"This is the place." Zhang Heng turned to the middleman and asked, "How much is the rent?"
"The rent is not high. It's only two strings of coins a month." The middleman scratched his head and hesitated.
Zhang Heng was patrolling the house with a lantern and did not pay much attention to the middleman's expression behind him. "When can we sign the contract? It's a little late now, but I probably have something to do tomorrow morning. What about early morning? Can he come here early in the morning? "
"No, no, no. There's no need to go through so much trouble. The owner is next door. If you have made up your mind, I can call her over now."
"So close?" Zhang Heng was a little surprised, but on second thought, it was normal. Obviously, this family's mansion was relatively large, and it was normal for them to rent out a part of it to make money. Speaking of which, the wall on his left did look like it was newly built. He did not think too much about it and nodded. "Thank you."
The middleman moved quickly, and after a while, he came over with the landlord next door.
Before the two reached the door, the middleman's voice came first. "Don't say I didn't help you again. I found you a generous tenant. He didn't even frown when he heard the rent was two strings of coins. Don't you drive him away this time. Otherwise, no one will dare to rent your house in the future."
Another voice snorted coldly. "What kind of tenants are you introducing to me? Last time, that guy touched me as soon as he saw me. I only taught him a little lesson. That's already giving you face."
The middleman rolled his eyes. "Men are like this. That guy just drank too much and wanted to take advantage of me. There's no need to make such a big deal out of it."
"How is this making a big deal out of it? It pisses me off just talking about it. Today at the market, I bumped into three samurai from the Choshu Domain. They drew their swords in the street and wanted to bully two children. What's worse was that none of the men there wanted to stop them …"
Zhang Heng thought the voice was a little familiar. When he heard the middleman talking about what happened at the market, he immediately recognized the speaker's identity.
The newcomer was none other than the female martial artist named Akane Koyama, who defeated Yamada with a wooden katana earlier.
Zhang Heng did not expect the two to meet again so soon after they parted ways. What's more, he happened to rent her house.
While they were talking, the two had already walked into the yard, and Zhang Heng had lost his only chance to leave.
The moment their eyes met, even the atmosphere became a little awkward.
…
"It's you?" Akane raised her eyebrows and was about to say something, but then she seemed to think of something and swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
On the other side, the young middleman was still proudly claiming credit. "How about it? As soon as I saw this lord, I knew that he was going to do great things. If he becomes famous in the future, your little courtyard might also go down in history."
"Him? Let's find some clean clothes to wear first." Akane Koyama grumbled. To be honest, Zhang Heng's current attire was a little far from what the middleman expected him to look like. Akane Koyama even doubted if he could afford to pay the rent.
Zhang Heng could understand Akane Koyama's concerns, but he did not expect the latter to not mention the rent. Instead, she said with a straight face, "Since you are going to live here, you must abide by my rules. First of all, don't destroy anything here. Second, don't get drunk. If you want to drink with prostitutes, go to a prostitute's place. Finally, and most importantly, don't be like the three samurai from the Choshu Domain today, using your martial arts to do evil and bully the neighbors." She paused, "Well, forget about the last one. I don't think you have any martial arts skills. Otherwise, you wouldn't have stood still."
"…"
Zhang Heng was speechless.
"If there's no problem, let's go into the house and sign the contract," Akane Koyama urged.
Zhang Heng thought about it for a while. Based on what Akane Koyama said, there was nothing wrong with it. They were all reasonable. According to the middleman, although the previous tenants were beaten up and chased away, it seemed like he was the one with the bigger problem. He had been looking around for a long time, and he had seen a few houses, but none of them were as satisfactory as Akane Koyama's. He might not be able to find a better house even if he kept looking.
So, Zhang Heng and Akane Koyama quickly signed the rental contract. He had already exchanged the small piece of silver and copper coins. After signing the contract, he immediately paid the middleman's commission and this month's rent.
Akane Koyama was a little surprised to see him taking out the money.
"I didn't have much money with me at the time. I earned this money later."
"You earned it?" Akane Koyama looked skeptical. "Is it so easy to make money in Kyoto now? You can earn such a large sum of money in such a short time."
"To tell you the truth, I have actually traveled to Western countries and know their languages well. That's why I just found a job as a translator."
"You know the language of the Westerners? Well, your Japanese is a little strange. Is it because you have been in Western countries for too long?" Akane Koyama suddenly understood, and the way she looked at Zhang Heng improved a lot. These days, it took a lot of courage to leave home and travel to Western countries thousands of miles away. Most people who went abroad did so with the idea of finding a way out for their country.
This made Akane Koyama think more highly of Zhang Heng. She thought about it and said, "I live in the dojo next door. If you want to practice your swordsmanship, you can find me there."
Zhang Heng thanked her politely, and the matter of the house came to an end. Akane Koyama and the middleman left together. As Zhang Heng did not have time to buy any ingredients, he could not start a fire to cook. He could only go to a Shibuya by the roadside to buy some snacks and make do with it.
After that, he returned to his small courtyard, washed up, and lay on a stack of mats, listening to the sound of the branches swaying in the wind outside. That was how he spent his first night in the Edo period.
Since he had accepted Gabriel's small gift, Zhang Heng decided to take some responsibility. Early the next morning, he rushed to the tea house between the docks. Gabriel, however, slept in and arrived at noon. When he saw Zhang Heng, he seemed to be relieved to see that Zhang Heng had arrived as promised.
In fact, he was a little worried last night, wondering if the ronin in front of him would run away after taking the money. After all, there were even some patriots in Japan who specialized in assassinating Westerners, trying to protect their country with this childish and absurd method. Fortunately, such incidents had become rare in recent years. Gabriel squeezed a smile on his face and said, "Our activities today are very relaxing.
Gabriel forced a smile on his face and said, "Today's activities are very relaxing. We're going to try some delicious food in Kyoto first, and then we're going to watch a sumo wrestling match. In the evening, the local merchants will hold a banquet for us, and I'll go by myself. You're done for the day. What do you think? It's easy money, right?"
Zhang Heng was noncommittal when he heard that. He knew that Gabriel must have a reason for choosing to act alone, and his activities today were probably just a cover-up. However, Zhang Heng didn't point it out. Just like Gabriel said, at least he could earn money today.
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