Chapter 133

In the morning, Xu Ran went to Xu Houcai to send him the pork. Xu Ran knocked on the door and it was Xu Cheng who opened the door. Xu Ran didn’t speak to Xu Cheng; instead, he went into the house directly and handed the pork to Xu Houcai, “I slaughtered a hog yesterday, dad. Here’s some pork. Please let me know it if you need more.”

Xu Cheng had been watching at the door. Xu Ran would have given Xu Houcai some lucky money, but since Xu Cheng was staring at them, Xu Ran gave up the idea and planned to do it the next time.

Without any hesitation, Xu Ran left.

When he went out, he saw Elder Daddy Xu coming out of another room.

Elder Daddy Xu always scolded Xu Ran when he saw the latter. This time, he immediately cursed, “The short-lived bastard.”

Xu Ran ignored him and went out of the house quickly.

When he got home, he saw that Zhuo Yun was guiding a group of people to move things into his house. Xu Ran walked behind him and patted him, “Are you sending pork to me?”

Zhuo Yun jumped up from the shock caused by Xu Ran. He turned around and found that it was Xu Ran; then he patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

He complained about Xu Ran, “You scared me to death! How can you be so silent! Don’t do that in the early morning! It’s horrible!”

Xu Ran rubbed his nose and replied, “You’re not able to hear my footsteps because you’re shouting too loudly. How can you blame me!”

“Anyway, your house’s quite well-built. It looks more imposing than my house. You must have spent a lot of money on it!”

Xu Ran felt kinda proud of it anf said, “It’s well worth the cost. Go inside and take a look. I promise you will found it nicer.”

Hearing Xu Ran’s words, Zhuo Yun walked inside the house with him.

When they reached the courtyard, Zhuo Yun was stunned. The house had actually two floors, although it seemed to be a single-floored house with a relatively high roof when Zhuo Yun judged from its appearance. The rooms on two floors were arranged neatly and nicely.

There was also a stone table and some stone stools in the yard. Besides, several trees were planted, which could provide cool places in the hot summer.

The house was surrounded by the yard, and there were doors at the front and back of the yard. Zhuo Yun felt he liked it at the very sight of the design of the house. He asked Xu Ran, “Tell me who designed and constructed this house, Ran. I really want a house like it.”

Xu Ran saw Zhuo Yun’s sparkling eyes.

Xu Ran replied, “It was designed by myself and constructed by a construction team I invited from the town.”

Xu Ran continued, “It’s spacious here. You can live here if you intend to cooperate with me to plant fruit trees next year. It would be convenient for you!”

Zhuo Yun thought about it and felt delighted. It must be nice to live here. Most importantly, Qin Shuwen must be happy to live here too, and their baby could play with Xu Ran’s baby. It couldn’t be better! He even wanted to live here now.

While he was excited, Xu Ran patted him. “Alright, wake up please. Let’s talk about it later. Now you should tell me how many hogs you bought, how many people you sent to me and how much bacon and sausage you need?”

The sudden change of the theme of their conversation made Zhuo Yun a little dissatisfied. He pouted, “I bought five hogs and five people over here. As for the bacon and sausage, I’m not sure… it’s up to you!”

Hearing that, Xu Ran felt speechless. ‘Five hogs! Does this guy regard everyone as pigs? He has no idea how much pork it would be! And what does he mean by five people? Five hogs for five people? How naive!’

Seeing that Xu Ran opened his mouth wide when he heard “five hogs”, Zhuo Yun also realized that he had really bought too much. After all, his housekeeper had also persuaded him about that.

He explained to Xu Ran immediately, “Yes, I bought five hogs, but I won’t send all of them to you at once. After you tackle one, I’ll send another to you, okay?”

Xu Ran rolled his eyes angrily, “Could I say no? You’ve bought them. How many hogs have you sent here today?”

Zhuo Yun stretched out a finger. “Just one. My housekeeper said that you wouldn’t have enough place for five hogs, so he advised me to send only one this time.”

Xu Ran breathed a sigh of relief. If five hogs came at once, he would probably throw them outside the door. Although he had a big house, it wasn’t for hogs!

He had only prepared two wooden buckets for the pork. His own hpg took up more than half of a bucket, and the rest empty bucket would be able to contain two hogs at most.

It seemed that he had to borrow more wooden buckets. And he had to manage to protect these pork from burglars. How troublesome!

Xu Ran applied his minds. Meanwhile, Zhuo Yun began to visit Xu Ran’s house.

