After sending Bai Yonggui away, Shen Xiaoyan stood by the gate, gazing at the open space to the east.
"Sister, how much land did we buy this time?" Shen Xiaoming also walked out from the courtyard, asking curiously.
"From the edge of our courtyard wall to the river over there," Shen Xiaoyan replied.
"Oh." Shen Xiaoming looked carefully. From the courtyard wall to the river was about 300 meters. Then he suddenly thought of something and asked again, "This is the width, Sister. How long is it?"
Shen Xiaoyan flicked Shen Xiaoming's head lightly and said with a smile, "Little fellow, your reaction isn't slow. As for the length, you'll have to ask your brother-in-law."
Upon hearing this, Shen Xiaoming immediately turned his head, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Zheng Wei, "Brother-in-law?"
Zheng Wei was direct and said, "We bought 32 mu of land this time. We expanded 12 mu behind our courtyard, and the riverside area is 20 mu."
Shen Xiaoyan listened to Zheng Wei's words and her eyes crinkled happily. Combined with the previous 8 mu of land, they now had 40 mu.
It was all along the riverside, a perfect square. In the future, it would be convenient to draw water for irrigation, and they could even dig a channel to lead water into their own fields.
"Huh?" Shen Xiaoming hadn't thought that far. He only exclaimed in surprise, "We don't even need that much land to build houses."
Shen Xiaoyan found this amusing and rubbed his head, "Silly, we don't need it for houses, we need it for farming."
"Oh. I know, we'll plant lots of striped watermelons next year and make more money." Shen Xiaoming immediately became excited at this thought.
The three of them only observed for a while before turning and going back into the courtyard.
The price of wasteland was 3 taels of silver per mu. However, because they were buying a large quantity and Shen Xiaoyan had promised to lead the villagers in planting striped watermelons next year, Bai Yonggui gave them a discount. Each mu only cost 2 taels of silver. This way, for 32 mu of land, they only paid 64 taels of silver. Adding the 4 taels for the two surveyors and 2 taels for Bai Yonggui, the total cost was only 70 taels of silver, which was a great bargain.
Now that the land was bought, the next step was to build houses.
Logically, the weather was getting hotter by the day, and labor costs were higher than usual, so starting construction now wasn't cost-effective.
However, by autumn, it was the harvest season, and it would be difficult to find workers. By the time it got cold, it would be too late. Therefore, Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei discussed it and decided it was better to start as soon as possible.
The next day, Zheng Wei went to find Lu Taobao in town, hoping he could help find some skilled craftsmen. Shen Xiaoyan had said that she would design the house herself, so the villagers' craftsmanship was probably not good enough.
After Zheng Wei left, Shen Xiaoyan told Shen Xiaoming to practice his writing diligently, then locked the door and entered her space.
Shen Xiaoyan knew nothing about house design. However, during the apocalypse, she had collected a large library from a city, and it was bound to contain books on house design.
After searching for a while in her space, Shen Xiaoyan finally found what she was looking for.
It was a book of ancient house structural diagrams, containing architectural images from various dynasties and styles, along with design drafts and precise data.
Shen Xiaoyan actually wished she could build a 21st-century villa, but she could only dream. After sifting through it, she didn't find anything she particularly liked and reluctantly closed the book.
Ancient houses were also good, but the landscaping would definitely cost a lot of money. They only had 300 taels of silver left, and what could they build with that?
She suddenly thought of the Grand View Garden in Dream of the Red Chamber that she had read about in her past life, and how magnificent it was. If only she could build something like that.
Shaking her head, Shen Xiaoyan chided herself. That garden cost hundreds of thousands. With her few hundred taels, she shouldn't be daydreaming.
Nevertheless, Shen Xiaoyan still found the diagrams of the Grand View Garden, studied them carefully, sighed, and put them aside.
Picking up the book of ancient architecture again, Shen Xiaoyan chose a moderately sized two-courtyard house, drew a sketch with the pen she brought with her, marked the dimensions, and then left the space.
By noon, Zheng Wei returned, bringing Lu Taobao and two men in their forties with him.
"Xiaoyan, these are the two master craftsmen Taobao found. They are quite famous in town," Zheng Wei introduced them to Shen Xiaoyan.
Shen Xiaoyan quickly greeted them, "Hello, masters. Thank you for your trouble. It's midday, shall I go cook?"
"Sister-in-law, no need to rush. We've already eaten. Big Brother also brought food back for you and Xiaoming," Lu Taobao quickly said.
Shen Xiaoyan looked at Zheng Wei. Seeing him nod at her, Shen Xiaoyan said, "Then I'll go pick a striped watermelon. It's so hot, it'll be refreshing."
After speaking, Shen Xiaoyan walked out of the house and went to the striped watermelon patch to select one.
Lu Taobao smiled and said, "Masters, the striped watermelons we sell are all bought from my Big Brother and Sister-in-law. You can try some later."
The two masters also smiled in agreement. When they entered earlier, they had already seen the striped watermelons and raspberries in the courtyard. Hearing Lu Taobao say this, they were even more convinced.
When Shen Xiaoyan returned with a large striped watermelon, no one said much. They took the watermelon handed to them and started eating.
Zheng Wei then said to Shen Xiaoyan, "You and Xiaoming go eat first. I put it in the kitchen."
Shen Xiaoyan responded, and taking Shen Xiaoming with her, went to the kitchen. In the kitchen, she indeed saw a carved food box on the chopping board.
Opening the lid, she saw two bowls of rice and two dishes, one meat and one vegetable. The two of them ate quickly, washed their bowls, and returned to the main room.
The people in the room were discussing the design. Seeing Shen Xiaoyan enter, Zheng Wei asked, "Xiaoyan, have you decided what kind of house you want to build?"
Shen Xiaoyan nodded, took out her sketch from the room, and handed it to Zheng Wei.
Lu Taobao and the two masters leaned over Zheng Wei's side to look at the paper.
On the paper was a floor plan drawn with a brush. It wasn't particularly large or complex, just a simple two-courtyard house.
The courtyard was in the style of a siheyuan. In ancient times, there were restrictions on gates based on status.
The courtyard itself was fine, but the main gate had requirements. Therefore, Shen Xiaoyan did not draw a three-bay main gate as in the original drawing; the first courtyard had a simple gate.
Adjacent to the gatehouse was a row of inverted rooms.
The first courtyard had 5 main rooms, with open courtyards on either side of the main rooms. A cross-door led to the second courtyard. On either side of the courtyard were side rooms and a covered walkway.
The second courtyard was similar to the first, with 5 main rooms, a left ear room, a right open courtyard, and a gate on the right leading to the third courtyard.
The third courtyard only had rear rooms. The houses were not large, but there were many of them, 8 rooms in total, with bathrooms.
Although the layout was in the style of a siheyuan, it was not uncommon. However, the dimensions of the house and courtyards Shen Xiaoyan had marked on the side startled everyone.
The reason was simple: not only were the courtyards exceptionally large, but upon closer inspection of the design of each room, everyone looked puzzled.
Lu Taobao was the first to speak, unable to contain his curiosity, "Sister-in-law, why are all these houses so large?"