Chapter 81.1

Translated by Aviana

Days flew by and in the blink of an eye, Lin Qingwan had been pregnant for over seven months, soon it would be her eighth month.

The construction of their house was also coming to closure, with only a few patch-up works here and there left. The crafting of interior furniture has also been commenced by a carpenter hired by Yang Tiezhu.

The carpenter he hired was none other than Carpenter Cui, who had already worked for Lin Qingwan quite a few times in the past. He was an honest and tight-lipped person. Before coming here, he had already acquiesced to refrain from divulging anything outside the work. He didn’t even tell his family about his work. With just his son and an apprentice in his tow, every day he dedicated all his energy to completing his work.

This while, Lin Qingwan had appealed to Yang Tiezhu several times to bring her along to the house to see how the work was coming along, but the latter firmly refused her request. Due to the mess and dirt flying around all over the place, he persuaded her against her decision. If she accidentally bumped into something with her big belly, it might be fatal. Besides, pregnant women are usually advised to refrain from going close to construction places, lest they startle their fetuses. Though Luoxia village didn’t pay attention to this, it was better to avoid taboos.

It was only now when the construction of the house was done, did Yang Tiezhu accompany Lin Qingwan to have a look.

The overall layout of the house was more or less similar to what Lin Qingwan had in her mind.

Facing the spacious front yard was a big roof-tiled three-bay main house. On the left of the main house was a row of three adjacent rooms. The interior of the house was equipped with a kang, making it a cozy and warm living space. Likewise, the right side also had another set of three rooms, serving as a kitchen, store room, and bathroom. The yard also housed an animal shed for the mule and its carriage, along with a well.

The yard was paved with blue stones, which was suggested by Uncle Liu back then. As a large amount of silver was anyhow expended on just courtyard walls, and coupled with the splendidly built residence which wasn’t outdone by the lavish courtyard walls, he mused that leaving the yard with just a mud floor wouldn’t be right. Thus, then and there, Uncle Liu suggested to Yang Tiezhu to buy blue limestones to tile the yard.

Just at that time, Lin Qingwan, coincidently, happened to be in a fix with the lack of concrete flooring in this era. Due to that whenever it rained, the house would be littered with messy footprints. Thus, when they heard the blue limestone tiles weren’t expensive, they instantly ordered them.

Upon stepping into the main house, the meticulously designed main room would greet the visitors. The interior design and layout of the room weren’t similar to any typical ones in Luoxia village with kang. Contrarily, it mimicked the style seen in the distinguished residences. Right in the center was a minimalistic Taishi wall , perfect to hang paintings, couplets, or even placing memorial tablets. However, they haven’t reached that stage yet and were thus empty at that moment. They haven’t even bought any painting pieces and were waiting to buy everything together.

Right below the painting on the wall, there was a long narrow table. And right in front of the long table, they had planned to place a slightly smaller large square-shaped eight immortal table with four horseshoe chairs placed on the sides of the table. Currently, the Carpenter Cui was extremely busy crafting this set of furniture. According to Yang Tiezhu, it was in its final stages and would be finished soon.

On the right was a west room. There wasn’t a partition in between and followed an open room style. Inside, a large round-eight immortal table was placed. By the window, a long narrow table was placed to house decorative articles and the like. A wall painting would also be hung over it, but at the moment it was still empty.

The east room was in line with the typical Luoxia village-style room. A kang, a set of a table, and two horseshoe chairs were placed next to the wall. Similar to other rooms, under the window, a long and narrow table was placed; currently, it was a also empty.

The kang was equipped with a kang cabinet and a kang table. Stroking the furniture, Lin Qingwan was in awe of Carpenter Cui’s excellent crafting skills. He had also carved auspicious decorative patterns on the furniture.

All the furniture was in the wood color itself. Carpenter Cui, initially, intended to paint them, but Lin Qingwan refused and asked Yang Tiezhu to let him keep the furniture in its original color. Thus the latter simply coated the furniture with wood polish, giving them a simple and elegant appearance. Lin Qingwan preferred this look compared to the furniture painted with red color.

She was unable to recognize the type of wood, but it seemed to be quite strong and compact, with a natural reddish brown color.

Further, into the west wing, there was a simple hall that led to the rear yard. The exit of the passageway had a double door. If closed from the outside, one would be unable to make out the door and exit.

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