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  You can take a boat to enter Xishan Island, and then go ashore at the East Gate or the Wumiao Watergate of the city. The waterway is connected with Longzangpu inside the city.

  Lin tied them up from Wu Miao Shui Men into the city, and the boat sailed into Long Cang Pu.

  Zhao Hu and Liu Yue'er both came to Jiangning City for the first time, and they were amazed by the prosperity of Jiangning before their eyes.

  "Goodness, I thought Shanglin was the most prosperous place in the world, but it seems that Jiangning City has even more of what Shanglin has." Compared to when she left the post house, Liu Yue'er seemed to have put down a burden and became more lively. She opened her eyes wide, looking at the bustling scene in front of her with a mix of surprise and delight.

  Zhou Pu, Zhao Hu, and Chen Enze sat casually at the bow of the boat, their feet dangling down. Xiao Man was afraid of falling into the water, so he kept a safe distance from the side of the boat. Lin Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing out at the city that was even more prosperous than Yanjing, and felt as if he had been swept up in the tides of history, leaving him feeling empty and lost.

  The Longzangpu River, where the boats were sailing, was also the Qinhuai River that would become famous a thousand years later. At this time, even though it had not yet been renamed Qinhuai River, it already had the scenery of the future Qinhuai River. Along its banks were brothels, music halls, wine houses, tea shops, and ordinary residences, all densely packed together. The buildings along the riverbank stood one after another, with no end in sight. On the stone streets by the water's edge, people flowed like a tide, dressed in red and green, reflecting off the white walls and deep red gates of the courtyards. On this very Longzangpu River, boats were sailing back and forth, including light skiffs, large pleasure boats with pavilions, sharp-bowed merchant ships that barely cleared the water's surface, grain-carrying boats, boats carrying lacquer, tung oil, and silk fabrics, as well as passenger boats entering the city, and pure sightseeing boats touring Longzangpu. They crowded the more than 20-zhang-wide river surface, making it truly a hundred times more prosperous than Shanglin Ferry.

  Lin tied them up early in the morning from Guabu, crossing Chao Tian Tang, and entering the city was already after noon. In Jiangning City, some dissolute sons also began to come out to have fun, occasionally passing by painted pleasure boats, the soft silk and bamboo singing sounds wafted through the noisy city.

  They got off the boat at the dock in front of Tianhan Bridge, loaded all their luggage into the horse-drawn carriage, and Liu Yue'er also got in. Zhao Hu sat in the driver's seat, Lin Fu also sat in the driver's seat, Xiao Man lifted up the curtain to guide Zhao Hu on the road, Zhou Pu and Chen Sizhe rode horses and each led a horse behind the carriage.

  Liu Yu'er was still thinking about where they would stay on the first day of their trip to Jiangning with Lin Xie and the others, when she felt the carriage come to a stop. She looked out in surprise to see what had happened, and saw a young woman quickly jump onto the carriage. Then she heard Xiao Man call out to the woman: "Feng jiejie, how did you end up here?"

  "The young lady guessed you should enter the city, let me come out to wait for you on the street first. She wanted to come over but it's not convenient."

  Liu Yu'er saw that the woman's face was elegant and refined, and she thought she was about to get into the carriage. She smiled at her as she sat down by the door. The woman looked at her for a moment without saying anything, but Liu Yu'er inadvertently caught sight of a dark red scar on the base of her neck, like a knife wound, from under her collar. She thought she must have seen wrongly, this woman looked so proper and beautiful, how could she possibly have a scar on her neck? Could it be that her husband's family was abusive to her? But what she didn't know was that the woman sitting at the carriage door was actually the notorious female bandit of Huai Shang, Four Madam Feng Pei Pei.

  Su Meng returned to Jiangning, just waiting for Lin Xie to come over so that she would have someone to rely on. She had already asked Feng Pei to select a house for Lin Xie and the others.

  The house was just behind the Bajiao Alley, and between the Weiming Garden at the head of the Bajiao Alley, there was only one household. The original owner of the house had gone bankrupt in Jiangning and had pawned the city's house to a pawnshop and escaped to the countryside.

  Afraid of leaving any clues, Su Mei didn't rush to buy the house back, but instead waited for Lin and his group to enter the city, then had Feng Peipei lead them to the pawnshop to redeem the house. The house had already passed its redemption period, so the pawnshop could handle it on their own without worrying about the original owner coming back to redeem the house.

