Chapter 92 Purchasing a New House
After returning from the Chen family, Grandma Guo called Guo Baiwen and Xiaohua to her room.
While the two were completely baffled, she pulled out two money pouches from somewhere.
After placing a money bag in front of each person, Grandma Guo then invited them to open it themselves.
Guo Xiaohua was still quite young, and after hearing her grandmother's greeting, she didn't think much of it and went forward to open the money bag.
Then I was dazzled by the amount of silver inside.
So much money?!
Startled, she quickly pushed the purse in her hand further towards her grandmother, her face showing more fear than joy. "Grandma?"
Seeing her like this, Guo Baiwen also opened the money bag in front of him.
Sure enough, what's inside is the same as what Xiaohua just opened.
He silently put the money bag back in its place and looked at Grandma Guo with Xiaohua.
Grandma Guo sighed, "We had some money saved up before, and I was originally planning to use it to buy the house we live in now."
But to everyone's surprise, Wenzai bought the house without saying a word.
And the eighteen taels of silver from before, which were originally agreed to be given to the Chen family by her, were also returned by Wenzai in private.
Now we have land and a house.
She plans to divide up her money now that everyone is in front of her.
"There are two money pouches here, each containing twenty taels of silver." Grandma Guo took their hands and slipped one into each of their hands.
"This is what Grandma prepared for you."
She patted Xiaohua's head and said, "Time flies. In the blink of an eye, Xiaohua is already ten years old."
Although it's a bit early, "This bag contains the money that Grandma prepared for you. You can take it as your dowry or if you plan to open your own embroidery shop like Madam Lin later, you can keep this money for yourself."
Guo Baiwen's share was naturally the same.
He initially wanted to refuse, but Grandma Guo's hands were like iron clamps, firmly gripping his hands and forcibly stuffing the money into his arms before she could finally smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes with satisfaction.
Feeling the heavy weight in his arms, Guo Baiwen felt it was burning hot.
Before he could say anything more, Grandma Guo spoke up, "When we met today, Grandma Sun told me about it."
"Wenzai, you want to find another big house."
Guo Baiwen was startled, thinking that Grandma Guo had misunderstood that he was planning to divide the family property. He immediately explained, "Grandma, I want to find a big house for us to live in together, not that I'm planning to move out by myself later."
"Grandma knows."
Since the money is just sitting there in her hands, she might as well take it out and share it with everyone.
The shop's business is doing alright right now. Besides the two money pouches she's taken out, she's still keeping some money for the shop's cash flow.
"Grandma doesn't need much money, but you two will need a lot more in the future, so you can keep it yourselves."
Now that they have chickens, rabbits, and a donkey, and have hired two helpers, plus the three of them, their living space is indeed getting smaller and smaller.
She didn't have enough money on hand to help Wenzai buy a house directly, so she could only contribute whatever little she had.
Although the shop's business was built up by Wenzai, Xiaohua is still young, and it's better to talk things out face to face than for the two siblings to quarrel later.
If Wenzai wants to move out later, then let him move out. I just hope the new house and the old house are close to each other so that it will be convenient for them to move around.
As soon as she voiced this thought, Xiaohua refused: "Grandma, I'm so nervous and scared to have so much money with me."
She receives several hundred coins of pocket money each month, which is quite a lot for children her age.
With so much money in her hand, she was always worried that she might lose it somewhere.
It was only after learning embroidery that she started spending a lot of money on silk thread and fabric each month, and she gradually got used to the amount of money she had.
The rest, if you save up all the odds and ends, you can get two or three taels of silver.
But the difference between two or three taels of silver and twenty taels of silver is enormous!
She shook her head vigorously, "Grandma, you should keep this money for me. Just let me know when I need it."
That's terrifying.
Seeing that Guo Xiaohua insisted, Grandma Guo tried to persuade her a couple more times, and finally accepted the gift after Guo Xiaohua's insistence.
Well then, when Xiaohua turns eighteen, she'll save all this money and give it to her.
Seeing this, Guo Baiwen also wanted to learn from Xiaohua.
Before they could even step forward, Grandma waved them away, saying, "Go, go, you're not a ten-year-old anymore! Alright, alright, you two can both get out of Grandma's room!"
"It's so painful to see us stuck here!"
Left with no other option, Guo Baiwen followed Xiaohua out of Grandma's room.
Guo Xiaohua stuffed the hot potato of money back into her pocket, and now she felt much more relaxed. Seeing Guo Baiwen's preoccupied expression, she was even able to manage a smile.
"Brother, Grandma is giving you the money because she cares about you, so don't worry!"
Guo Baiwen sighed, tightened his grip on the money pouch in his arms, and ignored Guo Xiaohua.
The next day, he still turned to ask Granny Sun.
Granny Sun had heard him mention this before, and now that Guo Baiwen brought it up again, she carefully explained the current situation: "Brother Guo, the budget you gave is not low, but the north of the city is almost full now, so it may not be easy to find a suitable place."
She sighed and continued, "Especially since you only want those from the north of the city and don't want anything else, it will be even harder to find them."
