081, rent increase
081, rent increase
The donkey cart stopped when it entered the yard. Lu Youtian lifted the three children off the cart and said to the two newcomers, "Don't be afraid. Just think of this as your home. From now on, as long as Mingfei and Mingrui have food to eat, there will always be food for you."
"I should be older than your father. My last name is Lu, so you can call me Uncle Lu from now on."
"Hello, Uncle Lu." Zhang Qi looked up at the tall and kind man in front of him, and his uneasy heart miraculously stopped at this moment.
Zhang Xiaobao also followed his brother and called him uncle.
"Oh, so good." Lu Youtian nodded with a smile, and introduced the other people in the family to the two children.
Seeing the two children so dirty, thinking about their own family members who also wanted to take a bath before the New Year, Liu Sanniang said, "I'll go boil two pots of hot water. Let's take a bath before dinner. Tomorrow is New Year's Day, so let's all take a bath to celebrate the New Year."
"Mom, please make a small pot of ginger soup. We can all drink a bowl of ginger soup to drive away the cold." Lu Mingfei was worried that the two brothers who had just come to their house would get sick after being frozen outside for so long, because getting sick is very expensive these days.
"Okay, I'll go make it right away." Liu Sanniang understood what her eldest son meant and asked casually, "What would you like to eat tonight?"
"Let's make some mutton and carrot soup tonight, and some stir-fried bean sprouts and noodles. What do you think?" Although it was a holiday, Lu Mingfei didn't think it was necessary to prepare ten or eight meals. Even if his mother had the energy to cook a table full of sumptuous meals, he wouldn't have the energy to eat.
The whole family is very tired now, and it would be best if everyone could take a bath and go to bed immediately.
"Sure, I'll make the mutton soup first. It just so happens that the half mutton we bought yesterday hasn't been opened yet. I was busy all day and didn't have time to come home to cook, so today I'll make a pot of mutton soup for you." Knowing that the eldest son liked to eat mutton, they would buy half a mutton before the Chinese New Year in previous years and eat it at home.
It was just mutton soup and fried noodles. It was such a simple request, there was no way Liu Sanniang would refuse to satisfy the child.
Before heading into the kitchen, Liu San remembered something and instructed her husband and eldest son, "You two go clean up Mingrui's room and let Xiaoqi and Xiaobao live there from now on."
My sister now lives in the house where their adults live. The room that was previously reserved for her has never been occupied. However, there are some jars of sauerkraut and other miscellaneous items in it, so it needs to be cleaned up before people can live in it.
Lu Youtian responded, "Okay, I'll go clean it up later."
After arranging work for her husband and eldest son, Liu Sanniang went into the kitchen to clean up.
Lu Mingfei helped his father unload the things from the donkey cart, then went into the house with his father to pack up. He moved the pickle jars piled in the bedroom out one by one and placed them in the main room outside. He also tidied up the miscellaneous items in the room and said to Zhang Qi, who was helping to move things, "You and your brother will live in this room from now on."
"I'm a little dirty now. I'll go find a quilt and spread it over for you to sleep on tonight."
"Thank you, thank you." Zhang Qi looked at the spacious and clean house. It was better than the house they lived in before.
"You're welcome." Lu Mingfei couldn't count how many times Zhang Qi had said thank you to them today. Seeing that the clothes Zhang Qi and his brother were wearing were not warm enough, he remembered that he still had a lot of old clothes in his room. "I'll go find you two sets of clothes later. They're all my old clothes. Don't mind."
"No, it won't." Zhang Qi shook his head hurriedly.
Since they were letting someone live in their home, Lu Mingfei took the opportunity to explain the rules of their home. "When you live with us in the future, just tell us if you need anything. Don't keep anything in your heart."
"Oh, you saw those jars and cans being carried out just now. They're filled with pickled vegetables. Don't open them carelessly, because if you don't eat them in time after opening the seals, they'll go bad easily."
"We run a food business, so we have to get up early every day to work. You should go to bed early and get up early to help. We provide meals, and if you're hungry, there's food at the stall. You can eat whenever you have time."
"Also, from now on, you must pay attention to hygiene. Wash your hands, shower and wash your hair regularly, and change your clothes frequently. There's a well outside the yard. I'll teach you how to draw water later. From now on, you'll be responsible for your and your brother's personal hygiene. Wash your clothes promptly after you take them off. You don't have to wash our family's clothes."
"Otherwise, we'll live together for a long time and you'll gradually become familiar with it." The wellhead in their house is also sealed, and they have a foot-operated water pump.
