After Juhua set the stew pot in place, she had her brother help her position the wooden bathtub.
She had asked her brother to have Li the carpenter build a drainage system into the bottom of the tub. It was a small hole with a stopper. To fill the tub, one would wrap the wooden stopper in cloth and plug the hole. When the bath was finished, pulling out the stopper would let the water drain on its own, eliminating the need to tip the heavy tub over.
This required a drain to be installed where the tub would be placed. Qingmu had already prepared one in a corner of the kitchen. The drainpipe ran from under the base of the wall out into the gutter. All they had to do now was move the tub into position.
