Chapter 204: Who Says Scholars Are Utterly Useless?
In Jian Xingxia’s virtual panel, a quaint, antique little building had appeared. She only needed to press down with her finger in the empty air and slide it to place the academy within the 3D projection of the mountain villa’s grounds.
The 3D image only displayed places Jian Xingxia had personally visited, stretching at most halfway up a nearby mountain.
The remaining areas were shrouded in a light gray mist, making them impossible to see clearly.
The system indicated that the academy required an area of 400 square meters.
It was actually that big!
After picking and choosing, Jian Xingxia decided to place the academy behind the vegetable patch, right in front of a large patch of wild grass and reeds.
Looking from the old house toward the foot of the mountain, the layout went in sequence: the backyard, the two-plus mu vegetable patch, the academy, the patch of wild grass and reeds, and the undeveloped wilderness.
Further out was the area where Da-hei and Shang Yue were clearing land and raising chickens.
This way, the guesthouse, the academy, and the chicken coop would not disturb one another, and neither the noise nor the smells would affect each other.
Once Jian Xingxia placed it, she took a look at the actual site, but nothing had changed yet.
However, this wasn’t Jian Xingxia’s first time receiving a reward from the system, so she knew that if she waited a bit longer, the construction crew from another world would arrive.
……
During the time the guesthouse was closed, Jian Xingxia remained thoroughly occupied.
Little Hu Liu came to deliver a cart of express packages and two carts of supplies. Thanks to the coordinated arrangements of Hu Da and Qi Shan, Jian Xingxia now purchased all her rice, flour, grain, and oil directly from the village.
She could now be considered a large-scale, long-term client. Hu Da had discussed it with the villagers and given Jian Xingxia a relatively cost-effective price.
This also spared the villagers from the risk of grain merchants forcing down their prices.
Little Hu Liu delivered four bags of rice, two bags of flour, a good amount of oil, as well as peanuts, broad beans, red beans, and mung beans.
Seeing him still panting as he pedaled the manual tricycle, Jian Xingxia asked him, “How much money are you still short for that electric tricycle?”
Little Hu Liu was wearing a sleeveless top with frog buttons, with a straw sun hat on his head. He grinned, revealing a row of flashing white teeth.
“Still short eight hundred. Almost there! Two more paychecks from the milk tea shop will do it.”
Little Hu Liu’s part-time job at the milk tea shop paid out once a week. He worked four days a week, with each shift lasting four to six hours, making about three to four hundred yuan a week.
Jian Xingxia pulled out her phone directly. “Forget it, don’t wait. I’ll transfer eight hundred to you so you can buy it first.”
In this scorching weather, she was dripping with sweat just from moving goods for a little while. Little Hu Liu pedaled his tricycle to town every single day; it had to be unbelievably hot.
But Little Hu Liu refused. “It’s fine, Sister Xiaxia, I’ve almost saved enough.”
Little Hu Liu said with a grin, “A few days won’t make a difference.”
Jian Xingxia currently kept an advance payment of two thousand yuan with him to make it convenient for him to procure items in town, and she reimbursed him directly every time he delivered goods.
If Little Hu Liu really wanted to buy it, taking eight hundred out of that advance payment would be more than enough.
Yet, precisely because Jian Xingxia trusted him enough to hand over a two-thousand-yuan advance, Little Hu Liu was even more reluctant to borrow money or run up a debt.
It was just a matter of working hard for a little over another week. He was young and had plenty of strength; he wasn’t afraid!
Seeing Little Hu Liu’s insistence, Jian Xingxia didn’t push further and readily settled the payment for the beverages this time.
The money for the rice, flour, grain, and oil was paid directly to Auntie Lu; Little Hu Liu was only responsible for transporting it from the village.
After Little Hu Liu left, the teaching session on the scholar’s side also drew to a close.
Relying on her formidable memory, Lin Sanniang had completely memorized both contracts from the Great Liang Dynasty.
The poor scholar had identified the characters one by one; eighty percent of them were identical to the dynasty he lived in, while the remaining twenty percent were somewhat different.
At Lin Sanniang’s request, the scholar went ahead and transcribed that twenty percent of the characters, teaching them to her one by one.
It wasn’t easy for Lin Sanniang to learn so many characters, but she had always been meticulous and cautious. When the ward chief had finished writing the document and read it aloud, she had committed it strictly to memory.
Now, if she occasionally forgot a character, she would recite it from the beginning again.
