Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 85 - 83: Joy of Moving

On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, a lucky day at a lucky time, Xiao’er’s family finally moved into their new house at the village entrance.

The design of Xiao’er’s house adheres to the style of a courtyard house. The house has four sections and faces south.

The main house is a two-story building with rooms in the front and back. Both the east and west wings have a flower wall on the south side with a gate in the middle. The east and west wings both have corridors connecting to the gate. Meanwhile, moon gates are used for the connections between the main house and the wings.

The outer courtyard has a flower wall on both the east and west sides, and a moon gate in the middle, which leads to the other sections of the house. The rooms in the south have a corridor going through them and all yards are interconnected.

The main house and east and west wings are all three stories, each with five rooms. The middle room of the main house serves as the living room. Each wing also has five rooms.

Each bedroom is equipped with a study, a toilet, and a cloakroom. This was Xiao’er’s special design. The toilets come with a bathtub, a flush toilet, and a washbasin. As for the water supply, Xiao’er installed several large water tanks on the third floor and dug a deep well outside the house. A hand-pump was set up to pump water from the well through iron pipes. Shangguan Xuanyi helped her have these things made.

The third floor was initially planned to serve as an insulation layer and storage room by Xiao’er. Otherwise, the second floor would be unbearably hot in the summer without air conditioning. Mrs. Liu initially disagreed, deeming it wasteful, but Shen Chengyao and the other children thought it was a great idea. They found the summer nights too hot and couldn’t sleep well. The first floor rooms were not airy enough and it was much better to sleep on the second floor where they could open the windows to allow in more air. If the house was only two stories high, the second floor would be too hot, hence the three-story design.

Xiao’er didn’t particularly care about these features as she designed them for the others. She spent most of her time in her space room, only occasionally sleeping outside.

Early in the morning, guests started to arrive. Shen Chengyao had everything arranged. Manager Yao, Shen Chengzu, and Liu Minhong were assigned to entertain guests in the front yard, while Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Lu took charge of the backyard.

Uncle Fu brought Shangguan Xuanyi’s gift while Manager Chen brought Di Zhaowei’s. Manager Chen was surprised to see Shen Chengyao. He had left too hastily on the day Di Zhaowei agreed to partner with the ceramics shop and hadn’t had a chance to tell him. Fortunately, both he and Uncle Fu knew Manager Yao, so Yao took charge of their reception.

Next, Manager Tong from the glazed tile workshop arrived bearing lavish gifts, joining other managers in the courtyard.

After a while, the village Chief Shen Zixuan, Ming Zhijie, and Lai Zhewei arrived together. Shen Chengyao sent them to Manager Yao’s area to be entertained.

Ming Zhijie and Lai Zhewei were surprised to see Uncle Fu, Manager Chen, and Manager Yao. They thought to themselves that the Shen family must be something special.

Everyone exchanged greetings and pleasantries.

Shen Chengguang didn’t know Uncle Fu and Manager Chen, but he was surprised to see Lai Zhewei. He wondered how the young master Lai could be seen at his third brother’s house. Then he realized that he arrived with Ming Zhijie and Shen Zixuan, that the three of them were schoolmates and it must have been Shen Zixuan who invited him over. That made sense. He couldn’t imagine how his brother could have gotten to know Young Master Lai.

He quickly stepped forward and said, "With Young Master Lai and Zhijie visiting my humble home, this place has been bathed in a warm light!"

Lai Zhewei glanced at Ming Zhijie. Who was this guy?

Ming Zhijie coughed and said, "This is Shen Zixuan’s eldest brother, Shen Chengguang."

"Isn’t this Shen Zixuan’s house? Why is he calling it his ’humble home’?"

Ming Zhijie coughed again, this time covering his mouth with his fist to hide his amusement.

Although a bit embarrassed, Shen Chengguang maintained his politeness, "Despite us living separately, my third brother’s family and mine are as close as one and thus this is like my own home."

Lai Zhewei was feeling annoyed recently and having finally found the time to get out, he didn’t want to waste it on such people. He and Ming Zhijie had made plans to bring their younger sisters over. Ming Zhijie wanted his sister to have a change of environment and interact more with Shen Nirui. Lai Zhewei wanted his sister to meet Liu Jingshu, in case it would help him say something pleasant in front of their mother in the future.

Therefore, the two buddies were in full agreement.

