NOVEL NEXT Chapter 82: Renting
Chapter 82: Renting
While Xu Lian and Lin Wan were on their way to First Street in the carriage, Xu Lian’s white cat clone had just left House A residence.
As expected, the moment the white cat clone stepped out of the barrier, it felt the sharp gaze of many onlookers observing from the shadows.
The white cat clone walked along First Street with a casual, unapologetic stride. The cultivators walking along First Street quickly stepped aside, bowing and clasping their hands in a respectful gesture.
As the white cat clone reached the gate of the First Street Barrier, the guards stood up straight, remembering the inspector’s earlier instructions.
“Go and buy me some ink and writing utensils.”
The white cat clone instructed the head guard.
The chief guard paused for a moment, but quickly replied, “Yes, sir,” and hurried out to complete the task.
Soon, the guard returned with a large pile of ink, brushes, paper, and inkstones.
The white cat clone had only asked for “a little ink and writing materials,” but the head guard had not dared to buy just a little – he had bought a large stack instead.
“Grind it.”
The white cat clone lifted a small paw and picked up a wolf hair brush.
The Leader hurriedly spread out the paper and began to rub the ink, unsure what the inspector would write.
The white cat clone dipped the brush into the ink and was about to start writing when it suddenly remembered a question. “How much should I charge to rent House A Residence?”
The lead guard froze for a moment. House A Residence… for rent?
The other guards and the cultivators who came in and out of the gate looked at each other, their expressions full of confusion.
The lead guard snapped out of his daze. “I report to you, sir, that the residences on First Street are divided into four categories based on spiritual density: A, B, C, and D.
The C and D categories are usually rented to small, wealthy families or cultivators with a little wealth. The daily rent for a single room in these categories ranges from 3 to 5 spirit stones.
Category A and B houses are usually bought by large families or powerful cultivators for their own use, and they aren’t usually rented out. However, if one were to rent them out, the daily rent for a single room would be 8 Spirit Stones.
Since your residence is House A, which has the highest spiritual density in the whole of First Street, the daily rent for a single room could easily reach 10 spirit stones.”
Ten spirit stones per day for a single room? The white cat clone recalled how its main body had painstakingly obtained more than thirty spirit stones from the county magistrate… Renting a single room at House A Residence would use them all up in just three days.
Renting for only two and a half days… a condensation pill would be gone.
This price was undoubtedly extremely expensive.
Ordinary people could never afford it.
As for the wealthy families, they would have already bought houses on First Street and wouldn’t need to rent.
So who would be willing to pay ten spirit stones a day to rent a single room in House A Residence?
“If it doesn’t rent out, how am I supposed to collect the rent?”
The white cat clone decided to slightly lower the rent to make it easier to lease out.
However, upon further reflection, Xu Lian realized that given his identity as an inspector, some people might actually be willing to spend ten Spirit Stones every day to rent a single room in House A’s residence just to flatter him or get close to him.
With this in mind, the white cat clone immediately wrote on the paper: “House A Residence for rent, single room, daily price 15 Spirit Stones”.
The lead guard holding the paper stared in disbelief. Even though it was Jia No. 1 Residence, the price of 15 Spirit Stones per day for a single room was outrageous – who would be foolish enough to pay such a price?
Power and influence were priceless… The white cat clone didn’t feel the need to explain himself to the chief guard. With its identity as the Censor, anyone wanting to curry favor or get close would have to show some sincerity. For these wealthy families, paying 15 spirit stones a day wouldn’t be too expensive.
“Post it on the door,” the white cat clone instructed before leaving.
It retraced its steps, opened the barrier, returned to Jia No. 1 Residence, and closed the barrier, cutting off the outside world’s gaze.
The news of Jia No. 1 Residence’s rent advertisement spread like wildfire, causing a stir in the entire First Street!
The wealthy families and cultivators on First Street were all speculating about the censor’s true intentions. Surely, with his status, he wouldn’t lack spirit stones, right? So what was the meaning of this unusual rental notice?
What kind of message was being sent?
What actions might the Censor take next?
The slightest movement of a great figure always seemed so profound and difficult to interpret.
But what they didn’t know was that the real answer, the one they had all dismissed, was this: The Censor was simply doing this to earn spirit stones.
