Chapter 13

The group first went to the county yamen. The sky was dark and overcast, and it was still the time of Shen (3-5 PM), so the yamen was still open.

After explaining their purpose, the yamen officer led them to see the county magistrate. The county magistrate was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a goatee, ordinary appearance, and deep frown lines on his forehead. After seeing the documents stamped by Raozhou City’s yamen, he quickly and efficiently stamped their household registration documents.

Looking at the documents, Xu Qinyu felt a strange emotion. She had finally become a member of this dynasty.

Leaving the yamen, they saw the sky filled with dark clouds and strong winds. They knew it wasn’t a good time to look for a house, especially since they were new to Yuanbao Town and unfamiliar with the situation. They decided to visit a broker the next day to inquire about the town’s situation and make plans.

They found an inn near the yamen, feeling safer staying close by.

The yamen was located in the eastern part of Yuanbao Town. Although they knew little about the town, Xu Qinyu had a general idea of its layout.

In ancient times, the east was considered noble, so the eastern part usually housed the yamen and some wealthy families.

Some documents recorded that “the east city is rich, the west city is noble, the north city is poor, and the south city is lowly.”

The inn Xu Qinyu found was at the intersection of the east and west streets. The price was higher than Innkeeper Zhou’s inn in Raozhou City. A common dormitory bed cost two hundred wen per night, but despite the higher price, they stayed there.

After settling in, Xu Qinyu asked the innkeeper if she could use the kitchen. The innkeeper said she could only use the stove to heat water or prepare medicine, not to cook food. It seemed the innkeeper didn’t want others to use the kitchen for cooking. Using the stove also cost ten wen per hour.

Xu Qinyu had to give up on that idea. It wasn’t dark yet, and it was time for dinner. She planned to go out, buy some food, and walk around the town.

Madam Wen wanted to accompany her, but Xu Qinyu refused. Madam Wen was getting older and had been through a lot on this journey. Xu Qinyu often saw her crying secretly and wanted her to rest more. Madam Wen was almost forty and physically weaker than Xu Qinyu, so it was better for her to rest.

Xu Qinyu had observed that there were patrolling yamen officers on the streets. Besides, she was dressed in shabby gray clothes, her face was red and swollen, and she didn’t look good. She also didn’t carry much money, so no one would be foolish enough to rob her.

Xu Qinyu walked around the town for an hour.

Despite the cold weather, there were still small vendors outside, and the stalls on the streets and in the market were open, though there weren’t many customers due to the snow.

Most of the small vendors were gathered on North Street, near the pier. The area was chaotic, with all kinds of people and stalls, mostly selling food. The proximity to the pier meant there were many merchants and travelers, making food a priority. There were also two other markets on West Street and East Street. East Street housed wealthy families, the yamen, a large restaurant, a big inn, some jewelry shops, wine shops, bookstores, cloth shops, rice shops, snack shops, and meat shops. West Street was similar but less chaotic than North Street. Those who disliked North Street’s chaos preferred the West Street market.

So, most of the business in Yuanbao Town was concentrated in these three areas.

After understanding this, Xu Qinyu bought some food on North Street and returned.

The food sold there was mostly snacks, noodles, pancakes, steamed buns, porridge, dumplings, and meat skewers, similar to what she had seen in other places.

Xu Qinyu bought meat skewers, dumplings, and two pieces of maltose for the two children. When she returned to the inn, she placed the food on the table. Pei Weixuan walked over and handed her two small white porcelain jars.

“Fourth Brother, what is this?” Xu Qinyu asked, then realized it must be the ointment her husband had mentioned for her wrist and frostbite.

Pei Weixuan said, “The smaller jar contains ointment for your wrist, and the larger jar is for your face and hands’ frostbite.” He had borrowed the inn’s stove to make the ointment, preparing three portions. The other two were for his mother, Jianing, Feng Ge’er, and Yuan Jie’er.

Xu Qinyu happily accepted, “Thank you, Fourth Brother. Mother, Jianing, come and eat.”

The family sat around the table for dinner.

Xu Qinyu first tasted a meat skewer. Its taste was ordinary, with a slight meaty smell and only a salty flavor. The dumplings, filled with radish and meat, were also quite ordinary. The dough wasn’t well-kneaded, and the wrappers weren’t fluffy. They tasted a bit sour and not very good.

After eating a dumpling and some meat skewers, she ate no more. The others didn’t have much appetite either, but they finished the food and drank some hot water before resting.

At dawn, Xu Qinyu woke up. She had applied the ointment the previous night after washing up, and it worked very well. Her wrist no longer hurt as much as it did yesterday. During the journey of exile, she hadn’t had the conditions to wash up for over a month. Now that they had a temporary place to stay, washing up before sleeping was much more comfortable. However, they still didn’t have a change of clothes. Once they found a house, she planned to buy two sets of clothes for everyone.