Lately, Lai Zhewei was almost driven to his wit’s end by his mother. As soon as school was over, she would have someone wait for him at the school gate, drag him home, and make him study the qualifications of various ladies in the Imperial Capital. Her determination seemed rooted in having him choose a woman to marry before she would let him rest! Due to her constant nagging, he had even contemplated running away from home!

He waved his hand impatiently, signaling Shen Chengguang should leave, then he saw Jingrui and Jinghao accompanying Liu Zhiwen and Liu Zhiwu. He quickly ran after them, "Jingrui! Zhiwen!"

"Big Brother Lai is here!" Jinghao cheerfully greeted him.

"Yeah, I came to have a meal. I also brought my sister here. She’s now in the backyard; could you let your sister and cousin show her around? Your house seems fairly well-built."

"Sure, I’ll do that now."

Hearing this, Jingrui said: "Did Big Brother Lai just arrive? How about I take you on a tour as well? We recently built a colored glazed greenhouse and a warm room."

Lai Zhewei was indeed interested. He nodded his head, then remembered that he shouldn’t be the only one to go. So he also called out Shen Zixuan and Ming Zhijie from inside.

After they had toured from the front yard, now being deep into winter and having just experienced a snowfall, the courtyard sported an un-melted layer of snow and hence, lacked any flourishing view of flowering bushes, save for a few single winter-plum blooming in the corner.

Xiao’er’s house was built on a grand scale; though it was not extravagantly decorated, the overall layout was very reasonable, space was effectively utilized, and it projected an aura of simplicity and sophistication!

Minze Country was relatively open-minded. Although they had a grade hierarchy, there were no restrictions in place dictating how big commoners’ houses should be. The size and design of a house depended entirely on personal preferences, so Xiao’er’s family could build such an impressive, four-structure courtyard house despite their humble peasant status.

Having completed the tour of the east and west wings, Lai Zhewei promptly decided, "Jingrui, it’s a school holiday right now. How about I come stay at your place for a few days and teach everyone something new?"

He was really curious to try out these new and interesting things. If they turned out to be good, he could set up a similar system in his own courtyard! This would not only help him avoid his mother’s marriage arrangements but would also allow him to spend more time with a certain someone. She should be planning to stay at her aunt’s house for a few days, right?

Then he considered that merely him staying over might be too conspicuous with the ulterior motives. "How about you stay over too, Brother Zhijie? Shen Zixuan’s house is nearby as well; the three of us could exchange some knowledge."

"Wouldn’t that be inconvenient? It’s quite disruptive to Uncle Shen’s family." Ming Zhijie was somewhat taken aback. He wasn’t that close with Shen Chengyao’s family. What he didn’t realize was that Lai Zhewei wasn’t that close either— he simply had a thick skin!

"What’s inconvenient about that? Uncle Shen is one of the best hosts I know. Plus, you’ve got to try Xiao’er’s cooking-it’s super delicious! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I’ve been starving for too long!"

Upon hearing this, Jingrui was naturally delighted.

A few of them arrived at the glass greenhouse in the northeast corner of the backyard. Xiao’er was also in there with Liu Jingshu, Shen Nirui, Ming Jingya, and Lai Ruoqing. Normally, they would’ve kept their distance, but considering nobody in there was an outsider, they all stepped in.

The greenhouse was designed as a pitch house, about fifty square meters in area, with green bricks laid out on the floor. The interior was set with various flowers and plants, displayed or hanging on shelves—all of these taken from her space using various excuses. There were blooming roses, budding camellias, stunning peonies, simple yet elegant tulips, unsophisticated and ethereal orchids, hyacinths... and many more flowers they couldn’t put a name to. It was truly a sight with all of them striving to outdo each other in splendor! A tank of water lilies was also kept in the corner.

"Xiao’er, I love this greenhouse so much that I want one in my home too!" Lai Ruoqing enjoyed looking at these flowers and desired to take them all home!

Lai Zhewei didn’t really care about the flowers, but he admitted that the greenhouse was very nice and soothing to look at. He sat on the nearby swing seat, seeming to casually look around the greenhouse and admire the flowers; however, his real interest wasn’t in the flowers. His gaze was constantly pulled to a certain woman who was exploring the place.

She likes flowers, hmm, he should set up something similar in his courtyard then.

Liu Jingshu was smelling a jasmine flower when she sneezed rather ungracefully.

Lai Zhewei observed how even when she sneezed, she didn’t act pretentious.