Peaceful Dwelling 022

  As the first thing to do after relying on Su Hang, Chen Guanyu naturally used his heart a hundred times. He let Su Hang and Lu Xiuer find a teahouse to drink tea first, while he himself ran to ask who had a suitable house for rent.

  In less than half a watch, Chen Guanyu ran back with a smile and said to Su Hang: "Su Gongzi is indeed a blessed person, as if he has divine assistance. I just asked someone who had a house for rent, and heard that a Huishang who had been doing business in Fengcheng for several years was planning to return home to retire, wanting to sell or rent out the house. The house is located on the south gate side, adjacent to Dongge Lake, with excellent scenery, just suitable for Gongzi's elegant person. I just went to see the house, it's a three-room two-story building, and there's also a half-acre garden behind it, does Gongzi have any interest?"

  "It sounds pretty good," Su Hao smiled and said, "Come on, Old Chen, you've worked hard, sit down and have a cup of tea first, tell me what's the price of this house."

  Chen Guanyu found Su Hang's leadership style quite pleasing, he nodded in appreciation, took a sip of tea, and then said: "This house of his, he wants to sell for 500 taels. If rented, it would be 10 taels per year. I talked to him for half a day, and he agreed to lower the price by 20%. If bought, it would be 400 taels. If rented, it would be 8 taels per year."

  "400 taels?" Su Hao's heart skipped a beat, as a transmigrator, he also had the desire to buy a house. In modern terms, could a rented house be considered home? 400 taels of silver was an astronomical figure for him now, but he had only met the county magistrate once and received 20 taels of reward silver. If he fully utilized his abilities in the future, earning 400 taels shouldn't be too difficult, right?

  However, there is one bad thing about the Ming Dynasty, which is that such an expensive house cannot be mortgaged. Since Su Hang couldn't come up with so much cash, he could only consider renting a house.

  "Old Chen, 400 taels is not a bad price, but I'm a bit short of cash right now, so I can only consider renting it for the time being. Is the annual rent of 8 taels of silver paid all at once or monthly?" Su Hao asked.

  Chen Guanyu said: "I've discussed this with the landlord, and he says that at least half a year's rent must be paid in advance. He plans to return home to retire, and several of his nephews are doing business in nearby counties, so they can come over to collect the rent."

  Su Hao nodded, it seems that Chen Guanyu is indeed quite competent in handling such matters. He can find housing sources, negotiate prices with the landlord, and even consider payment methods. In the future, if this person's character is reliable, keeping him as a butler would be pretty good.

  "Come on, Xiuer, let's go take a look at our new home." Su Hang stood up, threw a few copper coins on the table as tea money, and then took Lu Xiuer with him, following Chen Guanyu towards the south gate.

  The county town of Fengcheng is not too big, and after walking for about five or six minutes, the three people arrived in front of the house that Chen Guanyu had mentioned.

  This is a typical Jiangnan residence, the house has two floors, brick and wood structure, white walls, carved flower lattice windows, high-pitched roof, looks quite magnificent, Su Hang fell in love with this house at first sight.

  The landlord was a wealthy old man from Anhui, wearing a blue satin shirt and pants, with a Taoist hat on his head. When he saw Su Hang, he bowed his hands and said, "Is this young master going to rent my house?"

  Before Su Hang could say anything, Chen Guanyu stepped forward and said: "Old Huang, this is the young master Su I told you about. The county magistrate has already hired him as a workshop steward, and he also holds an official position."

  "Oh, humble citizen greets the official." The old man in yellow pretended to make a bowing gesture. Su Hao quickly stopped him, as this teacher was not considered an official, and having a middle-aged man bow to himself made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

  "Huang Lao was being polite," said Su Hao. "We students are just temporarily helping the county magistrate with some tasks, how could we dare to call ourselves officials?"

  Everyone politely made some small talk, and then Old Man Huang led Su Hang and the others into the house to look around. This house was just as Chen Guanyu had said, with a layout of three rooms in two sections. The front section had a main room in the middle, with bedrooms on either side; the back section had a living room in the middle, also with bedrooms on either side. Between the two sections, there was a small courtyard. A wooden staircase leading to the upper floor was cleverly placed at the edge of the corridor. Nobody went upstairs to take a look, but Old Man Huang explained that there were five more rooms upstairs, which could be arranged for the womenfolk to live in.

