Chapter 59 - 58: Nothing at All
Chapter 59: Chapter 58: Nothing at All
There are actually quite a few buildings that blend Chinese and Western styles, but most of them end up as mishmashes.
South Wind had never seen this kind of fusion between Chinese and Gothic styles before, let alone in a small place like Qingzhen.
Huang Jiutian wasn’t around today. At this time, he was probably slaving away at his company.
Qin Xiaoxia took out two keys, one new and one old, and opened the building’s main door.
The first thing that caught South Wind’s eye wasn’t the furniture inside, but the floor of the main hall, which was the first thing to be illuminated as the sunlight streamed in from outside.
It was a burning sun.
The design of the pattern was clearly quite brilliant.
The scattering arrangement of light rays on the surrounding floor and the shape of the flames around the Sun Wheel gave the entire pattern a sense of dynamic motion.
Although the house was old, it was kept very clean with no visible dust. Clearly, the owner had put a lot of care into it.
"Mr. Qin, this house is really nice. Are we going to be working here?"
"In the back. I’ll take you there."
Inside the old house was a courtyard-style atrium. Cleverly placed openings in the side walls and a skylight provided excellent indoor lighting.
However, the skylight had no glass, just small, breathable openings, so the atrium wasn’t protected from heavy rain.
South Wind followed Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou, who moved with practiced ease, as they weaved through the old house, which seemed larger on the inside than it did from the outside.
Though they didn’t enter many of the rooms, the house’s layout, which was impressive even if he didn’t fully understand it, made him feel that this place was getting more and more interesting.
To be honest, from the inside, the house gave one the illusion of moving through an exquisite ancient castle.
"Mr. Qin, you mentioned before that I could live here?"
Qin Xiaoxia looked at Doudou.
"Did I say that?"
Doudou, who was eating a lollipop given by a server at the buffet restaurant, immediately shook their head upon hearing this.
"Nope."
Qin Xiaoxia turned to look at the bewildered South Wind, then smiled.
"Just kidding. Of course I keep my word. You’ve been so serious, with all the ’Boss Qin this’ and ’Boss Qin that.’"
"Just call me Mr. Qin. Or you can call me Little Hero, like your brother does."
The joke did make South Wind feel a bit more familiar with Qin Xiaoxia, but he couldn’t just casually use such an intimate nickname for his current patron. So, he switched from "Boss Qin" to "Mr. Qin."
The rooms in the old house were all clean, and the furniture consisted of old wooden pieces filled with classical charm. There was no bedding, though; that would need to be bought new.
When Gou Junbao heard over the phone that South Wind really planned to live in Qin Xiaoxia’s old house, he was quite happy. After all, he was the one paying for the hotel.
He decided to bring his own old bedding over for him tomorrow, which would be a good excuse to get a new set for himself.
As for tonight, since the room was already paid for, he might as well stay one more night.
However, our friend South Wind had overlooked one problem: the old house was currently without electricity, running water, or even a flushing toilet. And of course, there was no internet.
For now, electricity could only be obtained by having Qin Xiaoxia apply to the local village committee for a temporary power line.
The reason Qin Xiaoxia allowed South Wind and his two soon-to-arrive friends to stay in the old house was that he and Doudou would also be living there for the foreseeable future.
The Statue of Comir would require more than just a few sculptors.
...
At 9 PM, in a budget hotel, South Wind was on his phone, talking to his companions.
On the other end of the line were two young men whose clothes were covered in clay.
One of them was inspecting a failed piece, while the other was on the phone.
"What?! What’s going on? Didn’t you say your brother recommended this job?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Recommended my ass! Two hundred a day, are you serious? Your brother didn’t get you tricked into a pyramid scheme, did he?"
South Wind’s voice was a bit faint on the other end, but he still tried to defend himself.
"He said there’s a bonus if he’s satisfied with the finished work..."
The man on the other end ignored the wet clay on his hands and clutched his forehead in frustration.
"South Wind, Brother Nan! The way you’re describing it, it sounds like we’re temporary construction workers, paid daily and sent off with a pittance of a bonus..."
"Bro, my dear bro! We’re an art collective! We do sculptures and statues! Even the guys who make Bodhisattva statues for temples get paid by the piece!"
