Chapter 174 Settling Down in Kyoto

After Erxi showed Liuye the shop, she went back. Only Liuye was left in the shop. She closed and locked the door, intending to put the unused items in the pharmacy into her spatial storage, such as the medicine cabinets. The shop was lined with medicine cabinets on all four sides. She opened more than a dozen drawers one by one, and they were all filled with medicine. The large cabinets contained medicine bottles and boxes for storing medicine. In short, everything related to medicine was there. She didn't even take the medicine; she took almost nothing. This shop was sold off too quickly.

She waved her hand at the four walls and put the medicine cabinets into her space. She also put the tables, chairs and benches that she didn't need into her space. The house was empty in an instant. She went to the backyard and found that the backyard was similar to the backyard of the noodle shop. There was a small door at the back, two servant rooms on the east and west sides, and a well on the east side of the yard.

Then there were shelves everywhere in the yard, with drying baskets on the shelves, and herbs in the drying baskets. She didn't need them, and they weren't worth much money to sell, so she decided to put them in her space.

She waved her hand to clear the backyard. OK, now it's clean. Just a little cleaning and we can open for business. Oh right, we still need to buy some bamboo baskets to hold the fruit.

Liu Ye then went to the lower room on the east side. As soon as she opened the door, a strong smell of medicine wafted out. Inside, there were baskets piled high with herbs. Good heavens, so many herbs! Why didn't the owner sell them? This is all money! Oh well, I'll just put them in my spatial storage for now.

The western side of the shop also collected all the herbs and willow leaves into their spatial storage. They then cleaned the shop inside and out, wiping away the dust. Although there was still a medicinal smell, it wasn't unpleasant.

Liu Ye locked the shop door and looked up at the signboard above the door: Chen's Pharmacy. She still needed to order a new signboard. Where could she order one?

"Young lady, you've bought the pharmacy?"

Liu Ye looked at the man dressed like a shopkeeper: "Yes, I bought it to open a fruit shop. What's your name, brother?"

The man chuckled and said, "Everyone calls me Manager Wang, but you can just call me Brother Wang, hehe. I'm not that old, just a bit old-looking. I own the restaurant next door. It's good that you want to open a fruit shop, young lady. I wonder what kind of fruit you'd like to sell?"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "I sell a variety of fruits from the south, such as bananas, mangoes, watermelons, strawberries, cherries, lychees, longans, apples, and pears. I can sell them all in the store. Brother Wang, please take good care of my business, and I will definitely give you the best price."

Shopkeeper Wang smiled and nodded: "Thank you very much. You need to change the signboard of your fruit shop. Have you decided which one to choose?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye quickly seized the opportunity to ask, "Not yet, Brother Wang. Do you know which shop makes good signboards? I'd like to order one too."

Shopkeeper Wang pointed to the back street: "Old Liu's shop on Lotus Street behind is good at making plaques. Oh, speak of the devil, Old Liu has a customer. This young lady... may I ask what your name is?"

"My name is Liu Ye." With Manager Wang's introduction, Liu Ye successfully ordered a signboard. She wanted to open a fruit shop, so she named it "Fragrant Fruit Shop." She could pick up the goods in three days. There happened to be a general store on the back street, so she bought 50 bamboo baskets and 20 backpacks and had the shop assistant deliver them to the shop.

When Liu Ye returned to her newly purchased house, she only glanced at it briefly because Erxi was there. She didn't look at it carefully, but she knew it was good. Every part of it was good. The house with upturned eaves was similar to the Xuan Prince's mansion next door. Of course, only the house was similar; the interior was definitely not as good as the Prince's mansion. No wonder he was exiled after his family's property was confiscated. How much money did he embezzle to be able to afford such a nice house?

The Xuanwang Mansion is General Wang's house, isn't it? Brother Bai might even be next door. She got a good deal on this house. If Brother Bai saw her, his eyes would probably pop out of his head in surprise.

The room was covered in dust. Sigh, time to clean it up. Just as Erxi had said, there was nothing in the room except for tables, chairs, and benches. There wasn't even any bedding. Of course, she wouldn't want it anyway. She cleaned until sunset. The room was just too big and too large. If she planned to settle down in Kyoto, she should buy two maids. She already lived in such a big house and still had to clean it herself every day. She wouldn't have to do anything else.

Back in her room in the main house, Liu Ye took out bedding from her spatial storage and laid it out. Then she went to the kitchen, took out a bag of rice, a bag of flour, and a basket of vegetables from her spatial storage. "OK, everything's finally all sorted out."

There was a garden in the backyard, and a small pond. There was also a rockery among the withered flowers. Willow leaves climbed up the top of the rockery and craned their necks to look into the palace. The palace was deserted and quiet. Occasionally, guards would patrol by. "Why is the palace so deserted? Is it because of the winter? I can't even see a maid."

The patrolling guards quickly spotted Liu Ye, pointed their guns at him, and shouted, "What are you looking at? Get down here right now!"

Liu Ye shrank her neck and quickly climbed down from the artificial hill. Damn it, if they don't want me to look, they don't want me to look. Why are they cursing at me like that?

She dusted off her hands and went back to the kitchen, steamed a large pot of rice, stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, and then stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers. That was her dinner.

Before she knew it, the night had passed. Liu Ye thought she was in a different place and couldn't fall asleep, but she slept soundly that night. She stretched, got up, washed up, and changed into a new outfit. Her clothes looked pretty good in Xiangshan Town, but they looked low-class and outdated in Kyoto. However, with her good looks, they still looked alright. She decided to buy some new clothes and shoes.

After breakfast, Liu Ye went to the best fabric shop on Peony Street and went on a shopping spree. She bought two coats with fox fur collars, one a light blue Suzhou Shu brocade with a white fur collar, and the other a pink silk coat with a black fur collar. However, they were not cheap. Each one cost her two thousand taels of silver. The things in the capital are good, but the prices are also very high. If you don't have money, you really can't afford to buy them.

She also bought two pairs of deerskin boots, which were thick and warm. She carried a bunch of things out of the fabric shop and went straight home. It was so cold outside. She felt that Kyoto was colder than Xiangshan Town. The wind was so strong that it felt like knives were cutting her face.

"Charcoal, charcoal for sale!"

Liu Ye heard that charcoal was being sold at the door, so she quickly ran out of the house and bought two cartloads of charcoal. Each room had a stove, and her room had a large bronze stove, which was probably used to burn charcoal.

Liu Ye carried a basket of charcoal into the house and lit the large copper stove. Soon the house was warm. She sat down on a chair and looked at the large bed. The bed was quite big and looked nice, but it was cold and hard to sleep on and not practical at all. She really wanted to dismantle the bed and build a kang (heated brick bed), but she didn't know how. Oh right, she was still wearing the new clothes she bought today.

Liu Ye changed into a light green new dress, put on her newly bought deerskin boots, and draped a white coat over her shoulders. She stood in front of the mirror and looked as beautiful as a visitor from another world. Her delicate features and gorgeous clothes made her even more beautiful. Indeed, clothes make the man, and this beautiful outfit made her even more beautiful.

"OK, she'll dress like this from now on."