The little children were yelling and shouting, running around the courtyard, all filled with novel excitent.
They ran from the first hall to the second, and then darted into the backyard.
The entire courtyard was magnificently built, yet it still felt cozy. The swing and grapevine trellis Zhao Zhitong had requested were already in place. However, there were no grapevines on the trellis yet, just bare fras. Underneath the trellis, two rows of stone benches had been placed.
By sumr, when the trellis was covered in grapevines, they could sit beneath it to read and enjoy the cool shade.
The vegetable garden in the backyard had already been cleared and planted with radishes and cabbages. Even the goji berries Zhao Zhitong had transplanted from outside had been moved to the new courtyard.
Next to the vegetable garden was a shed for cattle and horses; further in were the woodshed and the warehouse.
At the mont, the backyard was still sowhat empty and not very exciting. After running around for a bit, the children WHOOSHED back to the front hall.
Zhao Yue ran and shouted, "Wow, Zhao Zhitong, your house is so big now, and there are so many rooms!"
Zhao Zhitong couldn’t hide her delight. "It is, isn’t it?"
Then, overjoyed, she began introducing each room to her three little friends. "These two are guest rooms; Daddy said they’re for entertaining guests. This is the first hall, and the largest, brightest room on the west side is the study!"
The group of children then ran into the future study, but it was still very empty.
Qiao Muchen exclaid, "Wow! It’s so empty!"
Following his shout, an echo reverberated.
All the children suddenly widened their eyes, curiously staring at their surroundings.
Qiao Muchen continued to shout happily, "Soone is copying what I’m saying!"
"Soone is copying what I’m saying!" An echo instantly followed.
Curious, Zhao Yue widened his eyes and cupped his hands around his mouth like a trumpet. He yelled into the room, and another echo followed his shout.
Zhao Zhitong and Wei Shulan also joined in the fun.
"HAHAHA, this is so much fun!"
The little children played and laughed in the empty room for a long ti.
By noon, almost everything had been moved in. In the afternoon, Carpenter Wang’s wife ca to tell Zhao Dong that the furniture he had ordered was ready and he could co to pick it up.
So, after Carpenter Wang’s wife left, Zhao Dong readied the flatbed cart and went to Carpenter Wang’s house with Zhao Zhitong’s two maternal uncles.
Upon seeing Zhao Dong and the two uncles arrive pushing the cart, Carpenter Wang imdiately put down his work and greeted them with a smile. "Brother Dong, the cabinets, tables, chairs, and benches you ordered are all finished. I was just waiting for you to co and get them."
Zhao Dong smiled and said, "They’re all done already? That was quite fast. I thought I’d have to wait a few more days."
Carpenter Wang said with a smile, "Knowing your house was finished, I made sure to prioritize your furniture."
Zhao Dong imdiately thanked him. "Well, thank you so much, Carpenter Wang."
"Ah, don’t ntion it. It’s the least I could do."
Carpenter Wang, laughing and chatting, led them to the room where the furniture was stored.
Now, to understand why Carpenter Wang was so enthusiastic towards Zhao Dong, we need to go back to when Zhao Dong first ca to order the furniture.
At the ti, Zhao Dong had looked at the wardrobes available and disliked the common type with top and bottom openings, where clothes were piled up inside, making them very inconvenient to find.
So, when ordering furniture, Zhao Dong drew Carpenter Wang a rough sketch of the type of wardrobe he wanted.
At first, Carpenter Wang found the design quite odd. But as Zhao Dong explained, he was surprised to discover that clothes could be hung up inside it.
Moreover, Zhao Dong also ordered a batch of wooden clothes hangers from him.
The design was unique and novel, and Carpenter Wang then asked him if he could make and sell this type of wardrobe outside in the future.
Zhao Dong thought about it. He wasn’t a designer; these wardrobes, tables, chairs, and benches were just sketched based on the styles of furniture from his modern-day ho, so they weren’t particularly valuable in terms of design rights.
Furthermore, there were no copyright laws in this era, so he nodded in agreent.
Carpenter Wang was overjoyed at the ti and imdiately said that for Zhao Dong’s batch of furniture, he would only charge for the cost of materials.
Afterward, because of the uniquely styled wardrobes, tables, chairs, and benches Zhao Dong had introduced, Carpenter Wang’s business at the market improved significantly. This explained why he was so polite and enthusiastic towards Zhao Dong.
While picking up the last batch of furniture, Zhao Dong also ordered a bookshelf from Carpenter Wang. He hadn’t ordered one earlier because they didn’t have many books at ho yet, but it wasn’t too late to have one made now.
After saying goodbye to Carpenter Wang, Zhao Dong and the two uncles pulled the last batch of tables, chairs, and benches ho.
Second Uncle, smiling good-naturedly, was still full of praise. "Eldest Brother," he said to Eldest Uncle, "look how beautiful our brother-in-law’s furniture is! When our family builds a new house, let’s also get Carpenter Wang to make our furniture!"
Eldest Uncle nodded. "This furniture is beautiful. I’ve never seen this style of furniture before."
Second Uncle said, "I heard from Carpenter Wang that it was our brother-in-law who ca up with the design. Look how polite Carpenter Wang was to our brother-in-law!"
Zhao Dong quickly waved his hands and laughed. "Second Brother-in-law, you’re flattering . I just randomly thought of it for convenience’s sake."
The three of them laughed and chatted as they pushed the cart ho.
In the afternoon, when Zhao Dong went to pick up the furniture, Zhao Zhitong didn’t go with him. She was at Qiao Muchen’s house, studying and doing her howork.
As evening approached, Zhao Cheng ca to take her ho. At that mont, the little children had just finished their reading and were playing happily in the courtyard.
It was autumn, and fallen leaves were everywhere. The children were gathering leaves and had started a ga of ’Pull the Petiole’.
’Pull the Petiole’ was a little ga played with plant petioles.
Usually, in late autumn or early winter, children would pick up plant petioles from the ground, such as those from poplar trees.
When playing, two people would each take a petiole, cross them, and then each person would hold both ends of their own petiole. They would then pull backward, and the one who broke the other person’s petiole would win.
Just as Zhao Cheng arrived, Zhao Zhitong and Zhao Yue were competing. With a THUMP, Zhao Zhitong landed right on her bottom. She stared at the broken petiole in her hand, wailing, "That doesn’t count! This ti doesn’t count!"
Zhao Yue, excited, circled around Zhao Zhitong, laughing heartily. "I won again! I won again! Zhao Zhitong, you’re so silly!"
Zhao Zhitong sat on the ground, her little face puffed up in anger, yelling, "I’m not silly! I’m the smartest kid in the whole village!"
"BLEAH!" Zhao Yue stuck his tongue out at Zhao Zhitong and made a funny face. "You *are* silly! You can’t even beat or Qiao Muchen at ’Pull the Petiole’."
Zhao Zhitong’s face flushed red with anger. She scrambled up and shouted, "I’m not silly! It’s because you two are boys, and I’m a girl! I’m not as strong, so of course I can’t beat you two!"
At that mont, even Qiao Muchen chid in, "’Pull the Petiole’ has nothing to do with how strong you are."
To Zhao Zhitong’s ears, this ant he agreed with Zhao Yue—that he was calling her silly!
Zhao Zhitong was furious. She declared that they could say anything else about her, but they couldn’t question her intelligence. She then beca determined to take on both boys and wouldn’t stop until she won.
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