Xiao Yunzhan was still inspecting the dilapidated stone house. When he heard this, he immediately nodded: "Okay, that's it."
"The rent is ten yuan of low-grade spirit stones. You can just hand it over to me. Here are the keys and passes. The house has not been occupied for a while. Clean it yourself." Cao Ren handed the keys and passes to Xiao Yunzhan and took them from his hands. He took the spirit stone and took out his account book to write it down.
"Thank you, Brother Cao." Xiao Yunzhan thanked him and opened the door to clean up the house.
Cao Ren also turned around and went home.
This house made of gray stone is actually not that bad. The internal walls are made of white clay and are very smooth. The roof is also specially reinforced to prevent wind and rain leaks.
On the left side of the entrance is a kitchen and a dining room, the latrine is at the back, and on the far right is a training room.
There is a bedroom on the second floor and an independent open-air balcony.
Wuhai City also used the formation method to build a relatively complete water inlet and sewage treatment system. Unscrewing the bamboo tube will reveal clean mountain spring water, and squatting and flushing can take the sewage away from the pipes buried underground.
The business of being a landlord for casual cultivators is not limited to Wuhai City alone.
Taiyi Sect is located in more than a dozen cities and towns within the territory of Yue State, and the competition is very fierce.
Ten low-grade spiritual stones a month is not a small amount. Puning Street alone can collect more than 12,000 spiritual stones, enough to support a hundred outer disciples.
If the casual cultivators are not satisfied with their stay, they can still run away with their buckets, even if they dare not rebel.
It was completely dark. Cao Ren lit the oil lamp, carried the pig's trotters and bee pupae into the kitchen, and started making dinner.
The pig's trotters weighed more than thirty kilograms and could not be eaten in one meal. Cao Ren cut off a section and stewed it in a pot. The remaining half was prepared to be made into bacon trotters, which could be eaten in winter.
After cooking rice on the small stove, we started to process the bee pupae.
This is a good thing. Fry it in a pan and sprinkle it with pepper and salt. It is definitely a good dish to go with wine.
Even when he was working eighteen part-time jobs a day, Cao Ren never treated his stomach badly, so naturally he couldn't delay eating because of his cultivation.
The braised pork was cooked and out of the pot, and the salt and pepper bee pupae were on the table. Cao Ren poured himself a glass of wine and was about to sit down when there was a knock on the door.
Cao Ren walked to the door and asked through the door: "Who is it?"
"Brother Cao, it's me." Xiao Yunzhan's voice sounded.
Cao Ren opened the door and said, "What's the matter?"
"The oil lamp in the house is out of oil. I want to borrow some from you. By the way, I want to ask where the restaurant is in this foggy sea city. I want to treat you to a meal to express my gratitude..." Xiao Yunzhan held the handheld I was lighting an oil lamp, and in the middle of my words, my nose moved: "It smells so good."
"Come in." Cao Ren took the oil lamp from his hand and said with a smile: "There is no need for a restaurant. The restaurants in Wuhai City only sell spiritual stones, and the price is quite expensive. I just made the meal, you If you don’t mind, just sit down and have something together.”
"Then I won't be polite." Xiao Yunzhan didn't shirk and followed him through the door. He swallowed his saliva and praised: "The smell of this meat is so tempting. Even those restaurants can't stew it like this." Here comes the meat.”
Cao Ren poured him a glass of wine and motioned for him to sit down.
Xiao Yunzhan first glanced at the braised wild boar meat on the table, his throat twitched, and then he looked at another plate of fried golden ones - worms!
"Brother Cao, what is this?" Xiao Yunzhan was a little surprised. He had eaten countless delicacies, but he had never seen anyone put insects on the table.
"This is a hornet pupa. We killed a nest of hornet demons today, so that's what we got." Cao Ren picked up a bee pupa and fed it to his mouth, chewed it, swallowed it, took another sip of wine, and drank. He said with a satisfied face: "Excellent food to go with wine."
Xiao Yunzhan frowned, but looking at Cao Ren's expression of enjoyment, he couldn't help but wonder: "Is it really so delicious?"
