"Because all the rooms have small adjoining chambers," Shen Xiaoyan said playfully, blinking her eyes. Then she explained to the group, "The main halls and such, you can understand without me saying. The living quarters, however, in each room, I've added a small chamber. This small chamber is for washing."
"Washing? A privy? But how is it different from ours?" Lu Taobao asked, even more curious.
Even though Shen Xiaoyan didn't know much about Da Chu, she understood ancient times.
In ancient times, poor people had no privies. To wash their faces and hands, they used a wooden basin, which they could do in the courtyard. As for bathing, they used buckets in their rooms.
Wealthy families had dedicated privies, built very luxuriously, with couches inside, showing their extravagance.
But no matter how extravagant, they still used chamber pots and had to fetch water for bathing.
It was fine when carrying water in, but after bathing, a small bucket at a time had to be emptied. This was quite troublesome.
Shen Xiaoyan planned to install a sewage system and a toilet, creating an indoor bathroom.
After Shen Xiaoyan’s explanation, everyone was stunned. Such a method was unheard of.
Lu Taobao was intrigued, Zheng Wei was surprised, and the two old craftsmen pondered and then praised incessantly.
If this were true, it would indeed be much more convenient. At least they wouldn't have to scrub chamber pots, and wastewater could be disposed of indoors. It was truly very convenient.
However, these things were easy to say, but difficult to do.
The first challenge was the material for the sewage system. This world had no pipes. What would Shen Xiaoyan use?
Fortunately, someone soon solved this problem. Lu Taobao mentioned that his family had a fleet of ships. They had recently returned, bringing back some novel items. He vaguely heard of something called brass pipes, apparently made by overseas people for pipes.
"At first, I didn't quite understand what I heard. Today, when my sister-in-law mentioned it, I remembered. Sister-in-law, how did you think of it? It's the same as what those people thought of?" Lu Taobao said, looking at Shen Xiaoyan curiously in the end.
Shen Xiaoyan felt both happy and hesitant. Happy that the pipe issue was resolved, but hesitant about how to explain it.
Fortunately, she didn't have to hesitate for long. Zheng Wei spoke first, "I heard about it and told your sister-in-law. I didn't expect she would take it to heart."
After hearing this, Lu Taobao stopped hesitating, and Shen Xiaoyan also breathed a sigh of relief, though she looked at Zheng Wei with a hint of guilt.
After discussing for a while longer, Lu Taobao left with the two old craftsmen. Before leaving, the two old craftsmen said that they would take the drawings back, discuss them with their workers, and then tell them the required materials and quantities, after which they could start construction.
After seeing the three off, Shen Xiaoyan felt even more guilty towards Zheng Wei. However, Zheng Wei didn't ask anything.
Seeing that he didn't ask, she played dumb. She couldn't think of how to explain it now, so she decided not to say anything for the time being.
Five days later, the two old craftsmen returned. This time, they didn't come with Lu Taobao but were brought by a man driving a cart.
The two men first spoke to Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei about the first batch of bricks and tiles. They agreed to bring the materials and workers the next day and then left with the money Zheng Wei gave them.
Shen Xiaoyan looked at the half-empty bamboo chest cabinet and could only sigh that money doesn't stay in the pocket, or rather, they were too poor.
This 300 taels of silver probably wouldn't be enough to build this courtyard. After all, the first batch of materials alone had cost 100 taels.
Fortunately, the striped watermelons could be sold a couple more times, and soon the milk fruit would be ripe. It was a pity that the red berries were out of season and no longer grew.
This time, they had to provide meals for the construction workers. Since these workers were not from the town but from other villages, they lived quite far away. If meals were not provided, they would have to travel back and forth, and nothing would get done in a day.
However, Shen Xiaoyan alone could not cook for so many people. Shen Xiaoyan thought about finding some aunts in the village who were good at cooking.
"Shall we find some people in the village to cook?" Shen Xiaoyan suggested to Zheng Wei.
Zheng Wei immediately agreed. Shen Xiaoyan went to the village herself because she was looking for women to cook, and this was not something Zheng Wei could do.
Since taking Shen Xiaoming away from the Shen family, Shen Xiaoyan had not visited Baiyun Village again.
When Shen Xiaoyan walked into the village, it was shortly after noon, and the sun was hot. Not many people were out and about.
Seeing Shen Xiaoyan walking alone, some people greeted her.
The matter of Shen Xiaoyan asking Shen Xiaoming to separate from the Shen family had already spread throughout the village. Now that the person involved appeared, some gossips couldn't help but ask.
"Shen Xiaoyan, it's been a long time since you came to the village. Are you visiting your maiden home?"
Shen Xiaoyan followed the voice and saw that the person speaking was someone she knew, or rather, had seen before. It was Liang shi, the wife of Xu Yuan, another neighbor of the Shen family.
"Aunt Liang, I just happened to run into you, so I don't need to go further in," Shen Xiaoyan stopped and said to Liang shi.
Liang shi said curiously, "Are you looking for me?"
"It's not that I was specifically looking for you, Auntie. It's just that our family is building a house, and we need to provide meals at noon. I can't manage it alone, so I want to find some aunts in the village who are good cooks to help. Of course, it's not for free." Shen Xiaoyan explained with a smile.
Several wives and women nearby heard Shen Xiaoyan's words and became very interested.
There were not many ways for farmers to earn money, and even fewer for women. Most of them had no income.
Now, hearing that Shen Xiaoyan would pay them for cooking lunch, they were all eager.
Liang shi smiled more genuinely after hearing Shen Xiaoyan's words, "Xiaoyan, how is the salary calculated? Although we are neighbors, even brothers keep clear accounts. You should state the terms clearly, so it's easier to find people, right?"
Shen Xiaoyan smiled and said, "Auntie is right. Auntie watched me grow up and knows my temper. So I'll be direct. I'm looking for 6 people to cook lunch. Each person will be paid 10 li per day."
Everyone's eyes lit up upon hearing this. 10 li was quite a lot. Liang shi even said, "Then count me in. You know, my cooking skills are top-notch."
Shen Xiaoyan immediately agreed. She didn't know about Liang shi's cooking skills, but no rural woman didn't know how to cook. As for skill, the communal meals for so many people couldn't possibly be extremely delicious. As long as they were filling and satisfying, allowing the workers to work well, that would be enough.
Hearing Shen Xiaoyan's offer, two or three other women nearby also offered to help. Shen Xiaoyan agreed and told them to come at noon tomorrow. Then, Shen Xiaoyan headed towards the Shen family's house.
Of course, she wasn't going to the Shen family's house but to Wu Dagang's house.
Wu Dagang had visited Shen Xiaoming a few times in the past two months. However, because the distance was a bit far, farm children also had to help their families with chores, and Wu Dagang still had to attend school. Therefore, they only met three or five times.