The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 276

 

| TBBOTOF | 276

When Wei Dong bought the land, he deliberately included not only the plot but also half a mountainside. Starting from Tang Erhu’s area, the entire stretch belonged to them.

The old house was falling apart, and no one cared about it.

Later, Tang Xu took charge of the project and made several adjustments. The new house and the old house, originally positioned one in front of the other, were restructured to form a semi-enclosure. 

The new house would be on the outer edge, with the courtyard walls eventually encircling the outer perimeter.

Although this design would take more time to complete, Tang Xu, after seeing the sketches, felt it resembled a simplified version of the royal gardens he had visited before. He was quite excited about it.

If the design were truly realized, walking from the front yard to the backyard would be exhausting.

That’s what he said, but Tang Xu was still very pleased.

He took the draft sketches to show Old Wen and Old Sun. After examining them, the two elders remained silent for a long while.

Tang Xu was puzzled and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the design?”

Old Sun stroked his beard, smiled warmly, and said nothing.

Old Wen, who was more familiar with Tang Xu, couldn’t help but tease him, “Are you planning to build a small palace?”

Tang Xu was taken aback. "Huh? A small palace? It’s supposed to be a four-section courtyard."

“If you expand it a bit more, add a few courtyards on this side, and dig a lake over here...” Old Wen lightly tapped the blueprint with his finger as he spoke. 

Then, he turned to look at Old Sun. “Isn’t that right? I only visited once, but you’ve been there more times.”

“Yeah, there’s even a tower for stargazing over there,” Old Sun added, pointing to a spot on the blueprint. “It’s not far off.”

Listening to the two elders comment and gesture, Tang Xu’s eyelid began twitching uncontrollably. He raised his hand and slammed it down on the blueprint.

The two elders looked up at him.

Tang Xu’s face was stern, and he said coldly, “This is a four-section courtyard, and it has absolutely nothing to do with a small palace. Sure, I’m planning to dig a slightly bigger pond to grow some lotuses or whatever, but it’s definitely not a lake!”

Old Wen, seeing Tang Xu’s serious and earnest expression, couldn’t help but burst out laughing. 

He waved his hand dismissively and said, “Even if you were actually building a small palace, no one would care. You’ve bought the land, and the structure isn’t violating any regulations. No one will stop you.”

Tang Xu looked at him, still full of confusion. “What kind of structure?”

Old Wen explained, “Only officials with ranks can build two-story residences, and even those are differentiated by rank. A top-ranking official’s courtyard can have up to four sections, along with various pavilions and such—but these details probably won’t mean much to you. For us common folk, a typical residence is usually just two sections. A four-section courtyard like yours is something wealthier landowners build. It doesn’t break any rules, so you can go ahead with it. Even if you’ve enclosed the mountain, as long as you have the deed, no one will interfere.”

Tang Xu let out a sigh of relief and finally relaxed.

“When the time comes for it to be built, will you two move into the back courtyard or stay in the front one? I was thinking we could all move to the new house in the back. It’ll have underfloor heating and fire walls, so it’ll be much warmer in winter. With the larger space, we’ll likely need to hire more people, and they can stay in the front courtyard. The livestock won’t go near the back either—we’ll reorganize everything to keep it cleaner.”

Currently, the livestock and poultry, despite being cleaned up several times a day, still brought some unavoidable odors. Moving to the back courtyard and separating the two areas would resolve this issue entirely.

Old Wen and Old Sun exchanged a glance and smiled, nodding in agreement.

“Alright, when the time comes, just leave us a room. That’ll do.”

Tang Xu, encouraged by their approval, went back to drawing more sketches. With so much space to work with, he decided he might as well experiment. 

He redrew and adjusted the designs several times, eventually settling on a plan to divide the houses into smaller courtyards. Whoever wanted to live in a particular courtyard could choose their own when the time came.

Tang Xu became more and more excited, leaning over the desk in the study and sketching away, his hands covered in charcoal powder.

Since he wasn’t very skilled with a brush, he had instead grabbed some small burnt wooden sticks. His fingers were stained black, but he didn’t mind as he continued to draw happily.

