Heavenly Blessed Baby: Fleeing Famine, Busy to Prosper!-Chapter 156: Why Didn’t You Let Me See This Place Before?
After a whole night’s turmoil, there was only a shallow layer of Tiger Bone Wine left.
Whether in the front yard or the back yard, the smell of herbal medicine lingered in the air for a long time.
Some people had their fever reduced, but there were still others who were feverish. Fortunately, the temperatures had gone down significantly.
As the sky brightened, Yin Cheng and Qin Minglang could no longer hold on. Ignoring everyone’s remarks, they didn’t even have time to take off their jackets before they collapsed into a deep sleep on the half-empty kang in Qi Zheng’s room.
At this moment, Yi Meng sat in front of the stove, leaning against Qi Quanjin beside her. The couple fell asleep just like that, head to head.
In the blink of an eye, the sky grew bright, and both courtyards began to bustle.
The smell of medicine wafting through the air scared everyone quite a bit.
"Oh dear, what kind of medicine is this brewing? The smell is so strong!"
"Oh, big sister, don’t even ask. It’s the people from those two newly moved-in families. They were quite busy last night, heard that a lot of them had fevers. I guess that’s where the medicine smell is coming from."
Neighbors in the alley gathered in small groups, pointing and gesturing toward the courtyard where the Qi Family lived.
The Qi Family members, and everyone in the front yard, were unaware of all this.
At this moment, they were all completely exhausted and fast asleep.
Although the rooms were now warm, without the biting cold wind they faced before, everyone slept even more tiredly.
Especially Qu Laodi, who had to look after sick family members, would fall into a hazy sleep only to wake up suddenly, hurrying to check on the children.
Just one night had left everyone with noticeable dark circles under their eyes.
When Qi Quanjin woke up, he instinctively moved his somewhat stiff body, accidentally waking Yi Meng beside him.
The sunlight filtered through the paper-covered window, the candle in the corner of the stove had long burned out.
"Wife, you lean against the wall and sleep a bit more while I get up to check things out."
Qi Quanjin looked at his wife with heartache.
Her face was full of fatigue.
Yi Meng was awake by now, although still sleepy, she didn’t want to continue sleeping against the wall, so she got up: "I’ll start cooking, you quickly go find Second Brother and have him rent a yard as soon as possible!"
"Alright, I’ll go right away."
Qi Quanjin agreed verbally, but he first helped his wife stabilize herself by massaging her legs to make sure she could stand on her own before getting up to find Qi Ercai.
When Qi Ercai heard they needed to find an additional yard, he was puzzled, but didn’t think much more about it.
Mr. Qian, upon seeing Qi Ercai coming, immediately welcomed him with a cheerful invite indoors, but soon he was surprised: "Looking for another yard? Aren’t those two yards enough for your family?"
"Originally, squeezing a bit was enough, but we met several people from our village yesterday. They’ve been fleeing for their lives, separated before, and have now reunited. Everyone wants to live closer together."
Qi Ercai looked a bit embarrassed: "Brother Qian, I’m thinking one wouldn’t bother two masters, so I came to ask if you have another suitable yard."
"I do have yards, but what exactly are you looking for? How about the one you didn’t like before?"
Mr. Qian felt quite pleased.
Business coming to the door, money to be made, how could he refuse?
Qi Ercai said: "Forget about the one before, it’s a bit far from here. We want to live closer so that we can lend a hand to each other if needed."
"I see!"
Mr. Qian scratched his head, frowned in thought, and said: "That’s not easy, there are no empty yards nearby. Even if there are, they are all old and in disrepair, with roof and wall leaks, not suitable for living."
"Can we take a look?"
Qi Ercai didn’t really care about the wind leaks.
No matter how drafty, could it be worse than hiding in an alley?
Being able to arrange a yard for Ji Hu and the others was already a great benevolence, how could they expect a large multi-courtyard residence? 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Seeing Qi Ercai was serious, Mr. Qian didn’t hesitate, immediately donning a dogskin hat, and led him out directly to the destination.
The yard was at the very end of the alley where the Qi Family resided.
Two yards, separated by approximately five or six households.
The one not at the very end was smaller, with only two main rooms and two side rooms in the courtyard.
The room sizes were evidently smaller than the two previous yards.
The main room had a kang, the smaller side could house two adults, at most with a small child.
The larger side’s kang was big, but the roof leaked light, and during the day, the sunlight streaming through the roof was almost as strong as through the windows.
The yard was evidently neglected for years, with snow piled knee-deep, unable to conceal the withered weeds.
A good part of the courtyard wall had collapsed, allowing an outsider to take in the entire state of the courtyard.
As for window paper, cabinets, etc., one could forget about those. Even half of the stove had collapsed. To move in and settle down, it needed proper tidying up.
After looking at the yard, Qi Ercai understood what Mr. Qian meant by dilapidated.
So rundown, let alone normal people, even beggars wouldn’t take a fancy to it.
"There’s another one inside, want to take a look?"
Mr. Qian had been observing Qi Ercai’s expression, and seeing the solemn look on his face, knew this trip was in vain.
How could anyone rent such a broken yard?
If it weren’t for the fact that the owner had some connection with his family and he occasionally came over to check if anyone was squatting in it, he probably wouldn’t have remembered having such a property in hand.
Although Qi Ercai’s expression wasn’t good, he still firmly nodded: "Let’s see!"
Despite the place being rundown, the distance wasn’t really far.
And with the other yard just a few steps away, there was no reason to refuse to look now.
When they arrived in front of the second yard, Mr. Qian introduced as he unlocked the door: "This yard, it’s actually a two-courtyard yard. However, the owner hit misfortune, so the house was left vacant. Now it’s under the government’s name. If you truly want to rent it, you’ll have to sign documents directly with the government."
"A government house?"
Qi Ercai’s heart skipped: "Brother Qian, do you know what happened to the previous owner here?"
"The previous owner of this house used to be a high-ranking official in the court, but later committed a crime and was implicated. The whole family was exiled to some island in the east, and all their property was confiscated."
Mr. Qian pushed open the double wooden doors.
Though the surface of the wooden doors showed clear signs of weathering, they didn’t wobble at all when opened, suggesting good quality wood was used.
Upon entering, there was a carved screen wall, adorned with patterns of longevity and prosperity.
Rounding the screen wall was a small courtyard, followed by a two-story building.
"Although no one lives in this yard, every month the government sends people to clean it, so there’s at most just a bit of dust inside."
Mr. Qian led them towards the small building.
It was the first time in Qi Ercai’s life he entered such a grand courtyard, feeling quite uneasy, even more perplexed: "Brother Qian, since this yard belongs to the government and is so big, why didn’t you mention it to me before?"
