CHAPTER 74

Wang Luosheng fainted, but Mrs. Wang was not too worried. Wang Luosheng did not agree to buy Shen Lin’s house, and Mrs. Wang had always known about it.

It’s just that Mrs. Wang thinks that Wang Luosheng’s idea of moving to the county town is too unrealistic. Luosheng doesn’t even know the benefits of moving to Shen Lin’s house.

Shen Lin’s yard is spacious, so there will be a place to store the things at home. More importantly, it is very close to the mill. It’s hard to find such a good thing elsewhere.

Mrs. Wang and Shen Lin helped Wang Luosheng back to the room and pinched his acupoint. Wang Luosheng slowly woke up and opened his mouth to say something, but Mrs. Wang spoke first: “Luosheng, don’t worry. Mother will take care of all these things.”

Without waiting for Wang Luosheng to speak, Mrs. Wang took Shen Lin out of Wang Luosheng’s room.

Su Wan was waiting outside; she was not willing to go into Wang Luosheng’s room.

Mrs. Wang paid a deposit of four taels of silver, and the matter was finally settled. Four taels of silver was a large sum, and Mrs. Wang would not go back on her word.

Su Wan told Mrs. Wang that she would go to Qingyun County tomorrow to buy the house she had chosen before, and she could move in as soon as she bought the house tomorrow. As long as Mrs. Wang went to the county town to sign the documents with her, she could move into Shen Lin’s house.

Mrs. Wang was naturally happy too. Originally, Su Wan planned to sell the house for thirteen taels of silver, which was already quite cheap. Now Su Wan was willing to sell it for twelve taels. The money saved could be used to buy a lot of valuables.

Mrd Wang happily sent Su Wan and Shen Lin out.

Mrs. Wang returned to the house and said to Wang Luosheng, “Luosheng, we will move to a big house in the future. You will also be able to have a big study room in the future. Moreover, our house is the most respectable in Qingshi Village. Even those families in Qingyun County cannot compare to our house. Now, after you finish the special examination, we will go to propose to Yang Yunyan.”

Wang Luosheng’s lips trembled because of Mrs. Wang’s in anger, but he couldn’t say a word.

Yang Yunyan didn’t like living in the village at all, and she didn’t think this house was decent. But now it was too late. The four taels of silver had already been paid, and there was no room for negotiation.

Though it is possible to sell Shen Lin’s house, not to mention that his father and mother are obstructing the sale, even if it is sold, Shen Lin’s brick house is out of stock. In today’s world, people are attached to their land, and no outsiders will come to buy this house. As for the people in the village, even if they want to buy this house, they don’t have the money to buy it.

Therefore, when Su Wan wanted to sell Shen Lin’s house, she could only find the Wang family as the buyer. However, if she wanted to find another buyer, it would be hard to come by.

Wang Luosheng was so angry at Mrs. Wang that he was speechless, but Mrs. Wang was still happy and excited. When she took care of Wang Luosheng, she was more than twice as attentive as usual.

Shen Lin went to school the next day, and Su Wan went to buy the house that she had seen before in the east of the academy.

Su Wan had discussed this with Shen Lin last night. Shen Lin guessed that the house he bought these days would earn him a lot of money in the future, so he let Su Wan spend it first.

These days we have entered the twelfth lunar month, the coldest time of the year. Normally, the academies would have been on holiday at this time of year in previous years, but because there will be special examinations in March next year, all the academies are planning to wait until the New Year to have their holiday. So these days, students will have to endure the cold to go to the academy to study.

Most of the people lived a long distance away from the academy. After all, no one moved specifically to live near the academy. The cold wind in December felt like a knife when blowing on the body. When everyone arrived at the academy, they had to warm themselves up for a long time before they could calm down.

Even Shen Lin, who was usually very resistant to cold, felt so cold that he was shivering.

Su Wan put on a thick cotton coat, wrapped herself up like a dumpling, and went to the owner of the elegant house that she had chosen to go through the sale documents. In the past few days, Su Wan and Shen Lin had been going through the documents at the government office, and the county magistrate, the legal advisor, and the yamen runners in the yamen were all familiar with Su Wan. They handled the process for Su Wan very quickly, and the documents were completed in just one morning.

Su Wan went to find a few porters to pack up the house she bought in the east of the city and then went to the market to buy furniture, bedding, stoves, charcoal, and other daily necessities. As for the pots and pans for cooking, Su Wan did not buy them. There was no need for these things. She could just take them from the house in Qingshi Village.

As for other things, Shen Lin’s house didn’t have many. When Shen Lin’s father passed away, Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen had almost emptied Shen Lin’s house. Later, the things Shen Lin bought were barely enough to live on.

As for beds, cabinets, and other items, they were all kept by the previous owner. They were all made of top-quality wood and were very exquisite in style, so there was no need to buy new ones.

After putting everything in place and lighting the stove, Su Wan hired another carriage and a few servants to go to Qingshi Village together. They packed the pots, pans, bedding, basins, and buckets left in the house in Qingshi Village and loaded them onto the carriage.

