After crossing, I was forced to hold on to my thighs and build a kingdom

The meal of glutinous rice balls lasted for a long time. During the meal, Wang Weiyuan and Qin Shijun talked about the fillings of the glutinous rice balls, the hobbies of Confucius, and the opening questions of the imperial examination. The two of them seemed to be getting closer and closer, and their topics of conversation became more and more interesting.

Wang Weiyuan discovered Qin Shijun's cleverness and wit behind his playful face, and Qin Shijun also felt Wang Weiyuan's enthusiasm and kindness behind his pretended indifference.

By the time the group arrived at the inn, the two of them were already calling each other by name!

The friendship between these two is really developing rapidly!

When Jin Chulin entered the inn, he even heard that Qin Shijun and Wang Weiyuan had made an appointment to meet again another day!

After seeing Qin Shijun off, Wang Weiyuan followed the others back to the inn.

Seeing that her elder brother and Qin Shijun had become close friends in such a short time, Huizhen felt a little uneasy and asked, "Brother, who is this Qin Shijun? Why did you become so close to him in such a short time?"

"Don't worry, Zhen'er. I know what's going on. Although Young Master Qin comes from a prominent family, he's no playboy. On the contrary, he's highly educated and knowledgeable. I've learned a lot from chatting with him, so I'm happy to continue communicating with him."

Wang Weiyuan looked at his sister's worried eyes and smiled to comfort her, "Don't worry, big brother knows what he is doing."

Putting aside his previous resistance and accepting Qin Shijun, Wang Weiyuan also felt an inexplicable sense of closeness and familiarity with the young man in front of him.

This also made Wang Weiyuan, who always spoke only half of what he said to others, a little puzzled. Is this what they call feeling familiar at first sight?

That night, they returned to the inn, washed up quickly and went to bed.

Around noon the next day, the few people woke up from a restful sleep and had a simple lunch when Qin Shijun came to their door with a roast chicken and a bag of snacks.

After Jinchu and Huizhen packed up their things, they took Wei Yue and Zhao'er out for a walk, leaving Qin Shijun and Wang Weiyuan some space to themselves.

When they came back, Wang Qin and the other two were already calling each other brothers.

Huizhen and Jinchu looked at each other and could only sigh again at how quickly friendship between men could progress.

Seeing that it was almost time, Jinchu and Huizhen took Wei Yue and Zhao'er back to Qingxi Village first, leaving Wang Weiyuan and Qin Shijun to go to Donglan Academy.

As agreed before, Wang Weiyuan first went to the academy to put away his luggage, and took advantage of the few days before classes started to help Jinchu find a suitable courtyard nearby.

If there is any news, send someone to bring the message back, and then Jin Chu will come to the city to see it in person.

The next afternoon, when Jinchu and his sister were reviewing their lessons, Huizhen came to their house.

It turned out that Wang Weiyuan asked someone to bring back a message that he had found three houses near the academy and asked Jinchu to go and see them tomorrow!

Jin Chu smiled and praised Wang Weiyuan: "Brother Wang is indeed efficient, making friends quickly and getting things done just as quickly!"

Thinking of the rapidly developing friendship between Wang Weiyuan and Qin Shijun, Huizhen couldn't help but laugh. "Jin'er, don't laugh. Although my brother makes friends quickly, the fact that we were able to find several suitable houses so quickly today is really thanks to the blessing of my new friend, Master Qin!"

"Oh?" Jin Chu suddenly became interested, her eyes full of curiosity. "It seems this is another story. What's going on? Tell me about it."

Huizhen looked at Jinchu, smiled complacently, and then told him the whole story of the house.

It turned out that on the afternoon of the day Jinchu left, after Wang Weiyuan put his luggage away, he was going to the provincial capital to find a broker. He happened to be seen by Qin Shijun. After asking about the situation, he found out that he was going to help Jinchu and her brother find a house.

Qin Shijun whispered a few words to the servant who followed him. A moment later, the servant brought in an experienced broker who provided several independent courtyards according to Wang Weiyuan's requirements. After Wang Weiyuan took a look, he selected three more.

