Chapter 12: The House of Wu (1)

  In the courtyard, a group of people gathered around the stone table, including Tang Shunlin, the head of the village, Jiang Youyi, the landlord, neighbors on both sides, Fang Ya, the proxy writer, and Chen Xin, totaling six people. Dai Zhenggang and Lu Lüzi also arrived, filling the entire courtyard. After discussion with Fang Ya, the landlord agreed to reduce the rent by one or two silver coins, and Liu Minyou and Chen Xin, who were eager to move in, also agreed. So at noon, Tang Shunlin and the neighbors on both sides were invited to come and handle the handover formalities.

  Tan Zongjia was about forty years old, with a beautiful beard, his left hand stroking his whiskers, and his right hand holding the red contract that had already been stamped with the Qing army hall seal, reading it out loud.

  "Deed of Sale: Jiang Youyi, the seller, is relocating to another place and hereby sells a broken tile-roofed house with two front rooms, two main rooms, three west wing rooms, totaling seven rooms. The land area is 83 steps (Note: one step equals 2.8 square meters). The doors, windows, walls, and roof are all connected. The property includes the courtyard, veranda, and stone well. Located in Dongcheng District, Jiedongfang, Erdao Street, Tan Shunlin's place, east to Guanjie Street, south to Zhou Laifu's house wall as boundary, north to Jiang Wang's house wall as boundary, west to this family's wall corner with a dripping water feature as boundary. The sale is made through official mediation, and the buyer is Liu Minyou. The price is 41 taels of silver, including tax of 3 mace 2 candarens 8 cash. The payment will be collected in full on the same day, without any outstanding amount. After the sale, if there are any disputes from relatives or others, the seller will take responsibility. Both parties agree to this contract and will not regret it. If anyone regrets it later, they will be penalized with 100 shi of white rice for official use. This deed is made on the 27th day of the 4th month of the 7th year of Tianqi (1627). Seller: Jiang Youyi, Witness: Tan Shunlin, Left neighbor: Jiang Wang, Right neighbor: Zhou Laifu, House guarantor: Wu Yue, Scribe: Chen Zetong."

  Tan Shunlin finished reading and said to the two of them: "You two can draw a picture after listening clearly."

  Liu Minyou took the red contract and checked it again, confirmed that the 41 taels of silver were handed over to the landlord. The landlord himself brought a scale, after verifying that there was no mistake, everyone signed and stamped in order. After everyone finished signing, Liu Minyou gave Tan Zongjia three coins, two points, and eight cents for taxes. Originally, the red contract had to be signed and sealed before being submitted to the Qing military department for taxation, but Tan Zongjia's brother worked at the Qing military department, so even the contract was readily available. It is really hard to say whose pocket this tax went into.

  Then he paid 2 yuan and 5 cents for Wu Yue's house, Liu Minyou felt that Wu Shu was a good person, so he added 2 points and 5 cents, totaling 2 yuan and 3 cents. The miscellaneous fee was given to the neighbors, usually it would be 1 or 2 cents, but Liu Minyou gave 5 cents each, and the two neighbors immediately became enthusiastic about helping out. Tan Zongjia also had a share of the miscellaneous fee, which should have been the same as the neighbors', but Chen Xin directly handed him 2 yuan in silver, Tan Shunlin quietly put it in his sleeve, his eyes were smiling. After this was all done, Liu Minyou had become a member of the "have house" family.

  Everyone was in high spirits, and the original owner of the house, Jiang Youyi, didn't leave immediately either. This person wasn't a big businessman, but he had a very generous personality. Chen Xin knew that he was a cotton cloth merchant, and they chatted for a while, soon becoming quite familiar with each other. Chen Xin asked him about the location of his store in South City, planning to go take a look when he had time.

  Others were busy planning the layout of the room, introducing him to carpentry shops and fabric stores, telling him which ones had good products and which ones were cheaper, explaining everything in detail to Liu Min, afraid that he wouldn't understand.

  Tan Zongjia had a good harvest today and was in a great mood. He came over to talk to Liu Min about the situation on Second Street.

  "After you arrive, Liu Gongzi, remember that there is one more thing to take note of. There are 68 households in Erdao Street, and except for a few weak families, each household will take turns to be on duty every two months. You need to guard the night watch post for one night. If you don't want to guard, you can also hire someone with money. As for other river work duties, we'll discuss them after handling the household register."

  Liu Min nodded slightly: "When it's our turn, we'll trouble Tan Zong to notify us."

  Tan Zongji was in a good mood and waved his hand: "No trouble, Jiang Wang will be there the day before, just let him inform you then."

  Jiang Wang's house is to the north of the two, and he is their left neighbor. He is about 36 or 37 years old and is also a leftover soldier from the Left Guard. Every day, he sells incense, wax, paper candles, etc. outside the temples of San Yi Miao, Guanyin Temple, and Tianfei Palace. He has one son and one daughter, both still young. He is a bit introverted and doesn't like to talk. After listening to Tan Zongjia's words, he just nodded his head.

