Beloved Concubine

Chapter 11 Arriving in An County
Several people were chatting, and before they knew it, the county seat had arrived.

Chen Xiao saw many large-scale courtyards outside the city. Xiao Shitou introduced that some of them were warehouses, some were workshops, and most of them were built by outsiders.

"How much is the land here per mu?" Chen Xiao asked.

"It used to be more than ten taels and one mu, but now I hear it costs three to forty taels."

These are good fields.In the past, people bought it for farming, but now they mostly buy it for building houses.Now that there are more rich people, the prices of many things have also risen.

The coachman turned his head and asked where they were going in the county town?

Fang Yu asked Xiao Shitou, "Is there any good inn in the city?"

Before he asked about the best inn and restaurant in the city, he wanted to know how much the highest cost was here.Knowing the highest, the rest should be cheaper than this.

He is not a budget-conscious person, but he knows that he has no money on him now. 600 taels, to settle down in one place, this amount of money is stretched.

Little Shitou said: "Go live at Aunt Shen's house! Her house is not a special inn, but there are rooms rented out for foreigners. Aren't you cooking snake meat? It's more convenient to cook at her place than staying in an inn."

Fang Yu wanted to refuse.

Little Shitou said again: "Aunt Shen's house is clean and nice. According to her family's conditions, if she stays in an inn, she will be in the room! At least one tael of silver a day. Those who stay in the inn don't know our local area. Or there is no way to stop the horse. Otherwise, merchants who often come to An County know that it is better to find a good yard than to stay in an inn."

Chen Xiao saw that he was good at sales, and thought of the modern "homestay" and said:

"We want three rooms, are there enough rooms for Aunt Shen's house?"

"Enough is enough."

Fang Yu doesn't like living in other people's homes, and doesn't want to go there.

Chen Xiao saw his rejection and said:
"Stay for one night first. If it's not easy, we'll go to the inn tomorrow."

"it is good."

Fang Yu nodded helplessly.Now he has no extra cash on him. According to what Xiao Shitou said just now, the inn is at least one tael of silver a day. Although there may be exaggeration, but the three of them live and eat at the same time. If there is no money to pay, That would be embarrassing.

Under the guidance of Xiao Shitou, the carriage came to Xinda Street in the west of the county seat.

In the past, Anxian County was not big, with a cross road in the middle and four main streets: East Street, West Street, South Street, North Street, and the cross street in the center.

Later, the county expanded outwards, and a new main road was built, connecting the north, west and south of the city, called Xindajie.In modern terms, Xindajie is equivalent to the "First Ring Road".

An County has only prospered in the past ten years, and the houses on both sides of Xinda Street are relatively new.

Looking at the roadside shops, there are groceries sellers, cobblers, woodworkers, grain stores, butcher shops, restaurants, and cloth shops. It seems that they are indeed very prosperous.

The carriage passed a cloth shop, and a small stone made the driver stop at the intersection of an alley.

"It's here."

As he spoke, he jumped out of the car, moved down his bamboo cage, and then helped Chunhong carry the basket.

Chen Xiao got off the car and looked around.There is a cloth shop on the street, and it seems that there is no gate of the house.But look into the alley, the gate is there.

Little Shitou ignored the bamboo cage at his feet, ran into the cloth village and shouted:
"Aunt Shen, I've brought you a guest!"

A woman in her forties came out from behind a pile of cloth and asked:
"Buy cloth?"

"No, it's for accommodation."

Aunt Shen walked out of the cloth house, saw three people, and whispered to Xiaoshitou:
"What kind of room are they going to live in?"

Her room here is good and bad.Well, as Xiao Shitou said, it is comparable to a room in an inn; second, it is a big room with a few beds.

Little Shitou said, "They said they want three rooms."

Aunt Shen looked at the three of them, although they were wearing coarse linen clothes, they looked like they came from the mountains.But upon closer inspection, the man actually wore a gold bracelet on his wrist.

Aunt Shen said: "You take them in first."

"okay."

Little Shitou ran over, picked up the bamboo cage, and said to Fang Yuji:

"follow me."

The main entrance of Shen's house was entered from a side alley.Half of the shops on the street are run by Aunt Shen herself, mainly selling cloth and making clothes for others.The other half of the shop was previously leased to someone to run a restaurant. The family's business was not good, and the rent was due and moved out.It has not been rented out yet, and the door is closed.

Aunt Shen asked her grandson to watch the shop, and called her if there was anything to do.Then enter the main courtyard from the back of the shop.

Ancient houses are generally group-style buildings. It is said that courtyard houses have courtyards, but in fact the whole house has more than one courtyard.The so-called first entry into the courtyard means that there is one courtyard; the second entry into the courtyard means that there are two courtyards.

There are three courtyards in Shen's house, the shop just now is the first courtyard, and the one from the main entrance is the second courtyard.

When Chen Xiao entered the gate, the first thing he saw was a courtyard. It felt that this courtyard was no different from a courtyard building, with the main house in the center and wing rooms on the east and west sides.The Shen family's house is exquisitely crafted, with carvings on the doors, windows, under the eaves, and on the pillars. It can be seen that the family has some financial resources.

Aunt Shen walked over with a smile and asked:

"Little Shitou said, do you want three rooms?"

"Yes."

"Let me show you the rooms first, and see which one you want to live in?"

"it is good."

Several people were about to see the room, Xiao Shitou said:
"Ma'am, is there a cage? I have two snakes to put in it. They bought it."

As he spoke, he pointed to Chen Xiao.

"The cage for the snake..." Aunt Shen thought for a while, and said, "Put it in the tank first."

"Is it in the back kitchen?" Little Stone asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll do it myself."

Xiao Shitou is familiar with this place, and Aunt Shen knows that he catches snakes and sells them.Sometimes her guests would buy snakes from Xiao Shitou.

Xiao Shitou said to Chen Xiao: "You guys just wait and see, I will sell snakes in a while, and after I sell them, I will help Big Brother Fang to find out, and then I will come back and kill snakes for you."

The county seat is not big, so it won't take long for him to come down this time.

"OK, thanks."

Aunt Shen took a few people to see the room.

This is the courtyard where the guests live.There are three rooms in the main house in the middle, and the middle room is the hall with two round tables, which is the place to eat.There are two living rooms next to it, one of which is already occupied, and the other is still empty.

They looked at the empty room.Inside, there are beds, tables, cabinets, dressing tables, washing racks, and clothes racks.

There are three wing rooms on the east and west sides, and there are three rooms on one side, which are also single rooms. The contents are similar to the one in the main room.One of the East Wing rooms is also occupied, and there are five rooms left.

As for Datong shop, it is on the side of Yijinyuan.Chen Xiao and the others wanted a private room, but Aunt Shen didn't take them to see it.

"The east wing is the kitchen, and we usually only use it to boil water. We come here to fetch hot water for washing our face." Aunt Shen introduced.

"Where is the toilet?" Chunhong asked.

"In the west corner courtyard."

"I'm going to the bathroom."

Chunhong has been holding back for a long time along the way.

Chen Xiao asked Fang Yu, "Which room do you want to live in?"

Aunt Shen showed them the rooms just now and she has already introduced them. The price of the main room is [-] Wen a day; the east and west wing rooms are [-] Wen a day.Because the main room is larger and more spacious than the side rooms, and there is no one else living next to it, so it is relatively quiet.

These houses are all wooden walls, and the sound insulation is not very good.

(End of this chapter)