"Master Shen, this way, please."
A skinny man in a blue cloth changshan led the way ahead, his face piled with smiles.
This man was Liang Si.
Shen Xiuhan had already asked around.
Among all the property brokers in South Market, this man had the most listings. He was relatively fair in his dealings and kept his hands clean, so after entering the city, Shen Xiuhan had gone straight to the brokerage to find him.
Over the past hour, the two had already viewed two houses in succession.
The first had been a single courtyard. Beyond the front gate lay the yard, with the main house connected to three side rooms on either side—the most common quadrangle layout.
The second had been far roomier and more imposing, a two-courtyard residence.
Through the entrance was a small outer yard with servant quarters. A few steps farther on, past a decorative second gate, lay the main courtyard within.
Most well-to-do families in the inner city arranged their homes this way.
As for even grander three-courtyard residences, they naturally had three gated entrances and three courtyards. Not only were they deep and secluded, but they also included a rear courtyard reserved for the women of the household.
Plum Academy was a standard three-courtyard residence.
While chatting with Shen Xiuhan, Xu Chuan had let slip that his master had spent more than three hundred taels of silver to acquire that residence for use as a martial arts hall.
At that thought, Shen Xiuhan calmly touched his chest through his clothes.
Including the two banknotes he had obtained from Gao Nian, he had saved less than forty taels of silver in cash.
Buying a grand two- or three-courtyard residence was nothing but a fool's dream.
For now, the practical choice was to find a single