Chapter 8: Interior Decoration Complete!
Chapter 8: Interior Decoration Complete!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
Bei Feng calculated a bit within his mind. The items required to properly decorate the room were quite numerous. This made him feel a little annoyed.
“Gah! This is so troublesome!” He scratched his head, frustrated.
However, no matter how unwilling he was to bother with it, it was still something that had to be done sooner or later. Reigning in his emotions, Bei Feng locked the mansion’s door and left.
“Uncle Xia!”
Bei Feng arrived at a woodsmith’s store in the village. Inside, a middle-aged man was working on carving a wooden trinket.
“Xiao Feng! When did you come back?” Xia Zhen, who had his attention focused on a wooden trinket in his hand, hurriedly lifted his head as he looked at Bei Feng with surprise.
“Ah, Uncle Xia, I arrived yesterday evening,” Bei Feng replied in a respectful tone.
When he was injured a few years ago, it was Uncle Xia Zhen who cared about him the most, not sparing any effort and running all over the place for his sake.
“It’s good that you are back… with the development of Mt. Qing Ling, there are quite a few tourists coming here everyday. It won’t be hard for you to make a living here in the future,” Xia Zhen patted Bei Feng on the shoulders as he said that.
“En, that’s what i thought too. Therefore, I have decided to stay here for good. I’m thinking of starting a farmhouse or something like that at the old mansion,” Bei Feng expressed his thoughts without hiding his plans from him.
“Good! If there is anything you need help with, just tell your Uncle Xia!” Xia Zhen patted his chest and laughed.
“Uncle Xia, this time, I have indeed come looking for you to buy a few sets of dining tables and chairs. I wonder if you have any ready right now?” Bei Feng did not talk in a roundabout manner as he asked directly.
“Of course! Look, there are some right there, and there are some more in the back. I’ll get someone to send it over to your place later,” Xia Zhen pointed at a few sets of tables and chairs in the shop and said.
Bei Feng thought for awhile. “Uncle Xia, I’ll need roughly four sets of tables and chairs. How much will that be in total?” Two sets might be insufficient, but four sets should be perfect.
“Sigh, you silly child. How much could this bunch of useless wood cost? They’re not worth any money at all! Don’t worry about it!” Xia Zhen had watched Bei Feng grow up. In his heart, he had already thought of Bei Feng as his own nephew since a long time ago. How could he possibly accept money from him?
“Uncle Xia, if you are not going to take any money, I won’t accept the furniture either,” Bei Feng replied seriously.
Xia Zhen was not well off, and was not doing too well himself. He had two kids of his own, one of them attending the college while the other one was still in high school. It was the period when every family needed money the most!
Bei Feng did not want to take advantage of Uncle Xia’s kindness.
“Hahaha, look at this silly child. You and that grandpa of yours are really similar! Both of you are equally stubborn! Alright, just give me 500 yuan a set.”
Xia Zhen smiled bitterly. This kid was really too nice for his own good. Now, he could only secretly give him a very low price.
“Uncle Xia, how can it be so cheap?” Bei Feng was not easily fooled. A faint smile on his face, Bei Feng walked up and examined the tables and chairs in detail.
“This material should be from a raintree, right? A trunk measuring 80 centimeters in diameter will cost roughly 3000 yuan per cubic meter. Even the smaller ones will cost around 1400-1500 yuan per cubic meter. With the addition of labor costs, if you sold it for so little, Uncle Xia will perhaps have to close shop soon!” Bei Feng smiled teasingly. After a brief calculation, Bei Feng took out 8000 yuan, put it on the table and left quickly without giving Xia Zhen a chance to say anything else.
‘How come this kid is so clear about the market rate?’ Xia Zhen thought gloomily. He was truly worried that Bei Feng would run out of his savings.
What Xia Zhen did not know was that Bei Feng had tried almost all the jobs that existed under the sun in the past few years.
He had once worked at a furniture shop for a brief period of time. With regard to mid-low grade wood like this, Bei Feng still remembered some knowledge about it and its value.
After he left the shop, Bei Feng went toward Xuan City right away to purchase more decorative items.
The decorations he was looking for were things with retro and ancient themes. For instance, ink paintings, ancient vases and so on. These things were not available in his tiny village.
Having spent half a day at Xuan City, Bei Feng was now lugging a ridiculously big heap of items back to the mansion. These items were not expensive, but gathering them was rather time-consuming. That was because there was no single designated shop for decorative items. Thus, he had to run all over the city to find each item. [1]
Lastly, he’d gotten an artisan dealing with curtains and screens to come over to his mansion and take measurements to decorate the rooms with customized curtains.
Within the short time period of one afternoon, Bei Feng’s wallet was already shrunk by half!
“Ah, I haven’t even started the business yet and I’ve already spent so much money!” Bei Feng felt a bit of a heartache. Among the most expensive stuff were screens, curtains, tea sets, tables and chairs.
The rest of the items were rather cheap in comparison. Even added together, it still wasn’t all that much.
Time passed quickly while Bei Feng busied himself. In the blink of an eye, the sky was already turning dark.
Bei Feng wiped the dust off himself, entered the kitchen and started making dinner.
‘The chicken from that other world was so delicious. This fish should not be too far off in the taste department, right?’ Bei Feng swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he stared at the plump, raw meat of the fish.
Following that, he unhesitatingly sliced off a huge chunk of flesh from its body.
The fish’s flesh was bright-red. White lines, which seemed to be either fat or veins, ran across the red flesh, forming a beautiful pattern.
