Chapter 306: House Hunting
Hui Yue was curious about where Cai Jie had gone, but deep inside he was confident that his newfound friend would return so instead, he smiled with excitement as he thought about buying a house of his own once again. Setting up a base within Muchuan City, he would have a place where he could train to become stronger. Struggle made one grow stronger and currently he had a lot of struggles ahead of him. His original plan had been to live a low-key life in the capital, but now he knew that this would be impossible.
To think that all the nobles knew about him being the Grand Marshall of the beast army was something that would make it impossible to be low key. He would have all the families of stature within the city observing his every move, and he could not expect to be able to hide anything. Another reason that he could not be low key was because of Deng Wu and Wang Ju Long. These two friends hoped for Hui Yue to do something about the third prince, and for that reason alone he could not stay unknown.
“Don’t think too much about us,” Deng Wu said suddenly as he looked at Hui Yue with a smile on his face. “The fact that you have returned is enough for us. Rushing to get revenge will just cause us to fail. I would rather you take things slow and calmly find a way to deal with him. Both Wang Ju Long and I will keep working hard so that we won’t drag you down.”
“I know, don’t worry,” Hui Yue said with a smile on his face. “Take me to the place where I can purchase a house,” He continued, and Deng Wu nodded his head. Leaving the house, Hui Yue was not getting any less attention walking beside Deng Wu than when he was walking around with Cai Jie. All three of them were oddities, different from the norm, and due to this many were certain that these two people had the blood of magical beasts running through their veins. This caused many to both despise and also fear the two men. The commoners’ fear was present despite them being unaware of Hui Yue’s part in the battle over the Siban Empire.
Walking through town, Hui Yue enjoyed the peaceful, bustling city around him. No beasts, no fighting, no crusaders. This was a busy city filled with citizens who had their chores, their busy schedules, their work, and their everyday life to live. Being apart of this stressful environment, Hui Yue felt as though he was back home. Although he originated from the small village, he had lived in Hong Kong during his previous life, in a city filled with millions of people. When he moved to Riluo City he felt at home, but after leaving it, he had traveled constantly. This constant travel had made him weary, and to now once more settle down in a city, Hui Yue felt elated.
“The houses here in Muchuan City are quite expensive. You need to be willing to pay at least a couple hundred spirit coins, but the mansions are far greater than the ones you would see back in Riluo City. When you purchase a home here in Muchuan, you often buy the staff with it. This includes everything from guards to chefs to maids to gardeners. Although you can later choose to change all of it, most people do not bother. It does not matter which maids you want or which guards you buy, all of them will still sell information to Gao Yan. Everyone knows that.” Deng Wu explained as they walked through town, and Hui Yue nodded while hearing this. For him, it was beneficial to have a full staff following the purchase as he could not be bothered to do all that afterwards.
The walk with Deng Wu was far shorter than when they had gone to the poorer ends of town to find the Black Lion because the building where the houses were sold was located within the high-class housing district. Hui Yue assumed that there were more than one of this kind of shop, but they each specialized in houses in their own district. The house was a massive building built from marble. The first floor had a lot of desks with clerks present. Looking around, Hui Yue was slightly confused. He had expected the place to be filled with images and real estate agents, but instead Deng Wu took him by the arm and led him towards one of these clerks. Around half of them were occupied with customers. Some had memory stones in front of them while others were looking through memory stones the clerks had shown them.
Heading to one of the desks, Hui Yue looked around everywhere, but he still was somewhat uncertain about what he was expected to do so he just followed behind Deng Wu letting the blue-haired man lead them.
“Our young lord wishes to purchase a mansion. It needs to be of a certain size and have a first class location. It needs to have gardens which allow for the young lord to train undisturbed and the mansion has to be fully equipped with servants and guards.”
Looking at Deng Wu, the clerk observed their blue hair and white hair before he gave a snort. It was clear that he saw them as mixed blood; creatures who were not fully human and therefore beneath him. “To purchase something you need to have the coin to back it up. What you requests costs a minimum of three hundred spirit coins. If you can show me that many then I will assist you, but if you are here to just waste my time then please leave instantly.”
