Zhao Lin drove away the rogue and patted the dust off his body, but the strange smell still lingered.
"This stuff should be a kind of musk powder."
Liang Song came over and said: "I heard that there is a kind of spice that will not fall off for several months after being contaminated. You can use a strange beast that is good at smelling the fragrance to track it. You can find it even if you run away to the ends of the earth."
Zhao Lin thought thoughtfully and murmured: "No wonder the body was hidden so well that the bandits could find it. It was probably through this method."
"I think so too." Liang Song agreed, and then suddenly said: "You just... ran so fast!"
Zhao Lin knew he couldn't hide it, so he tried his best to explain: "I am strong, so naturally I can run fast."
"That makes sense..."
The two of them walked and talked, and soon came to Yahang.
Yaxing is a small storefront with half a room, and there are many house rental and sale notices posted randomly on the wall.
"You two gentlemen, do you want to rent a house or buy a house?"
The two of them were reading the notice outside, and a woman in her fifties stuck her head out of the door and asked.
Zhao Lin said: "Rent a house."
Yapo walked out of the house with her skirt in hand and said enthusiastically: "Whatever kind of house you want, we have it, both expensive and cheap."
"It's safe." Zhao Lin and Liang Song said at the same time.
Ya Po looked at the two of them carefully, covered her mouth and said with a smile: "Are you two in the underworld or in the white?"
Liang Song frowned and said, "What does it have to do with it?"
"Of course it does matter!"
Ya Po explained seriously: "If you are in the underworld, it is natural to stay as far away from the government as possible. I will find a place for you where there are many people and make sure you stay hidden in the city."
Then she changed the topic and said, "If it's all nonsense, then the closer to the government office the better. It's best to have police officers patrolling during the day and strong men patrolling at night."
Liang Song said: "We are in vain."
Ya Po smiled and said: "That must be Shuncheng Street. The county captain and the garrison master live in that street. There are people guarding it all day long. Even the snitches and Xiaoxiao dare not go there."
"It's just the price..."
Zhao Lin and Liang Song looked at each other and said, "Go and have a look first."
Ya Po turned back into the house, took out a bunch of keys from the drawer, and led the two of them to Shuncheng Street.
Shuncheng Street is located in the west of the city. The road paved with bluestones is neat and clean. Most of the passers-by are well-dressed. From time to time, people on horseback and sedan chairs pass by. It looks like a place where wealthy people live.
Zhao Lin looked around while walking and found that the houses here were all made of brick and stone structures, with almost no wood visible, so he asked Ya Po what was going on.
Pointing to the black ash on the wall of a house, Yapo said: "Many houses here used to be made of wood. Ten years ago, there was a fire that burned down most of the street. Only a few houses with adobe brick walls were spared."
"There are many rich people here, so they used stone slabs as the foundation when rebuilding. It happened that the county government was renovating the warehouse and transported a lot of large stones from the mountains that were not used up, so they used them to build houses."
Zhao Lin and Liang Song felt relieved to live in the stone house and nodded involuntarily.
What made them even more satisfied was that there were government officials patrolling the streets from time to time, and strong servants stood guard in front of many mansions.
"This is Lord Guard's house, how about it?"
When passing a magnificent house, Ya Po said in a showy tone, and then pointed diagonally across the street, "That's the residence of Lieutenant Li County over there, it's not bad either."
Zhao Lin took a few glances and saw the tall courtyard walls, the magnificent gatehouse, and the many angular spikes embedded in the horse head wall, and nodded secretly in his heart.
The county lieutenant is responsible for public security and the garrison is in charge of city defense. Living on the same street with such a person, no matter how bold the beard is, he would not dare to break down the door and commit an assassination openly.
At this time, Liang Song leaned into Zhao Lin's ear and whispered: "There is someone following you."
Zhao Lin glanced back at him, indicating that he had also seen it.
"I'm going to fight them off!"
"Forget it, they were instigated by others, and we can't hide the matter of finding a house from anyone."
Beard is inextricably linked to local gangs. As long as they are willing to pay, there are many people who can do this kind of work.
Yapo took the two of them to a small house in the south, took out the key, unlocked the door, opened the door and walked in.
"right here."
Zhao Lin and Liang Song were both in a daze. This house seemed out of place with the entire street.
The gate is dilapidated, and the entrance yard is empty. There is a well in the middle, which is sealed with a big stone.
The back room, the main room, and the side rooms form a circle, and the door of the main room is pasted with a tiger head charm to suppress ghosts...
The house was fully furnished, but there was dust everywhere, and there were several thick layers of spider silk on the beams, which looked like they could be used for fishing.
"Hasn't this house been occupied for a long time?"
Zhao Lin was puzzled. The location here was good and it should be easy to rent out. It looked like this house had been unoccupied for several years.
"It's old, but it's still good to tidy it up." Ya Po said vaguely.
Zhao Lin felt that she was not telling the truth, so he said with a sullen face: "To be honest, I can find out from just anyone on the street."
Liang Song also asked: "What's up with the ghost-suppressing charm on the door?"
Ya Po laughed dryly and said, "Your Majesty, you have good eyesight. Something happened to this house."
"How many lives?" Zhao Lin asked directly.
"It turns out that a grain merchant lived here. Because his wife was having an affair with someone, he tied up the adulterer and threw her into a well in a rage. He didn't think about it and hung himself from the beam."
"The grain merchant had no children, and the house fell into the hands of his distant cousin. His cousin was doing business at the dock, so he entrusted me to resell it."
After Yapo finished speaking, she said shamelessly: "Things about gods and ghosts are illusory. You two shouldn't mind, right?"
Zhao Lin said: "I don't mind if it's cheap."
As soon as Ya Po heard that there was an opportunity, she quickly said: "It's half cheaper than the market price. Short-term rental is 300 cash per month, and long-term rental is 250 cash. How about it?"
Zhao Lin didn't answer but asked: "What about buying it?"
Houses in this era are far less expensive than in previous lives. The price of an ordinary house is equivalent to an acre of fertile land, and can be purchased for seven or eight taels of silver.
The price of entering a house in such a good location is only thirty or forty taels at most, so Zhao Lin asked this question.
Ya Po was surprised and happy, and said: "You want to buy it, sir? That's great!"
"The landlord offered it for sale at twenty taels, but it hasn't been sold for several years. I made my own decision, old lady, and sold it for eighteen taels."
Liang Song was a little confused and pulled Zhao Lin aside, "Why buy this haunted house?"
Zhao Lin said calmly: "I want to renovate it. The rented one is inconvenient to move. How much money do you have on you?"
Liang Song touched his body through his clothes, "It's only five taels, what about you?"
Zhao Lin spread his hands and said, "I gave all my money to my family, just the two taels of silver I just robbed."
Liang Song worriedly said: "That's not enough."
Zhao Lin looked at the door and sneered: "It's okay, let's borrow it from the local gangsters. Don't they like to follow us? We really can't rob the bandits."
Liang Song's eyes lit up, "What a great idea!"
"We want to buy this house, but the price needs to be cheaper."
After the discussion was settled, Zhao Lin and Liang Song bargained with Ya Po and finally set the price at sixteen taels or four hundred yuan.
Yapo was well prepared and took out the pen and ink seal pad and the security deed that he brought with him, and both parties signed and pledged...
"After receiving a deposit of two hundred and two taels, and paying the balance within seven days, this house will be yours."
Ya Po handed the door key to Zhao Lin and said with a cheerful smile.
Zhao Lin read the contract and glanced at the gloomy house in front of him. He never expected that the first property he owned would look like this.
