The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Su Jin smiled embarrassedly and slapped haha. When Lao Jiang and his wife came back to their senses, they said, "Brother and sister-in-law are here to study at Yingtian Academy, but the arrangements in advance were not good enough, so I didn't send someone to find a yard to rent here, and I'm not familiar with the place here. I haven’t recruited. The school will start tomorrow. The people who come with me must have a place to stay, right? But time is running short, and I don’t know where to find a rented courtyard. Zhao Hu said that the two of you have lived in Yingying for generations. Tianfu asked him to bring me here to ask the two of you to help me find it; I'm very sorry for disturbing you by coming here."

Old Jiang piled up a simple and honest smile and said: "Young master, what you say can kill our husband and wife. The son thinks that our husband and wife are the honor of our husband and wife. Isn't it just to find a more elegant yard and want to rent it? This It's easy."

Aunt Zhao also nodded and smiled apologetically, acting like a husband and wife.

Su Jin smiled and said, "Thank you both for that. We came here in a hurry and didn't bring any presents. Sui Er gave the two of you five pennies as a meeting gift."

Xiao Sui'er took out five pennies of money and offered it with a smile, which made Lao Jiang and his wife flustered and hurriedly declined: "How can this make it absolutely impossible? How can our husband and wife take the money from the son, girl, take it back quickly, and you will not be rewarded for nothing!" Lu."

Xiao Sui'er smiled and said: "Brother and sister-in-law accept a little bit of meaning, it doesn't matter if you don't accept my young master, you will definitely not feel at ease."

Su Jin also smiled and said: "If you accept the Xian couple, you will look down on me, Su Jin, and we will not be able to stay here."

Zhao Hu also said with a naive smile: "Accepted my aunt's boss's family is always rich, one of the richest people in Luzhou Prefecture, let alone five guan, even fifty thousand guan, our boss doesn't even frown."

Su Jin rolled his eyes and said in his heart: You are not such a bragging style.

Lao Jiang and his wife clicked their tongues and clicked their tongues. The young official could not have imagined that he was such a rich master. Since everyone said so, he half-pushed and half-heartedly accepted it.

Lao Jiang smiled and said: "Mr. Su must be a blessed man who is so benevolent and righteous. If I take my word for it, he will definitely be the champion of high school. When the time comes, my wife and I will rush to Luzhou Mansion with a small whip to congratulate you."

Su Jin laughed and said, "Thank you for your kind words."

Old Jiang turned to Aunt Zhao and said, "Didn't you say that Mr. Zheng's family has a big house for rent on the corner of the street? Go and see if it's still there. The quiet and elegant house is just right for Mr. Su to live in."

Aunt Zhao slapped her thigh and said, "That's right, why did I forget about this, I'll go to Mr. Su, some girls and officials, you wait for a while."

Xiao Sui'er said: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll go with you and see how the house fits in."

Huanniang also got up and said, "The servants are going too."

Su Jin waved his hand and said, "Go to Xiao Zhuzi and drive the car to take them there."

Aunt Zhao quickly waved her hand and said, "No need, no need, why bother this little official." After saying that, she walked out of the shop and led Xiao Sui'er and Huan Niang to the south corner of the street.

Su Jin followed Lao Jiang in the store chatting about the family life, so it turned out that the old Jiang and his wife had no children and no daughters. The couple had been guarding this small shop for more than ten years, but they could barely make ends meet. It is a place of prosperity, but social security can only be said to be reluctant. Murders and arson are not uncommon. There are quite a few gangsters on the street, and each of the four cities has its own ownership. On weekdays, there is a lot of trouble in order to collect plate fees from merchants. Bullying just now when Su Jin and the others came in was regarded as a hooligan who collected dish fees.

Su Jin said in his heart: The world is like a crow, a black old raven falls on an old sow, I'm afraid it is the city of Bianliang under the foot of the emperor, there are inevitably these people, and there is nothing we can do about it. <Like leeks, one crop and another crop will be caught, so in the end, the inspection of the four cities will only come to a compromise with these people, as long as they don’t make too much noise, the government will turn a blind eye and shut it down.

