fake gentry

Two more days will pass, and tomorrow will be the first day of the sixth lunar month.

Xie Hong's construction was nearing completion.

It has been more than ten days since he transmigrated. Under normal circumstances, it would take the Dong family's artisans at least a month to build on this scale. However, thanks to Xie Hong's three-dimensional blueprints, the construction speed has more than doubled.

Xie Hong finally found a place to live in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

It's actually very basic!

Even though Xie Hong lowered his aesthetic standards again and again, the thatched cottage was still very simple.

A thatched hut is, naturally, a house supported by wood, with walls made of loess and a roof made of straw.

Fortunately, Xie Hong's design for the partition wall and heated floor was very successful. The roof was also sealed with wood and yellow mud. After only two or three days of continuous fire burning, it could be dried and ready to move in.

In fact, even the aristocratic families of that era used clay mixed with grass stems to paste their walls. Very few could afford to paste their walls with paper; only high-ranking mansions had the financial means to do so.

Of course, there are also various special advanced materials for decorating rooms, such as silk. Lime is not used for whitewashing, but is used as cement for building brick walls.

When Xi Zhong and Ge Hong saw Xie Hong's drawings, they were immediately amazed. They didn't care whether Xie Hong was a mediocre artist or not, and insisted on getting him to explain his skills.

I have no choice but to tell you.

Xi Zhong thought this construction secret method could be used by the Xi family, but Ge Hong simply wanted to write it down in his book and pass it down.

Fortunately, both of them were novices in this area, and Xie Hong, being a half-baked expert, easily handled the situation and received another wave of amazement, which made him seem even more knowledgeable.

The craftsmen and laborers of the Dong family not only received their wages in full, but also ate the three meals a day that were only available to the gentry. Every meal included meat. The two pigs that Xie Hong had killed to make soap were all given to them to eat.

Now there's just a little finishing work left. We only need to leave three or five artisans and a dozen or so laborers behind, and the rest of us can go back to the fortified village.

But neither the craftsmen nor the laborers were willing to leave. Even the brothers, who were all members of the Dong clan, almost got into a fight over who could stay. It was only after Xie Hong gave those who left two extra days' wages that the fight was settled.

The Dong clan members who returned home were not happy to have received two extra days' wages. Instead, they left Taoping dejectedly, looking back every few steps.

The thatched cottage has three main rooms: the central hall, the bedroom on the left, the study on the right, and a row of large communal beds at the back for servants like Li Shi and A Ling and A Heng to live in.

The kitchen and bathroom were located near the stream on the east side of the thatched cottage, while on the other side were the outhouse and a guest room, forming a small courtyard.

Xie Hong looked down on his own thatched cottage, but Xi Zhong and Ge Hong saw it in a completely different light.

The small courtyard was neat and elegant, quite different from the houses of today. Xi Zhong even felt that it was much more exquisite than the thatched cottage built by the Xi family.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Xie Hong himself didn't like it, but the architectural function of this era was far beyond what his perspective from 1,700 years later could compare to.

The bathroom was a real eye-opener for Ge Hong and Xi Zhong. Ge Hong even joked that he would come all the way around the mountain to bathe every day from now on, not feeling that traveling two hours to get there was a waste.

What was most shocking was the outhouse Xie Hong built, which completely shattered their understanding of the world.

Is it possible to poop and pee like this?

How did the gentry of the Eastern Jin Dynasty use the toilet?

Generally speaking, the residences of high-ranking noble families had separate toilet rooms, equipped with exquisite lacquered wooden toilets, and incense burners and soft towels were placed around them, which were served by dedicated servants.

Some aristocratic families would also prepare dried dates, which were used to stuff into their nostrils to deodorize. Uninformed time travelers would be amazed at how incredibly extravagant the aristocratic families were, even eating snacks while defecating.

The more extravagant would use agarwood to pave the floor, indulging in extreme luxury.

Even with such high standards, people still placed chamber pots in their bedrooms at night.

No matter if the chamber pot is inlaid with gold or silver, and the maids and servants clean it regularly, it still has a smell.

