As for the final room that was behind her brother’s room, Su Tang didn’t have any big plans. She just wanted to add a few shelves and cabinets for now, and later she would bring over all the tools for soap production.
Carpenter Wang wrote all of the orders for the living space down and then followed Su Tang into the shop area. Su Tang told him, “I need a counter here and then another one at the door, and then a few sets of tables and chairs that look like this.” As she spoke, Su Tang pulled out a piece of paper with some of the designs she had drawn beforehand and showed it to Carpenter Wang. Then she continued, “Also, I hope that you can make a special table like the one in this drawing against the wall here.”
Su Tang handed over the piece of paper so Carpenter Wang could take a closer look. “Carpenter Wang, do you think you can do it? If you can then obviously I’ll leave the whole job to you, but if you think this more precise work is too much then I can find someone else.”
Carpenter Wang accepted the paper and inspected it seriously. After a moment, he replied, “I’ve built a similar counter setup before, so that will be no problem. However, these tables and chairs will be a little troublesome because these patterns will all need to be carved in by hand. Also, this table you’ve drawn, does it need to be fixed to the wall? That’s doable.”
Since Su Tang said so much, Carpenter Wang was thinking about the matter very seriously and envisioning solutions to any potential problems. After all, if he could secure a big job like this it would mean a great year for his family this year.
“I see. Then can you handle the carving?” Su Tang hesitated a bit when she heard him say that the carving might be troublesome.
After all, in the era she was familiar with these kinds of things were all produced from ready-made molds, so there would never be this sort of issue in the first place, but since the issue existed she needed to make sure it could be solved. After all, when it came to the living space, she didn’t actually care all that much. She rested inside her space anyway, so the things outside were basically just for show, and the little guy was also very easy to satisfy.
But the floor of the shop was a different story. The desserts she was planning to sell were all made from milk or cheese, and even in modern times they weren’t considered cheap goods. Thus, since her shop wasn’t destined to sell anything easily affordable, she couldn’t skimp on the small details now. That was why she had specially created a floor plan and a design.
If Carpenter Wang said that he couldn’t do it, then she obviously couldn’t give him the job. Of course, Carpenter Wang naturally saw through Su Tang’s thoughts and he quickly reassured her: “Miss Su, you can rest assured. Although it’s true that I have no skills for this kind of delicate carving work, I actually have a brother who can carve quite skillfully. I’m sure that I can get this job done for you.”
Su Tang looked up at him with a serious expression. “Since you’ve said so much, naturally I believe you. However, if, when the time comes, the final product doesn’t meet my requirements. I won’t be able to give you any money.”
For a situation like this, she could only harden her heart and play the villain. Although she already knew that Carpenter Wang was an honest worker and that he had done a good job with her previous job regarding the specialized boxes, she still wouldn’t pay him if he tried to pass her something subpar at the end of this job.
Carpenter Wang just gave her a simple and honest smile, “My family has been working in this town for several generations, and now that we’ve agreed to take a job for the young miss I will guarantee that we will do a good job for you.”
Since he was willing to say so much, Su Tang naturally didn’t press the point any further. Thus, in the end, three and a half taels of silver were used to pay for all the furniture she ordered for the living area, and then another four taels of silver had to be paid for the shop itself, since her requirements for the shop were a little more complicated.
Su Tang immediately paid half of the money upfront as a deposit, and the two of them agreed that she would pay the other half once the job was done. Carpenter Wang happily wrote everything down before leaving the shop with a spring in his step.
By the time all of this was finished it was already nearly noon, so Su Tang and her group all returned to their rented courtyard. When they got back, Zhang Cuilan and Baohe disappeared to begin cooking while Su Tang went to help Su Nuo study for a while. Then a little later, before she left, she told him to continue self-studying after he ate his meal.
After that, she headed out to the Song residence in order to cook for Song Yi. Once her master’s meal was done, Su Tang spent the afternoon studying the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance with Song Yi. Although it was called ‘studying’, in reality, it was more like both of them reading a bit of the text and then having a discussion and exchange of ideas about what they had read. Even though Song Yi was an ancient man who had been raised in a feudal society, he had a lot of life experience and had seen the ins and outs of the Imperial Court, so he had interesting and unexpected perspectives.
And while Su Tang hadn’t lived nearly as long as Song Yi even across both of her lives, she had been raised in the so-called information explosion era, so she also had many ideas of her own. Because of that, the two of them had many collisions and disputes during their conversations, but they both felt that the conversations were worthwhile to have.
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