Hearing this, Zhang Qi nodded and said, "Okay."
Lu Youtian heard his eldest son talking about rules with the two new children in their family, but he did not interrupt.
After a while, his mother brought a pot of ginger tea into the main room and asked them to go outside to drink it. Lu Mingfei took Zhang Qi and the other two outside to drink ginger tea, and asked the two brothers to sit in front of the fireplace for a while to warm themselves.
Seeing that the Zhang Qi brothers were very interested in the stove, Lu Mingfei took the opportunity to explain the function of the fireplace to them and reminded the brothers, "You must be careful when using fire in the future. You can't play with the fire in the stove. Otherwise, if the house burns down, we won't have the money to compensate the owner."
Zhang Qi nodded and said that he would keep an eye on his younger brother.
Just as they were warming themselves by the fire and drinking ginger tea in the house, there was a knock on the door outside in the yard.
"I'll go open it." Lu Mingfei put down the bowl in his hand, put on his hat and went out.
When I came out and opened the door to the yard, I saw someone standing outside.
The man who came was Cao, the steward, who had come to collect the rent. After greeting him, he invited Cao into the house.
When Lu Youtian and Liu Sanniang saw Manager Cao coming, they knew that he was here to collect the rent.
After everyone greeted each other and inquired about the rent for next year, Liu Sanniang went into the house and handed the silver she had prepared to Cao, and also gave him the New Year gifts she had prepared. "These are all homemade things. Please don't be disgusted. Take them home and enjoy them."
"No, no. Last time you sent me two jars of sauerkraut to take back, and it happened that our young lady had morning sickness. She ate your sauerkraut and said it was delicious. None of the cooks in our house can make the taste of your sauerkraut." Manager Cao said with a smile.
"Oh, your young lady likes to eat sauerkraut? We don't have much of anything else here, but sauerkraut is the most. What kind of pickled vegetables does your lady like to eat? We have many varieties of pickled vegetables here. Come and have a look, we will move two jars to your car." When Liu Sanniang heard that her own sauerkraut was praised for being delicious, her eyes were curved with smiles.
The eldest son said that the sauerkraut in their family was made according to a recipe he read in a book, and the pickled sauerkraut is particularly delicious.
But they are also generous with the ingredients in their pickled cabbage. Others just put some water in it to pickle pickled cabbage. But their pickled cabbage is soaked with sugar, vinegar, and water boiled with spices. Everyone who has eaten it says it is delicious.
"I'll pay for two jars from you." Manager Cao didn't want to take so many things from others.
"It's just two jars of pickled cabbage, not worth much. No need to pay. We put these things on the stall for customers to add as they please." Liu Sanniang did not want the silver given by Manager Cao, and asked her husband to move the two jars of pickled cabbage to the carriage that Manager Cao came in.
Everyone pushed and shoved the one or two taels of silver, but in the end the Lu family still refused to take it. Manager Cao had no choice but to accept the pile of things sent by the Lu family and left in the donkey cart they came in.
After Cao left, Liu Sanniang couldn't help but sigh and said, "This year's rent has increased by one tael of silver a month. This means we have to pay an extra twelve taels of silver a year." In previous years, their rent was twelve taels of silver a month, but this year it increased by one tael, bringing it to thirteen taels a month. This meant they had to pay over a hundred taels of silver a year.
Most of the money their family earned throughout the year was given to the landlord.
If you calculate it this way, Liu Sanniang feels a little uncomfortable that she has been working hard for the landlord all year round.
"Mother, let's see next year. If we have enough money at home, we can ask Manager Cao if the master of this family is willing to sell this yard and how much it would cost. If the price is not too high, we will buy this yard. This will save us from paying rent year after year. The rent in ten years will be enough for us to buy a house here." Lu Mingfei said to his mother.
"They may not be willing to sell this place to us." Liu Sanniang said.
If she owned such a house, she would definitely be reluctant to sell it. Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to keep it and collect rent year after year than to sell it all at once?
"If they don't want to sell it, we can ask the real estate agent if there are similar houses elsewhere. We can always find a suitable one." Lu Mingfei felt that it was not necessary to buy this house. After all, houses of similar size in the same location were all about the same price.
Of course, houses near the center of the imperial city and where the rich and powerful live will definitely be more expensive. However, they are quite far from the imperial city, close to the city gate, and in the middle of the west and south of the city. The houses here are not too bad, but not too good either. The prices are still relatively stable.
Today, there will be three updates. Tomorrow's article will be updated at 8 pm.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
