Cheng Ruyi's room layout was inspired by Lin Daiyu's Xiaoxiang Pavilion in Dream of the Red Chamber. The three main rooms were separated by a gauze curtain. The east room was a study, the central hall was used for receiving guests, and the west room was divided into a warm pavilion and a bedroom. Passing through the west room, there was a toilet and a bathroom in the side room.
The bathroom has both shower and bath functions. The toilet is also designed according to the previous design, with a toilet and a standing washbasin made of smooth ceramic. It is clean and tidy, and a large water tank is placed next to it. It looks almost no different from modern ones.
In the center of the west partition room, a landscape painting screen serves as a divider. To the north is the bedroom, but it's not yet furnished much, with only a canopy bed and a trunk for clothes. Ruyi is thinking that she'll need to add a wardrobe and a dressing table later. The south side of the screen is used as a warm pavilion, with a daybed placed against the wall by the window and two tall tables next to it. It's empty now, but she'll buy two beautiful pots of flowers to display in the spring, which will surely fill the room with fragrance.
Emerging from the west annex, passing through the currently empty main hall, one arrives at the study on the east side.
A row of antique bookshelves was placed against the north wall of the study, and a large circular lattice window with ice patterns was opened against the east wall. A desk was placed in front of the window. Imagine sitting at the desk in the morning, facing the warm sunlight. Who knows, you might even write a masterpiece that will be remembered for generations. You still have to have dreams!
However, this seemingly ordinary study actually has a hidden secret. When designing her own room, Ruyi suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of the secret vault of Rongfa Grain Shop. She then had the idea to create a secret room for herself.
After some design work, it was decided to add a thin brick wall to compress the entire study by three feet. This thin brick wall and the north wall formed a very narrow passage, and the door to this secret passage was hidden behind a painting next to the antique bookshelf in the study.
There are no mechanisms or hidden features, but this is the best that an ordinary person can do. After all, the old craftsman is a proper house builder who is only responsible for building houses. Such mechanisms would require a craftsman who specializes in mechanisms to be competent.
However, Ruyi has not told anyone about this secret passage yet; it is his own little secret base.
In one morning, everyone tidied up their rooms. After lunch, and after a short chat, Ruyi suggested that everyone go and take a look at the "back garden and breeding farm" in the villa.
The so-called back garden is actually just an open space of the same size as the villa. There is no scenery to speak of yet. However, in addition to the garden, the back garden is divided into several functional areas, namely an experimental field, a vegetable garden, a bean sprout room, a rabbit farm, and a chicken farm. In the future, Ruyi also plans to build a lotus pond here, plant some lotus flowers, and raise fish.
The bean sprout room, rabbit farm, and chicken farm are already in operation. A few days ago, Ruyi transported the bean sprouts and animals from her home to this place in batches, and then handed them over to the women of the Ding family to take care of.
Although it's called a rabbit farm, considering the nature of rabbits, open-air breeding cannot be used. Therefore, Ruyi specially built several wooden houses for them, which not only prevents them from getting lost but also keeps them warm, killing two birds with one stone.
The chicken farm also built several wooden houses for them, but in addition to the houses, they also fenced off a large open space so that they could move around more, which naturally made the meat more delicious.
As for the experimental field, we have to go back to a few months ago.
In the backyard of the Cheng family's old house, there was a small vegetable garden, about twenty square meters in size. Ruyi had been tending it with the residue of the Spirit Nourishing Pill and spiritual spring water. One night, as usual, she secretly watered the soil with spiritual spring water, but suddenly received a notification from the system saying that a low-grade spiritual field containing trace amounts of spiritual energy had been discovered, and asked her if she wanted to exchange it for spiritual energy points. Only then did she realize that ordinary soil in the mortal world could slowly turn into a spiritual field after being nurtured by spiritual energy.
From then on, she paid more attention to the spiritual energy value of the spiritual field, wanting to know roughly how much it would take to upgrade it to a mid-grade spiritual field. Unexpectedly, just a few days later, she received another surprise.
