Lanke Chess Edge -
Chapter 24: The New Resident of Juan Pavilion
It cost 50 coins to stay in an ordinary room at Yunlai Inn, and 100 coins for an upper room, which was previously paid by Lu Chengfeng and his group.
Now that they had left, Ji Yuan would naturally have to downgrade as well…
Just kidding! He now owned real estate in Ning’an County, why would he spend so much money on an inn room?
“Pa!”
Ji Yuan suddenly clapped his hands hard. He recalled that he had gone to find Lu Chengfeng to pay him back for the house, but hadn’t given him the money yet!
‘So I saved another 36 taels? ’
As the saying went, the poor had literature, and the rich had martial arts.1 Lu Chengfeng didn’t come to ask him to pay back the huge sum of 36 taels. How could his family be anything but rich?
Indeed, Ji Yuan had absolutely no intention of catching up with the carriage to pay back the money. If he encountered them in the future and still had plenty of money, could pay him back then. If they didn’t meet, well, he would just think of it as Lu Shaoxia repaying him a little more out of gratitude for saving his life.
It was already past noon. According to the inn’s policy, that day’s payment for the room had already been collected, so Ji Yuan stayed at the inn for another night with peace of mind.
No one invited him to dinner, so he had a bowl of Yangchun noodles at the inn.Early the next morning, Ji Yuan went to the hotel counter to check out. Sure enough, the registrar returned 1 tael in change.
He had to say, these young heroes were quite generous, but wondered whether they would be nearly as enthusiastic if they didn’t believe Ji Yuan was a mysterious expert. They probably wouldn’t be.
. . .
Although many people in Ning’an County knew that the man-eating tiger on Niu Kui Mountain had already been subjugated, and the matter had been recorded in the local county annals as well as in an official announcement, the county government had not publicly announced the fact that the nine warriors were staying in the Yunlai Inn.
The County Magistrate was clearly experienced in handling these kinds of issues. If everyone had known their heroes were staying in Yunlai Inn, wouldn’t they have been treated like show monkeys, instead of being able to recover from their injuries in peace?
This was also the fundamental reason why everyone could still enjoy the peace and quiet despite Ning’an County having been very lively these past couple days. Naturally, no one knew Ji Yuan.
In fact, very few people remembered the contents of the official list or even the names of the nine warriors, and most just wanted to join in the fun or came to see the tiger skin.
After leaving the inn, Ji Yuan naturally went directly to the street market to buy some bedding and furniture. As long as there was a bed in the house, he could hire someone to help clean, and it would definitely be habitable. Even if there wasn’t enough time to hire anyone, he could simply buy a quilt and clean it himself. There must be enough beds in the house, and he wouldn’t have to spend money to stay in an inn.
Ning’an County was still lively. The temple fair would last for several days, and the white tiger skin was still publicly displayed and hanging outside the county office. Ji Yuan walked the streets with his eyes half-lidded, looking like any normal person around him. No one around him noticed that he was blind.
As he walked, he listened to the hawkers and whispering voices. Ji Yuan wasn’t trying to actively spy on other people’s privacy, he promised, he just had no choice!
Other people could tell which store sells what just by looking, but he could only rely on his hearing to try and look for the right one based on the sound, which finally led him to a place that sold sheets and bedding.
Interestingly, there was a cotton store next to this one, and he could hear the rhythmic banging of the workers ginning cotton.2
A cotton-ginning song3 began playing in Ji Yuan’s mind, lingering on. He almost started to sing as he walked into the bedding shop.
“Shopkeeper, do you have futons, blankets, and pillows here?”
Ji Yuan asked as he reached out to carefully touch the blankets and quilts on the stand outside the store, judging the quality by the feel.
“Yes! Sir, would you like ready-made ones, or do you want to create a set? There is a cotton shop right next to us. The new cotton can spun in half a day, and then we will sew the quilt for you!”
The two shop owners seemed to be a couple. Seeing Ji Yuan asking for the price, the hostess hurriedly came out of the shop greet him.
“No need, I’ll just buy ready-made ones. This is what you have, right?”
“Yes, yes, it is all there, you can feel them! Well, it only costs 150 copper coins. This fabric is all cloth woven by second young lady Xiu in this county, and it’s very comfortable to sleep on!”
150 coins? You’re crazy!4 Before I entered, I heard you and your husband whispering in the store. You can make a profit with only 120 coins. You want to cheat me of 30 coins?
Ji Yuan frowned.
“What about making a new one?”
“New ones are a little more expensive. Including the wages of the cotton-splitters, it comes out to around 180 coins.”
Yes, it made sense to be more expensive.
“Well, Madam, I would like to buy three sets of quilts, two pillows, and two blankets. How about a total of 450 coins?”
Hearing the price quoted by the thin customer, the proprietress was stunned for a moment. It happened to be the lowest price at which the goods could be sold.
“How about it? If you agree to sell it, you can help me deliver it to my mansion and I can add 20 coins. It’s just south of the city, not too far away.”
