Chapter 650: The House Buyer (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Everyone)
Because they were thinking of stealing lotus seeds, they decided not to go to the library in the afternoon.
Bai Shan took the lotus pod to school. During the lunch break, he rocked the lotus pod to the library and gave it to Mr. Wu who was sitting in front reading a book.
Mr. Wu raised his eyes from his book, squinted at him for a moment, and said, "It's you."
He reached out to take the lotus pod, smelled it and said with a smile, "It's quite fresh."
He glanced at Bai Shan's empty hands, put the lotus pod aside and asked, "You're sending it now? Aren't you coming to the library after school?"
"I have something to do today so I won't come. Goodbye, Mr. Wu." He just came to give him a lotus pod, and he would naturally leave after that.
Mr. Wu didn't stop him, but waved him away.
The clerk who worked as an assistant to Mr. Wu saw this and couldn't help but be curious, "Mr. Wu, why does this classmate Bai always bring you food?"
Mr. Wu put the lotus pod under the table, picked up the book again, and said lightly, "We get along well."
Little Officer: ...This reason is also amazing.
Manbao and the other three spent an entire afternoon picking all the ripe lotus pods in the lotus pond at Yan's house. Then, taking advantage of the proximity of their two homes, they used ropes to hang baskets filled with lotus pods over one by one.
It is the right time to eat lotus seeds, but eating too much is not good either.
The cook left some for them, peeled the rest and dried them in the sun, and also made them a bowl of lotus seed soup made with fresh lotus seeds.
After eating it, Manbao felt that it was worse than eating raw lotus seeds.
Bai Shan thought so too, so they all refused to eat the lotus seed soup made by the cook, and then took the lotus pods that she had not yet peeled back to the room and put them in a cool place, intending to keep them for eating.
Because there were many lotus pods at home, Bai Shan was particularly generous and stuffed a lot of them into his school basket the next day, intending to take them to his teacher and a few classmates he was on good terms with.
Bai Erlang stuffed a lot of things into his backpack, even putting a lot of Manbao into it, intending to take it to Doctor Ji and others in the pharmacy.
Seeing that they had all made friends outside, Mr. Zhuang nodded with satisfaction. However, he felt a little jealous that he only had three lotus pods here.
Just as he was thinking about it, the cook came in with a bowl of lotus seed soup and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhuang, I made lotus seed soup. It's so hot, would you like to have a bowl to cool down?"
Mr. Zhuang immediately coughed lightly and said, "Actually, the weather isn't that hot now..."
The cook had already put down the bowl and, in the process, took the three lotus pods from the desk. She said, "Sir, it's not good to eat lotus pods so early in the morning. I'll keep them for you and peel them later. You can eat them as fruit after lunch."
Mr. Zhuang was unable to stop her, and Aunt Rong took the lotus pod and left.
Mr. Zhuang sighed and resigned himself to moving the lotus seed soup over.
No one knew that the Yan residence next door had opened its door early this morning, and County Magistrate Tang personally led a group of people in.
As he walked, he introduced the house to the leader: "Mr. Bai, look at this porch. Am I right? It's square and neat. The Yan family must have put a lot of thought into building this house, so the feng shui is excellent."
Mr. Bai stopped and looked for a while, then nodded and said, "That's right, but it's a place where officials have been punished, so it's bound to be unlucky."
County Magistrate Tang smiled disapprovingly and said, "I beg your pardon. Forget the capital, just look at Yizhou Prefecture. How many mansions and official residences are left behind by convicted officials or officials from previous dynasties? No matter how many there are, there are not enough to rob."
Mr. Bai asked with a smile, "Then why hasn't this Yan residence been sold yet?"
"This is my fault. I refused to lower the price, no matter how many people asked. Then there were the evildoers who interfered, which is why it's been delayed until now." County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "It was only after catching those criminals that I realized this: this house needs to be occupied and cared for. Otherwise, it will just be a profit for some evildoers."
"And it just so happened that just when I was willing to lower the price, the official was interested in buying the house. Since we are not merchants, but colleagues in the court, I can offer you a lower price."
Of course, Mr. Bai would not lower his status to do such a bargaining, and neither would County Magistrate Tang. They both stopped at the agreed price.
But Mr. Bai also recognized his tone, and he was probably unwilling to go down any further.
He walked along the corridor into the second courtyard with his hands behind his back, looked at the flowers, plants and trees growing wildly, as well as some spiders that were active inside with their doors open, and sighed deeply. Buying a house like this would take a lot of time just to clean, tidy and rearrange it.
However, there are no houses of similar size and location for sale. After all, who would sell such a property unless the family business is in decline?
He sent people to search for three months, and finally found this place to be the most suitable.
Moreover, the price is indeed much cheaper.
Thinking of this, Mr. Bai coughed lightly and said, "Master Tang, I heard that the garden of this house is very well done. Why don't we go and take a look?"
County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "Mr. Bai, please tell me about the Yan residence's garden. It's incredibly famous. Back then, Governor Yan was known for his love of fine arts. He collected many rare flowers and trees in his backyard and even spent a fortune transporting a rockery to be placed near the lotus pond. In winter, the wind sounds like the sound of a flute; in spring, it's like the gurgling of a spring. In summer and autumn, climbing the mountain to admire the lotus is a truly unique experience."
County Magistrate Tang spoke eloquently and said with a smile, "But if you ask me, my favorite is the lotus pond at the Yan residence. It's called a lotus pond, but it's been carefully dug, almost like a small lake. It's crescent-shaped, with weeping willows planted on the curved side. In spring and summer, the old ladies in the mansion can take a leisurely stroll along the lotus pond and see the lotus flowers..."
County Magistrate Tang paused, retracted his gaze from the lotus pond, and continued with a smile, "You must be happy to see the lotus flowers and leaves in the lotus pond."
Mr. Bai also saw the lotus pond. He stroked his beard, smiled and nodded, "It looks good."
He walked along the lotus pond. County Magistrate Tang moved his hand but did not stop him.
He gritted his teeth secretly, then followed with a smile.
Sure enough, as they walked a little further up, Mr. Bai saw the boat parked on the shore, the wooden planks inside, and some wet marks on the shore. He exclaimed, "Huh?" and asked, "County Magistrate Tang, is there anyone else in this garden?"
County Magistrate Tang smiled and said, "No, I just knew that Mr. Bai would come to inspect the house in person today, so I sent someone to check yesterday to see if there was anything unsafe. This wooden boat is several years old, and I guess the servants wanted to test whether it could still carry people, so they launched it into the water."
Mr. Bai nodded and looked at the lotus pond. He found that it was cooler here than elsewhere and it was very pleasant when the breeze blew through.
He turned and walked upwards to check other parts of the garden.
I just saw a book friend comment about the issue of deleted comments. In fact, it was not deleted by the administrator or me. It was deleted because the website captured sensitive fonts or other reasons, so please understand.
Nowadays, there are more words blocked on the website. For example, the word "ghost" cannot appear in the title. Basically, the administrator Mo Yan and I will not delete comments, whether they are praises or criticisms, or discussions about the plot, as long as they are not personal attacks, we will let the book review area grow freely.
(End of this chapter)
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