Young master, why not become a corpse immortal?

Chapter 133 House Selection
Fang Ya, who had been listless, suddenly perked up and explained to Lin Jiang with a smile:

"This house was originally the residence of a senior official in the Ministry of Justice. He kept several singing girls in the city and, fearing his shrewish wife's wrath, specially bought this place to house them. Every day after court, he would go here to have his fun before returning to his residence."

"Oh dear, won't this make Madam even angrier?" Gong Xuan couldn't help but say upon hearing this.

"That's right!" Fang Ya slapped his thigh. "Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, how can his wife be willing? Besides, his wife's family background is not small either, so she directly led her relatives and servants to the house to make trouble. This trouble was serious, and someone died."

"The singer is dead?"

"No, that's not it." Fang Ya shook his head: "It was the servants that the madam brought who beat to death a servant who originally served in the house. The death was horribly tragic. Later, the servant who committed the murder was arrested, and the family that had the dead took some silver, and the matter was dropped."

"Is this all the reason it's been haunted all this time?"

"Yes."

"This is the capital city. Isn't the Capital City's Zhenping Division going to handle this?" Lin Jiang couldn't help but ask.

Even if it weren't for someone with Jiang Jinyue's skills, just one of the members of Jiang Jinyue's team could easily take care of this little brat.

“This is different,” Fang Ya shook his head: “There was a scandal involving a doctor in this house. To prevent him from messing around again in the future, his wife deliberately prevented anyone from exorcising the ghost. The Jingcheng Town Ping Si was too lazy to get involved in this matter, so he simply left it as a haunted house.”

"It's really... complicated," Lin Jiang sighed sincerely. "Just what exactly is that lady's identity?"

"She is Minister Liu's daughter, named Liu Ning. In her youth, she was known as a remarkable woman in the capital, but now she is known as a notorious shrew in the capital."

Fang Ya lowered his voice and introduced her to the three of them: "This Liu Ning always spends the gold and silver of her family and husband, but she acts as if she has all the skills herself. However, she doesn't actually have any skills and relies entirely on the guards in her family."

“The master does evil, and the guards can’t just go along with it.” Chen Dajiang was very dissatisfied. In his opinion, the other party’s behavior was simply a desecration of the sacred profession of guards.

"After all, they paid more money."

"Even with a lot of money, it won't work," Chen Dajiang muttered stubbornly.

"The place in Daxing with the most ability to exorcise ghosts has become a haunted house because of this mess," Gong Xuan sighed.

"You're absolutely right. Ordinary families can't afford such a large house, and wealthy families dislike haunted houses because they're considered unlucky. They want to keep the doctor's scandalous affair as leverage, but no one wants to get involved, so it's been abandoned until now."

After saying this, Fang Ya chuckled and glanced at Lin Jiang twice:
"Is the young master interested in this house?"

"Have."

"So, do you want to rent it?"

"No, I won't rent it."

Lin Jiang was indeed interested in the ghosts inside, but interest didn't mean he wanted to rent it.

This house looks like a huge problem; if you actually move in, you're likely to be harassed right away.

Harassment is nothing to Lin Jiang; he's certainly not afraid of those people.

mainly……

Lin Jiang knew from the floor plan posted on the wall that the house was indeed incredibly large.

The first courtyard has six rooms: the gatehouse and the back room; the second courtyard has eight rooms: the reception room and the east wing room; and the rear residence has a total of twelve rooms. Including the stables and the back hall, there are eight rooms in total, making a total of thirty-six rooms.

The three of them!

Even if you bring that ghost along and live in the Thirty-Sixth House, what's the point?

There's not enough room to keep up with the cleaning.

Are we going to hire another thirty servants?

Although Lin Jiang brought a lot of money, he wasn't going to spend it like that.

The house looks big, but it's actually not very convenient to live in.

However, this haunted house isn't entirely without its benefits.

Lin Jiang saw a house right next to the haunted house.

The courtyard was quite large, with a total of eight rooms: a kitchen, living quarters, a woodshed, and a storeroom. It was surrounded by walls at the front and back, with bluestone slabs paving the middle, and a tree in the center.

Although small, it has everything you need and is in a good location. After walking two blocks forward, you will reach Kyoto's most bustling long street, with many unique restaurants on the side, which are Lin Jiang's favorites.

However, this small courtyard and the haunted house are only separated by a street.

That's why such a small courtyard in the city only costs three hundred coins a month.

Other properties aren't as good as this one, and they even cost seven or eight hundred dollars.

"That's it."

Fang Ya glanced at Fang, then at the Taoist priests in their group, understood their intentions, nodded, and took out the red contract.

In the capital, the minimum rental period is three months, so Lin Jiang simply rented for six months, totaling one string and eight hundred coins. However, he also had to pay an extra month's rent as a deposit, which meant he took out two strings and one hundred coins.

Once the deal was done, the broker became much more enthusiastic than before, immediately calling over an apprentice to show them around. The gray-robed youth bowed and scraped, repeatedly saying "Greetings, young master," and led the three of them through the streets and alleys.

As they proceeded through this Kyoto intersection, the apprentice continued to introduce things to Lin Jiang and his companions:

"The house you chose is truly excellent. To the east lies Zhuque Street, and a short walk to the west reveals Fangxuan River. Across the river is the stage of Quxi Opera House, where opera troupes perform every night. Some wealthy young men buy paper lanterns to float on the lake—they're quite beautiful."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiang couldn't help but feel a sense of longing. Chen Dajiang, however, slapped his forehead after hearing this:

"If they put these in the river and pile them up too much, won't they block the river mouth?" Lin Jiang blinked at Chen Dajiang, wondering how he came up with this idea.

