Chapter 113: Settling Down
"Sister-in-law, where shall we meet later?"
Wen Liyu nodded obediently. One look at her sister-in-law's expression told her that renting a house in the afternoon would be no easy task. Instead of the whole family running around, it would be better to take good care of her mother and younger brother to avoid any worries.
"Let's go to the restaurant where we ate during the day. It's big enough and easy to find."
After Cheng Wei Yao gave a few instructions, she quickly left to go to the brokerage firm to check out the local market conditions. Official regulations stipulated that the sale and rental of houses must go through a broker, who was basically equivalent to a modern real estate agent.
However, after visiting several dental clinics one after another, Cheng Wei Yao realized how valuable every inch of land was.
Although Qingshi Town is small, it is also a prosperous place. The local government implements the corridor house system and builds about 700 houses according to demand. According to different locations, the rent is also divided into three levels, and the rent is paid once a quarter.
Cheng Weiyao counted the banknotes in her hand, and a trace of worry appeared between her brows.
Comparing the current silver bills in hand with the housing prices in Qingshi Town is inevitably a bit depressing. Not to mention buying a house to settle down, even renting a house means you can only live in the slums.
"Girl, I see you've been running around a lot this afternoon. You must have a lot of family members. I'm cheap, why don't you talk to me?"
A broker came forward and started a conversation. Some wealthy families actually disdained to pay attention to such street brokers, as they either overcharged their customers or had some problems with their houses.
"Are you a lone ranger? Isn't there something unclean in the house?"
Cheng Weiyao is quite knowledgeable in modern times. She had dealt with real estate a lot when choosing a location for a restaurant, so she asked a direct question right away.
She didn't care about these feudal superstitions, but she had to consider the feelings of pure ancient people like Imperial Noble Consort Wen Liyu.
The broker's face darkened slightly. "Girl, you dare to rent such a terrible house? I wouldn't dare take you to see it. My house is mainly for its good quality and low price. It's just that the location is a bit bad, but the rent is really cheap. Only this amount..."
The dentist pointed a number at Cheng Weiyao, and Cheng Weiyao narrowed her eyes slightly. Compared to the high rent of the dentistry, this number...
How should I put it? I just spent most of the banknotes I had. It seems this broker has been keeping an eye on me for quite some time...
After an on-site inspection, Cheng Weiyao decided to rent the yard. In the slums, three people lived in one room, and two rooms in this yard were the maximum that could be rented at the moment.
"How's the girl? Our location is a little remote, so there aren't many houses. But our small courtyard is spacious and bright. If we want to go to the market on Changjie Street, getting up early won't be a problem at all..."
The broker was a shrewd man, and was very good at reading people's expressions. As he spoke, he took out the rental contract he had with him.
After finalizing the house in the afternoon, on the way to meet up with everyone at the Prince of Qingping's Mansion, Cheng Weiyao's attention was attracted by the shouting. Many farmers in the village were carrying leftover food and shouting along the street.
"Eggs~Big, fresh farm eggs, come and see, come and buy them, they're selling cheap when the stall closes~"
The sight of those baskets of eggs really made her greedy. During her exile, she had tasted pork, eaten beef and mutton, and drank fish soup, but she had never had the chance to catch a chicken.
Nowadays, money is tight, so eggs are just the right thing to satisfy your craving. They are high in protein and nutritious, and most importantly, they are cheap. You can leave some leftovers and sell them at the market.
"Girl, you look so skinny. How about buying some bones to satisfy your craving? I'm about to close my stall. If you want, I can sell them to you at a discount!"
Seeing that the egg vendors were opening their stalls as it was almost closing time, the butcher nearby also took the initiative to call out a few times. This was mainly because Cheng Weiyao had nothing in her hands, so she probably didn't make it to the market today.
"What's your price? I see you're so skinny, you don't even have much meat on you..."
Cheng Weiyao, carrying the eggs she had just bought, walked straight to the butcher's meat stall. In this day and age, people were proud of eating meat, so the fat and lean meat were almost all sold out. Instead, some dry ribs were left and no one was interested in them because of the lack of meat.
This made Cheng Wei Yao see a business opportunity. Since she was not well-off now, she could only reduce costs as much as possible when choosing ingredients.
"It's cheap, just one copper, and I'll give you all the pig bones and everything. I'm going to kill a new pig tomorrow morning, and I'm too lazy to carry it around."
As soon as the butcher saw that Cheng Weiyao was willing to buy, he immediately promised a fair price. The main reason was that he was a butcher and his family had no shortage of meat, so he naturally didn't bother to use these to satisfy his craving.
"make a deal."
Cheng Weiyao paid the money neatly. Not only was the portion huge and the value for money great, but there were also quite a few crispy bones on the ribs, which would be great even for making roujiamo!
By the time Cheng Wei Yao bought the food and reunited with the other people from Prince Qingping's Mansion, it was almost dusk. Cheng Wei Yao took the key from the broker and led everyone to push open the gate of the courtyard.
The sky was half red with clouds on the horizon, the courtyard was shrouded in the sunset, the shadows of trees were swaying in the yard, and a small stone table stood under the tree, revealing a sense of tranquility and beauty.
"Sister-in-law, this courtyard is nice, but there are only two rooms. How should we divide them?"
Wen Liyu's eyes immediately locked onto the wing rooms. If her brother and sister-in-law occupied one, then she would have to live with her mother and younger brother. Boys and girls were separated by seven years old, so Cheng Ming was not young at all...
"Wouldn't it be better if men and women could live separately? Cheng Ming and her husband could stay in one room at night, and we women could stay in another. That would be perfect. The rent in Qingshi Town is not cheap, and our travel expenses and luggage have been almost completely looted by the storm. We don't have much money..."
Cheng Weiyao blinked and answered as a matter of course.
This distribution was actually done out of selfish motives. Although Wen Chengyun and I were already officially registered as husband and wife, we had not yet consummated our marriage since we got married.
In Cheng Weiyao's concept, she and Wen Chengyun are more like contract roommates. They have tacit understanding and revolutionary friendship, but nothing else.
"Ayu, don't be willful. Your sister-in-law is right. Now is not the same as in the capital. You can only behave yourself. If you have money in the future, you can hire someone to build a house. The courtyards on both sides are spacious..."
The Imperial Noble Consort was quite at peace with this. As long as she could settle down, it would be much happier than wandering around all the time. She was a person who was easily content.
Since her mother had nodded and given the order, Wen Liyu could only curl her lips and agree with some grievance. The two women began to help the little boy Wen Chengming clean up the house inside and out.
Cheng Weiyao, on the other hand, focused on the kitchen. Money was tight and life was tough, so she planned to make some snacks tonight and test the waters at the market tomorrow...
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