By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Since Pei Rujing became pregnant, they have not had a marital relationship.

Although the three-month danger period had passed and it was permissible to have sex, Wen Zongji dared not take the risk.

Medical technology was underdeveloped in this era; if something really happened, it would be too late for him to regret it.

Wen Zongji would never put Pei Rujing in danger for his own selfish desires.

After giving birth to Rui Ge'er, Pei Rujing spent forty days in postpartum confinement, and after that, she was busy moving house.

It wasn't until last night that Wen Zongji finally had sex again.

After holding back for almost a year, the two of them were both a little greedy, so they ended up fooling around for a long time last night and almost couldn't get up this morning.

Fortunately, Wen Zongji remembered that he had to go on duty. With his strong willpower, he got up, ate breakfast, and went to his shift.

Pei Rujing, who was inside the room, showed no signs of waking up.

The two of them called for water several times last night. The maids all knew what had happened last night, and none of them bothered Pei Rujing.

Tobe

Not long after Wen Zongji sat down, a minor official came in and said, "Wen, the Minister summons you to his office."

Wen Zongji stood up: "I understand."

When Wen Zongji arrived at Zhou Shiyue's office, he found several people inside.

There were also a few unfamiliar faces.

Zhou Shiyue introduced, "Zongji, this is Vice Minister Liu of the Ministry of Works, and these are all officials from the Ministry of Works. Yunchen summoned them to discuss the residential building you mentioned yesterday."

Feng Yunchen is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Judging from Zhou Shiyue's words, this matter should have been entrusted to Feng Yunchen.

Liu Hengzhi snorted coldly: "A ten-story residential building? That's ridiculous! A building that tall, if set on fire, not a single person inside will be able to escape."

Knowing that Wen Zongji was unaware of the situation, Feng Yunchen explained to him, "I have already purchased that land in the name of the Ministry of Revenue and invited Vice Minister Liu to the Ministry to discuss how to build the residential building as soon as possible. But as soon as I mentioned it, Vice Minister Liu said that it could not be built."

As for the reason, Liu Hengzhi has already mentioned it: there is a fire hazard.

Wen Zongji asked with some doubt, "Who said we were going to build wooden residential buildings?"

He envisioned a residential building that could be lived in for decades. If it were made of wood, how could it last that long? He feared that the wood would be eaten by insects after a decade or so.

Liu Hengzhi was taken aback: "What kind of building do you want to build?"

"It's made of brick, of course."

Only houses built of bricks can last longer and fetch a good price.

Liu Hengzhi looked at Zhou Shiyue and Feng Yunchen: "Did I hear that right, or is he crazy?"

Feng Yunchen was somewhat embarrassed: "Zongji, not to mention how long it would take to gather enough blue bricks to build a ten-story residential building, blue bricks are expensive. If we were to build it entirely with blue bricks, the cost would be too high."

They build residential buildings primarily to make money. If the costs are too high, the profits will be squeezed, and then it's uncertain whether the residential buildings are still worth building.

Wen Zongji had indeed researched the prices in the capital. He said, "Sir, blue bricks are indeed expensive to produce, so my idea is to use red bricks to build residential buildings. First of all, the cost of red bricks is much lower than that of blue bricks, and the Ministry of Works has its own brick kilns, which can further reduce costs."

"Secondly, although red bricks are not as hard as blue bricks, these residential buildings do not need to stand for hundreds of years like city walls; they only need to be able to be lived in for several decades."

Feng Yunchen looked at Liu Hengzhi: "Lord Liu, is this feasible?"

Liu Hengzhi paused for a moment, then nodded: "It is indeed feasible."

Red bricks are not actually used very often because the poor can't afford them and the rich don't value them.

Furthermore, with wooden houses still being the mainstream, red bricks are being completely ignored.

It can be said that Wen Zongji was the first person to propose using red bricks to build large-scale buildings.

"However, isn't ten floors too high? People living on the tenth floor have to climb ten flights of stairs every time they want to get home, which is very inconvenient."

Upon hearing this, Wen Zongji touched his nose and smiled: "The prices of higher floors are lower, and buying and selling are entirely voluntary."

He certainly knew that a ten-story building was good; in later generations, walk-up buildings were basically only six stories high.

But six floors can't possibly be as profitable as ten floors!

Everything is for money.

Zhou Shiyue understood Wen Zongji's thoughts and said, "Lord Liu, since there are no problems, then please have the Ministry of Works draw up the blueprints as soon as possible. Once we confirm that there are no problems, we will submit them to the Cabinet. If the Emperor and the Grand Secretaries agree, then we will start construction immediately."

Liu Hengzhi asked, "Are there any requirements for each room?"

Feng Yunchen looked at Wen Zongji.

Wen Zongji said, "Because residential buildings don't have courtyards, no side rooms or courtyards, all the living space is compressed into one room. So it has to be divided into several rooms, including bedrooms, studies, kitchens and outhouses."

Liu Hengzhi interrupted him: "It's impossible for every house to have a latrine; there can only be one per floor."

If every house were to have an outhouse, it would take a lot of effort just to lay the pipes, and too many pipes could easily cause problems.

With the Ministry of Works' current capabilities, it is not yet possible to achieve perfection.

Wen Zongji nodded: "Then let's remove the outhouse."

Actually, it's not too bad. People in this era are used to using chamber pots, and then they can dispose of the waste together the next day. One outhouse per floor is enough.

Residential buildings are a second-best option for people who can't afford to buy a house, and it's impossible to live too comfortably.

Wen Zongji then described the house layouts of two-bedroom, one-kitchen, and one-living room houses, as well as three-bedroom, one-kitchen, and one-living room houses, and four-bedroom, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom houses.

As for how to plan each floor more rationally, that's the Ministry of Works' forte.

Liu Hengzhi nodded: "I understand. Minister Zhou, once the drawings are finished, I will send someone to deliver them to the Ministry of Revenue. I will take my leave now."

Zhou Shiyue nodded: "Take care."

Feng Yunchen saw Liu Hengzhi and the others off.

Zhou Shiyue looked at Wen Zongji: "So there are so many things involved in the residential building. It seems there will be a lot of questions for you in the future."

Wen Zongji replied, "This humble official will certainly speak frankly and without reservation."

"Yunchen is a man of action and has a broad mind. Feel free to give him any suggestions you may have; there's no need to worry about offending him."

"Yes."

……

The residential building issue has been resolved, but there's still no progress on the vacant lot next to Xiyuan.

After speaking with Zhou Shiyue, Wen Zongji went to the palace to see the Crown Prince.

After hearing Wen Zongji's words, the Crown Prince's expression turned somewhat strange: "Does the Ministry of Revenue really have to set its sights on that piece of land in the Western Garden to replenish the national treasury?"

Wen Zongji was taken aback: "But is there a problem?"

The Crown Prince shook his head: "There is no problem. It's just that the vacant land was originally reserved for the West Garden. Now they want to build a small courtyard there and use it to make money, which is somewhat damaging to the royal family's reputation."

Whether in his past life or this one, he cares more about tangible benefits than about saving face.

That's why they set their sights on that vacant lot in the West Garden, not only because of its good location, but also because they wanted to take advantage of the people's desire to get close to the royal family and high-ranking officials.

But now that the Crown Prince has mentioned the face of the royal family, Wen Zongji suddenly realizes that this is indeed a problem.

However, the Crown Prince did not refuse outright, saying, "Let's go, come with me to see Father Emperor. This matter requires Father Emperor's decision."

Wen Zongji then got up with the Crown Prince and went together to Linhua Palace.