Starting My Cultivation With Immortality - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Qingfeng Small Building

Yun Su looked through the houses for sale. Although Yuyang County City was not the largest city in the state, there was a commercial port outside the city. The price of houses was still very high. Every house had a simple drawing with simple information on it. The cheapest house cost 37 taels of silver.

Yun Su felt that these one-family houses were not bad. It was just that the price was unbearable and he did not have enough money on him.

Initially, he wanted to see if there were any particularly cheap haunted houses or other cheap houses for sale. Naturally, he was disappointed.

There were more houses in Book B. He skipped the villas that were too expensive. Looking exclusively at the houses that were not expensive, he finally chose a small building in the west of the city.

The clerk did not say anything more. He called an errand boy to bring Yun Su to take a look.

“Sir, what’s your name? I am Wang Er.”

“I’m Su.”

Yun Su picked up his bag and followed Wang Er around the corner to a quiet alley. On the left was a large house with high walls and bright tiles. Many birds were flying and chirping happily. On the right was a dilapidated small house.

There were three words on the lintel of the small house: Qingfeng Small Building.

Most of the tiles on the courtyard wall were damaged, revealing the grayish-white glutinous rice mortar inside. The drainage at the corner of the wall was poor and many of the bricks had been eroded and weathered. There were even some weeds growing between the bricks.

Standing outside the courtyard door, he could see a withered old tree. The tree trunk in his line of sight was as big as a water bucket. Yun Su had seen it at the corner of the street just now. There was no sign of life as far as his eyes could see. Insects tore through it while the birds pecked on it. Due to the strong wind and snow, the branches were broken. Together with this dilapidated courtyard, it looked exceptionally bleak.

The two buckled iron rings on the courtyard door were a little rusty. One large lock was half-new and half-worn. The two doors were a little older but not messy like the other doors he had seen along the way, which had been messed up by children’s toys like rocks and charcoal.

Yun Su focused his gaze on the sky above the small courtyard. There was a lingering sense of bad luck.

Last night’s Spiritual Rain did not extinguish the bad luck here. No wonder the monthly rent was only 300 copper coins.

“Mr Su, look at this residence. It’s authentic. Although it’s a little remote, look inside. The spacious hard stone dam protects you from the rain…”

Wang Er took out the key and opened the courtyard door. He was greeted by a wall of light that blocked his line of sight. After walking around the wall of light, he saw a spacious courtyard with a dam. It was also overgrown with weeds that were about half the height of a person. There were also two dried bird nests that had long been abandoned among the weeds. There was a large pool in the northwest corner of the courtyard. There was a medium-sized rockery beside the pool. The entire pool was about thirty feet wide.

“Brother Yun, how can we live here?”

Wang Xuanji looked at the wild grass that was taller than her and asked worriedly.

Wang Er also felt a little embarrassed. Seeing that this was going to fail, he hurriedly advised:

“You may not know this, young lady, but there has been a lot of rain and snow in the area recently so the grass has grown a little faster but look at this hardstone yard and dam, the big pool and the old well for your use over there. It suits all of you very well.”

Yun Su placed his burden under the porch and let Wang Xuanji and the others play there. He made an excuse to look at the courtyard again and walked in with Wang Er.

“What’s the background of this place?”

“It used to be the courtyard of a merchant family in the city. When the owner committed a crime, the house was confiscated. Mr Su, the rent is only 300 copper coins a month. You can’t find a better one in the entire city. If you rent it, I, Wang Er, will help you cut these weeds and tidy them up.”

Yun Su remained silent. He did not expect to hear any truth from Wang Er. He focused her gaze and realized that there was nothing wrong with the ancient well or the few halls here. It was more or less bad luck that was formed over the years.

Only when his gaze swept across the large pool did Yun Su realize that there was something wrong here.

When Wang Er saw Yun Su’s gaze sweep past him, he felt as if he was naked and standing on the street being stared at. He was shocked. He looked at the desolate courtyard and said:

“Mr Su, if you’re satisfied with this place after some time, I’ll help you and beg the shopkeeper to sell this public residence to you at a cheap price.”

Yun Su couldn’t be bothered to say anything more to this slimy errand boy so he agreed to rent it. The premise was that he had to get rid of the weeds in the courtyard and clean it up.

Wang Er agreed readily, thinking that even if he would have to fork out money from the public account, the shopkeeper would also agree to it. This house was not very clean, so how would the locals dare to rent it?

After that, it was easy. After paying a deposit of 50 copper coins, Yun Su put down his stuff, carried Wang Xuanyu and took the little guys out for lunch.

