Chapter 23: A Permanent House in the Southwest
"Come on girl, eat some chicken eggs, don"t just only take vegetables! " The w.a.n.g House"s poniang, Yang s.h.i.+ courteously placed a few eggs into Su Shuilian"s bowl.
"Thank you Madam Yang." Su Shuilian replied with a smile.
She swept a glance at Lin Si Yao before adding a piece of egg into his bowl. When Su Shuilian saw him look at her, she smiled wordlessly.
Lin Si Yao looked down, making it difficult for others to see the smile in his eyes. With one bite, he finished that piece of egg.
"Tsktsk! Just look at this couple, so romantic!" Yang s.h.i.+ jokingly said.
Yang s.h.i.+ had only found out that they were engaged and were to marry here when talking to The poniang of Lao House this morning, in front of Hua House. Who would have thought that Hua House did that keep their side of the promise.
Yang s.h.i.+ was already moved then, but because her husband was inside the Hua Houss, she could not discuss her thoughts to him. She would never thought that he would tell them about their other house on his own initiative, and to even invite them here for lunch.
Yang s.h.i.+ was very happy; she had long wanted to sell that house. Not to mention that the house was a far distance from here and difficult to care for. Even her son who was at a marriageable age refuses to live in such a run down house and lives with them. It is better now to sell this old house before it collapses. If that were to happen, not only would they not get any money, but the fee to rebuild it too….
With this thought, Yang s.h.i.+ was even more courteous to the Su Shuilian and Lin Si Yao.
—
"That, uh girl, I have already discussed with my wife, the price is not negotiable. It"s this much," After lunch, w.a.n.g Gengfa debated whether or not to tell them the price he wanted to sell the house for. He was afraid once they see the house, they"ll states a heartless price for it.
Seeing that Village Elder sticking out a his index and middle finger in front of her, Su Shuilian realised that he was asking for…. Twenty taels? She smiled and said, "Uncle w.a.n.g, if the house was appropriate, naturally that is no problem."
"That"s okay, that"s okay." w.a.n.g Gengfa chuckled as he lowered his fingers. When he noticed a few villages pa.s.sing by, w.a.n.g Gengfa turned to Su Shuilian and said with a low voice, "Um…girl, if others ask about it, don"t tell them that I"m selling this house, okay? Well, hehe, I haven"t really told anyone that I was selling it before you told me that you were interested in buying it."
Truth was that he worried if others were to hear that she was looking for a house to buy, then they may take her to another house. And when compared, he knows his house was not worth the buy. Afterall, he was aware of how run down his house is.
"I understand." Su Shuilian gave nod, she was not one who tended to gossip. And especially not speaking of matters that have yet to occur.
Wong Gengfa nodded his head in approval. She really is a clever one. If his son was not already engaged, then he would have introduced her to his son. As he was internally calculating, w.a.n.g Gengfa had completely forgotten about Lin Si Yao who was always by Su Shuilian.
—
The house was located in the south-western corner of Fan Hua Town. It has three rooms in the main building, one of which was the kitchen. The yard was surrounded by a low wall, with a single wild cherry bush in the backyard. The large yard in front of the house used to flourish with vegetables, but because of the lack of care, it was filled with weeds now. There was one main reason as to why the father of w.a.n.g Gengfa had choosen to buy this house. It was due to the branching river that pa.s.ses near the house, the river flowed down from the west to east, so the water here was the most clear and clean.
It was just becuase this house was placed at the furthest corner of Town, so when w.a.n.g Gengfa became the village elder, he had selected another house at a more convenient location and started to live there. When his father turned feeble due to old age, he had no choice but to also move to that new house.
When the old father of his moved, Fang s.h.i.+ had "cleaned it," and now the house was completely empty. So if these two were to decide to move in, they will have to spend more money on furniture and things as such.
Su Shuilian circled around the house, she was satisfied with the scenery around it.
In the front of the low walls, there was a stream that meandered near the house. About seven to eight meters ahead of that was a large area of green gra.s.s that extended to the west to a horizon with mountain peaks. There was one prominent peak in front of the rows of peaks, along with the clouds, the view was truly beautiful.
Behind the house was where the Fan Hua Town"s road ends. In other words, this house was at the very end, so as long as they have the available funds, adding a few more rooms to the house was very much possible.
However, Su Shuilian looked at the cracked walls and door of house. Along with the moss covered walls and paper windows were barely existent, was it worth the twenty taels? Troubled, she looked over at Lin Si Yao.
"Ten taels." Lin Si Yao directed stated.
When w.a.n.g Gengfa heard, he turned paled. Turning his head toward Su Shuilian, he said, "That.. uh, girl, this house also includes two acres of fertile land. It just a bit west of this house and is very close, don"t you think ten taels is a bit too little?"
Oh yes, there was still two acres of land, Su Shuilian nodded before she looked at Lin Si Yao again.
"Fifteen taels." When Lin Si Yao saw her gesture, he added an additional five taels.
It was then that w.a.n.g Gengfa realised the master of the house is the cold man in front of him. It seemed that he had been circling around the wrong person and grabbing the wrong thigh. But even though he knew that it was him who was the head, he did not dare to argue about the price. Just, with the chill that Lin Si Yao extruded, it really can turn a person"s leg to jelly.
Fine, he had already discussed with his wife that the lowest price they would accept was ten taels. The longer the house sits here, the lower it"s value will become. With this thought, w.a.n.g Gengfa heavily nodded his head to the pair in front of him as he said, "Deal!"
As a result, the they made their way back w.a.n.g Gengfa"s current abode. As the two signed the contract, w.a.n.g Gengfa handed the house and land deed to Su Shuilian and also hesitantly gave a five tael change for her twenty taels. Sighing, he said, "Girl, from now on, the house is yours! Be sure to take good care of it and to build it back to ah!" He had realised what he had said when Yang s.h.i.+ pinched him. He let out a embarra.s.sed smile.
Su Shuilian smiled as she replied, "of course." She turned around to look at Lin Si Yao, they both shared a hidden joy in their eyes; finally they had their own house -even if the house would require a lot of work.