After seeing off all the guests, Ruyi left a few employees to clean up and then took her family on a formal tour of the "Lishan Villa," which had cost more than 600 taels of silver to build.
Apart from Cheng Ruyi herself, only Cheng Yan and Xu Cui from the Cheng family had been here. Cheng Yunping had only passed by the gate a few times and didn't know what the inside looked like, let alone the other women.
Cheng Ruyi led everyone, starting with the main gate. When they reached the third courtyard, Cheng Yunping and Lin Xiaoman were overjoyed to learn that this was where they would be staying.
Although they still lived in the east wing, the area here was two or three times larger than before, and the room was divided into functional areas. They couldn't understand what the living area and rest area were, but that didn't stop them from knowing that this was a good thing.
Xiaoman was especially moved to tears when she heard that the next room and the west wing opposite were to be left to her children. She secretly vowed to have more children to help the Cheng family prosper!
Cheng Ruyi: That's not what I meant either...
When they arrived at the fourth courtyard, it was the two girls' turn to be happy. When they saw that their room had a separate bathroom and toilet, they jumped up with joy. It seems that they had been putting up with the toilet in the Cheng family for a long time.
When the two heard that there was a heated kang bed in the bedroom, which would keep the house warm in winter without the need for a brazier, they became very curious and pestered Ruyi to explain the principle. They even almost demonstrated it for her.
Of course, the most amazing thing was Cheng Ruyi's own room, especially the shower in the bathroom, which looked different from everyone else's. After hearing about the principle of the shower, everyone clamored to see a demonstration. Cheng Ruyi had no choice but to say that she would definitely let everyone visit and experience it when she had the chance.
Considering that this was the living area for the women, the entire courtyard placed greater emphasis on privacy. Therefore, she deliberately built the walls on both sides of the courtyard higher than those of the other courtyards. She also installed openwork windows at the top of the walls to ensure that enough sunlight could enter the courtyard. The front and back gates of the courtyard were also fitted with sturdy gates. Once the two gates were locked, it became an independent and private courtyard.
Compared to its impregnable exterior, the interior architecture of the courtyard reveals the beauty and elegance of a woman's boudoir.
The entire courtyard is connected by covered walkways, with pavilions and garden landscapes in the four corners. There is also a small rockery and pond in the middle of the courtyard. Although it is not a masterpiece, it is still a beautiful scene at every turn.
No one dislikes beautiful things, especially women. Living in such a pleasing place can not only make them feel good, but it might even help them live longer!
Throughout the visit, the Cheng family was constantly amazed. Even though the house was not yet furnished, its exquisite and meticulous construction far exceeded their expectations.
Even Cheng Yan and Xu Cui, although they had witnessed the construction of the villa, did not know the purpose of many parts or why it was done this way. Only now, after hearing Ruyi's explanation, did they finally realize that building a house was so particular and complicated.
Compared to truly wealthy and powerful families, the Cheng family's design leans more towards practicality.
When Cheng Ruyi recalled her time in modern times, she had visited many tourist attractions such as royal palaces. These palaces had several artificial lakes, and the entire mansion itself was a park. They were very beautiful, but living there must have been quite inconvenient.
Of course, she was thinking from the perspective of an ordinary poor person, and there may be an insurmountable gap between her thinking and that of a rich person.
However, she already felt that the current Lishan Villa was perfect, and the main thing she was considering now was that it was convenient and comfortable to live in.
Moreover, their home is actually quite nice, after all, there's a large pear mountain right next door, which is basically their backyard. If they have the money and time in the future, they can slowly develop the pear mountain and build a pear mountain park, which would have a unique charm.
After the housewarming party, the Cheng family members were not able to relax. There were less than half a month left until the New Year, but the villa was currently empty and uninhabitable, so how could they celebrate the New Year there?
Moreover, most of the shops in the city will close in a few days, and there will be nowhere to buy things then. So Cheng Ruyi is working non-stop to buy as many daily necessities as possible in the next few days.
In the past two months, the Cheng family has spent more than 650 taels of silver on buying land, building houses, and hiring people. They have squandered their once substantial savings.
Fortunately, business was booming in November and this month. The furniture shop received several large orders, and with the addition of two apprentices, work efficiency improved significantly. The snack shop and rabbit business also grew bigger and bigger. All things considered, they actually earned nearly two hundred taels.
After these costs were offset, Ruyi was finally able to afford to buy things to decorate the villa.
It is worth mentioning that the day after the housewarming banquet, Huang Youcai came to her with three hundred taels of silver notes, saying that it was a congratulatory gift from his employer to celebrate her housewarming.
Cheng Ruyi understood that this was probably the money for selling the fried chicken recipe, and it wouldn't be right to refuse it all, so she symbolically took one hundred taels, which could be considered a give and take.
This made things a bit easier, and I didn't have to be so restrictive when it came to setting things up.
First, the Cheng family needs to buy a car!
With a car, it's easy to put the things you buy on it and take them directly to the villa. You no longer need to rent a mule cart every day.
According to the laws of Dai Viet, horses are extremely precious and can only be purchased by families with official rank. Moreover, the number of horses that officials of different ranks can purchase varies. In short, the higher the official rank, the more horses one can buy, but there is also an upper limit.
When Ruyi found out, she couldn't help but complain. No wonder she hadn't seen a single horse on the streets of this county town for so long. Even the richest people could only ride in mule carts. It was really too miserable.
However, she guessed that the scarcity of horses was probably related to the years of war. Compared with the countries in the northwest, which were composed of nomadic peoples, their homes were natural grasslands and they grew up on horseback. In contrast, the Central Plains were not suitable for raising horses and could not buy them, so over the years, the number of horses had to decrease, eventually leading to this situation.
Of course, wealthy families also had other ways to buy horses. For example, they could donate to become officials and spend a lot of money to buy a minor official position. As long as they had a certain rank, they could buy horses.
Since ordinary people couldn't afford to buy official positions or horses, they could only choose mules or donkeys.
Unlike others, Cheng Ruyi actually prefers to buy donkeys rather than mules, because her spiritual spring and medicine can improve the physique of animals, and this improved physique will be inherited by offspring. All animals capable of reproduction are her priority.
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