First of all, the toilets are built quite high up, requiring three steps to enter, which is to facilitate the laying of sewage pipes below. In fact, large houses in the county town all have very complete sewage and drainage pipes, and many wealthy people even use ceramics. This is because the county town is densely populated, and if these things are not done properly, it will stink up long ago. Therefore, setting up sewage pipes is not a new thing here.
Then, above the three steps, there is a strange object made of ceramic, resembling a round stool, except that the middle of this stool is hollow and gradually narrows downwards, eventually connecting with the pipe below.
She felt that the principle of a modern toilet was difficult to implement, so she could only improve it to this extent. Ruyi specially drew up the blueprints and explained for a long time before the old craftsman finally understood, "Isn't that just a ceramic toilet? It's just that the toilet is directly connected to the underground water channel."
Ruyi was very satisfied with the old craftsman's understanding. "Yes, that's a good way to understand it. In fact, if possible, it would be best to build a U-shaped pipe and a valve to prevent the smell and sewage from flowing back in."
"What? What type of tube?" The old craftsman had gradually gotten used to Ruyi's wild imagination and was not surprised at all by her occasionally spouting a few strange words.
"It's something like a semi-circle, um... I'll just draw it for you!"
Similar conversations have been occurring frequently in the old craftsman's shop these past few days.
In addition to the toilet, Ruyi also considered whether to renovate a shower room, but after consulting, she found that there is currently no device similar to a water pump. Therefore, if hot water is to flow down from the bathroom ceiling, the only way is to manually pour the hot water into the roof water tank.
In other words, you have to climb up and down to the roof to pour hot water before each bath. This kind of hard work and trouble is simply meaningless. Of course, if you are a wealthy family with many servants, this is not a big problem. But if you have so much money, why not just build a big pool for a bath instead of a shower?
However, the old craftsman was still very interested in this shower setup and said he could repair one for Ruyi for free to see how it went.
Cheng Ruyi: Freebies? Of course I'll take it!
In addition to these bathing facilities and drainage and sewage pipes, the heating equipment, namely the heated brick bed and heated walls, also needs to be confirmed in advance for the entire house.
Winters in Huaishan County aren't particularly cold, but the temperature can drop to a few degrees below zero at the coldest times. The main problem is that their house is located at the foot of the mountain, which is quite damp. So Ruyi was thinking of a house that could both keep warm and dry out the mold, killing two birds with one stone.
Fire-heated kang beds and walls are relatively rare here. After Ruyi explained the principle to the old craftsman, the old craftsman also consulted a friend from the north. They discussed it for several days before finally determining that it was feasible.
Cheng Ruyi remembered that when she visited the Forbidden City before, people raised the entire building and burned charcoal underground. The heat would spread throughout the building through pipes. She was curious at the time and even looked up how the heat pipes should be designed so that the room could be heated evenly.
Unfortunately, if all the rooms in the house were built this way, the cost would increase significantly and the construction period would be extended. So, in the end, they had to give up on this idea and opted to install heated kang beds only in the bedrooms.
Even so, the initial construction cost of the entire house is estimated to be over three hundred taels, and this does not include the cost of landscaping. Cheng Ruyi was shocked after hearing this!
She had previously consulted the village chief of Lishan Village. The village chief's house was one of the few brick houses in the village. At that time, the village chief said that his house had been built for several years and cost about ten taels of silver. Two years ago, someone in the neighboring village also built five brick houses and spent a total of twenty taels of silver.
So Ruyi estimated that her family's five-courtyard house probably had only about twenty rooms of varying sizes. Including other miscellaneous items, two hundred taels of silver should be enough. She knew that the old craftsman's materials and skills were far superior to those of ordinary craftsmen, but she hadn't expected it to exceed that much...
However, upon closer reflection, the cost of buying the land and building the house was only a little over five hundred taels of silver, and it was a large house with five courtyards, with a unique design of its own. This price and size would be absolutely impossible to buy in the county town, so it was actually worth it.
"The price is negotiable, but I don't know when the house will be finished?"
Although the old craftsman looked pained at Ruyi's appearance, he didn't try to bargain and expressed his satisfaction. "Don't worry, I will personally supervise the construction of this house. It will be completed in two months at the earliest and three months at the latest!"
"Two months? Does that mean we can't move into the new house before the New Year?" This is later than I expected. Ruyi's plan was to spend a leisurely holiday there during the New Year. Now it's all going to fall through.
"With so many demands, you still want to move in before the New Year? All you ever think about are these weird things, you never consider the actual situation!"
Cheng Ruyi knew that her request might be a little excessive, so she thought about it and suddenly came up with an idea!
"Old craftsman! If we had more manpower, wouldn't we be able to finish building it sooner?"
"Of course, but all the best craftsmen in Huaishan County are with me. Where are you going to find manpower? In addition, it's the end of the year now, and the craftsmen in the neighboring county probably have a lot of work to do. I've specially put aside a few jobs that aren't in a rush to give you priority, otherwise you'll have to wait until after the New Year to start work!"
If the Zhou family hadn't spoken to him beforehand, and if he hadn't found the girl quite interesting, he wouldn't have personally taken action, given his seniority.
“We can hire those refugees from outside the city; aren’t they readily available manpower?”
Upon hearing this, the old craftsman immediately stood up, pointed at Cheng Ruyi, and scolded, "Nonsense! Do you think building a house is an easy task? That you can just find anyone? Everyone here has decades of experience. A small mistake can lead to a huge error. Don't you understand this principle?"
"Old craftsman! You've misunderstood me, that's not what I meant!" Ruyi carefully reassured him, then helped the old craftsman sit down before explaining in detail.
"We must have a lot of preliminary work, right? The wasteland first needs to be cleared and the terrain leveled. This is time-consuming and doesn't require any special skills; ordinary people can do it too."
"Of course, you will still be in charge of the actual construction of the houses. However, some of the refugees may have experience in building houses. At least they can help out. Alternatively, the strong ones can be responsible for carrying things. If each of you craftsmen is assigned two or three people to do odd jobs, wouldn't you be able to concentrate on your work more? Wouldn't that speed up the work process?"
After listening to Cheng Ruyi, the old craftsman remained silent for a long time before finally sighing, saying, "Do as you please," and then leaving...
Cheng Ruyi used to criticize the female protagonists in novels for being too saintly when she read them. Little did she know that after transmigrating, she would become one of the people she once despised.
But whenever I think of the refugees outside the city, those thin children, and those bewildered and desperate eyes, I can't help but feel at ease ignoring them.
Besides, she wasn't helping them unconditionally; she was just providing them with a job opportunity. She understood the principle of teaching someone how to fish rather than giving them a fish.
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