They bought wontons from a nearby shop for breakfast, and Xu Qinyu asked the inn’s helper to fetch them.

The Pei family took a bite of the wontons and paused. Some of the wontons had broken skins, the wrappers were too soft and mushy, the filling was mediocre, and the broth wasn’t fresh. With this comparison, they missed Xu Qinyu’s cooking even more.

Before the incident, Pei Weixuan’s family enjoyed luxurious meals in the palace. However, after tasting Xu Qinyu’s cooking, they realized that palace food, though more refined, was only slightly better than restaurant food. Compared to Xu Qinyu’s cooking, it fell short by a long shot.

They found Xu Qinyu’s culinary skills astonishing. Even a simple bowl of wontons had a hundred flavors.

After breakfast, Xu Qinyu announced, “Jianing and Fourth Brother, you stay home and watch the children. Mother and I will go to the broker to inquire about the housing market in Yuanbao Town. What do you think?”

Pei Jianing, being only eleven or twelve, could only give a reference for renting or buying a house, so she naturally agreed.

Pei Weixuan also agreed, so Xu Qinyu and Madam Wen went out.

Outside, it was snowing heavily, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow. They borrowed oil-paper umbrellas from the inn and headed to the broker.

The snow was so heavy that there were few pedestrians on the road. Most shops were open, but the small vendors couldn’t set up their stalls, making the streets quite deserted.

The broker was an ancient intermediary for various transactions, including buying, selling, and renting houses.

Xu Qinyu had asked about the broker’s location the previous day. It wasn’t far from their inn, and they arrived after walking for about fifteen minutes.

The broker’s office was quite large, but there were no customers due to the snow.

Upon learning that the two women were looking to rent or buy a house in Yuanbao Town, the broker’s assistant immediately led them to a private room, served them tea, and said with a smile, “Please have some tea to refresh yourselves. Do you have any specific type of house in mind? Currently, several nice houses in the east and west of the city are available for rent or purchase. There are also two three-entry houses in the south and north of the city, as well as a few small courtyard houses. What kind of house are you interested in?”

After speaking, he brought over a stack of rice paper with drawings of the house layouts and orientations.

Xu Qinyu thought to herself that this broker was quite innovative, similar to the real estate agents in her time.

They couldn’t afford or rent large houses with more than two entries. They were looking for a simple three-room farmhouse courtyard, so they focused on those. In the east and west of the city, even a simple three-room courtyard would cost seven to eight hundred wen per month in rent, about ten taels of silver per year. That was unaffordable, considering ten taels of silver could support a family of four or five for a year. In the north and south of the city, similar houses were more than half the price, costing two to three hundred wen per month in rent.

If renting houses in the east and west of the city were so expensive, buying them would be even more costly. Xu Qinyu asked about the prices for buying houses, and as expected, even a simple three-room courtyard would start at a hundred taels of silver. Houses were much cheaper in the north and south of the city, costing several dozen taels of silver.

Xu Qinyu and Madam Wen carefully selected and favored a three-room courtyard south of the city. Although the courtyard was small and located in the south, it had a well, which would save a lot of trouble. Without a well, they would have to fetch water from the town’s well and wash clothes by the river connected to the canal. Since they both liked this house, they decided to see it first.

The broker’s assistant immediately hitched a carriage and drove them to see the house.

With the carriage, they didn’t have to walk, which was much more comfortable. They arrived in the south of the city in about fifteen minutes.

In the south of the city, the broker drove the carriage to the alley’s entrance where the house was located.

At the alley entrance, the carriage couldn’t go further, so the broker led them and pointed to the alley entrance, saying, “This alley is called Osmanthus Alley. The house you’re looking at is in here. But first, we need to get the key from the owner. The owner runs a cloth shop and moved to a two-entry house in front of Osmanthus Alley after making some money. This small courtyard is now vacant and available for sale or rent.”

They followed the broker to find the owner.

The owner’s two-entry house was just in front of Osmanthus Alley, and they arrived quickly.

The broker knocked on the door, and a young maid of about eleven or twelve opened it. Seeing them, she turned and called inside, “Madam, there are guests.”

A woman’s voice came from inside, “I’ve told you to come inside and inform me when there are guests, not to shout at the door. Why can’t you change this habit?”

The young maid grinned, and she heard her mistress’s helpless voice say, “Please invite the guests in.”

The young maid led the three of them to see her mistress.

As they approached the guest hall, Xu Qinyu saw a woman feeding a three or four-year-old child breakfast. The child had tightly closed lips, with food smeared around the mouth, refusing to open up.

The woman, sweating profusely, pleaded, “Little ancestor, just take one bite. Look at you. You’re almost as thin as a monkey.”