After a hearty dinner, An Youyou went to sleep with great expectations for the green brick-tile house.
In Qin Huai’s opinion, An Youyou was the only one in the group looking forward to the green brick-tile house.
Clearly, Jiang Weiguo had come from a well-off family and found green brick-tile houses less novel. The other 12 underlings purely didn’t know what a green brick-tile house was; they might not even have lived in a wooden house, only mud-brick ones.
When facing true poverty, flaunting wealth is futile. Mentioning green brick-tile houses to these beggars is like talking about braised shark fin, Arhat shrimp, Buddha jumps over the wall, or boiled cabbage being delicious—they are too distant and completely unseen, beyond understanding.
Talking about roast chicken and meat buns might prompt some drooling, but the more upscale items are beyond imagination.
The beggars have only seen green brick-tile houses without entering them; to them, they are just houses that can shield from wind and rain and are warmer in winter. They can’t picture anything beyond that.
On the second morning, An Youyou unprecedentedly didn’t wait for the underlings to carry the mud over before leisurely waking, but instead woke actively and was the first to rise, shaking Jiang Weiguo awake.
"Wake, wake, wake up, Thirteen, it’s daylight, let’s go rent a house!"
Forcefully shaken awake by An Youyou, Jiang Weiguo’s face was full of disbelief, questioning her sudden keenness to rent a house after resisting it the past few days.
But since the leader was awake, the underlings naturally couldn’t sleep. Little Ninth enthusiastically volunteered to dig mud for An Youyou but was stopped by her.
Today, An Youyou set aside begging, focusing solely on renting a house, enjoying luxury once, with no earnings, only spending.
As yesterday, Jiang Weiguo told An Youyou the general direction of the farmhouse, allowing her to lead, and he’d guide her once close enough. Before setting out, An Youyou instructed the underlings to come back early today, hoping to move house tonight.
Along the way, An Youyou kept rambling, saying that if they successfully rented a house today, she’d buy 20 buns and eat 10 herself, wanting 20 vegetable buns from Fu Ji like last night’s.
Jiang Weiguo listened, feeling speechless, and asked An Youyou why she wouldn’t buy 20 meat buns.
"Meat buns, you know how expensive 20 meat buns are? One meat bun can buy three vegetable buns. Just eat some vegetable buns; buns are buns, why insist on meat buns." An Youyou assumed Jiang Weiguo wanted meat buns, shocking her to defend her savings with all her might.
Jiang Weiguo could only explain, "Buy some fatty meat, chop it finely, mix it into cabbage, like many bun shop fillings, and use sorghum flour mixed with white flour for the dough. Of these ingredients, only fatty meat is slightly expensive. Now is cabbage season; any farmer’s house can sell a big cabbage for a copper coin."
"Sounds simple, can you cook it?"
"I can." Jiang Weiguo nodded, "Last night’s vegetable buns were made by me."
"I volunteered to Master Ding, who tempted by my skills, asked me to stir-fry two vegetarian dishes and make some vegetable buns. Master Ding took the dishes to the owner and secretly let me keep the buns to eat."
"Master Ding said if the owner likes me, I’ll switch to cutting next month; this month, I still need to do odd jobs, but can do some cutting tasks."
"The owner is cautious, and I am new; he doesn’t feel reassured letting me cut right away."
An Youyou was shocked, recalling last night’s vegetable buns, subconsciously swallowing, surprised that her picked-up underling had such skills.
"Then... how much will those white flour, sorghum flour things you mentioned cost?"
"You really can make meat buns?" An Youyou suspiciously eyed Jiang Weiguo, trying to see if he was boasting.
Jiang Weiguo said nothing and nodded firmly.
Seeing Jiang Weiguo nod, An Youyou felt there was some credibility.
The farmer’s house was in the suburbs, not requiring entering the city. Walking fast, An Youyou and Jiang Weiguo reached there in less than an hour. In truth, Jiang Weiguo didn’t even need to guide them; upon arrival, any farmhouse was recognizable at a glance.
The beautiful green brick-tile house had a yard with a well, also planting flowers; the bricks were of fine quality. Rather than a farmhouse, it looked like a grand house purchased by someone wealthy for suburban leisure.
Jiang Weiguo knocked on the door, a sturdy man opened it, seeming quite pleased to see Jiang Weiguo, looking past him at An Youyou. Seeing her in a beggar’s outfit but with decent clothes, he was surprisingly without disdain, warmly inviting them inside.
The house was spacious, with two levels.
The farmer introduced the house to An Youyou, saying typically the house had one level for living and one for residence, standard big-household setup. However, he was unorthodox, renting the house and modifying it by converting the first level’s tea room, study, living room, and such into bedrooms.
Simplifying, it was definitely enough space to live in.
And it wasn’t like the arrangement An Youyou foresaw, where she got one room, Jiang Weiguo got half a room, and the remaining 12 underlings squeezed into one room. It was that she had one room, Jiang Weiguo had one room, and every four of the remaining 12 underlings shared a luxurious room.
Since both parties strongly wanted the deal, simple rules like sharing the yard and kitchen and keeping hygiene were set. Begging was an occupation, maintaining personal hygiene was a rental guest’s basic etiquette, and full payment for 6 months was required upfront. After needing money to send his eldest son to school, the only literate Jiang Weiguo drafted a rental contract, and they sealed it with fingerprints.