The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

Upon hearing Shen Cao's words, the middle-aged man looked troubled. "Miss, you're not buying, you're renting?"

"To be honest, I'm going back to my hometown this time and won't be coming back. I'm only selling this house, not renting it out. Renting it out would be too much trouble." After saying that, he turned to look at Shen Yu'an. This young master Shen was supposed to be the seller, right? He was already somewhat dissatisfied because the other party was a child, and now that he wanted to rent it out, he felt even more uncomfortable.

Shen Yu'an didn't look at him, but kept looking at Shen Cao.

Shen Cao was also a little troubled after hearing what the other party said. Such a big house would probably cost her all the money she earned from selling ginseng recently.

Shen Yu'an had been watching Shen Cao and naturally noticed her predicament. "Manager Wang, don't worry. As long as Miss Shen likes the house, everything is negotiable."

Hearing Shen Yu'an's reassurance, Manager Wang's expression improved considerably. Everyone knew the young master of the Shen family; they didn't even care about such a small house.

Shen Cao pulled Shen Yu'an aside and said, "Young Master Shen, this house is suitable, but I definitely can't afford it. Let's forget about it."

"To be honest, I originally wanted to rent a house. I can still afford to rent now. But if I were to buy a house like this, I wouldn't have any money left."

Shen Cao looked at the house with some reluctance. This place was just what she wanted. She could live there, do business there, and didn't have to travel back and forth.

Shen Yu'an put away his fan. "Miss Shen, you don't need to worry about money. I may not have much else, but I certainly don't lack money."

Shen Cao rolled her eyes at Shen Yu'an in her heart. This was too much of a Versailles thing, and besides, his money wasn't hers.

"But, this..."

Shen Yu'an could tell that Shen Cao had indeed taken a liking to the house, but was worried about the money. "Miss Shen helped me so much before, and the losses she saved for Wan'an Hall were more than enough to buy this house."

Shen Cao understood that Shen Yu'an wanted to buy her a house, but she refused, "Young Master Shen, let's keep things separate. You've already thanked me for what happened before."

“I definitely won’t take this house. If I had known you were planning this way, I would have looked for a place myself.”

When Shen Yu'an heard Shen Cao say this, she panicked and said, "No, no, no, Miss Shen."

"How about we consider the money for buying the house as a loan from you?"

"I think the reason you like this house is because you're interested in the shops in front of it. I suppose you're planning to open a restaurant."

"How about this, you write an IOU to Shen, and you pay me back when you've made your money, what do you think?"

"Moreover, the housekeeper is in a hurry to sell, so he has set a very low price of only four hundred taels of silver."

Four hundred taels? And it's on the main road of the county town, with convenient transportation and a large flow of people. It really tempted Shen Cao.

Shen Cao gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, then consider it a loan from me. I'll pay you back as soon as I make money."

Seeing that Shen Cao had accepted his suggestion, Shen Yu'an happily turned around and went to talk to Manager Wang.

Shen Cao didn't know anything about buying a house. After spending a few days with Shen Yu'an, she found him to be a reliable person, so she asked him to talk to the shopkeeper on her behalf. She then took her younger siblings to explore the area.

"Sister, are you sure this will be our home from now on?" Shen Wan asked Shen Cao incredulously.

She'd never lived in such a big house before. She'd just counted; there were six rooms. She'd finally have her own room from now on.

Upon hearing her second sister's words, Shen Qing looked eagerly at her eldest sister. Seeing her eldest sister nod, she jumped up happily.

Upon hearing that this was their home, the two little ones immediately began chasing and playing.

Looking at the two of them so happy, Shen Cao wondered how long it had been since they had been this happy. They were usually so well-behaved that Shen Cao almost forgot they were still children, at a time when they loved to play.

Shen Cao had long forgotten that she was only fourteen years old.

After Shen Yu'an and the shopkeeper had made their arrangements, they came out and saw a young girl dressed in plain clothes with no makeup on her face. The sunlight shone on her smiling face, making her look very radiant. Even he, who had seen countless beauties, was captivated by her.

Shen Cao noticed that Shen Yu'an and the others had come out, so she walked up to them and asked, "Young Master Shen, how did it go?"

Hearing someone call his name, Shen Yu'an looked away. "Miss Shen, it's all settled. It's four hundred taels of silver, and Manager Wang will leave you all the items without charging you extra."

"However, this property deed needs to be signed by an adult in your family."

Shen Cao didn't listen carefully, but when she heard the word "signature," she blurted out, "I'll sign it."

Shen Yu'an thought Shen Cao hadn't understood, so he emphasized the word "adult," adding, "This requires an adult's signature."

Shen Cao then realized that she was only fourteen years old.

"My father is in the county town, but he's working right now, so I'll probably have to wait until he finishes work."

"No rush. We've only reached an agreement and paid the deposit. We still need to wait a few days before we need to go to the government office to sign the documents."

"Alright, then I'll have to trouble you for help, Young Master Shen."

"Miss Shen, you're too kind. It was nothing at all."

After the house was settled, Shen Cao took her younger siblings and left. Before leaving, she told Shen Yu'an, "Remember the IOU!"

Shen Yu'an looked at the girl in front of him who was afraid of being taken advantage of in the slightest. In the past, many people had tried to take advantage of him, but this was the first time he had met someone who was unwilling to take advantage of him.

"Understood, I'll write you an IOU when I get back."

Seeing that Shen Yu'an had agreed to the IOU, Shen Cao took her younger siblings and said goodbye to him.

When we arrived at Uncle Li's place, he had almost sold all his meat.

"Uncle Li, we're back."

"Perfect timing, I'm almost done here too."

"Little Grass, you know what, your vegetable dumplings are really delicious, no wonder they can sell for money."

Seeing that Uncle Li liked it, Shen Cao thought about how much trouble she had caused Uncle Li, and how Uncle Li always weighed it very high for her. "Uncle Li likes it, I'll bring you a few more tomorrow."

"Hey!" Uncle Li was also a glutton. Although his family never lacked meat, his wife was a bad cook and the meat she made was hard to eat, so he didn't refuse Shen Cao.

Uncle Li took out the pig offal he had said he would keep yesterday from his basket, and as soon as he took it out, a foul smell hit his nose.

"It stinks!" Shen Qing covered his nose and took a few steps back.

Shen Cao didn't mind. "But it's delicious." She stepped forward, took the pig offal, and put it into a basket she had prepared in advance. She had lined the basket with a thick layer of oilcloth to prevent the smell from bothering people.

"I saved you a piece of pork belly today too."

"The offal is six coins per pound, and there are twenty pounds in total. The pork is twenty coins, so it's one hundred and forty coins in total."

Uncle Li assumed that Shen Cao liked to eat pig offal. At most, this stuff could be said to be edible, but it was really not delicious. Just thinking about the taste of pig intestines made him shudder.

Later, every time Uncle Li spent money to buy pig intestines from Shen Cao, he realized that pig intestines could taste so good. From then on, he never sold his pig intestines to anyone else.