  Fourth Daughter sat at the carriage door and took out a small silk handkerchief package from her bosom, handing it to Lin Xie: "Miss asked me to give this to you"

  Lin tied up and came over to open it, but it was a few gold ingots. He smiled and said to Fourth Daughter-in-law Feng Peipei: "We did bring some silver with us."

  The official gold and silver exchange rate is 1:10, but in reality, when trading, a one-liang gold piece can only be negotiated for about nine liangs of silver. The gold is heavy, don't look at those few gold ingots, they're worth over three hundred liangs of silver. Liu Yue'er leaned against the carriage wall, her eyes also staring at the few gold ingots in Lin's hand, thinking that this Lin Juren was really formidable, having just arrived in Jiangning City and already having a rich family's young lady come to throw herself at him, and as soon as he made a move, he gave away such a large sum of money. How could everyone in Shiliang County say he was a useless, poor scholar? She had been thinking about Xiao Man's identity yesterday, but now she understood, originally it was the personal maid of a rich family's young lady.

  Liu Yu'er, a newly widowed woman, although she became a widow just ten days after her wedding, was now treated as an adult by her neighbors. The gossipmongers who used to avoid her would now actively pull her in to join their conversations. Having heard so much, Liu Yu'er also knew that the young ladies of Shi Liang County were afraid of losing their lovers' hearts and being abandoned after losing their chastity, so they would let their maidservants take their place to satisfy their lovers first. She thought Lin Shu was truly lucky, having a rich family's daughter take a liking to him, even sending her personal maid over to warm his bed first.

  Liu Yu'er leaned against the carriage wall, looking at Lin Xie's eyes fixed on the package of gold ingots in his hand. She thought to herself that Lin Juren should have some integrity and not spend a woman's money. Lin Xie had a smile at the corner of his mouth as he said, "To buy an ordinary house, do you need so much gold?" Although he said this, he unexpectedly put the gold ingots back into his own pocket, without any intention of refusing them.

  Liu Yu'er was taken aback, wondering if it was the right decision to follow Lin Juren as a cook, but staying at the Gu's house would be even harder, and she could only silently sigh.

  At this time, Longcangpu turned a bend, and the stone street by the river also turned a bend. A magnificent and towering building stood on the opposite bank of the river, compared to the flat houses on the side, the high-rise building was about 50-60 feet high, more majestic than the city gate tower they saw when they entered the city.

  Liu Yu'er had never seen such a majestic building in Shiliang County, as if the prosperity of Jiangning had dazzled her eyes. With her mouth half open, she asked Xiao Man: "Whose house is that? Could it be one of the royal mansions in Jiangning City?"

  "Where is the Wang Fu?" Lin Xie turned around and said with a smile, "After crossing the river, it's Donghua Gate Street. That building is Liangyuan, where music and dance are popular, and good wine can dispel worries. This building operates similarly to your family's business in Shiliang County, just a tea hotel, but on a slightly larger scale."

  "A bit bigger?" Yueliang'er covered her mouth and smiled lightly, "It's not just a little bigger in scale"

  Skyscrapers a thousand years later may not cause people's surprise, but the Fang Lou, the first of the thirty-six shops in Jiangning, rises from the ground in the surrounding low-rise buildings, and the heavy building created by "four layers high and five floors connected" appears exceptionally majestic.

  This wine house is not an ordinary wine house. In this dynasty, tea and wine are sold separately, and the government-run brewing workshop produces wine yeast, which is then sold in limited quantities to a small number of hotels that have the right to brew wine. These hotels with brewing rights are also called "zheng dian" (regular shops), and there are 36 such regular shops in Jiangning City, with Fanlou being the first one. The other thousands of small and medium-sized hotels in Jiangning City all have to buy wine from these 36 regular shops before reselling it. However, high-ranking officials who can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get drunk at Fanlou would not drink mediocre wine, and they often summon some singing and dancing girls to liven up the atmosphere, commonly known as "dian hua pai" (flower card).

  Su Meng became famous in the midst of the feudal tower.

  ***********************************

  Yongxingfang's Bian Lou and the street of Bian Lou are separated by water, with a stone bridge called Zhou Bridge connecting the north and south.

