of the materials for those two walls among the three of us. I can't just take advantage of you."

Chao Xianhua was quite happy, as this saved her a lot of trouble. However, she couldn't take advantage of this. Her mother had said that greed for small gains leads to big losses. She had finally made two friends, and she couldn't lose them just because she was greedy.

This must be the huge loss her mother was talking about.

Bai Nuo and Sun Yuxi exchanged a smile, and then Bai Nuo spoke first: "How many mud bricks can one wall use? Besides, I only have one big wall and one small wall here, so it won't cost much."

"My side is even worse. One side is the courtyard wall of Qin Zhiqing's side, so it saves me the cost of one wall. I only need to build one wall, so there's no need to share the cost with you."

"That's right." Seeing that Sun Yuxi had no objections, Bai Nuo nodded quickly and said with a smile, "If you feel bad about it, just cook something delicious and share some with us later."

These days, food is hard to buy, more expensive than bricks, so there's no question of who's losing out.

"Okay, I'm really good at cooking. Once the stove is working again, I'll cook something delicious for you two."

Chao Xianhua was especially happy about this. Her mother had said that friends shouldn't be calculating, but they also shouldn't always take advantage or suffer losses. It's about giving and receiving to make friends.

Afterwards, Chao Xianhua and Sun Yuxi followed the brigade leader to the brigade headquarters to buy furniture and order materials, while Bai Nuo started packing her luggage and improving the design of her small home.

She divided the side yard into two small rooms to serve as a bathroom and a woodshed. For the remaining half, she planned to build a grape trellis on the roof, using wooden planks to hold the walls on both sides in place, and then securing the planks with nails underneath.

Build a simple little pavilion, where the old stone mill table can be placed, and put a drying rack next to it.

In one corner of the yard, a flush toilet was built, a stone path was laid in the middle, and two vegetable plots were created on either side, enough for her to eat alone.

Oh, and we also need to build a chicken coop so that one person can raise three chickens. That way, she'll have an excuse to eat eggs and chicken meat in the future.

Bai Nuo stood in her backyard and carefully observed the situation. Finally, she decided to lay another 60 centimeters of cement along the edge of the house so that she wouldn't have to worry about mud and water being brought into the house when it rained.

Thinking of cement, Bai Nuo made another trip to the brigade headquarters. Fortunately, no one had gone to the county to pick up materials yet, so he quickly asked the brigade leader to bring back a small bag of cement for him. It was just a small bag, so he could buy it on his way to the brick factory. It wasn't too much trouble. If he needed a large quantity, he would have to get a permit from the commune.

Finally, Bai Nuo settled the small courtyard in place. When she returned, she heard that there was a reed marshland to the west of the brigade, so she rushed over there.

Reeds can be used to make so many things.

In the afternoon, after Bai Nuo finished designing the cabin and the yard, she didn't rush to pack her luggage. There were still people coming to do things like building walls and installing kang beds, which would definitely make dust everywhere. It was better to finish everything and pack it all at once.

With her luggage still in the parcel for the time being and nothing else to do, Bai Nuo started writing and drawing in her notebook again.

She planned to cover the entire house with old newspapers; the few kilograms of newspapers she'd won in the raffle would be enough. She also planned to weave two straw mats from the reeds she'd picked and place them on the heated brick bed—comfortable and good at keeping out dust.

Although the kang (heated brick bed) is made of red bricks, there will still be dust. Bai Nuo couldn't accept laying a mat directly on it. Anyway, she could weave straw mats. She could also weave a few reed curtains with reed stalks. She would hang a large reed curtain on the wall with the kang and edge it with Northeast floral fabric. She remembered that she still had a lot of old-fashioned lace. If she made a lace trim, it should look very nice.

"A-Tong, do you have any lace now?"

"Yes, host. According to the records of this timeline, China began producing lace fabric in 1890. Currently, department stores in Shanghai and Beijing, as well as Friendship Stores, have tablecloths, shirts, and dresses made of pure cotton lace fabric. Therefore, the system suggests that you find some pure cotton lace fabric."

"What a coincidence, I actually have some." Bai Nuo scanned the No. 8 Era Warehouse with her divine sense and found two boxes full of old-fashioned pure cotton lace fabric, which was just right.

She also wanted to make a desk to place next to the kang (a heated brick bed), so a rectangular reed curtain would be hung on the partition walls on both sides to make it look clean, tidy, and beautiful.

"Host, we're not going to stay here forever, why are we making so much stuff?" The system didn't quite understand. Tomorrow we're going to work in the fields, and they still want to make so much stuff? It was afraid that the host would get so tired that he would go on strike, and that would be terrible.

Bai Nuo sat on the bundle with a smile and explained, "You know I used to have five teachers. One of them, Teacher Wen, was an elegant and refined lady. Even in the apocalypse, she would do her best to live a refined life and make her place comfortable and cozy."

She once told me that no matter when or where, you should never give up on your life, and you should try your best to live a refined and elegant life. Five dollars can be refined, and five hundred million dollars can be refined. Only by living a good life can your days get better and better. On the contrary, if you are sloppy and careless with your own home and yourself, then your life is likely to be a mess, and it will only get worse and worse.

I don't know if this is true or not. After all, before the apocalypse, that little old lady was a Suzhou embroidery inheritor and a professor of fashion design and production at a top university. Her life had always been exquisite, and her beliefs would not change with the environment.

But I'm willing to listen to her. Even though I've been reborn into this world, it doesn't change the fact that my teachers gave me a life, a chance to live, and worked together to raise me.

So, whether it's right or wrong, I'll listen to you.