I just want to live a good life

Chapter 177 The Thief Climbing Over the Wall

Talking about risking one's life for military merit, it broke Mrs. Xia's heart.

As a wife and a mother, she would rather have no wars and no military achievements than let her husband and sons go to the battlefield.

After a brief silence, Mrs. Xia finally spoke: "No one in our family has ever done business. We don't know how to open a shop all of a sudden!"

"Don't you still have me? I can help you open the shop!"

Su Nuan replied eagerly.

As a powerful family in the imperial city, the Xia family can be considered poor. She made some money from her business, but it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish. It would be better for her to help them find ways to make money than to give them money directly.

"Then you can help me open a shop. I also want to make some money on my own."

"Mom, what about me and my sister-in-law?" Nie asked hurriedly.

"Open them all, let's make money together."

"Yan'er, mother will open two rooms and leave one for the third son's wife."

"I don't know where my third brother's wife is yet, so mother should find him a proper wife first."

"Yes, little sister, you have a lot of contacts now, so help third brother to look for someone."

"Hey, where's the third brother?"

Everyone looked around, but Xia Changze was no longer in the main hall.

Mrs. Xia took out all the land deeds of the Xia family and showed them to Su Nuan. Most of these lands were wastelands outside the imperial city. No one cultivated them and they could not be rented out.

As Su Nuan looked at the scene, she cursed the emperor in her heart for being so cunning. Using this kind of land as a reward would gain him a good reputation and wouldn't cost much money.

But wasteland also has its advantages. Maybe you can grow some rare vegetables there.

She copied down the locations of several wastelands and planned to go out of the city to check them out tomorrow.

The Xia family has two plots of land in the imperial city, one with two courtyards in the south city, and the other a shop in the west city.

The yard is empty and the shop is rented out.

This is all the Xia family’s assets.

Su Nuan felt a headache when holding these land deeds. The great general's mansion had such a small fortune. All the assets added together were not as much as the property of the concubines of the powerful families.

The two plots of land in the imperial city were worth some money, but the Xia family did not make good use of them. The good yards were left empty, not only did they not generate any income, but they also had to send people to clean and repair them every year.

Although the shop has been rented out, the rent is not high.

Su Nuan felt that she should personally visit these two places before planning their use.

She is a decisive person and will put her ideas into practice as soon as she has them.

After lunch, she took Mrs. Xia and her two sisters-in-law to the south city to see the courtyard.

The yard is good, but the location is a bit bad. The surrounding area is a mixed place with all kinds of people.

As soon as Su Nuan and others got off the carriage, they attracted the attention of people around them.

The housekeeper of the Xia Mansion came with the key to open the door. As the door opened, an exquisite courtyard appeared in front of Su Nuan.

The yard is clean and tidy, with neatly trimmed flowers and plants, and you won't know at all that this is an empty yard with no one living there.

"Does the mansion often come to clean?"

As they walked towards the main house, Su Nuan asked the housekeeper.

The housekeeper replied, "Madam Concubine, this courtyard is usually not visited by many people. Before the rainy season, I will have people come to repair it and clean it up. During the New Year, I will send people to post couplets and clean it up as well."

"Then this yard is a little too clean."

After entering the main house, Su Nuan had this feeling even stronger. The house was so clean that it seemed as if someone cleaned it every day.

Suddenly, there was a noise from the rear window. Everyone looked up and saw a figure jumping out of the window.

"who?"

Madam Xia spoke first.

Then the Xia family's housekeeper and the servants ran over to check the situation.

"Ma'am, it seems someone jumped over the wall from the backyard and ran away."

"This room is so clean, could that person have been living here all along?"

Nie patted his chest with a look of panic.

A moment later, the housekeeper came back with the servants, "Madam, that man went over the wall and disappeared."

Madam Xia said, "Look at how he climbed out the window, so he must be skilled in martial arts. Take someone to report to the police and tell them that there's a thief in the yard."

"Don't report to the police." Su Nuan spoke out to stop them.

Everyone looked at her, and Madam Xia asked her, "Why can't you report it to the authorities?"

"We want to rent out this yard. It will be difficult to rent it out after reporting it to the authorities. I think the man just now must have seen that this yard was empty and came to live here. If someone moves in, he will definitely not dare to come again."

Yu agreed, "What my little sister said makes sense. No one comes to this yard all year round. The thief must have seen an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he quietly moved in. Once the yard is rented out, he will naturally stop coming."

"But......"

"Mom, don't worry about it. We are here to make money today. Let's not bother with a thief passing by."

Su Nuan tried her best to persuade.

Mrs. Xia thought about it and finally agreed with Su Nuan's opinion.

Everyone continued to check the yard. There were signs that someone had lived there, but nothing was damaged, so no one cared.

Su Nuan took advantage of no one's attention and walked to the window that someone had just jumped over. She found a small note on the window sill outside the window. She quietly put the note into her sleeve pocket.

Afterwards, the housekeeper found a renter and rented the yard out to the renter.

After the work was done, everyone returned home.

"Did you see anyone climbing over the wall in this yard just now?"

Su Nuan walked to her carriage and asked Falcon. The housekeeper and servants of the Xia Mansion only knew some basic skills and could not catch up with the person, but that did not mean that Falcon could not catch up with him.

"My Lady Concubine, I was afraid that someone had lured the tiger away from the mountain, so I didn't dare to chase him."

Su Nuan breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Falcon say this, but Falcon's next words made her heart hang in the balance.

"Don't worry, Concubine. I have already sent out a signal and asked someone to chase them."

After laughing dryly twice, Su Nuan said dryly: "I'm not worried, he's just a little thief."

"I dare not be careless. If it is just a petty thief, that would be great. But if he is targeting the concubine, we must not let him get away."

Su Nuan was anxious, but she didn't dare show it on her face.

"My Lady Concubine, let's go back to the mansion first!"

Su Nuan got on the carriage helplessly.

With Chunliu around, Su Nuan didn't feel comfortable taking out the note to read it. When she passed by a snack shop, she asked Chunliu to buy candied fruit, and then she secretly read the note. There was only one line of words on it: "Tomorrow afternoon, Liangyi Zhai".

The handwriting was a little sloppy, as if it was written in a hurry.

Su Nuan only saw the back of that person just now, but she was very familiar with that back, it was Ying Shu who had disappeared for a while.

She didn't know whether Ying Shu was secretly living in the Xia family's courtyard or appeared just to give her this note.

But none of this matters. What matters is that she wants to see Ying Shu and she has questions to ask him.

After returning to the Prince's Mansion, Su Nuan got off the carriage and asked Falcon when he would receive the result after sending out the signal to catch the thief. Falcon promised to tell her as soon as he had any news.

Su Nuan then returned to Duiyueju with a heavy heart.