Meanwhile, while everyone on First Street was focused on the rent notice on the door, Xu Lian and Lin Wan arrived.
Lin Wan led him into First Street and went to the rental registration office. “The requirements for renting a spiritual residence here are quite strict. Even if someone has spirit stones, they can’t rent until their identity is verified.”
Lin Wan took out the family head’s token. “When I came, my father specifically asked me to bring this token to confirm my identity. It is much easier for a well-known family like ours in Pingyang County to rent a spiritual residence.”
As they passed a pile of trash, Xu Lian bent down slightly, picked something up, and casually tucked it into his sleeve.
Lin Wan stopped. “What did you pick up?”
“It’s nothing.” Xu Lian smiled. This was the delivery location – who could have predicted that when the white cat clone passed by here, something would fall out of its storage bag, and who would have thought that a young man on his way to rent a spiritual residence would pick it up?
Lin Wan didn’t push the matter any further and led Xu Lian to the rental office, where they rented a single room in a C-class dwelling for one day for the price of 3 Spirit Stones.
Naturally, Xu Lian didn’t want Lin Wan to pay the Spirit Stones, so he paid the 3 Spirit Stones himself.
“This is it,” Lin Wan said as she took the number plate and led him to the C-class residence.
When Xu Lian saw the house, he couldn’t help but notice that it had eight rooms, with several people crowded together in each one, all cultivating.
It seemed that when the Lin family rented a spiritual residence before, they probably only rented one room, with the entire family using it for cultivation. That way, they could save on spirit stones.
“This one.”
Lin Wan and Xu Lian entered the rented room and closed the door.
Lin Wan was about to focus on her cultivation, not wanting to waste the 3 Spirit Stones, but she noticed Xu Lian’s eager gaze and suddenly her face flushed. Could it be that Xu Lian wanted to do something else here?
Actually, Xu Lian thought that the journey from Third Street to First Street was too short.
As a result, the 3 Spirit Stones were wasted for no reason…
There was no time for cultivation.
The next day.
Xu Lian and Lin Wan went to the rental office, returned the room key, left First Street, and rented a carriage back to the Lin family.
Feeling a bit heartbroken, Lin Wan slightly gritted her teeth and whispered, “There was no need to waste Spirit Stones. Isn’t it the same at home?”
“It’s not the same.”
Xu Lian didn’t care at all. Now, 3 Spirit Stones were nothing to him, and most importantly, it was worth it.
He had noticed that Lin Wan’s favorability towards him had increased to 80/100. That was more than worth it.
Back to the Lin family.
The two of them separated as there was no public acknowledgment of their relationship, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to stay together just yet.
Xu Lian returned to the guest room of the side courtyard. Eagerly, he took out a cloth bundle from his sleeve and unwrapped it to reveal neatly stacked Spirit Stones.
Each spirit stone was only the size of a fingernail, so there must be quite a few in there!
He counted carefully – exactly two thousand Spirit Stones.
If one Condensation Pill cost 24 spirit stones, this amount would be enough to buy about 80 pills!
“In order to reach the second level of Bright Strength, I need two Condensation Pills. Using an arithmetic progression, I would need three pills to reach the third level, four pills to reach the fourth level… and nine pills to reach the ninth level. In total, I would need 44 pills, which is more than enough and still leaves me with some Spirit Stones.
If I calculate according to a geometric progression, the third level of Bright Strength would require four pills, the fourth level would require eight, the fifth level would require sixteen, the sixth would require thirty-two, the seventh would require sixty-four, the eighth would require 128, and the ninth would require 256 pills. In total, this would require 508 pills.”
Xu Lian quickly did the math in his head, and his excitement instantly evaporated.
According to the number of materials required based on the geometric progression, reaching the tenth level would require over a thousand Condensation Pills. With the two thousand Spirit Stones he had, which could only buy 80 Condensation Pills, it was nowhere near enough.
Spirit Stones.
He would need a vast number of them!
There was no doubt that after the Bright Strength stage, the materials needed would be even more valuable. With just these two thousand Spirit Stones, he might not even be able to reach the top of the Bright Strength stage, let alone higher stages.