38 Chapter 38
◎Ancient Grandet◎
"Wow," Jiang Qingrong opened her mouth in amazement as she looked at the colorful city in front of her and the busy streets, "This city is so lively..."
"Be careful!" Jiang Jingyun, who was in a daze, heard the voice and opened his eyes to see his little sister lying on the car window with half of her body leaning out. He was so frightened that he immediately jumped up and hugged her back. After finding that she was safe and sound, he belatedly breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang Qingrong was completely unaware of her elder brother's fear. Instead, she found his reaction very funny and kept giggling. Her peach blossom eyes, which were exactly the same as Jiang Jingyun's, stared at him with round, sparkling eyes: "Brother, the city is so big, and there are so many people! Are we going to live here from now on?"
"..., um." The soft and tender sister looked so cute that I couldn't scold her.
Jiang Jingyun held her in his arms and sat back in his seat, then turned around and saw the two monkeys jumping up and down in the carriage. He immediately became angry and shouted, "Don't move around in the carriage, be quiet!"
"Oh..." The two brothers curled their lips and despised their eldest brother's partiality, but they still sat down obediently. The third brother Jiang Jingfeng silently took out his book and sat in the corner to read quietly; the second brother Jiang Jinglin also sat down, but he couldn't calm down, rummaging left and right, never stopping for a moment.
Jiang Jingyun looked at the hyperactive child and couldn't help but said, "You have thorns on your body. You keep itching all over."
Seeing that his elder brother was willing to talk to him, Jiang Jinglin didn't mind his bad tone and came up to him with a smile: "Brother, how long will it take us to get there? It's so tiring to ride in a carriage."
"It should be soon." Jiang Jingyun said unhappily, not noticing that they looked tired at all. On the contrary, he was originally just a little dizzy from the shaking of the carriage, and now he also felt a dull headache.
He just looked and saw that the carriage had already gone a long way into the city and would probably reach the inn soon. Just in case, before getting off the car, Jiang Jingyun once again reminded the three children, "There are many people in the city, so follow me closely and don't run around. Otherwise, if you are caught by human traffickers, you will never come back. Do you hear me?"
"I heard it..." Three voices rang out one after another.
Not to mention that the youngest sister is already eight years old this year, Jiang Jinglin alone is already fifteen years old this year, which is old enough for marriage in other families, but the eldest brother still treats them like children all day long.
After a while of arguing, they noticed that the carriage outside had stopped. They lifted the curtain and looked out, and found that they had arrived at their destination.
Xiao Muyan helped Jiang Jingyun, whose legs were weak, get out of the car. Seeing his pale and haggard face, he couldn't help but feel distressed. "Why don't you rest in the inn for a while in the afternoon? Brother Jiang and I will go find a house."
Opening a restaurant in the city requires its own manpower. Brother Jiang's child is not yet born, so it is not easy for him to travel far. Therefore, only the second brother came with him this time. When he heard Xiao Muyan mention his name, the second brother responded readily: "Yes, you go and have a rest. The two of us can go. I haven't been to the city yet, so it's a good opportunity to go around and look around."
As a result, when Jiang Jinglin heard that they could visit the city, he insisted on going with them.
There was no choice but for the two of them to take this burden with them.
Before leaving, Jiang Jingyun was worried and carefully reminded his younger brother to follow closely and not to be left alone. As a result, Jiang Jinglin's mind was full of thoughts of going out to play, and he only responded with a perfunctory "hmm" to his elder brother's sincere concern.
He was so angry that he poked his brother's head several times. Finally, he looked at Xiao Muyan helplessly, complaining, but his tone was a spoiled one that he didn't even notice. "Really, you were so well-behaved when you were a child, but it hasn't been long since you grew up to be this annoying."
Although he didn't say it explicitly, Xiao Muyan knew what he meant. He nodded with a smile on his face and said, "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him."
With Xiao Muyan's guarantee, Jiang Jingyun felt at ease with the remaining two well-behaved children lying in the inn. After sitting in the carriage for three consecutive days, his bones were almost broken.
Although Su Yuheng agreed to do business together and even took charge of the site selection and decoration of the restaurant, they still had to find a house to live in. The land in the city was expensive and funds were limited, so they could only rent a yard for the time being.
As they had just arrived and were unfamiliar with the place, Xiao Muyan took Jiang Erge and his brother directly to a human trafficking agency. With the introduction of the human trafficker, they looked at several houses in the city in one afternoon, and finally hesitated between two.
One is a smaller apartment, with only one entrance and four rooms. It is close to the official school and is relatively close to the academy. The environment is relatively quiet and people living nearby are all scholars, but the annual rent is forty-five taels of silver. Another is closer to the suburbs, with two entrances and a large yard. The house is a bit shabby and it takes more than three quarters of an hour to walk to the academy. The annual rent is thirty taels of silver.
Second Brother Jiang scratched his head and looked at Xiao Muyan with some uncertainty: "How about we go back first and ask Fifth Brother what he thinks?"
"No need, choose the second set." Xiao Muyan said firmly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, he should like it." According to Jiang Jingyun's free and easy nature, he would definitely rather walk a few more steps than having a group of people squeezed in a small room. What's more, the rent of this unit is even cheaper. Thinking of that man's greedy look, Xiao Muyan couldn't help laughing.
"Okay, then this one." It's just a rental anyway, and if I don't like it, I can change it after the lease period is up.
