Mr. Lin and his family had originally lived in the courtyard behind the shop, but since the place had already been sold they had packed up all of their things the night before and moved to the courtyard behind their bigger shop. Of course, they had already been renting that space out but, fortunately, there were still some rooms available which they were able to squeeze into. Naturally, it wasn’t as spacious here, but at least it was a place to stay.
And because the distance between the two shops wasn’t far, the family was able to pack and move everything in a single night, leaving the old place empty for Su Tang. Speaking of Su Tang, she arrived just as the students of the academy were arriving for their morning classes. When the students saw the shop, which had been all boarded shut before, seemed to have opened again, they were all curious about what kind of new shop would be opening there now.
“Sister, which one is my room?” The little guy had spent a while marveling at the new shop and praising his sister for being so good, but then he had quickly moved to the courtyard behind the shop and asked which room would be his.
Su Tang suddenly recalled how, when they had first moved to town, Su Nuo hadn’t been willing to leave her side at all, but now he was eagerly asking which room was his. In her heart, she felt a slight pang. Perhaps this was the feeling of loss parents experienced watching their children growing up?
“The east room is yours.” Su Tang pointed the room in question out to him as she spoke.
The little guy happily headed over to his room to have a look, and Su Tang turned to Zhang Cuilan, “You and your daughter will live in the west room, and in the next few days I’ll be buying two more people that will live there too. From now on, the room behind the east room will be dedicated to soap production, so clean it up and get it ready before the new people arrive.”
When Zhang Cuilan heard that Su Tanged wanted to buy more people and also open a shop, she secretly felt surprised. The young miss had been investing more and more money these days, but she hadn’t seemed to get any money back, and she still had the money to buy all this? However, Zhang Cuilan kept her doubts in her heart and didn’t dare to say anything.
She only agreed firmly, “Understood! This servant will get everything ready swiftly.”
“En!” Su Tang nodded and then turned to look back at Su Nuo, who was running around the courtyard full of excitement and smiles.
In fact, when they had first moved into town, Su Nuo had always known that the courtyard they were staying in was rented and he hadn’t felt that same sense of security as when they had been living in Su Laochuan’s old house.
Of course, there was no need to mention that the old Su Dani had been the same. After all, the brother and sister pair had grown up in such an environment, so it was normal for them to never have any sense of security. They had even been thrown into the Qing River and gone to ‘the other side’, so it was no wonder.
Because of these quiet fears in his heart, Su Nuo hadn’t even dared to go and see the Qing River for a long while, and even until now he still didn’t dare to get too close. Su Tang knew that these kinds of feelings of insecurity were impossible to cure all at once, and that she could only try to treat them little by little by changing the external environment around him.
But now that the little guy knew that this place had been bought by his sister and she really owned it, he felt it was safe to consider it as him and his sister’s new home. It was different from a rented courtyard, it was something safe for him to like and be happy about.
Su Tang watched him run around for a while before calling out, “You’ve already run around so much, you’re probably all sweaty now. Quickly go wipe yourself off, don’t catch a cold. Also, think about what you need for your room, we’ll go to the carpenter’s shop to buy it after this.”
When Mr. Lin and his family moved out, they basically took everything that wasn’t bolted down as the left. Of course, their behavior was understandable. After all, furniture and the like all cost money, and Mr. Lin had just finished selling his shop at a low price, so he naturally didn’t want to give up on any extra bit of money.
However, them doing that actually made things more convenient for Su Tang. Making the kinds of desserts she planned to make required a stove and various specialized tools, so because the place was completely empty she had free reign to rearrange everything exactly as she needed it. Although she would have to spend a bit more money, it was all debt anyway, so she wouldn’t worry about having a bit more of it.*
She could always make more money and pay it back in the future, but if the environment was bad it would definitely affect her ability to make money in the first place, so this could be considered a necessary investment. She would just have to spend the next few years doing a good job and approaching the task seriously, and everything would work out.
When Su Nuo heard his sister say this, he nodded, “I’ve thought about it already, I want a shelf for books, the kind of shelf that Master Song has in his study. I also want a desk and chair here, a cabinet here, and then can I put a small table and some stools here? That way when Dongzi and Huzi come over, we’ll be able to eat together.”
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tl begging corner:
*the actual idiom used here is something like ‘Having more lice doesn’t itch’ (meaning, if you already have lice it won’t itch more if you have more of them) which… ew. haha