After a good meal, the master builder was satisfied and in a relaxed mood. He gave Li Xiandong some guidance.

“Master Li, once the top pillars are set in place tomorrow, the main foundation of your house will be complete. After that, it’ll be time to build the walls. How do you plan to go about that?”

For poor families, building a house meant using handmade mud bricks without much concern for quality, but those types of houses weren’t stable. They couldn’t withstand heavy rain or strong winds and would deteriorate quickly.

People who were a bit more particular—like Li Xiandong—would hire a professional builder to guide the work. Especially when steps like laying the foundation and setting the pillars were done well, it could make the house stable enough that “even if the structure falls, the house won’t collapse.”

However, finding such a skilled builder was not easy. And even if you did, you couldn’t always tell if he was truly committed to the job.

So, for the master to offer advice like this, it meant he was taking the job seriously and wasn’t holding anything back.

“How do I plan to go about it?” Li Xiandong scratched his head, a little lost, but still explained his idea.

“You’ve seen the layout. I want to build four main rooms first, with two side rooms each on the east and west wings. As for the back wing, we’ll skip that for now.”

The master builder saw Li Xiandong scratching his head and knew he didn’t have a concrete idea. Thinking about how much care the family had put into preparing the food, he said, “Since you invited me here, I’ll explain things in detail.”

“I saw the stone you bought. It’s good quality. That tells me you’re investing in building a solid home that can be passed down to future generations. In that case, I’ll give you a few suggestions. These are practical designs used in town houses. Think it over and see if you want to use them.”

As soon as the master spoke, the other Li family men who had been squatting nearby quietly gathered around. They knew this master had built many homes, so any suggestions he offered were worth listening to.

Li Xiaohan, who had been helping Madam Wang clean up after the meal, also moved more quietly and perked up her ears. Whether the house was comfortable or not would greatly affect their future life. She was very invested in this too.

The master noticed everyone was secretly listening in. That was partly his intention, so he smacked his lips and continued, “First, do you want to build a heated wall or a heated brick bed? A heated wall can warm the entire house—it’s much more comfortable. Of course, it’s more expensive than a heated bed and uses up more firewood. But in my opinion, your family could start with heated walls in two of the main rooms. That would cost just a little more, maybe half a tael of silver. Later, when your family grows and you have children living with you, you can always expand. You don’t have a second or third son yet, right?”

Li Xiandong knew the master was suggesting only building two rooms because their household was still small. But the way he said it, talking about future children joining the family, sounded quite pleasant. Li Xiandong felt good hearing it.

“Alright,” he nodded.

“No need to rush to decide,” the master continued calmly. “Building a house is a big deal. Think about it tonight. I’ll keep explaining.”

“Second, do you want to connect the rooms with covered corridors? A corridor connects all the rooms with a roofed walkway. That way, whether it’s raining or snowing, you can move around the house freely. Wealthier families in town all do this. It just costs a bit more for wood and tiles.”

Li Xiaohan remembered the garden corridors she had seen in Suzhou in her previous life. They really were convenient. At the very least, you wouldn’t need to put on a raincoat to run from one room to another when it rained. And if you had something to dry, you could leave it in the corridor when no one was home.

“Third, do you want to lay cement over the floor in the main hall? If you leave it as bare earth, it’ll get muddy and uneven over time. In the city, people use blue bricks, but even just using our three-in-one cement mixture is more affordable. It’s clean and makes the space brighter.”

“That’s all. Master Li, think it over and let me know what you want to do.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll think it through carefully,” Li Xiandong replied.

He was genuinely interested in all three suggestions, but they would add extra costs here and there, and that meant going over the planned expenses.

Li Xiaohan was also tempted, especially when the master mentioned paving the main room’s floor. She wanted the same for the toilet in the southwest corner. She was sick of the ancient pit toilet setup in this era.

And since the master said the cement mixture was waterproof, maybe they could build a bathing room too? Wiping herself down with water in a wooden basin never really got her clean. There was no shower or running water, but even being able to pour water over herself from a bucket would feel like a proper bath.

But how could she convince her father to agree?

Also, they needed to save money for Madam Wang’s medicine. Would they still have enough?

With the experience from her previous life, Li Xiaohan knew that once you started on house construction and renovations, the budget always went out of control. But it was really tempting…

Money. She needed money. How could she make some?

Suddenly, she thought maybe she should go up the mountain again and see if she could find more Sanqi.

The master’s advice wasn’t just helpful for Li Xiandong. The other men in the Li family were thinking the same thing.

Could they build their own homes like that?

Would it really turn out that well?

They hoped Brother Xiandong or Uncle Xiandong would go ahead with these ideas—then they could see the results for themselves.

That afternoon, everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts and couldn’t settle down.

Li Xiaohan helped Madam Wang prepare the dinner, still thinking about how to make money.

Originally, Madam Wang had planned to stir-fry loofah for dinner. After giving it some thought, she added an egg. Following Li Xiaohan’s instructions, she beat the egg with some water before frying. That way, the scrambled eggs turned out soft and golden, and the portion looked much larger.

Dinner that night was a rich, oily pork bone soup that had simmered all day, with a side of stir-fried loofah and egg.

“So this is how good bone broth tastes when the bones are split open first.”

Everyone eating quietly made a mental note: they would start doing this at home too.

It was cheap and delicious.

In the future, bone prices might rise. But that was a concern for another day.

After dinner, the guests left. Li Xiandong found a chance to talk to Madam Wang and said, “I’m planning to follow all the suggestions the master gave today.”

Madam Wang had no objections. Whatever Li Xiandong decided, she went along with it.

But Li Xiaohan asked, “Father, do we still have enough money?”

“I have to set aside money to get your mother treated. We can’t touch that,” Li Xiandong sighed.

“But I was thinking, since it’ll be troublesome to renovate the house later, we might as well build it properly now. Things like tables, bedding, and other big items—we can hold off on replacing those and just use what we have. We can slowly add new things later. That way, we can save some money.”

Ah, so they’d move into a basic unfinished home and slowly improve it. Li Xiaohan understood.

“Father, can we also pave the bathroom next to the toilet? I want to take a proper bath.”

The toilet was already unpleasant enough, but at least they’d put up with it for years. Still, with all the construction lately, it was dusty and grimy every day. Not bathing just wasn’t an option anymore.

Li Xiandong thought about how he went to bathe in the river by moonlight, while his wife and daughter had to wash at home. The little room they had wasn’t big, and paving it wouldn’t cost much either.

Having always been taught to spend money on maintaining appearances, Li Xiandong thought it over and nodded, “Alright.”

“Father, you’re the best!” Li Xiaohan cheered.

Still, until the house was done, she couldn’t give up on saving for a proper toilet.

“And one more thing. Today’s dishes used a lot of oil and were a bit pricier, but it was worth it. Just keep cooking like this from now on.”

Li Xiandong was worried his wife would try to cut back on meals just because money was tight. But clearly, the old master had only offered his suggestions because he had been satisfied with the food. Skimping on meals could end up ruining things. So he made sure to speak up.

“Got it, Father! We understand,” Li Xiaohan answered loudly.

The food really was delicious today, and honestly, it didn’t cost that much.