Chapter 70: 买院子
Buying a courtyard
Li Haitang entered the courtyard, and immediately liked it. In late autumn, the trees were withered and yellow, most likely because the homeowner was not there, the courtyard was not cleaned, the ground was covered with a thick layer of yellow leaves.
The main room is tall and impressive, in front of the door there is a winding corridor, hanging a few windproof lanterns, the courtyard in the middle, citing the flowing water of the village, transformed into a small pond, there is a pavilion in the middle, to see the rain in summer, to see the snow in winter, it’s one kind of mingle with men of letters and pose as a lover of culture.
High price has its own reason for being a high price, one thousand two hundred taels, worth it.
“Sister, this is too expensive.”
Li Jin Hu’s inner heart is tangled, he and his sister now have to depend on his brother-in-law to live. He is still small, studied for a few years, could not earn silver, buy this big yard, not more than a thousand taels can be solved.
Previously, his sister brought all the Chen family over, Li Jin Hu was very disapproving. He is not a pampered young master that needs to be served. He came to the academy through a cold window—hardships that a poor student has to go through in his studies– just make do by casually eating something, then it will be okay.
Moreover, his sister ignored an important issue, the Foothill Academy accepts people, to go through layers of assessment, all have to be qualified to be allowed to enter.
“Jin Hu, don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”
Li Haitang could see her own little brother’s preoccupation and touched his head, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t get into the Foothill Academy, there are still many more academies in Deer City.”
Settling down in Deer City, partly for Li Jin Hu’s studies, running both ways is inconvenient after all. Moreover it is also for the future, Xiao Lingchuan, to visit each other at home, one depends on one’s parents when at home, and on one’s friends when away from home (idiom).
Transmigrated over, he has no one to rely on, Li Haitang deeply aware of the importance of friends, when family could not be rely on, they could only work on friends, people who have the same goals, occasionally get together, call friends, brewing wine, drinking tea in winter, so that the day is a little more colourful.
“If you set this small courtyard, when can you hand it over to the owner?”
Li Haitang was quick at her work, she went into the room to take a look and was quite satisfied with the layout, almost ready to move into it by carrying a handbag.
The room was first paved with a layer of gray bricks, and on top of the gray bricks was lavishly paved with camphor wood flooring, and the furniture was arranged in an irregular arrangement with charming effect, with a faint scent of books, highlighting the owner’s taste in every way.
“The homeowner said that this set of screens of landscape of mountains and rivers, birds and flowers, he will not take it away, just as an addition.”
The owner of the house has something to do so he has already left, fully entrusted it to the middleman Huang Ji. The deed of the house are in Huang Ji, at any time you can go to the Yamen to do the transfer ownership; change the name of the owner in a register.
“Young Lady (usually already married one), look at the pond between the courtyards, the homeowner put many newly hatched fish in it, and made a fine wire mesh block on both sides, the fish can’t run out, you guys can fish with a net and eat if you live in.”
In the town, there is only one other house that can have such a design. Deer City’s winter is harsh, the water is frozen, leaving a big hole in the ice, yet fish would not die.
For the New Year’s Eve dinner, every family had to buy fish, sell them, and make a large sum of silver.
In Da Qi, the four classes of ancient China, i.e. scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, from all the merchants ranked at the bottom of the list. Merchants were considered to be chasing profit, penny wise and pound foolish, and a profit-before-all-else mindset.
However, the house owner was different, he had a meritorious title, and when he opened a pen, ink, paper and inkstone shop, he was considered a scholar-merchant; knowledge-based businessman, so there was a clear gap between his status and that of an ordinary merchant.
“I’ll follow the mate on a trip to the Yamen to get on the file.”
Xiao Lingchuan asked Li Haitang to sign the deed, insisting on writing her name, and all the money in the house, all of it, was handed over.
Money was something outside the body, he didn’t value it at all. The two were married, he would only be responsible for earning silver in the future, as for how to spend it out, it was not under his control.
