The Residence

Fighting was a daily occurrence for Xu Fang. After giving Sun Laizi and his gang a good beating, everyone dispersed and went home to their own mothers.

Fang Yu led Cui'er home, but halfway there, seeing that no one was around, Cui'er could no longer hold back.

"Brother Fang, you really killed Bai Mudan!"

"Of course it's true!" Fang Yu said, adding a word of caution, "Don't mention this to anyone again, nobody, including me, understand?"

"Oh!" Cui'er nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, I will never mention it again!"

Although she was curious about how Fang Yu had killed Bai Mudan and gotten Second Master Bai to release her from her indenture, she knew she couldn't ask too many questions. So she suppressed her curiosity and instead asked hesitantly, "When are you going to marry me?"

"Are you in such a hurry to marry me?" Fang Yu asked Cui'er.

"Of course!" Cui'er hugged his arm tightly and said, "I'm sticking with you for life!"

"Alright, alright, tomorrow I'll take you to buy a house and then marry you!" Fang Yu said, patting Cui'er's little face.

Now that he has just arrived in this world, the most important thing is to settle down so that he can practice martial arts in peace, improve his cultivation, and explore the extraordinary power of this world.

Cui'er is quite pretty, and she's devoted to her predecessor. Although she's not from a prominent family, she'd be a good wife to serve him.

With such a devoted woman managing the household, he can focus more on practicing martial arts.

As they spoke, the two returned home. Fang Yu entered the courtyard and shouted loudly, "Mother, your son has brought you a wife!"

"Cough cough cough..."

Amidst a series of coughs, Xiao Jiumei emerged from the room, her gaze falling upon the two of them. "Wife, you're getting married?"

Just then, Cui'er quickly walked over, reached out and took Xiao Jiumei's arm affectionately, saying, "Mother, from now on I'm Master's wife. You can just call me by my real name, ' Jiang Yue '."

Cui'er was just the name of her maid in Second Master Zhao's house. Her real name was Jiang Yue. She was not a local. She came to visit relatives, but she couldn't find them, ran out of money, and had no way to make a living. So she had no choice but to sell herself into slavery and enter Second Master Zhao's house. Now that Fang Yu has redeemed her and taken back her contract, it is natural for her to call her by her real name again.

"Good, good, good!" Xiao Jiumei said "good" three times in a row, coughed a few times, and then took Jiang Yue's hand and went into the room to talk.

Fang Yu went straight back to his room, then took out the eleven silver notes, pondering how much he should spend to buy a house.

As one of the three prefectures of Longzhou and an important barrier to the north of the capital, Bei'an Prefecture has relatively high housing prices. A standard three-courtyard house starts at five hundred taels of silver, and if the location is better, it can sell for three thousand taels.

The 1,100 taels of silver he had was enough for an ordinary person to live a comfortable life for a lifetime, but it wasn't even enough to buy a decent house.

"Damn! We should have squeezed a little more out of Second Master Zhao's house!"

Fang Yu regretted being too merciful. Three lives, and he only asked for a mere 1,100 taels of silver, which was far too little. If he had been bolder, he could have easily squeezed out a few hundred more.

However, now that he understands the situation, he can't go back on his word. He can only lower his standards and think about buying a courtyard house. After all, it's just him and Jiang Yue. At most, he can buy a maid. A house that's too big wouldn't be good either, as too many people would be distracting and not conducive to his martial arts practice.

After pondering for a moment, he heard Jiang Yue calling out, "Grandpa, Mom is calling you!"

Fang Yu knew from Jiang Yue's tone that the girl had appeased his mother. Sure enough, when he went over, he saw that Jiang Yue had a jade bracelet on her wrist.

This bracelet is the only remaining part of Xiao Jiumei's dowry.

"Jiang Yue said you wanted to marry her, and I'm truly happy for you. This... cough cough... the bracelet is..."

Fang Yu listened to Xiao Jiumei's rambling. "From now on, you must be frugal and thrifty in your daily life. You can't be as reckless as before, and you can't gamble like your father. Learn from your sister. Now that you're a martial artist, you should find a proper job. Even being a housekeeper is better than hanging around on the streets..."

After muttering to each other for more than half an hour, the two returned to their room, by which time it was already quite dark.

"I'll go boil some water and help Mother wash up before I deal with you!"

Jiang Yue was very diligent. She was about to go out when Fang Yu's voice came from behind her after she had only taken a few steps. "Don't be so eager to please me. My mother is sick and never lets anyone take care of her. Don't try to curry favor with her. Just take good care of me!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yue glanced towards the main house, then turned back and said, "I'll listen to Grandpa."

Fang Yu's words were all from Xu Fang's memory. His mother had never been served by anyone; even when his younger sister tried to show filial piety at home, she was always kicked out.

Even in summer, he was always bundled up tightly in his clothes, clearly quite ill.

Fang Yu also found this somewhat strange, but since he wasn't the other party's real son and was about to get married and separate from the family, he naturally couldn't be bothered to care.

Soon, Jiang Yue returned with hot water and helped Fang Yu finish washing up before changing the water for herself.

"I've been thinking about it, and we're not going to buy a big house. A small one will be enough for the two of us, but the location has to be good. We'll choose one in an alley near North Peace Avenue, so it'll be convenient for our daily lives. What do you think?"

"I'll do whatever you say, sir!"

"Well, let's keep the wedding simple and not have a big ceremony. What do you think?"

"I'll do whatever you say, sir!"

"..."

The two exchanged opinions on the marriage arrangements. Overall, Jiang Yue had no objections and wanted everything to be done according to Fang Yu's wishes.

After she finished washing up, took off her clothes, and got into bed, Fang Yu grabbed her and pinned her down.

*****

The next day, Fang Yu got up early as usual and practiced martial arts in the courtyard.

After he finished his morning exercise, Jiang Yue had already boiled the water and helped him wash up. Then the two of them left home and headed towards North Peace Avenue.

As a hanger-on in the government office, Fang Yu naturally knew Bei'an City like the back of his hand. After finding a broker, he quickly found a nice little courtyard in ' Huliu Alley ' next to North Peace Avenue.

This courtyard is in an excellent location, just a few steps from the gate to North Peace Avenue, so the price is naturally very high. Although it is only a single-courtyard house, it cost Fang Yu 630 taels of silver.

This price, if placed in a more remote area, could buy a large three-courtyard house.

However, Fang Yu was quite satisfied with this. In the following days, he took Jiang Yue to buy some more furniture and then mixed in his usual tea table and tea set, placing them in the courtyard.

After purchasing another hundred catties of silver wire charcoal, he sat down at the tea table, brewed a pot of tea on a small red clay stove, and enjoyed it immensely.

"Hmm! This tea has a unique flavor!"

Fang Yu's eyes lit up as he took a sip of the spiritual tea. After expending a wisp of his Primordial Qi to retrieve the spiritual tea stored within the Mirror-Breaking Pearl, the tea's Spiritual Qi began to dissipate, turning it into ordinary tea leaves.

However, after soaking, the flavor had some new notes that Fang Yu feel quite good.