Lord Highlander

  Chapter 224 223. House Repair

Village head Brett led a dozen villagers standing on the bank of the tidal flat in the lower reaches of the river. In front of them was a large flooded reed pond. There were also a lot of red thatch growing on the periphery of the reed pond. Stream water will continue to pour into this tidal flat. At present, the river bend has become a wild lake.

In autumn, the place will dry up completely. In addition to red thatch is used to repair the roof and the reeds can be used to weave straw mats, after the grass is dried and chopped, it is also the winter ration of the yellow sheep in the village during the winter storage. Such a large tidal flat The land is the biggest guarantee for the gazelles to survive the winter.

  The wild lake was shimmered by the dazzling sunlight, and a few wild ducks were crawling around in the reeds.

  More than a dozen young villagers rolled up their trouser legs, holding sickles in their hands, and stepped into the tidal flats covered with red thatch, harvested clusters of red thatch, and transported them back to the shore.

The silt at the bottom of this wild lake is very soft, and it is almost submerged up to the thighs when you step on it. It is very difficult to walk back and forth in the river beach, so these red thatch are almost relayed to the shore, Sur Dak originally wanted to go to the river to cut thatch together, but Uncle Brett stopped him, saying that you are a majestic imperial knight, how could you go to a wild lake to cut thatch...

Just when Suerdak and the village head Brett were asking for advice on how to hunt gray rock iguanas, a villager ran up from a distance and shouted to the old village headman: "Uncle Brett, there are people from Guta Village again! ..."

  The villagers who were cutting red thatch in the wild lake heard someone shouting loudly, so they all stopped their work and turned their heads to look at the shore.

The old village head standing on the bank quickly pointed at these villagers and yelled: "Mow the grass quickly, it will take half a day to dry before you can go to the house after mowing it, and it won't dry after a while... Go and clean the ancient pagoda." People from the village brought them here."

  The villager heard the old village head's order, and quickly turned around to find the person from Guta Village.

When two villagers from Guta Village drove a dozen gazelles and led a yellow and white cow to this side, Village Chief Brett was a little dumbfounded. He blew his beard and stared angrily at the villager: " You can't find a way to settle the cattle and sheep they brought, and you have to come here?"

   "Uncle Brett, they said that these sheep and cows were all given to Duck! I didn't dare to arrange them casually..." The young villager ran directly to the old village chief and said in a low voice.

  Suldak heard the villagers say this, and asked in surprise: "For me?"

Before your young villagers answered, one of the Guta villagers holding a cow said first: "Master Suldak Knight, the people in the village offended you before, and this time they brought you some gifts. Please accept it with a smile, Lord Knight. This time, returning the Beigou Grassland to Woer Village is also to ask you not to hate Guta Village. Please forgive me for any offenses I made in the past!"

"Uh, I forgive you!" Suldak said, and then he looked at a dozen gazelles gnawing on the grass beside the river beach and said, "However, I can't take your cattle and sheep. Better hurry back!"

"Master Knight, we..." The faces of the two villagers of Guta Village were tanned by the sun, and their faces were covered with dry spots. At a glance, they were the kind of honest farmers. In front of Suldak, he put on an attitude that he would not leave until he gave this gift.

  Suldak felt that this matter was dragging on, and it was obvious that he would delay the process of repairing his house.

If it was the two of them villains or cunning people, Suldak would have a way to deal with them. However, they both looked dull and honest. Suldak rubbed his forehead in some distress, then turned his head and asked the old village chief in a low voice, How much are these cattle and sheep worth?

  The village chief Brett frowned, and murmured: "A gazelle costs around seven silver coins, and a cow costs more. You can sell it for at least one gold coin in Hailansa City..."

   "That's two gold coins!"

After Suldak finished speaking, he took out two golden coins from his pocket behind him, grabbed the ancient tower villagers, stuffed the gold coins into his palm, and said to the ancient tower villagers without any doubt: "These I have accepted the cattle and sheep, please hand over these two gold coins to your village chief, and the grievances between our two villages will be settled in the future."

