The old woman laughed when she saw this:

"Hahaha, interesting, interesting! It seems you must have some special skills. Since you are the apprentice of Master Zhu, you should call me Aunt Liu!"

Jiang Yuwei quickly smiled and said:

"Yes, Aunt Liu, I came today to ask if you have any vacant rooms for rent in this courtyard?"

Upon hearing this, Aunt Liu immediately ushered Jiang Yuwei into the courtyard and said:

"Right now, I live alone in this courtyard. I live in the room on the east side, and there's a room on the west side and two side rooms left. Which one would you like to rent?"

Jiang Yuwei followed Aunt Liu into the house for a look. The west room had a heated kang bed and some miscellaneous items stored there. It could be tidied up and made habitable. The side rooms on the left and right were not very big and there was no place to sleep. If they wanted to move in, they would have to make two more beds.

This room also looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time, and it was full of dust and cobwebs. However, Aunt Zhou had a lot of people in her family, so cleaning up two or three rooms was no problem for her.

Thinking this, Jiang Yuwei said to Aunt Liu:

“Aunt Liu, we want to rent all three rooms. It’s not for me to live here permanently, but for my friend’s family to move in. However, they can only stay for half a month. Do you think it’s okay to rent them?”

After listening to this, Aunt Liu pondered for a moment, then frowned and said:

"Well, renting all three rooms isn't impossible, but I'm only staying for half a month. It's not worth the trouble of tidying them up. After all, I'm an old man, and it's really difficult for me to make three rooms habitable!"

Jiang Yuwei, knowing Liu Da Niang's concerns, quickly waved her hand and said:

"You don't need to clean this house. My friend's family is large and clean, so they'll take care of it themselves. In the future, they can cook their own meals in the yard, which won't bother you. I promise to keep your yard spotless. Living with them will save you a lot of trouble."

After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Aunt Liu nodded and smiled:

“If that’s how it is, then that’s fine. I’m getting old, and I don’t even have the strength to pull the weeds out of the yard. I’m just an old man. If your friend’s family doesn’t mind that my place is small, then let them move here.”

Seeing that Liu Daniang had agreed, Jiang Yuwei quickly asked with a smile:

"How much rent does Aunt Liu want?"

After thinking for a while, Aunt Liu said:

"Oh dear, I'm getting senile, I can't really say for sure about the rent or anything like that. Why don't you just name a price?"

Jiang Yuwei looked around the courtyard, then said to Aunt Liu:

“In that case, I think it would be better to rent them a room for twenty copper coins for half a month, and a total of sixty copper coins for three rooms. What do you think? I’ll also tell them to clean the yard when they’re cleaning the rooms.”

Aunt Liu nodded happily upon hearing this, saying:

"Okay, we'll do it your way!"

Seeing that the deal was done, Jiang Yuwei quickly said goodbye to Aunt Liu. She was also anxious to talk to Aunt Zhou about it so that they wouldn't have to rent a house themselves.

So Jiang Yuwei hurried to the inn and went upstairs to knock on Aunt Zhou's door.

"Aunt Zhou, are you inside?"

The person who opened the door was Ning Qiu. When she saw that it was Jiang Yuwei, she quickly reached out and pulled her into the house and closed the door.

"Sister Yuwei, what brings you here? I'm packing with my mother-in-law, we're about to go out and look for a place to live."

Jiang Yuwei, panting heavily, waved her hand and said:

"No, no need to look anymore, I've already found one for you. It's right next to the Zhu family's house, number 35 Zhu Lane. I've already negotiated the rent with them. You can rent three rooms in their house, at 20 copper coins per room. Let's sign a half-month contract first, so everyone can feel more at ease."

Aunt Zhou was delighted to hear this and said:

"That's great! I was worried about where we would find a place to stay since we were in an unfamiliar area. I didn't expect you to find a place for us so quickly, Yuwei."

Ning Qiu was also very happy to pour Jiang Yuwei a cup of tea and hand it to her, saying:

"Sister Yuwei, if that's the case, wouldn't we be neighbors again?"

Jiang Yuwei smiled and nodded, saying:

"Yes, if you think the rent is acceptable, let's go and see what the courtyard is like. If you're satisfied, you should hurry up and finalize the lease so you can move out of the inn sooner and save some money."

After hearing Jiang Yuwei's words, Aunt Zhou smiled and exchanged a glance with Ning Qiu, then said:

"No need to look anymore, the rent is reasonable. Since you've already chosen it, Yuwei, let's not be picky and just move our things over there. It'll save us the trouble of going back and forth."

Ning Qiu nodded as she tied the bundle.

"Yes, Sister Yuwei, I've just finished packing everything, let's just go straight there and save ourselves the trouble."

Jiang Yuwei nodded and said:

"That's fine, I'll help you move the things downstairs."

As they spoke, everyone hurriedly loaded their belongings onto the oxcart. Aunt Zhou then settled the bill with the manager before the group drove the oxcart towards Zhu Lane.

When they arrived at Aunt Liu's house, Jiang Yuwei got out of the car first and knocked on the door:

"Aunt Liu, this is Jiang Yuwei. I've brought my friends with me!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Aunt Liu opened the courtyard gate. Seeing that it was Jiang Yuwei, she smiled slightly at her, then looked at the crowd standing behind Jiang Yuwei and said:

"Don't stand outside anymore, move all your things into the yard."

After saying that, she made way for them, and Aunt Zhou directed Ning Wu and Ning Youcai to unload the things from the car.

Jiang Yuwei then said to Ning Wu:

"Go to the next courtyard and call your brother Tiezhu to go with you to cut some bamboo around here. There are no beds in the side rooms of this courtyard, so we need to hurry up and make two beds."

Upon hearing the instructions, Ning Wu hurriedly turned to call Tie Zhu from next door. Jiang Yuwei led Aunt Zhou and Ning Qiu on a tour of the house, both of whom were very satisfied with the three rooms, although cleaning the house would take some time.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei went next door to get paper and pen and drafted a rental contract. She then took it to Aunt Liu's yard for both parties to sign and affix their fingerprints. Aunt Zhou also directly gave the copper coins to Aunt Liu.

Jiang Yuwei said to Ning Qiu:

"Keep this contract safe. This house needs a thorough cleaning. I'll go next door and call Liu Shi and Gou Dan to help with the cleaning."

After saying that, Jiang Yuwei went to the Miaoshou Zhu Courtyard and called Liu Shi and Gou Dan. Ning Wan and Ning Zhao originally wanted to come along, but Jiang Yuwei left them behind to take care of Ning Huaizhi and Ning Daya.

As soon as everyone entered the courtyard, they began to work together to clean. Gou Dan was in charge of pulling out the weeds in the courtyard, Ning Qiu was in charge of cleaning the east wing, Aunt Zhou was in charge of cleaning the west wing, Liu Shi was in charge of cleaning the west wing, and Jiang Yuwei helped fetch water and take out the trash.

Seeing that everyone was busy, Aunt Liu felt she shouldn't be idle either, so she helped out by doing what she could.

Just as everyone was busy with their tasks, the courtyard gate was suddenly kicked open, followed by a sharp woman's voice:

"You old geezer, I heard from Cuiya that you rented out this room?!"