A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 50 The Beauty Loves Pomegranate Red
Li Yi accompanied Dong Xiucai to visit his own Wuji courtyard. Because the roofs were covered with yellow thatch, he officially named his courtyard Wuji Thatched Cottage.

"The imperial court decrees that commoners may not build more than three rooms and four frames in their halls, and gatehouses may not have more than one frame and two frames, and they are still not allowed to be decorated." Old Dong looked around and nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, although your courtyard is a bit novel in style, it does not violate the rules."

Li Yi's Wuji Thatched Cottage is now equivalent to a relatively standard two-in-one courtyard house, which is actually very different from the corridor courtyard of the Tang Dynasty.

Take the central hall for example.

In the center of the inner courtyard of the Tang Dynasty, a central hall would be built, which was like the Taiji Hall in the imperial palace. It was the core, with side rooms built on all four sides and connected by corridors.

The size of this main room is built according to the owner's status.

For high-ranking noble officials, the main hall could even be built into an axial building, that is, two main halls in the north and south, connected by a corridor to form an I-shaped hall.

After Li Yi resigned from his official position, he remained a commoner, and his main hall could only have three rooms and four frames.

Three rooms means three bays, which means the width is four pillars. Four frames means purlins, so this hall can only have four purlins.

Li Yi's house has a front porch but no back porch, so the main beam has one beam at the back, one beam at the front, and one beam at the corridor, making it a standard four-frame structure.

This is not because Li Yi already understood these things,

The craftsman who built the house understood these things, and under his reminder, the house was rebuilt according to the standard of three rooms and four frames.

The main hall of Wuji Temple has not been completely restored.

The main house and the side rooms that are being built now are actually the remaining parts of the original main hall.

Li Yi has now built an ear room on each side of the main house. Because it is built lower, it circumvents the requirement of three rooms and four frames. The ear room can be considered as an auxiliary room and is not part of the main house.

Similarly, the east and west wings only have three rooms and four frames, so the side rooms being built now are not considered illegal.

There are five rooms in the south wing, but they are separated by a door, which avoids this problem.

Li Yi's quadrangle courtyard did not have a central hall in the courtyard, but the main house was placed on the north side.

However, this second renovation also added a reverse building on the south side of the original three-sided courtyard, added a wall in the middle, added a central gate, and added an octagonal pavilion in the courtyard, forming a two-entry four-sided courtyard.

An outer yard was added on the side, which houses the stables, cowshed, pig pens, and chicken coops.

As for the rebuilt West Courtyard, its layout is similar to that of the East Courtyard, with front and back yards plus a side yard. The inner yard will be the workshop, and the south house of the outer yard will be the primary school.

Li Yi's courtyard house also has a corridor, which has many similarities with the traditional courtyard house.

"Your west yard should actually be turned into a garden. Dig a pond, plant lotus roots and raise fish, then build a rockery on the side and grow some flowers, plants and vegetables." Dong Xiucai felt that it was a bit of a waste for Li Yi to build two identical yards.

Literati like mountains, rivers, bamboo and orchids.
The nobles also liked to build a garden next to their mansions.

Li Yi is very satisfied with the current Wuji Thatched Cottage. Even the roof is made of grass. How can he ask for so much?

"The county has allocated six acres of land for you at the foot of the slope for a school. What are your plans?"

"I'll teach in the West Courtyard for now. I plan to hire another teacher and then recruit another forty students, making a total of one hundred people, and open two classes."

Although the county allocated him six acres of land, Li Yi had no plans to build a school now. Even though the school had a lot of money and grain, there was no rush.

Step by step.

"Let Liu Lang come here as your assistant teacher," Dong Xiucai recommended his grandson to teach.

"Okay." Li Yi had a good impression of Dong Liulang, who had been teaching for a few days. He was quite knowledgeable. At least he had studied the Nine Classics in depth and was already proficient in three of them, including one major, medium and small classic.

