Chapter 923: Chapter 536: Renting a House
In contrast, the Empress has only sent Zhao Douan and Mo Chou as supervisors to the front lines, showing her trust in Xue Shence.
"Alright, I’ve noted everything. But intelligence is just information after all; I need to see it with my own eyes to know the truth."
Zhao Douan took a step forward, moving past Eunuch Hai, through a series of palace walls, and into the deepest corners of the old buildings.
...
...
Yongjia Prefecture City is located at the southern end of the Huai River, facing the Taicang Prefecture of Linfeng across the river.
As one of the two most prosperous and commercially developed prefecture cities within the Great Yu Dynasty’s territory along the Huai River, Yongjia has an excellent geographical location.
Its water systems are well-connected, with streams cutting and connecting the entire city like veins in a human body. The waters of the Yongjia River to the east cross the Grand Canal, reaching straight to the East Sea.
The buildings here also differ greatly from those in Linfeng, with more and denser small buildings within the city, and even the air feels more humid.
The most typical architectural feature of Yongjia City is its multitude of bridges, with numerous stone and wooden bridges running through the streets.
Due to the varying terrain, areas are roughly divided into "Upper City District" and "Lower City District" boundaries.
Similar to the "Inner" and "Outer" cities of the Capital, though the boundaries are more blurred, with intermixed living areas.
Zhao Douan awoke in a room at an inn, feeling the fatigue of his Divine Soul, and first fed himself a pill.
He then got up to wash.
While washing his face, he looked into the bronze mirror at the unfamiliar face modified by the mask of the "Thousand Illusion God" suppressing object, and slowly curved his lips into a smile.
"Indeed, this kind of mental game against people suits me better. Isn’t the martial world and the world at large just a larger grand hall? Beneath the Emperor, Mu Prince and Prince Jing are traitors. To topple Xu Jingtang, I’ll start with you, Zhao Shixiong."
After changing into a modest long robe and settling the inn’s lodging fees, Zhao Douan shouldered a bag, with a gentleman sword hanging from his waist, and left the inn, now transformed into a young man with a somewhat scholarly air.
Walking down the streets of Yongjia City, observing the rows of shops and the flow of pedestrians and vendors on both sides.
Zhao Douan felt slightly dazed, even though he was in a war zone, life went on as usual for the ordinary people.
He entered an agency near the street and said to an old estate agent behind the counter, about fifty years old: "The appointment made yesterday, today we go see the house."
The old estate agent, who dealt in buying and renting houses as something like a modern-day real estate agent, put on a professional smile and immediately took the title deed, leading Zhao Douan to a market at the edge of the Upper City District.
Since it was wartime, inns were often inspected and inconvenient. So Zhao Douan planned to rent a small courtyard within the city as a place to stay.
He had already picked out a house with the agency yesterday, planning to "sign the lease" and move in today.
On the way, the old estate agent laughed: "Rest assured, young sir, the house I picked for you is certainly right. In these troubled times, it’s best to live a bit further in for peace of mind, isn’t it?"
Zhao Douan casually replied: "Is the city not peaceful?"
The old estate agent laughed: "Not really, it’s just that the Lower City District has more gang members and riffraff. If you’re willing to pay a bit more, moving further in, then it’s truly quiet."
Zhao Douan smiled but said nothing.
He needed to operate in the city, so it wasn’t possible to live too close to the tightly inspected city center. He purposefully avoided the Lower City District, as hiding deliberately would instead draw attention.
The two finally arrived at a lane called "Red Mud Lane," stopping at the gate of the third courtyard from the front. The estate agent tapped on the door and shouted, "Mr. Du, I’ve brought the tenant!"
Zhao Douan stood in the alley, his extraordinary hearing allowed him to hear a woman’s angry voice coming from the courtyard: "Run! You run again! Instead of studying properly, you’ve learned mischief, mixing with those riffraff outside the school! Du Ruhui! If you don’t discipline your son, you’d better stop this old lady!"
Then, a middle-aged man’s bitter voice sounded: "Madam, we’ve got guests, don’t shout and let the neighbors laugh."
Zhao Douan raised an eyebrow, was this landlord’s family a case of the "hen-pecked husband"?
Even though the Empress had been on the throne for three years, it wasn’t enough to change the local customs of Yu Country, but due to the prosperity of the Huai River, many women had strong backing from their parental families, making them especially assertive, so the proportion of "tigresses" was indeed higher.
At this moment, the sound inside the courtyard stopped, footsteps approached, and soon, the gate opened. A man, about forty or fifty years old, wearing a scholar’s robe, forced a smile: "Please come in, this young gentleman must be the tenant, right?"
He said this while leading Zhao Douan and the old estate agent into the two-part courtyard, and soon, the scenery of the backyard came into view.
The courtyard was quite simple and elegant, outside the east wing’s door, a large wooden basin was placed on the steps, soaking clothes inside.
A woman, about in her forties, wearing an "apron," with sleeves rolled up, holding a wooden mallet for beating clothes, glared over with lingering anger. It was evident the woman was quite attractive, but with age and household chores weighing her down, she became irritable and prone to anger, with high cheekbones and thin lips, hinting she might not be easy to deal with.
Beside the woman, at the other side of the wooden basin’s steps, behind a wooden pillar, was a boy of about ten, extremely nervous, not daring to look at his mother, seemingly escaping a beating, with his neck shrunk, curiously peering over here.
At the west wing’s door, a quiet girl silently watched everything unfold, around the age of a budding girl, looking quite gentle with a well-proportioned dress, resembling her mother, with cold eyes, seeming indifferent to the proceedings.
"I am the one who made an appointment to rent the house," Zhao Douan introduced himself, his gaze bypassing the man named Du Ruhui, focusing on Mrs. Du, who was truly in charge.