Tong Tiehu's words had barely left his mouth when Tong Xingda, recalling the miserable days after Mrs. Zhang was kidnapped, opened his mouth, only to have his face redden as he restrained himself.
Yet he held back and remained silent.
"Every day it's nothing but millet porridge and cornbread," he thought. "Fine, I'll hold my breath on this for now!"
Seeing that Tong Xingda had quieted down, Tong Tiehu snorted and urged Big Brother Tong to hurry to town.
"Several pits need to be built at home, and one for Mrs. Zhang, too, to save her from the cold."
The Tong Family's minor episode did not dampen the village's enthusiasm for building kang beds. Having experienced the benefits first-hand after building their own, they immediately headed off to build for other villages.
Qiao Xiaomai had said that for this kind of job, don't charge too much for building a kang bed for someone else. "Earning five hundred wen for one would already be quite a profit."