Bei Feng made a fish soup dish and a fried fish fillet from that chunk of flesh. While he prepared the food, he was continuously assaulted by waves upon waves of the wondrous fragrance wafting from the wok, causing his stomach to churn and his mouth to salivate. [2]
Cooking using the big wok was very efficient. Bei Feng also felt that cooking with it produced better-tasting food than when he used the smaller wok.
Due to the efficiency of the big wok and the fact that Bei Feng’s stomach was growling ferociously the entire time, three dishes were placed onto the table in a short amount of time. One of the dishes was a milky-white fish soup. A few pieces of pickled cabbage floated on its surface and simply looking at it made one’s appetite increase sharply.
The other dish was a fried fish fillet which looked equally appetizing. The batter on both sides of the fillet was fried to a perfect, golden crispness and the heat emanating from the fillet could be seen passing through the crispy batter and forming streams of steam above the dish. Such a phenomenon indicated that that the fillet itself was definitely cooked to tender perfection, while its exterior part remained crispy.
‘Mmmmmmm! DELICIOUS!’ Bursts of light almost shot out of Bei Feng’s eyes once a piece of fish entered his mouth.
Savory fragrance continuously radiated from the dishes and quickly filled the entire room, causing anyone who smelled it to salivate uncontrollably and feel as though they had arrived in some kind of gourmet heaven. Smelling the dish gave one a sense of well-being and delightfulness. Tasting the meat gave a person an ever-present aftertaste. How could such an experience be described with just the simple word fragrant?!
Without a second word, Bei Feng buried his head into the rice bowl and started gorging on it like a madman. Unfortunately, there was still a limit to how much food one’s stomach could contain. Although there was still some food remaining on the dishes, Bei Feng could only rub his extremely bloated belly and turn away. No matter how willing he was, there was simply no way he could swallow another bite!
Quickly putting the dishes and utensils away, Bei Feng laid down on the bed with a heavy groan. A matchmaking show was running on the TV but Bei Feng was thinking about entirely different matters inside his mind.
‘The most important thing for a new high-end restaurant is to get some recognition. Only with fame will there be customers,’ Bei Feng thought silently. At times, even a fragrant wine can fear deep valleys. However, once that fragrant wine became well-known, it wouldn’t matter how deeply the fragrant wine was hidden within the valley anymore! [3]
‘This idea seems quite feasible!’ A spark flashed within Bei Feng’s pupils.
The idea was quite simple. What would be a better way to gain recognition than to have one of the most influential men in Qingcheng come and eat at his restaurant?
Rich people usually have rich friends. As long as Wang Jian could be satisfied, his friends would naturally feel convinced as well.
However, the plan could only be put into motion after the redecoration of the room was completed. [4]
Bei Feng gradually fell into a deep sleep as he watched the television.
On the next day, Bei Feng woke up feeling exceptionally refreshed. He had a long day to look forward to. The decorations he had bought the day before would be installed, and the curtain and screen artisan would be coming over to discuss the best places to put up the screens and curtains in greater detail.
“Argh! This is exhausting!”
Bei Feng had just finished discussing the design concept with the artisan and finally sent him off when he felt his strength leave his body. Collapsing lifelessly onto a chair, Bei Feng closed his eyes as he felt his head swimming.
The task was not a large one, but there were many annoying little details that required Bei Feng to personally iron out.
Bei Feng continued to lie on the chair for a moment longer. When he finally felt his head clear a little, he picked up the Purple Bamboo Fishing Rod and went to the Ancient Well to try his luck with his daily Myriad Heavens Fishing attempt.
Perhaps the bait was not right, or he was simply unfortunate that day, but there was completely nothing to show for his efforts despite him sitting beside the well until the inky-black swirl closed by itself.
‘One Myriad Heavens Fishing attempt wasted…’
Bei Feng felt a little disappointed. Every failed attempt represented a loss of a huge wad of cash!
What caused Bei Feng to feel really depressed was that this unlucky streak actually continued for three days in a row! Speechless, Bei Feng began to wonder if he’d used up all his good luck for the first two catches?
One good piece of good news was that the dining room was finally completely redecorated. The first thing that came into view upon approaching the room were the detailed engravings on the hollowed-out redwood door. There was a semblance of an exquisite but graceful quality on it.
Walking past the door, the first thing that came into view was a lovely triangular table. A delicate and rich shuttle-woven brocade was spread over it, and an exquisite tea set was positioned in the middle on top of it.
A huge screen divided the room into two, a curtained passage in its middle allowing access to the inner part of the room where the guests would be seated.
A large table, light-brown in color, was set within that part of the room. The table had an ancient scent and appeared rather old. There were also various ink paintings hung on the walls of the room.
The entire ambience caused one to feel an indescribable peace in both body and mind, as though they had physically returned to the past.
[1] TL/N: Here, the author appears to have conveniently forgotten that the mc is supposed to be weak and riddled with internal injuries. He’s not supposed to be able to do any heavy labor at all, but he can run all over the city and buy decorative items and then lug it all back to the mansion which is tucked deeeeeeep within the mountains with no proper road leading to it. Seems legit. ED/N: haha, maybe he got healed after eating the good stuff from the well, and the author forgot about it? At any rate, it shows that the author doesn’t really care about those injuries. Maybe they’re only there to show that MC’s an underdog, after all many authors in China love to use this part in their settings. Chill out ;)
[2] ED/N: Not the satellite wok from before...
[3] TL/N: This analogy was used in chapter 5.
[4] ED/N: Now I feel confused. A room, or several rooms? There are some places where the context shows it’s the former, and some places where the context shows it’s the latter (plural and singular look the same in Chinese in most cases, so it’s difficult to tell without a context). I guess we’ll find out in the future… it’s not like it’s that important right now, no?