The early morning atmosphere was serene and refreshing, and the sunshine bathed the crystalline water of the Lan River in sparkling gold. Boats of various sizes sailed on the river, to and fro, the scene causing one to feel heart untroubled, spirit pleased[a].
Ruan Zhu leaned on the railing. Feeling her waist become tight, she could feel her sweetheart’s breath without turning her head. She lightly smiled: “In the future when I am rich, I’ll build a large garden on the shore of Lan River. Inside, I’ll plant Chinese parasol trees and xiangfei bamboo[b]. There will be all kinds of beautiful flowers; whatever exists, I’ll plant. It will be a garden with pavilions, fake mountains, and ponds. If I’m in a good mood, I’ll take the children out of the noisy city and stroll around. And then I’ll buy a large and beautiful ship and together with you and the children, we can go sightseeing as much as we like along the river. Following the river, wherever we want to go, we can go.”
This era’s garden landscapes were really primitive as the development of Chinese gardens expanded during the Song dynasty and reached its peak during the Ming and Qing dynasties. If she wants to set up a garden, she could just simply copy the famous gardens that appeared in later generations–Lion Grove Garden, Geyuan Garden, The Humble Administrator’s Garden, the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty[c]……If she just picks for the essences of each garden, perhaps later she might pass as a master of landscaping and her name, Ruan Zhu, may even be recorded in the history books of Tian Chu.
Ruan Zhu elatedly daydreamed for a while before gloomily crashing back down. In her past life, she had never gone out on a trip before. Don’t mention gardens, she wasn’t even aware of what direction the doors of these imperial gardens opened towards. This plagiarism attempt was truly anticlimactic.
But~ she had seen information about them on the Internet. Just let her think it over!
Yun Shi Yi placed his head next to her soft white neck, a smiling expression in his eyes: “If you like it, why wait until the future? I can quickly have a large garden built for you.”
The land outside of the city walls were of little value, only about three to five taels of silver per each mu[1]. Buying some land to construct a flower garden was not much money either. If she liked it, he would build one for her after he settled the matters with the wood batch from the South.
His consideration was very kind, but how could he know that Ruan Zhu did not want to construct a regular garden? Just the manpower and materials alone would use quite a lot of money. The required taihu stones would also have to be transported from Jiangnan, and the roughly one thousand li round trip would also have an astronomical freight fee.
Taihu stones in Lion’s Grove Garden
Historical areas of Jiangnan
Ruan Zhu did not respond as she wanted to construct the garden using money she had personally earned.
For the entire day, the young couple stayed on the pleasure boat as it drifted along with the current directly heading downstream. They floated over ten li out before instructing the boatman to steer back. By the time they arrived on shore and prepared to return home, it was almost dusk. Fortunately, they were not far from the city gates. With masters and servants each riding in their respective carriages, they rushed home. The city gates had not yet closed, and entering the city, they unexpectedly ran into Yun Shi Wei.
The young fellow walked by the side of the road, shirtless. His coppery skin was shiny and the bulging muscles on his chest were firm and compact, resembling the solidness of stone. The Madams and young maidens passing by all looked at him with burning eyes. After seeing him, all of them rubbed their eyes and without exception, continued to stare at him.
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Husbands Seeking Love
Romance[C O M P L E T E] The day she transmigrated it, she was already the wife of two men. She later became the Queen of the country. Her life has been cherished by seven men.
