Yu Xiaolian nodded eagerly, "It’s a final sale, please kindly give me the silver note, my lame father at home is waiting for the money to treat his illness!"
Oh, the pawnshop owner had a look of understanding on his face; it turned out that her father back home was lame, no wonder such a valuable item was mortgaged with a final contract without even haggling for a price. He really scored a great deal today.
The pawnshop owner suppressed a smile; he couldn’t let his happiness be too obvious. What if this silly girl came to her senses and complained about the low price?
Yu Xiaolian also kept her lips pursed, hoping not to laugh out loud. What if the owner found out that this item only sold for two bucks at the two-dollar store, and her five hundred taels would be gone.
Pawnshop owner: Quickly find this silly girl a silver note, draw up the receipt, send her off, and then he could rest easy.
Yu Xiaolian: I hope that in the future, when these things are everywhere on the street, you, boss, can still be this happy.
After taking the silver note, Yu Xiaolian and Sun Shi went straight to the broker, giving him a silver note of five hundred taels, plus another hundred taels from her space.
The broker took the silver note, and upon verifying its authenticity, he was surprised and said, "Six hundred taels, cash?"
"Yes, I want that two-entry courtyard." Chapters first released on novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"Wow, I’ve seen a lot today."
These two shabby-looking people are truly wealthy clients.
The broker took the money, immediately handed the key to Yu Xiaolian, and asked the young helper to write up an agreement. The owner’s name was written as Yu Changhe, who needed to provide a handprint.
They took the agreement to the inn, where Yu Changhe applied his handprint, after which the young helper went to the Government office for registration and stamping.
Yu Xiaolian and Sun Shi waited at the broker’s.
The broker was in this business after all, naturally connected to the Government, the young helper didn’t even have to queue, getting priority registration and stamping.
Soon, the young helper returned with the property deed, handing it to Sun Shi, with the contract prepared in duplicate.
As Sun Shi and Yu Xiaolian left, the broker even warmly encouraged them to take care of his business again, should they need anything.
Yu Xiaolian had never thought a two-dollar Mei Yangyang would fetch five hundred taels, she happily bounced and skipped as she walked.
At the time, instead of grabbing a glass item, on impulse, she picked up a Mei Yangyang, and it worked out. The pawnshop owner treated it as a treasure.
Although the two-entry courtyard hadn’t been tidied yet, the previous owner seemed to have moved not long ago, and the place wasn’t very dusty. They could move in first and clean later.
They picked up Yu Changhe, drove the carriage, and headed to their new home as a family of three.
Using the key from the broker, they unlocked the wooden main gate, the front yard had a high threshold, the carriage couldn’t enter. It had to be taken to the backyard through the back gate.
"Mom, we don’t need the old locks and keys, we should change the locks for both the front and back doors." Yu Xiaolian produced two locks, though smaller than the original, they could be secured by threading a chain through two loops when going out and then locking.
This key couldn’t be duplicated by an ancient blacksmith’s shop, making it safer to use.
They tethered the horse in the backyard stable, and Yu Xiaolian made use of her space ability to move Yu Changhe into the east room.
In Great Liang, elders typically reside in the east room.
The room contained nothing except some leftover trash from the previous owner.
They needed to buy everything—bedding, furniture, kitchenware, all of it.
But the priority was to buy a pot first for their new home; she knew buying a pot was essential as it symbolized family life and homely atmosphere.
Without bedding on the kang, Yu Changhe had nowhere to lie down; they needed to buy bedding first.
Yu Xiaolian improvised by placing a cardboard box from instant noodles on the kang for Yu Changhe to sit on.
Yu Xiaolian had over three hundred taels left in her space, counting the gold, over four hundred taels, but she didn’t plan to spend the gold ingot.
Three hundred taels was enough to set up the home, even if they bought the best of everything, it wouldn’t cost that much.
Sun Shi asked Yu Xiaolian to conjure up a basin and a rag so she could fetch water from the backyard to wipe away the dust.
Yu Xiaolian handed her a plastic basin and a rag, which Sun Shi took to fetch water from the backyard well, conveniently providing water.
She took out a paper and pen, listing the items they urgently needed.
A large iron pot was a must; for small pots, she had a non-stick pan and earthenware pot in her space, no need to buy bowls and plates either.
Yu Xiaolian scribbled and revised the list, suddenly recalling that her home supermarket seemed to have damp-proof mats. After checking, there indeed were mats, the interlocking kind, but more like children’s crawling pads, though. Regardless, these mats could be joined and used as bedding.
Great, they didn’t need to buy bedding, saving more money.
Yu Xiaolian decided to lay the mats first before heading out shopping.
She retrieved a broom from the supermarket, wrapped a rag around it, afraid Yu Changhe might choke on the dust, she put him into her space first before sweeping the dust off the walls.
Yu Xiaolian started with the east room, while Sun Shi was cleaning the kitchen in the back room.
As she pieced the crawling mats together, Yu Xiaolian realized the size wasn’t right, one less left a large part of the kang exposed, one more jutted out awkwardly.
No choice, Yu Xiaolian had to trim them with a wallpaper knife.
After finally finishing the job, Yu Xiaolian felt exhausted, not wanting to go shopping, all she wanted was to rest on the kang.
But Sun Shi wouldn’t let her off, insisting she tidy up the west room too.
Yu Xiaolian protested, "Let’s just clean one room today, take it slow, I’m so tired!"
Sun Shi, not showing any signs of fatigue, worked with a cheerful smile, brimming with energy as if fully charged.
Lying on the kang in the east room, Yu Xiaolian remained motionless despite Sun Shi’s calls.
After a long while, she remembered Yu Changhe.
She released Yu Changhe from her space, and they both lay still.
Yu Changhe touched the colorful cartoon animal mats, intrigued.
He shifted his position and felt it was quite comfy.
Looking around, she noted the floor had been swept, the previously broken-legged old stool thrown out by Yu Xiaolian, and the wooden windowsill cleaned.
The window was open now, with sunlight streaming in, warming the kang pleasantly.
The more he looked, the more satisfied he was, though the room was bare, not even a cabinet in sight.
"I’ve also cleaned the west room, I’ll go change the water in the back yard, while you lay the mats in the west room!" Sun Shi called to Yu Xiaolian.
Resting a bit, Yu Xiaolian felt reenergized.
So, she went to lay the mats in the west room, the kangs in both the east and west rooms were the same size, needing the crawling mats trimmed with a wallpaper knife.
Meanwhile, Sun Shi had returned with water, looking at the three now-dust-free rooms, she said, "We have three rooms in our two-entry courtyard, should we clean those, too?"
Yu Xiaolian quickly spoke up, "Mom, take a break, aren’t you tired?"
"I’m not tired, now we have our own house, I’m too happy to feel tired from working."
Yu Xiaolian replied, "We don’t need to clean the rooms in the two-entry courtyard today, we can use them as storage rooms for the future."
"But why use the east courtyard rooms when we’ve a storage room?"
"Those two storage rooms are too small, we should move as much as possible from the supermarket, so it can restock and refill thereafter."