I Returned to the Day He Brought His First Love Home-Chapter 132: The Dust Settles

"Ma’am!"

Grace Winslow was startled.

She had taken care of Caleb Forrest’s mother for over twenty years, so she knew some basic first aid.

She first picked up the old woman, laid her flat on the ground, checked her eyelids, and then her breathing. After confirming she was still breathing, Grace began CPR.

A full ten minutes passed before the woman coughed and came to.

Grace found some medicine in the woman’s pocket, fed her a pill, and then grabbed a nearby teacup to give her half a cup of water.

The old woman’s breathing gradually steadied. She looked at Grace with a complicated expression. "They all curse me. They all know our Forrest family is no good, that we’re traitors. Aren’t you afraid that if you buy our house, you’ll be cursed too?"

"I can tell right from wrong for myself. I won’t judge you just based on what a few people say."

"I have my own eyes to see. You don’t look like a bad person either."

"Heh, not a bad person? If you could tell good from bad just by looking, I wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state."

"You should go. I’m not selling this house to you." The old woman’s face was cold as she used a chair to pull herself up. Hunched over, she slowly walked back into the house.

Grace opened her mouth but said nothing, just watching the woman’s retreating back.

She didn’t know what the woman had been through, so she was in no position to tell her to let it go.

Having never experienced her pain or suffering, Grace didn’t have the right.

It was just that she really, really liked this house.

But she really didn’t have thirty thousand yuan to pay all at once.

At that price, the house probably wouldn’t sell anytime soon. She could take her time and figure out a way to earn the money, then see if the old woman was willing to sell.

Grace tidied up the things on the floor before leaving.

As she came out, she ran into the two old women she had met at the entrance to the alley.

They sidled up, their faces full of gossip. "Did that old hag chew you out?"

"I told you she has a bad temper. She’s impossible to get along with. People from the neighborhood committee went to check on her before, wanting to help, but she chased them all out with a broom."

Hearing this left a bad taste in Grace’s mouth.

After a moment’s thought, she asked, "Do you know what happened to her family? How did she end up with no sons or grandsons?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Well, they say someone reported them. They were hiding something forbidden in the house. A lot of people came back then, searching day after day. And her sons... they were arrested and beaten to death."

"The old woman was the only one who survived. Who really knows what happened?"

"I think it’s best you don’t ask about these things. And you should forget about that house."

The two women offered a few more words of advice in low voices. It was getting late and they had to rush back to cook, so they said goodbye to Grace.

Grace glanced back one more time.

In the twilight, the house exuded a sense of history and the marks of time.

She had a feeling the old woman was hiding many things in her heart.

Shaking her head, she decided to head back to the guesthouse first.

Irene Lynch and Gregory Winslow had been running around all day. They couldn’t bear to spend money at a state-run restaurant while looking at houses, so they just bought a few steamed buns from a street vendor and ate them with water.

When they saw Grace return, the three of them exchanged the news they’d gathered that day, all looking disappointed.

"I actually saw a decent place, a house of two or three thousand square meters, but it costs thirty thousand. We don’t have that much cash on hand." Grace sighed as she told them about the house she’d seen that day.

Irene Lynch massaged her legs. "Thirty thousand? For two or three thousand square meters? That’s too big! There are only three of us. How could we possibly live in a house that large?"

Grace had her own ideas.

’The house is definitely big, but if we renovate it now, in a few years when the economy takes off, we could turn it into a high-end bed and breakfast.’

’This kind of B&B will be very popular in the future.’

’And it’s near Crestwood University, too.’

"I don’t have to go to the university tomorrow, so let’s all go take a look together." Grace was tired from running around all day and planned to wash up and go to bed early.

"Okay. Don’t you have to go to the university the day after tomorrow? We need to settle on a house quickly. We can’t just keep living in a guesthouse; it costs quite a bit each day." Irene winced at the thought of spending two or three yuan a day on the guesthouse.

Grace nodded.

Back at the guesthouse, she had a simple meal, washed up, and lay down in bed, but the image of the old woman kept appearing in her mind.

Grace found it hard to fall asleep.

She tossed and turned until just before dawn before finally managing to get a little sleep.

The next morning, she got up early and went out to look at houses again.

But today, their luck was better. They met a man who said he was an agent.

Grace studied him. He was wearing a white shirt under a somewhat oversized gray suit jacket, and his hair was meticulously combed with pomade. He actually had the vibe of a real estate agent from her future.

She stared at him for a long while, almost suspecting he might be a reincarnator too.

’There are already real estate agents in this day and age?’

"Miss, please don’t look at me like that. I don’t have a choice. I’m just working for someone else; my boss gives me the listings. But don’t worry, it’s all legitimate. How about you come with me to see a house first? Or you can tell me your requirements and your price range." The man scratched his head, his face turning red under Grace’s stare.

Grace gave an embarrassed smile. "Okay. Our requirements aren’t too demanding. We’d prefer more rooms because we have other family members who might come to live with us later. A two-courtyard siheyuan would be ideal. And we don’t want a place with complicated ownership, the kind where several families live in one courtyard."

"As for the price, the cheaper the better, of course."

Andrew Aldridge quickly filtered Grace’s requirements in his mind, and his eyes lit up. "Actually, I have just the place. It’s not too far from here. As for rooms... it has about six, plus a kitchen and everything. You can go take a look first. The owner is asking for thirty-five hundred. If you think it’s suitable, I believe there’s still room to negotiate the price."

Grace’s interest was instantly piqued. "Then we’ll have to trouble you to take us there."

"Sure thing! I’ll take you there right now. This way. It’s about a ten-minute walk." Andrew Aldridge rubbed his hands together and led them off to see the house.

After about ten minutes of weaving through various turns, they finally arrived at their destination.

Grace was quite satisfied the moment she saw the house.

Although parts of it were damaged, the repairs wouldn’t be too difficult. The damage to the garden wasn’t extensive, and the inside of the house was reasonably clean.

A large pile of stones was scattered messily in the courtyard, and she couldn’t tell what they were for.

The owner wasn’t there at the moment. Grace, Irene Lynch, and Gregory Winslow went inside to look around and were all quite pleased.

Around noon, the owner returned.

He was a middle-aged man in his early forties, wearing a black Zhongshan suit and looking like he was in a hurry.

He glanced at Grace and the others as he entered and spoke directly. "I’m in a hurry to sell this house. The title is clean, with no disputes. My family doesn’t have any messy connections either, so you can rest assured."

"If you can pay in cash all at once, I can knock another two hundred off the price. Don’t ask for more than that. We’re all straightforward people here, let’s not waste time with games."