Chapter 23 - Recruitment

Within a moment, many villagers were standing under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village. They were all whispering about whether something happened when the village chief summoned them.

The village chief saw people almost all arrived, then cleared his throat and spoke: "It's a good thing to call everyone today, the Xu family's old house intends to build a new house, and specially asked me to ask the villagers who haven't found a job in the labor force, 20 Wen a day, and lunch are also included, and if you want to work, sign up with me!"

The villagers discussed the matter and spoke to each other: "What, the old Xu family is building a new house? And he's paying 20 Wen a day for that much labor. Is it true?" 

Another person answered: "I don't think it's fake, the village chief said so, it must be true, 20 Wen is not bad! Anyway, my family will sign up." Then he raised his hand and shouted to the village chief: "Village chief, I'll sign up, count me in!" When the other villagers saw that someone had signed up, they all started shouting to sign up.

The village chief pressed down his hand and said: "Everyone, please be quiet. Anyone who wants to sign up will come to my house later. I'll register first. It's getting late. Let's go home and discuss it. Before dinner, I will send the list of people who want to work for the Xu family, let's all disperse!" Everyone walked towards their own homes, and their companions were confused that the old Xu family was going to build a new house. It seemed that they had money in their hands, and they all looked envious.

At this time, Old Xu's family had already made dinner and was ready to eat. At the dinner table, Qibao spoke to her grandfather: "Grandpa, I'm planning to build a courtyard, later I'll go to the master's place to see if there's any drawings for house construction, I wonder if there's anyone in our village who can understand the drawings?"

Elder. Xu added: "The village chief's son, Chunsheng, helped build houses in the town a few years ago, but how could there be so many houses to be built in the town? He didn't worry about the whole family, so he didn't go to other places to help. When people build houses, they go home and farm. In their free time, they go to the town to do part-time work! He can probably understand the drawings."

After hearing this, Qibao said: "Okay, then when the village chief's grandfather comes to our house, you talk to him about this matter, as long as the village chief agrees, let uncle Chunsheng come to our house to get the drawings at noon tomorrow." Grandpa Xu agreed.

After the meal, Qibao found time to sneak into the space. Xiaoling was very happy to see his master coming. He was usually the only one in the space, so he must be very lonely. Thinking about this, Qibao played with Xiaoling for a while. She asked: "Xiaoling, my family is going to build a new house. I wonder if there are any drawings for building a house in the study?" 

Xiaoling replied: "Yes, I know where it is, I'll take master to get it." He said and jumped in front of her, when she entered the study, Xiaoling pointed to a row of bookshelves and said: "It's right up there." Qibao waved her hand and took down the pile of drawings and put them on the desk, she sat in front of the desk and flipped through them one by one, most of the houses on the drawings were more on the side of the modern style, beautiful to look at but what's missing in this ancient time is the materials, there is no whitewash and no latex paint.

When Qibao thought that she could not find the style she wanted, she saw that the bottom drawing was very similar to the house type she wanted, so she took it out and observed it carefully. The whole courtyard was "Hau" shape, and the overall shape was It uses blue bricks as the structure and wood as the beams. It looks very antique, low-key and atmospheric. The floor will be paved with blue stone, which is simple and convenient to clean, and the materials used to build the house can be purchased in this era, so she immediately made a decision to build such a house.

After choosing the drawings, she went out to see how many vegetables Xiaoling had collected, and saw a variety of vegetables in the warehouse piled up in a pile on the ground in different categories, and was very satisfied, and complimented Xiaoling, Xiaoling saw his master praising himself, and was instantly happy to have his tail wagging like a fan. Looking at it, Qibao only felt that Xiaoling's tail would be wagging off by itself in the next moment, and explained to Xiaoling some more before taking the drawings out of the space.

When Qibao came to the hall, she saw that the village chief had finished discussing with her own grandfather and was ready to get up and leave, Qibao quickly stepped forward and said: "Grandpa village chief, please take this drawing back to Uncle Chunsheng, so I won't bother Uncle Chunsheng to make a special trip tomorrow, if he doesn't understand anything, he can also come to me." The village chief promised and left with the drawing.

Then Qibao gathered her brothers together and said seriously: "Brothers, tonight I will start training you, now start with the basics and follow my movements." A few of the younger ones heard their sister say that she was going to ask them to train in martial arts and hurriedly answered in unison "Yes!"

They only see Qibao's feet open outward at shoulder width, her body sinking down, her hands clenching her fists on her waist, saying: "Brothers, do as I do, keep still, rest for a moment after the quarter hour is over, squat for another quarter hour, and then run ten laps around the yard before tonight's training is considered over!"

The boys followed their sister's posture and imitated it. After a few breaths, Xiaoliu lost his balance and fell into a squat. He quickly got up and continued to squat.

After squatting for an unknown period of time, all of the older brothers were already unsteady, their legs were shaking, and sweat was seeping out of their foreheads, but they were still holding on painstakingly.

Qibao watched and nodded, it seems that her brothers are very strong-willed, the squatting horse stance was nothing to her. Many trainings in her previous life were many times crueler than this, but now she has the soul of an adult and the body of a 5 year old child, sometimes the body is far less responsive than the brain, and she has to start all over again.

"Alright, the quarter hour is up, brothers take a rest first!" Just after Qibao finished speaking, some of her brothers immediately collapsed to the ground and breathed heavily. Seeing this, Qibao said: "You can't lie down immediately after just exercising, it's not good for your body." Her brothers couldn't understand what she said about heart rate, so she could only express it this way.

The brothers immediately stood up again, after a moment's rest, Qibao said: "Well, the rest time is up, keep the action just now and continue to do so." She led the way and did it herself. When the squatting time is up, Qibao instructed: "Rest for a moment, then run 10 laps around the house, you have just started, and slowly increase the amount of exercise later." All the brothers agreed in unison. 

By the time Qibao led her brothers to run 10 laps, the boys were already sweating profusely, huffing and puffing, unable to say a word. At this time, Mrs. Wang began to say: "Each of you is sweating profusely, quickly go into the house to wipe yourselves, and look for your mother to get some clean clothes, don't be blown by the wind and catch a cold." She wet a handkerchief and wiped Qibao's body, and said painfully: "Qibao, do you have to practice? You're a girl, why are you practicing? Let your brothers practice, and let them protect you in the future!"

Qibao replied: "Grandma, I must practice, this is what my master told me, my master said that practicing martial arts can strengthen my body, not to mention that in the future. My brothers can't be by my side all the time, so it's still good to have a little self-protection ability." Wang's heard Qibao say this and could only give up.

By the time everyone finished washing up, it was already completely dark, so they all went back to their rooms to sleep...