The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 2001 - 1976: Ingenious Design

Yin Huo and Liu Huan arrived together. After all, the two families lived nearby, and Liu Huan liked to take a detour to the Yin Family to call Yin Huo out when he left home.

As soon as the two arrived, everyone at Chongwen Pavilion was present. Zhao Liulang called for food, and Manbao’s body stiffened as she remembered something, "We’ve already had dinner."

Zhao Liulang and the others gave the three of them a disdainful look, "It’s Mid-Autumn, and you’re still eating at home."

Yin Huo, standing by, said quietly, "I ate too."

Zhao Liulang ignored him. Yin Huo’s frequent health issues gave him a valid reason for eating at home before heading out, but for Zhou Man and her companions, it just seemed too obedient.

Bai Shan turned his head and said to Manbao, "Don’t worry, you’ll be hungry soon enough."

Because not only did they eat early, they intentionally ate a little less, planning to save room for snacks outside. Now, this worked to Primus Pavilion’s favor for its dishes.

Lu Yue called out, "Never mind the food, should we start with the drinks?"

Zhao Liulang also got excited, "Yes, let’s get the drinks first!"

One main reason for pooling money together was because of Primus Pavilion’s wine.

Good wine is expensive—a pot of Primus Red is nine taels nine maces, and a bottle of grape wine is nineteen taels. It’s said to be no worse than what’s in the palace.

Manbao and the others weren’t interested in Primus Red, but the sweet-tasting grape wine intrigued Manbao a lot.

So everyone waited for the drinks to come up.

Amid their lively anticipation, there was a commotion downstairs. Feng Zongping went to push open the six-paneled window on another side, and the noise from the main hall below echoed upward, clearly heard from where they were.

Bai Shan and the others had noticed upon arriving that on the third floor, besides a hall extending from the staircase and a small corridor connecting four large rooms, there was a large atrium reaching up from the third floor to the roof above.

The four large private rooms were directly connected to the atrium extending from the main hall below. Bai Shanzheng found it strange, thinking that although this created a large room space, it was not convenient for guests moving around.

Now seeing Feng Zongping open the wooden slats facing the atrium, he realized it was a window.

It was a large six-panel window, from which you could directly see the situation in the main hall on the ground floor, and even the edges of the second floor were in full view.

Clearly, they were on the third floor, but once the window opened, the words spoken on the first floor seemed to sound right beside their ears.

Manbao found it very curious. She was scrutinizing with wide eyes when Bai Shan tugged at her sleeve, indicating she should look at the outer wall.

Manbao fixed her gaze on it and noticed that from the first to the third floor, the walls seemed embedded with stones... or maybe shells, all in spiral designs. There weren’t many of them, but they spiraled upward, their colors similar to the wall yet slightly different, so they hadn’t paid attention before.

Feng Zongping saw them looking at the wall and smiled, "You all noticed it too?"

Bai Shan and Manbao nodded, filled with amazement.

So this is what’s called an echo, and these stones and shells are like those in Qili Village’s mountains, where speaking among them causes the sound to reverberate continuously.

This place was deliberately made spiral-shaped, hinting that the designer of Primus Pavilion was aware that spiral forms were more conducive to echoing.

Feng Zongping chuckled, "When I first came up to the third floor, I didn’t know either. It was only after someone told me that I realized that these stones and shells from the first to third floor form a picture."

Bai Shan and Manbao: ...

The two blinked and squinted to see, "This is a picture?"

Feng Zongping’s smile froze, "... Didn’t you guys figure that out?"

Bai Shan: "... We didn’t see it."

Bai Erlang also squeezed in to look, not seeing it after a long while, "What picture? Eh, why do they inlay stones in the wall? And even carve them into spirals."

Yin Huo stood at a nearby window looking down. After a long while, he said, "It looks like a high mountain, with a waterfall and flowing water."

Bai Shan and Manbao, who were diligently observing the stones from the first to the third floor, also began to catch on, pointing to the winding stones opposite them and saying, "Is that the mountain top?"

Feng Zongping’s mood improved, nodding, "Exactly, it’s said that you can only see this picture in the four private rooms on the third floor. Interestingly, each room shows a slightly different mountain view, but the peak is always in the room across."

Bai Shan: "... Isn’t this design for transmitting sound?"

Manbao clearly heard someone downstairs reciting a poem, with many people shouting approval. Even Zhao Liulang and the others couldn’t resist coming to the window to see.

She said, "Isn’t it for transmitting sound?"

Feng Zongping was puzzled, "What sound transmission?"

Bai Shan said, "Don’t you find that you can clearly hear the sounds from downstairs while standing on the third floor?"

"Yes, but it’s just the third floor, not high up. If I call you from the Observation Pavilion, you can hear me too, right?"

Bai Shan replied, "This is different. The people downstairs aren’t intentionally raising their voice, yet listen, we can clearly hear even normal conversation."

Manbao reached out to touch the window beside her and marveled, "No wonder it doesn’t look like a window from outside, it’s built so tightly, surely it’s for soundproofing."

Feng Zongping: "What?"

"Isn’t it just like when we were kids, shouting for echoes in the mountains?" Bai Erlang was already losing interest, leaning against the window to look down, directly pointing to a newly hung banner, "See, there’s a new topic, whoever finishes first gets a congratulatory dish from Primus Pavilion. Bai Shan, go on!"

Bai Shan: "Shut up, I don’t want to write a poem."

"Later, there’s an essay, with a bigger prize, but poetry gets more acclaim, don’t neglect one subject over another."

Coming from Bai Erlang, this was a joke.

Feng Zongping became intrigued by their talk of sound transmission. Seeing the conversation quickly veering off, he hurried to bring it back, "What’s special about these stones and shells?"

By now, Bai Shan and Manbao had figured out the secret behind the building’s sound transmission. They were mainly amazed by how the designer not only made it echo but also shaped it into a piece of art, and once the mystery was unraveled, they lost the desire to explore it further. So they answered curtly, "It’s just for sound transmission, like when we shouted for echoes as kids."

Seeing Feng Zongping’s confused expression, Bai Shan incredulously asked, "Really? Didn’t you ever hear echoes as a kid?"

Feng Zongping was speechless for a moment, then humbly asked, "What is an echo?"

Manbao was also incredulous, "No way, other things aside, but hasn’t everyone played with this one?"

This isn’t something unusual. Even her father and her young nephews have done it. Sometimes, if people from the neighboring village needed to pass a message to theirs, rather than walking all the way, they’d just climb a mountain and call out across the fields, delivering a message from afar in half the time...

They loved running to the mountains when they were young, shouting to hear the echoes. At that time, they coincidentally read a book that detailed sound propagation, and for several days, they played in the mountains, shouting until their voices were hoarse.