Mu Yang wasn't afraid of being cheated by the carriage driver. With his current marksmanship and abilities, he estimated that he could kill seven people in Shanghai without breaking a sweat. He nodded: "Is the French Concession far from here?"

  "Not far, just a few streets away, it should be the concession closest to the 16th Wharf. Now that the Japanese have driven out the foreigners and the French Concession has been taken back by the government, there's plenty of empty space over there." said the rickshaw driver.

  Agreeing to the rickshaw driver's proposal, the driver put down the handlebars and Mu Yang took Summer's hand, helping her onto the rickshaw before squeezing on himself.

  Fortunately, the seat of this car is quite spacious, but in this way, two people are also tightly attached to each other.

  The French concession is about three streets away from Shiliupu, but that's just the beginning of the concession area. The entire French concession is very large. A rickshaw pulled by a coolie ran along the wide street, with neatly arranged plane trees on both sides and few pedestrians on the street.

  It's already autumn, the leaves of the phoenix tree have begun to turn yellow, and everywhere you look is the color of autumn. Some leaves fall early, leaving the entire street with a sprinkling of dry leaves.

  "This is Shaoxing Street, sir. Both sides are lined with small Western-style houses. If you want to rent one, you can go register at the government office. I heard there are many vacant houses here. Further ahead, there are several more streets that are similar, just with differences in house size and style." The rickshaw driver got down, took a few deep breaths, and turned his head to say to Moyang on the rickshaw behind him.

  "Mu Yang wondered, 'Why are there so many empty houses on this side?'"

  "I only know that the Japanese drove out the French, drove out the British and Americans. Anyway, now the Japanese are the most powerful. The Westerners who were originally so arrogant have all been driven away by the Japanese. This place used to be inhabited by foreigners, but now it's empty."

  "Now this side is managed by the government, can be rented or bought, but the houses here are not something ordinary people can afford to buy, so most of them are left vacant like this." The driver wiped his sweat with a towel on his shoulder as he said this.

  "Is there still a government here? The Japanese government?" Mu Yang was momentarily stunned.

  "It's not the Republic of China government."

  Mu Yang was startled, "Is there still a Republican government here?"

  The driver looked at Mu Yang with a puzzled expression and said: "Of course, there is the National Government of Nanjing, Chairman Wang Jingwei, and naturally, there is a government in Shanghai."

  It suddenly dawned on Mu Yang that he had seen this piece of history before, but he didn't remember it until now. After being reminded, he recalled that after Wang Jingwei defected to the Japanese, he established a puppet Nationalist government in Nanjing, serving the Japanese and opposing the Nationalist government in Chongqing. However, this Nanjing government was not recognized by Westerners, and most Chinese people did not recognize it either. When Japan collapsed in 1945, this puppet Nationalist government directly disappeared.

  In modern times, what happened with Mu Yang was just a piece of history that could be ignored, but now he had to deal with this fake national government.

  "Let's take a look at the time, it's only 11 o'clock," said Mu Yang. "Are you tired, Ke Jun? Why don't we go to the government side and take a look at the situation first? If there's a suitable one, we can rent it today and avoid the trouble of finding an inn."

  "This matter is up to you, Brother Mo. I'm not in a hurry. If we can rent the house earlier, it's better for us to settle down sooner." Xia Kejun said with concern.

  Not far from here, across two blocks, there is a two-story small building with a brick structure, and outside the door, there is still a sign that reads "Republic of China Shanghai Government Office in the French Concession". In fact, this so-called government is just an external entity similar to a street office. Of course, in this era, as long as it's a government department, most ordinary people would call it a government and wouldn't bother to distinguish between different departments.

  He asked the driver to park the car at a distance and had Xia Kejun wait there as well. Mu Yang himself walked into the office alone.

  A five-step staircase led to a black lacquered wooden door, which Mu Yang pushed open and walked through. Inside, he saw a long, narrow office desk facing outward, giving off a sense of grandeur reminiscent of later generations' great halls, but only occupying half the space.

  On the other side is an open space, with a staircase attached to the wall and a red handrail leading directly to the second floor.

  "What's wrong, sir?" a staff member stood up and asked.

  The staff member took a glance at Mu Yang's attire, a crisp suit that was clearly made of high-quality material, shiny leather shoes with no dust on them, indicating that he wasn't someone who moved around often. His hair was styled neatly, although not like the greasy pompadours that were popular nowadays, it still looked meticulously groomed.

  Such a person is by no means an ordinary person, so he carefully responded.

  "I want to rent a house, but I don't know if there are any good introductions," asked Mu Yang.

  "Sir, are you renting a house? Which area are you planning to rent in, how big does it need to be, and do you need to renovate?" The staff member was very excited when he heard that Mu Yang wanted to rent a house and enthusiastically introduced him.

  To be honest, the houses here are very hard to rent out. The houses are big, but the prices are also expensive, not something ordinary people can afford. Rich people would directly choose to buy a house in a suitable location, who would come here to rent a house?

  "Mu Yang felt that the current sales staff were similar to those of later generations. 'No need for a big one, my family is not large, a single house will do, best if it's the kind that doesn't require much trouble and can be moved into directly. As for decoration, it's not necessary for now. Is there such a house?'"

  "Yes, there are many options for you to choose from." He said, running off to fetch a neighborhood map, which indicated the location of each house.

  "This staff pointed to the map and said: 'This house on Shaoxing Street, this one, and this one, these two houses on Chongming Street, and this one on Nanfeng Street, yes, and this one too, are all relatively in line with the requirements of the gentleman.'"

  Muyang thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice: "You know, I just arrived and am not very familiar with the situation here. What I want to do is find a relatively safe place to live, preferably one that even Japanese people rarely inspect."

  Muyang said as he handed a cigarette with a filter tip to the staff member, who took it and sniffed it, saying: "This cigarette smells great."

  Muyang smiled and put the pack of cigarettes in his hand on the table.

  "To be honest, now the whole of Shanghai, even the whole of China, there is no place that is too safe. However, within the French Concession, it's still relatively peaceful. At least without special reason, the Japanese won't inspect that area. After all, they also have interests here and need to rely on our Nationalist government in many places." The staff member said quietly.

  "What's a good recommendation?" Murong said.

  "This little courtyard at No. 16 Shaoxing Street is not bad, it's not facing the street and is quite secluded, a two-story small villa with a yard, living here is absolutely comfortable and cozy, it used to be the residence of a French doctor, after being driven away, all the furniture and stuff were still intact, just sweep it clean and you can move in directly, very convenient." The staff member said, pointing to a location on the map.

  The map didn't show anything either, but Muyang thought that this staff member wouldn't cheat him, so he nodded and directly paid a year's rent.

  Every year 220 silver coins, no legal tender, paying in yuan requires 300 yuan, Muyang is unwilling to hand over the silver coins and directly paid with yuan.