Chapter 12: 12

Transmigrated into Substitute Bride Fu Lang

Chapter 12 : 租下

[Rent it down]

Chen Xing followed the two officials with Granny Sun to see the stall. He originally thought that even though there was such a stall, the location and conditions should not be very good, but when he arrived at that stall and saw exactly what it looked like, he then realized that his previous thought was wrong.

 

The stall was at the end street of the city wall, with a clean floor, one side leaning against the city wall behind it and the remaining three sides hollowed out and topped with a thatched roof, with room for two tables for customers inside. The previous shopkeeper probably also used to make food, since there were two modest fire stoves left in front of the stall.

 

What pleased Chen Xing the most was that the stall was not far from the private bank, silver houses and other shops, so he thought that the security around it must be guaranteed. The first time he saw the stall, Chen Xing fell in love with it and even started to think of getting tarpaulins or thatch to cover up the leaky area.

 

[钱庄: old-style money shop (a type of private bank that first appeared in the Ming dynasty, flourished in the Qing, and was phased out after 1949)]

 

The official who brought Chen Xing here saw his face, and immediately knew that this errand was practically a success. so he looked at him and said with a smile, “How about it? This place is not bad right? This stall was originally run by a relative of the Lai family, and that person usually followed Master Lai and his family in their bullying and tyrant abuse. This time, when the county magistrate liquidated the Lai family, he was counted as part of it, which is why this stall was left unoccupied.”

 

Chen Xing nodded and asked with some hesitation, “Thank you, this officer, may I ask how about the rent?”

 

Hearing that, the official was very straightforward and said directly, “Originally this was the property of the Lai family and the charge was two taels of silver a year. But now, the County Magistrate has taken charge of it, it only costs one tael of silver. However, the county magistrate also knows your situation and expected that it would not be easy for you, so he had ordered before we came, granting you permission to pay for half a year first, and then pay the remaining half when you have earned the money.”

 

Originally, when he heard that he had to pay one tael of silver, Chen Xing was a bit hesitant, after all, he hadn’t earned that much during these days. If he needed to rent the stall, he was afraid that he would still have to borrow it from Gu Lang.

 

As a result, after he heard the latter half of the official’s words, at the same time, he praised the county magistrate he had never met before in his heart and also immediately responded, said towards the official, “Thank you a lot, sir! I’ll rent it.”

 

When the official heard that he wanted to rent the stall, he was not surprised. After all, such a cheap and good stall, they themselves would not refuse it either. Moreover, this little Ger was able to get such a cheap stall, probably because there were people behind him, otherwise it would not have been that easy.

 

Therefore, after hearing that Chen Xing wanted to rent it, the official smiled and said, “Since you have decided, then you should come with us to sign the deed,so the stall will be yours for a year after signing.”

 

Private stalls were not allowed in the county, either because they had to have a front shop or be in a specific street. Anyone who went beyond that had to get permission from the government to operate, otherwise if the government found out, the lightest thing would be to have your stall closed and the worst thing would be the person had to take a trip to the feudal official with the stall being closed too. If you want to rent a stall here, you need to go to a special agency office of the government to have it notarized. In case there would be a dispute, you would have no way to argue.

 

Chen Xing had thought of renting a stall a few days ago, therefore he had already inquired about all these details. He was more and more relieved when he heard the official say so. After all, a verbal agreement could be broken, but it was not so easy to go back on something that was written down in black and white.

 

Chen Xing went with the official to the official’s rental office and signed a one-year lease. Chen Xing paid half of the silver on the spot and agreed that the remaining half would be delivered within a month, therefore the lease was considered to be completed.

 

After leaving the rental office, Chen Xing bought a duck with sauce outside and packed two packets of sweet desserts at the restaurant and gave the food to the two officials as a thank you for their hard work in this half of day. The officials delayed for a while but finally accepted the stuff and left happily.

 

Chen Xing sent Granny Sun back to her stall and gave her the two extra packets of pastries and half a duck in soy sauce as a thank you for her company today, before carrying the rest of the money to the food market.

 

Until Chen Xing had bought fresh fish, some pork meat and many vegetables, and returned to the Gu residence, it was already past lunchtime.

 

As soon as Chen Xing stepped through the door of the Gu Mansion, Qiu Jiu, who was sitting on the doorstep staring at the direction of the door, his eyes immediately lit up and rushed towards him asking with concern, “Why did you come back so late, did you encounter something?”

 

Chen Xing looked at Qiu Jiu’s anxious look and was a little embarrassed, “I had something come up today, so I came back a little late.”

 

After Chen Xing finished calming Qiu Jiu and went inside, he saw Gu Lang sitting on the veranda reading a book not far away. At once, his heart warmed. He turned to Gu Lang and said in a loud voice, “Gu Gongzi, you are not well. It’s better not to stay outside for long. You should go back to the room and rest first, I will call you when the food is ready.”

 

Gu Lang looked at Chen Xing, swept his line of sight over him to make sure there was nothing wrong, silently put away the book in his hand, nodded towards Chen Xing, stood up and went back to his study room unhurriedly. He just thought it was more well ventilated and convenient to read books here, there was no other meaning.

