Chapter 176

"Village chief, aren't we going to that Fan family's place now? Just the two of us?"

Tiger Three arrived at Village Chief Fu's house early in the morning. He originally thought they would set off early, but it was almost noon and Village Chief Fu showed no sign of leaving.

He sat in the courtyard, holding a cup of coarse tea. He stroked his beard with one hand and nodded slowly: "What's the rush? Although we promised to go, we didn't agree on when. Sit a little longer."

The village chief's evasive answer made Hu San frown slightly in displeasure; he still didn't say whether it was just the two of them going to the woods. So Hu San asked again whether it was just the two of them going to Fan Xiaoxiao's place together.

Village Chief Fu took a sip of tea, feeling increasingly impatient. It was that idiot Hu San who had promised to help Fan Xiaoxiao build a house. He hadn't even had a chance to scold him yet, and now Hu San was asking him about it. The thought made him furious. If Hu San weren't his nephew and a fellow villager, he would have cursed the idiot in front of him mercilessly.

He took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. Sitting up straight, he looked at Hu San with a troubled expression: "San'er, I'm very worried about this too. You saw what happened yesterday; nobody wants to help that woman build a house. You were the one who told them, and I went door-to-door to tell them. But nobody is willing to come out and help. What do you want your uncle to do?"

“But…” Hu San hesitated slightly, but Village Chief Fu raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Uncle knows you're doing this out of respect for the Heavenly Venerable, but we can't keep forcing the villagers to do it. Don't worry, Uncle will go with you, and Uncle will help with the work."

Tiger Three was completely speechless. The helpless look on the wealthy village chief's face made him feel guilty. He waved his hands repeatedly, "Uncle, please don't say that, I..."

"Village Chief! Village Chief!"

Before Hu San could finish speaking, a loud shout came from outside Village Chief Fu's house. Hu San and Village Chief Fu exchanged a puzzled look, and only after stepping outside did they realize that the person who had come was Chen Da from the village entrance.

Why are you in such a hurry? What happened?

Chen Da ran up to the two of them, still a little out of breath.

"Ha, that, that, that little wench!"

Village Chief Fu frowned slightly, realizing immediately that he was referring to Fan Xiaoxiao from the woods.

"What happened to that girl?"

Chen swallowed hard, trying to calm his breathing: "That little wench has summoned the Heavenly Venerable! Village Chief! Go and check it out!"

"What!?"

...

Fan Xiaoxiao invited Tianzun and the others to sit down in the thatched hut. On the makeshift table in the middle of the hut, made of two flat stones, were some sketches that Fan Xiaoxiao had drawn the night before.

Bai Chaoyan picked it up and glanced at it. In just one glance, she recognized that Fan Xiaoxiao was drawing the house she wanted to live in. The Grand Minister of Works had a very good relationship with her father, so she had been exposed to a lot of knowledge in this area since childhood.

However, the house that Fan Xiaoxiao drew seemed to be completely different from what she had seen. Although it was square, the staircase in the upper left corner led to a platform on the second floor, with the words "Women's Quarters" marked on it.

As for the men's quarters, they were located on the first floor, near the kitchen, directly below the women's quarters. They were also completely open. Bai Chaoyan was somewhat confused. She knew that winters in the Northern Territory were extremely cold; without doors separating the rooms, wouldn't it be incredibly cold? Moreover, although they were family, men and women were still separate.

Moreover, although Fan Xiaoxiao's drawing is somewhat messy, upon closer inspection, it still has a rough edge, so it cannot be as haphazard as a child's scribbles.

Just then, Fan Xiaoxiao brought honey water to everyone. Seeing Bai Chaoyan looking at it intently, she smiled and said, "This is just some random doodle. I hope you'll forgive my poor attempt to doodle, Miss Bai."

Bai Chaoyan waved her hand, telling Fan Xiaoxiao not to be so modest, and then asked the question she had just had.

Fan Xiaoxiao scratched her face, unsure how to explain. In reality, if this house were in the modern world, anyone would know it was nothing more than a duplex apartment.

Besides, she never intended to live in this house indefinitely. It was just that it was already early autumn there. She had gone to university in Northeast China, so she knew that autumn came quickly there. And in winter, if you took a cup of water outside, it would freeze in no time.

So she plans to raise the entire house a bit and then lay underfloor heating all over the floor, borrowing the style of the earthen kang beds in rural Northeast China. The rooms will be left open because with underfloor heating, the whole room will be warm as long as the windows are not opened, and there will be no need to bother with two separate stoves.

In addition, with the upper and lower levels divided, and the addition of sheer curtains or beaded curtains after completion, privacy can be ensured for both levels. Moreover, since the outhouse, bathroom, and kitchen are separate spaces, the rest are all connected, making construction very quick.

The only downside is that you need to store more wood in winter, since the house takes up quite a lot of space and you'll need a lot of firewood if you want to use underfloor heating.

After thinking it over, Fan Xiaoxiao felt that no amount of explanation would be as effective as letting the other party see for themselves. So she smiled and explained to Bai Chaoyan, "This house is temporary. As for the embarrassing thing you mentioned, my family fled our hometown due to the flood. We haven't had time to care about such things along the way, so why would we care now? After all, what we need to ensure right now is that we have a place to stay before winter comes."

The Celestial Venerable nodded and took a sip of honey water: "Girl, if you're interested, you can come and take a look after this place is built. You and Little Monkey came here today to say goodbye, right? Now that you've finished talking and met, you can set off with Little Monkey without worry."

Fan Xiaoxiao looked at Bai Chaoyan and Xiahou knowingly; the plot was starting to develop from here. This was where the male and female leads went back to the city together to rescue her father, but...

Fan Xiaoxiao sighed, looking at Bai Chaoyan's stunningly beautiful face. She was still unaware that this entire journey had been a complete waste of time for her.

She didn't speak aloud, but after listening to the Celestial Venerable's words, she greeted Bai Chaoyan and Xiahou a couple more times. The two, in their haste to continue their journey, didn't linger. After bidding farewell, they left the forest, leaving the Celestial Venerable, Sang Lan'er, and Fan Xiaoxiao standing at the edge of the forest watching their departing figures.

Once they were out of sight, the Celestial Venerable stroked his beard and looked at Fan Xiaoxiao: "Little Xiaoxiao, you asked Sang Lan'er to bring me here, and I've arrived. But where is the person you're waiting for?"

Fan Xiaoxiao glanced at the figures approaching from afar and a slight smile appeared on her lips: "What's the rush? They're here now, aren't they?"

(End of this chapter)