"There is one on Ru'an Street, but that shop only sells silver. It charges 180 taels of silver. It is a two-story building with a backyard and four rooms. There are food stalls around it."
Lin Wanwan shook her head, "Is there any for rent?"
Wang Ergui thought for a while, shook his head and said, "There are fewer houses for rent recently. The economy has been booming, so almost all of them are rented out. However, there is still a cheaper one. The owner is in a hurry to go to other places and is in a hurry to sell it. For example, the one on An Street is much smaller. There are four or five tables on the first floor, two private rooms on the second floor, and a backyard with a well and a room to live in."
"What's the price of this shop?"
"This shop is on Lin'an Street. Over there, ugh! There are only a few cloth shops and..."
Seeing him hesitant and reluctant to speak, Lin Wanwan immediately understood, "But the brothel?"
Wang Ergui waved his hands when he heard this, "It's not a brothel, don't misunderstand, young lady. It's a restaurant that specializes in listening to music and watching operas. Although Qingyun County is not as prosperous and lively as other counties, there are still some wealthy families who have no other places to have fun, so they often go there to listen to music to relieve boredom."
"Don't be afraid, young lady. We in this business always speak our mind. If the customer is not satisfied with the product, it will be troublesome. The shop was renovated less than two years ago, and the products are all new. However, those who have wives at home don't want to go there, for fear of upsetting their families. The shopkeeper has repeatedly lowered the price, but no one is willing to buy. Now it has been reduced to 110 taels."
Lin Wanwan calculated the money she had earned in the past few days. Last time she made sixty taels from selling medicine, today she made almost ten taels, and there was also the thirty or forty taels reward from the young master of the Fu family, which was almost enough.
She looked up and said to Wang Ergui, "Brother Wang, please take me over there first!"
Wang Ergui heard that there was a chance! He quickly got the key and took her to Lin'an Street, introducing her to various places along the way.
"Although there are many cloth shops in Lin'an Street, there are also many merchants. There is only one Yunyinlou nearby, but the food they serve is not good. If you open a food shop in this area, you will definitely make money. Girl, believe me, I, Wang Ergui, have done a lot of business, so I can see some tricks..."
He took her to a beautiful little building, unlocked it and opened the door.
Lin Wanwan looked around. There were indeed many cloth shops around, but she didn't see Zhouji Cloth Shop, so it was probably not here. There was a restaurant with big red lanterns hanging diagonally opposite, Yunyinlou, which was probably the one the waiter mentioned. The name sounded quite elegant.
Lin Wanwan turned and walked into the shop. It was quite bright inside. The place was not too big, and at most five tables could be placed. There were two private rooms on the second floor. There were only a screen and a soft couch by the window in the room. The tables and chairs were probably moved away.
The backyard is not too big, because the restaurant is in a concave shape, leaving only a small area. The lower floor is a woodshed and a place to store sundries. The second floor has a small living room and a large bedroom with a large wooden bed with exquisite carvings, a couch, a complete set of tables and chairs!
Seeing her surprise, Wang Ergui explained, "This bed was made by the shopkeeper at a high price. He usually lives here. As you can see, the bed cannot be moved out, so he left it here."
Lin Wanwan touched the carvings on the bed and asked, "Can I meet the shopkeeper today? I want to discuss something with him."
"Then wait for me for a moment, I'll go and ask him to come."
Lin Wanwan wandered around and came to the kitchen again. Maybe the kitchen took up a lot of space, so the lobby seemed a bit crowded.
But this kitchen was really to her liking. The space was well planned, with a long row of stoves that could hold several pots. They were also finely built so that no smoke would leak out. There was also a row of shelves around it that could hold a lot of things. The wood was also strong and durable. There was also a waterway for draining sewage, which seemed to be able to drain directly to the outside. The floor drain was also very cleverly designed, probably to prevent snakes, rats and the like from running in.
When I came out of the kitchen, I happened to meet Wang Ergui walking in with a middle-aged man with a big belly.
"Manager Xu, this little girl is in charge of the shop!"
Xu Xingdong nodded. "Little girl, you are still young. Do you have a head of household? Why would you let a little girl like you show up in public?"
Seeing that he had a kind face and was friendly in his every move, Lin Wanwan bowed and said, "My parents are dead, so I can make the decision myself."
"Oh? Then you can probably take out so much silver?"
"I'm afraid it's still not enough. Please give me a lower price, Manager Xu. If the price is right, I can pay it off tomorrow."
Xu Xingdong touched his belly and sighed, "This, ah! I won't hide it from you, little girl. This one hundred and ten taels is already the lowest. My unfilial son got into trouble in the capital, so I had to sell this shop to make ends meet. You can see that the decoration of this shop was created by me with great care. I also wanted to sell some snacks here to spend my old age. Alas..."
"How about this, Shopkeeper Xu? How about one hundred taels for this shop? If you think it's okay, we can sign the contract and pay the money now!"
Shopkeeper Xu was also stunned. He really didn't expect that a little girl could come up with so much silver. He thought about it and decided that the ten taels were not a big deal. If he could sell it today, he could go to Beijing earlier.
"Okay! Brother Wang, please take the deed and sell it to this little girl for 100 taels!"
Lin Wanwan was very happy and bowed to him again, "Thank you, Shopkeeper Xu. Don't worry, I will make this shop prosperous and attract many guests in the future!"
"Hahahaha, okay, then I'll wait and see!"
Lin Wanwan took out the fifty-liang silver note, ten liang and five liang of silver, and some loose silver, which added up to exactly one hundred liang. The two signed the contract and pressed their fingerprints, and Lin Wanwan handed the silver to him, and the money and goods were settled.
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