Becoming the Stepmother: Transforming the Liew Family’s Fate

As the twelfth lunar month arrived, after a month and eight days of effort, the construction of the new house was finally completed.

The original two rooms had their walls freshly plastered, leaving them smooth and neat. The roof was reinforced, the thatched top removed, and replaced with clean blue-grey tiles.

On the existing foundation, two new rooms were added—one on the east and one on the west side.

To the west were two slightly larger tiled rooms, each about twenty square meters. One would be Clara's bedroom, and the other would be the new shared bedroom for Adam, Ben, Chad, and Deb.

All of the furniture in Clara's room was newly made.

There was a 1.5-meter-wide bed, a wardrobe of the same width and two meters tall, two square storage chests, and a simple desk and chair set.

Aside from the bed and chests—which followed the local style in their simplicity—the wardrobe and desk were both personally designed by Clara.

The wardrobe was square and unadorned, completely in line with modern minimalist aesthetics. Inside, it was sectioned into a hanging area and folded storage space, with four drawers below and an open space at the top for bedding.

The desk was a straightforward rectangular table, 1.2 meters long and 60 centimeters wide, with two drawers and a simple wooden chair. That was all she needed.

Copper mirrors were expensive, so Clara held off on buying one. Apart from that, all her daily necessities were in place.

She left the remaining space open, planning to add more things as needed over time.

In the siblings' room, she had commissioned two custom-made bunk beds, each 1.35 meters wide.

That way, all four kids had their own beds.

To claim the coveted top bunks, the siblings spent ages drawing lots. In the end, Ben and Chad won the top, while Adam and Deb took the lower bunks.

Between the beds, two new storage chests served double duty—storage inside, flat surface on top for daily use.

Each bed also had two drawers beneath it, and with the shared cabinets, the storage space was evenly distributed among the four.

Below the window was a two-meter-long table, 80 centimeters wide, with four tall stools—one for each of them.

Since Deb was a girl, Clara also planned ahead for when she would be older and would need privacy. In the siblings' room, she had a wooden threshold installed with grooves, designed to hold removable panels.

When Deb was older, they could insert a partition to carve out a private space for her—enough for a single bed, a vanity, and a small wardrobe.

Even the door for the partitioned room had been pre-installed and locked. When the time came, they could just unlock it and she'd have her own fully independent little room.

Clara truly made sure everything was fair and balanced when it came to the children's room.

The woodworker was so impressed by the clever bunk bed design that he even gave Clara a hefty discount on the entire set of furniture.

The two rooms added to the east side were much smaller and had thatched roofs. One was fifteen square meters; the other, only six.

The larger one was a combined kitchen and storage room, divided into two connected spaces and right next to the original side room.

The old stove had been torn down and replaced by a new one built by a mason. It had two openings so cooking and stir-frying could be done at the same time.

Clara had asked Lester if he had any opinions on the design. He shook his head and said it was great, so she didn't make any more changes.

They bought a new water jar, and together with the old one, now had two stored in the kitchen. Once filled, they held enough water for the entire family for three days—far better than hauling water multiple times a day.

Of course, if they could tap into the natural spring in the back mountain, it would be even better.

But that project would be too large for now and had to wait.

The six-square-meter room was designated as a bathhouse.

Uncle Joss laid all the broken tiles from transport on the floor, carefully hammering them flat one by one. Even if the floor got wet, it wouldn't turn into a muddy mess.

Clara planned to use the space for bathing. At night, they could also keep the chamber pot there, making it easier to use the toilet without going outside.

In the village, every household had a toilet. Due to local superstitions about feng shui, these were usually built far away—often behind the main house, about thirty meters away, sometimes even fifty.

Following local customs, Clara built the Liew family's toilet about twenty meters away at the base of the hill.

To use it, they'd have to go out the new back gate of the courtyard, across a patch of wild land, before reaching it.

Thankfully, with the bathhouse in place, if anyone got lazy at night, they could make do and dump the contents in the morning.

Lester had moved from the main house into the side room, which was now his bedroom. The furnishings were the old ones they already had.

Anything too worn out to use, Clara chopped up for firewood.

Lester couldn't help feeling envious of the new rooms and furniture, but he didn't dare say anything. Still, he would grumble quietly during cooking about the unfairness of it all.

After all, he was the one doing all the chores—cooking, cleaning, laundry—yet got treated worse than the four kids who ran wild all day.

The original main room was now repurposed as a sitting and dining area. It only had a simple setup of tables, benches, and chairs, with no other decoration.

All the furniture in the new home was a natural wood color. The bluish-grey mud floors had been hammered down firmly and were flat and shiny, giving the entire home a cozy, bright feeling.

A new two-meter-high wall had been built around the courtyard, dividing it into a front and back yard.

The front yard was quite spacious, incorporating some previously unused land. Old Walter Liew used gathered stones to build two vegetable plots. Martha even brought over a packet of seeds and reminded Lester to grow his own food—buying every day was ridiculous.

Right outside the kitchen, Clara installed a large stone sink for washing vegetables and clothes.

It was originally a pig trough from her eldest uncle's house—no longer in use.

Clara had carried the heavy trough back herself. After scrubbing it clean and chiseling the walls smooth, it became a perfect single basin—1.2 meters long.

Uncle Joss helped by finding four short wooden logs to make a stand, raising the trough about 80 cm off the ground. Once set in place, it became the perfect outdoor sink.

Washing dishes, clothes—it would all be a breeze.

Clara even drilled a drainage hole in the middle of the stone trough. Normally, it would be plugged with a wooden stopper to retain water.

To avoid flooding the courtyard, she fashioned a water pipe from bamboo, connecting it to the roof's gutter and leading it to a drainage ditch that emptied out onto a nearby slope.

Once completed, everyone who came to help out during the renovation praised the setup, planning to make one for their own wives at home—no more carrying giant basins of water back and forth!

To make things more convenient, Clara moved one of the kitchen's water jars out to the sink area.

On rainy days, the collected water could even be used to water the vegetable garden.

The backyard was smaller and still empty for now. Clara intended to install a few wooden posts later to turn it into a martial arts practice area.

With the new house finally completed, Clara at last felt a little of life's convenience returning.

She picked an auspicious date and prepared a meal together with her sisters-in-law, inviting the villagers over for a housewarming.

Everyone marveled at the never-before-seen sink, the bathhouse, and the simple yet elegant wooden furniture—and left full of admiration and envy.

(End of Chapter)

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