The early spring sun was warm enough to make people sleepy.
But the open ground southeast of Li Long's courtyard in the Fourth Team was now piled with red bricks, cement, and earth blocks molded in advance.
Quite a few people were busy here, helping build a house for Li Junfeng's family.
Li Junhai and the others had come from their hometown before the Fifteenth Day of the First Lunar Month. They had received Li Junfeng's call and come to help.
Xie Yundong and others from the Team were there, along with neighbors such as Lu Yingming. Several of Xu Haijun's cousins were helping mix mud.
This patch had originally been saline-alkali land, growing nothing but short reeds and scattered camel thorn. Li Jianguo had brought in a bulldozer to scrape off the topsoil and haul it away. They dug foundation pits, and Li Junfeng led people in bringing yellow soil from elsewhere to ram down the foundations before laying a stone base.
To thank everyone helping, Li Junfeng went to Old Ma's Place and bought two sheep from Uncle Lao Luo. After slaughtering them, he had pilaf and mutton soup made for everyone.
Dong Xiaojuan cooked, Xie Yundong's wife came to help, and Sister-in-Law Lu offered pointers from time to time.
There were fewer people on site than when Li Long had built his house, but there were certainly enough.
In fact, quite a few people in the Team had been gossiping, including Ma Jinbao, who often found fault with the Li family.
Several times while drinking at the General Store, he had said the Fourth Team should never have granted household registration to Li Junfeng's family.
He said Li Junfeng was not an immediate relative of Li Jianguo's family, so why should they be allowed to register?
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