  The villagers of Guta looked at the gold coins in their hands in astonishment, and looked at Suldak in bewilderment.

   "If there is nothing else, please go back!" Suldak said to the two villagers of Guta Village.

  The two ancient pagoda villagers held two gold coins in their hands. After a moment of astonishment, they walked away quickly with joy on their faces.

Suldak looked at the cows and yellow sheep grazing beside him in some distress, wondering if they should be driven to Beigou Grassland, or the head of Brett told the villager who reported the news: "Go and take this One cow was taken to Duck's house and handed over to old Sheila, and the fifteen sheep were driven to Beigou pasture."

   "...Understood, village chief." After the villager received specific instructions, he quickly followed Brett's instructions.

  The red thatch on the river bend has basically been cut. As long as it is exposed to the sun for half a day on the edge of the river, it can be completely dried under the scorching sun.

   As for how the red thatch will be spread on the roof, it is also very particular.

The red thatch needs to be bundled and tied to the hardwood rafters on the roof. If the bundle is too tight, there will be gaps between the red thatch bundles, and it will inevitably leak when it rains. But if the red thatch bundles are not tied tightly, If it is laid on the roof, it cannot withstand strong winds. Once there is a strong wind, the thatch on the roof will be blown into the sky.

  Suldak brought the villagers who were harvesting red thatch back home, only to find that the house was also in full swing.

The roof of the stone house had been lifted long ago, and several carpenters wrapped the interior walls of the old house with wooden boards, so that it looked like a stone house from the outside, but it was a very elegant wooden house from the inside. The beams are still strong, but the rafters are a little sparse. Some villagers climbed to the roof and added some new wood to make the rafters more densely arranged, so that the thatch on the roof will not be blown away by the strong wind.

The firewood house next to Suldak has been completely dismantled. Several masons have already built up the walls to be as high as a person. Together with the bathroom, a new stone house has been expanded next to the old house. Open a small window on the roof.

This kind of limestone strips can be seen everywhere in the Pagros Mountains. This kind of stone is not very hard, and it is very easy to dig. People here are used to building stone houses with this kind of limestone. The mud mixed with clay and lime is used occasionally, and this mixed soil will become stronger and stronger under the washing of rainwater.

The kitchen of the old house had been dismantled to pieces. Old Sheila asked the mason to build a simple hearth in the yard. Old Sheila gritted her teeth and took Rita to take the only few egg-laying hens in the house. Kill it, and prepare to mix the chicken with the salted pork leg brought by the old village head, and then fill it with some peeled chestnuts and stew it into a pot of stew to entertain the villagers who came to help.

   Many of the women in the village also came to help, making the yard a mess.

When it was almost dark, the dried red thatch was spread on the roof, and a new stone house was built on the side of the old house. Although the main frame of the stone house was built, and the main beam and the roof The thatch has been laid, but the carpentry work inside the house has not been completed, and several carpenters will be busy for at least another day tomorrow.

  The villagers not only ate the only six hens that old Sheila had for dinner, but also half a bag of wheat flour.

Old Sheila also asked Rita to make the last half bag of wheat flour into baked wheat cakes to entertain the helpers in the village. There are very limited good lands for growing wheat in Wall Village, and it is rare for the villagers to have a meal of baked wheat cakes. A dozen or so toasted oatmeal leaves barely anything left.

When the well-fed villagers dragged their tired bodies away one after another, the yard was in a mess, and it would take a lot of time to tidy it up. Old Sheila looked worried at the empty flour sacks, and was harvesting new ones. Before wheat, probably only chestnut rice and cassava could be eaten at home.

Old Sheila didn't expect that Suldak would make such a big fight. Not only did she renovate the old stone house, but she even asked the villagers to build a new stone house. The two stone houses, one high and one low, were close together , the closets of the two rooms are connected to a chimney, and old Sheila knows that this winter will not be too difficult...

  (end of this chapter)