GalaxyTL
Building the House
Jing Yi didn’t explain much; he directly showed the blueprints to the elderly couple and talked about the finer details.
They finally understood that with such an excellent design, it would be a waste to let the villagers build it.
Afterward, Jing Yi, on Master Liao’s recommendation, spent two to three days running around to purchase all the necessary materials. He set a date, and the sellers would gradually deliver the materials to Xiwan Village.
The construction materials included blue bricks, roof tiles, clay, and beams. With Master Liao’s help, Jing Yi didn’t get overcharged much. However, he bought high-quality materials, and the sellers made a good profit, happily seeing off the God of Wealth.
Finally, he invited the village chief to hire around ten honest and hardworking men from the village. They worked for thirty wen per day without meals.
This was already a relatively high wage. Generally, when villagers built houses, it cost twenty wen for one meal, and the meal was often just simple fare. Some generous hosts only provided staple food, and there was little variety.
Jing Yi wanted to save himself the trouble of preparing meals, and he hired people he knew from the village, many of whom he had interacted with before. He was willing to pay a higher price.
With everything in place, they chose an auspicious day to start construction.
On the first day of construction, villagers who had free time came to help dig the foundation. They weren’t paid; this was an old tradition in the village. It was a matter of mutual assistance, and the Jing family would repay the favor in the future.
On this day, the Jing family had to provide meals for everyone who helped. Even if someone had only shoveled a spadeful of dirt, the Jing family would still invite them to a meal, offering good meat and vegetables.
This day was significant for the Jing family. The entire family of five hurriedly returned to the village in the morning after preparing the soup base. Business in the town continued as usual; Jing Feng was still there. They specifically had Chuxia and Lin’s mother help out, ensuring everything went smoothly without any issues.
The construction proceeded systematically.
Some of the functions on the blueprints were challenging to implement, but with the experienced Master Liao leading the way and Jing Yi providing modern perspectives on solutions, the house was being built smoothly and quickly. It was almost as if a different part of it was completed each day.
Not to mention, the villagers hired for labor were all honest individuals, and with the good pay Jing Yi offered, everyone was willing to put in their best effort.
By the twentieth day, the house was mostly built. Master Liao announced that the young, strong men from the village didn’t need to come anymore, as the remaining detailed work was beyond their capabilities.
Jing Yi settled their payments on the spot, giving each of them six hundred wen. The men happily took the money home. Next, they had to start working in the fields; rural folks never had idle moments.
Master Liao, along with his construction team of five people, spent another three days refining and perfecting various aspects of the house and courtyard. This included things like the sealing of doors and windows, improving bedroom lighting, whitewashing the walls, grouting the brick walls and floor tiles, and enhancing the kitchen’s ventilation, among other details.
On March 28th, the Jing family’s new house was completed.
Master Liao, proud of his work, even insisted that Jing Yi buy firecrackers to celebrate before settling the payment and leaving.
Before departing, Master Liao had a specific request for Jing Yi. He wanted to promote the designs from Jing Yi’s blueprints in the future and asked Jing Yi to set a price.
Jing Yi initially wanted to provide this service for free. After all, Master Liao had offered such significant discounts and conveniences, and he was known for being generous. Besides, Jing Yi wouldn’t know if Master Liao used the designs when he returned to town.
Master Liao, a traditional craftsman with a strong work ethic, refused to take advantage of Jing Yi. He insisted on paying thirty taels of silver to purchase the rights. This meant that he essentially worked for free in Xiwan Village for this project.
In these times, everyone had their struggles, and Jing Yi knew that Master Liao was highly skilled, had fair pricing, and earned his hard-earned money. Besides, it was said that he treated his employees well, and he had around thirty people working under him who respected him.
Therefore, Jing Yi and Master Liao agreed that the blueprint and its associated technology would be exclusively available to Master Liao and his team. For each use of the designs in the future, Master Liao would pay Jing Yi a fee of one hundred wen for the tuse.
In the short term, Master Liao benefited greatly from this arrangement, as they only took on around twenty projects per year. However, in the long run, thanks to these blueprints, Master Liao easily expanded his business to the county town and even gained recognition in the capital.
Master Liao had always been honest, remembering each project’s details, and the profits in later years exceeded the initial thirty taels of silver. However, by that time, the Jing family had also undergone significant changes.
As for the technologies that Master Liao wanted to purchase from Jing Yi’s blueprints, there were three main highlights:
After Master Liao and his workers left, the Jing family’s new home began to air out. Jing Yi also placed an order for custom furniture with Carpenter Zhang, paying a hefty sum for high-quality materials. They agreed to have the furniture delivered in half a month.
