Era: Seven money-losing girls? They're trying to trick me into having a daughter again!

"Dad, we've arrived."

Li Dakuan parked the tractor at the entrance of Fang Wei's yard.

Uncle Li jumped down from the side platform, rubbed his aching back, looked at Fang Wei's crooked mud-brick house, and silently planned out the work he needed to do.

There's a lot; enough to keep him and his son busy for several days.

Fang Wei flung open the courtyard gate and strode out, laughing, "Uncle Li! Da Kuan! You're here so early!"

As he spoke, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, first handing one to Uncle Li, and then to Da Kuan.

"Dawei, I don't smoke..."

"Take it!"

Fang Wei forced the firewood into Li Dakuan's hand, then struck a piece of firewood with a "snap," lit it for Uncle Li first, and then held it up to Li Dakuan.

Li Dakuan was surprised by Fang Wei's politeness and, feeling somewhat flattered, lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Li Shumei took a satisfying drag on his cigarette, and the last bit of unease in his heart finally disappeared.

Fang Wei is a generous and polite guy; he's a completely different person from the gambling addict who used to sneer at everyone.

"Uncle Li, take a break and have some water first. There's no rush to unload."

Fang Wei was about to step into the courtyard when he spoke, he really hadn't expected the Li family father and son to arrive so early.

"No rush, no rush!"

Uncle Li waved his hand, "Let's unload the stuff while the sun isn't too high yet. Da Kuan!"

"Why!"

Da Kuan put a cigarette in his mouth, then flipped over and jumped onto the trailer.

He was strong; he bent down, scooped up a stack of bricks, and carried seven or eight at once before jumping off the trailer very steadily.

Seeing this, Fang Wei didn't stay idle either. He walked to the side of the trailer and reached out to take the bundle of fir wood that Li Dakuan handed over.

"Fang Wei! Leave it there! That thing is very heavy!"

Before Uncle Li had even finished speaking, he had already hoisted up a bundle of fir wood.

That bundle of wood must have weighed at least seventy or eighty pounds, but Fang Wei carried it on his shoulder with his back ramrod straight, and his steps were perfectly steady.

Uncle Li paused for a moment, muttered something under his breath, and without saying anything more, rolled up his sleeves and joined the unloading team.

The commotion at Fang Wei's house quickly spread.

Before long, a crowd of onlookers had gathered at the entrance of the Fang family courtyard.

"My goodness! Fang Wei is really rich! He actually bought so many blue bricks!"

"Where is it? Let me see!"

"Blue bricks? Who's having blue bricks delivered?"

"Who else could it be? Fang Wei's family!"

An old man watched for a while, then said sourly, "Tsk tsk tsk, a big brick house with tiled roof, Fang Wei has really made it big."

"you do not say!"

A man next to him chimed in, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"They were so poor they couldn't even afford food last month, and now, just a few days later, they're hunting wild boar and catching river shrimp. Their luck is incredible..."

What does "good luck" mean?

A plump woman rolled her eyes. "While everyone else was sneaking out to Jiaoshan to catch shrimp in the dead of night, you were sleeping like a log in bed!"

"Exactly! They can't stand seeing others do well!"

Fang Wei completely ignored the discussions outside. By the time he finished moving the last bundle of cedar wood, his face and body were covered in sweat.

The sun was starting to get very strong, so he simply took off his undershirt and draped it over the broken bricks of the courtyard wall.

A young woman with a red hair tie secretly nudged the person next to her with her elbow and whispered, "You know what... Fang Wei's physique... is actually quite something to look at."

"Are you trying to die?!"

The other daughter-in-law blushed and spat, but couldn't help glancing at Fang Wei before quickly looking away.

Wu Shaoli came out of the kitchen carrying a large tea mug and several bowls of water, and said loudly, "Uncle Li, Da Kuan, take a rest for a while, come and have some tea!"

She walked up to Fang Wei, poured him a bowl of tea, and handed it to him, saying softly, "Dawei, take it easy, don't tire yourself out."

Fang Wei took the bowl of water, tilted his head back, and gulped it down. A few drops of water trickled down the corners of his mouth and dripped onto his chest.

Wu Shaoli's gaze followed the few drops of water down to Fang Wei's firm chest, and she suddenly felt her throat go dry.

"fine."

Fang Wei handed the water bowl back to her, grinned, and said, "This little bit of work is nothing. Go inside and rest; it's sunny outside."

Watching Fang Wei work, Uncle Li couldn't help but ask, "Dawei, have you ever done bricklaying before?"

"I never formally studied it."

Fang Wei stood on the ladder, turned around and laughed, "I just watched others do it a few times before, and I learned it by watching."

After learning that Mei Yan had given birth to a son for him in his past life, he really worked his hardest to earn money, doing all sorts of jobs, including bricklaying.

You'll learn it by watching?

Uncle Li was stunned for a moment.

He'd done this for most of his life, mentored no fewer than ten apprentices, but none of them could learn it just by watching. But this kid, Fang Wei…

Uncle Li shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and bent down to continue building the wall.

By noon, the foundation for the new kitchen had been laid.

The foundation pit was square, measuring twelve feet in length and width, a whole size larger than the original one.

Half of the courtyard wall was demolished, and the old bricks were cleared out. The usable ones were stacked on one side, and the unusable ones were piled up on the other side to fill the pit.

Fang Wei leaned against the courtyard wall, covered in sweat and panting heavily.

Wu Shaoli brought over a bowl of herbal tea, which he took and gulped down in one go.

"Drink slowly, don't choke..."

Before she could finish speaking, Fang Wei had already handed the bowl back, grinning, "Wife, give me another bowl."

……

While Uncle Li and Li Dakuan were resting under the courtyard wall, some people started to get restless.

"Dawei! Dawei!"

Liu Wang had been keeping an eye on the Fang family for three days. Standing at the gate, he didn't dare to come in directly. He just poked half his body in and said with a grin.

"Look at you, you're exhausted! Why didn't you call a few more people to help? We're all from the same village!"

Fang Wei put down the trowel he was holding and took the wet towel that Wu Shaoli handed him to wipe the sweat off his face.

His gaze lingered on Liu Wang's face for two seconds, then swept over the familiar faces behind him.

He knew these people all too well; they were all notorious lazybones in the village!

He used to gamble, and he often hung out with these kinds of people!

They're really a bunch of flies, flying to whichever house has meat!

Fang Wei sneered inwardly, but remained polite on the surface, saying, "Big Liu, what brings you here?"

"David,"

Liu Wang rubbed his hands together as he walked up to him, praising him exaggeratedly, "Wow! After you renovated this house, it's completely different from before! Dawei, you're amazing!"

"But Dawei, you have to repair your house and take care of the old forest farm. Your older brother must be overwhelmed by the workload, right?"

He grinned, revealing a set of yellow teeth, and said, "We're just killing time anyway. Just say the word, and we'll head to the old forest farm to help you!"

"Weeding, tilling the soil, carrying logs... whatever dirty or tiring work you're asked to do, just tell me!"