Chapter 89: Temple Fair 1/3

The woman asking Jin Xiaoye about the house is fair-skinned with deep eye bags.

Seeing this woman, Jin Xiaoye paused and asked, “Auntie Zhao, is your shop up for rent?”

“Yes, the person renting my shop refuses to pay the rent, so I want to rent it out to someone else.” Auntie Zhao smiled wearily.

Auntie Zhao often comes to Jin Xiaoye’s place to get work done. Jin Xiaoye knows her, and after getting to know her more, she found out that she’s from the neighboring Zhao family village, the same village as Zhao Xiaodou.

She had also heard people mention Auntie Zhao’s situation.

Auntie Zhao is the third daughter in her family and doesn’t have a proper name; she’s always been called “Sanni” by people.

Zhao Sanni’s parents got very little land, but they still had a lot of children. With so many children, their food became scarce.

Zhao Sanni has older siblings and younger siblings, and being stuck in the middle, she often couldn’t even get enough food to eat.

Growing up hungry like this, when she reached marriageable age, she just wanted to marry someone who could provide enough food for her to eat. Coincidentally, her parents also thought that being able to eat enough was more important than anything else.

Coincidentally, at that time, there was a simpleton in the county town who wanted to marry. This simpleton’s family also had a shop… Zhao Sanni’s parents asked Zhao Sanni, and she agreed. So her parents happily married her off.

For about seven or eight years, Zhao Sanni was actually the envy of many rural girls.

Although her husband was simple-minded, unlike the young master from the Hong family, not to mention hitting others, her husband was particularly timid. Clearly, he was a plump and strong adult, yet he could be bullied by nearby children.

Of course, this was also taught by Zhao Sanni’s in-laws. They were afraid that their own children would annoy others, so once their own children and outsiders started fighting, regardless of right or wrong, they would ruthlessly punish their own children. After a few beatings, the children would behave.

Although the simpleton was simple, he could still handle some simple tasks at home. Plus, Zhao Sanni’s in-laws ran a shop and earned money, treating Zhao Sanni well. At that time, Zhao Sanni could eat meat every day and make several new clothes in a year.

How could the women in the village not envy her?

However, the good times didn’t last long. Five years after Zhao Sanni got married, she gave birth to a son. After raising him for a few years, everyone discovered that this child was also simple-minded.

At this point, people began to sympathize with Zhao Sanni. Another ten years passed, and Zhao Sanni’s in-laws grew older and weaker…

Zhao Sanni had to take care of her in-laws, look after her simple-minded husband and son, and manage the family business, leaving her exhausted.

Later on, they stopped doing business and rented out their own shop. Although the rent was less, at least it was stable.

Now… Jin Xiaoye asked around and found out that the people renting Zhao Sanni’s shop were taking advantage of her soft personality and lack of support, giving her less rent every year.

Recently, it had become even worse. Two months had passed since the rent was due, and they still hadn’t paid.

Zhao Sanni had tried to ask for it, and her husband’s relatives and neighbors had also tried to reason with them on her behalf, but those people either cried poverty or smiled and said they would pay tomorrow, but they never did.

Originally, the rent from the shop was enough for their family’s livelihood, but now that those people weren’t paying, her life became difficult. She came to Jin Xiaoye to do some work to supplement the household expenses.

Jin Xiaoye knew that Zhao Sanni’s family had a shop, but she didn’t know where it was. This time, after asking around, she realized that the location of that shop was quite good for her.

The shop wasn’t far from here, not on a bustling main street, but in a small alley. However, it was quite spacious, with two floors.

Most importantly, one side of the shop faced the alley, while the other side faced the river. On the riverside, there was even a small courtyard, and stone steps extended into the river. In other words, this shop had its own exclusive riverside.

“My in-laws used to sell funeral goods. They used the front for business and lived in the back. Later, when they were too ill to manage, they rented the shop to my father-in-law’s apprentice, and we moved out and rented a house separately. Who would have thought…” Zhao Sanni smiled bitterly.

Zhao Sanni’s father-in-law used to make coffins, wreaths, and paper figures for funerals. Since their son couldn’t inherit the craft and Zhao Sanni wasn’t strong enough, making coffins was too much for her, so they took on an apprentice.

Unexpectedly, that apprentice turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, refusing to pay rent and wanting to take over the shop.

Although Zhao Sanni’s husband’s shop was a bit out of the way, it was quite spacious, and most importantly, Zhao Sanni offered a low price!

Jin Xiaoye immediately expressed her intention to see it tomorrow.

Today, it was a bit rushed in terms of time, and the shop was currently rented out to someone else. She would need to bring along more people to “inspect” it properly.

Qu Yunqing naturally noticed Jin Xiaoye’s conversation with Zhao Sanni and couldn’t help but show some impatience.

He glanced at Li Qingzhi before restraining himself from saying anything. But as soon as Zhao Sanni left, he said to Jin Xiaoye, “Shopkeeper Jin, isn’t my house good enough? If you move your embroidery workshop to another place where no one knows you, it might be better not to change…”

Sister Wang, seeing this, quickly pulled her husband to stop him from speaking.

Jin Xiaoye had mentioned to her before that she wanted to move out, and she was actually a bit reluctant to give up the rent Jin Xiaoye was paying. But seeing her husband’s recent behavior, she felt that Jin Xiaoye should move out.

Her husband really embarrassed her too much!

Jin Xiaoye glanced at Qu Yunqing, who was tugging back and forth with Sister Wang, and said, “It’s okay, I’ll just inform the people who come to pick up the goods.”

“Shopkeeper Jin, do you want to use our house as a warehouse? You have a lot of stuff; some of it can be stored here…”

“The place over there is quite spacious; it can accommodate…” Li Qingzhi smiled and looked at Qu Yunqing, then brought up the incident when Zhang Magistrate came to Chongcheng County, mentioning that Qu Yunqing was also present. Li Qingzhi also talked a bit about Zhang Magistrate’s situation, saying that he had eaten a meal with Zhang Magistrate before and even accompanied him together with Magistrate Gou to see Zhang Magistrate off…

Qu Yunqing had heard from Sister Wang that Li Qingzhi knew Magistrate Gou, but he didn’t take it too seriously.

Li Qingzhi had just flattered Magistrate Gou by writing articles… He didn’t think Magistrate Gou necessarily valued Li Qingzhi very much.

But then… Li Qingzhi had such a good relationship with Magistrate Gou? He even had dinner with Zhang Magistrate? Qu Yunqing didn’t dare to pester Jin Xiaoye anymore. He complimented Li Qingzhi a few times, then made an excuse to leave, planning to ask some familiar government officials about Li Qingzhi.

Although he wouldn’t stay in Chongcheng County for more than a few months in a year, he had many friends and knew quite a few people.

After Qu Yunqing left, Sister Wang said, “Finally, he’s gone. I really can’t stand him!”

With Qu Yunqing gone, the women working were much more relaxed and started gossiping.

Yeah, they didn’t mind Li Qingzhi being there at all; after all, Li Qingzhi loved to listen to their gossip. Sometimes he would even tell them things they didn’t know.

Since Zhao Sanni had just been there, the women mainly talked about her family.

“That apprentice that Old Yang took in is really not human. If Old Yang hadn’t taken him in, he might have starved to death by now.”