Chapter 41 The rented shop remained untouched for a long time...
For a long time, there was no sound from inside. Lin Jing pressed her ear against the wall to listen. The courtyard remained quiet, but her heartbeat was deafening.
Unable to wait any longer, Lin Jing hid her bundle to the side, squatted down, and was about to crawl through the dog hole like Liu Yiyi. But as soon as her hand touched the black board, the board suddenly moved.
Lin Jing quickly withdrew her hand and swiftly moved to the side to prepare for battle.
Suddenly, a low shout came from the cave entrance.
"Ah Jing..."
It was Liu Yiyi's gentle voice.
Lin Jing quickly responded and reached out to push the blackboard.
The blackboard opened, revealing Liu Yiyi's fair and slender hands. She stuffed the bundle out of the hole, and her voice followed.
"Ah Jing, catch this for me."
"Okay." Lin Jing replied and quickly reached out to take it.
The first bundle felt soft, like fabric, then there was a second bundle, a third bundle...
In a short time, Liu Yiyi had already stuffed out five bundles. Lin Jing's heart was in her throat, and she urged softly, "Hurry up and come out!"
But she didn't get a reply from Liu Yiyi. She looked at Liu Yiyi's legs from the cave entrance. There was another person standing in front of her.
Then Liu Yiyi's hoarse voice came through.
"Mother, I'm leaving..."
"Go quickly, child, and live a good life."
The voice that answered her was that of a woman; Lin Jing later learned that it was Liu Yiyi's mother.
Just then, Liu Yiyi emerged from the blackboard, which instantly blocked the view inside.
Liu Yiyi immediately turned around, knelt on the ground, and reached out to touch the board. She choked back tears and said to the person inside, "Mother, your daughter is leaving."
Liu Yiyi got up, wiped away her tears with her sleeve, quickly used the original straw to plug the hole again, and then went to get the bundle on the ground.
Lin Jing felt extremely sad when she saw Liu Yiyi's red eyes, but she didn't have time to feel sad. She quickly took out the bundle she had hidden, and then snatched some more from Liu Yiyi. After hanging most of it on her body, the two of them returned along the way.
On the way, Lin Jing learned that the bundles Liu Yiyi was carrying contained some of her old clothes, as well as some fruit wine and embroidered handkerchiefs.
The reason Liu Yiyi cried was because she wanted to take her mother away, but her mother refused to leave, saying that she would rather die than leave and become a ghost of the Liu family. That's why Liu Yiyi was so heartbroken.
Lin Jing didn't know how to comfort her, so she listened silently as Liu Yiyi recounted her past.
On Lin Qing'an's side, the shop assistants from Yaxing had already taken them to see two shops, but neither was satisfactory. Now they were looking at a third one.
The shop is located on the busiest food street, surrounded by passersby and vendors, with shouts and conversations filling the air.
Its geographical location is comparable to a modern-day snack street.
The group wandered around the shop. There was only one shop, which looked to be about five or six meters long and three meters wide. Like the one next to it, it was mainly built of wood, but it only had two floors. This shop was the shortest in the row next to it.
However, Lin Qing'an was quite satisfied. The house was well-ventilated from north to south, and there was a kitchen and a small pavilion at the back. Lin Qing'an immediately took a liking to the pavilion, thinking that Lin Yanfeng and Abao could read and play there on weekdays, and it would be relatively safe.
Chen Gengnian was also very satisfied. The two of them knew each other's feelings with just a glance and asked the person who introduced them, "How much is the rent for this room?"
Upon hearing this, the young man knew they had their eye on the place. Given his connection to the Jinyun Hotel, he didn't dare to overbid. After thinking for a moment, he chose the lowest price: "Fifty taels a year."
Lin Qing'an and his companion weren't very familiar with these matters. A waiter from the Jin Yun Restaurant, noticing their awkwardness, smiled and said to the boy, "Brother, these two are honored guests of our owner, you see..."
The boy looked somewhat troubled, and it was clear that this was indeed the lowest price available.
After hesitating for a moment, he gave another number.
"Forty-five taels, that's the lowest I can go. If it weren't for the Jinyun Hotel, this price would be impossible."
After he finished speaking, he quickly smiled and said, "Brother, you know, the places I'm showing you today are the best and most affordable. The prices are really not high. If you really can't stand them, then there's nothing I can do."
After he finished speaking, everyone fell into a brief moment of contemplation.
Lin Qingan pulled Chen Gengnian aside and they discussed it quietly.
"Brother Nian, what do you think?"
Chen Gengnian said, "This location and this shop should not be expensive."
Lin Qingan shared the same idea, and since neither of them had any objections, they decided to rent it.
When the two returned, the boy and the shop assistant were still discussing the price, their words filled with difficulty.
Lin Qing'an then stopped making things difficult for them and said:
"We'll rent it."
But when it came time to sign and pay, they ran into another problem.
Because renting a shop requires obtaining a business registration, and obtaining a business registration would affect Lin Yanfeng's path to the imperial examinations.
The two looked at the contract and gave up on signing it without even thinking.
At this point, the shopkeeper suggested, "You two can register the shop under someone else's name, and that way there won't be any problems."
These words gave Lin Qingan and Chen Gengnian a glimmer of hope.
But whose name is on the register, and who can they trust completely?
The question remained unanswered, so based on the relationship with Jinyun Hotel, Yaxing decided to give them three days to think it over, after which they would have to make a decision on whether to rent or not.