Su Wan also called the Yang brothers and asked them to take all the farm tools from Shen Lin’s house. They wouldn’t be farming anymore anyway, so it would be better to give these things to someone who could use them. The Yang brothers thanked Su Wan again and again and happily took the farm tools back.

Su Wan also specially asked a few servants to move the new cabinets, tables, chairs, and benches that Shen Lin made for her onto the carriage. As for the other furniture, they were all simple and tattered, and Su Wan had no intention of moving them away.

Mrs. Shen was also an open-minded person. She knew that Su Wan bought an elegant house and it would not be appropriate to put this broken furniture in it, so she did not say much.

Besides, the original furniture in the house was all too old. Not to mention moving them to the new house; even if they were given away, it would be embarrassing because they were too old. This was also the reason why Su Wan did not give this furniture to the Yang brothers.

Moving such old and shabby things would be inconvenient to use and would also take up space. Su Wan was well aware of the principle of letting go.

After packing the things to be moved, Su Wan took Mrs. Shen and Shen Yaya on a carriage and went to Qingyun County.

Mrs. Shen couldn’t believe that Su Wan had completed such a big task as moving in just one day. When sitting in the carriage, she still felt dizzy and couldn’t believe it was true.

On the way, Mrs. Shen kept telling Su Wan that she had worked hard, but Su Wan didn’t think so. When she was at the Wang family before, she did much harder work every day. Since she moved to Shen Lin’s house, all the hard work was done by Shen Lin, and Su Wan was only responsible for giving advice. Su Wan felt that her life was already very easy.

Though today is busier than usual, Su Wan feels that this is nothing compared to the previous days.

Su Wan asked a few servants to move all the things to the house in Qingyun County. Seeing that it was time for Shen Lin to finish school, Su Wan went to the small gatehouse at the entrance of Songshan Academy to wait for Shen Lin. Shen Lin didn’t know about the move yet. On the first day of the move, Su Wan planned to take Shen Lin home personally.

Charcoal basins were lit in the dormitories of the academy, but the weather was too cold. Even with the charcoal basins, people did not feel warm. When it was finally time to get out of school, the students just wanted to go home quickly, sit by the hot stove at home to keep warm, or crawl into bed and not come out.

However, before you feel the warmth of returning home, you need to first feel the biting cold wind in winter. The cold wind in the coldest days of winter is like a knife.

As soon as the students left the school, they consciously put their gloves into their sleeves.

Su Wan looked at the students coming out seriously. When Shen Lin appeared, Su Wan waved at Shen Lin excitedly.

Shen Lin saw Su Wan and walked towards Su Wan.

“Why are you here?” Shen Lin walked up to Su Wan and asked.

Su Wan replied: “I moved our family to Qingyun County, to the house we had chosen before. The house in Qingshi Village has been vacant. I was afraid that you would go to the wrong place, so I came to pick you up.”

The students who were passing by and lived in the same dormitory as Shen Lin also heard this, and they all looked in the direction of Shen Lin and Su Wan curiously.

Zhou Yu and Wu Wei left the dormitory with Shen Lin. Just now, Shen Lin hurried up to find Su Wan, and now the two of them also followed. After hearing what Su Wan said, Zhou Yu asked, “Where did Sister Su Wan move Brother Shen Lin’s home to? Please tell me the place so that I can choose a day to come and congratulate him on his new home.”

Wu Wei said, “Brother Shen’s family moved too quickly. I want to come and congratulate you on your new home, too.”

Su Wan smiled and said, “It’s the house not far away from here. Look, that’s it.” Su Wan said and pointed to a nearby roof to Zhou Yu and Wu Wei.

Standing in Songshan Academy, you can see the roof of Shen Lin and Su Wan’s new house.

Su Wan also gave the direction: “It’s the one past the house in front.”

Zhou Yu took a breath and sighed, “Brother Shen, your house is too close. It’s like the academy is right outside your door.”

Wu Wei also said, “In this way, Brother Shen Lin doesn’t have to walk in the cold wind to go to school every day, and Brother Shen Lin can also go home to eat at noon every day and can also take a nap at home. This is really a blessing.”

The students who were leaving also pricked up their ears to listen to Su Wan’s words. When they heard that Shen Lin lived so close, they all felt envious.

Su Wan smiled and responded to Zhou Yu and Wu Wei: “In the future, you two brothers can also come to my house for dinner with Brother Shen Lin. Once we settle down, I will send you invitations.”

“But we just moved in today, and the house is still a bit messy, so I won’t invite you two brothers to sit over.”

Zhou Yu and Wu Wei understood. As they walked out of the academy with Shen Lin and Su Wan, Zhou Yu and Wu Wei kept expressing their envy of Shen Lin for living so close.

Wang Luosheng listened to everything Su Wan, Zhou Yu, and Wu Wei said.

Thinking that Shen Lin would be able to return to his warm home as soon as he finished school, while he had to walk in the cold wind for an incense stick of time, Wang Luosheng felt that the cold wind was blowing even harder, like a knife scraping his bones.