After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 878 Small Courtyard
This newly added small courtyard in the northwest of my home was originally an independent small house, but it was not a regular courtyard layout, but two rows of houses in the north and south, with blank walls on the east and west sides. Not far from the west wall, there is a tall pomegranate tree, and at the foot of the east wall are several crabapples, osmanthus and wintersweets. Although they are not tall, just by looking at them, you can imagine what the scenery of this courtyard will be like when it blooms.

There was a stone table and stone bench under the pomegranate tree. Haitang stood beside it and looked around the courtyard. She immediately fell in love with it.

Ma stood at the moon-shaped door and was delighted. "It's really nice. It looks very delicate. It's just right for a girl to live in. There are crabapple flowers planted in the yard. It's obviously prepared for our Tangtang!"

Hai Jiao smiled and said, "The two crabapple trees in his house are in great bloom. This year in late spring, I happened to visit his house and saw that the flowers were in full bloom, a large patch of pink and white, which looked like a flower wall from a distance. At that time, I was thinking that it would be great if the yard where my younger sister would live in the future also had a wall of crabapple flowers. So when I heard that his family wanted to sell the house, I immediately came over to ask the price. Now that the house belongs to us, it is just right for my younger sister to live in. There is no better place."

Haitang said hurriedly, "Thank you, brother. I just don't know how much did you spend on this exquisite house?"

"Don't worry about the money." Haijiao said calmly, "Grandpa asked someone to bring me some silver notes earlier, which is more than enough to buy this house. Although it looks exquisite, it is too small after all, and it only has one entrance. Only a small family with a small population would buy it, but a small family may not be able to come up with such a large sum of money right away. The original owner was in a hurry to sell it, waiting to take the silver and leave so that he could escape from the capital. I got the news early, bought it early, and had a way to go to the government office to transfer the ownership quickly, so he didn't have to worry about anything, so he gave me a discount. It won't be easy for him to find another buyer who is willing to pay quickly except me."

Of course, this person was in a hurry to leave Beijing to avoid trouble, and he also got a lot of information from the other party. The other party knew that he had betrayed his original backer, and if the other party knew, he might come to retaliate, so he quickly sold the house and resigned. But Haijiao didn't plan to tell Xiaomei about these inside stories in front of his grandparents.

He just pointed in the direction of the main room and said, "Little sister, come in and take a look. I don't know how you are going to clean it up, so I didn't move the furniture inside. Everything is new. The original owner specially renovated the house last year in order to get married, but unfortunately the marriage was cancelled before it was finalized. When the house was renovated, he had been living in the south room. These are all new rooms and he has hardly lived in them. They are still relatively clean now. I have asked someone to clean them again, and you can move in directly. If there is anything missing, we can buy it slowly."

The north and south rows of houses in this courtyard, the north house is the main house, similar in size to the main house of the Hai family, with three houses in a row and an annex on each side. The south house is a row of functional houses, including a kitchen, tea room, water room and warehouse, as well as a servant's room. As an independent house, this courtyard is fully functional, but now that it has been incorporated into the Hai family, as Haitang's boudoir, it is a little too functional.

Now that Haijiao has sealed the original external gate of the courtyard, the gatehouse entrance can be used again. It is enough for Haitang to live in the north room with her maid, so how to arrange the rest of the room? Although Haitang wants to have her own small kitchen, Ma, who is in charge of the household, will not allow such a waste of resources. She will definitely let her granddaughter eat in the main room every day.

Ma looked at the row of southern rooms and thought for a while: "There don't seem to be many rooms in the front yard for servants to live in. How about arranging some people to live here? I see the kitchen and tea room here can be cleaned up and used for living."

Haitang was not very willing. Wouldn't that mean that she would have to live under the eyes of many people? How about... building another wall in the yard to block the sight between the north and south houses? Before Haitang could suggest anything, Haijiao spoke up: "Don't worry about this. There are actually quite a lot of spacious houses in the front yard. When I move to the backyard, my uncle and Grandpa Lu will move to the house where I live now. The remaining space will be enough to accommodate our family."

Ma thought about it and it made sense. Haitang was a girl after all. It would be fine if a maid or servant lived in her courtyard, but how could a male servant live here?
So she took her granddaughter to the north room for a tour. The three main rooms all had stained glass windows. Although this thing was made in Chang'an, only a few wealthy families in Chang'an would use it. Who would have thought that even the petty officials in the capital would use it? It made the room look very bright. It was a pity that the main room in her main courtyard didn't have this kind of glass windows installed. She would have to ask the price later, or should she install them in all the main rooms?
When Ma took Haitang to see the furnishings inside the north room, Haijiao whispered to his grandfather Haixiya in the yard: "When I bought this house, I simply sealed the door, but didn't seal it up or build a wall. I just thought that this house might be used as a dowry for my younger sister, so it would be best not to make any changes..."

Hai Xiya raised an eyebrow, somewhat guessing what he meant: "You also understand what Xiao Jin means?"

Haijiao sneered. He was not a fool, nor was he blind. Jin Jiashu had actually been quite obvious, and had hinted at him many times. When he first saw it, he had been angry, but then he thought about it carefully and realized that if Jin Jiashu really became his brother-in-law, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

Although there are not many people in the Jin family, and Imperial Concubine Xu in the palace is still very troublesome, Jin Jiashu's future is there, and the future must be smooth. Although Imperial Concubine Xu is his biological mother, she is only his aunt in name. They rarely meet inside and outside the palace, and it is not inconvenient for them to live on both sides of the palace wall. Even if Imperial Concubine Xu wants to be picky about Jin Jiashu's wife, she will not stare at her every day and nag her endlessly. The "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law" can meet twice a month at most.

The Hai family knew Jin Jiashu inside out and understood his personality. Although he didn't have his parents around, his wife didn't have to serve her parents-in-law or worry about her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. In addition, his friendship with the Hai family meant that even if his younger sister wanted to live closer to the Hai family after marriage, it would not be impossible.

Haijiao thought that after buying this small house, it could be used as the younger sister's boudoir. If Jin Jiashu really got engaged to the younger sister, the small house could also be used as the younger sister's dowry and become their new residence after marriage. At that time, it only needs to reopen the external door, and it doesn't matter whether the inner moon door is sealed or not. The kitchen, tea room and other unused functional houses in the yard can be put to use immediately. The young couple can live their own lives by closing the moon door. Whenever the younger sister misses her family, she can open the moon door again and go back to her parents' home. Isn't it just a matter of raising her feet?
My younger sister is still living under the eyes of her family, so why should her family be worried that she will be wronged? And Jin Jiashu will continue to live with the Hai family, and he will naturally be closer to them emotionally.

Haijiao was clacking his abacus, and he didn't forget to ask his grandfather what he thought: "What do you think?"

Hai Xiya glanced at his grandson speechlessly, then tapped his forehead with his fingers: "Why are you so calculating? You have known Xiao Jin for so many years, but you still don't trust him? How could he bully your sister for no reason? Besides, this small courtyard is fine as your sister's boudoir, but if it is an independent entrance, it is too small. Do you think Madam Xu in the palace will allow her nephew to live in such a small house? The house he rents now is bigger than this one, not to mention the place where he will live after he gets married and starts a family?"

Haijiao touched his nose and said nothing.