ALL NOVEL
Chapter 53
It was an auspicious day again.
After laying the foundation for many days, it had finally dried thoroughly and become very firm.
So today, the new house of Li Yao's family was going to officially start building the walls.
The mason was found by the Village Head to help. He had brought masons and carpenters from ten li around, and had also found over ten people from the village to help with odd jobs.
Of course this time Li Yao said in advance that those who came had to be paid wages, otherwise don't come.
"Hey, this is the first time I've heard that wages must be paid," a mason from another village said, "All the homeowners I've met were reluctant to pay even a penny in wages."
"You're not looking at who the homeowner is," a He Wan villager said, "It's our Lady Li from He Wan village, she has plenty of money at home."
"It's Lady Li who runs the boutique store at the Baichuan Market?"
"Who else could it be?"
...
Hearing the villagers' praises of herself, Li Yao could only quietly walk to the side, watching from afar as the masons built the bricks according to her instructions.
The walls were 24 inches thick, although it used twice as many green bricks, it was sturdy and reliable, and could also insulate against heat and keep warm.
The roof was also double layered.
After the walls were built, they had to build a row of large wooden beams, equivalent to a ceiling, and then build an outer wall and put on roof beams and tiles.
As for the floor, she had carefully considered and decided to temporarily lay a layer of green bricks for the time being.
Later when she had time she would make a kiln, find a craftsman with experience, and try to figure out how to fire floor tiles.
The masons worked quickly, and with so many people the walls were built up in just two days. The carpenter masters had already started building the roof beams.
The last main beam must be installed on an auspicious yellow calendar day, the so-called "topping out” ceremony.
And the next auspicious day was in two days, so before that, Li Yao planned to have the craftsmen build a kang stove-bed in each bedroom.
Although the winter temperatures in Yizhou Prefecture were at lowest only two or three degrees below zero, being close to the mountains meant damp air. That kind of bone-chilling dampness easily made people sick.
This was also why many villagers had serious arthritis before they were even forty years old.
The solution was simple — a small kang stove-bed, at the cost of a little firewood.
When Li Yao explained what a kang was, the dozens of craftsmen's eyes almost popped out.
"You mean people sleep on it, with a fire burning underneath?"
"Yes."
"Then... aren't you afraid of getting roasted?"
Li Yao: ...Do you think it's for roasting sweet potatoes?
"Make it according to what I said, and you'll understand when it's done."
Before long, everyone in the village knew that Li Yao's new home didn't want beds, but wanted to make something called a kang.
No one had heard of such a thing before, and everyone came to watch the lively scene.
Under Li Yao's personal guidance, the kang in her bedroom was quickly built. But in her design, she didn't leave the fireplace inside the room. Instead, she built a small wing room outside the back wall, specially used for the fire.
This way, the room could be clean and clear, and not foggy every time a fire was lit. In the future, if conditions allowed the use of coal, there would be no worry about carbon monoxide poisoning either.
Seeing everyone was very curious, Li Yao let Da Zhuang bring firewood to light the kang.
The new kang was still a little damp, but after being smoked by the big fire for half a day, the whole kang started to get warm too.
The villagers touched the heated kang, all exclaiming in wonder.
"How did we never think of this before?"
"With that little brain of yours, if you could think of this, you'd be the richest man in our village."
"You're right this really is good. With a kang like this in the cold winter, you won't have to worry about the cold when sleeping at night."
"That's right, nice and warm, just need a quilt."
"Actually not just for sleeping," Li Yao said, "You can keep the fire going all day, and it won't use up much firewood. But as long as there are no drafts, the house will be very warm all day."
"Yes, yes, yes," some women's eyes began to shine, "In winter doing needlework, I won't have to worry about frozen stiff fingers."
"Families with babies, this would be so comfortable for them."
"Tomorrow I’ll make one for my mother too!"
So overnight, villagers in He Wan village planned to renovate their bedrooms and build a big kang to get through the winter.
Those craftsmen from other villages also brought this thing back to their own villages, causing their fellow villagers to emulate it.
Those better off used green bricks, those poorer used mud bricks, but in any case it didn't cost much money. Yet it ensured no freezing for a whole winter, who wouldn't love such a cost-effective thing?
...
According to local customs, topping out was an even bigger celebration than a wedding, requiring inviting the whole village for a feast, so preparations had to be made well in advance.
There were over a thousand people in the whole village. Not counting those who were away, there were still about 800 people.
"There can't be that many," Wang Xueshi, who had come to help, said. "Children don't need to be counted."
"Children are people too, why shouldn't they be counted?" Li Yao said. "Count everyone, we can't be stingy about this."
When Wang Xueshi heard this, her head started spinning.
Listen to this, was this reasonable?
She was trying to save Li Yao some money by counting less people, but instead she became the stingy one.
"If you're not worried about money, do as you please."
Li Yao took out pen and paper and asked Wang Er to start writing the menu.
First the meat dishes.
Four large meat dishes: whole chicken, whole duck, whole fish, pork hock.
Four steamed dishes: stuffed pork, stuffed shredded pork, steamed fragrant bowl, steamed crispy pork.
Two stir-fries: wood ear mushroom with pork slices, twice cooked pork.
Two cold dishes: braised goose, mixed braised platter.
Altogether 12 meat dishes.
The vegetable dishes were simpler: cold spinach, cold noodles, stir fried cabbage, stir fried bean sprouts.
Finally two soups: a sweet soup of red dates and snow fungus, and a vegetable soup.
If each table sat ten people, based on the villagers’ appetites, Li Yao estimated it would just be enough to finish. So calculated this way, the ingredients for each table would cost at least one or two taels of silver.
With 80 tables, that was 80 taels.
And with so many dishes, she definitely wouldn't be able to cook them herself, and there were far from enough bowls, chopsticks and steamers, so she had to hire special chefs to cater the banquet.
"Hire someone? That'll cost money?" Wang Xueshi, who had agreed not to interfere, felt her heart dripping blood when she heard a banquet would cost 80 taels of silver. She hurriedly said, "I'll have your father take your younger uncles, three of them, and find a few more people from the village who can cook, that should be enough."
"Better not," Li Yao said. "Banquet cooking is difficult, we should hire professionals. You are guests, just sit and wait for the banquet when the time comes."
To save meat as much as possible, following the principle of frugality whenever possible, Li Yao asked her father-in-law and three uncles to buy two fat pigs from nearby villages.
"One is enough!"
"Two," Li Yao said, "We can make smoked and cured meat with any leftovers."
Wang Xueshi: ...
Wang Xueshi sighed lightly in her heart.
In such a short time, she felt she no longer recognized this daughter-in-law.
Just over a month ago, let alone spending nearly a hundred taels on a banquet, she wouldn't have dared to ask for a pound of rice!
Yet now she was planning it like a rich household.
"Right," Li Yao said, "After slaughtering the pigs, keep all the lard and pig oil, don't use it for anything else."
"What are you keeping those for?"
"I have my purposes."
After the house topping out event was done, it would be time to prepare some new goods for the boutique store.