Wei He understood. These old Head Caravan Guards seemed to be the escort agency's true greatest wealth.
After thinking it over, he quietly noted down the locations of the bridgehead houses they had passed on this journey.
Cheng Jing, beside him, spoke again.
"That night, I was only in the habit of provoking people with my words. Don't take it to heart."
"It's fine." Wei He could not quite tell whether this woman had been acting then or was acting now.
Her words sounded partly true and partly false—or perhaps half true, half false.
But in the blink of an eye, he saw Cheng Kai in the distance looking their way.
A guess formed in his heart. He felt that Head Caravan Guard Cheng Kai was helping to smooth over their conflict.
Yet from Cheng Jing's tone, she also seemed somewhat sincere.
After saying a few more words, Cheng Jing got up and left.
Wei He picked up a dry flatbread and stuffed it into his mouth bit by bit with water, occasionally mixing in a piece of snake meat. He said nothing more.
Before long, they reentered the ten-li range around Feiye City.
The number of ox carts and horses on the road gradually increased. Everyone felt considerably more relaxed, at least no longer as stifled as before.
Soon, the group entered the city and returned to the escort agency. After handing over their records before the gates of Yonghe Escort Agency, the agency sent out dedicated staff to verify each person's wages for the journey.
By the rules, if anyone had died after encountering danger on the road, everyone received a little extra pay.
But silver was too heavy to hand out in large quantities, so many people chose to exchange it for strips of meat.
A strip of smoked cured pork weighing over ten jin could offset quite a bit of silver. Some also exchanged theirs for cloth. Fabric in all sorts of colors, as well as more expensive silk, were all hard currency these days.
Wei He hesitated, then exchanged most of his money for meat, rice, and cloth, carrying it home in a large sack.
Money was becoming less and less valuable now. Who knew when it might collapse completely? It was better to stockpile more food, which could also serve as hard currency for trade.
After returning home and putting away his things, he surveyed the somewhat crude room and felt more strongly than ever that he ought to move somewhere else.
From his home to Shiqiao Town, where Huishan Fist was located, he had to pass through quite a few gray areas. That alone was troublesome enough.
And now there was so much food stored at home with no one watching it. It might be stolen one day without him even knowing.
He sat on the room's only wooden stool.
Wei He let the sunlight streaming through the window fall over his body. It was warmer that way.
He recalled everything he had seen and heard on this journey.
He simply pulled out a stack of yellow paper and several charcoal pencils clipped together from beneath the table and behind its backboard.
He spread the rough yellow paper over the table and picked up a charcoal pencil.
Holding it as he had held a fountain pen in his previous life, he swiftly began writing and drawing on the paper.
Before long, he had roughly recorded the places they had passed through, their route, the general terrain nearby, place names, and local customs and traditions. He noted where they could stay at inns and where they could resupply and rest.
Then he circled the bridgehead house, marking it as dangerous.
And that monster.
Wei He took out another sheet of paper and recorded the monster's traits. He could not draw, but he could write down its obvious characteristics, properties, methods of attack, and so on.
Once he was done, Wei He put away the yellow paper, washed up, and collapsed onto the bed to rest.
But the sweat stink and some unidentifiable odor from the mattress made it difficult for him to fall asleep.
The skin touching the bedding also seemed to start itching.
"This quilt seems like it hasn't been washed or aired out for months." Only then did Wei He remember.
He recalled telling Second Sister some time ago not to return to this house because it was unsafe.
And from that point on, it seemed this place had only grown more and more filthy.
Suddenly, he felt an itch on his thigh.
Wei He jumped in alarm and quickly threw back the blanket. A dark cockroach was sprawled right there on his thigh.
Its antennae twitched. Startled, it darted down his thigh and crawled along the bed toward a crack by the wall.
In an instinctive reflex, Wei He stomped down with one foot.
Splat.
Only then did he remember that he was barefoot.
A strange sensation of sticky mush mixed with hard shell shot up from the sole of his foot through his whole body.
After freezing for a moment, he quickly got up and went outside, using water from the vat to scrub the sole of his foot with all his might.
After struggling with it for quite a while, he returned to the room in exhaustion. This time, he absolutely did not want to lie on the bed again. There was also a yellow stain on the bedding now.
After packing up, he simply carried his things toward Second Sister's place.
First, he would leave his belongings with Wei Ying, then go sleep at Huishan Fist Academy!
He made up his mind. He would buy a house as soon as possible, move in with Second Sister, and open a steamed bun shop as well!
Shiqiao Town.
Near the Feiye River, a row of houses stood empty and desolate.
An old man yawning walked to the door of one house and used the keys in his hand to open the three large locks hanging on it.
The old man wore a gray, dusty long robe. An unlit lantern pole was strapped to his back, and a large string of keys of all shapes and sizes hung from his waist.
"This house also meets your requirements. It's called Shanjv. It used to belong to a wealthy merchant, but that merchant later went elsewhere and moved away with his whole family, leaving the house to be sold cheaply to us brokers."
"How much?" Behind the old man followed a tall, sturdy young man in gray-white fitted clothes that accentuated the firm, balanced lines of his muscles.
The young man's eyes were sharp, and his bearing steady. He was none other than Wei He, who had just left his belongings at Second Sister's place.
