stingy landlady

Chapter 62 Building a House (2)

Dazhu looked at Guizhi and asked:

"Guizhi! What kind do you like? Using a chamber pot is too troublesome to carry out! A latrine isn't very pretty, but it's practical! And it's convenient to empty the chamber pot in winter! What do you say, Third Sister?"

Guizhi thought for a moment before saying:

"I don't like either of them! The smell is too strong! Dad! Uncle Liu! I want to build a bathroom, but not a chamber pot. I want the kind where you just flush it down the floor after you're done! Put some flowers in the bathroom and fumigate it, and there won't be any smell at all!"

Dazhu and Foreman Liu smiled.

"That kid is always full of mischievous ideas!"

Foreman Liu asked Guizhi with a smile:

"That's great! But I've never seen one before, so I don't know how to build it!"

Guizhi picked up paper and pen, thought for a moment and drew as she went, then said:

"I was thinking, let's dig a bigger, deeper pit first, the kind where we can put two big vats in."

Break open the bottom of the large vat and make a large hole between the two vats. Then, after the excrement is flushed away with water, it will flow into the ground through the bottom of the large vat.

When this tank is full, the water will automatically flow into that tank, and it will also flow underground!

Then level the ground and build a clean room on top. Connect the large vat to the ground with a pipe. Make a perforated ceramic basin and connect it to the pipe, so that you can sit on the ceramic basin or squat on it to relieve yourself.

When you're done relieving yourself, just flush the hole with water, and it will flow down the pipe to the ground.

The bathroom can be a little larger than usual, with floor tiles laid on it, so you can wash clothes and take a shower there, and the remaining water can also be used to rinse the bathroom.

"Dad! Uncle Liu! Look, isn't the washroom clean now?"

Guizhi moved her own bathroom from her modern home over.

The specific principles couldn't be explained clearly, but once the drawings were drawn, the contractor understood and excitedly held the drawings, unable to put them down!

"Third Miss, that's a great idea! This way we can build a very beautiful bathroom! I'm sure many people will like it!"

"Master, your third young lady is truly clever and quick-witted!"

Dazhu said regretfully, "It means we won't have our own homemade manure anymore!"

Guizhi said with a smile,

"Dad! Isn't the land that's flowing away from underground also our family's land? Besides, our house is clean and tidy. When guests come over or go, we'll have a lot of face!"

The foreman asked Dazhu and Guizhi, saying:

“Master, Third Miss! This washroom doesn't need a chamber pot; the water can be piped down to a large underground vat. Dig it deep enough so it won't freeze in winter. In summer, it will just flow away underground! But the cost of building this isn't cheap!”

Dazhu and Guizhi exchanged a glance, and Guizhi asked, "Approximately how much silver?"

The contractor estimated:

"This clean room needs to be built in a larger room, a deep septic tank needs to be dug, two large vats need to be bought, and there also need to be drainage ceramic pipes and ceramic basins."

After digging the pit, you need to backfill it, lay floor tiles, and then dig a well.

Since this is our first time doing this, it will probably take a lot of labor and materials! It'll probably cost between three and fifty taels of silver!

Dazhu and Guizhi did the math in their heads. Building the main courtyard with its large brick and tile house was estimated at 100 taels, plus the east and west wing rooms and the south gatehouse. That would cost at least another 100 taels, bringing the total to over 200 taels. They'd already spent over 60 taels on land, labor, and manure. This wasn't enough money for the toilet—it was way too much!

Guizhi smiled and said to the contractor, "Uncle Liu, this is too much money! It's enough to build a nice big house! We can't afford this!"

Foreman Liu thought for a moment and then said:

"Third Miss! Your blueprints are excellent! I'm also thinking of building your family's cleanroom so we can promote it! I reckon wealthy families will definitely like this kind of cleanroom."

"Third Miss, how about we build this bathroom for you for free? But we'll have to give you the blueprints, and we'll sign a contract that they can only be used by our construction team."

If anyone asks, they will only discuss it with our construction team. As for how our team will promote our services to wealthy clients or how the construction will proceed, the clients will no longer concern themselves with that! How about that?

Guizhi smiled:

"Uncle Liu! We are country folk and don't understand your ways of making money! But I think that once my clean house is built, those wealthy and powerful families will like it!"

You only need to save us thirty or fifty taels of silver before you let us sign the contract. Then you won't have to worry about the blueprints anymore, but you can make a fortune using this method!

Do you think this is reasonable?

I bet those wealthy and powerful families could easily spend a hundred or two taels of silver to build a clean, tidy, and comfortable room without batting an eye!

Guizhi thought for a moment and then said:

"Uncle Liu! It just so happens that young masters Zheng Mufei and Liu Zhixing from town are frequent customers of our business. I'll go ask them if they want to buy the blueprints."

You don't need to build it for us for free anymore. I'll go find the owner of Xiangmanlou again. He's a very generous and kind person. I'll ask him to help me think about it, and we can promote it in the county or prefectural city.

He has connections; he can probably get a good price!

These words made sweat break out on the forehead of Contractor Liu!

"Third Miss! No problem, no problem!"

If, as the Third Miss said, they were to show it to those young masters and employers, what would become of their construction team?

"Master! Third Miss! Actually, we're just a small construction team. We usually build houses and courtyards for villagers or landlords near villages and towns!"

As for the powerful and wealthy families in the county town, we have absolutely no connection with them! But those large construction teams will occasionally hire smaller construction teams to do their work!

Instead of selling the third young lady's blueprints to wealthy young masters, we should take them to large construction teams. They have access to more people and can promote the project; we'll likely see more families wanting to build this kind of clean house.

Foreman Liu looked at Dazhu and Guizhi and said again:

"Master! Third Miss! Actually, the young masters who sell to wealthy families don't care about the price, but they care about their reputation, so they definitely won't allow it to get out!"

If we build it well, it will benefit our reputation!

I reckon a lot of people will be looking for construction teams, which means our team can get more work!

Guizhi thought about it seriously and said, "Uncle Liu! Actually, you can make more money by going to a large construction team."

Because they have more opportunities! Very few farming families like ours can afford to build such clean houses! We still live in thatched huts! Some don't even have thatched huts!

Foreman Liu thought to himself:

"This girl is practically a genius! Her own direct descendant is a top contractor in the prefectural city. She just wants to take the blueprints to the prefectural city, and those powerful and wealthy families are willing to spend money on the clean houses they build."

Even if it costs several hundred taels to build such a fine clean room, they would probably be willing to do it!

Guizhi looked at Dazhu, who nodded. Then she said to Foreman Liu, "Uncle Liu! Signing a contract isn't out of the question!"

Foreman Liu hurriedly asked, "What does Miss San mean?"

Guizhi smiled with her eyes narrowed and said, "Uncle Liu! You've seen our family's situation! We're just farmers, and we had to scrape together money to build a house!"