  After identifying the house, to avoid being seen by acquaintances, Si Niangzi and Xiao Man, disguised as a young boy, left first. Lin Xie and others followed Si Niangzi's directions to find Hu Ji Pawnshop on Beihongmen Street west of Shibajian Lane, where the house was sold.

  Lin Xuan originally only wanted to buy an ordinary house in the city, but the name of Duo Ji Xiang was not very pleasant to hear. It was named after a pool at the end of the alley that resembled a dustpan. However, since many government officials lived in the eastern part of the city, Duo Ji Xiang, which was located in the east, was mostly inhabited by wealthy families. Lin Xuan found it difficult to buy an ordinary house near Duo Ji Xiang and Su Mei's residence, Bai Yuan.

  They found a pawnshop, and Lin and his wife first looked at the house under the leadership of the pawnshop partner.

  The street door of the Lin's compound is quite ordinary, and the first courtyard inside the main gate is very shallow, which is the outer courtyard. The street door faces east, and on the east side of the outer courtyard, there is a row of four houses with their backs to the street, one of which is a gatehouse, one is a guest hall, and two are servants' quarters. After passing through the hanging flower gate, it is the main courtyard. On the north side, three high and large houses face south, which is the main house, with three wing rooms on each side. The high wall on the south side separates it from the neighboring family's compound. The wing rooms, main house, and hanging flowers are all connected by a corridor. In the sky well, there are high lotus pots and basin flowers, as well as a planted osmanthus tree. After passing through the main house to the back, there is a row of low houses facing south, which are generally used as warehouses, miscellaneous rooms, and servants' quarters.

  The whole house has twenty rooms including the wing rooms. No matter where it is located or in what era, it would be considered a luxurious mansion.

  Although Lin Tie and his men sold twenty horses to the rural camp for three thousand taels of silver, this silver was their lifeline, which they needed to purchase a large amount of essential supplies to be transported to Changshan Island. Most of the silver was left with Wu Qi in Shanglin, and they only brought two hundred taels of silver on this trip.

  In this era, wealthy families usually bought land and built houses in the city by themselves, without being exploited by real estate developers, and there were no taxes to pay, so house prices were relatively cheap. Just like Liu Yue'er was hired as a cook for the Gu family at a high price of three taels of silver per month, her annual income of 36 taels was almost enough to buy a small courtyard in Jiangning City.

  Before Lin Xie came, he only wanted to spend 70 or 80 taels of silver to buy a house in Jiangning City that could be settled down, and did not think of buying a luxurious mansion.

  It's no wonder that Su Mei specially asked the fourth daughter to bring a small package of gold coins for him, just in case he didn't have enough silver money on him; this pawnshop wants three hundred taels of silver.

  Changshan Island relies on each other for life and death, and in the future, they will also help each other through difficulties. Lin Xie doesn't mind Huasumei's money, besides, living close by, if something unexpected happens, they can respond in time.

  Three hundred taels of silver, equivalent to nearly four million copper coins, is a considerable fortune even in Jiangning City, where wealth accumulates. Lin Xie thought that yesterday at Chaotian Inn, he deliberately quarreled with Du Rong and vowed not to coexist, just to attract the attention of Du Rong's opponent, and if he were to move into a dilapidated place in Jiangning, it would be inevitable for others to look down on him.

  Lin tied up the pawnshop documents, converted the gold ingots given by Su Mei into silver and paid them to the pawnshop, retrieved the land deed, house deed and original owner's pawn contract, and just arrived in Jiangning, he already had a place to settle down.

  In that case, there is no need to prepare another house for Liu Yue'er. She can directly move into the back wing of the rear courtyard, and the four horses can be put in the stable in the backyard.

  Lin Xie and his family only brought some simple luggage, and many things would be replenished in Jiangning. There is one advantage to doing business with a pawnshop: the pawnshop does not only accept valuable items for pawning, ordinary household items can also be used as collateral, and over time, the accumulated pledged items are enough for the pawnshop to open another second-hand store. Lin Xie's family had just spent a lot of money buying a house, and those household items were generously given to them by the pawnshop at half price, and they prepared a cart full of goods to be sent to their new home.

  Lin Xuan was thinking in his heart that something was still missing, not to mention Zhao Hu and others who had just entered Jiangning for the first time. In fact, Lin Xuan himself didn't know much about Jiangning City when he came to participate in the imperial examination last time. He saw a few men gathered at the entrance of the alley, these were all idle people in the city, usually hanging around the streets and alleys, if someone was sent to do something, they could earn ten or twenty copper coins to make a living.