Then she would continue learning from the scholar.
As the afternoon passed, writing was still a bit difficult, but she could already recognize more than half of them.
The scholar also breathed a sigh of relief. He walked inside and out on the first floor of the guesthouse, looking around with considerable admiration.
“Lady Villa Owner, though your place is located in a remote area, the scenery is exquisite. It is truly an excellent place to escape the world and enjoy some leisure. It is only…”
“Only what?”
Jian Xingxia glanced over at him sideways, wanting to see what kind of nonsense the scholar was about to spout.
“It is only that these tables, chairs, flowers, and trees are placed too rigidly. It lacks a bit of rustic charm and elegance.”
“Oh?”
Hearing this, Jian Xingxia actually turned serious. She recalled that ancient scholars did indeed seem to have their own unique insights into scenery and furnishings.
Jian Xingxia remembered an elective course in agricultural science regarding landscape plants, where they had gone with their professor to inspect plant samples in ancient architecture.
At that time, the landscape botany professor had told them to pay attention to the vistas from the corridors, moon gates, and courtyards of ancient buildings.
The professor had been full of praise: “The ancients possessed great wisdom. Every window they opened here, and every door they constructed, is bound to frame an exquisite landscape when you look through it.”
Sure enough, looking out from different windows, there were swaying bamboo leaves, crabapples in full bloom, drooping wisteria, and lotuses growing in a lotus pond… all sorts of scenery.
Unfortunately, because Jian Xingxia had lived in poverty since childhood, she never had a good opportunity to cultivate her aesthetic sense.
She had only seen a little of it in classrooms and online, but she couldn’t master it very well.
She looked toward the tables and chairs arranged neatly in the courtyard and the rows of flower pots. For some reason, they really did seem a bit dull and uninspiring now.
If nothing else, this landscape was vastly inferior to the Fragrant Flower Pathway and the Forest Wild Path.
No wonder Lin Shuang had told her that after entering the guesthouse, she felt it was just so-so, rather ordinary, and hadn’t expected the true scenery to be behind the reed marshes.
Looking at the scholar who was swaying his head from side to side, Jian Xingxia felt for the first time that scholars weren’t entirely superficial after all.
He might not be cut out for the imperial exams, but he certainly had plenty of insights when it came to refinement.
Jian Xingxia didn’t have many virtues, but seeking guidance with an open mind was definitely one of them.
She immediately put aside all her previous preconceptions about the scholar and asked humbly, “Young Master Wei, I wonder what insights you have? Can this small courtyard of mine still be modified?”
The scholar’s slouched back instantly straightened. He looked at Jian Xingxia, feeling an excitement that almost made him want to rub his hands together.
“If I say it can be modified, will you truly let me modify it?”
“I truly will.”
How could there be any deception in this? Jian Xingxia’s own aesthetic was far too rigid and formulaic; why not hand it over to someone who actually had creative ideas?
The scholar grew enthusiastic. “Let me tell you, there is a whole science behind the placement of these tables and chairs. This is an inn of yours, correct? When guests at different tables are dining, they might not necessarily enjoy facing one another.”
“Look at this spot,” the scholar said, leading Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang beneath a tree. “If you change the orientation of the table to this side, the person sitting at the head of the table won’t have to face the main entrance and can see the cluster of flowers over here instead.”
“And right here, even though so many potted flowers have been placed between these adjacent tables, they ultimately appear too close because the flower pots are too low and the flowers aren’t lush enough.”
“If we could gently guide a cluster of tree branches over, or tie up a few sparse straw screens on this side, it would provide both a rustic charm and block the line of sight…”
“Furthermore, these flower pots shouldn’t be arranged like this.”
The scholar immediately got to work moving the flower pots himself. “Arranging them in a single straight row deprives people of any interest in appreciating them. It would be better to arrange them with staggered heights. Ideally, we should also add a large water vat here, raise some small fish inside it, and let the leaves of the spider plant drape down to the edge of the fish vat. You will surely see the delightful sight of the fish leaping up to nibble at the leaves…”
The scholar talked on and on with great enthusiasm.
Jian Xingxia listened in utter amazement. She exchanged a glance with Lin Sanniang, and both saw the pleasant surprise in each other’s eyes.
Who said scholars were utterly useless?
This scholar was incredibly useful!
Jian Xingxia immediately clapped her hands. “We’ll buy it! Tomorrow, we’ll buy a large water vat and bring it back!”
