Chapter 29
"What do you want from me?" The man looked as if he hadn't gotten enough sleep, and his voice sounded lazy.
Gu Chengze stepped forward and said, "We are from the north. The city guard recommended us to come and ask for your help."
Wang Yaren became interested when he heard this. It had been a while since anyone from the north had come. "But let me be frank. You have to give me three taels of silver as a commission."
"That's what I should do." He took out three taels of silver and gave it to Wang Yaren.
"Let's go." The broker took the money and put it in his arms, straightened his clothes and walked ahead.
Li Zheng and Gu Chengze walked behind and exchanged glances with each other.
Is this person reliable?
Trust people you employ; don’t employ people you don’t trust.
All right. They don't know anything here anyway.
Wang Yaren led them to the gate of the yamen. "Wait here for a moment. Oh, and one more thing: do you want to settle in the village or in the city?"
Li Zheng and Gu Chengze exchanged glances. "Doesn't it matter where we settle down?"
"Well, it's different. If you settle in the village, you'll be exempt from taxes for two years and given a plot of land for your home. But if you want to farm, you either have to buy it or reclaim it. Of course, you can borrow grain from the government in the early stages and pay it back after the grain is harvested. If you want to settle in the city, you'll have to buy or rent a house yourself. Everything depends on yourself."
"We settled in the city."
"Okay, wait for me."
Li Zheng settled in the city without a second thought. Although the village was big enough, it seemed like there was nothing else there except this one.
"Sister, are we going to live in the city?" Baoger was very excited because he had never lived in a city before.
"Yes, then Bao Ge'er can go to school." He also wanted to live in the city, after all, news would be received faster in the city.
When Li Zheng heard Gu Chengze talking about studying, she remembered that Baoger should indeed go to school. He could make some friends and not stay at home every day.
Speaking of going to school, Bao Ge'er's eyes lit up because he could make friends and have fun.
"Okay, your household registration has been completed. Here, just fill in your name when the time comes." Wang Yaren took out two household registration forms and handed them to Gu Chengze.
"I wonder if Wang Ya has any houses to buy."
Wang Yaren glanced at them and knew they were wealthy. "Yes, judging by your situation, there are two on Xinghua Street. One is in the middle of the alley and is very lively. And..."
When the broker saw that they frowned at the noise, he quickly changed another one.
"There's another one also on Xinghua Street, but it's at the very end of the street, facing our Nanhe River. It's a nice quiet place in the bustling city. There's a medical clinic across the river, and there are several private schools to the left."
Li Zheng thought the location was great, but she also knew the price would be high. "What's the price?"
When Wang Ya heard this, he thought it was a good idea. "This house is nice, but it's a bit expensive. It's at least eight hundred taels. Why don't you come with me to take a look?"
Wang Yaren saw that she frowned and made a suggestion.
"Okay, let's take a look first."
Arriving at Xinghua Street, it turned out to be a good place, just like what the man said. It was very lively across the river, with everything you need for food, clothing, housing and transportation. And this side was a residential area, it was really a prime location. Li Zheng was even more excited when she saw the house again. The yard of the house was really big, with the house in the middle. There were four rooms in total, a kitchen and utility rooms were all very complete, and there was a room next to the door, which should have been where the night watchmen lived before. The most important thing was that the wall was high, which gave her a sense of security.
Li Zheng immediately decided to take it down, as this opportunity must not be missed.
"Okay, I want it. If you offer a lower price, I'll take it."
Li Zheng bargained with Wang Yaren for a long time before he lowered the price by fifty taels of silver.
Li Zheng looked at the house and quickly cleaned it up. She gave Gu Chengze some money and asked them to go out and take a look, buy some things, and inquire about the situation.
Li Zheng didn't spend much time cleaning, as the house wasn't dirty to begin with. She just mopped it up and put down the bedding. Even though there were things there, it looked quite empty. Li Zheng walked into the yard and looked at the layout. She thought they should have someone build a screen wall in front of the door, otherwise everyone would be able to see what they were doing. She planned to plant some vegetables and fruit trees along the path from the door to the house. She also planned to build a pergola to the right of the house and plant some climbing flowers. Eating watermelon in the summer would be really nice. She also planned to plant some fruit trees behind the house.
"Sister, we are back." Seeing them carrying large and small bags of things, I quickly took them.
"You also bought fish." Didn't you have enough fish?
Gu Chengze knew what she was thinking, "It's already night, all the butcher shops are gone, and I saw a fishmonger still around, so I took one."
"Okay, you guys take a rest first, I'll go cook." It seemed that he had thought it through and decided to buy some vegetables.
Li Zheng didn't do anything complicated. She just cooked some noodles and braised the fish. Fish is easy to cook anyway, so she just stir-fried some vegetables and it was done.
Served it to the living room, he asked as he ate, "How is it?"
"The prices here are a bit higher, but it's okay. I asked about the schools here, and it's March now, and the private schools here are recruiting students in the next two days. They said that Wang Xiucai and Liu Xiucai schools are better, but Wang Xiucai is not planning to take the higher exam, and Liu Xiucai is still young and will probably take the higher exam." Gu Chengze put down his chopsticks. He was still not used to talking while eating.
"Then let's go to Mr. Wang's place. Brother Bao needs to read books these days, otherwise what will he do if he doesn't like you?"
He didn't say anything. With Bao Ge'er's intelligence, it would be difficult for him not to accept it.
"Tomorrow, I'll make some cakes, and you and Bao Ge'er can go say hello to the neighbors."
"Yeah, okay."
Here, it's usually men who greet other people, to show their respect. But Li Zheng didn't mind, since she was a homebody and had ties to terrorism.
That morning, Li Zheng made some jujube cakes, cut them into pieces, wrapped them in oil paper, and put them in a basket. Then she asked Gu Chengze to take Bao Ge'er to visit and get to know the people. This was to let everyone know that we were neighbors and that someone was living here.
Seeing them come back, I brought a plate of freshly baked date cakes and said, "Hurry up and try it."
Baoger immediately took a large piece and started eating it, while Gu Chengze took a small piece and started eating it slowly. Although he liked to eat sweet things, he didn't like the sweetness of pastries.
"How about it?"
"It's okay. These are the vegetables from Aunt Liu's family in the east. They're peddlers. These are the eggs from Second Brother Li's family in the west. They run a grocery store. And over there, Fourth Uncle Liu's family is a carpenter..."
Li Zheng listened and saw that these people returned the gifts. They should be easy to get along with. It would be really bad to meet those weird neighbors.
"Okay, I get it. Do you know where to work as a bricklayer?"
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