Chapter 78.2

Translated by Aviana

Anyways, back to the topic.

The couple racked their brains, analyzed each of their ideas, integrated them, and finally drew a sketch of their future home.

The overall basic design was as follows——

Similar to the layout of a typical quadrangle courtyard house, there would be four houses on four sides with a single courtyard gate. One row of rooms would be facing the front, visible to the outsiders, while in the back, left and right-wing rooms would be built along with the main room. The design of the rooms at the front would be just like how other villagers had built theirs, with two big tile-roofed houses. This way, they wouldn’t stand out much.

Since they owned a mule cart, Yang Tiezhu surmised that the front yard could not be small. The space should be enough to accommodate a shed for the mule and a separate place to park its carriage, along with a well for convenient accessibility of drinking water. Besides, how can anyone who could afford a big-tiled house can’t afford to have a well, no?

Then, there must be a vegetable garden in the backyard. Yang Tiezhu decided to have a well dug in the backyard as well, considering the convenience of drawing the water for the rooms at the back.

Following such thoughts, he added a small circle within a square representing the backyard on his writing board.

That’s right, Yang Tiezhu and his wife were creating a stimulating design for the house their family was planning to build. Thinking that the design might not be comprehensive enough, Lin Qingwan drew a simple floor plan on his board.

Lin Qingwan had worked as a graphic editor for a website in her former life. Thus, drawing a simple layout was a piece of cake for her. But later stuffed into Yang Tiezhu’s hands because she disliked charcoal rubbing off onto her fingers. The two would first exchange and discuss the ideas before putting them on the board. At times, when Yang Tiezhu found it difficult to draw, Lin Qingwan would take it and draw it for him.

The next issue to ponder over was the lavatory.

Just mentioning it made Lin Qingwan feel vexed. The toilets in rural places had nothing but two slabs of plank over a pit in a simple thatched house. Every time she used it, she couldn’t help being overwhelmed by the fear of falling into the pit. And then there was this pungent stench too. For modern people who are accustomed to toilet seats, this experience was truly unbearable. Thus, at the moment, building a toilet in her new house posed a big issue for Lin Qingwan.

After mulling over the issue for a long while, an idea appeared in her mind.

Building a simple, old-fashioned lavatory would do. They can dig a small water pit and build a traditional toilet seat with bricks with a water vat at the side. After use, they would flush it with water. They can connect this to a septic tank at the back. What remains unseen is deemed to be clean! Just in the current era, water pipes and sewage systems were yet to appear. With the little silver, she had in her hands, to want to make big splashes like the transmigrated female leads in novels would be highly unlikely.

A sewage tank could only be built in the backyard. Lin Qingwan asked Yang Tiezhu to draw a small circle in the backyard before sharing her idea of a lavatory in layman’s terms.

With furrowed brows, pressed lips, and a solemn expression painted on his face, he replayed his wife’s ideas in his mind, trying to visualize them.

It seemed hard for him to picture it. After pondering for a good while, Yang Tiezhu grinned from ear to ear, “Wife, this idea of yours is truly good.” He further continued, “If we place two wooden planks on the sewage system, then the smell would be much less.”

One can’t blame Yang Tiezhu for being stupid. After all, for as long as he can remember, in his memories, the lavatory only had one big pit with two thin wooden slabs placed on top of it. For him to be able to picturise what Lin Qingwan had said to this extent was already quite a nimble for him.

“Alright, take a note of that.”

The next discussion was about the arrangement of the rooms. The two had the same idea of having three rooms at the front and three rooms at the back along with the main room. The left and right wings will have two rooms each. While, the left and right wings at the front will have three rooms. The layout of the courtyard is similar to a small farmhouse. The only difference was they had left a lot of space at the back. Because Lin Qingwan intended to build a small workshop in the right portion of the backyard.

Yang-shi’s backyard had long been densely packed with numerous rows of shelves for drying laweixian. With their flourishing business, the place has become more and more crowded. Lin Qingwan felt occupying too much of another family’s backyard wouldn’t be good. If this goes, soon Yang-shi’s vegetable garden will also be taken over. Anyways, as they were building a new house, they might as well include a small workshop.

When Yang Tiezhu heard about her suggestion of building a new house, he also seconded it immediately. For, his eldest gu’s house wasn’t spacious. It was fine in the past as there was only one person living in that house. But now that Xia Dacheng’s entire family has returned, the house has become even more crowded.

The two then proceeded to discuss the workshop’s design.

But this also wasn’t a big matter. Yang Tiezhu drew a circle with an open space in the middle for placing shelves. To guard against rain and snow, they decided to erect a canopy with a roof and no wall. Additionally, for everyone to sit and make laweixian, they decided to build another room after thinking a bit. Taking long chilly winters into the night and the necessity to wash the meat cleanly with water, they decided to include a kang in the said room.

However, by this time, Yang Tiezhu’s brows were beaded with sweat, finding it too difficult and complicated to include all their ideas on the board, as the squares and circles he drew were crooked.

Amused by his appearance, Lin Qingwan pulled him closer and gave him a peck on his face. She then took the charcoal stick from him and drew the layout from the beginning simply.

An expert handles the tasks neatly and precisely. Though Lin Qingwan’s layout designs can’t reach that of a professional architect, it was nevertheless better than Yang Tiezhu’s crooked drawings.

Lin Qingwan swiftly drew a layout based on their discussions till now. After contemplating briefly, she added the shed for the mule and its carriage at the back by the workshop. She put the workshop’s entrance facing the village trail at the back and added a backdoor. In this way, it would be convenient for them to make deliveries.

The layout of the courtyard was roughly done. As for the other details, she thought of thinking about them slowly in the future, for she was too tired now, and shoved the board into her man’s hands.

Taking in his wife’s exhausted appearance, he quickly fetched water and cleaned both of their hands.

Seeing his wife comfortably reclining on the kang with a pleasant face, he, too, laid down beside her.

As the two endlessly chatted about their new homes, excitement and longing filled their faces gradually.

In the future, he, too, would be able to lead a simple and pleasant life with his wife and kids, truly excellent! At that moment, Yang Tiezhu’s happiness meter exploded, beset with boundless joy.

Read only at Travis Translations