Chapter 214 Settlement
Xia Daohua had a curious look on her face. She looked around as she walked and was not at all shy when facing the natives of Jixiang County.
She quickly made friends with the enthusiastic and talkative locals and asked about the situation in the city. In less than a quarter of an hour, she had learned the basic situation of Jixiang County.
The outer city of Jixiang County is the area from the city gate to the inner city wall, which is inhabited by the native civilians of Jixiang County and people from other places who come to make a living.
She only saw the walls of the inner city, but was not qualified to enter.
Because the inner city was reserved for officials and wealthy families in Jixiang County, outsiders had to live in the local area for a certain number of years before they were eligible to live in the inner city.
Of course, this does not apply to officials, clerks, and slaves who come here on official business.
If people from the outer city need to go to the county government to do business, they can also enter the inner city, but they need someone to act as a guarantor - such as a guarantor from an official brokerage firm, or natives or officials who already live in the inner city.
After the three families entered the city, they only stopped at a wonton stall near the city gate to rest, have a bowl of hot wontons, and inquire about some news.
The first thing to do after that was to go straight to the dental clinic.
They had to rent a yard to live in first, settle down the whole family, and then slowly buy land and houses.
The mule carts used by the family for traveling can also be disposed of at the same time. At least for the Xia family, the family does not need so many mule carts for the time being.
When looking for a place to live and buy a yard, the Xia family had different opinions from the Hu family and the Zhao family. In fact, not only did the three families have different plans, but the Xia family alone also had very different ideas.
The Hu family wanted to go to the countryside to farm and did not want to live in the county seat of Jixiang County.
The Zhao family also wanted to farm, but they didn't want to go too far, just in the suburbs of Jixiang County.
The Xia family's idea is to settle down in the county.
Xia Dalang needs to find a college to study.
Wulang had to go to a private school or academy.
The second couple want to farm, the third couple want to work, and the fifth couple want to do some small business.
The couple wanted to buy some land to farm their own crops, but the children wanted to continue running the store and selling the Daohuaxiang series of products.
In the end, the three families pooled their money and rented a large tenement house for a short period of time.
They agreed to live together for the time being.
Firstly, we cherish the affection for each other. Secondly, when we first arrive in a strange place, we will feel braver with more people around and can more or less take care of each other. Thirdly, this also saves money.
It won’t be too late to separate when you find land or shops that suit your ideas and buy or rent a house that suits you.
The yard that the three families rented for a short period of time was near the dental clinic, about fifteen minutes' walk away.
This large compound was originally a standard courtyard house, but later the owner built a few more houses for the convenience of renting out.
However, ordinary families could not live in so many rooms, and the landlord's own family also lived in several rooms, so he divided the entire yard into parts for rent.
Gradually, a well-maintained courtyard housed more than a dozen families.
These tenants have different sources of income. Sometimes some of them cannot afford the rent and have to move out.
Of course, there are also people who have become wealthy and feel that the environment here is not good, so they move to the inner city.
The previous wave of tenants was a theatre troupe. Later, the mainstays of the troupe were spotted by powerful people, who spent a large sum of money to buy them from the troupe owner.
The troupe owner was getting old, and after wandering around for a long time, he couldn't help but miss his hometown. After much thought, he simply disbanded the troupe, took the money and a child, and returned to his hometown in the south.
The yard became vacant and was listed in a property market for a long time, but no suitable tenant was found.
When the Xia family, the Hu family, and the Zhao family saw this house and looked at the layout and number of houses, they all felt somewhat satisfied.
The landlord had not found a tenant for this house for some time, and he couldn't help but feel a little anxious. He bargained with the three families and the broker for almost two hours, and drank several pots of tea, before finally agreeing on a price that satisfied both parties.
This courtyard is located in the outer city and is not a stand-alone house. Its only advantages are that it has a large area, many houses, a kang, and a well in the yard.
Therefore, the rent for the yard was three taels of silver per month, which was thirty-six taels for the whole year.
There were exactly three families, and each family contributed twelve taels of silver.
The burden is not too heavy, but it is indeed painful.
The Xia family was allocated sixteen rooms on the north side.
The old couple lived in one room, Xia Xuejiao, Xiao'e and Qianniang lived in one room, Xia Yujiao and Qiu Saozi each lived in one room, Xia Dalang and A Liu lived in one room, Xia Yougui and Sun lived in one room, Xia Erlang and Zhou Yunniang lived in one room, the three Taohua sisters lived in one room, Sanlang and Silang lived in one room, Grandma Qu and the Zhou children lived in one room, Xia Youxi and Wu lived in one room, Lanhua and Juhua lived in one room, Xia Youtian, Jiang and Huaihua lived in one room, Lihua, Wulang, Xia Daohua and Linghua lived in one room, Xia Youliang and Cheng lived in one room, and Liulang and Zaohua lived in one room.
Everyone contributed about the same amount of money, but the second family had more people and occupied the most rooms.
Sun felt that she had gotten the upper hand, and she looked at the children brought by Zhou and Grandma Qu with particular favor.
Sun didn't know that Erlang had secretly given the money to Zhou.
Unlike Sun, Erlang never wanted to eat or take more than he deserved.
Everyone hurriedly unloaded their luggage and belongings from the car, stuffed them into their own rooms, and then lined up in the big kitchen to boil water for washing - this is one of the shortcomings of this courtyard - the kitchen is shared, not that each family has their own kitchen.
Fortunately, we have developed enough tacit understanding by walking together all the way.
They also adapt well to things like queuing up to boil water.
There was no dispute.
Xia Daohua asked others to line up first while she stayed in the house to decorate the room.
Anyway, there is space, so moving things around is effortless.
And you can also take out the things that were previously hidden in the space and smuggled in, one by one, and mix them in with the large amount of luggage, so that people will find out without realizing it: "Oh, I brought this with me!"
By the time Xia Daohua got the chance to take a bath, it was already dark.
In order to save money, Zhou told the children to be more frugal and not to waste candles and oil by lighting lamps, but to just take a bath in the dark.
After hearing this, Xia Daohua suddenly felt very happy.
She locked the door, quietly sneaked into the space, took a refreshing bath in the space, and then came out again without anyone seeing her. It was so convenient!
For this convenience, Xia Daohua specifically suggested that Linghua and Lihua wash before her.
Lihua was embarrassed to decline and declined, but Xia Daohua said:
"Sister, I'm just being lazy. You and Linghua should take a shower first. The hard job of scrubbing this little mud monkey Linghua's bath will all be yours!"
Linghua pouted and said, "I'm not a little mud monkey!"
Xia Daohua smiled and said, "Well, you are not a little clay monkey, you are a little clay figurine."
(End of this chapter)
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