Settling the Bill!
At first, the Wen Household family complained about their patriarch's insistence on making the long journey to settle here. But after finishing a bowl of hot tea, they were filled with shock at seeing Hu Defu take out a large booklet from his small purse.
Previously, they had only heard about immortals and the Lingxian Sect from rumors and hearsay, like storytelling, without any real connection to them. They always felt that these things were far removed from their own lives, and therefore no different from fiction.
Nothing could be more awe-inspiring than witnessing it firsthand; it truly stirred their emotions!
After Wen Xiangzhi slowly finished his bowl of hot tea, Hu Defu also raised his head and said that there were quite a few suitable houses. He took the initiative to screen out some expensive ones for the Wen Household, as those houses were prepared for extremely wealthy Aristocratic Clan and were not suitable for the Wen Household's situation.
"The housing prices in our Xiushui City are currently comparable to those in the capital. I do have quite a few suitable sizes here, but because they are relatively close to the central area... You know, in our Xiushui City, the closer to the central area, the more expensive the housing prices are, because most of the facilities related to immortals are located there." The central area refers to the area at the foot of the Lingxian Sect Sect's mountain, which is a large area mainly centered around Xiushui Village —now Xiushui Residential Community Area.
He moved the booklet in his hand over and pointed to the house prices near the city center for Wen Xiangzhi to see.
"Although the central area is closer to the immortals, other places are quite nice too. Our Xiushui City has buses; you can go anywhere for just one coin, and it's fast and comfortable," Hu Defu added.
Although he didn't say it explicitly, what he meant was that if the Wen Household family wasn't wealthy and didn't need to travel to the city center, there was no need to spend a lot of money to buy a house there.
The residents in the central area are mostly original inhabitants of Xiushui Village and several neighboring villages, families who moved here a few years ago, and the families of Azure Cloud Peak disciples who moved here with them.
The rest were all cultivators, many of whom were from other sects.
Wen Xiangzhi, knowing his own family's situation, looked at the property prices in the central area for a while, then turned to the page that Hu Defu had been holding between his fingers. Once he saw that the prices there were more in line with his expectations, he said, "Please, Nephew Hu, take us to see these houses."
"Alright! Shall we rest a bit longer or go now?" Hu Defu asked.
Wen Xiangzhi his eldest son, Wen the Eldest then took a string of coins from his purse and placed it on the table. "Check, please!"
He assumed the tea stall was just a way for these brokers to make some extra money, so he didn't ask the price. He considered the extra money for tea as a gesture of goodwill to the Broker Hu.
Unexpectedly, Hu Defu stood up, about to lead them to see the house, when he heard the sound of the copper coin. He turned around, grinned, picked up the string of coins, and tossed it back to Wen the Eldest.
"This teahouse is for you travelers from afar to rest and quench your thirst in Xiushui City. We can't charge you money. If the immortals in the City Lord's Mansion find out, the waiter at the teahouse will lose his job!"
The waiter, who was running towards Hu Defu from the other end of the tea stall, gave him a grateful look and hurried over, saying, "Sir, please put your money away quickly. Our tea isn't anything special; it's just to quench your thirst. We don't charge for it."
Upon hearing this, the Wen Household members were extremely surprised.
Wen Xiangzhi asked the waiter curiously, "If you don't charge for the tea, aren't you just boiling water and pouring tea for free? Even if the tea is cheap, it doesn't come for free. Even if you don't charge for the time spent, why don't you charge for the tea itself?"
Speaking of this, the waiter proudly patted his chest and said, "So that this gentleman knows, I was handpicked from dozens of young men by the City Lord's Mansion specifically to serve guests here. My wages are paid monthly by the City Lord's Mansion, and I don't live off the tea money here. The tea in this tea stall is also purchased with money from our City Lord's Mansion."
The city lord's mansion pays the waiter a good wage, and the job is stable since he works for the city lord's mansion. He has no reason to lose his regular business just to collect a few coins from passersby now and then.
Upon hearing this, the Wen Household members were secretly surprised once again.
I never expected Xiushui City to be so generous, even setting up free tea stalls at the city gate to welcome those entering the city.
When they saw Broker Hu leading them directly to this teahouse, they assumed it was a common practice here to extort money or bribes under various pretexts.
And since no one in front of the tea stall was seen, they assumed that those people were unwilling to spend the money to bribe the broker.
The Wen Household didn't know that the people who came in before them had similar thoughts about the teahouse. They all assumed that the broker wanted them to pay bribes. As a result, many of them who were short of money waved their hands and said they weren't thirsty when the broker wanted to bring them tea. They just wanted to find a place to stay as soon as possible. This is why the big teahouse Qingqing.
The waiter was so bored he was even thinking of brewing some hot tea himself and taking the teapot to the city gate to serve everyone bowl by bowl. Otherwise, at this rate, when would they ever finish using up the broken tea leaves sent from the city lord's mansion?
Perhaps because the Wen Household was making such a lively scene, the other families who came in later did not refuse the broker's invitation to rest at the teahouse.
Having figured out what was going on, the Wen Household followed Broker Hu out of the city gate to look at the house.
On the way, Broker Hu told them that the house was in the west of the city, about sixteen or seventeen li away from where they were now. Upon hearing this, the Wen Household family decided to return to their own carriage.
It's impossible to walk more than ten miles.
Before they could even stop the carriages following behind, the Broker Hu in front stopped and asked Wen Xiangzhi, "Master Wen, this carriage is moving a bit slowly through the city. Why don't you have your family take the carriage and slowly head west? Those of us who want to look at the houses can go ahead first?"
This Wen Xiangzhi bewildered. What did he mean by letting the carriage go slowly while they went first? How could they go "first" without a carriage? Did this Broker Hu intend to run? Was he faster than a horse?
Before Hu Defu could explain, a square object, about the size of a horse-drawn carriage, came speeding toward them from the end of the road ahead, its bells ringing twice.
Then Hu Defu pointed to the large box and said, "Perfect timing, the bus is here. Quickly, everyone follow and take out the money according to the number of people, one coin per person." As he spoke, he pointed to a sign standing next to him that was about the same height as him, "We are now at the South City Gate Station. There is a bus stop about every two or three miles, it's very convenient."