A man travels through time and becomes a widow, only wanting to pursue a career

Master Zhan rented the smallest courtyard with one entrance.

Chen Changsheng held on to the rope, and the ox cart stopped at the entrance of the yard.

Master Zhan got down from the car, held up his hands and said, "Madam, please give me a ride today. I live alone in this courtyard, and it is not convenient for you, Mrs. Chen, to come in for a cup of tea. I can only ask my wife to wait outside the door for a while." , wait for me to unload the things first."

"Master Zhan, you're welcome."

Chen Changsheng was waiting outside the door. She looked at the area carefully. The area in front of her was a slightly dilapidated official building, and the walls of several courtyards had even collapsed.

If you encounter any thieves, they can just climb over the wall and get in, which is not very safe.

In the Dasheng Dynasty, renting a house was not a rare thing. There were many people renting houses, ranging from court officials to ordinary people.

Houses for rent are divided into official houses, private houses and temple rentals.

The houses rented out by the government are called official houses, which are similar to modern low-rent houses and public rental houses. They are equipped with the most basic living facilities and the rent is relatively low.

Compared with official houses, private houses are a bit like modern commercial houses, with more complete living facilities. The prices of renting and buying houses are often higher, which prohibits many ordinary people.

The government has specially set up shop and housekeeping services, which are responsible for the construction, leasing, management and repair of official houses.

The area where Mr. Zhan rented was the official residence.

He unloaded all the things from the cart and said gratefully to Chen Changsheng, "If it hadn't been for Mrs. Chen's help today, I don't know how long it would have taken me to finish moving everything here."

Chen Changsheng smiled slightly and said, "Master, you're welcome. Master, I won't open a bookstore now. What are your plans for the future?"

Master Zhan said, "I will continue to teach at the Liang family for the time being. It is always enough to earn rent and food money every month. In my spare time, I will look for a suitable location to set up a school. The current rented yard is too small after all." It’s not suitable for running a school.”

The teaching fees Liang Shiqiu gave him were not small. Not only could he afford the rent of the yard and food, but there was also some surplus. In addition, he had accumulated some savings over the years.

Chen Changsheng nodded.

While the two were talking, they heard someone calling Chen Changsheng's name.

"Mrs. Chen?"

Following the sound, Chen Changsheng saw a familiar face, Bai Xiao, the magistrate of Baishui County, accompanied by a servant and several official servants.

"Magistrate Bai."

She gave a slight salute.

Master Zhan also looked at Bai Xiao. Although he was no longer in officialdom, he had heard that a new county magistrate had arrived.

Bai Xiao and others approached.

He and several housekeepers from the store went to various rental areas in the city to check on the status of official housing. Bai Xiao asked, "Why is Mrs. Chen here?"

"I'm here to ask Mr. Zhan to help write a kiln management charter." Chen Changsheng took out the charter from his arms, "Last time, I went to the county magistrate to go through the land deed formalities. Three brick kilns have been built on that land. Construction will officially start soon.”

Bai Xiao remembered that he had written a letter to Chen Changsheng to help find a master worker.

"Except for the one brick kiln in Baishui County, your Chenjia Village is the second one. Speaking of which, it is the first kiln after I took office. Mrs. Chen, how much bricks does your kiln produce?"

Chen Changsheng recalled for a while and said, "The master who helped me build the kiln factory said that one kiln can produce 200,000 bricks, and if three kilns are started at the same time, they can produce 600,000 bricks."

Bai Xiao asked smoothly, "Then have you thought about the way out of those bricks?"

"The owner of the kiln in the county burns blue bricks, and the owner of my kiln burns red bricks. There is no conflict between the two families. I was thinking..."

Her plan is to go to the wealthy villages and towns around Chenjiacun to look for markets.

Before Chen Changsheng could finish speaking, Bai Xiao interrupted, "Mrs. Chen, why don't you sell your red bricks to the government?"

The dozen official buildings under the county government are all built with red bricks, which are inferior to the private houses built with blue bricks.

Bai Xiao inspected several official buildings in the morning. Either the courtyard walls had fallen down or the roofs had collapsed. There were many places that needed repairs.

The store's housekeeper reported back that if it were to be repaired, at least half a million red bricks would be needed.

The kiln factory in the county town does not produce red bricks. Even if they do, one penny only costs two red bricks, and half a million bricks is equivalent to 250 taels of silver. In addition to the shipping fee, there are no more than 300 taels of silver.

The county government does have treasury money, plus the rent received from the government office over the years, so I don't have to worry about money. I just worry about where to get such a large number of red bricks.

I happened to hear that Chen Changsheng had built a brick kiln there. Isn't it a coincidence?

"Sold to the government?" Chen Changsheng asked doubtfully, "Does County Magistrate Bai want to repair the official residence?"

Bai Xiao nodded, "Exactly. Due to the locust plague in the north, some people will go south recently. Jiangzhou Prefecture is only separated from the north by a river, and our Baishui County is located at the northernmost point of Jiangzhou Prefecture. There should be many people coming by then. .

I am going to renovate the official buildings, and also build a batch of official rooms with better facilities, which will be leased to wealthy businessmen in the north. "

Those wealthy businessmen who come to the south to do business or live temporarily in the south have high requirements for the quality of their houses, so they must not only build them, but also build them well.

After hearing this, Chen Changsheng realized that the sales were good.

She quickly mentally calculated the price of the bricks.

If the price is the same as in the city, there is no need for the county government to buy it from here. If the price is too low, there will be no profit for itself, and the government always likes to postpone the loan when doing business.

Seeing that she was silent, Bai Xiao added, "Don't worry, the money will definitely be enough for you. It's just that I want more bricks. Mrs. Chen, the price of bricks in your kiln should be cheaper for me." .”

Master Zhan watched the two of them talking to each other, and couldn't help but say, "Magistrate Bai and Mrs. Chen have something serious to say, so why don't they go to my house to sit down and talk in detail. Although my yard is simple, there is still tea." "

Only then did Bai Xiao notice Master Zhan beside him. He raised his eyebrows slightly and asked tentatively, "Sir, are you Mr. Zhan Jin?"

Master Zhan's eyes flashed suddenly, "It's me."

Ever since I resigned and returned to my hometown, I haven't heard anyone call me Zhan Ge old for how many years.

Bai Xiao immediately bowed his hands and said respectfully, "Junior Bai Xiao pays homage to Mr. Zhan Ge. I have heard the name of Mr. Zhan Jinge for a long time. I didn't expect that today I would meet Mr. Ge in the place under the jurisdiction of the junior. I didn't expect that Mr. Ge would actually rent a government house. .”