Perhaps because she thought she had met an expert, the proprietress responded without any hesitation. Ji Yuan gave her a deposit and asked the store to deliver the goods in two hours.
After he left, the proprietress walked back to the store with a small note left by Ji Yuan.
“Husband,5 don’t you think it’s strange? This person knew the price so accurately and he also chose such a good mattress. But he always seemed to have his eyes closed when he talked. Oh, this is the place we’re supposed to deliver it to, tell me what he wrote…”
The woman was illiterate, so she handed the note to her husband.
“You care so much about this customer. After all, it’s the first sale of the day.”
The male shopkeeper took the note from the woman’s hand and looked at the paper. The handwriting was neat and tidy, clear through the back of the paper. Even with his rudimentary literacy, he could tell it was very good calligraphy.
“Hiss… Ju’an Pavilion on the east end of Tian Niu Lane…”
“Oh, hey… It’s not that Ju’an Pavilion, is it?”
The woman asked nervously.
“There are probably a lot of Ju’an pavilions, even on Tian Niu Lane! How could that place still have been sold?”
The male shopkeeper’s face didn’t look too good either.
. . .
Ji Yuan wandered around the market buying various household appliances, including bedding and blankets, towels, washbasins, and some simple furniture, such as washbasin shelves, wardrobes, brooms, and mops… Ji Yuan even found a stone tool store and asked the master craftsmen to deliver a stone table and four stone stools, which he planned to place under the jujube tree in the courtyard.
Of course, he didn’t forget to hire a couple people to clean the house.
Additionally, Ji Yuan didn’t forget his previous thoughts. He found a good clothing store and bought a few outfits, the cut of which he basically stole from the third master Luo.
Ji Yuan decided to be a little more extravagant,6 and got a short hair bun done for himself on the spot, inserting a jade hairpin he bought for 200 coins. He left the bangs on his forehead and sides, and the longer hair at the back. According to this world’s common sense, this style was almost completely nondescript, but on him it looked surprisingly harmonious and refined.
Not to mention, here a person relied on their clothes as their first impression, and a good outfit was like being dressed in gold. Although he wasn’t as handsome as Luo Feng, he didn’t actually look too bad. Adding on his elegant demeanor, Ji Yuan now appeared to be noble and honorable young man.
As far as Ji Yuan regarded himself, he was now an ancient costume fashion model!
Everything was almost ready, so Ji Yuan headed back to his mansion, ready to welcome the “renovation team” to his door. The road he had only traveled on once was nonetheless very clear in his mind, and he didn’t even need someone to guide him.
He was quite satisfied with the name of Ju’an Pavilion,7 and he didn’t plan to change it.
He unlocked the copper lock and pushed open the gate. The jujube tree in the courtyard was still swaying in the wind, but this time he was alone, with no brokers chatting to the side or bringing people around. Ji Yuan felt an indescribable feeling when he walked into the courtyard.
“Is Mr. Ji there?”
A voice came from the door, and he could hear the sound of more than one person’s footsteps.
Ji Yuan had originally planned to come to the door after noon. He didn’t expect that all of the merchants from the market would already be here. Fortunately, he had returned early, otherwise they would still have been waiting outside.
T/n: One obligatory shopping montage, done! Ji Yuan likes looking pretty 😀
The residents of Yunlai: that house is haunte-
JY: NOPE. I SUDDENLY HAVE BECOME DEAF.
- 穷文富武 ↩︎
- T/n: this note is brought to you by “Mango Went Down Yet Another Wikipedia Rabbit-hole” Productions: the history of cotton in China is more complicated than I thought! It’s not native, it was first reported in Yunnan ~200BC, with archeological records dated a LOT further back; historians are mostly of the consensus that it was introduced from India. It was cultivated as a commercial crop in late imperial China, and later banned at some points due to silk lobbies. China is now one of the world’s largest cotton producers. BUT ANYWAY, regarding this line in the story: when you pick cotton, it’s a flower, so it still has the receptacle attached. When you clean the cotton, or “gin” it, to remove the seeds, you pound to break it up (the banging referenced in the text) and then use various methods to separate the debris from the cotton fibers. ↩︎
- I’m guessing this is similar to sea shanties, a simple song with a strong beat that helps you keep time. ↩︎
- Lit: “I would rather believe you’re a ghost!” ↩︎
- The raws said either “family head” or “master” and neither of them really made sense in this context. It said that they were a couple earlier, so I translated it to “husband” ↩︎
- Lit: “coquettish,” could also be translated to “beauty enthusiast” ↩︎
- 居 (jū): house or residence, and 安 (ān): “peaceful,” “safe/secure,” “content.” Which, uh… sure is ironic given that it’s literally haunted to the gills. But on the flip side, imagine going to meet this rumored amazing Master Ji, who lives in the “Pavilion of Peace” – that sure is one heck of a name. ↩︎
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report