Mr. Dong reminded Li Yi, "Although you have resigned from your official position and returned to your hometown, your status is different after all. You can continue to run your workshop as long as it is profitable, but from now on, you should hand over the management of the workshop to someone you trust, and don't run it yourself."

"The imperial court decreed that businessmen and industrialists were not allowed to take up official positions,"

It has always been a fact that merchants have a low status, and the children of businessmen are not allowed to become officials.

Of course, the "businessmen" here refer to people who are registered as artisans or merchants. Li Yi is a good man, at least a self-employed farmer. His workshop is his own sideline business, and as long as he doesn't run it himself, it doesn't count as a menial job.

Only those who specialize in business, such as shopkeepers and clerks, are considered to be in charge.

But Dong Xiucai still reminded Li Yi to get less involved in the operation of the workshop and leave it to a dedicated manager, while Li Yi could just control it from behind the scenes.
The aristocratic families and the powerful households all send people to take care of things, or let their illegitimate children or relatives manage them. There are special managers or shopkeepers to run the business, and the core direct descendants will not get involved in these things.

National laws clearly stipulate that officials and above who live with their relatives, run their own business, and their families inherit their business are not allowed to serve as officials. The key is to run their own business.

"When you have time, read more books, especially the Nine Classics. I still suggest that you take the imperial examination in the future."

Li Yi knew his own strengths and weaknesses. Although he read a lot of books when he was a student, he only read some selected classics, history, and literature. Even though he later took up writing novels as a side job, online literature did not do much research on these traditional works.

The most mainstream subject of the imperial examination today, Mingjing, does not test the eight-legged essay, but it tests the Nine Classics. Even though students can choose which classics to test based on the classics they have mastered, no matter it is the "Tie Jing", "Mo Yi" or "Shiwu Ce", they still need to be familiar with the corresponding classics.

The Jinshi exam was even more difficult, as one had to write poetry and prose.

You can't express yourself freely, you have to follow the specified topic and it must also have rhyme.

With his current conditions, the most he could do was to take the calligraphy exam. Maybe that would be enough. After all, his thin muscles made him somewhat famous.

But Li Yi had no intention of taking any imperial examinations.

Why bother with that much effort? Isn't life good now?
There were more than thirty houses in two courtyards, fifty acres of land, one cow, one horse, four mules and a donkey, five slaves, a self-run school with seventy acres of school land, and a workshop that earned over ten thousand yuan a day.

These are the days that many villagers envy and drool over.

When he climbed up the Liang River, all the local officials and powerful people in the surrounding area came to congratulate him.

"Wuyi, congratulations, good luck on the beam raising ceremony."

Du Sanlang came over with a smile,

"Happy together."

Du Sanlang pulled Li Yi and said, "The old lady has prepared a big gift for you."

Li Yi was also very surprised when he saw the gift. The gold bowl, silver plate and silver cup were all very exquisite.

"This gift is too great, I dare not accept it."

"This is the old lady's kind gesture, you must accept it. The old lady has a few words for me to convey." After hearing what Du Sanlang conveyed, Li Yi was very calm.

It is normal for the top nobles to look down on him, a country farmer. But it would be abnormal if the Jingzhao Du family wanted to curry favor with him.

Having lived two lives, he knew very well what Mrs. Guo was thinking.

In fact, during this period, Li Yi was very tactful in his dealings with Du Shiniang.

He really admired Du Shiniang. She was beautiful and generous, and it would be nice to make friends with her. But he had never thought that he could have a further relationship with this daughter of the Du family.

The status difference is too great.

Today, Guo intervened in this matter. In fact, he had been mentally prepared for it.

I didn't expect Mrs. Guo to be so particular. She didn't criticize or even attack me right away.
Although a few gold and silver items were placed there, they were quite eye-catching and could make people understand the limitations of their social status at a glance.

"Please ask Sanlang to tell the old lady that I am just a country boy, living in a thatched cottage, and I have never had any improper thoughts. My relationship with Madam Du is just an ordinary one."