I sent a message back early this morning, asking Jinchu to go and see the three courtyards tomorrow so that he can choose the one that suits him best.

Jin Chu was very happy when she got the news. She was still very confident in Wang Weiyuan's work.

Thinking about going to the provincial capital tomorrow, if everything goes well, maybe they can move out of Qingxi Village soon and get away from Sun, the short-sighted, greedy fool, Jin Chu felt relieved.

I just hope that tomorrow will come early so that I can go to the capital city to finalize the house matters as soon as possible.

On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Jinchu got up early, had breakfast, took Zhao'er and followed Huizhen into the city again.

Huizhen originally suggested that Zhaoer be left at her house to study with Wei Yue, but Jinchu shook her head and refused.

Gai Yinjinchu thought that besides her liking the house, Zhao'er also had to approve of it, after all, it was the two of them who lived there.

Although taking Zhao'er with him would certainly require slower progress, several months had passed, so a few minutes wouldn't make a difference. Jin Chu had even made preparations to stay in an inn. If he couldn't finish the show that day, he would simply watch it the next day.

The three of them arrived in the city and headed straight for the Tongfu Inn. The waiter took them directly to a private room upstairs. Wang Weiyuan, Qin Shijun, and a young scholar in a blue robe, about the same age, were sitting at a table, discussing something with a book.

Seeing Jin Chu coming up, the three of them put away the books on the table and ended their previous topic.

"This girl is the person involved today, Zhao'er is her younger brother, and the one next to her is my younger sister." Wang Weiyuan first pointed at Jinchu and the other two and introduced them to the young man.

Then he turned to the blue-robed scholar and introduced him, "This is Zhao Pu, the eldest son of the Tongfu Inn, and also my classmate at the academy."

The young man has thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a slightly dark complexion. His smile is sunny and bright, and he is very approachable.

Jinchu and Huizhen hurried forward to greet him and thanked Mr. Zhao for his enthusiastic help in reserving a guest room for him on Lantern Festival.

Zhao Pu quickly stood up and saluted repeatedly: "You two ladies are too kind. My brother and I are classmates. There is no need to be polite about such a small matter."

After they got to know each other, Wang Weiyuan pointed at Qin Shijun and said to Jin Chu with a smile, "Thanks to Brother Qin's help, we were able to find several suitable houses so quickly."

Jin Chu had no choice but to thank Qin Shijun again.

After a while, Qin Shijun's servant came up with a broker in his early thirties. This was the person who helped find the house.

Wang Weiyuan took Jin Chu and a few others out and got on a mule cart. Led by the broker, they headed towards a nearby house.

Due to Jinchu's request, these three houses are located in relatively quiet alleys not far from the downtown area. Most of the residents in the alleys are old families, and the distance to Donglan Academy is less than two quarters of an hour's walk.

If something really happens in the future, it will be much more convenient to find Wang Weiyuan.

The three houses were not too far from each other. They all had a small courtyard, three main rooms, two side rooms, and two wing rooms on the east and west sides. It was enough for Zhao'er and Jinchu to live in.

One of them was closest to the academy, and there were two apricot trees planted in the southwest corner of the yard, a persimmon tree planted in the northwest corner, a swing under the apricot trees, and a well.

Zhao'er liked the swing, Jinchu liked the well, and in the end, the brother and sister both chose this house.

The owners of the house are an elderly couple. Because their son moved to Beijing to settle down, the old couple has a house in the countryside, so they want to rent out this small house so that they can return to their hometown to live in their old age. Therefore, the price they asked for was reasonable, eight taels of silver a year.

Jin Chu paid the money readily and gave an extra ounce of silver to the broker.

Seeing that he had given me an extra two hundred coins, the broker was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He kept promising that if I had any related needs in the future, I could come to him.

The landlord couple was very satisfied with Jinchu's one-time payment of one year's rent, so they generously stated that the lease would start from February, and the ten days in between would be left for Jinchu to settle in and tidy up the house.

Jin Chu was also very satisfied, and immediately decided to go home tomorrow to pack up and come to the provincial capital the day after tomorrow.