Preparing to Build a New House

After his trip to the county town, Zhang Sheng's life returned to its former routine. When it was time to cultivate, he cultivated.

Early that morning, he came to the same rock by the stream, sat down cross-legged, and began his daily meditation.

As Zhang Sheng entered a meditative state, the energy between heaven and earth naturally began to flow into his body,

then circulated through his meridians, ultimately becoming Soul Power and entering his dantian, adding bricks and tiles to his next breakthrough.

Time often passed fastest during cultivation. Once a person became immersed in it, he was even less likely to notice its passage.

That was why so many accomplished cultivators spent decades or even a hundred years in seclusion at a time. A day in the mountains, and a thousand years had passed in the world.

Of course, Zhang Sheng did not yet need to enter seclusion to break through in his cultivation. Once his cultivation grew higher, though, seclusion would certainly be indispensable.

"Phew! Good thing there aren't many households or people in the village. Otherwise, this place wouldn't really be suitable for cultivation.

"Cultivating here isn't much of a problem now, but it won't do in the future. If something unexpected happens, it'll be too late even for tears."

After finishing his cultivation for the day, Zhang Sheng began considering how to build his own home. After all, he had money now.

He couldn't keep living in such a rundown house. That would do a terrible disservice to all the hard work he'd put into digging up ginseng in the mountains.

But building a house was no small matter, and it required quite a variety of materials.

First came the question of bricks and tiles. Timber was easy enough to deal with; it was everywhere in the nearby mountains, as long as you had the ability to get it.

Natural resources really were more abundant in ancient times. People could extract them as they pleased, and nobody would interfere.

Unlike in later times, when everything belonged to the state and trees couldn't be cut down at will.

Once he had an idea, he naturally had to act on it. Zhang Sheng hurried to Uncle Dashan's house to ask whether he knew any craftsmen who were good at building houses.

"Uncle Dashan, are you home?"

"Who's there? Oh, it's the Eldest Son of the Zhang Family! Is something the matter, coming over so early?

"Your auntie and I are sorting through the things we bought yesterday. Take all your things back with you later."

"We can talk about those things later. I came to ask you about something."

"What is it? Go on, I'm listening."

"Uncle Dashan! Do you know anyone nearby who can build houses? I want to build myself a better place to live, so I thought I'd ask you."

"What, is something wrong with the place you're living in now?"

"Uh! No! No! I just want a change."

Seeing the embarrassed look on Zhang Sheng's face, Uncle Dashan immediately understood. Presumably, Zhang Sheng had a little money now and wanted a better place to live.

He didn't find it strange that Zhang Sheng would think that way. Of course, Uncle Dashan himself had no reason to stop him, either.

After all, the money was Zhang Sheng's own, and how he wanted to spend it was his own business.

"The money's yours, so it's not really my place to say much. If you want to build a house, you do need some professionals.

"But there are only a few households in our village, and most of us have no experience with that sort of thing.

"I'll have to ask around for you in the next village. They have more people there, so they should have someone with the skills."

"Sorry for the trouble, Uncle Dashan!"

"What trouble? It's only a few steps away."

After agreeing to help me, Uncle Dashan didn't hesitate. He headed straight for the village ten li away.

By the time Uncle Dashan returned, it was almost afternoon.

"Eldest Son of the Zhang Family! I've asked around and found everything out. They have builders over there,

"and their village has a place that fires bricks and tiles, too. They've got pretty much everything, so work can start whenever you like."

"Really? That's great!"

The good news Uncle Dashan brought made Zhang Sheng happy. After all, life was getting better and better.

He was even getting a new, bigger house. How could he not be happy?

"Uncle Dashan! How much will it cost to build the house? I should get the money ready."

"That depends on how big you want it."

"Hmm? How big to make it... I really do need to think about that. If it's too big, I won't be able to use it all; if it's too small, it'll feel cramped."

Zhang Sheng thought it over for quite a while but still couldn't decide how big it needed to be. He could only wait until the building crew came over the next day and see what they said.

The next day, the building crew from the neighboring village arrived. Their leader was an old man, accompanied by a dozen or so men.

They carried building tools in their hands and looked like they really knew their trade.

"Which master wants a house built? You can tell this old man about it."

"It's this young Master Zhang!"

Uncle Dashan hurriedly pointed at me as he spoke.

"Uh!"

The old man looked in the direction Uncle Dashan was pointing and was somewhat surprised to find a boy not yet fully grown.

He hadn't expected it to be a child, but he stepped forward and greeted him nonetheless.

"Hello, young Master Zhang!"

"Hello, grandpa!"

"I don't deserve that! I don't deserve that! My surname is Wang. Just call me Foreman Wang."

Zhang Sheng didn't dwell on such things with him. He immediately began discussing the construction of the house:

how it should be built, what materials were needed, the approximate budget, and so on.

By the time they had settled on a general plan, it was almost noon, so they could only wait until after lunch to start work.

They had agreed on the meal beforehand: lunch would be provided. So they headed straight for Uncle Dashan's house.

Auntie had already prepared the food, so they could just go and eat.

The site chosen for the new house was an empty plot beside Zhang Sheng's current home. There was a decent amount of space,

so after the craftsmen finished eating, they began digging and clearing the site.

According to the plan Zhang Sheng and Foreman Wang had discussed, construction might cost as much as two hundred guan.

That would swallow up all the money from the ginseng he'd sold a few days ago and still not be enough.

So Zhang Sheng planned to make another trip into the mountains in a few days to see if he could find anything else.

With work on the new house underway, Zhang Sheng found his daily cultivation somewhat inconvenient. After all, there were more people around,

and he had to be careful. So he moved his cultivation to the evening, when the workers had all gone home.

Although cultivating at night was somewhat less effective, the difference wasn't too great, and he could still accept it.

The days passed, and progress was heartening. Zhang Sheng also admired the people's attitude toward their work.

They came over and started working as soon as the sky began to lighten, laboring straight through until lunch.

Sometimes Zhang Sheng even felt a little embarrassed, as though he were a capitalist exploiting his workers.

In truth, he still didn't fully understand the harshness of this era. Scholars, farmers, craftsmen, merchants-those weren't just empty words. Their status determined how people treated them.

Perhaps out of pity, Zhang Sheng decided to go into the mountains and bring back some meat to nourish them. They couldn't keep working so hard without any meat.

Once he had the idea, Zhang Sheng went up the mountain alone with a carrying basket on his back.

"The energy in the mountains really is more concentrated! I could feel it as soon as I came in. It's still early today; hopefully I'll come back with a good haul!"

As Zhang Sheng ventured farther in, he encountered more prey, but catching it was another matter.

"Hiss!"

"Whoa! What a huge spicy strip! Good thing I dodged quickly. It wouldn't have been good if you'd coiled around me."

After its sneak attack, the big spicy strip slipped away. Zhang Sheng had no intention of hunting it down, so he could only watch it escape into the bushes.

Zhang Sheng walked on, stopping now and then. The snakes, bugs, rats, and ants he killed or avoided were too numerous to count, but he had little to show for it.

"This mountain's so big. Surely those few ginseng roots last time weren't all there were!"

"Baa! Baa!"

"Hmm...! Goats!"

Just as Zhang Sheng was complaining, a burst of bleating caught his attention. He couldn't let them get away; he hadn't had any big catches today!