Chapter 94: Feeling (1/2)

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Unlike the idyllic Chinese farmhouse exterior, the interior is carefully renovated.

Since Zhang Siyi is more in touch with design trends, he can easily tell that the inside was designed by a professional that specialized in interior spaces. The specific style of the interior was hard to describe as there were both traditional Chinese details, Japanese-style places and modern designed areas. Even though there were modern elements in contrast to the traditionally designed ones, the interior space was very harmonious.

For example, in the kitchen area, there was a large glass panel that was hanging from the ceiling to help isolate kitchen fumes. Even though the implementation of the wall was high-tech and modern, the panel itself has a matte finish with an ancient Chinese landscape sandblasted onto the glass.

Except for the visible kitchen behind the glass, the layout of the house is sparse with only two areas to accommodate guests. One area is fashioned traditionally with a Chinese square table and other traditional elements. The other area has an elevated platform with a passage that surrounds a large rectangular table. In this way, guests can feel like they are sitting on a Japanese-style tatami mat without having to remove their shoes.

Although the place setting welcomed them, no one sat down. Old Chiang intended for them to sit at the large rectangular table as there were five place settings consisting of bowls and chopsticks there. Since they weren’t it a hurry to sit down, they wanted to continue exploring the interior.

Dressed in rough clothes, Old Chiang came out from behind the glass to greet everyone: “You are free to look around. Upstairs is the tea house. I’m still preparing the food and it will take another twenty minutes. Old Four can bring you upstairs in the meantime.”

Zhang Siyi: “…” Old Four? Who? Gu Yu?

“Don’t worry, take your time. I’ll take them up for a cup of tea.” Gu Yu took off his jacket, hung it on the rack near the entrance, then flipped a switch. The question of ‘up-stairs’ was answered as the glow of the lamps hanging down from above, showed the way up.

The edge of the staircase was surrounded by thin, vertical wooden slats. In the dark, at first it looked like a partitioned wall, however when the lights were turned on, the light coming through the gaps in the slats made the wall glow making the wall look like a glowing harp.

They marveled at the staircase sculpture as they followed Gu Yu up. On the second floor, there were three tea tables separated by wooden frames and curtains. A wide variety of small handmade sculptures decorated the room. In addition, one wall was wholly comprised of bookshelves from top to bottom. There was a poetic quote in beautiful script written on another one of the walls.

Gu Yu led the group to sit at one of the tables then went to pick out a tea. Zhang Siyi went over to the round window and looked outside. From this point of view, he could see, like a glittering pearl in mud, the moon reflected in the large water tank that was in the backyard. By looking at the picturesque scene, Zhang Siyi momentarily forgot about his troubles of the outside world.

Rummaging through the shelves, Gu Yu picked out leaves and a tea set on the shelf. He put the water on to boil and asked them to sit.

Gu Yao was the first to inquire: “Brother, who was that? Your classmate?

Gu Yu: “Well, we lived in the same dormitory.”

Gu Yao: “How come I haven’t met him?”

Gu Yu: “He wasn’t in Haicheng for the reunion last Christmas.”

Zhang Siyi sat down and asked: “So he also studied architecture?”

Gu Yu nodded and smiled at him: “This place is his own handi-work; from design to construction to decoration.”

He Xueying was surprised: “He built it himself?”

Aside from Gu Yu, everyone else was shocked. Indeed, in a modern city with a clear division of labor, it seems like an incredible feat to be able to build a house by yourself from the ground up.

Gu Yu said: “Since he is a licensed architect, this small building isn’t difficult. You just need a few carpenters to help build it.”

Zhang Siyi closed his wide-open mouth: “With this talent, how can he not do architecture?”