The Wu family and their entourage chatted and laughed as they climbed the mountain. Once everyone was present, they continued to tour the new house.
The villagers had come in earlier that morning, so they weren't too surprised. They were just helping to move things the first time they came in, and they didn't dare to look around.
Looking closely now, it seems that the layout is exceptionally large, the courtyard is wide and clean, and there are so many rooms that it's impossible to count them all.
Neither Mr. Cheng nor Mrs. Wu had ever been here before. They were so engrossed in the house that they couldn't move, their eyes wide with disbelief. The house was just too big, but something felt off.
Uncle Cheng exclaimed in surprise, "This house is huge! It looks one way from the outside, but it looks completely different inside! And why is there another door when we come in? And why are these rooms upside down?"
When Uncle Cheng said that, everyone realized why they felt something was wrong; it turned out to be the house's orientation.
Cheng Yue explained, "This is the outer courtyard. That gate is the second gate. The inner courtyard is inside. These few rooms in the back row are usually for the servants."
Few people had ever been to the town, let alone seen this kind of layout. Now that Cheng Yue explained it, everyone understood.
No wonder the house is so big; there must be some future development plans. Once they have money, they'll need to support servants, right? This will definitely be a wealthy family!
Among them, Lai Xing and Lai Wang are the most familiar with this layout. They will stay in these rooms when they come back!
Cheng Yue led everyone into the inner courtyard, and everyone was even more surprised, as it was much larger than they had imagined!
The east and west wing rooms face each other, totaling eight rooms. There are three main rooms: one main hall and two main rooms, which are the master's bedrooms. There are also two side rooms on the east and west sides.
The courtyard was paved with bluestone slabs, making it look exceptionally bright and clean. The vegetable garden alone took up half of the courtyard, and the main vegetable garden was surrounded by bricks, with a path laid in the middle of the garden.
Everyone marveled at the ingenuity of the idea; this way, you won't step in mud while picking vegetables!
Two flower beds were also built in the other half of the yard. Cheng Yue thought that growing flowers there would be pleasing to the eye and smell nice.
However, there aren't any suitable ones right now, so I'll have to go to the county town to inquire and ask if there are any fruit trees or anything like that.
"Hey? Where are the pigsty and cowshed?"
Uncle Wu looked around. It was clean, but where would they keep the livestock?
There are also outhouses, which are usually built next to pigsties and chicken coops in the village, making it more convenient to use fertilizer.
My second aunt interrupted, saying, "Such a clean yard shouldn't be used to raise livestock. It would make the whole yard smell bad and look messy!"
With such a nice house, who would be willing to raise pigs and chickens in it! Men just don't understand; they live such a rough life!
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "Second Aunt is right. That's what I was thinking too. The livestock are all kept outside with the chickens and ducks. There's a side door here, so we can just go out."
Everyone knows that Cheng Yue raises chickens and ducks, so it would be more appropriate to put pigs and cattle together as well. The fertilizer is all in the same place, and she also raises three big black dogs. Ordinary people wouldn't dare to approach them at all, so it's very safe!
"Girl, where's the outhouse? We can't find it."
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "There are several outhouses, all inside the house. In addition to one in the outer courtyard, there is one in each of the east and west wing rooms, and two side rooms as well."
The outhouse has always been a must-do and primary object of renovation for transmigrated women, and she was no exception. In fact, she used a dry toilet in her village when she was a child in her previous life, but the memory was not pleasant because she had fallen into a pit.
Not only that, the dry toilets were smelly and located outside the yard. In the summer, mosquitoes would bite her bottom, and in the winter, her bottom would freeze. She really didn't want to suffer like that.
The outhouses nowadays are even more rudimentary; they're just pits with a plank on top. Every time she goes to the toilet, she's afraid of falling into the pit again...
"What? There are several outhouses! And they're all inside the building, doesn't that stink!"
After her initial surprise, Mrs. Wu hesitated, then stopped herself in her tracks. "The livestock are kept outside, but the outhouse is inside the house. What was my daughter thinking? Won't it suffocate people?"
Everyone looked equally bewildered; this was beyond their comprehension...
Cheng Yue said, "It doesn't smell bad. If it smelled bad, I definitely wouldn't have put it in the room! Let's go in and take a look."
If we don't watch it soon, nobody might be able to sleep well.
When they entered the outhouse, they were all stunned. How could it be so clean? If it weren't for a hole in the ground, they would have thought it was a living room.
No, it's better than the houses where people live!
Cheng Yue scooped up a ladle of water and demonstrated, "There are pipes inside, made of porcelain that was specially made. This way, it's easy to clean with just a rinse of water, and it all drains outside the yard, so the fertilizer isn't wasted."
When everyone looked into the pit, it was indeed white and reflective. It was porcelain, and it was so smooth that it wouldn't stick to anything. No wonder Cheng Yue made this kind of outhouse. I just wonder how much silver it cost.
Feng turned her head and her headache returned. "Why is there a stove in here?"
Surely they wouldn't cook in the outhouse!
Seeing the increasingly strange looks from everyone, Cheng Yue quickly said, "This room serves as both a toilet and a bathhouse. This pot is for boiling water for bathing, and the flue leads to the heated kang bed in the adjacent room."
Seeing everyone's confused expressions, Cheng Yue led them to the side room for a look.
"This is a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed). It has a flue for the stove inside, so as long as you burn firewood, the kang will be warm and won't get cold all night."
When I told Master Ji that I wanted to make a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), he was quite surprised. After asking, I learned that only wealthy families made heated kangs and heated walls for warmth at that time, and ordinary people didn't know about it.
There's nothing we can do about it; it's a technological monopoly.
No wonder that at this time, the village used wooden planks as beds, and in winter they relied on burning firewood or carrying the loads to get through the winter, and they would shiver while sleeping.
This is nothing like the rural areas of northern China today, where every household has a kang (heated brick bed), which gets warmer and warmer the longer you sleep in it—so comfortable!
If we're talking about being an ordinary citizen, living in modern China is definitely the happiest thing.
After Cheng Yue explained the benefits of the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove), everyone became excited. "If we had a heated kang at home, we wouldn't have to suffer from the cold in winter!"
"Yes, we haven't had a good night's sleep in winter. It's so cold. Our hands and feet are freezing at night, and they're still the same when we wake up in the morning."
"I never imagined there was such a wonderful thing. Cheng Yue, how did you come up with this idea?"
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "It's not my idea. I heard from Master Ji that wealthy families do this. It's not just about heated brick beds, but also heated walls. They make a gap in the middle of the wall, just like a heated brick bed. They're all used for heating in winter."
Aunt Li's mouth dropped open. "Fire wall? There's such a thing?"
It seems that wealthy families know how to enjoy life. They've never even heard of such a thing. No wonder they all want to be rich. They really are different!
Everyone sighed with admiration and envy for Cheng Yue; this was a house that only wealthy families could afford!
If they could stay for even one day, their lives would be worthwhile!
The village head calmed himself down and asked cautiously, "Cheng Yue, do you know how to make this heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed)?"
Every winter is the hardest time to get through in the village, and almost every year someone doesn't make it through, especially the elderly. There isn't a single year without a funeral.
If a heated kang bed could be built, everyone would no longer have to live in fear and cold. As the village head, he genuinely wanted everyone to live a better life.
Although Cheng Yue said it was done by a construction team, he always felt that Cheng Yue knew how to do it, after all, she had seen more of the world than most people.
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