Flowers in full bloom

Hualei got off the car and looked up. "Sifangyuan" was a very interesting name. There were two open-fronted dental shops, each with six large square tables. Two or three clerks were sitting or standing in front of each square table. There were several stacks of documents on the table. The innermost long tables were connected to directly cross the two stores. Behind each long table sat several older people with abacus and account books at hand.

Uncle Fu stepped forward, took out a note, and said to a waiter who came up to him, "Excuse me, brother. I'm looking for Brother Fang Youdi." Before the waiter could speak, a man standing at the square table at the edge came over quickly, "Hello, sir, I'm Fang Youdi. May I ask... Uncle Fu, are you Uncle Fu?" The waiter who called himself Fang Youdi said in surprise.

"Brother Youdi, it's me. I just met Brother Youcai when I was having dinner at Zuiyuelou. He said you were working here and we want to look at houses in Dongcheng District. Do you have any suitable ones?" "Yes, yes, please come this way." Fang Youdi said as he led Hualei and the others to the large square table where he had just stood.

Everyone who was sitting at the big table stood up immediately and said to Hua Lei and his party with a smile, "Sir, please take a seat." One person immediately turned around to prepare refreshments. A thin man in his thirties had already opened a pile of documents at hand, and Fang Youdi put a few stools behind Hua Lei and his party. They were skilled and enthusiastic in their work. Hua Lei couldn't help but be amazed. Shangjing City was different after all. These things were done so well.

The man in his thirties put the tea brought by the waiter in front of Hualei and the others, and said in a loud voice, "Are you old friends of this little brother? What's your name? My surname is Chen, and I'm the manager here. You can just call me Lao Chen. Have you just arrived in Shangjing City? Do you want to buy or rent a house? What are your requirements for the house? We have both houses for sale and for rent."

Hua Lei smiled and said, "Hello, Manager Chen. My last name is Hua. These people are all my family members. We arrived in Shangjing City today and want to look for a suitable house in Dongcheng District. There are twelve of us in total. We want to choose a slightly larger house, at least with five or six rooms plus a kitchen and utility room. We also want to look for a suitable shop. If it is a shop in the front and a house in the back, that would be the best. We can rent or buy it. The most important thing is that it can accommodate our whole family. Of course, the cheaper the money, the better."

"Okay, then take a look at these houses." Manager Chen pulled out a piece of paper clamped by several wooden clips from a pile of documents on his right hand side.

He spread it out in front of Hua Lei and the others. "This is a house in Chengcai Lane near the southeast corner of Dongcheng District. It's a large compound with room for seven or eight families. At the end of last month, the lease expired and several tenants moved out. Now there are four families living here. According to Miss Hua's request, this place can accommodate Miss Hua's whole family. There is a public kitchen and a public toilet. There is also a livestock house behind the yard. This is for rent. The monthly rent will vary depending on the size of the room you rent. Roughly speaking, it's about five taels a month."

He moved another piece of paper in front of Hua Lei and said, "This is a house in Chenggong Lane, not far from Chengcai Lane. It's a small courtyard with a square shape and a very good environment. The main house and the side rooms should be able to meet the needs of Miss Hua's large family. This house can be rented or bought. It's not far from the main street, about three quarters of an hour away. The price is also reasonable. If you rent it, it's twelve taels a month, and if you buy it, it's three hundred and fifty taels. There are shops for rent nearby, with a monthly rent of about five taels. The information is here too." He put a piece of paper about shop rental in front of Hua Lei.

Hualei nodded and turned to the piece of paper in front of Aunt Fu on her right.

Seeing this, Manager Chen moved the paper in front of Hua Lei and said, "This is a small house with a shop in front and a house in the back located in Qingyun Lane, east of Dongcheng District. The house does not have a back room, but there is a small second floor in the main house. There are three rooms on the second floor, and the rooms are not big. The shop and the house can be bought separately or together. They are independent, and you just need to seal the back door of the shop. But the yard is not very big. The owner of this house only sells it and does not rent it. The house alone costs 400 taels, and the shop alone costs 160 taels. The two together are 550 taels, which is a discount of 10 taels."

Seeing Hua Lei's silence, he pulled out a piece of paper from the documents on his right hand side and placed it in front of Hua Lei. "This is a row of houses in Dengke Lane near the northeast. They are all facing each other. You can rent three or four rooms in a row facing each other. Then you can fence off the yard yourself, so that there are six or eight rooms, and you can also build a yard, kitchen and livestock house in the yard. The toilet is outside where people concentrate on pouring out night incense. Each toilet costs one tael of silver per month. There is a shop that sells or rents less than a quarter of an hour's walk in front of this row of houses. It depends on the location. The monthly rent varies depending on the location. There is still a lot of traffic."

Hua Lei looked at the information carefully, and then asked, "Manager Chen, can we go and take a look?" "Sure," Manager Chen stood up, put the relevant information into a cloth bag, and then talked to the people around him, and said to Hua Lei, "Then let's go to the house closest to Chengcai Lane in the south, and then go north in order, and finally to Dengke Lane?" Hua Lei nodded in agreement. At this time, Fang Youdi had already pulled a mule cart from the backyard of the pawnshop. Manager Chen got on the cart and sat down, and went straight to Chengcai Lane. //

Uncle Fu followed behind in a mule cart. After less than three quarters of an hour, Manager Chen's cart had stopped in front of a courtyard. Hua Lei got out of the cart and followed Manager Chen into the courtyard.

The slum is very large. When you enter from the gate at the southwest corner, you can see a few old women in their fifties sitting against the east wall in patched jackets, doing needlework. Six or seven children in patched clothes are running around in the yard. A little boy holding a branch rushes past Hualei like the wind and almost pokes Hualei in the face with the branch in his hand.

A woman sitting there screamed, looked at Hualei, and chased the child to grab the branch in his hand. Hualei dodged and turned to look at the house. There were rooms on all four sides of the courtyard. It seemed that the rooms facing south and west were occupied. There was a straw rope hanging in front of almost every room.

Clothes were still dripping on the ropes. Hualei looked around and saw four rooms facing north, their doors were closed and some firewood was piled under the eaves. There were three rooms facing east close to the gate of the compound. There was a well in the northwest corner of the compound. There were several wooden barrels and basins next to the well. There was still half a basin of dirty water in the basin from washing clothes. It was black.

The kitchen was built with straw against the wall. It was quite large but a little low. It was dark inside. Next to the kitchen was a toilet, also built with straw against the wall. It was filled with an unpleasant smell. Next to the toilet was a simple animal house, which was now full of firewood.

Manager Chen took out the key and opened the doors of several rooms and asked Hua Lei to check. Hua Lei stood at the door and looked inside. The rooms were very clean, with blue bricks on the floor. There was a bed frame in each room, and behind the bed frame, against the wall, there was a wardrobe that was about 50% new. There was a table near the door with a stool tucked under it.

The two hollow wooden windows were covered with window paper. After everyone looked around, Manager Chen pointed to a horizontal road in front and said, "Go south along this road for 25 minutes and you will reach the big market. There are a lot of people in the morning and afternoon markets, and the things sold are cheap. Hua Lei looked around, nodded, and said, "Okay, let's look at the next one."