Guo Baiwen was unaware that houses in the north of the city were so popular this year.
So after thinking about it, he compromised, "Or the south of the city would be fine too, as long as it's not too far from where I live now."
“The south of the city is fine too, right?” Although she wasn’t sure, she nodded in agreement. “Then I’ll ask around at a few more places for you.”
Seeing that there was some hope, Guo Baiwen quickly expressed his gratitude.
Granny Sun waved her hand dismissively, "No rush, no rush."
After leaving Grandma Sun's house, Guo Baiwen turned around and went to the academy.
It was several days later when we finally received the news.
Granny Sun rushed over early in the morning, hurriedly pulling people to go outside.
Guo Baiwen hurriedly put down the calligraphy brush he was holding and followed behind the man, asking in a low voice as they walked, "Have you found a suitable house?"
"That's right!" Granny Sun was also anxious. "This house is in a good location, and many people are interested in it."
"If you go too late, they'll really be gone."
So the two stopped talking and hurriedly walked away.
Guo Baiwen followed Granny Sun through the streets in the north of the city. He thought the house he had his eye on was in this area, but Granny Sun didn't stop and continued walking forward.
Further ahead—that's the southern part of the city.
Guo Baiwen hesitated for a moment instinctively.
But soon, he picked up his foot and followed.
It's just the south of the city!
He's been studying so hard these days, all so that his life can get better and better.
This time, Granny Sun took him to see a large house with two courtyards.
The house is located in the south of the city, with its main gate right next to the city's most bustling street. From this road, it is very convenient to go to either the east or the north of the city.
There is a small river outside the back gate, which is much quieter than the front gate.
The front yard is spacious and impressive. Although it doesn't have its own storefront, the two-courtyard house gives people a different feeling.
Besides the east and west wing rooms, there are three main rooms, each a square house with blue tiles, and the courtyard is twice the size of the previous room.
Furthermore, there is a special livestock pen in the side room at the back door, which can be used to house donkeys, chickens, and rabbits.
Now the yard is truly empty and can be used as a garden and vegetable patch.
However, the house had obviously been vacant for quite some time. In addition to some damaged roof tiles, there were also many places covered with moss and vines.
Just the renovation alone will probably take some time.
However, the layout of this house was indeed quite good, Guo Baiwen nodded to himself, and casually pushed open a door in front of him. "This room—"
"The original owner moved to the provincial capital. It was used as an old house a few years ago, but the last few people moved away last year as well."
Granny Sun dusted off her hands and continued, "Everything that needed to be taken from the house and rooms has been taken. Because the price was high, quite a few people came to see it, but it remained vacant until now."
Upon hearing the high price, Guo Baiwen, who had been nodding in satisfaction, immediately stopped. "How much do you want?"
Granny Sun smiled and secretly made a '120' gesture at him.
After successfully hearing Guo Baiwen's low inhale, Granny Sun happily continued, "But now the price has dropped."
"Only ninety-six taels."
Let alone just asking for it, ninety-six taels is already far beyond Guo Baiwen's current budget.
Not to mention, the house is empty, and he will need to buy a lot of suitable furniture to fill it in. Before he can move in, he will have to spend a lot of time and effort to renovate the whole place.
After all, apart from the broken roof tiles, the front and back yards were completely deserted.
Weeds need to be removed, doors and windows need to be wiped, and the yard needs to be cleaned.
Not to mention that every room also needs to be cleaned.
Before he knew the price was ninety-six taels, he thought the house was perfect in every way. But after finding out the price, he felt that the house was no good in any way.
Granny Sun clearly saw through his thoughts and nodded, "It's alright, there are two other suitable ones nearby, we'll go and take a look later."
None of them are as big as this one.
She only thought of taking a look at this place because she heard Guo Baiwen say that he was planning to buy a bigger house.
However, since we're not choosing this house, there's no need to worry about not being able to get one.
After all, this house has been listed for two years, and the price was suddenly reduced today, so many people are watching it closely.
So the two of them went out the door and walked further outside.
I looked at three or four houses that day.
Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Guo Baiwen considered it at home for a while, selected the last two sets, and then took Grandma Guo and Guo Xiaohua to take a look.
Finally, they settled on a house that was half again as big as the first one. In addition to the east and west wing rooms and the main house, there were three extra side rooms at the back, which could be modified to serve as a mill and livestock pens.
Moreover, the house is located right on the border between the north and south of the city.
This distance is suitable for both going to the Chen family's shop and going to Guo's shop.
None of them are very far.
After things were finally settled, he managed to stop Grandma Guo and Guo Xiaohua, and then went to the west of the city to hire a few people to help with the tidying up.
Although the house doesn't look particularly grand from the outside, once you step inside, you'll find that the rooms are well-arranged and the courtyard is half again as large as the one in the north of the city.
In addition, the previous owner left some furniture that couldn't be moved, which could be taken and used directly.
However, Grandma Guo still felt that these pieces of furniture needed to be renovated and cleaned before new furniture could be added little by little.
As a result, many more small, time-consuming tasks emerged.
Fortunately, I can still live in my home in the north of the city for now, and there's no rush to move over immediately.
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