Without stopping for even a moment, he had immediately found a brokerage in the city that specialized in buying and selling houses.
Then he had asked someone to bring him to view houses at once.
The black-lacquered gates swung open with a creak.
Inside lay a cobblestone path, the walkway leading in and out of the entrance.
Passing through the main gate and a small gatehouse, they entered a courtyard enclosed by white walls.
The courtyard was not large, but it was elegantly arranged.
On the left was a small pond fitted with a bamboo water-drop timer. A few fallen leaves floated on the pond, and tiny insects crawled slowly across them.
On the right stood an old tree of indiscernible species.
Its crown spread in all directions, casting a broad swath of shade. A thick black clothesline was tied between its trunk and the top of the courtyard wall.
"The former owner of this house especially loved copying calligraphy and paintings. He often invited fellow enthusiasts here to drink tea and admire art.
"The last time I came, quite a few painted silk scrolls were hanging from this line."
The old man hunched his back and slowly ambled to the main hall, pushing open its doors.
A cloud of white dust drifted down inside.
"This is the main hall, for receiving guests. There are four side rooms on either side. You can turn them into servants' quarters, guest rooms, or bedrooms, however you wish.
"There's also a privy and a back kitchen in the rear, along with a small vegetable plot. The Feiye River is on the left, so there's no need to worry about water."
The old man led Wei He through the entire house, inspecting it carefully bit by bit.
This was the fourth house they had viewed.
It was also in Shiqiao Town, only one street away from Huishan Fist.
Wei He made a circuit of the place and came to its left side.
Besides the surrounding wall, there was a small side gate on the left. Beyond it ran a narrow path directly to the Feiye River.
When he pushed open the gate, the river was extremely close—only several meters away. Standing there, he could hear the unceasing rush of flowing water.
"The riverbank is over this way. Fishing and fetching water are both very convenient. Besides, from Shanjv, you can even see some of the sights of the Inner City."
The old man pointed in a direction.
"There, see that? That pavilion is part of an Inner City estate. Living here, you can often hear music drifting over from there. You get to listen to tunes without spending a penny. Isn't that a bargain?"
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of large yellow teeth.
Wei He looked in the direction he pointed and indeed saw a small pavilion by the river in the distance to the left, part of a grand estate.
The estate had red lacquer and white walls. Horned beasts could faintly be seen along its eaves, clearly marking it as no ordinary household.
Just as Wei He looked over, he saw from afar two women in white dresses and veils walking toward the small pavilion. One held a qin, while the other was empty-handed.
Both emerged from within the estate. Although stakes and railings surrounded the river around the pavilion, forbidding anyone from approaching it,
the railings alone could not block distant gazes.
But soon after the two women entered the pavilion, they drew white cloth curtains around all four sides, blocking the surrounding view.
"See? Living here, there are often quite a few lovely sights to enjoy." The old broker chuckled lecherously.
"Back then, there were even people who specialized in drawing little pictures waiting nearby, all just to catch a glimpse of a beauty's figure."
An expression that all men understood appeared on his face.
Little pictures.
Wei He had heard of those as well. In another term, they were this era's little yellow books.
Illustrated editions, at that.
"Fine. I'm very satisfied with this house. How much are you selling it for?" Wei He made his decision on the spot.
Water was convenient here, making laundry and cooking easy. There were also four side rooms, enough for both entertaining guests and living in. Every aspect was quite good.
"The price is cheap. Just this much." The old man raised one hand and held up a number.
"Five thousand taels?"
Wei He calculated silently.
"Can I pay in installments? I don't have that much on hand right now."
"What five thousand taels? It's rice! Fifty jin of coarse rice and fifteen strips of smoked pork!" the old man quickly replied.
Wei He was slightly stunned.
They did not want money? But when he thought of the vast swathes of empty houses around them, along with how many familiar shops had recently been slowly vanishing and closing down,
understanding suddenly dawned on him.
"That's the price. I'm telling you, this house is the most suitable one for you. Anything more expensive means going over to Xiao Ran Water Pavilion, where you jump straight into a completely different price range for large houses. Anything cheaper, you wouldn't even consider."
The old man tried to persuade him, though he understood perfectly well that most of these houses were not worth much. There were simply too many of them.
And given the current situation, people were dwindling while vacant homes were everywhere. Whether these houses could even be sold for a price later was anyone's guess.
This young man was buying a house now, but who knew if someone else would need to move in before long? Selling it for whatever little price he could get was enough. After all, this recent plague...
The old man sighed inwardly and said no more.
Wei He considered it.
The caravan goods he had only just received, added to some of his previous savings, should be enough to pay for the house.
"Fine, this one it is." He made the decision and bought it.
After settling on it, he followed the old broker to the brokerage to handle the transfer, then moved supplies over from Second Sister's place as payment.
They kept at it until the sky was nearly dark before everything was finally handled one by one.
Next, he needed to inform Second Sister so she could move in with him. He also needed to hire someone to help clean the place. Wei He calculated his pay and income. He was an escort master at the agency, but what he received was not the wage of an ordinary escort master—it was at the level of a caravan guard leader, the same treatment as Cheng Jing.
That was probably the real reason Cheng Jing had taken such a dislike to him before.
Before you continue