Lin Qingan and Chen Gengnian were somewhat helpless when their hopes were thwarted, but they still managed to stay calm and try to find a solution.
The two bought some things and went to visit Lin Yanfeng and Abao. They also brought some gifts for the village head. Because they were worried that Lin Jing and Liu Yiyi would be tired from waiting, they left with the oxcart after a short while.
When they arrived at the town entrance, Lin Jing and Liu Yiyi were already waiting by the woods. When they saw Lin Qing'an and Chen Gengnian, they waved to them while dragging their bags.
Seeing this, Chen Gengnian rushed over to help.
After loading everything onto the oxcart, Lin Qing'an joked with the two of them.
"What did you all buy? If you didn't look closely, you'd think you were refugees fleeing from somewhere."
"These are all my old things. I need them back," Liu Yiyi said somewhat embarrassedly.
Lin Qing'an couldn't tease them anymore, so he asked, "Have you eaten anything?"
Lin Jing shook her head and said she didn't have time.
As he spoke, Lin Qing'an took out some meat buns from the bag and handed them to the two of them.
Since it was still early and Liu Yiyi was rather delicate, Chen Gengnian drove the oxcart to a shady spot and waited for the two of them to finish eating before continuing their journey.
While eating, Lin Jing talked about her experiences with Liu Yiyi, and Lin Qing'an also talked about the obstacles he and Chen Gengnian encountered.
Lin Jing slapped her thigh excitedly and said, "Come to me with this! Don't you guys believe me?"
Lin Qingan and Chen Gengnian looked at each other in bewilderment.
To be honest, Lin Qing'an had thought about Lin Jing earlier, but he was still somewhat uncertain.
But now that she brought it up herself, things are much easier.
Chen Gengnian shared the same concern, reminding her, "You're already at the age to get married. What if you suddenly meet your soulmate one day? Then we'll have to start looking again, which will be a lot of trouble."
"I will not get married." Lin Jing said firmly, "I have never thought about getting married, and I will never get married in this lifetime."
Chen Gengnian, however, did not take her determination to heart, and only looked at Lin Qing'an and said, "I used to think the same way, but then I met A-Qing."
Lin Qing'an responded to Chen Gengnian's implicit confession with a smile, and then secretly glanced at Lin Jing.
She glanced furtively at Liu Yiyi beside her and stammered, "Anyway, I won't marry a man."
Liu Yiyi never looked at Lin Jing, keeping her head down and slowly and gently chewing the meat bun in her mouth.
Chen Gengnian frowned, and just as he was about to say something, Lin Qingan interrupted him.
"Hey! You two stop arguing." He took Chen Gengnian's hand and played with Chen Gengnian's knuckles with his thumb. "Brother Nian, what Sister Jing said is worth considering. She is indeed not married now. We can talk about the future later."
"And they said this is only temporary citizenship, not permanent, and we can transfer it later."
Lin Qingan pointed to the sky and immediately lowered his voice, saying, "The sky is covered with dark clouds. Nobody knows when it will pour rain. Maybe by then we'll have made enough money and won't be able to continue operating."
After Lin Qing'an resolved all his concerns, Liu Yiyi, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up: "I agree with what A-Qing said. He is right. A few days ago, I overheard the First Madam's maid saying that there had been unusual activity in the neighboring county. We are not far from there. Although it is remote, many things are uncertain."
After the two of them analyzed it this way, Chen Gengnian listened and could only nod in agreement.
Lin Qingan clapped his hands and asked, "Then, shall we go back?"
Lin Jing made the decision, "Go back!"
The group returned to the brokerage firm. The oxcart was parked at the entrance and watched over by the brokerage staff, while the group went inside to sign the contract.
Because of the wide range of business they operate in, they have taken over most of the sourcing channels for shops.
After everything was signed, the people from Yaxing took a few more people to some workshops.
Lin Qing'an and his team run a snack and general store, and most of the dried goods they purchase are supplied by small workshops.
Although Lin Qing'an was using a false pretense to sell modern snacks, he didn't intend to sell them widely. Instead, he introduced them one by one as new products, so he had a relatively large number of items in stock.
As for pastries, apart from some special items made by Liu Yiyi, all the others are sourced from outside.
It took them almost two hours to get the matter settled. Afterward, they went to the village head's house and asked him to help them find a renovation team.
This was not a difficult task for the village head, who quickly introduced a contractor to the two men.
The group then went to the shop to plan the layout.
Since the shop is rectangular, the second floor is divided into three rooms. The area is a bit small, but there is no problem at all for two people to live in each room.
The shop on the first floor was also divided into two rooms. Lin Qing'an partitioned off a small kitchen in the back and had the construction team build a stove so that they could cook some things.
He drew a simple blueprint for the contractor. The shop's decoration was very simple, with two shelves, the same length as the room, built against the wall on both sides. A rectangular wooden table stood upright in the middle, and the storefront had a display case like those in a bakery.
The items weren't complicated, but it was the first time the contractor had ever seen such a unique display case.
Everything was explained, and the village head said that they would keep an eye on things here, so they wouldn't have to keep going to town every few days. They could use this time to plant the potatoes.
It was already evening when the oxcart arrived at Linjia Village. Chen Yuetao had already prepared dinner. After eating together, Chen Gengnian mentioned picking toon leaves, and Lin Jing was so moved that she couldn't speak.
Everyone was quite tired today, so Lin Jing and Liu Yiyi went home after dinner.
Lin Qing'an and the others went to bed early to rest and prepare for the busy day ahead.
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