"Please wait a moment, Du Sanlang,"

Li Yi returned to the main room, and with a thought, he took out a pair of glass water cups.

This glass with a handle has a capacity of over 200ml and is thick and heat-resistant. The upper half of the cup is transparent and rounded, while the lower half features a diamond-cut surface, reflecting a unique beauty.

A set of six is 9.9 yuan with free shipping, and it is better than disposable paper cups for entertaining guests.

Crystal clear and sparkling.

In the past, it was ordinary and not worth mentioning, but in the Tang Dynasty, it could definitely be called a crystal cup, especially the diamond-cut water drop shape on the bottom.

Mrs. Guo gave him a gold bowl, silver plate, and silver cup, which were worth two or three hundred coins.

Li Yi took out the pair of glasses,

It is even more unique.

"Please help me give this pair of diamond glasses to the old lady,"

Du Sanlang was amazed when he saw Li Yi take out such a beautiful pair of cups. Li Yi really had a lot of good things, including a mithril pot, a stainless steel cup, and now this glass cup.

"Is this glass or crystal?"

"It's glass, not glass or crystal."

Du Sanlang sighed, this glass that he had never heard of before was rare and even more precious.

He wrapped it carefully and said, "I will definitely convey your message to my wife."

In the afternoon,

Guo Erlang came to find Li Yi and told him that Du Shiniang had arrived. Because there were too many people in Wujiyuan, he asked Li Yi to meet at Luojia Bridge.

Under the shade of the trees at the bridgehead,
Du Shiniang, carefully made up, looks graceful and elegant, like a fairy walking out of a painting.

Li Yi felt that she should have some feelings for him, but it was definitely just a budding feeling and it was far from reaching a deeper level.

A fifteen-year-old girl, at the age of falling in love for the first time.

"The beauty loves pomegranate red the most, dyeing it into a light skirt and walking in the same manner.

When the light shoes come, they do not break the dust, and the pomegranate flowers reflect the pomegranate skirt. This little poem is for you.

"Thank you. I've never heard of this poem before. Did you write it?"

"Random work,"

Du Shiniang blushed and her heart beat fast. She was surprised that he could compose poetry, and she liked the poem very much.

"Congratulations! Good luck on your success! Oh, I brought you some gifts: some paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, as well as some books."

As she said this, she took Li Yi to the carriage.

Looking at the stationery and books in the carriage, Li Yi was very moved. These were very expensive.
"It's too much. It's too expensive."

"Doesn't your Wuji Primary School have a society? I'm giving these to the society."

"How can I be so embarrassed?"

"You run a school without charging tuition and providing meals, so I'll do my bit."

"Okay, then you will also be a member of our Wuji Primary School's society from now on. I'll give you a receipt later."

The summer afternoon is hot and humid.

Li Yi and Du Shiniang were walking under the shade of a big tree on the bank of the He River, and they were chatting happily.

chatting and chatting,

Li Yi knew that Du Shiniang's father was Du Yan.

Du Yan, Du Zhili, was now serving as the Imperial Censor in Luoyang, which was the same official that Sun Fujia was serving in Chang'an. However, he later returned to Chang'an and was recruited into the Palace of the Prince of Qin. Then, he became the Prime Minister at the beginning of the Zhenguan Period.

In the court, Du Yan and Du Ruhui, uncle and nephew, both served as prime ministers, which became a good story at the time. The Jingzhao Du family also became more famous because of this.

Unexpectedly, Du Shiniang would be Du Yan's second daughter.

No wonder Guo felt that she was not worthy of Shi Niang. In her eyes, he was just a toad by the He River, and Shi Niang was the white swan of Duqu in Fanchuan.

The wind blew through the rice fields, bringing with it heat waves and brushing across my face.

Du Shiniang's face was flushed red, and she didn't know whether it was because of the heat or something else.

(End of this chapter)