All the Women United to Build a House

The group arrived at the second courtyard of Spring Garden—Rain Water Courtyard.

The foundation of this courtyard was the same size as that of Beginning of Spring Courtyard, and materials were piled beside it as well. The difference was that these materials had all been preprocessed according to mortise-and-tenon construction. Every piece of timber bore clear markings indicating where it was to be installed.

Xiao Yun had everyone form a circle, picked up a pillar from the ground, and began explaining.

"Look, this is a pillar. A mortise has been chiseled into its top for the crossbeam to fit into. The shape and size of this mortise must match the tenon on the crossbeam exactly, or it won't fit."

He picked up another crossbeam and pointed at the protrusions on both ends. "These are tenons. Every tenon has a different shape—straight tenons, dovetail tenons, shouldered tenons... Different positions require different tenons. For instance, one end of this crossbeam has a straight tenon for fitting into the mortise on a pillar, while the other has a dovetail tenon for joining another crossbeam..."

As he explained, he demonstrated, assembling the pieces of timber one by one. Before long, a simple frame stood before them.

"Do you understand?" he asked.

The women looked at one another.

Tang Yuehua nodded thoughtfully. "I think I understand, more or less."

Ning Rongrong blinked. "It seems... not that difficult?"

Shenghua nodded as well. "We just need to follow the markings to match the tenons with the mortises, right?"

Xiao Yun smiled. "In theory, yes. But doing it yourself still takes some skill. Come on, give it a try."

He dismantled the materials, piled them up again, and stepped aside.

The young women exchanged glances, rolled up their sleeves, and got to work.

Tang Yuehua picked up a