"Jie Jingchen, what do you an the parts are still on the way?" Qin i asked. She knew things were hard to buy in this era, but she figured a man with his resourcefulness would surely have a way.
"You’ll know when they get here," Jie Jingchen said with a mysterious smile.
"Can you really build a toilet I’ll be satisfied with?" Qin i asked, crossing her arms and eyeing Jie Jingchen skeptically. She didn’t hold his distrust of her against him. ’What can I do? I’m just too good at seeing things from other people’s perspectives.’
’Between her and Jing Qi, Jie Jingchen would naturally side with Jing Qi. They were brother and sister, while she and he were just husband and wife. The bond between a husband and wife, intimate as it may be, was the least stable of all. Otherwise, why would the divorce rate be so high in later generations?’
"My maternal grandfather’s bathroom is pretty similar to your design," Jie Jingchen said. Qin i’s blueprints were... hard to describe, but after listening to her explanation, he realized her description sounded a lot like his grandfather’s bathroom.
"Xiangjiang?" Qin i exclaid. In this day and age, Xiangjiang was prosperous and at the forefront of every trend.
"Mhm." Jie Jingchen nodded.
"The parts are being shipped from Xiangjiang?" Qin i asked again. When Jie Jingchen nodded, Qin i decided to let it go completely. She wouldn’t worry about the bathroom renovation anymore; she’d let Jie Jingchen handle it however he saw fit.
"Fourth Wife of Jing." Second Auntie’s voice rang out.
"Second Auntie." Qin i ca out to greet her.
"I heard from Master Li that your kitchen and bathroom are finished, so I ca to take a look." Second Auntie’s smile was full of envy. "Rich people really are different. Your courtyard is so spacious, and you even have your own toilet! Not like our courtyard—it’s small, houses three families, and has no toilet. We have to use the public one whenever we need to go."
Qin i smiled without a word. She really didn’t know how to respond to Second Auntie.
Qin i led Second Auntie to see the kitchen. Second Auntie’s ancestors had been Imperial Chefs, so she probably had a special attachnt to kitchens.
"The kitchen isn’t very spacious," Qin i remarked, glancing toward it. "The layout of the land ant this was the best we could do."
"Aiyo! You call this ’not spacious’?" Second Auntie shot Qin i a look. "It’s much bigger than the communal kitchen in my courtyard."
’I guess it’s true what they say: comparisons are odious.’
Qin i fell silent, once again at a loss for how to reply to Second Auntie.
"This stove is wonderful. Must be Master Liu’s work, right?" Second Auntie surveyed the stove, liking it more and more the longer she looked. ’If only this stove were hers.’
"It is Master Liu’s handiwork," Qin i confird with a smiling nod. She had eaten Second Auntie’s cooking before and thus had a great deal of patience for her; otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought her to tour the kitchen in the first place.
"Master Liu’s craftsmanship is famously good," Second Auntie said, unable to keep her hands off it. "Have you bought the pots yet?"
"Not yet." Qin i shook her head.
Second Auntie puffed out her chest. "When you’re ready to buy pots, call ! I’ll go with you and help you pick them out. And I’m not just bragging—the pots I choose are guaranteed to be top-notch."
"Okay, I’ll definitely give you a call then. Thank you, Second Auntie," Qin i said with a beaming smile.
Second Auntie smiled, satisfied. "Why are you thanking ? We’re practically family! Saying ’thank you’ makes us sound like strangers."
Qin i chuckled. Of all her neighbors, she got along best with Second Auntie.
As if it were her own kitchen, Second Auntie began helping Qin i plan the layout, suggesting what should go where. Qin i listened patiently. She was clueless in the kitchen and had no special requirents for it. As long as she could cook als and boil water, that was enough. Nothing else mattered.
If this had been the bathroom, she wouldn’t have accepted Second Auntie’s suggestions. But Second Auntie had a special love for kitchens and no particular feelings about bathrooms, so she was unlikely to offer any opinions on that front.
Not seeing a door to the bathroom, Second Auntie looked at Qin i and asked, "So where’s the toilet?"
"Second Auntie, the bathroom door isn’t here." Qin i led her out of the kitchen. She avoided taking Second Auntie into the room Jie Jingjue used to occupy. Although Jie Jingjue had moved to the room next to Jie Jinghun and Shen Qing, so of his larger belongings were still there. ’Does he not want them anymore, or is he deliberately procrastinating?’
"The area you built out is quite spacious. The kitchen only takes up a small part of it. Don’t tell the rest is all for the toilet! How big would that be? How many pits would you even need?" Second Auntie grumbled as she followed Qin i.
"Second Auntie, I’m not building a public toilet," Qin i said, exasperated.
"I kind of wish you were," Second Auntie muttered.
"A public toilet built right behind our house? How slly would that be!" Qin i couldn’t imagine living next to a public toilet. ’Going to the bathroom would be convenient, sure, but the stench would be unbearable.’
"That’s true," Second Auntie said, sheepishly rubbing her nose.
Second Auntie had assud the bathroom door was on another side of the structure. Who would have thought it would be inside their actual house? She stared at Qin i, utterly stunned.
Qin i was already standing inside the bathroom. Seeing Second Auntie stop in her tracks, she called out, "Second Auntie."
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