Translated and given permission by MissQ to post on Puretl.com
Edited by Pure

Chapter 23: A Permanent House in the Southwest

“Come on girl, eat some chicken eggs, don’t just only take vegetables! ” The Wang House’s poniang, Yang-shi, courteously placed a few eggs into Su Shuilian’s bowl.

“Thank you Aunt 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.

“Tsk! Tsk! Just look at this couple, so romantic!” Yang-shi jokingly said.

Yang-shi had only found out that they were engaged and were to marry here when they were talking to The poniang of Lao House this morning, in front of the Hua House. Who would have thought that the Hua House would not keep their side of the promise.

Yang-shi was already moved then, but because her husband was inside the Hua House, she could not discuss her thoughts to him. She would never have thought that he would tell them about their other house on his own initiative, and to even invite them here for lunch.

Yang-shi 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 to sell this old house now before it collapses. If that were to happen, not only would they not get any money, but would require a fee to rebuild it too….

With this thought, Yang-shi was even more courteous to Su Shuilian and Lin Si Yao.

—

“That, uh girl, I have already discussed with my wife, the price is non-negotiable. It’s this much.”  After lunch, Wang 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 state a heartless price for it.

Seeing the Village Elder sticking out his index and middle finger in front of her, Su Shuilian realized that he was asking for…. Twenty taels? She smiled and said, “Uncle Wang, if the house is appropriate, then naturally that would be no problem.”

“That’s okay, that’s okay.” Wang Gengfa chuckled as he lowered his fingers. When he noticed a few villagers passing by, Wang 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 you 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, he worried that if others were to hear that she was looking for a house to buy, then they may recommend her 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, Uncle Wang.” Su Shuilian gave an understanding nod, she was not a person who tended to gossip. And especially not about speaking of matters that have yet to occur.

Wang 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, Wang Gengfa completely forgot about Lin Si Yao who was always with Su Shuilian.

—

The house was located southwest of Fan Hua Town. It has three rooms in the main building and a penthouse for the kitchen. The yard was surrounded by a low wall, with a single wild cherry tree 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’s one main reason as to why the father of Wang Gengfa had chosen to buy this house. It was due to the branching river that passes near the house, the river flowed down from the west to east, so the water here was the most clear and clean.

It was because this house was placed at the furthest side of the Town, that when Wang Gengfa became the village elder, he had to select another house at a more convenient location and live there. When his father became feeble due to old age, he had no choice but to also move to that new house.

When that old father of his moved, Fang Shi 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 surrounding 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 grassland that extended to the west towards 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 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 the house. Along with the moss covered walls and paper windows which barely exist, was it worth the twenty taels? Troubled, she looked over at Lin Si Yao.

“Ten taels.” Lin Si Yao directly stated.

When Wang Gengfa heard, he turned pale. Turning his head toward Su Shuilian, he said, “That.. uh, girl, this house also includes two acres of fertile land. It’s 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 Wang Gengfa realized the master of the house was 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 excluded, it can really 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 its value will become. With this thought, Wang Gengfa heavily nodded his head to the pair in front of him as he said, “Deal!”

In the end, they made their way back to Wang Gengfa’s current abode. As the two signed the contract, Wang 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, that house is yours! Be sure to take good care of it and to build it back to ah!” He realized what he had said when Yang-shi pinched him. He let out an embarrassed smile.

Su Shuilian smiled as she replied, “Of course.” She turned around to look at Lin Si Yao, they both shared a hidden look of  joy in their eyes; finally they have their own house -even if the house would require a lot of work.

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