The two were chatting, Aunt Zhao came back with Xiao Sui'er and Huan Niang, the three of them were blushing from the sun, Aunt Zhao was purple red, and the two little girls were all pink.

Su Jin hurriedly handed over her herbal tea, Xiao Sui'er shook her head not to let Huanniang blushed and drank half of it.

"Why didn't Mr. Zheng come with you?" Lao Jiang asked in surprise.

"Don't mention it, it's too late." Aunt Zhao raised the black tea bowl with a look of annoyance, drinking like a cow.

"What's the matter? Is Mr. Zheng's mansion not rented anymore?"

Aunt Zhao wiped her mouth with her sleeve and said, "That's not to say that if we go in the afternoon, Zheng Daguan's mansion is still there and now it has just been rented out by a few people, that's right; the person who came to study in the academy seems to be a son of a rich family."

Su Jin was so depressed that he was so unlucky, why did things go so badly.

Huanniang suddenly said softly: "Master, speaking of the tenant, we know each other as acquaintances."

Su Jin wondered: "Are there any acquaintances? Where do we have any acquaintances in Ying Tianfu?"

Huanniang leaned into Su Jin's ear and whispered. Su Jin frowned in surprise and said, "Why is it that he can bump into ghosts wherever he goes? Let's rent a house and touch him."

Aunt Zhao said: "Young official, don't worry about looking for the slave's house, so I will go and ask you who is going to be the head of the house. I will talk to you here with the young master. The slave's house will go to the street to find Mrs. Huang and the others to go around together."

Lao Jiang nodded and said: "Go quickly, don't teach me to wait for a long time, Mrs. Huang and Mrs. Li tell them to inquire here and there all day. Maybe they can help."

Aunt Zhao agreed and walked out. Su Jin called out, "Sister-in-law, don't look for it anymore."

Aunt Zhao was surprised and said, "What? Don't you need to look for a house for petty officials?"

Su Jin smiled and said: "Didn't you find it? Didn't you go there just now? Sui'er seems to share the house."

Xiao Sui'er nodded and said: "The two entrances across the courtyard each have seven or eight rooms in the east and west, adding up to a dozen or so rooms, not to mention that we can live in twice as many people. The courtyard is also neat and clean, and there are many flowers and trees, which is very suitable. live."

"But... Mr. Zheng has already agreed to those tenants, and the price paid by those tenants is not lower than four months a month, and he promised to pay three months in advance. Mr. Zheng's mouth is almost crooked." Aunt Zhao said .

"So much? His big house is big, but the monthly rent is at most three. This black-hearted old Zheng actually asks for four. No wonder he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear." Lao Jiang sighed.

Su Jin asked, "Did you sign the agreement?"

Aunt Zhao said: "What agreement?"

Su Jin searched for vocabulary and asked again: "Have you established a rent certificate?"

Aunt Zhao said: "That's right? Officials like Zheng want to kill them when they encounter people who have taken advantage of them."

Su Jin clapped his hands and said: "If it's troublesome, my sister-in-law will tell the official Zheng that I am willing to pay double the price to rent that house and pay half a year's rent in advance."

The open-mouthed boss of Lao Jiang and his wife just said that they were taken advantage of. Didn't expect that there is an even bigger taker here. Isn't this taking money for money?

"There are so many empty houses for small officials. It takes a while to find better ones, so why waste the money." Aunt Zhao said.

"Don't get in the way and do as I say." Su Jin made up his mind to make it difficult for the guy who disguised himself as a man, and was scolded for no reason. Today, he insisted on taking down the house, disgusting him.

Aunt Zhao was still waiting to say that Lao Jiang reprimanded: "What are you talking about here? Didn't you see Mr. Su said it? It will be difficult to deal with it if you delay the work later."

Aunt Zhao shut up, hurriedly walked out, Su Jin thought why should she run back and forth, wouldn't it be better to bring a group of people to finalize on the spot?

So with a wave of hands, a group of people followed Aunt Zhao to Zheng's house on the corner of the street.