Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

There are government-run and privately owned pawnshops. Li Yuer asked Jia Que'er and the others about the reputation of each pawnshop. The private one had an average reputation, but they finally decided not to go to the government-run one.

Recently, the county magistrate of Huihai County was replaced, and something was not right with the government-run pawnshop, which seemed to have some connection with the "human traffickers".

Hao Zai Lai Ya Hang is located in Xisi Hutong. There is a big willow tree in front of the door, which makes it very easy to spot.

In winter, there are fewer customers and fewer people buying things, but many people are selling their children to survive.

"Five taels, sell it if you want!" a broker pushed away the middle-aged man kneeling at his feet and said impatiently.

In the twelfth lunar month, middle-aged men still wear thin clothes with patches all over their bodies.

Next to him stood a skinny little girl with dull eyes and a dirty face. Thin clothes were loosely draped over her extremely thin body, making her look like a circus monkey. The boundary between humans and animals seemed to have become less clear in an instant.

Li Yu'er paused, feeling a wave of discomfort in his heart.

The world was in a difficult situation, and the lower class people had a hard time. A girl was only worth five taels of silver, even less than an animal.

But now she is just a floating duckweed in the wilderness, with limited abilities. She can save one person but not everyone.

She turned away with difficulty and followed Uncle San and the others into the dental clinic.

Business was slow in winter, and the brokers in the brokerage shop were not busy, but seeing that the few people were dressed in ordinary clothes, they did not take the initiative to solicit business.

"Xiao Jiang, you didn't see that there were guests, but you didn't hurry up to entertain them. You have no tact at all, but you ate more than anyone else."

A sarcastic voice sounded, the speaker looked up, his nose facing Li Yuer and the others, but his eyes were staring at a young man with contempt.

Li Yuer sneered. Sure enough, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. It seems that there is intrigue among the employees.

A young man in a dark blue outfit came over. He had delicate features and clear eyes, and looked very comfortable.

"Are you planning to buy a house or add someone else?" The young man said in a gentle voice, without any contempt or neglect.

Li Yuer was secretly satisfied. This person seemed to be somewhat trustworthy. He might be able to find out some useful information later.

Li Laosan got straight to the point: "We plan to rent a house in a nearby village."

"Tsk! You're really a poor bastard." The broker who was eavesdropping nearby said with disdain. His voice was neither loud nor soft, but everyone present could hear it.

Xiao Jiang was afraid of causing trouble, so he quickly said to Li Yuer and the others, "Come with me, let's sit down over there and talk slowly."

Xiao Jiang led them to a separate room and arranged for them to sit down.

"Sir, do you have a favorite village in mind? Or do you need me to recommend some?"

Old Mrs. Cai's parents' home is in Fushui Village, Fuzhou Bay. Fuzhou Bay is a bay across the sea from Rabbit Island. The harbor is deep and the water is wide, the mudflats are vast, and there are some fields in the village. The people can still have enough food and clothing, which is much better than the life on Rabbit Island where people rely solely on fishing.

Two miles east of Fuzhou Bay is Yuge Wharf, which is also close to the town, only two or three miles away, so it is quite convenient to get in and out.

Old Mrs. Cai planned to settle down in Fushui Village, and Li Yuer and his friends first planned to investigate the situation in Fushui Village.

Li Laosan said: "Give priority to Fushui Village in Fuzhou Bay."

"Okay, sir, please wait a moment. I'll check it out." Xiao Jiang took out a thick account book, which recorded all the known vacant houses nearby.

After a while, Xiao Jiang smiled and said, "What a coincidence, there is a house for rent in Fushui Village. It has just been registered not long ago, but it is not rented out in its entirety. It is a wing room that shares a yard with the owner."

Li Yuer asked: "Brother, can you tell me about the specific situation of the house?"

"Okay, let me take a look. The main house where the owner lives and the east wing are for rent. There is a well in the yard that the tenants can use. The house is made of bricks and tiles, with two bedrooms and a main room. There is a separate adobe kitchen next to it.

