The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

"What's the price and how do I pay the rent?" Zhang Ping'an asked.

"This is not expensive, just one or two taels of silver a month," the old man said with a smile.

Mrs. Li was shocked when she heard this and frowned, "So expensive! Is there anything cheaper?"

"This is really not expensive. The house is in a good location and has a small yard. If you want to live cheaper, you can only share a house with others in the alley, with several families sharing one yard. But there will be a lot of conflicts living there, and the house is in a remote location. All kinds of people live there, and it's very complicated. I see that you have unmarried daughters and children with you, so it's best not to live in those places," the old man said slowly.

Li stopped talking and felt like she couldn't eat anymore. It was really expensive to stay in Lin'an!

Zhang Pingan continued, "This location belongs to South City, right? As far as I know, no matter which state capital, the east is generally respected. The housing prices in East City are the most expensive, followed by North City and West City. South City should be the cheapest. Don't try to deceive us just because we are from other places. I have a classmate in Lin'an City, and I am planning to visit him tomorrow!"

The old man remained expressionless as he replied, "Well, in previous years, renting an apartment in Lin'an City wasn't this expensive. But now that Lin'an is the new capital, aristocratic families are flocking here, so haven't prices for goods and land also skyrocketed?"

Seeing everyone listening intently, the old man paused and continued, "Also, I won't hide it from you. If you want to live in East City, you can't rent it just because you have money. East City is now full of dignitaries and local gentry with some influence. Ordinary people are lucky to live in North City and West City. Although this place belongs to South City, it's not too far from East City. It's also suitable for you to stay temporarily. Once you settle down, it won't be too late to move to a better place when you have money!"

Zhang Pingan nodded: "Father-in-law, I understand. Thank you very much. We want to take a good rest today and look at houses tomorrow or the day after tomorrow!"

The old man was a shrewd man. Seeing this, he said no more and sat back to drink. After finishing the peanuts, he drank the wine in the glass in one gulp and slowly left with his hands behind his back.

At this time, the dishes were served, and Zhang said, "Let's eat first. We can talk about it after dinner if there's anything else."

The cuisine of Lin'an is very different from that of Huguang region. It is salty and slightly sweet.

Zhang Ping'an just ordered a dish called vinegar fish which was quite famous in his previous life. He couldn't eat it after taking one bite. He still couldn't get used to it.

Xu frowned as she stared at the black fish on the plate. "Over sixty cents for a plate of fish! It's such a small fish, but it's also black and tastes terrible. What a rip-off!"

Erya also felt she had lost out: "If we keep this at home, we can buy three or four big grass carps for just over sixty coins. Add some radish and greens and stew them together, and we'll have a good meal. Eating in Lin'an is so unreliable!"

"In the capital, everything is expensive, but I really can't get used to this fish," Zhang Pingan said, taking a sip of tea to calm himself down.

Fortunately, the other dishes are okay.

Even though the fish didn't taste good, no one was willing to waste it and ended up eating it all.

After dinner, everyone went upstairs and made an appointment to go out tomorrow to look for a reputable real estate agency to look at houses so that they could cook their own meals as early as possible.

After breakfast the next morning, each family discussed and sent one male child to go house hunting together.

Zhang Ping'an, along with Jin Bao's father, Xu's uncle, Liu the butcher, and Liu's elder brother, visited several famous pawnshops in the city and found that the housing prices were indeed frighteningly high. There was no need to think about buying a house in the East City. The monthly rent for decent houses in the North City and West City was basically two taels of silver and above. Most of the residents were minor officials in the government office and wealthy businessmen.

I heard from the broker that many local residents who originally lived in the North City and the West City and had ordinary families rented their houses to wealthy outsiders who crossed the river, and then rented houses in the South City themselves, making the difference to supplement their lives. Otherwise, with rice, flour, grain and oil being so expensive, families with so many people really couldn't survive.

Zhang Ping'an originally wanted to bargain, but the brokerage shop was bustling with people coming and going. As soon as he thought of bargaining, the broker shook his head like a rattle, let them think about it themselves, and then went to receive the next group of people.

Jinbao's bargaining skills are useless as the supply and demand relationship is obviously unbalanced.

Seeing that the sun was already high in the sky and it was time for lunch, the few of them had no choice but to go back and discuss things before making a decision.

After hearing about the situation of the few people who went to see the house, everyone in the inn couldn't help but feel worried. Xu said, "It seems that the old man yesterday really didn't lie to us."

Everyone had a simple lunch in the first-floor lobby. Just now, Mrs. Xu was still muttering about the old man from last night coming over again. This time, he skipped the peanuts and drinks and just sat down and said with a smile, "How was your house-hunting today? Did I lie to you?!"

The old man was experienced and guessed that everyone must have gone to see the house this morning.

Zhang Pingan could only smile bitterly and said, "Living in Lin'an is not easy!"

"Hey, who says it's not true? I can't do anything else at my age. I work as a brothel owner just to make a living and supplement my life. Don't worry, I'm not a liar, I have a name in the brothel and I'm a legitimate brothel owner. You have finished your meal now, you can come with me to the brothel, and then I can take you to see the house with the key. It would be better if you settle down sooner and cook for yourself to save some money!" The old man said with a smile.

Seeing that everything the old man said made sense, Zhang Pingan no longer refused, and several people followed the old man directly to the pawnshop.

When we got there, we found out that the "yahang" the old man mentioned was a small room of less than three square meters. There was a little gap between two houses, and then a few pieces of wood were driven into the gap between the two walls as beams and some tiles were laid on it, which made it a small room.

There is indeed a wooden plaque with the words "yahang" written on it hanging at the door, but if you don't look carefully, you won't notice this place at all.

There are only two people in the entire dental clinic: the old man and his son.

The old man took out the deed that he had signed in the government office. Zhang Ping'an carefully looked at the seal on the deed and found that it was indeed from a legitimate brokerage firm.

Finally, with the old man's introduction, Uncle Xu and Jinbao's family rented a small courtyard together. The courtyard was separated by mud bricks, and each family had independent space, which was quite suitable for everyone's current situation.

I thought that since Liu the Butcher's family and Erya's in-laws' family had a large population, they would definitely rent a yard each. However, after Liu the Butcher and Liu Da Ge discussed it, the two families also rented a yard together, but it was slightly bigger than Jinbao's.

Butcher Liu was also helpless. "Let's change it when we have the conditions. Now we have two rooms, one for the men and one for the women and children. The yard is also quite big. When the weather gets hot, we can build a shack to make do. The most important thing is that it's cheap. It only costs 600 wen per family."

Zhang Ping'an was not so tight on money. He had some money and chose a small courtyard with a well and an osmanthus tree. In case there were guests coming to his house in the future, it would be decent to have a main hall to entertain them. It cost 1200 coins a month.

The Zhang family's eldest and third wives shared another slightly larger courtyard.

In this way, each family rented a house in Lin'an and settled down!