This man was no commoner, but he was no noble either. He was not from a great family; instead, he was a merchant who made a decent living for his family. He had never heard about the Grand Marshall of the beast army. He had never needed to hear about it as he was nothing but a clerk in the house shopping district, but his boss was different and as he patrolled the floor he felt his heart go to his throat as he saw a white-haired young man within his shop. Instantly, he rushed towards the desk, and his eyes turned cold as he saw the contempt on the clerk’s face and the amusement in Hui Yue’s eyes.
“My lord!” He called out before he reached them, his voice was loud and his arms spread out ready to embrace the two men he saw. Everyone on the first floor went quiet for some time and looked over at the man. Every clerk was surprised to see their boss with such a polite smile on his face. They were surprised to see him show such friendliness when clearly no noble was within the room. They knew about the nobles of Muchuan City, but looking around, all they saw were merchants who had risen to the upper class through their trade. The only ones they did not know were the blue and white-haired young men, ‘Could they be someone important?’ Thought most people sitting around the area.
“My lords, it is a great honor to see the two of you within my humble store. Is it your intention to settle in Muchuan City? In that case, it will be our honor to help you find the most amazing mansion.” He said, while rubbing his hands and bowing deeply to Hui Yue. As he stood up he noticed that the clerk behind him still had eyes filled with disgust and confusion.
When Hui Yue’s eyes turned far friendlier than they had been before, the shop owner smiled as he led the young man into his office. This entire scene was witnessed by everyone within the shop, and rumors started to float. Rumors about two humans with mixed blood who had the status of lords, even the Lord of Mansions, as he was usually called, treated them as such.
“Please sit down,” The lord said as he gestured towards two chairs in front of his desk and both Hui Yue and Deng Wu sat down eager to hear what exactly he had in mind for the two of them. Having his back turned to them, he started looking through a great many memory stones. Every so often he would pick up one memory stone after another until he had nine in his hands as he moved towards the desk where the two were seated. Placing these memory stones on the table, he gestured for Hui Yue and Deng Wu to look through them, “These are the most amazing properties we have for sale right now,” He said apologetically, “Their price is steep, but they are definitely worth the price. Please have a look.”
Hearing his words Hui Yue shrugged as he picked up one memory stone and placed it on his forehead. A silvery blue light shone forth, and the pictures, floor plans, lists of the servants and guards was present in his mind. Everything flooded into his mind. This particular mansion was a five story tall mansion with a large park in the back. Within the park were trees, ponds, and normal things one would find at a park. The building itself was fairly old but well maintained. It was built in the pagoda style of years ago that was popular, and the top tier was meant for servants. The fourth and third floor were suites for the owner and their family or guests, while the second floor was filled with libraries, offices, and so on. The ground floor had kitchens, a dining hall, and an entrance hall. All in all, Hui Yue was quite astonished by this building. He liked the location. It was placed on Castle Avenue, the road leading to the royal castle and the park seemed perfect for training. Although Hui Yue was taken in by the mansion, he still wanted to look through the other properties.
One mansion was too small; another was in a bad location. One was massive, but it would be a long time before the family who lived there currently could move out. No matter which one of the mansions he looked at, Hui Yue was constantly thinking about the first mansion. After looking through all nine, he looked at Deng Wu to see which one he preferred, “I would go for the pagoda one.” He said, voicing Hui Yue’s decision and the young man nodded his head.
“We will take the pagoda mansion with the large park behind it.” He said as he picked up his golden memory stone containing all his spirit coins. Hearing this, the seller was incredibly excited. The mansion had been up for sale for a long time, but no one had purchased it as the price was really too extravagant. Having a massive park in the middle of town was something which cost an enormous sum of money, and while the mansion was large, it was not large enough to contain a major family. It was really meant for a person or a small group of people.
Feeling that he was starting to sweat, the man found the papers which needed to be signed. Looking at the documents, Hui Yue saw that the house itself cost four hundred and seventy-five spirit coins, a high price for something as small as this house. Without contemplating Hui Yue withdrew that amount of spirit coins from his golden memory stone and placed them on the table. Seeing the ease with which these coins were taken out, the Lord of Mansions felt his throat go dry, and he had to swallow a few times before he could say anything, “Uhm, yes; that is good.” He said as he was fully shocked by seeing someone walk around with such wealth. Usually, families would need time to gather and bring such an amount of money, yet here was this youth who paid instantly like it was nothing.