That was at the end of October, when she opened the third quarter's consecutive sign-in gift pack and got a very special item that could be used in conjunction with her low-grade spiritual field. That's why she thought she needed a place like this for planting experiments.
"【Jade Marrow Rice】, Grade 1, contains extremely small amounts of wood spiritual energy, is three times larger than ordinary spiritual rice, is white jade in color, has a clear and sweet fragrance, and is balanced and mild. Long-term consumption by Qi Refining stage or mortals can strengthen the body and prolong life."
Planting method: Superior-grade spiritual fields can yield three harvests a year, medium-grade spiritual fields yield two harvests a year, and inferior-grade spiritual fields yield only one harvest.
Spirit rice, which can strengthen the body and prolong life, is an extremely precious food in the mortal world. If it were to be sold, it would probably be worth a fortune. Of course, she wouldn't be foolish enough to sell spirit rice, since it looks very different from the description. Not only could she not explain it, but she might also lose her life for nothing.
The spirit rice seed felt quite heavy in her hand, estimated to weigh close to half a pound. However, when she opened it, she found that the amount of spirit rice had actually decreased because it was three times larger. Fortunately, their spirit field was quite small, so they should be able to plant it all.
Having no experience in growing rice, and even less knowledge of the yield of this spiritual rice, she couldn't estimate how many kilograms she could harvest next year. However, she believed that as long as she continued to grow it, one day the harvest of spiritual rice would be enough to supply the daily needs of her whole family.
That's why she deliberately left about an acre of open space when building the villa, to plant the various plants that came out of the system gift pack, because she had a feeling that there would be more than just spirit rice.
Speaking of spiritual plants, in the autumn, the five pots of red thorns in the house had successfully flowered and borne fruit. Ruyi specially collected the seeds and stored them in a dry and sealed place because there was really no place to plant them in the house in the city. So she planted the seeds on the outer wall of the yard after the land in the villa was prepared. Every time she came over, she would water them with some diluted spiritual spring water. Now, a small sprout has emerged.
The cultivation conditions for Red Thorns are not too demanding, and they are relatively easy to grow, so she is looking forward to harvesting a circle of Red Thorn Guardians after spring.
Given the unusual nature of the Crimson Thorns, she specifically told the workers in the villa to be careful. Unexpectedly, the Meng and Ding families were very interested in it and agreed to take care of the Crimson Thorns together. This reaction was truly beyond Ruyi's expectations.
The family strolled leisurely through their "backyard" in the warm afternoon sun, imagining what it would look like in a few years and how their business would turn out. As they thought about it, they couldn't help but feel more and more excited.
The days spent vacationing at the villa were naturally joyful. From the lockdown at the beginning of the year to the development of their business in the second half of the year, the Cheng family had been under high tension for almost the entire year. Now they could finally slow down their pace of life, not have to worry about anything, and just happily prepare for the New Year. As a result, everyone's spirits and complexion had improved a lot.
Cheng Ruyi also took advantage of this time to spend time with her family and strengthen their relationship, especially with her children. In the past year, whether due to the lockdown or business, she had indeed lacked time to communicate with them. Although her eldest son was already married, he was still not an adult in modern terms and his mind was not yet mature.
There's no need for lecturing or anything like that. Just try to show them more care during casual conversations and occasionally share some common sense. Hopefully, over time, they'll gradually be influenced and inspired.
In addition, Cheng Ruyi also took the time to popularize some hygiene and safety knowledge to all women, and also gave young girls some knowledge about sex, especially about childbirth.
At first, everyone listened with flushed faces, but as they listened, their faces gradually turned pale.
Finally, she led everyone in making underwear and menstrual belts, which are basic products that can improve women's hygiene and safety. Although the conditions were limited and the finished products could not be compared with modern ones, it was better to have them than not to have them.
There are three public toilets and shower rooms in the villa, and a well in the front yard and back yard. She doesn't require everyone to take a bath every day even in the cold weather, but it is still acceptable to wash your hands frequently and wipe your body with hot water before going to bed.
