East Port Town’s riverfront building was the most suitable for living during summer and fall.

This was especially the case during summer. When the refreshing river wind passed through the windows, a larger half of the summer heat would be erased. Just a few dozen steps further from the shore, and one would feel many times hotter than at this river bank.

However, during wintertime, this riverfront pavilion would be full of humidity, instead extremely cold and gloomy. Compared to other places, it was even easier for one to get wind-dampness and rheumatism in the legs.

However, this small building Fourth Grandpa Zhu fancied really was original and ingenious. Leaning against the river facing wall was a pretty stove made by  piling up different colored crushed rock, the top covered by some lotus leaf-like bronze sheets. Several bronze chimneys were embedded into the wooden wall. While walking next to the walls, one could see that their surfaces were covered in poetry and literature, as if they were bronze inscribed tablets.

At both sides of these bronze chimneys was naturally colored ironwood, during wintertime, the stove could not only be used to brew tea, warm wine and melt ink, as smoke moved through these chimneys, it became the best fireplace. At that time, even though snow would be scattering across the river surface outside, the inside was definitely still as warm as spring.

Pine Bamboo Chamber was the innermost room of this small building’s second floor west side. The three windows could all be opened, so when the weather outside was beautiful, when all three windows were opened, all of the outside beauty would fill up this chamber.

A delicate and exquisite flight of stairs led into the attic upstairs.

The attic, apart from not having much vertical room, was...