This house is very rare. There are few brick houses in the village. Even if there are, the family conditions are relatively good and they are not easily rented out.

By the way, the master’s son is still a scholar. People with scholars are more polite and sensible, so they should be easy to get along with.

To be honest, if these conditions were in a town, it would have been rented out long ago.

Even if it is in the village, it would probably be easy to rent it out when the sea opens, but unfortunately the owner listed it for sale almost a year ago, so it is vacant now.”

After hearing about the condition of the house, everyone was very satisfied.

Li Laosan asked: "It sounds like a good deal, what's the price?"

"100 wen a month, the price is not expensive."

"100 Wen isn't expensive?" Big Head muttered.

Jia Que Er tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "If it were in town, it would cost at least 500 coins."

"Can it be cheaper?" asked Li Laosan.

Xiao Jiang frowned and shook his head, "The owner said this is the reserve price, no bargaining."

Li Yuer didn’t think it was particularly expensive. Whether something is expensive or not depends on personal spending power, and personal spending power depends on marginal monetary efficiency.

This was her consumption principle in her previous life.

In short, your marginal monetary efficiency is the unit capacity of your making money minus your unit capacity of spending money.

For example, if you are considering whether to hire a nanny, the money you can earn from the time wasted working yourself, minus the cost of hiring a nanny, is the benefit of saving time.

If you hire a nanny to save five days of housework every month, you can earn 100,000 yuan in these five days, while the nanny's salary is 10,000 yuan, so your marginal benefit is positive.

Then, the money is spent reasonably.

According to this principle, Li Yuer calculated in his mind: 100 wen a month for rent, plus about 200 wen a month for food, a total of 300 wen. One person can weave 10 wicker boxes a day, two people can make about 600 boxes a month, and the cost of one person is at least 1 wen, which is 600 wen. 600 minus 300 is 300.

Still making more money.

According to the calculation results, Li Yuer said generously: "Can we go see the house?"

A rural house costs 100 wen a month, and the brokerage fee is also 100 wen. Most brokers are unwilling to go to the countryside to take people to see houses, especially in the winter.

But Xiao Jiang readily agreed.

Jia Que'er and his companions were still weak and not suitable for long journeys. They had to trouble Xiao Jiang to show the way, so Li Yu'er simply hired an oxcart, which cost 10 copper coins for the round trip.

The ox cart wobbled along, but it soon arrived in less than three miles.

"Wow! This village is pretty nice." said the house sparrow excitedly.

Fushui Village cannot be compared with a town, but compared with ordinary villages, the houses and yards are tidier.

Almost every household in the village has vegetable plots in front of and behind their houses, and some even plant fruit trees. It's obvious that they are families who know how to live.

Although it is winter, one can still imagine the scenes of autumn and summer, with trees full of fruit fragrance and gardens full of vegetable harvests.

It’s good to have land!

When the ox cart passed by, there was occasionally the sound of dogs barking from people's homes.

Generally speaking, Fushui Village is a village with a very lively atmosphere.

Under Xiao Jiang's guidance, the ox cart stopped in front of the gate of a large courtyard.

The driver tied the ox cart to an old leafless tree in front of the door.

Xiao Jiang went forward and knocked on the door. After a while, a clean woman opened the door.

The woman had a round face and a kind expression. She was wearing a khaki cotton jacket. When she saw that it was Xiao Jiang knocking on the door, she enthusiastically led the person in.

"The boss is not here, so it's the same if you tell me anything."

The woman arranged for several people to sit in the main room of the upper house.

Xiao Jiang introduced Li Yu'er and the others to the woman and said, "These are guests who are interested in renting your house."

Zhao saw that the oldest of the group was only about fourteen or fifteen years old, and felt a little puzzled, but she didn't show it on her face. She asked calmly, "Are you renting this house for someone in your family?"

Li Laosan said: "No, we rented it ourselves."