Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 28 The New Home

"Aniu, you are smart. With the IOU, you are not afraid that your aunt will not pay back the money."

On the way to Yangzhou, Liu said happily.

When she heard Li An asked to write an IOU, she wanted to understand Li An's intention.

Li An was picking his teeth with a stick of dogtail grass. The rabbit meat was delicious, but it was too thin and a bit clogging his teeth.

When he heard his mother's words, he stopped moving his hands and said with a smile: "Mom, you are happy too early. Even if you write an IOU, you will not get the money back."

"How is it possible that she dares to default on the IOU written in black and white?" Mrs. Liu didn't believe it.

"Then if the eldest aunt doesn't pay back the money, can you report it to the government? I'm afraid dad won't agree, right?" Li An said.

If the eldest aunt really defaults on her debt, she can't really take the IOU and report it to the official.

He guessed that the eldest aunt also wanted to understand this before agreeing to write the IOU.

"Then why did you ask her to write an IOU?" Ms. Liu asked doubtfully.

"Mom, do you think our family has made money from business? Will my aunt come to borrow it if she finds out?" Li An said with a smile.

"With your aunt's temperament, she will definitely do it." Mrs. Liu nodded affirmatively upon hearing this.

"When the time comes, can't I send her away if I take out the IOU?" Li An said.

"Aniu is still smart. Mom didn't send you to study in vain." Ms. Liu's eyes lit up and she praised.

Although she felt distressed if the more than one tael of silver she lent would not come back, she was still very happy that it would save her a lot of trouble in the future.

"Mom, let's go quickly. I don't know if dad has found a place." Li An said.

"I think Xujiazhuang is good. The houses are so cheap. The houses in the dock are not cheap. Isn't this a waste of money?" Ms. Liu complained.

Li An shook his head and said nothing. That's how his mother was, even though she had agreed, she kept talking about it.

When the mother and son returned to the rented house in Xujiazhuang, they did not see Li Nan.

The pier is so big that it is difficult to find people, so we can only wait at home.

Because I don’t know if Li Nan has found a house, the bedding he brought is not easy to lay, otherwise he will have to move if he finds a house.

It wasn't until evening that Li Nan rushed back.

"Why did it take you so long to come back? Have you found the house?" Ms. Liu asked.

"Found it." Li Nan replied, picked up the teapot on the table, poured a bowl of water, drank it, and said: "Blue brick house, three rooms with a yard, rent of one tael of silver per month."

"One tael of silver? So expensive?" Ms. Liu exclaimed.

Based on the calculation of one tael of silver to one thousand fen, a day's rent would be 33 fen.

If they don't do anything for a day, they will have to spend thirty-three cents. Thinking of this, Mrs. Liu has a toothache.

"It's like a small town over there. Is it not expensive? I looked at several stores and this one is the cheapest." Li Nan said.

"You rented it?"

"That's not true. The landlord requires a monthly payment. How can I have so much money?"

Mrs. Liu just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Li Nan say: "But I paid a deposit of fifty cents. I thought you would be back soon, so I thought I would come back and pack my things first."

"What do you think? You rent a house for one tael a month? How else can we earn after paying the rent?" Mrs. Liu glared.

"Mom, don't worry." Li An said: "We are too far away from the dock in Xujiazhuang, so it is inconvenient to do business. And there are many people at the dock, so we will definitely make money back. Now dad has paid the deposit. , If we don’t rent it, we won’t be able to come back. Let’s move there quickly and clean it up. Don’t delay tomorrow’s business, or we’ll lose another day’s money.”

When Mrs. Liu heard this, she glared at Li Nan and said, "What are you doing standing still? Go and pack your things quickly."

"Oh~" Li Nan responded and quickly packed his things.

Actually, there is nothing much to pack. Most of the things here belong to the owner of the house, and I don’t have to unpack the things I brought today. I can just put them on my back and go.

Soon, the family of four packed up their things, returned the keys to the owner, and walked towards the pier with their belongings.

"The house has only been rented for a few days, and I haven't given a penny back. I feel really bad."

When checking out, Mrs. Liu originally wanted to talk to the landlord to see if she could get some of her rent money back.

But the homeowner is not willing to take out the money he put into his pocket.

He also said that they stayed for a few days and used so much firewood, so it was good that they didn’t ask for money.

For this reason, Mrs. Liu kept talking about it along the way.

……

The house Li Nan rents is on the streets on both sides of the main dock road.

Of course, it's not a shop along the street, otherwise you wouldn't be able to rent it with that little money.

But in a deep alley on the street.

The house is a brick house with three rooms lined up in a row, with a kitchen on one side and a hut and woodshed on the other, with a house of nearly 100 square meters.

Ms. Liu looked around and liked the house very much. She muttered, "I don't know how much it will cost to buy this house."

Li An: "..."

I thought the rent was too expensive before, but now I'm thinking about buying it.

Li Nan didn't want to talk to his wife, but the rent hadn't been paid yet, so he could only ask Ms. Liu to follow him to pay the rent.

The owner opened a shop on the street. This house was originally occupied by the owner's parents. His parents were old and it was inconvenient to live in a messy place like the dock. They stayed in their hometown during the Chinese New Year and did not come over.

In other words, except for business and unloading workers, there are very few people living here for a long time at the dock. That's why the houses are so cheap. If you move to other towns, there are no two or three liang, and you can't even rent a house like this. .

"Tieniu, Aniu, you clean up the house, and your father and I will pay the rent," Mrs. Liu said.

"I know." Li An and Li Ping responded.

After his parents left, Li An asked Li Ping to clean up the room with the big bed, while he went to clean up the other room.

Li An entered the room, looked around, squatted down and looked under the bed, and finally got in.

After a while, Li An climbed out, patted the dust on his body, and went outside to find a wooden stick.

When I came back, I took a look and saw that Li Ping was cleaning the house seriously, and turned around and entered the room.

Li An took out the twenty-two taels of silver that he had hidden before, leaving only twenty-two taels of silver, and then went under the bed again with the rest.

Use a wooden stick to pry open a brick, dig a hole, put the money in, then put the brick back in place, and brought out the excavated soil.

Li An threw the dirt into the corner of the yard and returned to the house to clean it.

……

Early the next morning, Li Nan took Li Ping to the city to buy pigs, while Li An went to the academy.

The academy is not far from the pier but not close either. If Li An lives there, it will delay his daily exercise.

However, after all, his parents had just started their business, so Li An was a little worried. He planned to live at the dock first, and after a month and a half, he would move back to the academy.

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Starting from the next chapter, the plot will speed up.