The banquet at the Liang's residence continued until the early hours of the morning, and the guests gradually took their leave.
He Zhiran had accomplished all that he had set out to do on this trip, and since the Mo family was busy dealing with the aftermath, he no longer had any reason to stay. He bid his subordinates and the matchmaker farewell and departed.
The Mo family was kept busy until nightfall, utterly exhausted by the time they finally went back to rest.
The next morning, Hu Cong asked Mo Jiuye to go with him to survey the land at the foot of the mountain.
Now that they needed to build another courtyard residence of the same style to give to He Zhiran's younger sister, the original plans would require some modifications.
Fortunately, the vacant land west of the courtyard complex was space that Hu Cong had intended to reserve for future workshops. Since there was ample room, losing the area for one courtyard residence was not an issue.
Once they determined the location, the couple went that very day to inform Hu Cong and explain their desire to build another identical courtyard residence there, hoping that the speed of construction could be faster, ideally completed at the same time as the Mo family's courtyards.
Having already mastered the techniques for building courtyard residences, and with excess materials still available, Hu Cong saw no issue with an expedited timeline.
Thus, he readily agreed.
Thanks to the plentiful labor and prepared materials, there was no reason for delays to the construction timeline of the courtyard residences. Hu Cong estimated everything could be completely finished within another month.
Without modern harmful substances like formaldehyde, newly built houses in ancient times could be moved into as soon as some furniture was made after construction was complete.
Speaking of furniture, He Zhiran felt they could begin preparations on that front as well.
Most modern furniture was custom-made, which meant tailoring pieces to fit the size and layout of the intended space.
The style could be uniform, but the dimensions had to be appropriate - that was the crux of bespoke furniture.
Moreover, He Zhiran found the ancient furniture impractical and not very aesthetically pleasing.
Thus, she also planned to personally design the furniture.
Though calling it design was rather shameless given her lack of talent in that area.
Either way, originating distinct items in this era that also came from her hands meant she could brazenly claim to have designed them.
After settling on the arrangements, He Zhiran returned to her workshop and sketched out on paper all the furniture designs she could think of that seemed reasonable.
Nan Rui still had not moved out of the haunted house, and construction on the cattle shed Mo Jiuye planned to build could not yet begin, so there were relatively fewer matters to handle over the last couple days. This left him free to accompany his wife.
Oblivious to Mo Jiuye's desires, He Zhiran sat engrossed at the desk in her workshop, wholly focused on sketching furniture blueprints, while Mo Jiuye surrounded her, preparing various freshly cut fruits piece by piece and feeding them to her.
Gazing at his wife's cherry-like red lips parting open and closed, Mo Jiuye couldn't help swallowing.
By his tally, it had already been over two months since his wife discovered her pregnancy, which meant two months of abstinent celibacy for him.
He even felt an urge to hold his wife in intimacy again as they once had. But seeing her protruding belly, he endured...
Unaware of Mo Jiuye's lust, He Zhiran had unknowingly designed many modern-style pieces of furniture.
She had considered some ancient conventions as well, aiming for a perfect blend.
For instance, the exterior and color of the wardrobes could not be as novel as modern ones, made of natural wood, but the structure leaned more modern.
The sliding doors were designed nearly flush with the ceiling's height, with small built-in drawers inside for knickknacks.
And there was the bed in the bedroom. He Zhiran disliked ancient step-up beds where entering and exiting would be inconvenient for the occupant at night.
Thus, she designed a modern wood-frame platform bed, with storage space underneath and ornately carved headboard in an antique style.
There were also desks and chairs, similarly of a minimalist modern style, giving an overall refined and elegant appearance.
Of course, there were also a few lazyboy recliners, non-existent in this era, which would require a skilled artisan to figure out.
After a cold shower, Mo Jiuye returned to see his wife carefully reviewing the fruits of her labor blueprint by blueprint.
The furniture styles were nothing novel to Mo Jiuye. Between his wife's online store and the odd furnishings of the clinic, he had long become inured to eccentric designs.
He had worried initially that basing the furniture on those styles would be too unconventional, and nearly advised against it for fear of dampening her enthusiasm.
But now things were well, the furniture perfectly suited his aesthetic - the more he looked, the more pleasing it was to the eye.
"Wife, this bed is great, very similar to the one in your workshop, yet the antique style of the headboard doesn't seem out of place."
Having earned such an evaluation, He Zhiran felt her efforts had not been in vain.
"Since you find it suitable, there's no issue."
In short, this would be the furniture used for their new home.
As for whether others would like this style, that depended on their own taste.
If they found it unsuitable, they could opt for furniture in the style of this era.
After reviewing the blueprints again and mutually agreeing there were no problems, the couple left the workshop.
The first person they thought of for producing novel furniture was still Hu Cong.
This was because He Zhiran had seen with her own eyes the wooden seeders he invented. She had examined the craftsmanship closely at the time and noted the intricate workmanship.
Although Hu Cong was currently busy helping the Mo family build houses and had taken on Nan Rui's business, he had always been receptive to fresh ideas.
Just like with the furniture drawings He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye showed him today - once again expanding his horizons.
Moreover, he fully appreciated the aesthetic appeal and practicality of these designs.
By now, Hu Cong had quietly made a decision that after finishing the Mo family affairs, he would buy a plot of land in the village like Nan Rui and build a similar courtyard residence for himself. And if He Zhiran permitted it, he also planned to use her furniture designs to furnish it.
Taking advantage of the family gathered for dinner, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye showed the new furniture sketches and asked if any of them needed such novel furnishings.
The sisters-in-law had always been supportive of everything He Zhiran created. Even without seeing the drawings, they would have no objections. Moreover, they truly found the little sister-in-law's designs ingeniously unique. Placed in a room, the pieces not only looked beautiful but seemed highly practical.
Though the women had made up their minds, they would not voice opinions before the old matriarch spoke first.
Thus, all eyes uniformly fell on Old Lady Mo.
Having lived most of her life, Old Lady Mo was long accustomed to those rules and proprieties. Even during her banishment to the northwest frontier, she still clung to those ingrained old customs, especially regarding furnishings, which were considerably strict in prestigious households.
Wardrobes inside the rooms had to be opened from the top and carved with lotus patterns, said to attract wealth.
And she had slept most of her life on a step-up bed, an essential barrier of modesty between man and wife.