  Lin Guan had long noticed the people at the entrance of the alley, and now he walked out onto the street, beckoning over a thin-faced young man with a patched but clean garment: "We don't have anyone to go buy things in Dong City, can you help us out? How much will it cost?"

  "What are you buying?"

  "Can you read?"

  "Know a few."

  "Wait a moment," Lin entered the house and wrote a note, handing it to him. "Take a look, buy these things and bring them back, how much extra will you charge?"

  "There's a lot of stuff, I need to buy it and send it back today. I'm afraid I won't be able to run fast enough by myself, so I'll call someone else to come with me. It will cost 40 cents in total." The young man looked at Lin and was worried that he had asked for too much money for his labor, "We need to buy all these things and we have to run around several places, you're also in a hurry to use them."

  "Go ahead and help me buy some things first. When you come back, I'll pay you the remaining money." Lin Mou handed a small silver ingot weighing five taels to the young man.

  Can't see Zhao Hu, Chen Enze and others' figures, Zhou Pu took a large package wrapped in unknown things to his own room. Liu Yu'er saw Lin Xuan standing in front of the Hanging Flower Hall, so lightly handed over a small silver ingot to a stranger to buy things. When those idle young men left the front yard, she couldn't help but walk over and remind Lin Xuan: "Why aren't you worried that he took the silver and didn't come back? He may not be able to earn that much silver in half a year. These idle rascals are also in Shiliang County, usually earning some running money, sometimes daring to steal and rob when they are wild, no different from bandits, and often pulling gangs together. We just arrived in Jiangning, he can turn around and say we didn't give him money, and we can't do anything about it."

  "Suspect not to use, use not to suspect. Since it's the first time meeting a stranger, it's even more impossible to casually suspect." Lin said solemnly.

  Liu Yu'er was speechless with anger, thinking that Lin Juren was indeed a bookworm. Seeing some impatience on his face, she thought to herself: what did that rich young lady see in him that made her give him money and even send her maid to serve him? She excused herself and ran to the backyard pavilion, where she saw Zhao Hu and Chen Enze grooming horses. She said to him: "Zhao family brothers, is your old master not reading too many books?" She now knew that Zhao Hu was no longer in the Linli village camp, but had become a servant of the Lin family.

  Zhao Hu asked her what had happened. Liu Yu'er told Zhao Hu about the incident, complaining: "How can you not understand a little bit of vigilance? Even if someone gives him money to use, he can't stand being cheated by others."

  Zhao Hu smiled and said, "I don't know either."

  Liu Yu'er was originally Mrs. Gu Wudu, and she had been forced to come over. As for Liu Yu'er herself, she didn't want to follow Lin either, but she knew that staying in the Gu family would be even more difficult. Moreover, it hadn't been long since her husband's death, and she didn't want to become Gu Wudu's concubine just yet. Although Gu Wudu was only in his early forties, he had suffered a lot during his time as a refugee and looked somewhat aged.

  In the front yard, Zhou Pu hid a hand crossbow, a hard bow and a strange knife he had extorted from Wu Qi in his bedroom. Although officials and nobles' attendants were allowed to carry self-defense weapons when traveling, crossbows, hard bows and medium-sized knives like this one were prohibited, and they were not used normally, so they had to be hidden first.

  He heard Lin Yue speaking in the main room and walked out with a smile, asking Lin Xie: "Do you want me to go out and follow behind?"

  "No need, we're not familiar with the place and would stand out in a crowd, making it hard to hide. Let's just wait until he's lost his money and then talk," Lin Xian said with a smile, actually looking forward to someone taking the silver so they wouldn't come back again. He asked Zhou Pu, "Among those loafers at the entrance of the alley, do you see anyone who looks like they were sent by Du Rong?"

  "That fellow holding a carrying pole and dozing off in the corner, he's not an ordinary loafer. And that young man with a new robe but two patches on it is also suspicious. The others don't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but you have to look closely, like a crow looking for food, to see through three generations. Why don't you find one of those two to help you run errands?" Zhou Pu said.

  "They probably won't take my silver," Lin Tie said with a smile, "Even if Zhou Pu's eyesight isn't as good as Wu Qi's, after decades of experience, it shouldn't be much different. If the silver is embezzled by someone else, we can also catch those two and say they're in cahoots."

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