Chapter 138

Many hands make light work, and money makes work easier. In only a month, Ling Jingxuan’s manor was nearly completed. Whole-colored grey brick walls spread from Yuehua Ditch on the east to the Xiaoniu Mountain on the west. Three walls firmly encircled his manor. For the convenience of going in and out, except the big front gate, he also opened a small gate for the carriages in the middle of the walls on both sides. Three gates were all connected to the straight cobblestone path which led directly to the newly built official road on that wasteland. Seen from afar, the whole manor looked so majestic like the imperial palace. The only drawback was it was too empty inside now.

Ling Jingxuan did not use the ancient classic wooden double door, but the modern firm and solid iron gate, which was painted red, making it looking differently luxurious. Now it was still at the ending stage. Although the necessary furniture had been all made, and they moved all necessary things over, and they could also eat and sleep here, Ling Jingxuan still hadn’t given it a name, since he meant to let everyone sit together to decide the name when they had time.

Pushing open the iron gate, a bluestone road led straight to the main house about a hundred meters away. In the field on both sides were already planted with grape vines Ling Jingxuan had gotten from the mountains. With the Crescent Spring water, those thick branches already sprang to life.

The grey bricks and black tiles of the main house added radiance to each other. The central room in the middle at least occupied over a hundred square meters. It had eight rooms on both sides. And each room was modern three bedrooms and a living room style, and a bathroom and a small kitchen. You could either sleep in it or entertain the guests separately. On one side of the main house was a giant and clean kitchen and two spacious warehouses, and the entrance to the basement, while on the other side were the stables, cowsheds and a freestanding wolf shed. As for the pigsty, henhouse and duck shed were all in the backyard.

Bypassing the main house, on the left side was a row of tile-roofed house with grey bricks about ten meters long and at least three meters high. It had four rooms, each of which had double door, floor space was pretty considerable. That was Ling Jingxuan’s so-called factory. On the right side was also a long big tile-roofed house, which was divided into a lot of small rooms. That was the spare warehouse and also where the servants lived.

Be it the factory or the servants’ house, areas for planting fruits trees both in the front and back were planned out, it was just nothing was planted yet. About ten meters away from the main house, that big pond which occupied nearly five mu was already impounded with water, with lotus planted inside, but they just hadn’t grown out yet. When drawing water from Yuehua Ditch, Ling Jingxuan secretly added shoal of fish in. In case others might notice it, he specially asked Ling Jingpeng and Song Gengniu to rent a boat and salvage a lot of duckweed and put them in the pond. On one hand, it could add some green to the yard, on the other hand, he could raise fish and ducks with it. So now on the surface of the pond was nearly enveloped in total green.

And in the middle of the pond, an end-to-end giant winding corridor hovered above, which could only be used for people to pass through, in the octagonal pavilion in the middle, one could also enjoy the cool. After those fruit tree all grew up, and the lotus in the pond bloomed, what a scene! Forget about other things first. After the pavilion was built, here could be Ling Jinghan’s personal study! Every day when he had time, he could bring Song Shuisheng over, made a pot of tea, and a plate of pastries Lady Yang made, and learn there for half a day.

Behind the pond was a few big sheds, which were the pigpen, henhouse and the duck coop respectively. And the two piggies and over a dozen chickens they bought earlier now were all moved here. Ling Jingxuan bought another eight piggies, two hundred chicken and five hundred ducklings. When it was next Spring Festival, they’d have a big harvest. And behind was a large blank space stretching to the foot of Yuehua Mountain which was used to plant fruit trees.

In general, except the few houses and the winding corridor over the pond through the whole manor, it was all blank space. But when the trees made a pleasant shade next year, it’d be another scene!

During this month, Ling Jingxuan also wasn’t at grass. Xinyuan Restaurant came to collect the goods two times, plus the money he made from selling fish, over two thousand taels of silver he had spent on building the house was earned back.

Compared with him getting richer, old Ling family was having some hard time. After unanimous decision of the old chief and elders, they didn’t allow Ling Jingwei to use money to exempt himself from the military service. The village head returned the twenty taels of silver he had received to Ling Chengcai. Not long after that thing, Ling Jingwei was sent to draft camp, while on the other hand, since Ling Chenghua insisted that Ling Jingwei raped her, plus she had the old lady defending her, though she did not get thrown out of the family, her fame had been totally ruined. Now she even didn’t have the face to go out, let along marry someone. Plus, Ling Chengcai and his wife had already hated her to the bones, even with the old lady protecting her, her days were kind of tough.

The old xiucai’s whole family already lost their prestige because of that thing, so they could no longer get above themselves like before, even the old man’s private school was shut, because almost all villagers let their kids drop out from school. They even cursed in their face that they’d rather let their kids be a farmer than turn them into a scumbag like Ling Jingwei.

Series of blows made Ling Qiyun ill in bed, and the whole family nearly fell into the hands of the old lady. The big son asked to divide up the family because of his son’s thing, and the third son’s side was also not that good. Ling Chenglong moved out, and Ling Chengcai was adding trouble, now all housework and farm work fell on the third son’s head. So Ling Chenghu and his wife who had been used to a laid-back life kept grumbling. There were a few times that they even secretly went to Ling Jingxuan’s place trying to persuade Ling Chenglong to move back. But Song Gengniu strictly stuck to Yan Shengrui’s order. Without even asking, every time he came, he’d beat him away. So they even had no chance to see Ling Chenglong.

But anyhow, these things all had nothing to do with Ling Jingxuan, he still led a busy but quiet life every day, after sending his sons to school in the morning, he’d go to the mountains to pick wild fruit with Yan Shengrui, Ling Jingpeng and others, and after lunch, he’d wash those wild fruit with Lady Wang, Lady Song and others after some rest, then make jam, then after his sons came back after school, the whole family, together with Zhao&Han couple and their son, had dinner together sitting around a specially-customized round table. Usually, the sun hadn’t gone down after dinner, so they’d go to the factory to go on making jam, while the four little buns would practice calligraphy and recite them under Ling Jinghan’s guide. After dark, a whole busy day was over in an era where there were no recreational activities.

“Daddy, come here, have a taste of the wine I brewed.”

Recently, they had moved everything from the thatched cottage to the new house one after another. When ling Jingxuan came back from his evening walk, he finally remembered the wine he had sealed under the cellar of the old house. He calculated the time and took Yan Shengrui to the cellar to get a bottle.

“Ok, after I finish this wooden wedge.”

The large furniture like the wardrobes and beds in the new house, Ling Jingxuan asked the carpenters come make them at home. Now what he needed was things like customized desks and chairs and other things. Those were all small items, Ling Chenglong didn’t want his son to spend more money, so he said he’d make them all. Now every day, he’d bury himself among piles of wood.