When Xu Ran came back to his senses, he found some pork had been already piled in his kitchen, and there had been also a pile of hog’s internal organs that had not been treated in a basket.

Next to the pork stood three Ge’ers and two men, and they were people sent by Zhuo Yun.

Looking at the pile of pork, Xu Ran felt a headache. He had just finished his “pork task” yesterday, and he had to continue this task for Zhuo Yun today. Maybe he would still have to deal with pork for a long time, but fortunately, he didn’t have to turn to people like Wu Mei for help.

Xu Ran called Shao Yu over here and asked him to guide these people to work. Besides, he told them about the things they needed in kitchen.

He went to seek for Zhuo Yun and at the same time, arranged rooms for these servants to live.

There were quite a lot of guest rooms and beds, while no enough comforters, so Zhuo Yun would have to send these people’s comforters over here.

Zhuo Yun had already visited each corner of Xu Ran’s house, and then he went to the living room to play chess with Mr. Hu.

Tangtang, Guoguo and Liu Tong watched from the side. Xu Ran had prepared a brazier in their living room for Mr. Hu, Liu Tong and his two children, lest that they would feel cold.

Besides a chair, there was also a summer bed with a soft cotton quilt in the living room for Mr. Hu.

Then, Zhuo Yun sized up the house while playing chess with curiosity on his face.

Xu Ran walked up to Zhuo Yun and told him, “You have to bring something here, Zhuo. Your servants will live here, and I could provide rooms and beds for them, but I don’t have enough quilts. It’s not economical to buy them new quilts because they won’t live here for long. Maybe you can go back to your house and bring their quilts here, or ask your servants to help you do it.”

“OK! I’ll get someone to go back and send their quilts here. I’ll go home after lunch and I’m playing chess with Mr. Hu. You’re busy now, right? Go ahead. Don’t worry about me.”

‘How can this guy speak like a host?’ Xu Ran thought.

Xu Ran’s face darkened, “Don’t forget that I’m the host here, okay? Besides, I have something to ask you. Did your servants bring enough clothes and daily necessities? Did you tell them that they would have to stay here for some time?”

Zhuo Yun shook his head. “Nope. I just told them to pack their things up. Anyway, when they were leaving for your home, everyone had a bag in his hands, but I don’t know the things inside.” Then, Zhuo Yun threw up his hands.

Xu Ran felt angry and somehow, amused. He didn’t expect that Zhuo Yun was so unreliable. Then, he ignored Zhuo Yun and went to find these people by himself.

Xu Ran first went to the kitchen and asked what the five servants had brought with them. Some of them brought nothing but a few clothes, while others had prepared everything. Xu Ran asked those who needed more things to follow him to turn to the carter, who had gone to feed the horse in the stable after removing all the things.

Xu Ran said to the carter, “Could you do me a favor, buddy? These guys will live here for some days, but they didn’t bring enough daily necessities with them, and they don’t have quilts. Could you take the two back and bring their quilts over here?”

The carter said with a smile on his face, “Just call me Ma, Mester Xu. Don’t worry. I’ll go now!”

Xu Ran nodded. “Thanks. Maybe you can have lunch here if you’re quick enough.”

“Alright, let’s go now,” the carter replied Xu Ran and left with the two servants.

It was getting late. Xu Ran went to the kitchen again and asked Shao Yu to deal with the internal organs of the hog with the other three servants. After that, the lunch should be prepared. In fact, there must be enough meat to eat during the winter and lunar November and December. After all, each family would raise hogs, and they would also be invited to eat meat by others.

Ever since Shao Yu came to Xu Ran’s home, the latter hadn’t needed to care about the affairs in the kitchen. He wouldn’t cook meals by himself unless Liu Tong wanted him to do it. Now, Xu Ran would be more free, as he had more helpers.

After telling Shao Yu to prepare the lunch, Xu Ran went to the living room to find Liu Tong, and then he took Zhuo Yun’s servants to their rooms.

It is no problem for two men to live in the same room, but it would be inappropriate for three Ge’ers to share one room. However, they might feel scared if they lived alone. After all, they were quite young, and the room in this house was painted with white, which made the room look emptier.

Finally, Xu Ran and Liu Tong discussed it and let the three Ge’ers live in one room. They assigned a larger room with a bigger bed, which was enough for the three.

Then, Xu Ran asked Zhuo Yun to check the rooms for proving to the latter that Xu Ran was quite nice to his servants.

Zhuo Yun said that these servants lived in an even better place than he did.

Looking at the room with only a bed and a window, Xu Ran found no words to refute.