Chapter 18: Building Kang

Chen Xiao Cai's eyes sparkled on seeing the sugarcoated haws on a stick, "Big Brother, have you made a fortune or what?"

With that Chen Xiao Cai took a bit of the haw, he closed his eyes to savor the sweetness.

Sugarcoated haws on a stick were a bit luxurious for a family like them, Chen Xiao Mi would only buy it for his brothers on special occasions, the last time he bought it was when he hunted a tiger.

Chen Xiao Mi smiled and said, "You are not wrong."

Chen Xiao Cai's eyes widened as he heard that, "Has the steward paid you a higher price for the game?"

Chen Xiao Mi squinted his eyes and said, "Yeah, something like that."

Chen Xiao Mi had already done some math in his mind, he spent ten taels on marrying Lu Lin, but he had saved three taels on tax, now he had six tales in hand from Lu Lin's glass marbles, three plus six was nine, he had only lost one tael.

But on top of that, Lu Lin was such a great cook, he had been bustling around in the house to help out. So technically, Chen Xiao Mi thought he had not suffer any loss from this marriage.

Chen Xiao Mi beamed with smiles on thinking of that.

Chen Xiao Cai also showed a broad smile on seeing his brother's smile.

Chen Xiao Mi had rarely smiled after his father passed away, Chen Xiao Cai cherished this moment so much! Sometimes he just wanted to defend his brother in front of those gossipy villagers, he knew his brother wasn't ferocious or merciless, his brother had a soft heart!

Lu Lin was happy to see Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai enjoy the sugarcoated haws on a stick so much. 'Poor kids don't have any snacks, I still have some candied dates and sweets in my store, I need to figure out a way to feed them some snacks... ...'

Chen Xiao Mi decided to take a break from hunting, he bought some tiles and bricks to renovate the roof in case it got leaky in winter.

"Xiao Mi, what's your opinion on building a kang?"

Chen Xiao Mi cast a glimpse at Lu Lin, "What is kang?"

Lu Lin thought for a while and explained, "Kang is a heatable brick bed, we even build a stove in it for cooking and retaining heat, it can help us defend against the cold at night, so we won't get sick."

Chen Xiao Mi was intrigued when he heard 'we won't get sick'. Chen Xiao Mai, his youngest brother, was very feeble and he tended to get sick easily in winter, Chen Xiao Mi didn't have the heart to see his little brother suffer every winter. Plus Chen Xiao Mi was sure this coming winter was going to be even colder than usual.

"How do you know about kang?" Chen Xiao Mi asked.

"I read it from my cousin Lu Cheng Yu's book." Lu Lin lied.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, "that makes sense."

Knowledge was highly esteemed in that time and space for it wasn't accessible. Lu Cheng Yu was revered in Big Stone Village even though he hadn't passed the imperial examination at the county level. People who held banquets would feel honored if Lu Cheng Yu took their invitations.

"But the Lus don't have a kang, right?" Chen Xiao Mi asked with confusion.

Lu Lin smiled, "My cousin's mind is completely occupied by the imperial examination at the county level, he isn't interested in anything else."

"I don't know how to build a kang, but I'm willing to be your assistant."

Lu Lin was glad Chen Xiao Mi listened to him. Lu Lin had grown quite fond of Chen Xiao Mi over the past few days, he had been thinking about getting intimate with Chen Xiao Mi, but the bed Chen Xiao Mi slept on was so small and shabby that Lu Lin had to sleep on the door planks.

Lu Lin planned to build a big kang so he could sleep on it too, and he could hang a curtain to separate them from the kids when the time was right.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi acted without delay while the Lus were in a chaotic state.

Wang, Lu Lin's grandmother, was still busy slandering Lu Lin, calling him ungrateful and she kept saying Lu Lin would have bad karma soon.

Well, Lu Lin didn't have any bad karma so far, and he had been busy renovating the house and building kang with great fanfare.

The villagers had seen it when Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin came back from town with a basket full of stuff, they talked about that with envy, they wish they were great hunters as well. Chen Xiao Mi had made a fortune by hunting.

Tang, Lu Lin's First Aunt, started to regret for not charging more money from Chen Xiao Mi.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi spent two days on building the kang, it looked not as pretty as Lu Lin thought because neither of them had experience before, but the kang was so comfortable.

Chen Xiao Mi put some firewood into the stove, soon the whole ang became warm, Chen Xiao Mi found it too good to be true, he wished he knew about kang earlier.

Chen Xiao Mi started to look at Lu Lin differently.

'How come the greedy Lus were willing to marry such a smart guy into my family!' Chen Xiao Mi lay in kang, contemplating.

But on a second thought, Chen Xiao Mi realized Lu Lin wasn't this smart until he was saved from committing suicide! Chen Xiao Mi couldn't figure it out.

Chen Xiao Mi had six taels of silver in hand after he had purchased the essentials and built the kand.

'Sis taels is enough for essentials in winter, but it's a stretch if we want to live comfortably, I think I need to make more money in case someone gets sick, doctors can be expensive.' Thought Chen Xiao Mi.