While Shen Shaoguang was making elm seed rice, the elderly neighbor limped over.
Shen Shaoguang quickly asked A Chang to help support him.
The old man waved his hand, “I can manage, can manage. Thank you, young miss.”
A Chang still helped the old man sit down, and Shen Shaoguang personally brought tea.
Since last year when the old man had injured his leg in the rain and rented the front shop to Shen Shaoguang, he rarely went out, with only his elderly wife occasionally emerging to buy rice and vegetables. Shen Shaoguang wondered what would bring this mobility-impaired elder to visit personally – perhaps something about the property?
Sure enough: “Seeing the young miss’s business flourishing, I wonder if you’d be interested in buying my two shops and the houses behind them?”
Shen Shaoguang didn’t immediately say yes or no, but smiled and asked, “Is the elder moving to a larger house? Congratulations!”
The old man knew this Young Miss Shen was tactfully asking about his reasons for selling, so he smiled and said, “How could we earn money like you young folks and afford a bigger house? I have no children or grandchildren but finally adopted a family branch from the clan. They live in the suburbs, with large farmhouse buildings, and will take us in. Since we’re becoming parents without cause, we thought to sell this property as a meeting gift for our new children and grandchildren.”
Shen Shaoguang quickly offered congratulations.
The old man nodded somewhat emotionally, “Having children and grandchildren to care for us in our old age is a good thing.”
Hearing the resignation in the old man’s voice, but thinking that the paperwork and clan records must already be changed, it better to stay optimistic, Shen Shaoguang smiled encouragingly, “Living in the suburbs is nice too. The last time I went outside the city, I saw clear flowing rivers, lush green wheat fields, mulberry, and hemp surrounding houses, chickens crowing and dogs barking – even the air seemed fresher than in the city. Truly nice!”
Speaking of village life, the old man also smiled, “I like it too. If nothing else, it’s spacious!”
With that said, they discussed the property sale.
The old man asked for 60,000 cash – quite reasonable for this location.
Shen Shaoguang was frank with him, “I am interested in buying your property, elder, since we’re already settled here. But as you can see, with my various business operations and all these people, just your shops and houses might not be enough space.”
“The property on this side, I’m only renting. I fear the owner might take it back someday…” If she bought his property but couldn’t use it fully herself or rent it out for much, wouldn’t it just be dead weight?
“Is the young miss thinking of buying both properties together?” the old man asked, quite surprised. Though he knew this Young Miss Shen was capable and shrewd, with a thriving tavern, he never imagined that in less than a year, she’d saved enough to buy properties on both sides, especially since this side was considerably larger than his, probably requiring over 100,000 cash.
Shen Shaoguang smiled, “I fear the owner here won’t sell, and I might not be able to afford it. Let me inquire and give you a definite answer later, alright?”
The old man knew her mention of “not being able to afford it” was likely modesty, and her real concern was the former issue, so he nodded, “Very well, I’ll await your response.”
If the old man hadn’t brought it up, Shen Shaoguang would have waited until this property’s lease was nearly up before considering whether to buy or renew. But now that the old man was interested in selling, Shen Shaoguang decided to try her luck.
Taking A Yuan to Shou Ward, they found Minister Song’s residence. Shen Shaoguang sat in the mansion’s gatehouse, explaining her intentions to the steward who usually collected rent.
The steward shook his head, “To be honest with you, young miss, this is part of my lady’s dowry. The lady’s dowry is quite substantial, and she doesn’t lack money. These residential properties and shops are only for collecting rent, never for sale.”
The situation was about what Shen Shaoguang had expected – such families unless fallen on hard times, only bought the property, rarely selling such fixed assets.
Shen Shaoguang tried a last resort with a smile, “Please help ask the lady – what if by chance she wants to sell?”
Faced with Shen Shaoguang’s pretty smile, the steward finally smiled, “Very well, I’ll make this trip for the young miss.”
This steward was originally one of Minister Song’s wife’s servants from her maiden home, especially managing some of her shops and properties in the capital, with some face before his masters.
It wasn’t very long before the steward came out, seeing Shen Shaoguang he smiled, “Congratulations, young miss! My lady and master have agreed to sell the shop to you.”
Shen Shaoguang never expected it would work and quickly expressed thanks.
The steward smiled, “It’s really due to the good karma you’ve created. Didn’t your tavern first popularize hot pot? Someone gave my master two sets before the new year, and he liked them very much. I just mentioned this, and the master said, just for those pots, he should help with this small matter. When the lady heard, she agreed too. Isn’t this the good karma you’ve created?”
Shen Shaoguang quickly returned the politeness with a smile – if this steward hadn’t mentioned it, how would the master have known?
After exchanging more pleasantries, they discussed the price. This property was naturally more expensive than the old man’s – 100,000 cash, yet cheaper than Shen Shaoguang had expected. Could it be thanks to those two hot pots?
Shen Shaoguang wasn’t greedy – in such circumstances, she naturally wouldn’t haggle, agreed immediately, thanked the steward again, arranged to complete the deed tomorrow, and then took her leave. The steward saw her out.
At the gate, they happened to meet the master heading out, so Shen Shaoguang waited aside for his horses and carriages to pass first.
