Traveling to Daliang Kingdom starts from falling into the water

Chapter 1057 Is this all it takes to make you laugh?

You're talking too much. The maid is almost catching up, and you're still going on and on with two "after all"s. That's not like you at all.

Zhou Banxia glanced at Gu Wenxuan thoughtfully. Well, he looked left and right, but wouldn't look at her, not even waiting to see her nod or shake her head.

"Watch out for the steps. Let me take you to the back first."

To be honest, your words flowed flawlessly from the moment they came out. If you think I'm trying to cover something up with these words, I'm probably overthinking it.

Zhou Banxia gave Gu Wenxuan, who finally met her gaze, a meaningful smile. "Why did you have to ramble on like that?" she said. "Okay."

Leave the pavilion.

Unlike the flat platform in front, turning back to the other side of the mountain road, there is a terrain that is obviously not very flat, and there are many peach trees planted there. You can see that there are eaves at the top.

Ascend the stone steps paved through this small peach grove along the mountain path, and after walking about fifty meters, you will find a rather secluded courtyard made of blue bricks.

Before even reaching the main gate of the courtyard, you can see several peach trees on one side of the wall, extending all the way to the other side, where there is a steep mountain wall four or five meters high.

They really don't forget to plant peach trees wherever there's a spare moment. Being surrounded by these peach trees really doesn't do justice to the three characters "Taoyuanju" on the plaque.

Gu Wenxuan followed Zhou Banxia's gaze and couldn't recall whether he had mentioned to Zhou Banxia before who wrote the words on the plaque.

"That is a masterpiece by Magistrate Cheng. I originally wanted to wait until you finished your postpartum confinement before having you inscribe it. Anyway, it won't delay the time to have it engraved and hang it up."

One day, Magistrate Cheng mentioned to me whether we should replace the stone tablet at the foot of the mountain with the words "Taozhuang" engraved on it. I invited him to write it down and we replaced it at the same time.

In other words, all the stone tablets, artificial hills, courtyard names, plaques, and couplets in Taozhuang are his works.

Zhou Banxia was not surprised by this. After all, the previous owner of Peach Manor was Huang County Magistrate, who had been dismissed from office. Magistrate Cheng was just being kind; why would he keep Huang County Magistrate's calligraphy?

As for why it wasn't Qian Huaizhi, the local official, who wrote the inscription, no matter how big the estate was, it was still just an estate, and besides, Cheng, the county magistrate, was the head.

“That’s great. It’s kind of him to put pen to paper and add color to this village. Not everyone has such good intentions. I was worried that my husband and I wouldn’t know how to refresh and renew things.”

"That's right. Although he didn't inscribe the plaques, halls, couplets, and so on for the other estates, he helped change the names of the stone tablets for each estate."

Of course, this only applies to the Qinghe County area. Beyond that, he absolutely refused to write anything, and nothing could coax him. The old man is quite amusing.

"You're such an old man again!" Zhou Banxia glanced at him, both amused and exasperated. "Don't get angry if you're called a little brat. Shall we go inside and take a look?"

"Sure, it's just a matter of you taking the first step." Gu Wenxuan nodded with amusement and reached out his hand. "He doesn't call me a little brat, but I don't know what's wrong with him."

These days, people don't really practice what they preach. I hid his ruler, but he still keeps trying to kick me. It's unbelievable; it's utterly disgraceful.

You're trying to make me laugh to death!
Is that enough to make you happy?

"And another thing, you have no idea how bad he is. Knowing that I care about you and your son, he deliberately told me that he heard you took the child to the city."

If I hadn't known you'd be busy at home after your postpartum period, how could I have brought our son to the city for a few days? I almost fell into their trap.

You agree, right? Watch out for the steps ahead. Actually, the design here isn't very good; if you stay inside, you can't have a direct view of the mountain below like you would from the octagonal pavilion in front.

It's just that demolishing and rebuilding would be troublesome; otherwise, we could build a two-story house, even just one in the backyard, following the terrain.

"Look how disappointed you are," Zhou Banxia shook her head and smiled. "It's fine. It's just a few steps to the front, and this spot can block the wind. It's perfect."

Gu Wenxuan thought about it and agreed. This direction was most comfortable for escaping the summer heat, as it was windy and cool. The first time he came, it was so cold he almost froze. "Besides, isn't the main courtyard down the mountain quite nice? It's spacious, so there's no need to worry about whether our parents, elder brother, and sister-in-law will have enough room when they come. This place only has two courtyards, right?"

Gu Wenxuan knew that Zhou Banxia was aware of how big this place was; even with two courtyards, it couldn't accommodate a whole family. She meant that she was bringing her servants to live with her.

The living space was cramped and incomparable to the main courtyard down the mountain. The total area here was only about the size of their own house in the village.

See it.

The front row of rooms was for servants, while the main house had a reception hall and several bedrooms, but the rightmost bedroom had been converted into a study.

Heading straight to the backyard, there were more rooms that could serve as bedrooms than in the front. However, there was no need to push open the door to go in; it was clearly intended for the family of three.

There's no need to push open any door to get a sneak peek; just look at the layout of the courtyard and the arrangement of the flowers and plants to see how they differ from the main courtyard in the west wing where she and her husband now live.

I don't know where they dug up two identical pomegranate trees, and those door curtains... tsk, they look so familiar, where did they find these replicas?
Zhou Banxia burst out laughing.

Gu Wenxuan quickly helped his wife, who was laughing so hard she was shaking, "Isn't it similar to being at home? You feel a strong sense of belonging. I knew you were nostalgic."

The furnishings in the courtyard are mostly the same, except for the west wing which doesn't have as many jewelry and headdresses. I added a fireplace to that room.

Look at that chimney, doesn't it look familiar? It wasn't like this before. I asked Uncle Changgen to change it, otherwise the heating system here would be in serious trouble.

There used to be an open-air bathing pool at the very back of this place, surrounded by many peach trees. Bathing under the peach blossoms was quite elegant, but not very practical.

I also asked Uncle Changgen to fence off the pool, leaving just a few peach trees around it as a token gesture, otherwise who would be interested in taking a bath there when the weather gets cold?

Now you know why renovating this Peach Blossom Residence alone cost three hundred taels of silver, right? I practically even changed the direction the doors to these side rooms used to face.”

Zhou Banxia thought so too. Otherwise, how could she have almost mistakenly thought she hadn't left the house yet? No wonder she was disappointed that there was no hot spring here. They've even surrounded the open-air pool. Do they want her to pour hot water for a bath when it's cold?

“Um—” Xuanzi, “Um, the dimensions on the pool diagram you gave me aren’t wrong, are they? Never mind, I’ll check it later. You should take me to the backyard first, and I can check it myself.”

Gu Wenxuan had the same idea and couldn't wait to show off his treasure to his wife at the very back.

He put a lot of thought into that open-air pool.

Without saying much, he hurriedly grabbed Zhou Banxia's hand and left.

Zhou Banxia was delighted and quickly caught up with him, teasingly asking, "Tell me, how many surprises did you prepare for me today?"

What does it mean to see through something but not say it?

"We're like family, right?"

"I won't listen, I won't listen—"

"I'll beat you up!"

"See, you're overthinking it, aren't you? You're my wife, you're a cuckold, and what am I?"

"green beans!"

"Hahaha……"