Bab 12: Blooming Courtyard

The Blooming Courtyard transformed quickly in front of Xu Feng's eyes. From the signing of the contract, it had only been two weeks, but the changes seemed earth-shattering. From an ancient courthouse to a modern courthouse villa.

While the Xuan family had left the day after the contract had been signed, Steward Wu arrived two days later with 10 taels of gold (100,000 taels of silver) to cover renovation costs.

The currency used in this world is also gold, silver, and copper, just like in ancient Dongmen. The exchange rate is 1gold: 10,000silver: 1,000,000copper or wen, and one wen is equal to one yuan.

Xu Feng knew Lady Xuan was greedy when it came to outsiders, so this must have been a small amount to her. But to a villager like the original Xu Zeng, this was an amount he might not see in a lifetime.

For the current Xu Feng, this was also quite a bit of wealth. The average village family made around 10-15 taels of silver a year.

Xu Feng was not shy with the money, and with Steward Wu's assistance, dozens of men from the Nanshan village and other nearby villages were hired to renovate the Xuan estate above Nanshan Village.

Walls had been torn down in certain rooms, and all the stone beds were removed. The original courtyard layout had 8 bedrooms, including the servants' bedrooms for those who would serve through the night.

The final layout had only five larger bedrooms, four deeper in the courtyard—one reserved for Xu Feng. The final room was closer to the entrance and was set up for the servants—this room was split into four smaller rooms like a miniature dormitory.

A large study was carved out from the original space with built-in wooden bookshelves added and two smaller study rooms added for privacy. A craft room with a similar skeleton was also carved out for Xu Feng's use.

These rooms were sandwiched between the four main bedrooms, two to the right, and two to the left.

A cozy living room was transformed from the secondary reception room, with custom furniture ordered from craftsmen in the nearest artisan town, Beiyi.

Xu Feng ordered several sofas, ottomans, loveseats, hardwood bed frames, and simple recliners with some personal designs. While they weren't as complicated as modern designs, they would be comfortable enough for him.

He also ordered a large dining table with Western chairs, a smaller breakfast nook with Western chairs, an Eastern heat-able floor table, and decorative and functional ceramic pots for his personal dining area and other living spaces.

The kitchen was renovated with cupboards and a large pantry built to mimic modern kitchens and the stoves were lifted higher off the ground to accommodate Xu Feng's height.

Two rudimentary ovens were built according to Xu Feng's instructions to round out the indoor and outdoor connected kitchen.

The entire building had a secondary wooden flooring laid out, ceramic in the kitchen, to allow for a barbaric version of in-floor heating.

Finally, a custom bathroom was built behind Xu Feng's room. The toilet room had a rudimentary outhouse system to allow sewage to lead outside the courtyard. The sewage would then need to be cleaned out regularly.

This toilet system wasn't nearly as nice as a modern toilet Xu Feng was used to, but it was much more sanitary than the outhouses currently being used, and there wouldn't be any smells.

A large raised bathtub was also built to allow it to be drained easily into a barrel from above, the water could then be reused by Xu Feng for other things.

There were still a few unused rooms in the Blooming Courtyard, but Xu Feng wasn't in a rush to use them if they had no functional purpose. Just having them updated and cleaned was enough.

In only two weeks, the construction in Blooming Courtyard began to wind down. While Xu Feng as a soon-to-be-married ger, could show his face, he didn't overdo it before his marriage was finalized.

He did make sure all the workers were well-fed as they worked.

Most didn't understand the need for the renovations or the purpose of Xu Feng's plans. The estate was already perfect in their eyes, but they did as they were instructed. The villagers worked hard to earn the generous pay offered to them.

In another week, the Blooming Courtyard was completed with only larger furniture left to be delivered when carriages full of gifts were delivered to the Nanshan estate.

"Wow!" Si was in shock after carriage after carriage of betrothal gifts were delivered to the newly refurbished Blooming Courtyard Xu Feng had recently moved into.

"So beautiful," San exclaimed as she ogled all the fine materials and the dried fruits sent from the capital.

Xu Feng only smiled. He wasn't expecting the Xuan family to deliver so many carriages full of things. The front of the courtyard was piled high with gift boxes.

Luckily, the other two courtyards only took a few days to refresh since there wasn't much Xu Feng wanted to be changed. So, the villagers weren't present to see the gifts. They would only be able to watch the carriages make their way to the estate from the bottom of the mountain.

Xu Feng didn't want to have any people with bad intentions target him. He spent a large amount of money on "unnecessary" renovations. Luckily having Lizheng's family present for the contract signing worked in his favor.

The villagers knew the money came from the capital. Over 6,000 taels of silver were spent on the renovations, furniture, and transplanting of mature fruit trees.

In addition to the transformation of the estate, Xu Feng had been exploring the original owners' skills with Si and San in his free time and had added a few small embroidered pieces to his home. The threads and materials were welcome gifts.

"Young Mistress," Steward Wu bowed before continuing, "the date has been set. The wedding is to take place on the 6th of next month."

Xu Feng raised his brows at this.

He knew it was a shotgun wedding, but he was expecting more notice. It was already the end of December; they were probably trying to rush the wedding before the snowfall began in mid-January.

"The mistress has completed your wedding robe and it was sent with the betrothal gifts. The young mistress only needs to be present."

"Thank you, Steward Wu." Xu Feng wouldn't back out now, he couldn't back out now.