CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 155: BUYING SHOPS

After they found an inn to settle down, took a short rest, Sun Fengshou asked Yu Xiaolian, "Is Lu State bigger or Yu State?"

Yu Xiaolian didn’t know why Sun Fengshou was asking this, but she answered truthfully, "Lu State is bigger."

Sun Fengshou slapped his thigh, "Then why are we bothering to go to Yu State? Isn’t it good here in Lu State?"

Yu Xiaolian glanced at the listless Mrs. Sun and then turned to Sun Fengshou and said, "But we already decided to go to Yu State."

Sun Fengshou said, "I think Lu State is quite good. There’s a dock here; we can make money carrying bags every day to support the family."

Yu Xiaolian looked at her mother once again.

This time, Mrs. Sun spoke, "We agreed to go to Yu State, and we also told Uncle Wu we’d go to Yu State. Why don’t you want to leave now that we’re in Lu State?"

Sun Fengshou scratched his head, "I’m just worried about tiring you and mom out too much!"

Sun Fengshou thought this coastal city was great, but his opinion didn’t count. The group still decided to continue their journey to Yu State.

Yu Changhe and Mrs. Sun discussed it and decided not to buy the horse-drawn carriage right away. Instead, they hired one.

The place where they landed was Wei City in Lu State. They first hired a carriage from Wei City to Yan City, then from Yan City to Qing City...

After traveling through eight cities, they would reach the border of Yu State.

Once they reached the border of Yu State, it would likely take another ten or so days to get to Luocheng.

Yes, Yu Xiaolian planned to go to Luocheng in Yu State, and she had also told Su Jingchen and Zheng Yuanfeng that it was Luocheng.

Yu Xiaolian estimated that with walking and resting, forty days would be plenty.

They rested in Wei City for two days, and on the third day, Yu Changhe went out and hired three carriages, and the group set out once more.

With someone driving the carriages, there was no worry about the horses not having food or water. When they reached a city, they would rest for two days, and finally, a month later, they set foot in Yu State.

Luocheng was close at hand, and everyone was a bit impatient, so they pushed on without rest, reaching Luocheng in seven days instead of ten.

Arriving in Luocheng, the family was exceptionally excited, and the fatigue and weariness from the long journey disappeared entirely.

After finding an inn to settle down in, Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou hurried to the government to change their household registration. Naturally, for cross-province relocations like theirs, they were treated as migrants. Even after paying for a new registration, they were not allocated any land.

The Yu family’s new registration, because they had spent money on it, was assigned to the rather nice Taohua Village.

Taohua Village was just ten miles from the outskirts of Luocheng, making it one of the closest villages to the city.

Yu Xiaolian asked Yu Changhe, "Why not register in Luoyang City itself?"

Yu Changhe said, "They said with the money we spent, getting us into Taohua Village was already good enough. To get a Luocheng registration would require significant expense.

I thought about it, and spending so much money wouldn’t be practical, so I didn’t do it.

They said Taohua Village is good, and the Village Chief there is also good. It’s a suitable place."

Unexpectedly, getting a city household registration in ancient times was quite troublesome. Yu Xiaolian nodded helplessly, agreeing to whatever village it was, as they didn’t plan to live there immediately anyway.

Yu Xiaolian never expected that coincidentally, registering in Taohua Village would later save them quite a sum in taxes.

After spending a night at the inn, the next day Yu Changhe took Yu Xiaolian to the broker.

They wanted to buy a bigger shop, preferably one with a backyard that could house the family.

The broker took them to see a few places, but they were all too expensive.

In the end, they had no choice but to buy two small stores.

Yu Changhe wanted to write Yu Xiaolian’s name on the deeds, but she didn’t agree, so it ended up with Yu Changhe’s name.

The two shops were very close, separated only by a bookstore. According to the broker, previously, one store was a food shop, and the other a general store. The food shop couldn’t continue due to poor business.

The general store had a son who gambled, losing all the family’s assets.

The shops were small, had no second floor, and were located in the east of the city, so they were cheap.

The two shops cost a total of twenty-five hundred taels of Silver.

The food shop cost seven hundred taels, while the general store, slightly larger with a backyard, cost eighteen hundred taels.

The broker was overjoyed to sell two stores at once, grinning widely, and kindly told Yu Changhe that although these stores weren’t in the city’s prime area, directly opposite was the largest academy and Women’s Virtue Academy in Luocheng. If managed well, they could earn more than city-center stores.

The shops were small but had a simple layout, easy to understand, and both had housing in the backyard.

Yu Changhe’s family moved into the backyard of the general store, while Sun Fengshou stayed with Mrs. Sun and Little Tiger in the backyard of the food shop.

Mrs. Sun gave Sun Fengshou twenty taels of silver to furnish the place, buying whatever was needed.

Sun Fengshou bought simply, just cotton and fabric. As for pots, bowls, tables, and benches, the food shop already had them, so no purchases were necessary.

The Yu family could also say they moved in with their bags packed because the previous owner, due to gambling debts, hadn’t even taken a single straw from the home when they were driven out.

Yu Xiaolian and Zhao Erya spent two days tidying the front and back yards inside and out.

The clothes and quilts left by the previous owner were packed by Yu Xiaolian and sent to the beggars in the dilapidated temple behind the academy, despite Mrs. Sun’s attempts to stop her.

According to Yu Xiaolian, these clothes and quilts were used by others, and no one knew if they carried any skin diseases.

After tidying their courtyard, Zhao Erya went next door to clean the food shop.

Yu Xiaolian went to a carpenter shop and ordered two signboards.

A Braised Meat Shop and Taotao Residence.

Originally, Yu Xiaolian planned to open a barbecue shop in the food shop, but later changed her mind and decided to open a braised meat shop.

A barbecue shop required a lot of effort, with smoke and heat every day, especially in summer, standing by the charcoal stove to grill skewers was truly torturous.

A braised meat shop was much easier, with large items marinated with spices the night before, and small items didn’t need marinating, just cooking directly in the braised sauce.

Braising improved with time and could be reused. She had already copied the recipe, so even if she had to leave, Sun Fengshou and Yu Changhe could manage.

As for Taotao Residence, Yu Xiaolian planned to sell some toiletries and household items.

Even though her shop was small, she intended to go the high-end route, selling limited quantities of refined, expensive goods.

After discussing the font and size of the signboards with the carpenter, Yu Xiaolian took out pre-drawn shelving blueprints. The original shelves in the general store were crude and impractical.

Yu Xiaolian had her father drag the old shelves to the backyard to chop them up for firewood.

The shelves she designed resembled those in her family’s supermarket but included many small partitions for better categorization of items.

After finishing the discussion about the general store shelves, she also arranged for some display cabinets for braised meat with the carpenter. After carefully explaining some details, Yu Xiaolian paid the deposit and left the carpenter’s shop.