Chapter 100 - 100 Chapter 100: Depth Of The Well
100 Chapter 100: Depth Of The Well
Cao An went forward to knock on the door.
After a while, someone opened the door.
It was a well-dressed middle-aged woman. She was wearing fine cotton and had a silver hairpin on her head.
The woman’s attitude was quite good when she saw Cao An.
However, when she saw Qin Xiaoyao behind Cao An, the woman’s expression turned unpleasant.
Her gaze swept over Qin Xiaoyao’s patched-up clothes a few times, and the disdain in her eyes was very obvious.
Qin Xiaoyao wasn’t too particular about how she dressed. Since she was delivering goods to town, she was doing rough physical work, which was why she didn’t change into new clothes.
She did not expect to meet someone who cared about such things.
However, she didn’t really mind.
She was here to buy a courtyard dwelling, not to show off to others.
As long as she could fork out the money to buy the courtyard dwelling, wouldn’t it be fine?
“Aunt, this is my Sister Sanya and my brother-in-law. They are here to look at the courtyard dwelling.” Cao An pretended not to see the woman’s reaction and introduced his clients to the woman.
Only then did the woman notice Song Que, who had poked his head out from behind Qin Xiaoyao.
She was startled at first, but then she stepped to one side.
“Come in,” she continued.
“Ah, alright!” Cao An answered with a smile and led Qin Xiaoyao and Song Que into the house.
“There are five bedrooms in this courtyard dwelling. Including the hall, kitchen, storage room, woodshed, and bathroom, there are ten rooms in total.”
“This courtyard is also very spacious. It’s possible to build a shed or even open up a piece of land to grow vegetables.” The woman pointed to a large empty area not far away.
“If we weren’t in a hurry to move to the county, we wouldn’t be willing to sell it!” The woman glanced at Qin Xiaoyao as she spoke.
Seeing that Qin Xiaoyao was ignoring her and was looking at the rooms instead, she turned her gaze to Song Que.
When she saw Song Que’s face, she went into a daze.
It was truly as if a fresh flower was stuck on a heap of cow dung…
Song Que frowned, and this made the woman look away.
He then asked, “Is there a well in the courtyard?”
“Yes, it’s over there!” The woman said hurriedly.
Everyone followed the woman’s finger and saw that there was indeed a well not far away from the wall.
As the courtyard was large, it wouldn’t be easy to locate if one didn’t look carefully.
Qin Xiaoyao saw Song Que’s actions and went forward to assist him, and then they walked towards the well.
The woman and Cao An looked at each other and followed as well.
“Is there a lot of water in your well?” Song Que asked as they walked.
“A lot! Even during the great drought five years ago, my well never lacked water. At that time, many people in the neighborhood came to my house to borrow water!” The woman said hurriedly.
Song Que ignored her.
When he reached the well, he stuck his head out to check the situation inside the well.
“How deep is this well?” He immediately asked.
“How deep?” The woman was stunned.
She thought for a moment and said, “When we were digging the well, our head of the family specifically instructed the workers to dig deeper. Therefore, after they found the source of the spring, they dug a bit further down. The total depth is estimated to be 40 to 50 feet.”
After she finished speaking, the woman looked at Song Que in bewilderment. She didn’t understand why this young man was asking her these questions.
However, seeing that the other party had a good appearance and bearing, she didn’t mind talking to him a little more.
Song Que’s gaze swept across the courtyard, and he saw a drying pole in the courtyard. He estimated the length to be about 40 to 50 feet.
Thus, Song Que said, “Can I borrow your pole to measure it?”
The upcoming drought would be even more severe than the one five years ago.
By that time, most of the wells in town would run out of water. Only the wells that were more than 40 feet deep had a lower chance of drying up.
He was quite satisfied with the size and location of the courtyard dwelling.
If the depth of the well was more than 40 feet, and the price was right, they could consider buying it.
The woman’s face darkened upon hearing this.
She felt that the two people in front of her were joking with her and making fun of her.
Just as she was about to reject him rudely, Cao An walked to her side and pulled her aside.
No one knew what Cao An whispered to the woman, but although the woman’s face was still sullen, she toned down her voice.
“If you want to test, then do it yourself. However, you have to clean up the pole later and put it back.”
“Okay!” Qin Xiaoyao answered quickly.
Then, without waiting for Song Que’s instructions, she ran over to get the drying pole.
After that, she followed Song Que’s instructions and used the pole to measure the depth of the well.
In the end, Qin Xiaoyao submerged the entire pole into the well. Her arm stretched down a bit more before she felt the bottom of the well.
“I can feel the bottom.” Qin Xiaoyao raised her head and looked at Song Que.
Song Que nodded.
“You can get up.”
Qin Xiaoyao finally stood up.
Then, she retrieved the pole, cleaned it up, and returned it to its original position.
The woman didn’t say anything when she saw Qin Xiaoyao’s actions.
Then, she heard Song Que ask, “Is there a cellar?”
The woman frowned and looked at Cao An.
Cao An quickly said, “There’s no cellar. But this courtyard is big, so it’s not a problem to open up a cellar.”
As he spoke, he pointed out a piece of land to Song Que’s attention.
“In the open space over there, you can clear out a space and open up a cellar. No problem at all.”
Qin Xiaoyao walked over at this moment.
“I think it’s fine! It’s not difficult to dig a cellar anyway. When the time comes, I’ll ask my father and brothers to come over and help. It’ll be done in half a day!” she said.
She was quite satisfied with this courtyard dwelling. The main advantage was that the courtyard was large, and the rooms didn’t look small.
Song Que glanced at Qin Xiaoyao and nodded.
He then continued, “Let’s go take a look at the rooms.”
Cao An heaved a sigh of relief and allowed the woman to lead the way.
The woman already appeared extremely impatient, but when she thought about how she had already wasted half a day, she didn’t want to give up halfway.
She could only continue to show the three of them around the house.
In the end, the situation in the rooms was better than what the couple had expected.
The furniture in the bedroom was complete, and two of the rooms even had a desk and a bookshelf.
The hall had good lighting and was wide enough to fit two large tables.
The kitchen was also very spacious, and the variety of cooking utensils was much more than what the Song family had.
Qin Xiaoyao was also very pleased with the storage room, woodshed, and bathroom at the side.
The rooms were big, so they could put lots of stuff inside.
In addition, the bathroom in this house was also partitioned, and the bath area was separated from the lavatory. This made her like it even more.
Therefore, Qin Xiaoyao couldn’t suppress the joy in her heart and asked the woman, “The furniture, cooking utensils, and the like can all be left behind?”
The woman glanced at Qin Xiaoyao in annoyance.
“You can have all of them, but there’s an extra 10 taels,” she said.
Qin Xiaoyao’s expression turned somewhat cold as she looked at Song Que, seeking his opinion.
Seeing Song Que nod at her, she then turned to look at the woman.
“230 taels of silver, as well as everything in this courtyard dwelling,” she said.
The woman was shocked.
She didn’t expect that Qin Xiaoyao would really buy it.
Her attitude became much better instantly.
“That won’t do! Our previous selling price was 240 taels. Now that I’m throwing in the furniture, how can the price be lower by ten taels?”
Qin Xiaoyao chuckled.
“You’re going to the county city. It’s not convenient to bring so many things with you.”
“Also, these are all used items. It’s not worth it to bring them along, right?”