Minister Song saw Shen Shaoguang and raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise, then rode on.
Shen Shaoguang felt this Minister Song’s bearing was somewhat similar to Assistant Magistrate Lin’s – both belonged to the cold-faced gentleman type, though Assistant Magistrate Lin was more reserved. Perhaps this style was currently fashionable among the powerful. No, that wasn’t right – Minister Li was very genial.
In any case, this matter was settled.
A Yuan was even more excited than Shen Shaoguang, “Young miss, we finally have our property, right? Young miss, young miss, you said before you didn’t know when we could buy a property, and now we’ve bought one!” A Yuan chattered non-stop.
Shen Shaoguang smiled – it was her fault for always talking about buying property before.
But thinking about it, it was quite an achievement. This was Chang’an, where even great poets said “residing here is not easy” – how many talented people, how many who studied for ten years to pass the imperial examinations and become officials, were still “floating residents.”
Of course, this had to do with her property being small and low-grade – those officials needed at least dozens of rooms, compounds with front and back courtyards to be acceptable, which would double the price. And of course, it also had to do with their need to maintain appearances and spend heavily in official circles – like Clerk Liu, an eighth or ninth-rank official earning over 10,000 cash monthly probably spent 10,000. Earning money was hard, saving it even harder!
Even so, Shen Shaoguang was very satisfied – perhaps Chinese people were inherently Monopoly players, with property buying in their genes, always feeling more secure living on their property.
While A Yuan was still excited, Shen Shaoguang, like all annoying leaders, started setting higher “spiritual pursuits”: “This is just the beginning, A Yuan. Think about it – when we earn more money and buy a grand residence like Assistant Magistrate Lin’s, how nice would that be? With a garden for you to stroll in as you please.”
If it were Yu San, she would scoff at Shen Shaoguang’s grand ambitions – that was an official residence, even with money you couldn’t live there, and even if you could, some areas would need modification to avoid violating regulations. If it were A Chang, he would show an incredulous expression – the young miss wanted to buy such a grand residence?
But A Yuan was different. After thinking, she nodded, “We’ll be able to live in such a grand residence. Then we’ll also have corridors carved with patterns, but we won’t carve flowers – we’ll carve food! All kinds of vegetables, jade-tip noodles, steamed buns, roast chicken, meat skewers, sweet and sour fish…”
Shen Shaoguang had just started feeling melancholy at the mention of carved corridors but was distracted by the food list that followed, “Fine, we’ll carve everything we have in the shop, all of it. And in the garden, we won’t grow flowers and grass – that’s too common. We’ll grow vegetables: cucumbers, carrots, coriander, green onions… then use a golden hoe to till the soil…”
A Yuan laughed heartily.
Shen Shaoguang also laughed – dreaming is truly beautiful.
But speaking of fixing up gardens, the newly bought courtyard needed to be tidied up.
The next day, after completing the property transfer procedures for both properties and after a few more days, a middle-aged man came with a mule cart to pick up the elderly couple. Shen Shaoguang gave the customary gift of pastries, and then arranged for masons to begin renovating the houses and courtyards.
The wall between the two courtyards was demolished to combine them, the ground leveled, and the path paved with blue bricks. The small shed for hanging meat on the north side was torn down – in the future, preserved meat would all be dried in the newly bought building, with vegetables and grain also moved over. Of the two new rooms, one for dry goods and one for fresh goods – making full use of the space. The east side of the courtyard was made into a garden…
A Yuan suggested, “Set aside some space to raise a few chickens or even a couple of geese.”
Shen Shaoguang liked peace and cleanliness, worried about chickens and dogs running wild in the courtyard, and about chicken feathers and goose droppings everywhere, so she hesitated.
“With our chickens, we can collect the freshest eggs every day – stir-fry them with yellow chives, with bottle gourd, with cucumber, steam them with sugar, steam them with shrimp… During festivals, we can simply catch two chickens and stew them – isn’t that better than buying from outside?”
Shen Shaoguang made the decision: “Alright, let’s raise them!” A foodie just has no principles.
A few days later, when a vendor was calling outside, Shen Shaoguang had the chicken seller bring in a small basket of chicks, selecting them together with A Yuan.
They picked over a dozen hen chicks, and while checking if they were lively and healthy, the female chicken seller asked, “Would the young miss like to pick a couple of roosters too?”
“Yes.”
“What do we need roosters for? They can’t lay eggs.” A Yuan was puzzled.
Shen Shaoguang didn’t know how to explain to her, but the chicken seller had already smiled and said, “They’re needed for hatching chicks.”
“Even if we don’t need so many roosters, we can kill them for meat,” Shen Shaoguang added.
Suddenly looking up, she met Assistant Magistrate Lin’s somewhat indescribable expression – since the weather had warmed up and the shop doors were wide open, they hadn’t noticed people coming in.
Shen Shaoguang felt somewhat embarrassed – these words weren’t inappropriate, but somehow, facing Assistant Magistrate Lin’s clear moon-like face, she suddenly felt as if she’d acted crudely. Shen Shaoguang suddenly thought of the story about female demons catching Tang Monk – if you can pass it up, pass it up; if you can’t pass it up, eat the meat…