Fang Er paid them no mind, re-wrapped the ingots, and slung them over his shoulder.
Then, he took the horse reins from Zhu and mounted.
"Uncle Zhang, watch the house. Wait for my news. Zhu, let's go!"
Zhu and two other house servants quickly got on their horses.
Four people, four horses, they galloped out of the manor.
They sped along the main road.
They had run for about seven or eight li.
Fang Er suddenly remembered.
Damn it, he didn't know the way!
"Zhu, which way to Chang'an City?"
"Young master, we're going to Chang'an? Then we've gone the wrong way, we should be heading south!"
Zhu wanted to laugh but dared not, his face turning red from holding it in.
The other two servants also lowered their heads, their shoulders shaking.
Clearly, they were struggling to suppress their laughter.
Fang Er felt embarrassed.
Annoyed, he said, "Laugh if you want, just lead the way quickly!"
Zhu finally couldn't hold back.
He pulled his horse's head and turned back the way they came.
The horses ran, and the people laughed.
Listening to Zhu's laughter,
Fang Er felt even more embarrassed.
This was ridiculous.
Not only had they gone the wrong way,
They had run in the complete opposite direction.
The four of them ran back another seven or eight li.
They took a turn at the fork at the entrance of the manor and continued.
Fortunately, they didn't pass through the manor itself, or they would have lost face completely.
After about half an hour of riding,
After crossing the Wei River, they saw a city wall in the distance at the end of the road.
The dark city wall looked very thick and majestic.
The four of them dismounted, and Zhu took Fang Er's reins.
"Young master, this is Chang'an City. Ahead is Kaiyuan Gate, and you can directly reach the Imperial Palace. Shall we go and take a look?"
"What? You want to go into the Imperial Palace?"
Fang Er was amused.
"In later generations, you could buy a ticket and go in anywhere, but now, unless you are a court minister or have something missing, you might be able to get in."
"How could that be? We'll just look from afar."
Zhu touched his head and said with a chuckle.
"Let's go to the agency first. After we settle down, then we'll look."
The group entered the city smoothly.
The road was more than ten meters wide; this was Chang'an's main thoroughfare.
There were many vendors selling goods on both sides.
Most of them were food or small household items.
After asking for directions, the four people and four horses arrived at a real estate agency.
A shop assistant was standing at the entrance.
Seeing the four of them, he quickly stepped forward.
"Young master, I am a shop assistant here. Are you looking to buy a house, or to buy servants?"
"Do you have any decent courtyards? Ones that are a bit bigger."
Before Fang Er could speak, Zhu asked while tying the horses to the hitching post in front of the door.
The shop assistant was overjoyed. A courtyard, this was a big business!
He quickly welcomed them into the agency.
It was very large inside, and they casually sat down at a table.
The shop assistant soon brought over a stack of papers, all containing information about courtyards.
"I wonder how large a courtyard the young master wishes to buy? We currently have two three-courtyard houses and several two-courtyard houses for sale. May I ask which type the young master prefers?"
The shop assistant divided the information into two portions and handed them to Fang Er.
"I'll take a look first."
Fang Er took the documents and replied indifferently as he flipped through them.
"Yongning Ward, one residence, two courtyards, seven rooms, occupying eight fen, selling for 800 strings of cash."
"Shenping Ward, one residence, two courtyards, six rooms, occupying eight fen, selling for 750 strings of cash."
"..."
"Yongping Ward, one residence, three courtyards, eleven rooms, occupying one mu and three fen, selling for 2,000 strings of cash."
"Changle Ward, one residence, three courtyards, thirteen rooms, occupying one mu and five fen, selling for 2,600 strings of cash."
After reading through these, Fang Er put down the documents.
"Can you take us to see these two three-courtyard houses?"
"Young master has sharp eyes. These are indeed the two best residences. I'll inform the shopkeeper, and then we'll go see them."
The shop assistant's eyes lit up. A three-courtyard house, even the cheapest one cost over two thousand strings of cash. If the deal went through, he would surely get a good reward.
Before long, the shop assistant returned from inside, leading them towards the residences.
Within the city, horses were not allowed for non-military matters, so they had to hand over their horses to another shop assistant from the agency to look after.
In the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City's overall layout was based on wards.
Similar to modern residential communities, the entire city of Chang'an was divided into many grids.
Each grid was a ward.
There were walls and ward gates between the wards.
During curfew, the ward gates were locked, and entry and exit were prohibited.
Movement was allowed within the ward.
First, they went to the largest three-courtyard residence in Changle Ward.
The entire residence faced north and sat facing south, appearing very grand from the outside.
Fang Er, who had come from later generations, had never seen such a large courtyard.
Even after reaching Grade 8 fitter, he still lived in a two-bedroom apartment allocated by his unit.
The first courtyard had a gatehouse with only an old gatekeeper guarding it.
Seeing them, he didn't inquire further, opened the courtyard gate, and paid them no more attention.
"This house originally belonged to a merchant named Meng. He lost money in business, so he left Chang'an and returned to his hometown, leaving only old Zhang, the gatekeeper, to guard it. Once the house is sold, he will take the money and return to his master," the shop assistant explained to Fang Er nonchalantly.
Fang Er paid it no mind.
Three courtyards meant that besides the main gate, there were two more courtyard gates, making a total of three courtyards.
The front courtyard was a small area outside the main gate, with only the gatehouse.
The middle courtyard housed the main living quarters. On the east side were three rooms: the firewood room, the kitchen, and the storage room. On the west side were also three rooms, serving as guest rooms or children's rooms.
Facing the gate of the second courtyard were three main rooms, serving as the reception hall and master bedroom.
Upon reaching the third courtyard, there was a row of four servants' rooms.
The courtyard was vast, about the size of a basketball court.
There were also several large ceramic vats, each planted with various green plants, and one even contained a few red carp.
Fang Er did not comment on whether it was suitable and directly asked the shop assistant to take him to see the residence in Yongping Ward.
The courtyard in Yongping Ward only had eleven rooms, and the courtyard was smaller. The overall layout was similar.
After viewing the houses, they returned to the agency.
As the original owner was in urgent need of money, Fang Er managed to heavily negotiate the price.
After a round of bargaining, Fang Er purchased the first property, the three-courtyard residence in Changle Ward, for two thousand two hundred strings of cash.
One reason was that this residence was sufficiently large.
The other, and most important, reason was its proximity to Chunming Gate. Passing through Chunming Gate meant exiting Chang'an. Furthermore, to the west of Changle Ward was Chang'an's East Market, a prime commercial district.
Another advantage was that Changle Ward was located in the northeastern part of Chang'an. To the north was Daozheng Ward, and beyond Daozheng Ward lay the residential areas of the powerful and wealthy.
After paying a deposit of twenty-five taels of gold and arranging to pay the balance when Uncle Zhang arrived, Fang Er and Zhu led their horses to the newly purchased courtyard.
Standing at the main gate, looking at the vermilion lacquered double doors,
Fang Er was filled with excitement.
They had settled down.
Although the Zhenguan era saw many battles, Chang'an City, in the end, was safe.
"Zhu, stay with me. You two, go back and notify Uncle Zhang to move all the household items here."