Chapter 526 Orchard Harvest (1)_1
The ancestral hall was built on an open space to the south of the village, chosen only after a Feng Shui master had inspected the site, at MoFang’s suggestion. Mo Yan spent two taels of silver to purchase this plot of land, which was about an acre and a half in size.
The hall’s size did not need to be large, usually consisting of a main hall for the enshrinement of ancestral tablets, enveloped by an outer courtyard would suffice, and this would generally cost no more than thirty taels. Nevertheless, Mo Yan still allocated two hundred taels of silver, planning to construct a central hall, two wing halls, and alongside each, two rows of houses with three rooms per row, totaling six large rooms.
"Most of the houses in the village are thatched and come winter, when fierce winds blow and snow keeps falling, there’s the danger of houses collapsing! These rooms will remain empty normally, but if someone’s house becomes uninhabitable, they can temporarily move in here."
Mo Yan calmly explained herself to the puzzled MoFang and other clan members.
Since they were building the ancestral hall, it was important to do it right. Keeping those rows of rooms as a contingency was better than having people turn to her home for shelter should their houses actually collapse in the future, not to mention, the extra few dozen taels of silver spent were the least of her concerns.
"Yan girl, I, on behalf of the Mo Clan, thank you," MoFang said, unaware of Mo Yan’s true intentions. Hearing her words, he took it as her being wholeheartedly considerate of the clan and was immensely grateful.
As the Clan Leader, his thoughts went further. Even if the clan did not need those rooms, they could lend them to others in the village. In doing so, wouldn’t that elevate the Mo Clan’s status in Liu Yang Village?
That very night, MoFang called together all the clan members, except those from the Mo Family, including a few from Lao Mo’s House, and relayed to them what Mo Yan had said during the day.