Wang Lun had considered the bathroom design before, but something always seemed off. Now he was rethinking it, needing to carefully consider the location and layout of the bathroom, shower, and stairs. After a while, the layout in his mind seemed to become clearer. Wang Lun quickly got off the kang (heated brick bed), went to the hearth, and started drawing on the ground with a thin twig. First, he drew the stairs down, with the shower and bathroom together. After drawing it almost to the point, he felt it was inconvenient, so he erased it and redrawn it. He then decided to add stairs on both sides, separating the shower and bathroom. Above the shower was a water tank, which could be filled with water for bathing. Above the bathroom was a terrace with a half-height parapet wall, which could be used for enjoying the view and as a lookout. If wild animals came, one could climb over the wall from here or attack them from here. The shower tank would have half a board covering the tank, and the other half a flip-up cover for easy cleaning and use. The water in the tank could even be used when there was no other water.
After finalizing the layout, it's time to carefully plan the details, mainly the toilet flushing system and the shower system in the shower room. Everything else is fine. For the toilet flushing, Wang Lun plans to use the old school toilet system, with some modifications. He plans to install a ditch in the middle of the toilet for urination, and a baffle plate near the wall, sealed off to form a pool. There will be an overflow outlet on top of the pool; if the water overflows, it will flow directly into the sink. The water in the sink will pass through three pools. The first is a sedimentation tank, where the water will settle before flowing into the second pool. This first sedimentation tank is also the only one that can be opened, convenient for irrigating the plants—actually, as fertilizer. The second is also a sedimentation tank, but it's essentially a backup for the first, in case the sediment accumulates. The third is a clear water pool. Wang Lun plans to install two baffles at the outlet of the third pool, with some charcoal in between to absorb impurities; the charcoal will be replaced periodically. After this, the water can be discharged directly into the stream.
As for the shower room, it's basically just for showering. The most complicated parts are the showerhead and water supply control. The showerhead is easy to solve; Wang Lun plans to use a float ball and a section of bamboo. As for water supply control, Wang Lun thought about it for a long time, but it was really difficult to figure out. So, in the end, Wang Lun came up with a clumsy solution: relying on manpower.
Wang Lun made another submerged section at the bottom of the pool, connected to a bamboo tube, and blocked the submerged section with a stone. When water was needed, the stone was lifted out; when not needed, it was put back down. This was the best solution Wang Lun could think of, so he decided to leave it at that for now and think of other methods later.
Regarding the water supply to the reservoir, Wang Lun planned to build another waterway to draw water from the existing waterway at the reservoir. Once the reservoir was full, the waterway could be removed without disrupting daily life. If the reservoir overflowed, an overflow outlet would be constructed. However, this overflow outlet would face inwards towards the camp, ultimately flowing into the toilets.
For the drainage in the shower room, Wang Lun considered making a small ditch to drain the water into the sink in the bathroom, and then, after treatment, let it flow into the stream.
After a period of brainstorming, Wang Lun finally finalized his ideas for the entire bathroom area. All that's left is to confirm the location tomorrow, and then construction can begin.
Just then, Li Ling called out that dinner was ready. After rendering the lard, Li Ling poured it into an earthenware pot, and then put the kudzu root powder from the pot into several bamboo tubes. She also found a bamboo tube specifically to hold the cracklings, which she planned to add later when making noodles, presumably to make the pancakes taste better.
Wang Lun sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), and saw two pots on the low table, both full. The earthenware pot contained a stew of wild boar head, mushrooms, and wild vegetables, while the iron pot was half-full of fish soup. Yes, it really was fish soup; there were no wild vegetables, only fish. Li Ling had put two fish in to make this half-full pot of fish soup.
Seeing that everything was served and the bowls and chopsticks were ready, they began to eat. Everyone was starving; they had eaten one meal in the morning, and now that it was dark, they were finally having their second meal of the day. None of the four spoke; they all ate intensively with their heads buried in their food.
Nearly an hour passed, and only some soup remained in the pot. All four were quite full. Wang Lun then said, "I think starting tomorrow, we should spend a few days completing the remaining work on the campsite. This mainly involves building the front and back walls and the toilets, which should take five to seven days." Li Ling said, "We have no problem with food, but I wonder how the other preparations are going?" Wang Lun said, "I checked, and apart from a bit of salt, everything else should last until completion." Liu Ruoxi said, "No way! I remember we had a bamboo tube half full of salt, enough to last a long time." Wang Lun said, "Oh, you still have salt, then there shouldn't be any problem." Li Ling said, "I have no objections." Liu Ruoxi also indicated she had no objections. All three turned to look at Liu Ruoling, who said, "What objections could I possibly have? As long as we can eat on time, that's fine." Hearing this, Wang Lun didn't even want to talk to her, let alone Liu Ruoxi; she was just embarrassing him.
Wang Lun began arranging the subsequent work. Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi started building the back wall. After finishing the wall, they went to the stream to collect stones—flat ones, the more the better, since Wang Lun planned to pave the entire ground with stones. If there were extra stones, they could also be used to cover part of the shower room walls. After they finished this, they would decide on other arrangements. Liu Ruoling followed Wang Lun, first cutting some branches in the morning for use in the walls of the wall and bathroom. After that, they started digging three pools, about two meters deep and about four square meters in size. Of course, the depth didn't have to be two meters, as long as it was more than one and a half meters. Then they began building the bathroom. During this time, Liu Ruoxi and Li Ling cooked, since Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling had been doing the heavy physical labor.
After everyone knew their assigned tasks, Wang Lun said, "Tomorrow I'll go and re-determine the location of the fence. We need to expand and thicken it. Remember to check it out." Li Ling said, "Doesn't that mean all the work I did before is useless?" Wang Lun said, "How could it be? We're going to build a chicken coop later, so we can build it on top of the fence. It'll save us some effort." Li Ling agreed, otherwise all her previous work would have been for nothing. Liu Ruoling asked, "What about the rabbits? Should we raise them there too?" Wang Lun thought for a moment and said, "Rabbits might become our main food source in the future, so I plan to build a large breeding pit near the wall specifically for raising rabbits." The three of them had no objections. Although it might smell a bit, they had to do it for the sake of food. Liu Ruoxi suddenly said, "How about we raise the rabbits in the lawn in front, and build a breeding pit near the bathroom?" Wang Lun thought about it and realized that it was indeed a good idea. It would be near the earthen cliff, saving one wall, and the other side would connect to the stairs, so they would only need to build one wall. One of the walls could even be built together with the bathroom. We'll build a shed on top, which will also provide storage space, such as fodder for the winter. This will also make the campsite more spacious. So that's settled, although the construction period will probably be delayed by a day or two.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com