Demon, come and cultivate for me.

For important clients like Zhou Chu, the brokerage firm arranged for a special horse-drawn carriage to pick them up and drop them off.

The man was a middle-aged man in his thirties, thin and with a mustache and narrow, shrewd eyes.

He talked incessantly to Zhou Chu about how rare, luxurious, and comfortable the house was.

Based on his years of experience, Zhou Chu judged that there must be something fishy about this house, which was so nice but not so expensive, but he didn't point it out.

The carriage soon arrived at the western city. The driver brought the carriage to a stop and lifted the curtain to indicate that they had arrived.

The broker jumped off the car first, placed a small stool under the car for Zhou Chu to step on to get off, and then took out the key to open the gate.

Just as the broker had said, the house was indeed a grand five-courtyard mansion with vermilion gates, blue bricks, and glazed tiles, exuding an air of extravagance.

Looking through the windows into the rooms, each one was completely empty, without any furniture or decorations.

The side courtyard is a whole garden, with artificial hills, pavilions, bridges, streams, and all kinds of rare trees.

After looking around the entire courtyard, Zhou Chu came out.

The broker locked the gate and asked, "Is this house to your liking?"

Zhou Chu nodded, looked around, and indeed there was nothing wrong with it.

The broker's face lit up with joy, and he said, "The land deed for the house is at the brokerage. Once we go back and complete the paperwork and contract, the house will be yours."

"No rush, no rush. How much was this house again?" Zhou Chu remembered that the broker only said about eight thousand taels yesterday, without giving a specific number.

The broker said, "According to market prices, a house this size would cost 12,000 taels of silver, but this house is 30% cheaper, costing only 8,400 taels."

Xu Yuan also said that buying a five-courtyard house in the capital for only 8,400 taels of silver is indeed not expensive.

But something unusual must be going on. Why is the house being priced 30% lower?

Zhou Chu didn't beat around the bush and asked directly:

"Tell me, why is such a nice house priced so low?"

"Well..." The broker rubbed his hands together, his eyes darting around, and said, "This house has a minor problem."

"What minor problem?"

"Every night, there are strange noises coming from the pond in the garden."

"Hmm?" Zhou Chu stared into the dentist's eyes. "Anything else?"

"Also, this place isn't suitable for timid people. I see you're a registered martial artist, so you shouldn't be afraid of these things..."

Before the broker could finish speaking, Manager Hu's voice came from behind him:

"You little brat, you're spouting nonsense again."

As Manager Hu spoke, he approached Zhou Chu:

"Shangguan Mingjian, this house is a haunted house. Every night, you can hear a woman crying. Within a year, three families have moved out of it."

The broker recognized Manager Hu, and although he was very displeased upon hearing this, he still maintained a respectful demeanor and said:

"Master Hu, you can't say that. The previous families were all ordinary wealthy households, none of them had ever produced a martial artist, so naturally they couldn't control this house. This young master Zhou is different..."

Shopkeeper Hu said, "Stop talking nonsense. Two families hired martial arts guards at great expense, and what happened? They went to the side garden in the middle of the night and disappeared without a trace, neither alive nor dead."

After saying that, he said to Zhou Chu, "Shangguan, it's better not to get this house."

Zhou Chu overheard their conversation and formed a general understanding of the house.

If I'm not mistaken, there must be a monster living here, otherwise it wouldn't be considered a haunted house.

This demon's cultivation level shouldn't be too high, otherwise it wouldn't have been as simple as just one or two martial artists dying.

After a moment's hesitation, Zhou Chu said to the broker, "I want this house, but more than eight thousand taels is absolutely unacceptable."

Upon hearing this, the broker breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally managed to retain a customer, but it was almost ruined by this scoundrel, Manager Hu.

To prevent Manager Hu from causing trouble again, the broker said to Zhou Chu, "Young Master Zhou, please get in the carriage. Let's go back and have some tea to talk in detail."

The outside was indeed not a suitable place to talk, so Zhou Chu got into the carriage.

Manager Hu said from behind, "Take care, Shangguan."

After Zhou Chu got into the carriage, Manager Hu grabbed the broker and said, "Do you know who he is? If you cheat him out of his money, be careful you might have the life to take the money but not the life to spend it."

The broker's heart skipped a beat. Manager Hu was, after all, an official, and anyone who could make him wary must be extraordinary.

So he changed his attitude from before and said in a deep voice, "Please enlighten me, Master Hu."

"A disciple of the Crown Prince." Manager Hu left these four words behind and turned to leave.

……

Back at the brokerage, the broker invited Zhou Chu to sit down and served him a bowl of fine tea.

Before Zhou Chu could even begin to haggle, the broker spoke first:

"Young Master Zhou, you are already familiar with the situation of this house, so I won't elaborate further. As for the price..."

The broker held up five fingers: "Five thousand taels, that's the seller's bottom line."

The price dropped by three thousand taels, which was beyond Zhou Chu's expectations; it was more than half the market price.

However, Zhou Chu did not make a decision immediately.

After all, money doesn't come from thin air, so every penny saved counts. The mansion is empty, and it will cost a lot of money to furnish it.

He said to the broker, "I'd appreciate it if you could go to the seller again and try to lower the price so you don't come for nothing. Whatever amount of silver you get, I'll give you half."

Five thousand taels was indeed the seller's bottom price. Because of the connection with the Crown Prince, the broker had no intention of making money off Zhou Chu.

Now that Zhou Chu has said this, I'm determined to make the trip no matter what.

"The seller's shop is on this street. Please wait a moment, I'll be right back." The broker instructed his assistant to serve Zhou Chu, then trotted out the door.

After a short while, the broker came running over, panting, picked up the now-cold tea from the table, took a sip, and said:

"It's done."

He brought the land deed and documents and handed them to Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu picked up the document and saw that the price was 3,900 taels.

It's only a little over 30% of the market price.

The rest was simple. The two parties signed a contract, Zhou Chu kept the land deed and key, and went with the broker to the post station to collect the silver.

By the time we finished all that, it was already noon.

In the afternoon, Zhou Chu was to meet the Crown Prince. After bathing and changing his clothes, and having a hearty meal, he waited for the audience with Chen Xiangzi and Xu Yuan.

The three waited and waited until about two quarters past 5 PM, when suddenly dozens of soldiers appeared outside the inn.

Xu Yuan recognized the soldiers' attire as the arrival of the Crown Prince's retinue and quickly pulled the two men outside the guesthouse to greet them.

Dozens of soldiers, armed with spears and clad in armor, stood on either side. A magnificent carriage drawn by four black horses slowly approached and stopped about ten steps from the entrance of the inn.

Mr. Cheng rushed over from behind the carriage, lifted the carriage curtain, and a long-bearded, fair-skinned man stepped down from the carriage.

The man had his hair tied up in a tall hat, a sword hanging at his waist, and his clothes fluttering in the wind.

Xu Yuan subtly pulled Zhou Chu aside and knelt on one knee, saying, "Xu Yuan, a martial artist, respectfully welcomes the Crown Prince."

Zhou Chu and Chen Xiangzi followed suit and bowed, saying, "We, the warrior Zhou Chu (Chen Xiangzi), respectfully welcome the Crown Prince."

"Please rise, everyone!"

Zhou Chu lowered his head, and the sound of the Crown Prince's rapid footsteps came from ahead.

He thought to himself, "I always hear Xie Ning say that the Crown Prince is an old man, but he doesn't look old at all. He looks to be in his thirties."