"You'll know if you try it." Cao Ren picked up another one and teased, "Don't you dare to eat it?"
"Who...who said that." Xiao Yunzhan picked up a bee pupa, put it into his mouth after a moment's hesitation, and bit down hard.
The scary soft texture that I imagined did not appear. When I took a bite, the shell turned out to be crispy, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The fragrance of crispiness and milk burst out at the same time, and the rich fragrance lingered on the tip of the tongue and mouth, lingering for a long time.
"Isn't this too fragrant?!" Xiao Yunzhan was stunned for a moment, then picked up another bee pupa and fed it to his mouth with a look of disbelief on his face. He savored the alluring fragrance, and then picked up the wine in front of him. After taking a sip, the fragrant aroma of the wine with a hint of sweetness and sourness complemented the crispy aftertaste in the mouth.
"How?" Cao Ren looked at him with a smile.
"Absolutely amazing!" Xiao Yunzhan exclaimed with admiration, "An extremely unique dish to go with wine, and this wine also has quite a flavor."
Then he tasted another piece of braised pork. The soft meat almost melted in the mouth. The lean meat was crispy and tough, dry but not dry. The skin was smooth, tender and sticky, with a chewy texture that seemed to be there but not at all.
With a gentle bite, the sweet gravy overflows from the meat, and the delicious taste is perfectly released at this moment. It is sweet and soft, fat but not greasy.
"Brother Cao, why don't you open a restaurant? I promise to eat three meals a day at your place." Xiao Yunzhan put down his chopsticks and said seriously.
"Forget it about opening a restaurant, that's not my ambition."
"That's right, we monks should strengthen ourselves. All the people in the world are suffering and waiting for us to save them." Xiao Yunzhan took a sip of wine and sighed: "On my way, I met a beautiful girl whose parents had fled to a brothel. The mother and daughter who fled the famine and sold themselves into a brothel, and the fairy who was deceived by the disciples of the immortal sect to take care of their children, the world is declining and people's hearts are not as good as before."
Cao Ren looked at him: "These stories are all heard afterwards, right?"
"Huh? How do you know?"
"The silver reward is not too small, right?"
"You should help generously."
"Then you are really a good guest."
The two drank and talked, and they got along very well. They didn't leave until they finished a plate of salt-and-pepper bee pupae and a pot of braised pork.
Before Xiao Yunzhan left, he washed the dishes and tidied the kitchen.
Regarding Xiao Yunzhan's identity, he only said that he came from a family of immortal cultivators in Yangzhou and wanted to make a name for himself.
Cao Ren closed the door, took a cold shower, and then went directly into the practice room and began to practice cross-legged. Practice is also a kind of rest.
A spirit gathering array is arranged in the practice room, which can better gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and improve the efficiency of practice.
The higher the rent in Wuhai City, the more centrally located the house is on the spiritual veins, and the level of the spirit gathering array will naturally be higher.
Wisps of spiritual energy surged towards Cao Ren, flowing into his sea of qi for a week.
[You practice Xuantian Kung for one week, and your experience value will be +1]
…
In the next two days, Cao Ren still collected rent for two hours every day, then went down the mountain to do tasks, and practiced all night until dawn.
November 15th.
It was just dawn and Cao Ren was going to collect rent again.
Cao Ren went out to collect rent with a ledger under his arm and a sword at his waist.
There are still eighteen tenants on the ledger who have not paid their rent. Those who have not paid their rent until today will most likely fail to pay and will be kicked out of Wuhai City.
It's a full moon night tonight, I'm afraid it will be difficult.
Knocking on the door one by one, the casual cultivators who could not afford the rent had already packed their things in advance, handed the keys and passes to Cao Ren, and left with a dejected look.
"Well, Lao Wang is ill. He didn't make enough rent this month. He's out of town. I'm afraid he won't be able to make it through tonight."
"Lao Yang and his wife are really miserable. All their savings were used by his gambling son. The old couple just sold their property to give his son a month's rent, but they are about to be driven out of the city."