Getting chewed out like this was starting to piss South Wind off too.
"Well, I’ve already accepted the job! He even showed me the workplace and where we’ll be living. So are you guys coming or not?"
There was a moment of silence on the phone.
"Well... it is our first real sculpture commission. The guy probably trusted you because of your brother. We can’t really turn it down... It’s not like our other stuff is selling..."
South Wind understood what that meant.
’We’re broke, and we don’t have any other business. We have to take this job, whether we like it or not. Otherwise, we’ll have to ask our families for money again or borrow from someone else.’
’So humiliating!’
...
By the following evening, when South Wind’s two friends arrived, it was Gou Junbao who drove to pick them up.
Meanwhile, Qin Xiaoxia had taken Doudou to help them buy new bedding, since Gou Junbao only had one old set.
Qin Xiaoxia hadn’t returned by the time the car got to the old house, so South Wind and Gou Junbao led the two newcomers inside first.
"Whoa! This house is awesome! It’s so damn cool!"
Gu Hao couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, and Zhang Ruliang, who was beside him, nodded in agreement.
People in the arts tend to have a decent sense of appreciation. This was especially true for Gu Hao, who had majored in architecture as an undergrad and had even taken a course on historical building preservation.
He had already been stunned by the exterior, but the interior layout was even more incredible.
The distances between the chandelier, the ceiling, and the floor were all deliberately planned. In coordination with the surrounding decorations, it created an impactful sense of being in a sacred aura.
This was a technique often used in religious architecture, but it seemed even more masterfully executed here.
The old house occupied a large plot of land and was clearly ancient. A few decades ago, Qingzhen was a real backwater where birds wouldn’t even shit, without a single decent road between villages. But judging from the style of the house’s flying eaves and other features, its age likely went back even further than that.
Clearly, the owner of this house was no simple character.
Gu Hao was starting to look forward to the so-called "simple figure sculpture." The job, about which they had little information, seemed to be shrouded in an air of mystery.
When Qin Xiaoxia returned, he brought back a lot of cooked dishes, side dishes, and steamed buns. It was clear he intended for everyone to have dinner right there.
The dinner spot was in the atrium, the designated sculpture area. Qin Xiaoxia and Gou Junbao brought over a table from one of the other rooms.
"Come on, come on, time to eat!"
Doudou shrieked, running around the table.
Gu Hao looked at the dusky yellow sky. Although the atrium had good lighting, it was getting a bit dark.
He looked around and then up, making Gou Junbao wonder what he was doing.
"What are you looking for, Gu Hao?"
"The lights? It’s getting dark, shouldn’t we turn on the lights?"
In response, Qin Xiaoxia went inside and came back out holding several candlesticks.
"I’ve already spoken with the village committee. The electricity will be connected soon. As for lights, I’ll buy some ’little suns’ tomorrow and hang them up here. The old light bulbs in the house all burned out long ago, and it’s too much trouble to replace them."
"Right. So for now, you won’t have to work night shifts. Good time to get a feel for your hand tools."
Qin Xiaoxia added thoughtfully.
Gu Hao and Zhang Ruliang both turned to look at South Wind, who, apparently just realizing there was no electricity, looked completely lost.
But only when they had actually settled in did they understand the true meaning of "awkward."
Especially when Zhang Ruliang couldn’t find a toilet inside.
Yes, the old house was technically designed with the concept of a toilet. However, they used wooden commodes back in the day, all of which had been thrown out by Old Qin long ago. Now, the so-called "toilet" was just an empty room whose purpose a stranger would never guess.
SO, what if you had to pee or even poop in the middle of the night?
Go outside and fertilize the nearby fields!
Want to wash your face and brush your teeth in the morning?
Pump the water yourself with the hand pump!
You want electricity? Sure, it’s coming soon.
You want internet? Sorry, no dice. Use your phone’s hotspot!
As for Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou, besides checking the news on their phones, they were already busy enough with the tense preparatory work for the Statue of Comir.
PS: Thank you to reader Human Worker Ant for the 1,000-coin donation, and thank you to readers Frost 2017 and Vast Sea V for the 100-coin donations~