  From the living room, walking further back, around a screen wall, there is a garden of more than half an acre. In the garden, there is a small pool with artificial hills and rocks along the shore, and flowers, grasses, and trees are planted everywhere. In this midsummer season, the flowers are in full bloom, and there is also a sweet fragrance of jasmine, making people feel carefree and relaxed.

  There is a small gate on the garden wall, and going out will reach the lake shore, the scenery is also very good.

  "What's up?" Su Hao asked Lu Xiuer after reading everything.

  Lu Xiu'er leaned her mouth close to Su Hao's ear and whispered: "This house is really good... it's just too expensive."

  "Hehe, 8 taels of silver per year, it's really not expensive at all." Su Hao also whispered to Lu Xiuer, he didn't quite understand the general rent situation in the city, but based on his experience from his previous life, renting a 500-600 square meter house with a private garden for 7-8 thousand yuan per year was really very cheap.

  "How is it, Master Su? Are you satisfied with this house?" Chen Guanyu asked with a smile.

  Su Hao nodded: "Not bad, Old Chen, thank you."

  "As long as Master Su is satisfied, that's all that matters." Chen Guanyu said happily.

  Next, they went through various formalities, both parties wrote down the rental agreement, signed and stamped their names, and also invited a notary to witness. Chen Guanyu was familiar with all these procedures, so Su Hang didn't need to worry about it. After Old Man Huang received the 4 taels of silver from Su Hang, he handed over the keys and other things to Su Hang, and from then on, this house belonged to Su Hang for use.

  Huang Lao's other residence in Fengcheng had been vacated, and the furniture was bare. After Huang left, Chen Guanyu offered to help Su Hang buy daily necessities, but was politely declined by Su. These tasks were intended for Lu Xiuer to handle.

  "This house really belongs to us now? That's great!"

  After sending Chen Guanyu away, Lu Xiuer could no longer suppress the joy in her heart and began to inspect the house room by room. She couldn't see enough of it herself, so she had to drag Su Hang along with her, and Su Hang had no choice but to accompany her as they went up and down the stairs seven or eight times, until both of them were panting and exhausted before stopping.

  "I'm telling you, Xiuer, can you go boil some water for us to drink first?" Su Hao sat in the master chair of the main house, giving orders to Lu Xiuer like a patriarch.

  "No pot, how to cook?" Lu Xiuer replied.

  "Buy it and go." Su Hao took out the remaining four or two silver coins and some copper coins from his pocket, put them on the table, and said: "From now on, you will be in charge of this family. These money can at least support our lives for two months."

  "I don't care about money." Lu Xiuer put her hands behind her back and shook her head like a rattle drum, "Brother, when are we going to let mom come over?"

  "It's going to take at least two months, let's wait until things settle down here. The fields back home, we need to harvest this season before renting them out, and I think mom will come to the city to live for a while. Tomorrow I'll ask someone to deliver a message to her, if she wants to come, she can come anytime."

  "Mother alone at home, cultivated so many fields?" Lu Xiuer said, "Otherwise, I'll go back too, you're alone here is fine."

  Su Hao said, "The fields at home will definitely need to be farmed by others. I've already spoken with Xiao Hu, and he's agreed to help find some temporary workers. Mom can just supervise them from home, so she won't get too tired. As for you, you'll have to stay here and help me out for the time being. At the very least, someone needs to cook meals for me at home."

  "Hmm..." Lu Xiuer thought for a moment, and it seemed to be the case indeed. Such a large house couldn't possibly be left for Su Hang to live in alone, could it?

  After the discussion, the brother and sister went out to buy various daily necessities, including straw mats, quilts, pots, bowls, cups for drinking water, and brooms. In addition, there were firewood, rice, oil, salt, and so on. According to Lu Xiuer's idea, some things that they already had at home could be brought over by Su Xiaohu another day. But Su Hang felt that since it wasn't much money, they should just get new ones anyway. The bedding and other items at home had been used for many years, so now that they were setting up a new home, they might as well replace them all at once.

  The two of them spent the whole afternoon strolling around the streets, and finally hired a small cart to send the things they bought back home. Su Heng calculated the account again, and spent another one or two more silver coins. Looking at the rapidly shrinking money bag, Su Heng sighed: "Money is scarce when it's needed." It seems that he really needs to think of a way to make some money.

  ;