Jing’s mother specifically visited the village to consult with an elderly person and chose May 6th to move into the new house.
This new house was truly impressive, at least the only one of its kind in Xiwan Village.
In the village, it was customary to build the house first and then the courtyard walls. This was especially the case when constructing houses with blue bricks and large roof tiles. It was important to make the event grand, allowing villagers to observe from all angles, making it lively and auspicious. A new house with a lot of people gathered around it was considered lucky.
So, the Jing family’s large house and courtyard were built under the watchful eyes of the entire village. People came every day to witness the construction.
From the initial exclamations of surprise and amazement to later expressions of deep envy, the mood among the villagers shifted over time.
As the construction progressed and the courtyard walls were quickly erected, creating a truly impressive entrance, the gap between the Jing family and the rest of the village became even more apparent.
Only the laborers working on the house knew what the completed house and courtyard looked like; everyone else had to wait until the housewarming ceremony on May 6th.
However, that didn’t stop the laborers who had seen the house from bragging about it.
The layout of the Jing family’s new home followed the traditional north-south orientation. It adopted a pseudo-two-entry, four-courtyard structure. There was still plenty of space to expand in the east and north, making it convenient for future additions, such as creating three or four courtyards or connecting courtyards in the east and west.
From the outside, the tall courtyard walls were about two meters high, and the vermilion-colored main gate was exceptionally spacious. Thanks to the Jing family’s modifications, a donkey cart could easily enter, and even two people could walk side by side beside it.
On the right half of the main gate, there was a smaller door for more convenient entry and exit when the main gate wasn’t necessary.
After passing through the main gate, there was a screen wall, and beyond that was the front courtyard. Jing Yi had bought a spacious piece of land, so the front courtyard was more extensive than that of a typical two-entry courtyard, making it brighter and more open.
Currently, the front courtyard only had a large water tank, which Master Liao had placed. It was called the “Auspicious Tank” or the “Peaceful Tank” and served as an emergency reservoir. In normal times, it was decorated with floating plants and goldfish, adding an elegant touch.
Adjacent to the south side of the main gate was the back building, with three rooms on the east side and two on the west, plus a side room.
In the middle of the north side was a decorative door called the “Hanging Flower Gate,” flanked by two spacious rooms used for receiving guests.
Past the “Hanging Flower Gate” was the inner courtyard, featuring the main house, two side rooms, east and west ear rooms, and two side wing rooms, along with a kitchen and a bathroom, scattered around. The entire inner courtyard had about ten rooms plus a large courtyard.
What was worth mentioning was that Jing Yi had designed two bathrooms. One had a simple shower, while the other contained a large bathtub.
When the village men discussed this, they raised their eyebrows and winked, saying Jing Yi was indeed preparing for his upcoming marriage and thinking of everything. This comment, though not meant to be malicious, earned the speaker a playful punch from their spouse. They reminded the speaker that they didn’t even have a proper bathroom in their own home, as bathing was usually done in the kitchen or bedroom.
Furthermore, there was a covered gallery corridor that encircled the entire inner courtyard. Even during rainy or snowy days, one could easily move between the rooms.
At the rear of the inner courtyard, there was a stable for horses, and nearby were some chicken and duck coops. It was said that this was a strong request from Jing’s parents.
With such a large mansion, premium materials, and the thirty taels paid to Master Liao, when Jing Yi calculated the expenses, the total came to one hundred and ten taels of silver for construction alone. Adding the one hundred and twenty taels for buying the land, plus other expenses like registration fees, preparations, hiring a teeth man, and the feast for the day they started construction, the entire cost came close to two hundred and fifty taels of silver.
Even for Jing Yi, this was quite a significant sum, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit distressed. Money certainly disappeared quickly; he was almost turning into a “money burner.”
However, when he looked at this spacious and delightful house, along with the vast tracts of farmland adjacent to it, he believed that it was worth every coin.
The new house was left to dry and ventilate while the Jing family continued to reside in their old home, busy with their businesses in town, eagerly awaiting their move to the new house in May.
On April 10th, it was Chuxia’s birthday. Although Jing Yi had been busy with the house construction, he hadn’t forgotten Chuxia’s special day and had made plans to take him out for a date.
In the countryside, young people didn’t celebrate their birthdays extravagantly, so Chuxia’s family had prepared a slightly more abundant meal for the day and would cook a bowl of longevity noodles for him, as was customary for children in every household.
Since Chuxia received an invitation from Jing Yi, he had been looking forward to this day, as it promised to make his birthday truly unique.
On the morning of April 10th, Jing Yi went to Wangjiazhuang village to pick him up.