At first, Tang Yang and Wei Xi didn’t know what he was busy with, but once they saw, they began offering their own suggestions.

“Brother, I want a courtyard!” Tang Yang sat beside Tang Xu, pointing at the drawing. “On this side, next to the lotus pond, and I want to make a small boat!”

“You’re dreaming,” Tang Xu shot him a sidelong glance. “A small boat? There’s no room for that. You really know how to enjoy yourself.”

Even so, he still added the design to the drawing. “If you want to live on that side, Father definitely won’t allow it.”

“But Father isn’t coming back, so I won’t be living on that side. Am I supposed to guard the house alone?” Tang Yang pouted.

Wei Xi spoke up, “Ah Yang can stay there and study.”

“Studying back there is just as inconvenient. It’s only a couple of steps to the front,” Tang Xu glared at the two of them and then said to Tang Yang, “Father and the others are going to the town to do business, hoping to save up some money. Whether you continue to take the civil exams or do something else, you should at least know what’s going on, right?”

“Don’t be angry, Brother, I know it’s not easy for Father,” Tang Yang scratched his head, then leaned closer to Tang Xu, acting cute. “Don’t worry, Brother, I’ll be filial. If Father comes back, I’ll move back to stay with them. If they don’t, I’ll stay here, okay?”

Tang Xu sighed, there was no way he could say no.

“Even the little ones need their own courtyard, right?” Wei Xi added.

Tang Xu nodded, “Yeah, there’s a spot for them on the other side, a quadrangle courtyard.”

He had marked out another area for that purpose.

When the simple sketch was shown to the craftsmen, their expressions were quite interesting, but they still nodded, indicating that the design could be built.

Tang Xu had the money, and the land was big enough—he could even hollow out the mountain if he wanted to.

The new house was much larger than what he had originally planned with Wei Dong, so construction slowed down. It was going to be a large mansion, and it would likely take a full year to complete.

Tang Xu didn’t mind, as long as the house was comfortable to live in, that was the most important thing.

The workers building the house, knowing that the project would take longer, had no complaints. 

They were paid daily, had meat to eat every day, and were happy to keep working for a lifetime.

Wei Dong had arranged for Zhao Ming and the three people he had bought later to settle in Yongcheng.

Currently, he didn't have the seasoning packets for making marinated foods, so the marinated food shop couldn’t open yet. However, they had brought dried marinated ducks and chickens to sell in the shop. 

The mention of selling fresh marinated foods in the future also served as a bit of advertising for the store.

Zhao Ming assured him that he would do a good job. As for the other three, since they were recently bought and their true nature was still unknown, they were not allowed to help at the front but were instead assigned to do chores like cleaning and cooking in the back courtyard.

They were all from poor families, so making food was not difficult for them.

Wei Dong made a detour to run errands for Old Wen, had a meal at a restaurant, and then secured an order for a hundred dried marinated ducks.

Afterward, he traveled with the merchant caravan and made a detour to Mincheng, where he picked up Wei Zhonghong and Wu Qiang.

Looking at Wu Qiang, who seemed much better, having gained some weight, Wei Dong had an idea. 

He smiled at Doctor Wu, "Why don’t you come back with us and stay for a while? You haven’t seen your old friend in years. When I go on the next business trip, I’ll take you back."

Doctor Wu’s eyes lit up when he heard this.

Doctor Wu, eager to see the place his old friend had written about in his letters, agreed, “Of course, I’d love to go for a visit.”

However, he had some reservations. Shaking his head, he said, “I’ve just planted the herbal seeds, and the crops need my care—without me, they won’t survive.”

His old servant, seeing his hesitation, urged him, “Master, go ahead. Let the sixth and seventh servant accompany you. I’ll take good care of the herb fields.”

Doctor Wu rubbed his hands together, pondered for a while, and then nodded. “Alright, I’ll go!”

He knew if he didn’t go now, he might never get another chance.

Wei Dong smiled, pleased with the decision.

The doctor who was coming to visit had superb medical skills, his husband will be very happy.

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TL: ML and MC are really catching all the old people in this story lol It’s kinda cute.

Btw, I am also glad no one really remembers the theory I made back then (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ so thank you guys~