IDWBE -Chapter 456 The House

Moreover, from the moment Guan Sheng laid eyes on the three tiled rooms, he could hardly move his feet. He even felt a faint surge of excitement.

This was the house he had dreamed of!

If he wanted a cup of hot liquor, he could step outside and buy it immediately.

How convenient!

And if his daughter had children in the future, they would be city folk!

They could attend private academies in the city—or even the new-style primary schools built by Prince He.

His own life might amount to nothing, but perhaps his descendants would achieve something?

“These brothers are straightforward,” Tan Fei said with a long sigh of relief, finally completing the task Jiao Zhong had assigned him. He laughed heartily. “I serve in the public office. The yamen and the brokers give me face. If you’ve decided, I’ll summon the broker now and have the deed processed.”

The yamen was closed?

The broker was off duty?

Impossible.

As long as it was an order from Prince He, it had to be handled—no matter how late.

No excuses. No reasoning.

Guan Sheng nodded. “Then I’ll trouble you.”

Lin Yi stood to the side the entire time without interrupting. When the broker arrived, they swiftly went to the yamen to process the deed. It took less than half an hour.

Lin Yi had just finished a pot of wine.

“Many thanks,” Guan Sheng said after examining the deed again and again. He cupped his fists toward Lin Yi. “If not for your help, this wouldn’t have been so easy.”

Lin Yi smiled. “You know this is a haunted house. It’s hard for him to sell it. While I’m helping you, I’m also helping him.”

A haunted house?

This was the capital of Liang!

It was like a CBD core district in a future capital city.

Originally worth ten million, now selling for one million!

So what if it was haunted?

People would fight over it.

Just like in his previous life—when he was healthy, he complained about housing prices being too high. Anything he couldn’t obtain felt unreasonable and unfair.

After the car accident, after years confined to a wheelchair, he should have adopted a detached attitude—lie flat, survive as long as he had medical fees and food.

A disabled man was destined to be alone.

Unlike normal people, who could pass a house down to their sons and grandsons. When their descendants grew up, they wouldn’t have to repeat the life of migrant workers, leaving their hometowns to toil elsewhere.

A mortgage of twenty or thirty years in exchange for the happiness of several generations—quite worth it.

As for him? No descendants. No educational needs. Why buy a house?

After he died, alone, who knew where it would end up?

So he told himself he didn’t need one.

But whenever a landlord urged him to pay rent, whenever he had to move again, in the stillness of night he would imagine having a home of his own—even if it were so small it could barely fit a bed.

At least it would be his.

No one chasing him for rent every month.

In the end, the longing for land—and what stood upon it—was carved into one’s bones.

So he deeply understood the Guan father and daughter.

From ancient times to the present, moving from countryside to city meant upward mobility—higher social status.

Once you lived in the city, even if others looked down on you, they’d call you a “country bumpkin girl” less often. At worst, you were just an ignorant young girl—not a backwater peasant who’d never seen the world.

It was good for people to have aspirations and dreams.

Who knew? They might come true.

“If not for your introduction, we wouldn’t have had this opportunity,” Guan Sheng said happily, raising his wine cup. “It’s all thanks to you.”

Lin Yi raised his own cup. “A small matter. Once you’re settled in the city, I’ll be dropping by often to freeload meals.”

Guan Xiaoqi’s cooking wasn’t particularly good, but she had one very clear virtue—she loved chili peppers. Her dishes were packed with them.

Unlike in Prince He’s residence, where Su Yin had listened to Hu Shilu’s nonsense about chili causing excess internal heat. Nowadays, there was barely any chili in the food.

Sometimes Lin Yi would use fishing as an excuse to grill fish or roast lamb outdoors, piling on the chilies—but it terrified the guards so much they would kneel in a row and beg him to stop.

It nearly drove him to despair.

It had been a long time since he’d eaten chilies to his heart’s content!

Guan Xiaoqi covered her mouth and laughed. “If you’re willing to eat, then come often. Where do you live?”

“I live right next door.”

Seeing the stunned expressions on both father and daughter, Lin Yi grinned even wider. “From now on, if you need anything, just shout.”

He was fabulously wealthy now. Buying a house was a matter of minutes.

What? The owner refused to sell?

He was the Regent of Great Liang—the Ninth Prince!

If he couldn’t handle such “stubborn commoners,” then the machinery of state violence in his hands would be nothing but decoration.

Whether he wished to reason or not, as a ruler, his words were truth.

“You live next door?” Guan Xiaoqi puffed her cheeks. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? If I’d known you, this annoying fellow, would be my neighbor, I wouldn’t have bought this house!”

Guan Sheng quickly said, “My daughter is willful. Please don’t laugh at her.”

Yet inwardly, he felt something was off.

In his memory, his daughter only sulked and acted coquettish with him.

With strangers, she always kept a straight face. If words failed, she’d swing her oar without hesitation.

His daughter had a fiery temper!

“No offense taken,” Lin Yi said, popping a peanut into his mouth and chewing as he looked at the steadily thickening snow. “In my opinion, you shouldn’t head back tonight. It’s dark and the roads are slippery. Why not stay here and return tomorrow?”

Guan Sheng nodded. “Brother Lin is right. But there are livestock at home. I’m not at ease leaving them.”

After pondering a moment, he turned to Guan Xiaoqi. “Daughter, your father has drunk too much. I’m tired and can hardly walk. Why don’t you go back on my behalf? Feed the cattle some cakes early tomorrow morning—don’t let them grow thin.”

He had made up his mind not to let his daughter stay the first night.

If there truly were malevolent spirits, let them come for him instead!

“Father,” Guan Xiaoqi protested, “you’re talking nonsense again. When we just entered the city, you weren’t at ease letting me out of your sight. Now you expect me to leave the city alone in pitch darkness? There’s plenty of hay in the cowshed. Whether we feed them early or late doesn’t matter much. If you’re truly worried, I’ll wake early tomorrow and return. I promise they won’t go hungry.”

Guan Sheng shook his head. “That won’t do. If no one’s home, won’t cattle thieves be delighted?”

“You’re right, Father…”

At the thought of those hateful cattle thieves, Guan Xiaoqi sprang to her feet. “I’ll head back now.”

Lin Yi stood up as well, adjusting the collar of his padded coat. “I’ll see you out of the city.”

She hesitated briefly. “Then thank you.”

One before the other, they headed toward the South Gate.

Halfway there, Guan Xiaoqi suddenly turned around and looked at Lin Yi, who had his neck tucked into his collar against the cold. “Where’s your donkey?”

Lin Yi trudged through the thick snow, stepping deep and shallow by turns, and said casually, “Left it at home. It’s cold—riding a donkey isn’t pleasant.”

When they reached the gate tunnel, Guan Xiaoqi waved him off. “You should head back. Outside the city, there are drunk street hooligans everywhere at this hour. With your scholarly look, you might get bullied.”

“In that case, farewell.”

The wind cut like knives. Lin Yi was more than happy to return sooner rather than later.