TWQQF ch 97 - Expansion of The House; A Deal Was Made (10)

Zhu Bo followed her look and couldn’t help but busted out laughing, “Looks like Miss Cheng has her mind set on Innkeeper Zhu. Well, if that’s the case, let’s just have Innkeeper Zhu stay behind. Deacon Bai can take over the matters of Lai Yue Inn for the time being. You two can transition when Innkeeper Zhu return!”

“Yes, young lord!”

The two mentioned replied immediately. Innkeeper Zhu looked very happy. One could see that he was excited about this new assignment.

Deacon Bai’s look didn’t change too much but a hint of disappointment flashed past his eyes. He tried to cover up as best he could but Cheng Xiao Xiao still caught sight of it.

TWQQF: Courtyard, Explained.

This is a traditional Chinese structure of shiheyuan. Shi is four, and he is combined. So it's four sides of buildings with each family member occupying a different wing, and they meet and have activities in the center courtyard. This is a 3-layered shiheyuan.





Source: zhidao.baidu.com
English label done by me.

As they get fancies, more sections, I think of it as more rectangles, are being added to the structure. For example, this is a 5-section shiheyuan.



Source: blog.sina.com

I posted a few pictures here as well.

Knowledge Nugget of the Day: Can you "brew" wine?

One of the reasons I enjoy translating is you never know what random knowledge you'd gain in the process of looking things up. For example, can you "brew" wine? As I am quite certain I have never seen beer in any TV shows depicting ancient China. And what exactly is the difference between "brewing" (beer) and simply "making" (wine)? 

It seems to me that the difference has to do with the technical process. Beer is boiled, steeped, mixed with wort, cooked and so on. Liquor is distilled and wine simply ferments. Unless you boil and sweeten the wine with spices and such. Then, wine is mulled.
Tea is brewed also because the process of infusing and boiling and steeping is part of what it is to brew.

Source:  Thank you, Rosends fro StackExchange for clarifying this. :-)

TWQQF ch 96 - Expansion of The House; A Deal Was Made (9)

“HO HO HO, that’s everyone’s opinion. To each their own!”

Judging that it was the right time to end that topic, Zhu Bo delved into the purpose of his visit, “Master Cheng, Miss Cheng, I trust that you have a pretty good idea why I am here today, so I will be honest. I want to propose a long time deal with the Cheng’s. I am very interested in your mystical spring water and mystical animals. If there’s anything that you need, we can also put that on the table. What do you say?”

“There’s no need to be so formal, young lord,” smiled Cheng Biyuan, “Just as the young lord has said, we have the intention of doing business with the young lord as well. However, we would like to clarify a couple items with the young lord beforehand!”

TWQQF ch 95 - Expansion of The House; A Deal Was Made (8)

They exchanged some pleasantries as they enjoyed the tea. Before long, Zhu Bo finally got to his point, “Master Cheng, I’ve have heard that your family is in possession of mystical well and mystical animals so I came to see for myself. I wonder if that will be okay?”

“Okay, of course it will be okay!” If it was anyone else, Cheng Biyuan would have just ignored, but for the current company, he happily agreed.

Cheng Biyuan accompanied them out of the house but Cheng Xiao Xiao stayed behind.

Approximately one hour later they finally returned, chatting and laughing. Cheng Xiao Xiao nonetheless noticed the surprised look that Zhu Bo had failed to cover up entirely. Obviously, he was still surprised by what he had just seen.