Chapter 2209 Stay
While the shopkeeper was surrounded, Manbao and the others went upstairs again, opened the window and looked at the lake across the street. "Such a nice place, if we weren't in a hurry, it would be nice to stay here for ten days or half a month."
Bai Shan was thoughtful: "Are we on the road?"
Manbao also fell into deep thought, "It seems that we are not in a hurry."
The two looked at each other, and Bai Erlang beside them nodded excitedly, "Yes, yes, we are not in a hurry, we are here to study!"
Yin Huo nodded reservedly and said, "The scenery here is nice. We can stay for a while."
Liu Huan touched his waist and said, "My bones are almost broken from riding in cars these past few days. Mr. Zhuang must be more tired than us."
Manbao and Baishan looked at the people who were bargaining with the shopkeeper below, and immediately turned around and rushed down, pushing the guards out and going up themselves.
Manbao said, "I originally only wanted to stay for two days, but seeing that the scenery here is quite good, it's okay to stay for ten or twenty days."
Bai Shan: "But there are so many of us, and the rent is so high that it's not cost-effective."
Ale forced a smile and said, "If you are satisfied with this courtyard, I can offer a lower price. This large courtyard has many rooms, and it is more than enough for the guards to live in a room with two people..."
Bai Shan interrupted him and said, "We still have more than a hundred people outside."
Ah Le was startled when he heard this, then he reacted with surprise and said even more enthusiastically, "Are you all going to rent a courtyard? If you guys book our inn, I can give you a 10% discount on the monthly rent."
Bai Shan thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, 20%. We may not stay for a full month, but we will definitely stay for 20 days. I heard that there are strong sandstorms in the desert from time to time, so we will check the weather. If the weather is sunny and windy for the next period of time, we will set off in about 20 days. You can charge us 80% of the monthly rent for 20 days."
When Ale heard this, his toothache worsened. Just as he was about to speak, Manbao said, "It's okay to just give us water, but you also have to provide us with firewood for free."
Bai Shan nodded: "Not bad."
The trees in the desert are not easy to cut down. They are not locals and have no idea where to get the firewood. Instead of worrying about it later, it is better to let the inn take care of it.
Ale did some calculations and disagreed.
Zhou Liru, who ran down behind him, said to him in Hu language, "Boss, there are not many customers in this town right now, and there are so many empty yards. If you don't want to rent it, we can go to other houses. You still need people to clean this yard if it's empty, so why not rent it to us? The rent is not cheap."
Liu Huan was still calculating in his mind how much this was worth, but after a long while he couldn't figure it out, so he turned around and asked Bai Erlang, "Do you know how much it is?"
Bai Erlang glanced at him and said, "If we stay for a full month, it will be four taels of silver per month. If we only stay for twenty days, it will be two taels and seven qian of silver."
"That's right," Manbao said. Although he couldn't quite understand the local people's nonsense, he could understand what Zhou Liru said because she spoke slowly and with their own accent. She continued in Chinese, "We need to rent at least six large courtyards like this. By the way, do you have so many large courtyards?"
Ale: "...What a coincidence, exactly six."
Manbao sighed, "So this is fate."
Bai Shan continued, "There's another caravan with us. They're not very large, but there are quite a few of them. Even if they don't rent a yard, they'll stay at the inn. These are all guests we brought with us. Boss, I heard that there hasn't been a decent caravan in this town for a long time."
To be honest, Ale was very tempted, but the price was really too low.
Bai Erlang counted on his fingers and said, "We didn't bring a cook with us. The guards were fine, but we're not used to their cooking, so we still have to pay for food and other expenses..."
Ale gritted his teeth and nodded, "Okay, but let me make it clear in advance that if you don't stay for twenty days, the rent will be calculated based on twenty days."
Manbao and the others immediately nodded happily in agreement, "No problem."
They will definitely stay for twenty days and will definitely not waste the rent!
Bai Shan then called a guard and asked him to go to the front to pick up General Nie and the others. "Tell them that we have booked an inn and ask them to come quickly."
The young man who was squeezed out could not help but stare in amazement. It took him a while to find his voice, "So, are the new convoy coming to the intersection the same group as you?"
Manbao nodded. "Of course. Didn't you see we didn't bring any luggage? How could we go so far without luggage?"
YOUTH: ...If you hadn’t told him, he wouldn’t have noticed.
Ale had just made a big deal, and then he thought of asking, "These gentlemen and ladies don't look like they're out doing business, are they?"
Bai Shan then said modestly, "We are traveling with the teacher to study."
Ale breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "No wonder the young master is so generous."
Six large courtyards must be reserved. Merchants coming and going would be reluctant to spend so much money. At most, they would live in a courtyard with their trusted associates, while the others would sleep in dormitories in the inn.
Bai Shan accepted the compliment, mainly because they now had too many jewels and valuables in their luggage. The last time they stayed in the inn, they needed more than 20 people to guard them for one night. They couldn't do the same here.
There are so many people living in the inn, who knows when something might be lost?
It’s better to have a separate door and yard. This yard is not small, and it is no problem to park four carriages in it.
Seeing that they had reached an agreement, Daji stepped forward to pay the money.
After Bai Shan and his companions negotiated a price, they broke out in a sweat and felt refreshed. So they followed the shopkeeper back to the inn, where they could not only enjoy the lake breeze but also see what delicious food the inn had.
Manbao gave the dime to the young man, then said with a smile: "By the way, I also want to ask if you have any good cooks here."
We can't really let the guards and those soldiers cook for themselves, right?
So if you can hire two cooks, you should hire two.
The young man was cheered up and immediately said, "My mother and my sister-in-law can cook."
Manbao and his six friends: ...They really never forget to promote their own products.
General Nie, who had finally gotten rid of the crowd at the street corner, opened his mouth in surprise when he saw the yard they had booked. When he learned that they had booked it for twenty days, everyone was speechless.
One soldier couldn't help but approach General Nie and asked, "Sir, this...isn't it considered dereliction of duty?"
General Nie came back to his senses and said calmly, "Maybe there's a famous doctor here? It takes some time to find a famous doctor and prescriptions."
Soldiers: ...If you say so, then it is.
The two pedestrians also came back to their senses from the shock, looked at each other and calmed down a little. Forget it, let's just treat this trip as a trip.
I don’t know if they will be able to return to the capital by this time next year.
See you at 9pm
(End of this chapter)
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