Neighbors gathered together in twos and twos, their words full of lamentation.
Cao Ren looked calm, which was the rule of Wuhai City.
"The only ones left are their father and daughter." Cao Ren looked at the last name on the book and turned into Alley Seven.
"Father, I won't go. I don't want to go to other people's homes! Yiyi will work hard and a little food is enough. Don't sell me to others..."
A shrill and desperate voice came from the end of the alley. Many neighbors gathered in the alley, all looking towards the end of the alley.
Cao Ren's heart tightened and his pace quickened a bit.
"Bah! This Jiang Dali is really not a human being, and he is selling such a young daughter!"
"He is just a beast. It is said that his wife was thrown into the well and drowned alive in front of his daughter."
"I don't know if that pervert wants to buy it. Such a young child can do it. I'm really not afraid of being struck by lightning."
When the neighbors' comments fell into Cao Ren's ears, his expression became darker.
"Guanshi Cao is here!"
Everyone separated into a lane.
Only then did Cao Ren see clearly that Jiang Dali was pulling Jiang Yiyi's hands and neck out. Her hands were tightly grasping the door frame and refused to let go. Her fingernails were full of sawdust and blood.
The neighbors stood ten meters away and watched, but no one came forward.
"Jiang Dali, what are you doing?" Cao Ren strode forward and scolded him coldly.
Jiang Dali was startled and subconsciously let go of his hand.
The little girl fell to the ground with a thud, crying in pain.
"Manager Cao, I... I'm just trying to find a way to raise money to pay the rent." Jiang Dali said while reaching out to grab Jiang Yiyi who was sitting on the ground.
The little girl shrank back in fear and raised her eyes to look at Cao Ren, her eyes full of fear and despair.
Cao Ren raised his hand to stop Jiang Dali and said in a deep voice, "You're going to sell your daughter after all your gambling money?"
Jiang Dali was not ashamed, and said with a ferocious expression: "Sooner or later, I'm going to sell it anyway, so why not sell it at a good price now? This money-losing guy will start making money for me as soon as possible, and I won't have to work so hard to draw talismans." .”
The light in Jiang Yiyi's eyes gradually disappeared, and she no longer shed tears or retreated. There was a trace of resentment in Jiang Dali's eyes.
The neighbors were filled with indignation, but still only watched from a distance of ten meters away.
Cao Ren glanced at her, his mood became more and more depressed, and the sword on his waist groaned softly.
"Cao Ren, you dare to stop me!" Jiang Dali's expression became more and more crazy. He approached Cao Ren and said in a low voice: "I call you steward to give you face. Do you know who wants to buy her? If you are bad today If you don’t take advantage of that Lord’s good deeds, I’m afraid you won’t be able to stay in Wuhai City any longer.”
"Oh? Who is it?" Cao Ren retracted his left hand, hid it in his sleeve, held a talisman, and tilted his body slightly, just blocking the sight of the neighbors.
Jiang Dali smiled proudly and said: "You should know that Master Li Yunzhu's direct disciple Ye Danqing will be my supporter from now on."
"Okay, I'll pay attention." Cao Ren moved his left hand slightly, and a talisman flew towards Jiang Dali, and then spun at a weird angle in mid-air.
A ball of fire suddenly burst out and flew towards Cao Ren.
Jiang Dali seemed to have thought of something, his face looked frightened, and he opened his mouth to speak.
"Jiang Dali, how dare you!" Cao Ren shouted angrily, sideways to avoid the fireball, and at the same time drew his sword and slashed out, sealing his throat with one sword.
The fireball passed over Cao Ren and landed in front of the onlookers in the alley. The sweeping flames and exploding gravel caused everyone to scream.
Hot blood spattered on the bodies of Cao Ren and Jiang Yiyi. Jiang Dali's eyes widened and he fell down with a talisman in his raised hand.
Jiang Yiyi, whose face was covered with blood, stood up tremblingly. Looking at Cao Ren holding a blood-stained sword and Jiang Dali lying in a pool of blood, his eyes lit up again.
Cao Ren looked down at her, his thoughts clear at the moment.
