Chapter 186: Chapter 185 Basement Chapter 186: Chapter 185 Basement The Ye family resumed their normal life after the guests had left.

Ye Shiqi, besides occasionally accompanying her mother and several elder sisters to the estate, would put the Spiritual Spring water into the well, and then take the water-filled kettles to secretly carry them up to the mountaintop and pour them into the mountain’s water tower.

There were some secrets that the Ye family all knew, yet they didn’t know why?

They only knew that this water possibly surpassed fertilizer in efficacy, promoting health when consumed.

Ye Shiqi was aware that her age was too young, and for many matters, she needed her family’s help; fortunately, her family spoiled her and assisted her unconditionally.

There were also some who acted out of the ordinary within the family, namely the grandparents and the aunt, however, they did not know too much.

They only knew that in the past, the rice in the family’s granary never seemed to diminish, but ever since the family had hired long-term workers and maids, they could no longer continue such practices.

The land in Shiqi’s space grew as her age increased, and the space itself expanded, producing even more water from the Spiritual Spring.

With the land enlarged, she could only plant more rice paddies because relying on growing food crops was more secure.

She also wanted to plant some precious medicinal herbs, but she lacked the seeds of those valuable plants.

Growing and selling flowers was not feasible either, for in the countryside grain was the most precious commodity, and perhaps only the officials and nobles would appreciate other precious flowers. Planting such flowers also required seeds, and moreover, a way to market them.

Indeed, she hadn’t embarked on these activities yet, and with Meng Zhaojun’s questioning, she had to be even more careful.

The harvested grain stored in space piled up, so she had her father specially set up a private storage room for her at home, which was a cellar dug out specifically when the house was being built. She had drawn the blueprints herself, the cellar located directly beneath her room.

She could access the cellar through a trapdoor under her bed, and she could also use her mind to move things from the space into the cellar.

The ancients had their wisdom. Even in the absence of cement and steel, they could build such a sturdy cellar!

Another tunnel from the cellar led straight to her father’s room. The cellar stored so much rice that Hongji refrained from selling it.

Instead, sometimes at night, he would carry the grain out of the cellar and into the house’s storage room. The house’s storage also had a tunnel leading underground, which conveniently connected both ends. Only the workers who built it knew of this design, and the one assisting with the work was Ye Senhai.

At that time, the man wondered if his Uncle had some treasure hidden there?

Then he thought, given that his Uncle had become a newly-rich man, he might fear a thief entering the house at night to murder and loot.

They could sneak into the cellar after the thief had broken in.

But why would the children’s rooms have access to the cellar, and why did Uncle’s room also connect to the cellar’s passage, and why was there such a large room claiming to be a storage yet had a hidden tunnel? Only his little cousin, father-in-law, and mother-in-law’s rooms were not on the passage route, not to mention the workers’ quarters and guest rooms.

Ye Senhai couldn’t make sense of it but didn’t speak of it to anyone, not even his wife. He had signed a confidentiality agreement when he worked, and as a construction worker and contractor, building houses required confidentiality agreements with the workers.

Breaking the confidentiality pledge could result in fines and loss of trust from others.

Ye Senhai still wished to rely more on his Uncle, for since he had aligned himself with his Uncle, he had already become somewhat renowned among the contractors.

Wealthy families build houses, and now more people build houses too, they all hire him to be the contractor.

With so many orders, he had to invite more people to help; the two brothers no longer needed to do the construction themselves, instead overseeing the work as contractors.

This time, the Tang Family and his uncle were building an estate, constructing many houses, and during the busy farming season, he had no time to return home to help with the rice harvest.

He could only hire others to do the work. When everyone was busy with farming, the workers also had to return to their own farms, which slowed the progress of the construction project. The brothers had to go back to construction work, busy every day earning money, but without time to share updates with their family.

Ye Senhai’s younger brother, with two additional rooms now built on their house, looked like they were making money. Outsiders had keen eyes and knew that the two brothers were earning quite well with the support of the Ye family.

Ye Senhai asked his mother to let the matchmaker introduce a diligent girl, and not too bad-looking, from a decent family.

Meeting these criteria, the matchmaker visited many families, allowing Ms. Ding to choose, and also had Ms. Ding visit these girls’ families herself.

This method of selecting a girl and visiting entailed bringing gifts. Regardless of whether you could become in-laws, the gifts you gave could not be returned.

In the past, only the elders would speak to the matchmaker, who would then go to the girl’s family and propose the idea, possibly without the two parties ever meeting.

Now, even though the boy and girl had not met, Ms. Ding must see the girl herself and determine whether she was indeed diligent and what her appearance was like.

Ms. Ding’s persistent concern was not without reason. Their family was beginning to prosper and had the privilege to choose, seeking a mutually agreeable marriage. She certainly did not want her son to marry someone who was a substitute for another, such as a bride marrying by proxy.

Ms. Ding’s son and his elder brother were continuously busy, and both had reached the age to marry. Now that his mother was actively working on it, he was very supportive of his own marriage affairs.

Having started to establish their business, getting married was inevitable. The brothers had no intention of splitting the household and hoped that the girl their mother chose would have a good personality. Even if they hadn’t met and had no feelings for each other, becoming husband and wife would naturally lead to affection.

Ms. Ding busied herself with the matchmaker, visiting one family a day to see the girls, but she did not venture too far, sticking to nearby villages, and would rent a bullock cart for the visits.

Even though the family had some money, they didn’t buy an ox, as oxen were quite valuable assets. If they bought one, it required careful raising; apart from plowing, their family had no other use for it.

That was simply Ms. Ding’s thought. Ye Senhai, now a head contractor, found it troublesome to always have to hire a bullock cart for trips to more distant locations.

He had thought of buying an ox but preferred the idea of a horse.

He wanted to wait until his younger brother was married, settle his brother’s wedding affairs, and then, once there was spare money at home, proceed with these plans.

Ye Shiqi and her elder sisters practiced calligraphy, painting, and needlework every day. Shiqi’s previous woodcarving lessons were also ongoing.

A teacher would come every day to instruct them in female virtue, the Three Character Classic, the Thousand Character Classic, and teach them arithmetic.

Currently, they were learning these subjects. When using the large abacus, Shiqi realized it wasn’t very suitable for girls and sketched a design so that her father could produce smaller ones, like toy abacuses that could still be used for learning.

Hongji made these small abacuses for his daughters and came up with a new idea: these small abacuses could be made with precious wood to create exquisite ones or with cheaper wood for toy abacuses.

This time, they offered the deluxe and affordable versions for both wealthy young masters and common folk to choose from.

Hongji had one profitable idea after another. Of course, he earned more money but as a minor shareholder, taking 20 percent of the profit was already quite good. If the product sold well, the Tang Family would give him a generous bonus.