Especially the toilets. At first, everyone was not used to them, but after using them a few times, they found that they were indeed clean, convenient, safe and comfortable. So much so that after returning to their old houses in the county town after the New Year, everyone could not stand the rudimentary and inhumane outhouses and demanded that they be renovated. Of course, that's another story.
Happy days always fly by, and before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve. The Cheng family got up early this morning and put on their new clothes and cotton-padded jackets. The children also wore the rabbit fur vests they had just made, which were both warm and comfortable.
Considering that it gets dark quickly in winter, Cheng Ruyi plans to have New Year's Eve dinner a little earlier today so that the workers can finish work and go home for the holiday sooner.
As dusk began to fall, Cheng Yan took out candles and lit the lanterns in the courtyard one by one. Instantly, the entire courtyard was filled with warm light. Looking at the lanterns and colorful window decorations and couplets, Ruyi felt that the only difference between this and the modern New Year was a few "Good Luck" and "Wishing you prosperity."
After a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, the children ran out to play in the yard, while the adults chatted and ate fruit and melon seeds inside the house.
After the children had finished playing, the adults brought out the sky lanterns they had prepared and came to the yard. Although there was no custom of releasing sky lanterns in the New Year tradition, Ruyi really liked it. She also thought that she could write down everyone's New Year wishes and put them in the sky, which was a fun, beautiful and meaningful thing.
"Mommy, what did you wish for? Let me see, let me see~~" Little Cheng Yunle didn't know many words, so she had to ask her older sister to write them for her. As soon as she finished writing, she became curious about what the others had written, so she ran to her mother and stood on her short legs to ask curiously.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Ruyi simply picked up her daughter, then pointed to the words on the sky lantern and said earnestly, "May the country be prosperous and the people at peace, and may all your wishes come true."
In such a turbulent world, she did not expect that the world would suddenly be at peace and there would be no more war. She just hoped that there would be a few more years of peace, until her family had more resources to save their lives, or until they could find a secluded paradise.
Anyway, she has been uneasy ever since she came into this world. Perhaps it is because she has never experienced war before, and people living in peacetime have a natural fear of war and chaos. Of course, it is also possible that she is really a coward.
“Excellent! This is exactly what I wish for!” Having experienced several natural and man-made disasters, Cheng Yan naturally understands the preciousness of peace and prosperity. Therefore, his sky lantern simply reads “Peace and Prosperity”.
As they talked, everyone finished writing down their wishes. Xu Cui's was the longest, not even enough to fill a whole page. Ruyi looked at it carefully and found it was filled with a bunch of blessing words. She probably wrote down everything she knew. Sure enough, her talkative persona remained intact.
The others wrote similar things, nothing more than wishes for peace, health, and that all their dreams come true. Only Cheng Yunping, in addition to the usual blessings, secretly wrote on the other side his specific wish: "May I grow to eight feet tall."
Eight feet? That means he's at least 1.85 meters tall? Cheng Ruyi looked at her adopted son and realized that he had grown very quickly in the past few months. Before she knew it, he was already as tall as her. It seemed that reaching 1.85 meters was still a possibility!
After releasing the sky lanterns, everyone set off firecrackers together. She prepared plenty so that everyone could have a good time.
Afterwards, everyone returned to the main room to continue staying up late on New Year's Eve. This winter was not particularly cold, and the two braziers in the main room were enough to keep the room warm. It was a rare occasion for the family to gather together to eat snacks and chat, and the atmosphere was harmonious and joyful.
Before long, the children were so sleepy that Ruyi told them to go back to their rooms to sleep and not come out anymore.
According to the customs of Dayue, staying up all night does not need to last until dawn. It is considered complete once the third watch has passed. This was easy for Cheng Ruyi, who used to be a night owl. However, after a year of "training", her body and mind had become accustomed to going to bed early and getting up early. She almost couldn't hold on halfway through. Fortunately, Xu Cui cooked a bowl of ginger and brown sugar water for everyone in time, which helped her get through it.
When Ruyi went back to her room to sleep, she told Xu Cui that she didn't need to prepare breakfast for her the next day, as she planned to sleep until the sun was high in the sky before getting up!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com