  After saying this, Tan Shunlin asked about the two men's occupation. Upon hearing that Chen Xin was an accountant, he looked at him with new respect, thinking that accountants must be skilled in writing and arithmetic, not something ordinary people can do. After Chen Xin showed some humility, he bowed to Director Tan and said: "We are newcomers here, if there is anything we don't do properly, please instruct us, Director Tan and everyone."

  Chief Tan stroked his beard and said, "It's not about giving advice. This street originally housed the Left Guard Army households. One chief was in charge of fifty households. Over time, some moved out and others came in, houses were divided and sold, now there are sixty-eight households. More than half are civilian families. In the neighborhood, there are both soldiers who serve as heads of households and those who do odd jobs or engage in commerce. Although there are rich and poor, the neighbors have always gotten along."

  "Tan Zongjia, these past few days we've been busy with the harvest, let's find a restaurant and invite the neighbors for a meal. At that time, we'll also trouble Tan Zongjia to introduce us to each of the neighbors."

  "There's no need for such courtesy from both of you. No need to go to a restaurant, just set up two tables with running water at the entrance, it won't cost much and will be more lively than that restaurant."

  Liu Minyou, although a rural person, had never done a buffet before. After hearing this, he couldn't help but feel a little worried: "This, we don't even know how to cook dishes, and I'm afraid the taste won't suit everyone's taste."

  "It doesn't matter, there's a cook market near the City God Temple, every day some cooks wait there to be hired by families to cook meals. The wages aren't high either, just three to five cents of silver per day." This was said by Right Neighbor Zhou Laifu, whose house is located on the south side of this courtyard, from Jiaxing in Jiangnan Province, speaking a strange official dialect, and working as a tailor at a clothing store on East Gate Street.

  Liu Min said with relief: "I see, then I'll come back and invite everyone another time."

  Tan Zongjia said almost, then bid farewell and went out. Liu Minhe and Chen Xin thanked him repeatedly. The original owner of the house, Jiang Youyi, and the substitute writer, Chen Ze, also stood up and walked with Tan Zongjia together. Everyone sent them to the door.

  Tan Zongjia instructed the two before leaving: "If there's anything, don't be polite, just come find me. Neighbors helping each other is what should be done. You've just arrived and aren't familiar with things yet, it'll get better after staying for a while."

  He also said to Jiang Wang and Zhou Laifu, "You are neighbors on the left and right. When others first arrive, they don't understand, you should help them more, when buying things, take them with you."

  Jiang Wang just nodded, while Zhou Laifu was enthusiastic: "Don't worry, Director Tan. Even if you don't ask for help, we'll come to assist you anyway. As the saying goes, 'distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors.' And since both of you young masters are scholars, we can't lose face for our Second Avenue community."

  Tan Zongjia nodded in satisfaction and bid farewell before leaving.

  As soon as they left, Liu Minyu arranged for the four followers to sweep and clean. Although someone sweeps every day, a newly bought house needs to be cleaned up by oneself to feel more at ease. There were no tools in the house, so Jiang Wang saw the situation and didn't say a word, taking two brooms from his own home. Wang Daxi and Zhang Erhui worked hard, taking them and starting to sweep. Jiang Wang took two wooden buckets, bringing Haigouzi and Zhang Dahui to find the location of the well in the courtyard, preparing to fetch some water to rinse the yard.

  Zhou Laifu was a warm-hearted person, and he and Wu Shu were discussing with Liu Min the household items they planned to purchase. Zhou Laifu counted on his fingers as he explained to Liu Min in detail: "For ordinary people like us, we need to stock up on oil, rice, salt, and flour, and have several coarse ceramic bowls and jars. Each room needs a wooden chair, a candle holder, and bedding such as sheets and mattresses. In the summer, when mosquitoes are plentiful, we'll also need mosquito nets and hooks. We can also get a bamboo screen, but thick quilts can wait until autumn. For the kitchen, we'll need a set of iron pots, ceramic bowls, spoons, ladles, rolling pins, knives, and chopping boards... Liu Min listened on one side while silently reciting in his heart, with Dai Zhenggang helping to take notes beside him. Preparing all these things was really troublesome, and unlike before when there were supermarkets where you could buy everything at once, now they had to go to various shops to purchase each item. If they missed something, they might have to walk the whole city to find it.

  Chen Xin was not interested in these things, he had never done household chores from childhood to adulthood, and after marriage, he even hired two aunts at home. After sending Tan Zongjia and Jiang Youyi out the door, seeing the busy courtyard, he didn't want to do these things, standing still was not very good manners, so he quietly slipped out of the door and strolled around Erdao Street.