At the mouth of an alley not far from the building, there was a street-facing restaurant with five small tables. There was a large bamboo mat overhead to keep out the rain and snow. It sold wontons, which surprised Yun Su. The restaurant’s sign read “Wonton Zhang.”

The shopkeeper was in his thirties. He was warm-hearted and talkative. When he saw Yun Su with a few children and the fact that he didn’t look like a local, he chatted him up while working in the kitchen.

The wontons were stuffed with cabbage and pork. Although there wasn’t much pork in each wonton, the cabbage was very flavourful. It didn’t have the old vegetable feeling and was served in a sea bowl. The shopkeeper said the wonton soup was made with pork bones and had rough salt and onions in it. Yun Su added a little aged vinegar to the sea bowl. It tasted much better than what he had eaten on Earth. Unfortunately, there was no chili.

“Shopkeeper, your wanton tastes good.”

“Hey, your taste buds are good. This shop has lasted for three generations. I won’t dare to put unauthentic thin skins or meat fillings. It takes an entire night to make soup with big bones.”

“It’s delicious but the name is a little strange.”

The four little guys ate until their mouths were filled with soup. Wang Xuanwu ate the most and ate one wonton at a time.

“Hehe, the word wonton has the meaning of chaos. Some places call it yuntun despite it being the same thing. If it’s delicious, eat more.”

Yun Su sighed. He didn’t know when he could go back to Earth.

The large bowl cost two copper coins and the small bowl cost one copper coin. The portions were not small. Yun Su ate a large bowl and the little guys each had a small portion. Even the youngest girl, who was only a few months old, ate three wontons. Wang Xuanwu ordered an extra small bowl.

Yun Su was no longer a mortal. After a night of fasting, although he was not hungry, the food still tasted delicious. After a bowl of wonton and a bowl of noodles soup, he was very satisfied.

“Sir, the previous owner of that small building committed a crime and was killed. His wife committed suicide by throwing herself into the water. The residence is not very clean. You should think twice before bringing your children here.”

Shopkeeper Zhang took the opportunity to whisper in Yun Su’s ear while counting the coins.

Yun Su nodded and paid seven copper coins without another word.

When he returned to Qingfeng Villa, the courtyard had been cleaned up. Yun Su scanned the area with his Dharma Eyes and realized that the corridor, rooms, and kitchen had been cleaned. The weeds had also been uprooted and cleaned up. However, the pool had not been cleaned up.

Wang Er was waiting there with three workers. Seeing Yun Su nod, he gave the three of them nine copper coins and sent them away.

“Mr Su, I’ve also brought the rental documents. You will pay three months’ worth of rent every three months. I’ve told his magistrate about the deposit, so I’ll waive it for you.”

Yun Su looked at the document. It was obvious. It was the kind of standard document that said the lease was for a year, the rent was three hundred copper coins a month, and how the rent ought to be paid every three months. It also stated who was the lender and the tenant. Details like the middleman were written down clearly, so he took out a small piece of silver.

Wang Er was prepared. After a brief inspection, he took out a pair of steelyards to weigh it. He took out some copper coins as change. He also said that if Yun Su wanted to buy this courtyard, he could look for him at the shop’s office at any time. He would definitely help to fight for a good price and so on. Only then did he leave the key behind and leave quickly.

After closing the courtyard door, the entire courtyard seemed even quieter. There was a disturbing feeling. The little fellows flipped through the place. They were having a good time but not noisy. After all, they spent most of their lives then at Mystic Wood Sect and were different from ordinary children.

Yun Su assigned rooms. There were two main rooms. He lived in the east room and in the middle was the central hall. Wang Xuanji brought Wang Xuanyu to the west side room and the side room next to the west room was given to the three little guys to sleep in.

The remaining two side rooms were temporarily used for storage. On the east side of the place was the kitchen. It was not a small place and had its own firewood shed. Unfortunately, the pots and pans were either broken or missing. They were thrown away by the helpers.

Seeing that it was still early, Yun Su decided to take the children shopping to buy bedrolls, pots, pans, and groceries. He couldn’t buy anything of too poor quality either. Because he bought too much, he even leased a handcart to pull them back at once.

After that, he still had one tael of silver and more than a hundred copper coins left.

Yun Su experienced what it meant to spend money like its flowing water. On the other hand, the little guys were having a lot of fun. Wang Xuanji was sensible and felt sorry for the expenditure but she also understood that the money had to be spent. She was just thinking about how to help Big Brother Yun think of a way to earn money.