Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Shen Yu asked the three Li family members to get out of the car to stretch their legs and wait for a while. She followed Liu Laosi to take a look at the inn first.

The inn is a small three-room inn with a sign in front of it that reads: Guangyuan Inn.

This inn is very much like a modern B&B. After passing through the narrow lobby, there is a patio, which is also very small, surrounded by a circle of low houses. Liu Laosi said to Shen Yu, who was standing beside him and looking at the courtyard, "Because the houses in this inn are a little small, caravans are reluctant to stay here. We only receive individual guests. The price is very fair, and the innkeeper is kind. You can stay here with peace of mind, young lady.

As they were talking, an old man in his 50s or 60s came out of the next room carrying a large teapot. When Liu Laosi saw him, he hurriedly called out, "Uncle Zheng, I brought a guest over."

Uncle Zheng smiled and said, "Liu Laosi, I haven't seen you come over recently. Is this girl going to stay at the hotel?"

Liu Laosi smiled and said, "I have been helping Duan Qi's family transport goods recently, and have not been to the county town, so I have not come to your store. It is this girl who wants to stay at the store. There are four of them in the family, including women and children, and they will stay here for a while. She and my wife are both from Lijiazhuang, so they are also distant relatives of our family. Please give her a fair price and take care of her on weekdays."

After hearing what Liu Laosi said, Uncle Zheng pretended to be angry and said, "When have I ever been unfair in my price?" After he finished speaking, he couldn't help laughing.

Liu Laosi scratched his head, smiled embarrassedly, and asked, "Is Erlang in the store? Let him help move the luggage."

Uncle Zheng placed the big teapot in his hand on the stove under the porch in front of the door and shouted to the backyard: "Erlang, guests are coming."

A loud voice from the backyard responded, "Please wait a moment, my dear. We will be right there."

Uncle Zheng smiled at Shen Yu and said, "How many rooms do you want to book, young lady? How many days do you want to stay?"

Shen Yu smiled slightly: "Uncle, there is a bigger room here. We won't be staying for a few days, so the four of us can just squeeze in."

Uncle Zheng was used to seeing all kinds of guests in his inn, and he was not disgusted by Shen Yu's words. He smiled kindly and said, "But it just so happened that a guest in a large room checked out the day before yesterday. The room is just right for the girl and her family. There are two large beds in it. If that doesn't work, you can move in a small bed. The rent is easy to negotiate. Liu Laosi and I are familiar with each other, so I won't charge you more. It's no more than a hundred coins a day."

Shen Yu thought that he would only stay for a day or two, and would move out as soon as he found a house. Although the rent was a bit expensive, it was the only way. So he agreed.

For the same four-person room, the price here is twice as much as that of the old Qujia restaurant. After all, this place is close to the market and the location is different.

Shen Yu comforted himself in his heart and followed Uncle Zheng to a room in the corner of the patio, opened the door and walked in.

The patio looks narrow, but unexpectedly the room is quite spacious and deep, but the sunlight can't get in. Once you enter the room, it suddenly becomes much darker.

Shen Yu stood at the door and took a moment to adjust himself before he could see the furnishings in the room clearly. There was a row of beds against the wall, which took up most of the room.

It was summer, and the wooden bed was covered with a bamboo mat and two bamboo pillows, which looked cool. The bunk bed was long and could easily accommodate four people. The room was clean, but it had a damp smell from not seeing the sun.

Shen Yu thought it was okay, so he nodded and said, "Thank you, uncle. Let's take this room. I'll go call my family in. You can also ask someone to help us with the luggage."

As they were talking, Liu Laosi and a strong middle-aged man came in lazily carrying heavy bags, followed by Li, Yutao and Yucheng.

It took the two men three trips to finally move the luggage in.

Shen Yu hurriedly took out his purse, counted out one hundred and eighty big coins, handed them to Liu Laosi, and asked him if he would come to the county town again in the future.

Liu Laosi wiped the sweat off his head with the cloth in his hand, took the money, and said with a cheerful smile: "Miss, do you want me to take a message to your uncle?"

Shen Yu nodded and looked at him with a smile.

Liu Laosi said, "I usually take this route. I can't say whether I will come or not. It depends on where the job is. But I am good friends with Zheng Erlang. Whenever there are guests coming, I will always bring him here. If you have any messages, just give them to Zheng Erlang. He will pass them on to me when he sees me."

After Shen Yu heard this, he kept it in mind and thanked Liu Laosi profusely. Liu Laosi waved his hand and left.

Shen Yu and the others piled their luggage against the wall of the room. Uncle Zheng came over with a big teapot, filled the big-bellied teapot on the small table near the door with water, and left.

Seeing that no outsiders were around, Li sat down on the bed, took off her headscarf, and fanned herself with her hands, shouting, "We're finally here. I'm exhausted from the journey. Yutao, Yucheng, you two should sit down and have a rest."

None of them had ever been in a carriage for so long. Although they had rested at the Qu family's old inn the previous night, they did not sleep well due to the sudden change of place. They had to sit in the carriage for another morning the next day. The tiredness they felt was completely different from the tiredness from doing farm work in the fields.

Shen Yu also asked the two children to sit by the bed and rest. The two looked around, curious about everything. After walking around the room, they lay on the small window by the door and looked into the patio through the crack in the window.

Shen Yu looked at them, pulled them away from the window, and pushed them to sit on the bed. He poured water for them and poured himself a glass and drank it slowly.

After a short rest, I finally felt more energetic. There were still four or five cakes I brought, and the four of us ate them with tea. It was noon, and the sun was shining brightly on a small area of ​​ground in the middle of the courtyard. The yard was quiet, and the sound of cicadas could be heard one after another.

After eating and drinking, everyone felt a little sleepy as they had been sitting in the car for a long time, so they lay down on the bunk bed and fell asleep.

Shen Yu was worried about his future life and had been half asleep. He was anxious to go out and find a suitable house to live in.

After lying there half asleep and half awake for about half an hour, Shen Yu could no longer lie there.

She quietly got up, put on her clothes, packed her purse, and was about to go out when Yutao turned over in bed, sat up halfway, and asked quietly, "Sister, where are you going?"

Shen Yu pointed at Li and Yucheng who were sleeping soundly, made a gesture to keep quiet, and pointed outside.

Yutao saw it, jumped up, got out of bed and followed Shen Yu to the door.

Shen Yu closed the door and whispered, "I'll go outside and look for a suitable house to rent. Staying in an inn is only for two or three days, it's not a long-term solution."

Yutao also whispered, "Sister, I'll go with you so that I can have a companion."

Shen Yu hesitated and said, "Mother and Yucheng are still sleeping. If they wake up and see that we are not here, they will not know what is going on and will panic. What should we do?"

When Yutao heard this, she also hesitated.

The two were hesitating whether to go out together when they heard a sound in the house. They opened the door and saw that Li had also gotten up.

Shen Yu and the other two entered the house and told her that they wanted to go out for a walk. After hearing this, Li said, "Yutao stays with Yucheng and keeps an eye on the luggage. Yuzhi and I should go together. I am worried about you, a grown woman, going out alone."

Shen Yu wanted to say that he had no problem, but then he thought that Li was a woman and it would be more convenient to have her when renting a house, so he nodded in agreement.

Li lowered her head and straightened her clothes. The two of them put on scarves to protect their heads from the sun and left the inn together.