Back at the seventh mother-in-law's house, the little girl still kept the same posture as when they left, tilting her head and hugging the pillars of the verandah.
Her bones were so weak that she couldn't walk much. She broke out in cold sweats when she moved in a hurry, and she forgot things easily. Over time, she developed the habit of staying in one place for the whole day.
"Nanny!" Qi Po touched her granddaughter's little face distressedly, "Mother-in-law will boil some medicine for you. After drinking the medicine, we won't feel uncomfortable!"
Holding her butt with one hand and protecting her back with the other, Qi Po wanted to carry her granddaughter to the back room to cook some medicine.
Unfortunately, Qi Po herself was already old, and she began to gasp for breath after only a few steps.
Xiao Ruo stepped forward and took the little girl from Qi Po's arms and said, "Let me hold her. Grandma, it's not convenient for you to hold the medicine."
From today's interaction, we can see that Qi Po is a strong person, and saying it is inconvenient makes her feel better than not being able to hold her.
The little girl is very obedient. Even if Xiao Ruo is a stranger she just met today, she will obediently lean on Xiao Ruo's shoulder and not cry or make a fuss.
Qipao sighed. As a shopper who knows many people, she certainly knew that Xiaoruo was caring about her own face, so she found an excuse to help her hold her granddaughter.
Seeing Xiao Ruo holding her granddaughter in her arms easily and walking steadily in front of her, Qi Po followed with her medicine bag in a complicated mood.
After some decoction, the thick concoction is poured into a small bowl.
The little girl was used to drinking the smelly and bitter soup every day. She didn't need anyone to coax her. She held the bowl with her little hands and drank it all.
After drinking, he smashed his mouth, tilted his head and said to his grandma: "Grandma, today's medicine doesn't smell bad."
Qi Po took a preserved almond from the cupboard and stuffed it into her mouth to relieve the bitter taste, "The medicine will no longer stink in the future, my daughter is so good."
Soon after the medicine took effect, the little girl rubbed her eyes and felt sleepy. Qi Po asked Xiaoruo to go to the west wing to wait for her. She settled her granddaughter in the east wing and fell asleep before returning to the west wing.
"Girl, sit down."
After a day of hard work, Qi Po became much more polite to Xiao Ruo. She even took the initiative to pour Xiao Ruo a cup of tea, although the tea was cold.
Xiaoruo took the tea cup and drank it in one gulp. Xiaoruo didn't mind whether the tea was cold or hot, she was very thirsty.
Qi Po walked to the bed of the Arhat and took out a white booklet from the small drawer below. After flipping through a few pages, she returned to the table and handed the opened booklet to Xiaoruo.
"Starting from this page, there are all shops that have no customers yet. Take a look."
Xiao Ruo took over the pages and looked at them page by page. The more she read, the more she felt sad.
There are two connected shops on the west side of Yiwufang, with a monthly rent of 80,000 taels.
The monthly rent for a single-room street shop on Salesian Square South Street is 120,000 taels.
Hu Yulou has a two-story single shop along the street with a monthly rent of 100,000 taels.
…
After reading more than a dozen pages, the monthly rent for the cheapest and worst-located shops starts at 10,000 taels.
Xiaoruo finally understood why Qipao bluntly said that she couldn't afford to rent a shop in Dongshi when she saw her.
Closing the white booklet, Xiaoruo sighed, her family's savings were empty and they couldn't rent it for long.
Qi Po sipped the cool tea while keeping her eyes on Xiao Ruo's expression.
When her shoulders slumped and her face showed disappointment, Qi Po said: "Girl, there are no cheap shops in the East Market. What kind of business do you want to make? Generally, it might be more suitable to open a business in the West Market. I have a friend in the West Market.
Shop fan..."
Kindness belongs to kindness, and business belongs to business. Even if Xiaoruo helped her a lot today, she would not make a loss-making business.
Xiaoruo smiled bitterly and said: "The business I want to do really has to be in the East Market. Not many customers in the West Market will come to buy."
Eight hundred taels of high-quality cordyceps for one stick, even in Yingzhou, where the per capita income level is higher, is not something that ordinary people can afford to consume on a regular basis.
Tapping her fingers on the table, Qi Po thought for a while and asked: "Then what is your estimated monthly rent?"
Knowing that Qi Po's words meant to help her, Xiao Ruo said bluntly: "Mother-in-law, let me tell the truth. The shops on this brochure are so low that I can't afford to rent them for a year or two. It's just what I want to do."
Trading is a long-term business, and one or two years is not enough."
Unexpectedly, the girl in front of her actually wanted to buy a store in Dongshi. Qi Po was secretly shocked, she has such a big appetite!
After thinking about it for a while, Qi Po actually thought that a shop might be suitable, but she just didn’t know if this girl had the courage...
"Girl, I see that you act decisively and are a big business owner, but I don't know if you are afraid of ghosts?" Qi Po said after considering.
Afraid of ghosts? She, Captain Xiao, has never been afraid. If a ghost really comes, she can call out the Samadhi True Fire on the spot and burn it to pieces.
Xiaoruo smiled and poured herself another glass of water. While drinking, she said: "What's so scary about ghosts? People are much scarier than ghosts."
A ghost is a ghost under his skin, but he is not necessarily a human being under his skin.
The girl in front of her could have such knowledge at such a young age. Qi Po nodded with satisfaction, "Well, I have a shop that I have owned for a few years. Do you want to know if you want it?"
Xiaoruo put down the teacup and tilted his head towards her, indicating that he was all ears.
"This shop is located to the north of Fugui Building. It is the front of Zhuque Street. It is a shop, but there is a warehouse behind it. It is transparent from north to south. Opposite is Yiwu Square, where people come and go. It is a good location."
"The original owner's Xianghao was an official in the imperial court. I won't tell him who he was. He broke a taboo and was dismissed from his post. All his family property was confiscated. Only this shop in Xianghao's name was spared.
"
"The official wife, who was an official, asked the original owner of the shop to return the shop to his family. When the original owner refused, the two of them started to quarrel."
"The original owner of the shop was afraid that one day the shop would be robbed, so he came to me to make a deed, handed over the keys, and asked me to sell the shop."
"I didn't expect that not long after, the woman hanged herself in the shop for some unknown reason. After that, people often said that there were sobbing sounds in that shop at night."
"The wife also came to ask me a few times to ask for it, but I had the deed, so even if she went to the Yamen, she couldn't get any benefit, and then she gradually stopped coming."
"The shop was spread through people's mouths, and it became a terrible ghost shop. Now for so many years, no one cares about it, and the door is always locked."
"Anyway, the original owner is gone, the deed has been signed, and I have the key. If you dare to ask for this ghost shop girl, just give me 50,000 taels of silver as the storage fee and commission for the past few years. I will pay you
Just you."
Fifty thousand taels of silver can buy a shop along the street in Dongshi. For Xiaoruo, this is like a pie in the sky. He even helps her arrange and cut the dishes, and only feeds them to her mouth.
She nodded repeatedly, "Yes! Qipao, thank you!"
"Thank you, I can't lay eggs in this ghost shop even if I put it in my hands. If you have the courage and ability, I can easily sell it to you."
While the iron is hot, the two of them made an appointment to go see the shop together tomorrow. If Xiaoruo is satisfied, they can directly pay for the transfer.