The price was just too high. When he heard the offer, Jiang Er couldn't help but gasp. He looked at the broker who was standing not far away to avoid suspicion, intending to bargain, "Young man, this house has been abandoned for a long time, and the yard is full of moss and weeds. I just took a closer look and found that half of the wall has collapsed, and many tiles on the roof are broken. It will definitely leak when it rains. It will cost us a lot of money to renovate it. Look at the rent..."
The broker was a shrewd man and immediately understood what Second Brother Jiang meant. He wanted to rent the house, but thought the rent was too expensive.
His face was full of smiles, but his words were a ruthless rejection: "Sir, this is already the lowest price. The land in the city is very expensive, and this is a large house with two entrances. Moreover, there is a well in the yard. You don't have to go out to buy water for daily drinking and washing, and you can save a lot of money. Don't you agree?"
Hearing him mention the well, Jiang Jinglin, who had nothing to do, went to the yard to take a look. After a while, he came back and said with a look of disgust on his face: "Second cousin, the well is dry, and there is grass growing underneath!"
Second Brother Jiang looked at Ren Yazi without saying anything.
The broker smiled awkwardly and said that the well had not been used for a long time and would dry up if it was filled with mud. If they dug deeper, there would definitely be water.
The three of them did not respond, and for a moment the two sides were in a stalemate.
Second Brother Jiang pretended to ask Xiao Muyan for his opinion: "What do you think?" Xiao Muyan always looked like he didn't want to be approached by strangers. Now he had a cold face and didn't say anything, which was quite intimidating. It was just right for him to play the role of the good guy.
After asking, Jiang Erge glanced at him randomly, pretending to understand what he meant, and shook his head regretfully, "The house is too shabby, the location is too remote, and the price is too expensive. Let's look for another one."
After saying that, the three of them prepared to go out.
Seeing that the man was really going to leave, the broker became anxious and hurriedly stopped him. After thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "Twenty-eight taels a year, no less!"
Second Brother Jiang looked at Xiao Muyan again, and when he saw him nod slightly, he decided the matter.
After the price was agreed upon, a lease agreement still needed to be signed, but the owner was not present and it was getting late, so the agent could only arrange to come back early the next morning to sign the contract. Jiang Erge agreed.
When the three of them returned to the inn, it was already three quarters past three in the evening. Jiang Jingyun had already prepared food and was waiting for them to come back.
"Fifth brother, you are really thoughtful." Second Brother Jiang sat down at the table, picked up the bowl and started eating. He had been running outside all day and was already starving.
Jiang Jingyun picked up a piece of food for the little sister next to him who couldn't reach the food with his short arms, and asked, "How was your house search this afternoon?"
"We went to several houses with the real estate agent and finally selected two." Brother Jiang carefully described the two houses to him while eating his rice. At the end, he asked, "Which one do you think is better?"
Jiang Jingyun made a choice without hesitation, "Let's go for the second one. It's spacious and the rent is cheaper. It doesn't matter if it's a little remote. I can use it as a morning exercise..."
Brother Jiang smiled and said, "Xiao Muyan knows you very well. He said you would definitely like the second set. He has already made an appointment with the agent and will be able to sign the contract tomorrow morning."
"Oh?" Jiang Jingyun raised his eyebrows and looked at Xiao Muyan, "You know me so well, what if I don't like you?"
"If you don't like it, change it." Anyway, I have saved a lot of money doing business with Jiang Jingyun in the past two years. It's only right to spend it on myself. Xiao Muyan put some food in his bowl. Jiang Jingyun ate a little less after traveling for days. He looked thinner. "Rest early after eating. We can move in tomorrow."
Jiang Jingyun looked down at the dish in the bowl. It was the flavor he usually liked. A smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of his mouth and he nodded in agreement.
Early the next morning, the agent and the owner brought the house deed, and the Jiang family brought the household register. After both parties looked at each other and confirmed that they were correct, they signed the lease contract and paid the one-year rent and the agent's commission in one go.
After that, it's time to settle down.
Nearly one hundred taels of silver were spent at once. Although the family had some spare money, they still needed money to run a business and for daily life, so they tried to save as much as possible. Except for hiring specialized craftsmen for digging a well, they did all the other masonry work for house repairs by themselves.
Anyway, it’s not the first time to do this. Everyone has done it before when building vegetable greenhouses in the village. Everyone is a skilled worker, but the work is a lot and heavy, so it’s a bit tiring.
In order to save money, Jiang Jingyun would specially ask around before making any purchases to find out which store has the most affordable rice, which store has the most affordable vegetables and meat, and even compare prices before buying a few green onions.
He is so stingy that he is just like an ancient version of Grandet.
After renting a house, they moved in and started working at dawn every day.
At the beginning, the children were responsible for chores such as cleaning the house and weeding the yard, while the three adults were responsible for heavy work such as repairing the roof and building walls.
But after less than a day, the weakest one, Jiang Jingyun, was so exhausted that his face turned pale. His family was afraid that he would collapse from heatstroke again, so they sent him to the same team with the children and only let him do light work such as cleaning and cooking.
After several days of busy work, I finally tidied the house inside and out.
Although Jiang Jingyun is stingy, he is never stingy when it comes to food.
On the day of official move-in, he worked hard to prepare a large table of delicious dishes to reward his family for their hard work over the past few days and to celebrate their successful settlement in the city.
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