Practice starts with skill points.

Chapter 15 Renting a House
"Look, little brother, this is it."

The innkeeper dropped the copper lock and pushed open the door, and a slight creaking sound was heard.

"This is where my brother-in-law used to live. He went to the county town some time ago, and this place has been vacant. Although it's a bit small, it's in a good location. There's a sweet water well in this alley, which is clear and sweet, hence the name Sweet Water Alley. People from many other alleys come here to fetch water, and it's not far from the central street."

The innkeeper introduced the place as he walked, and Zhong Lin walked in holding Little Stone's hand.

It is indeed not big, just a courtyard as soon as you enter, with a wing room on the left, a kitchen on the right, and a small toilet in the corner. There is a jujube tree planted against the right wall. The jujubes on it have been picked clean, leaving only some at the very top.

Zhong Lin took Little Stone by the hand and toured all the rooms. He was very satisfied, but he still lowered his head to Little Stone and asked, "How is it? Do you like it here?"

"Yeah, I like it." Little Stone nodded happily, but hurriedly continued, "As long as I'm with my second brother, I'm willing to live anywhere."

Zhong Lin knew that this was the psychological trauma left by Xiao Shitou due to the disappearance of his predecessor in Montenegro, so he reached out and rubbed his head.

"Boss, I'm very satisfied with this place and I plan to rent it. Please give me a price, a fair price."

Zhong Lin put emphasis on the word "honesty", and the purpose is self-evident.

The innkeeper didn't hesitate and said, "If you're really serious about renting it, how about three taels of silver a year?"

Zhong Lin calculated the prices in Heishan County in his mind. The exchange rate of one tael of silver was one thousand big coins. However, this was the official price, and there were various fluctuations depending on the prices in different places, which was about eight hundred big coins.

Five coins can buy a bowl of noodles, so three taels of silver is not expensive at all.

"Okay, three or two."

"I have another condition. You have to pay me three taels of silver in one lump sum. That means you have to rent for at least one year. If you check out in the middle, I won't refund you the money." said the innkeeper.

"can."

Seeing Zhong Lin's agreement, the innkeeper smiled, turned around and went out to prepare the contract. Soon, the two of them pressed their fingerprints and paid the rent.

"Let's go buy some things and live here from now on." Zhong Lin said with a smile.

"Uh-huh."

Little Shitou nodded excitedly and pulled Zhong Lin to run outside to the street.

It only takes half a day for talents to buy some daily necessities, such as mattresses and quilt covers, pots and pans, and firewood, rice, oil and salt.

These are necessities of life and are indispensable.

Nine taels of silver was a huge sum of money in Xiahe Village, but after arriving in Heishan County, only four taels were left after just one day, which made Zhong Lin sigh that he did not have enough money to spend!
“It’s not easy to live here!”

Zhong Lin sighed.

Although it is a feeling, we should save when we should and spend when we should. Some money should never be spared, such as on food.

Both of them were severely malnourished. Zhong Lin was as thin as a bamboo pole, and Xiao Shitou had a big head and a small body, with dry and yellow hair.

Therefore, you must never be frugal when it comes to food. Instead, you should eat better than ordinary people so that you can make up for previous losses.

kitchen.

Xiao Shitou used a wooden stick to stir the fire under the stove to make it burn more vigorously. At the same time, he kept looking up at the movements of Zhong Lin's hands, and kept breathing in through his mouth and nose, smelling the aroma of meat that filled the kitchen.

"Second brother, are you okay?"

"Okay, let's eat."

A simple dish of stir-fried vegetables with meat, the meat is specially bought pork belly, fat and lean, after being stir-fried over high heat, the fat seeps out and soaks into the vegetables, making the whole dish feel greasy, but the more it tastes, the more greasy it is, the more we both salivate. Paired with rice, it is simply a delicacy. You have to know that in ancient society, fat meat was more expensive than lean meat. Without fat meat, lean meat could not be sold.

Of course, offal is also high-quality protein. It’s a pity that Zhong Lin doesn’t know how to remove the fishy smell, otherwise it would be more cost-effective.

What a pity for the fried large intestine!
After the meal, Xiao Shitou went to wash the dishes conscientiously, while Zhong Lin found a few stones and threw them at the jujubes on the top of the tree.

With the sound of popping, dozens of green dates on the top fell down.

"It tastes good, and quite sweet, just enough to relieve the greasiness. Shitou comes over to eat dates."

"coming."

……

Heishan County, East Market, Shuimozhai.

Shui Mo Zhai mainly sells pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and also sells printed books. Zhong Lin came here after asking around for a while.

Zhong Lin stared at the three words "Shui Mo Zhai" with his eyes, looking at the stroke structure of these three words and comparing them with the Chinese characters in his mind.

Of course, there is no connection between the two, but it is certain that the writing in this world is hieroglyphic.

"No, I still need to systematically study the language of this world. Simply comparing it will easily lead to semantic errors."

Zhong Lin shook his head and stopped staring at the three words.

There are several stalls on the streets on both sides of the entrance of Shui Mo Zhai. The tables are filled with pens, ink, paper and inkstones. Some scholars come here to write letters and draw portraits for others. Some also copy books and sell them.

But their business was not very good. After all, productivity was not high in that era, and the living standards and education levels were not good. Poor families could only ask others to deliver verbal messages, and few people wrote letters. Therefore, these scholars made more money by copying books for the Shui Mo Zhai behind them.

Zhong Lin has been hanging around here for two days, and his attention is more focused on the scholars who are painting.

Compared with ghostwriters, scholars with painting skills live better. Those ghostwriters sometimes only write three letters in a whole day. Writing letters is different from selling calligraphy. It is impossible to sell them by the word. According to Zhong Lin's observation, one letter only makes three coins.

Only those scholars who paint are different. Not only do they have good business, but they also charge high prices. Most of their customers are elderly people and children.

After learning more about it, I found that the elderly people mostly painted portraits of their deceased loved ones, while the children's paintings were more like hundred-day photos.

An old man and a child, one is dead and the other is alive, these two groups are also the easiest to make money from.

After walking around, Zhong Lin stopped in front of a scholar's stall that was doing the best business.

The scholar was tall and thin, wearing a green robe, with his hair tied up in a bun on his head fixed with a wooden hairpin. At this moment, he was concentrating on painting with a brush.

After a while, the painting was completed. The owner of the painting was a white-haired old man, sitting on a chair with a serious face.

"All right."

"Thank you, Master Xu. I am very satisfied."

The scholar handed the painting to the customer and took the money back.

Zhong Lin had sharp eyes. Although it only took a moment, he could see that the scholar charged a full three taels of silver, which was equivalent to two or three hundred coins.

The scholar only needed two incense sticks, or half an hour, to finish the painting, and he earned two or three hundred dollars, which made Zhong Lin extremely envious.

(End of this chapter)