“Master, this courtyard, it’s too grand, just find a small house for our family to squeeze into it.”
Second Aunt Chen grasped the lower hem of her coat, full of discomfort, she thought living in the village would be very good, didn’t realize that Li Haitang’s offer was a thousand taels, the sage presents as an ordinary person, it’s a thick family background.
“You guys live in the gate room of the first entry.”
Li Haitang just entered the door and saw that there was a stable next to the gate house, just enough to add one carriage.
The gatehouse also had three main rooms, behind was the kitchen, connecting to the hanging door of the second entry.
At the back of the second house, there was a pond and a small pavilion, which actually didn’t cover too much area, but was well laid out and appeared compact.
The study is in the second entry, and the bedroom is a suite. Next to it there are two more rooms, which happen to belong to Li Haitang and Xiao Lingchuan, the family is not that many members so it’s enough to live in.
“Wife, can I have my own room?”
Chen Da Ya almost did not dare to believe it, jumped up and ran to the gatehouse to see, the dog egg was small, did not dare to enter, only probed at the door or peered around surreptitiously.
The Chen family’s worn out bedding, the cotton is all knotted, the winter cover is not warm, Li Haitang plans to take Aunt Chen to the street then buy it.
If you want to live in the house, you still need to buy a lot of things, just the bedding, bed, rice, flour, oil and salt for the kitchen, it will cost you tens of taels of silver.
After spending the money, Auntie Chen was heartbroken. A quilt cost 400 Wen, which was two months’ wages for her previous laundry.
“Second Aunt Chen, this silver can’t be saved.”
There are cheap quilts that cost two hundred Wen, but it will definitely be cold in winter, in case the cover is exposed to the wind and infected with wind-cold. The medicine soup and medicine will cost money, and you will also suffer.
“Turn around I’ll research a few recipes, when the time comes you’ll make it differently and give Gou Dan a brain tonic as well, maybe he’ll be able to come back with a scholarly honour or official rank in the future as well.”
The house was quite spacious, Aunt Chen brought the two hens they previously kept at home and kept them for laying eggs, Li Haitang bought a few more.
In the town, with conditions like this in the family, the courtyard is planted with flowers and grass. Unlike Li Haitang, they used to raise chickens and plant vegetables, clean up a little more diligently, and the home is not that dirty.
Settling down in Deer City, bits and pieces of chores, Li Haitang personally, was busy for two days.
During this period, the little brother Li Jin Hu, passed the Lushan Academy examination, packed a bag with Si Xi (his name means four happiness) to live in the mountains. She was not in ease so she stayed for two days, waiting for Si Xi to come back to fetch food and pass on the news.
“Young master learnt well, mister praised him for having a good foundation.”
Si Xi came back to deliver something, said the situation of the academy, the page boy can only go down to the mountain once a day, not more than two hours at a time, to go and return to receive the right notices.
Dining hall’s aunt is fiercel, can only cook clear soup cabbage slices, steamed buns harder than a stone, choked Si Xi, then he rolled his eyes.
Each person has a separate room, pantry firewood, and still has to rely on themselves for a solution.
Little brother Jin Hu can adapt to the life of the Foothill Academy, Li Haitang is no longer concerned. What she got from Sun Tietou’s house was pig’s ear and messy hair, two kinds of medicinal herbs, then she was ready to depart back to the border city to send medicine to Chun Niang.
In the middle, they delayed for several days, the lunar calendar in the middle ten days of September, Li Haitang still in full mourning,so she and Xiao Lingchuan discussed the marriage; they would not do any ceremony, only to notify their best friends.
Without Li Jin Hu in the middle to regulate the atmosphere, it was always a bit awkward for the two of them, especially at night since the couple lived in separate rooms.
Spending time together, Li Haitang could tell that the savage husband was very restrained. At night, she heard the sound of water several times, and sneaked out, seeing him naked, rushing through cold water, his hair wet against his cheeks, adding a few more points of wild and wild, so that she could not help but spring.