The ginseng planted in the space was growing well, and with the occasional watering from the space spring, its quality was undoubtedly excellent.
Looking at the new house construction, it would take about half a month to complete. Shen Xiaoyan silently calculated the time. In another half a month, nearly 9 years would have passed in the space. The ginseng was already 3 years old when planted, and with another 9 years, it would be over a decade old.
By then, if she dug up two plants and sold them, she estimated they would fetch a good sum of money, enough to alleviate their urgent financial needs.
The new house, apart from the central three-courtyard layout, had adjoining courtyards on both sides of each courtyard. However, for now, they were just large, empty spaces, with only withered grass covering the ground except for the courtyard walls.
The right courtyard of the second courtyard had two rooms: a kitchen and a storage room.
The doors of these two rooms were also connected to a covered walkway, which extended all the way to the covered walkway in front of the main house. This way, when cooking and serving food, they wouldn't have to worry about getting wet in the rain or snow.
Because there were many rooms, most of them had kangs for warmth in winter. However, unlike in villages where kangs could be connected to the stove for cooking, Shen Xiaoyan asked the two old craftsmen, and they provided a good solution.
Wealthy families also used kangs, and their fire inlets were usually outside the room. Since the kang was surrounded by walls on three sides, one only needed to choose a wall that was convenient for adding firewood, leave an opening under the wall, and install an iron door.
Ten days later, all the rooms were finally built. The craftsmen then plastered the walls with lime, a job that took two days.
At this point, the doors and windows were also delivered. Lu Taobao personally led a group to deliver them. What amused Shen Xiaoyan was that Lu Taobao had designed the upper half of every door to be like windows, with carved, hollowed-out wooden boards inlaid with crystal glazed tiles.
With so many doors, each with two crystal glazed tiles, it represented a considerable expense.
Shen Xiaoyan knew that he would never accept money directly, so she didn't say it outright. Instead, she pulled him towards their original courtyard, saying she needed his help with something.
"Brother Zheng, Sister-in-law, what is it?" Lu Taobao asked, following them back to the old courtyard, not understanding.
Shen Xiaoyan didn't answer but walked directly into a side room.
Zheng Wei sat at the table and said calmly, "You'll know soon."
Soon after, Shen Xiaoyan emerged holding a wooden box.
The wooden box was crudely made, and the surface was not smooth, but it was very new, clearly just made.
Lu Taobao was even more puzzled. What was this for?
Shen Xiaoyan placed the wooden box on the table and said as she opened it, "This is the ginseng my brother and I collected in the mountains. There are three plants in total."
As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Taobao saw the three ginseng plants placed in the wooden box. The ginseng had a bright luster and still had soil on them, indicating they had been freshly dug.
"Wh-what is this for?" Lu Taobao asked, startled, after recovering from his shock.
"You spent money to make so many doors, and knowing you wouldn't accept money, we'll give you one of these ginseng plants. As for the remaining two, please find a pharmacy to help sell them," Zheng Wei said.
Upon hearing this, Lu Taobao quickly waved his hands and said, "How can this be?"
Although these weren't century-old ginseng, judging by their quality, they were at least ten years old and would fetch at least 100 taels of silver in a pharmacy. How could he accept them so easily?
"Consider it my token of respect to your uncle and aunt," Zheng Wei said after a moment of thought.
As soon as he said this, Lu Taobao was completely silenced.
He himself could say that making the doors was a small gesture. Similarly, Zheng Wei, as the elder brother, giving a ginseng plant to his parents was also a gesture of respect.
Lu Taobao carefully put away the ginseng, and the three of them walked out of the courtyard and went to the new residence next door.
The main gate of the new residence was already installed. With green walls and red tiles, and a red lacquered gate, it looked imposing.
Facing the gate was a decorative screen wall, painted with summer lotus flowers, giving a refreshing impression.
Walking into the first courtyard, both the side rooms and the main house had doors and windows installed, which were no different from the courtyard houses Shen Xiaoyan had seen during her travels in her previous life.
The difference was that this was brand new, unlike the weathered ones she had seen in her previous life.
There were paths paved with black bricks in the courtyard, forming a cross shape, connecting the main gate to the main house and extending to the side rooms.
Apart from these two paths, the rest of the area was empty, and withered grass had been completely cleared. Shen Xiaoyan intended to use these spaces as gardens.
Upon reaching the second courtyard, it was identical to the first. Workers were still installing windows as the three of them walked into the main house.
Upon entering, there was a hall. The room was not large and did not have a kang. Furniture had not yet been delivered, so it was empty.
On the east wall of the room, there was a doorway. The door had not yet been installed. The three of them walked in to see what Shen Xiaoyan had designed as a study.
Beside the south-facing window was a kang. On the north side, Shen Xiaoyan planned to place bookshelves and a desk.
Further inside was another room, which also had a large kang in the same position. However, on the east wall adjacent to the kang, there was another doorway.
"Huh? What's this room?" Lu Taobao asked curiously, seeing the doorway.
"This is what I call the washroom," Shen Xiaoyan explained with a smile.
The three of them walked inside. The room was not large, about 2 meters wide and 4 meters long, with no windows.
On the south side of the room was a kang, clearly an extension from the adjacent room.
All the kangs in this residence were 2 meters wide, so in the 4-meter-long room, half of it was a kang.
On the side adjacent to the kang, there was a two-tiered basin rack. The top tier was for placing a water basin.
The base of the basin on the second tier had a hole, connected by a pipe that went directly into the ground. Below it was a drainage pipe, so wastewater could be directly poured out.
Next to the wooden rack was a barrel-shaped pedestal with a lid. The backrest was about 20 centimeters wide, and there was a button on the very top.
"What is this?" Lu Taobao played the role of a curious baby.
"An automatic toilet, for convenience," Shen Xiaoyan explained.
After speaking, Shen Xiaoyan stepped forward and lifted the lid of the seat. Inside, it was made of ceramic and had about half a bucket of water.
Shen Xiaoyan pressed the button on the backrest, and with a "whoosh," the water in the automatic toilet rapidly disappeared into the ground, and then a small bucket of water reappeared.
"This is truly convenient," Lu Taobao exclaimed in surprise, then praised.
"If you like it, you can ask the two old craftsmen to build one for your home. They've learned how to do it," Shen Xiaoyan said with a smile.
Lu Taobao was very pleased and immediately said he wanted to go back and renovate his house properly. He said it casually, but in reality, it would be quite troublesome to renovate.
After all, his was already built housing, and installing drainage pipes would be very difficult. Unlike theirs, where the drainage pipes were buried during construction.
However, this was not something Shen Xiaoyan needed to worry about. As long as there was money, nothing was impossible.
Seeing the automatic toilet, there was nothing else in the room. However, the observant Lu Taobao noticed a pipe sticking out at the base of the wall opposite the toilet, and he asked, "What's this?"
Shen Xiaoyan looked and saw him pointing at the pipe, and explained, "That's also a drainage pipe. The bathtub hasn't been made yet. Once it's done, it will be placed here. I had someone leave a hole at the bottom of the bathtub, and when it's ready, we'll fix the pipe there and connect it. Then, the bathwater can be drained directly."