He Tiantian had already prepared this answer in her mind.

"Annual rent is cheaper, about ten taels of silver a year. Monthly rent is more expensive, so I've rented it for a year for now."

Upon hearing that it was ten taels of silver, Tiezi's mother exclaimed in surprise, "My goodness, are you serious about ten taels of silver?"

This means that it might take her two or three years to earn that much money.

"Oh, actually it's not that high. You have to think about it, we're in the city now. This is the most prosperous area, so it's understandable that the rent is higher than in the suburbs."

"Yeah, yeah, are they going to sell all the land at a reduced price like in our village?" Zhao Xiaohe joked.

He stayed at home every day, but he couldn't help but hear his father talking about the wasteland in the village.

Why isn't anyone buying it when it's so cheap? If people have a little money, can't they buy some land to grow crops?

That being said, the more land cultivated, the heavier the taxes paid each year. The principle is the same.

Zhao Xiaohe didn't approve of cultivating more land from the bottom of his heart; raising horses was better because there was no tax to pay.

I heard there's a war in the south, and the imperial court's taxes are expected to increase next year. Although Magistrate Liu is their local official, any increase in taxes has to be reported to the imperial court, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't do anything about it.

The whole family arrived at their new home, chatting and laughing. Standing outside, they looked around. The wooden gate was quite new, and the white walls and gray tiles looked pretty good.

"Wow, this house is beautiful," Zhao Yanniang exclaimed in admiration.

She thought to herself, "If only she could buy a house like this in the city."

"Yes, yes, it must be even more beautiful inside. Let's open it and take a look." Madam Chen didn't care about the money; seeing the beautiful house made her happy.

He Tiantian took out her key from her waist and deftly unlocked the door.

He Shitou and Zhao Xiaohe were the most curious, so they immediately ran inside to take a look.

Wow! This place is so clean and beautiful.

"Sister, you're amazing, you have such good taste."

Everyone rushed inside to visit their new home, forgetting all about moving their belongings.

Five rooms, each one was opened and examined repeatedly. The beds and chairs inside were touched and examined again and again.

Pointing to the empty space in the yard, Mrs. Chen said happily, "This empty space is good; it can be used to grow vegetables."

"Why grow vegetables? People in the city use their gardens to grow flowers," He Shitou said disapprovingly.

He had witnessed this firsthand; when he was doing business before, he had the opportunity to visit the home of a shopkeeper.

Those wealthy shopkeepers lived in houses like this, and in the spring, they grew many flowers in their courtyards.

It's colorful and looks beautiful.

Mrs. Chen felt that her son lacked foresight. "What's the point of growing flowers? They look nice but don't taste good. Growing some vegetables can at least fill your stomach."

He Shitou knew he couldn't argue with his own mother. "My dad grows a lot of vegetables at home. Let's see when we can finish them all."

He Tiantian didn't try to reconcile them, because she didn't care.

She can accept either growing flowers or growing vegetables.

Zhao Denglong suggested, "Why don't we bring Wujin and Coconut over? They won't get bored here with the yard. Besides, the wall is too low; what if something happens at night and we don't notice?"

He Shitou disagreed again, "Wujin and Yezi are village dogs, they can't stand city life."

In such a tiny place, that lackey is so long and runs so fast, he dashed out in the blink of an eye.

And that courtyard wall is so low. The two dogs don't even need to go through the gate; they can just jump out of the yard and come and go as they please.

I don't know what's wrong with He Shitou today; he seems to disagree with everything people say.

Zhao Denglong said irritably, "Then how can you stand city life?"

“Nonsense, how can a person and a dog be the same?” He Shitou retorted.

“It’s different for others, but for Brother Stone, it makes no difference.” Zhao Xiaohe winked mischievously.

After saying that, he quickly ran off to another place.

He Shitou realized what was happening and started chasing after Zhao Xiaohe, yelling, "You dare say that a second time!"

After touring the new house, everyone finally settled down and started moving their things.

The two rooms in front are naturally reserved for men, and currently only Zhao Xiaohe and He Shitou are staying there.

The two of them can sleep in one room, and the other room can be left empty for the time being.

Of the three rooms at the back, He Tiantian and Zhao Mingzhu moved into the largest one. Chen Shi and Zhao Denglong moved into the room on the left, while Zhao Yanniang and Tiezi's mother moved into the room at the very back.

Although both rooms are shared by two people, each room here is more spacious than the one upstairs in the restaurant.

Basically, it can fit two beds.

So, we have to make another trip to move all the beds from upstairs in the restaurant.

Zhao Dahai and Zhao Xiangbei carried all the heavy things into the house, and then went back to move the bed.

The women were responsible for tidying up the smaller items; everyone did their own thing. Cheng Ying was still in charge of tidying up Xiao Mingzhu's things.

The little child sat on the soft, made-up bed, licking a big apple with great relish.

Her big, bright eyes kept watching He Tiantian and Cheng Ying's busy figures. She didn't seem bored at all, even though she was making "uh-huh" noises.

Business is good at the end of the year, and no one wants to miss out on making money.

So by the time Zhao Dahai and Zhao Xiangbei brought the bed over, most of the afternoon had already passed.

We need to open for business at night, so we need to prepare in advance.

Those things that haven't been packed yet will have to be sorted out little by little later. Everyone is rushing to the store to get busy.

He Shitou and Zhao Xiaohe also started their own roadside stall business selling roasted sweet potatoes and tea eggs along the street.

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