Chapter 31 The Rabbit Has Three Burrows:
Actually, finding a place to stay is easy, but Rong Xie is a very troublesome person.
He has extremely high requirements for his living environment.
The living environment here includes both the physical environment and the living environment.
The actual environment refers to the structure and functional layout of the house, and whether it can meet the needs of living, washing clothes, cooking, reading, and taking walks.
The living environment is more complex, mainly referring to the people you need to maintain your life and whether they are easy to get along with.
Perhaps Huanxue Manor raised Rong Xie's standards for quality of life. He could no longer tolerate the life of seven or eight men crammed into a large dormitory room for inner disciples, nor could he tolerate the gossipy, morally manipulative, and specious living environment of Shen Family Manor. He had to find a place similar to Huanxue Manor, perhaps smaller, but quiet and with easy-going people around him.
Rong Xie found it difficult to describe this feeling to Wang Mu. At the best restaurant in Yingbin Town, Wang Mu listened intently as Rong Xie talked for a long time, but still couldn't understand and looked completely bewildered.
"So you're looking for a place like Huanxue Manor?" Wang Mu tried to understand Rong Xie's words. "I'll keep an eye out!"
It's acceptable to think of it as a place like Huanxue Mountain Villa... At worst, I can go and investigate on-site myself; I can't completely rely on Wang Mu anyway.
"Thank you very much. This is the advance payment." Rong Xie took out a spirit stone and handed it to Wang Mu.
"Hehe, how could I accept this!" Wang Mu took the spirit stone and neatly stuffed it into his pocket.
After agreeing on a time to meet Wang Mu again, Rong Xie returned to the manor.
Once the place was settled, Rong Xie paid to buy it as soon as possible. If nothing went wrong, all would be well; if something did go wrong, they could move there immediately.
As for the money, Rong Xie didn't know how much a house cost on the market. The price would vary depending on the location and the style of the house. He would ask for the specific price later. Speaking of which, he didn't know how much Huanxue Villa cost Shen Bingsi.
How much did Huanxue Mountain Villa cost?
During dinner, Shen Bingsi returned from socializing at the main peak and ate with Rong Xie in the courtyard of their bedroom. The two chatted casually, and Rong Xie asked him this question.
Shen Bingsi thought for a long time and then gave a number, which was surprisingly small.
"Only this much?" Rong Xie was surprised, and his heart began to stir. If Shen Bingsi agreed, he could add a little more money to his savings and give it all to Shen Bingsi so that she could find another place to live.
“Yes, this land originally belonged to the sect, and it didn’t cost me any money to allocate it to me. The main expense was the cost of building the house. The young master craftsman at the Shengjing Palace workshop is an acquaintance of the old sect leader. I heard that he gave me a lot of discounts for building houses for the Lingjing Sect, so it didn’t cost much,” Shen Bingsi said.
"That's wonderful," Rong Xie exclaimed.
"Why are you asking this?" Shen Bingsi found it amusing. "Why do you sound like you're envious of others? Aren't you the one living in this house?"
“...That’s true.” Rong Xie thought, no, residence and property rights are two different things.
"However, besides the money spent on buying the villa, the daily maintenance must also cost a lot," Rong Xie said, stroking his chin.
Rong Xie had some understanding of this. He was in charge of the daily management of the manor. He repaired what he could himself, but there were many things he couldn't fix. Shen Bing Si would then wave his hand and say, "Replace it with a new one! Smash it and rebuild it! Go to Shengjing and find someone to do it!"
Shen Bingsi handled all the negotiations in Shengjing. Whether it was raw materials or labor, Shen Bingsi would choose the same level of quality as when the manor was first built, and the price would definitely be high.
"I haven't calculated it," Shen Bingsi said truthfully. "Anyway, money is meant to be spent. Any one weapon we get from our inventory is enough to renovate the house. Don't bother with such a small thing."
Shen Bingsi thought Rong Xie was going to keep accounts of income and expenditure. In fact, Rong Xie did do it normally, but he only kept the accounts of what he knew. He didn't care about the accounts of what went out of Shen Bingsi's own pocket (nor could he).
Rong Xie didn't explain, which made Shen Bingsi happy to find reasons for him.
According to Shen Bingsi, renovating the house would cost the price of a weapon, which could give an estimate of the annual maintenance costs... This was a huge expense, and it would only increase over time.
Based on this calculation, buying a house requires a large sum of money, and maintaining the house also requires a large sum of money. Without a powerful backer like the Spirit Mirror Sect, the expenses could potentially double or even several times over.
With the existing savings, it's impossible to maintain the current quality of life.
I have a bit of a headache.
"Rong'er, you deserve a lot of credit for quelling the rumors this time. Even the old sect leader praised you as a talent and told me to repay you properly," Shen Bingsi said with a smile. "Is there anything you want? Anywhere you want to go?"
Rong Xie snapped out of his daze. What had Shen Bingsi just said? The old sect leader had even praised him? He suddenly felt a little embarrassed, his face flushing slightly, but he was in a very good mood: "Really? Actually, I didn't do anything..."
Wait, what about a reward? Can I ask for money? Can I ask for a house? Isn't that asking for too much...?
“We are best friends, we are all in this together. How could I stand by and watch you be slandered? As for repayment… there’s no need.” Rong Xie’s mouth was faster than his thoughts. By the time he realized what was happening, he had already answered as usual.
Shen Bingsi seemed to have anticipated his words and grabbed his hand: "No, I've already made up my mind. This time, I'm going to give you something and take you out to play. Maybe we can go out and see what we want while we're at it."
Go out... to play?
This was something new and interesting to Rong Xie.
He rarely goes out, let alone goes out to play.
The outside world is vast, with magnificent scenery, bustling cities, and all sorts of people.