Chen Dajiang scratched his head and explained:
“We used to have this activity during the Flower Festival, but after each festival, many lanterns would float downstream and pile up, so we had to send boats to collect them. Eventually, there was no other way, so the government banned the activity.”

...When I first saw this, I was only focused on the romance, but now that I think about it carefully, there really is a problem with that...

The servant explained with a smile:
"You don't need to worry about that. Many young masters put some copper coins inside when they release these lanterns. This is called sharing good fortune. When the lanterns are left behind, people will naturally try to retrieve them and see if they can find any copper coins. This is called trying to bring good luck."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiang couldn't help but nod in agreement.

As this activity is passed down, it will likely become a traditional custom. Perhaps in the end, the people who put copper coins in the lanterns will have long forgotten that the purpose of doing so was to dredge the river.

But for the sake of good luck, this story will continue to circulate.

It's quite wonderful and interesting.

They soon arrived at the house. After pushing open the wooden door, the courtyard was relatively clean, with the tree and a well. The rooms were dusty because they were often unoccupied. The apprentice led Lin Jiang and his companions around to make sure they would stay there before handing them the keys.

"If you need cleaning, I have some manpower here. You can pay twenty coins per person to hire three people, and I guarantee that they will clean this place thoroughly within an hour."

Lin Jiang was about to agree when he saw Gong Xuan winking at him, so he immediately waved his hand to send the apprentice away.

The apprentice, feeling slightly disappointed at not earning any extra money, left with his head down.

Once only three people remained in the courtyard, Lin Jiang looked at Gong Xuan:

"Taoist priest?"

"Why spend sixty coins on this?" Gong Xuan took out a few small paper figures from his pocket and casually scattered them on the ground. The paper figures then stood up unsteadily.

"Men! Clean this yard up!"

The little people responded and immediately went around to get brooms.

Fortunately, there was a well in the yard, so it was quick to clean, and the whole yard became lively in no time.

Chen Dajiang rolled up his sleeves to help, and Lin Jiang joined in with great interest. However, before long, the paper figures and Chen Dajiang had pushed them out of the courtyard.

It's not that I'm reluctant to let him take action.

He mainly made things worse than he helped.

Lin Jiang, feeling rejected, stood in the courtyard in a daze. Unfortunately, even though he stood still, the paper figure sweeping the floor gently poked his instep with the broom handle.

Having exhausted all other options, Lin Jiang could only shout into the courtyard:
"I'll go look for a food stall around here and bring you some food back."

After the two responded, Lin Jiang and Xiao Shanshen, who also had nothing to do, left.

Even after leaving the courtyard, Lin Jiang was still pondering:

"Am I really that bad at cleaning?"

Shaking his head to clear his mind, Lin Jiang turned to look across the street.

Across the street, the "haunted house" is located at this intersection.

Several wisteria vines climbed the blue brick wall, and roses were in full bloom in the flower bed at the base of the wall. The vermilion gate was spotless, and the carved windows of the three-story building were half-open, revealing glimpses of the exquisite interior furnishings.

If it weren't for the deserted entrance, it would look like a meticulously maintained villa of a wealthy family.

And because of this, the vendors next to the courtyard were not affected, and the people strolling around the streets continued to eat and drink as usual, only avoiding the houses.

That's quite strange.

Lin Jiang paused to examine it for a moment, then turned and searched along the street. Before long, he saw a steamed bun shop. The plump buns in the steamer had thin, oily skins, and you could smell the aroma of meat even through the oil paper.

This is what I'm eating today.

……

After tidying up the room and making the beds, we each ate a few steamed buns for dinner, and then the sun set below the horizon.

Night fell.

The night scene in Beijing is unique, with lanterns hanging under the eaves of every house, and the glow of red candles seeping through the window screens.

The long street was even more bustling than during the day, with wealthy young men enjoying themselves and ordinary people taking a break.

However, the three of them were exhausted from their journey and didn't have the energy to go out for a stroll tonight. Wen Xiangyi gave them a few extra blankets, which were enough to make up the room for all three of them, so they needed to rest tonight.

"Shall we go to the Perfume Shop tomorrow?" Lin Jiang asked, holding a map of the capital city he had found at the steamed bun shop that day. He pointed to the Water Shop, which was a few streets away. "We've been traveling for a long time, and we're all sweaty."

Actually, Lin Jiang didn't have any; he just wanted to take a bath.

It is said that the perfume shops in the capital even have saunas and back rubbery services, which aroused Lin Jiang's curiosity, and he really wanted to experience it.

The other two nodded in agreement; they really did smell good, so a trip to the perfume shop would be a good idea.

After setting the schedule and assigning rooms, Lin Jiang stayed in the main room, Chen Dajiang chose the main room near the front entrance, and Gong Xuan stayed in the guest room. Just as they were all going into their rooms to rest, Gong Xuan suddenly stopped.

He listened intently and called out to Lin Jiang:
"Young Master Lin, it seems we have a guest in our courtyard."

Lin Jiang looked at Gong Xuan curiously, only to see the latter stretch out his hand and point to the haunted house across the street.

(End of this chapter)