Peeing is fine, but how do you wipe your bottom after pooping?

Top-tier aristocratic families, such as the Langya Wang clan, typically used soft silk cloths as wiping materials, which differed from ordinary aristocratic families.

Imagine a noblewoman using a toilet stick after defecating.

Xie Hong's design for the outhouse is very close to that of a modern toilet.

He used bamboo to specially divert spring water to create a continuously flowing handwashing basin. He also designed an opening and closing mechanism to introduce water when using the toilet. He also made a small pine stool with a hole in it to serve as a toilet seat, which directly flushed the water into a septic tank that had been dug underground.

"Is there really such a thing as a genius in the world?"

Xie Hong was skilled in playing the zither, poetry, and chess. It wouldn't be surprising if we said that this was part of the Xie family's learning, since the Xie family of Chenjun had always passed down Confucianism, and it wasn't until Xie Kun that they shifted from Confucianism to metaphysics.

But he was also adept at making money, and skilled in alchemy, physiognomy, and construction. In the Han Dynasty, these would have been considered miscellaneous arts, scorned as unorthodox practices. But in modern times, they would all be considered advantages.

During the Jin Dynasty, a culture of extravagance and hedonism prevailed among scholars. They were greedy for money and goods, competed with each other in wealth, and pursued individuality and unrestrained behavior.

Xi Zhongge Hong looked at Xie Hong, wanting to crack open his head to see what was inside.

On the other side of Taoping, the living conditions of the displaced people have also improved.

Although it was a communal hut, it was much better than sleeping in a cave. For the past ten days or so, they had been well-fed and warmly dressed, and the sallow complexion on the faces of the refugees had disappeared.

But the whereabouts of the few migrants who went out to find honey a few days ago and have not returned has become a shadow over everyone's hearts.

Putting yourself in their shoes, at the beginning, some refugees who had mastered the honey-finding method did try to sneak away. But Chen San made excellent arrangements, randomly assigning four people to each honey-finding trip, which made it easy for them to supervise each other.

As the days went by, the refugees had no desire to leave.

Which way to go?

If someone sneaks away, they'll be alone, and their fate will be uncertain. Even if they find honey using honey-finding methods, who will they sell it to?

When you encounter powerful bandits or thieves, they won't waste time talking to you; they'll just kill you and take your goods.

Even if we assume we're lucky enough to find a noble family to serve as slaves, what then? Will they treat us as well as Liu Langjun and Xie Langjun?

Although Liu Langjun was young and impulsive, he would not punish them easily. Xie Langjun, on the other hand, did not care about anything and only cared about distributing things.

They ate the same food as the laborers, wore new clothes and shoes, and were free and easy. If they went to work, Xie Langjun would even pay them wages.

What kind of life did we all lead during those six months of fleeing together? We never had enough to eat, and we didn't even have a decent brown coat or a pair of straw sandals.

We can still eat from the same pot, work together, and rely on each other. It's even better than when we were soldiers or self-employed farmers before we fled.

If there's one downside, it's that there are no women.

Xie Langjun once said to everyone that he only had one word to say when he did things.

Fairness, fairness, it's still the damn fairness.

Mr. Xie is a member of the gentry, and Mr. Liu is also a member of the gentry who has fallen on hard times. How could they possibly run away and then seek refuge with other gentry as slaves?

So nobody wants to leave.

Xie Hong is also in a dilemma now.

He had no way to retaliate against those who were targeting the refugees.

But we cannot allow ourselves to be taken advantage of.

There are still twenty-eight refugees left, and no other refugees have come to join him yet. He plans to train these guys like a modern army after Xi Zhong leaves. He may not know anything else, but he does know how to conduct military training for university students.

Then we also need to take into account the feelings of the immature Liu Chong. Since we want to use his endorsement, we have to treat him like a brother and make him submit.

Of course, a strategy is needed when dealing with Liu Chong and Chen San. After all, at present, he and the other party are basically in a state similar to a couple preparing to live together as roommates. They don't have a deep friendship and are still wary of each other.

But we must first attend tomorrow's literary gathering.