But he couldn't muster any interest.
The thought of the terrible living conditions outside, where even having an inn was considered good, and sometimes having to sleep outdoors in the wind and rain, and eating was an adventure, with no idea what might be crawling in those dirty, dark corners of the kitchen... made Rong Xie lose all interest in going out to play.
The roads were also in terrible condition. The only roads that could be considered proper roads were the imperial highways connecting the capital to a few major cities. Even on those highways, the carriage rides were so bumpy that you would fall apart. Waves of horses and carriages would pass by, kicking up clouds of dust. No matter how thick the carriage curtains were, they couldn't block out the smell of dust. You would get a choking sensation as soon as you spoke. It was nothing like the comfort of enjoying a gentle breeze in the flower hall.
“I don’t like going out,” Rong Xie replied. “I prefer staying at home.”
"..."
Shen Bingsi remained silent for a moment.
Although it was the answer he expected, he was still a little disappointed.
On his way back from the main peak, he happened to pass by the Red Fragrance Pavilion again, and coincidentally overheard a young Taoist couple having private conversations there.
“Awang, people say that newlywed couples need to go to the Southern Island of Haizhou to complete their union. The Southern Island is the southernmost point of our Five Continents. Going there is like reaching the end of the world, symbolizing that this couple can be together forever.”
"But Ju'er, our inner sect assessment is coming soon, and I'm not ready yet. It will take a lot of time to go, so why don't we wait until after the assessment?"
"You stinky Awang, Senior Brother Zhang has already taken Senior Sister Su along. He said that going on trips not only strengthens the bond between Daoist partners, but also allows them to absorb the essence of the earth veins during dual cultivation, leading to faster progress. You..."
He then said some useless nonsense, which Shen Bingsi filtered out.
"Will absorbing the essence of the earth's veins while traveling make your progress faster...?" Shen Bingsi was overjoyed, having learned another lesson from him.
However, figuring out how to coax Rong Xie out is a big problem.
After much deliberation, Shen Bingsi decided to use the old sect leader's name to praise Rong Xie and say that she would reward him.
Seeing her best friend's embarrassed smile, Shen Bingsi knew that her tactic had worked.
Unfortunately, at the last moment, Rong Xie still retreated.
“That won’t do,” Shen Bingsi said seriously. “The old sect leader will ask me. I didn’t do anything. How am I supposed to explain this to him?”
“Hmm…” Rong Xie hesitated. If it were Shen Bing Si’s suggestion, it would be fine, but this was Elder Xue’s suggestion. “Then… let’s go somewhere nearby.”
"Nearby places? Where do you want to go?" Shen Bingsi thought of scenic spots and historical sites such as "Shengjing", "Qianbo Lake" and "Tanxiang Temple".
"Let's go to Lotus Town," Rong Xie said. "I want to eat Master Hao's tofu pudding. Let's set off early tomorrow morning, have some tofu pudding, do some sightseeing, and come back by noon."
"..." Shen Bingsi squeezed the edge of the stone table so hard it made a "crunching" sound. "No."
Rong Xie asked helplessly, "Then where do you want to go?"
"How about... Shengjing?" Shen Bingsi asked.
He wanted to say Haizhou South Island, but Rong Xie would definitely refuse immediately.
Invitations also require strategy. It's definitely not good to invite someone too far away all at once. First, accumulate some experience in traveling nearby, then arouse interest in traveling further afield. Wait for a clear and sunny day to make the invitation, and you'll have at least a 50-60% chance of success.
Of course, this applies to someone like Rong Xie who is a homebody. If the other person is also someone who likes to travel around... what does that have to do with Shen Bing Si?
"Why go to such a far place?" Rong Xie asked in surprise, the words of refusal swirling in his throat.
Suddenly, he realized that there must be many mansions like Huanxue Manor in the mountainous areas around Shengjing. With the rapid changes in power among the people, many mansions would become vacant. He couldn't afford to buy one, but he could always rent a smaller one.
Perhaps we'll stumble upon the work of that young master craftsman; that would be perfect.
“Alright, let’s go to Shengjing.” Rong Xie nodded.
"...It's not far, we'll take a flying artifact there," Shen Bingsi suddenly stopped. "You agreed?"
"Um."
Shen Bingsi was still a little incredulous. He had prepared for a protracted battle, intending to persuade Rong Xie repeatedly for three to five days, and then casually produce the token of the Shengjing Xiangji Temple Sutra Pavilion on a clear, sunny day to entice him...
To my surprise, Rong Xie agreed immediately!
This caught him somewhat off guard.
"Great!" Shen Bingsi clapped her hands. "Then we'll prepare for a day, set off early the day after tomorrow, arrive in Shengjing by noon, and stay at Fanshige!"
Fearing that Rong Xie might agree quickly but then change his mind, Shen Bingsi hurriedly set a date.
"So rushed?" Rong Xie was still a little apprehensive about going out. If possible, he hoped to prepare for another ten days or half a month.
"The weather is perfect. Xiangji Temple will be holding a Water and Land Dharma Assembly, and the temple will be open to the public then. Didn't you want to see the palm-leaf scriptures?" Shen Bingsi unleashed her ultimate move.
Rong Xie perked up immediately: "Really? I heard that the token for the Scripture Pavilion is very hard to get..."
Shen Bingsi slammed the Scripture Pavilion token onto the table.
In the time that followed, Rong Xie was proactive and enthusiastic. When Shen Bingsi suggested taking a flying artifact, he agreed, as he had never liked long-distance flights.
On the day of departure, it was indeed a clear and sunny day.
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Travel agency: May I ask what the main purpose of your trip to Shengjing is?
Rongxie: Viewing properties while traveling.
Shen Bingsi: Honeymoon (?)
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