 

Seeing Gu Lang leave, Chen Xing said towards Qiu Jiu who still wanted to ask something, “It’s already past eating time, I bought many good dishes today, let’s eat first and talk about it after dinner.” After saying that, he let Qiu Jiu look at the fish and meat he had bought.

 

Qiu Jiu’s eyes lit up again when he saw these two items. Without asking too many questions, he followed behind Chen Xing, he was ready to go and help in the kitchen, so that he could have his meal earlier.

 

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Today’s lunch was late but unprecedentedly rich. Chen Xing had made sweet and sour fish, braised fish, spicy eggplants, soup of three delicacies and half a salted duck in sauce that he had brought back.

 

Looking at the dishes in front of him and smelling the fragrance of the many foods on the table, Qiu Jiu who had eaten many good things, could not help but praise Chen Xing at this time, “Chen Xing, your skill is better than even the cooks in the capital. Your cooking is too delicious.”

 

Hearing Qiu Jiu’s praise, Chen Xing smiled somehow embarrassed.

 

Gu Lang, however, looked at Chen Xing whose whole body was emitting a pleasant glow and asked indifferently, “Did something good happen today?”

 

Hearing Gu Lang ask this, Qiu Jiu stopped eating and also turned his gaze towards Chen Xing.

 

Chen Xing, however, became excited, looked at them and told them all about what had happened today. At the end, he kept praising, “That county magistrate is really a good person. This town will definitely develop better and better in the future.”

 

As he listened to Chen Xing’s over praise of the county magistrate whom he had never met, Qiu Jiu’s eyes involuntarily fell on his own family young master who was sitting there calmly eating his meal and occasionally replied to Chen Xing’s words. Seeing that the expression on his face had not changed at all from start to the end, Qiu Jiu silently lowered his head and quietly ate the fragrant rice in his bowl.

 

Gu Lang quietly looked at Chen Xing who was talking with great enthusiasm and listened to his words with a gentle expression, nodding every now and then because of what he said, with a few moments of tenderness in his gaze that he himself did not even notice.

 

Wait until dinner time was finished, Qiu Jiu went to wash the dishes, while Chen Xing and Gu Lang took a walk on the veranda to cool off.

 

Chen Xing looked at the courtyard that looked extraordinarily empty because the weeds had been cleared and sighed softly, “The days are really getting better and better.”

 

Hearing Chen Xing’s sigh like this, Gu Lang turned his head to look at him and a few doubts appeared in his eyes.

 

Chen Xing looked at his puzzled expression, gently laughed, somewhat embarrassed as he rubbed his head and softly said, “Actually, I was very apprehensive and nervous when I came here. I didn’t expect you to be so nice, nor did I expect things to go so smoothly like this.”

 

Hearing Chen Xing say this, Gu Lang’s gaze flickered, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he did not say anything.

 

Chen Xing didn’t notice the change in Gu Lang’s expression as he looked up at the clear sky and planned every detail of his future, “Now that I have a fixed stall where I can sell more food in the future there, when I earn more money, I will rent a bigger shop and open a small restaurant, then save up to pay you back and get my deed of sale back. ”

 

As Gu Lang listened to Chen Xing’s words and looked at the pleasant smile on his face, he suddenly wanted to ask Chen Xing what he was going to do when he got his deed of sale? Would he leave here and go live his own life? The future plan he had in mind where he did not include him ah!

 

Thinking of all this, Gu Lang, who felt that things had become a bit serious, stared at Chen Xing’s side face in silence, somehow suddenly remembering the stunning feeling Chen Xing had given him when he first met Chen Xing, originally thinking that as time passed, that feeling would silently dissipate. Who knew that now, it seemed that such a confident and open Chen Xing, on the contrary, was attracting his attention more and more.

 

Gu Lang felt that if Chen Xing could never pay back that money for the rest of his life, it might not be such a bad thing. After all, then he would have a reason to stay by his side. He would protect him and let him do whatever things he wanted to do, wouldn’t that even be better?

 

After Chen Xing finished his plans for the future in high spirits and wanted to see if Gu Lang could give any advice, he turned his head and met with Gu Lang’s silent stare that startled him.

 

Chen Xing looked at Gu Lang and hesitantly asked, “What, what’s wrong?”

 

Gu Lang showed his gentle smile again which was no different from his usual one, and said softly, “Nothing, I just thought of something and suddenly got a little deeply lost in thought.”

 

Seeing Gu Lang back to his gentle appearance again, Chen Xing didn’t think too much about it, thinking that Gu Lang was just like what he said, that he was deeply lost in thought and that was why Gu Lang was looking at himself like that. Now, he was fine. He looked at Gu Lang and repeated the question he had just asked, “What do you think of my plan?”

 

Hearing what he said, the corners of Gu Lang’s mouth lifted slightly and he said softly, “It’s really a good idea. I also believe that with your ability, you can reach your goal very quickly.”

 

Hearing that Gu Lang had agreed with him, Chen Xing became more and more excited. He even felt inspired as he happily said towards him, “You feel the same way, right? I’ll definitely work hard and pay you money back soon!”

 

Gu Lang’s gaze wandered over Chen Xing’s face which was becoming more and more rosy from happiness and

looking distinctly bright on his face. The corner of his lip curled up slightly as he said softly, “I’m looking forward to it.”

 

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