Chapter 330 (2/2)
She took the deed for the residence and fished out a banknote worth a hundred taels. She stuffed it into the young royal prince's hands and said, ”Alright, then I'll take it that I'm basking in your glory and received a big advantage. In the future, I'll make more delicious food to compensate you!”
Zhu Junyang wanted to give the money back to her but he knew her stubborn personality. If he didn't take the money, she would refuse to take the deed to the house. It didn't matter. The future was long and he could gradually compensate the money she gave him through other methods.
Zhenxiu Restaurant was located pretty close to the examination yard, so the group of them walked there as they chatted. This was the first time Little s.h.i.+tou had been to the prefectural city. Thus, the entire way there he acted as if he wished he could have another pair of eyes to take in all of the sights. Yu Xiaocao thought he looked quite funny, ”After you finish taking your exam, we can spend a few more days in the city so you can play to your heart's content. The most important thing right now is to settle down as soon as we can!”
Before long, the group had arrived at the newly bought residence. Facing the street was a small shop that still had people going in and out of it as they packed away the last of the goods. When the people there saw them approach, a middle-aged man, who looked like a shopkeeper, walked towards Head Steward Liu. He smiled, ”We're a bit behind schedule, so the shop hasn't been completely cleaned yet. Could we possibly get a couple more days? The residence behind the shop has already been completely cleaned so everyone can go in whenever they want!”
Head Steward Liu turned to look at the current new owner of the residence——Yu Xiaocao. Yu Xiaocao nodded, ”My younger brother will be taking the prefectural exam in three days and needs some peace and quiet to study. Please quickly clean up everything!”
Qian Wen felt a bit confused so he asked in a questioning tone, ”s.h.i.+tou, the house you guys are renting has a shop in front ah! It must not be cheap, right?”
Little s.h.i.+tou scratched the back of his head and let out an awkward laugh, ”My second sister was in charge of everything in regards to renting a place to live. I'm not really sure. However, we are right across the street from the examination hall, so it's quite convenient. I guess this store fell behind on rent and so they're taking this opportunity to rent it out to students taking the exam, right? Let's go, we should go look at how big the residence is!”
The residence was the perfect example of a three-sectioned house. The front section had been renovated into a store. After traversing through the main gate next to the store and turning past the screen wall, they pa.s.sed through the inner main gate into the courtyard.
Little s.h.i.+tou remarked with slight disappointment, ”The courtyard is a lot smaller than the one at home. It's also completely bare and only has two trees…”
Qian Wen silently thought, 'Your family's front courtyard and back courtyard combined must be a few mu in area. A courtyard that big in the prefectural city must cost at least a thousand taels, right? That being said, you're only renting for half a month before leaving. Does it really matter how big the courtyard is?'
The main building in the courtyard had three rooms with a side room on each side of the building. The two side wings also had three rooms each. Qian Wen thought for a bit and decided that if Yu Xiaocao had rented the entire courtyard, they wouldn't have enough people for all of the buildings. That would be a ma.s.sive waste of money ah!
Yu Xiaocao leisurely wandered through the courtyard. The courtyard had been cleaned up quite neatly and nothing in the rooms had been moved around. Thus, this residence was move-in ready and came already furnished. Even the quilts and articles for daily use had been changed into new ones. The utensils in the kitchen had clearly never been used before.
”Miss Yu, is there anything else you need us to acquire?” Head Steward Liu was quite pleased with the work his underlings had done, so he casually asked her.
Yu Xiaocao thought for a bit and then replied, ”Everything looks good. I just don't know if it's hard to get food ingredients in the prefectural city or not!”
Head Steward Liu eyed one of his underlings who was next to them. The servant hurriedly replied, ”All of the food has been bought according to the list that the Head Steward gave us. Everything has been stored in the cellar downstairs. Head Steward, please inspect it!”
”Alright, you can leave! Tell the rest of them that if they don't have an order, they're not allowed to disturb us…” Head Steward Liu knew that his master didn't like other people besides Miss Yu hanging around him. There was no need for any maidservants or senior servants.
As for the prince's personal safety, that also wasn't an issue. Head Steward Liu was the best of the best. Furthermore, all of the bodyguards that came with them were housed in the two residences next to this one. That's right, his master not only bought this residence but also the two next to this one. Ah, was doing all of this worth it for the sake of Miss Yu's younger brother taking his examination?
In the end, they had successfully persuaded Qian Wen to stay with them. On one hand, this courtyard was large and s.p.a.cious, and there were a lot of rooms. Royal Prince Yang resided in the main building and the two Yu siblings were housed in the east wing. Thus, the west wing was still empty. At this time, it was hard to say whether they could find another house that was suitable to rent. Inns were loud and full of people, how could they be as peaceful and calm as this place?
Although Qian Wen decided to stay, he insisted on paying his portion of the rent. Blood-related brothers would make sure to split the bill, so how could two neighbors, who only had decent relations, not?
The next day, Little s.h.i.+tou went out to pay a visit to his two good cla.s.smates in the city. When he came back, he brought back two little tails along. Sun Runze and Liu Jinye were trying to b.u.m a meal off of them. Little s.h.i.+tou had traveled a long way, so technically it should have been those two taking him out for a meal. However, they were unable to reserve a table at Zhenxiu Restaurant and all of the other restaurants in the area served food that was nowhere near as delicious as the food Yu Fan's second sister made.
Consequently, the two of them somehow managed to get some food ingredients and shamelessly wiggled their way in to b.u.m a meal. The food they brought along was only stuff that was available in the season. Among the ingredients was some fresh shepherd's purse that looked quite good.
Yu Xiaocao accepted her fate and began to cook a table of delicious food. She also wrapped a bunch of pork and shepherd's purse filled dumplings. Thus, after the two stuffed little fellows were sent back home, they finally had time to roam the nearby streets.
On this walk, she discovered that the residence that her family bought was quite a steal. The location was perfect. Because it was very close to the prefectural yamen, a lot of wealthy families liked to live in the area, meaning it was safe ah! The stores next to the residence had steady business. This showed that all of the people nearby had plenty of money to spend!