Shenzhou, Jinxia City.
Time has arrived in December before we know it, and even in the always hot seaside Yancheng, there is a hint of chill in the air.
For the residents of the city, they have seen more changes in just a few months than in half a lifetime. The Secretariat fully fulfilled its promise. Not only did it repair all the houses that were burned down during the invasion of pirates before winter, it also built a large number of new-style residences.
These neat row houses are beautiful and grand, spread out one after another along the street, making the originally somewhat empty inner city become much denser and more compact.
In particular, the section from the river dock in the north of the city to the East Affairs Bureau will pass through large factories, machinery bureaus and residential areas. Any outsider who sees this street scene can feel the excitement emanating from this city. Surging vitality.
As a result, the number of shops and pedestrians on the street increased significantly.
Even though winter has officially entered, business and trade still seems to show no signs of slowing down. At this time in the past, there were often only two things available on the market, one was expensive charcoal, and the other was equally expensive meat. The former needs to compete with the salt boiling factory, while the latter is a must-have item for the New Year.
But this year that situation has changed.
First of all, the price of charcoal is very low, and you can buy it by the basket with a copper plate. Secondly, there are also a lot of fresh seafood in the meat market. Although it is not as good as the New Year flavor compared to pork, sheep and beef, it also suppresses the red meat in disguise. The price of meat.
In addition to these two types of goods, there are still a wide range of other goods - from fabrics to ready-made clothes, shoes and socks, from paper, pen and ink to various daily utensils. No one wants to close the store early. It was as if the wallets in the pockets of residents swelled overnight, and there were always people visiting the market area. Faced with this change, businessmen also postponed their plans to close their stalls for the New Year, hoping to make more money.
However, the difference that makes the local people feel the most is the price of salt in Yancheng.
After the fall of the Wang family, there was a saying among the neighbors that the salt production could not keep up and the price of salt might skyrocket. Coupled with the closure of the salt boiling plant, this rumor has been further fueled.
Until the Secretariat itself openly sold salt.
The price of salt was only a quarter of the usual price, and anyone could buy a bag. The good news spread throughout the city in an instant. At this moment, people really believed that the new salt field on the east coast was not a lie, and after the Secretariat released the list of salt field workers, the number of applicants quickly filled the limit.
The story of Yancheng people being unable to afford salt has since become history.
These changes made the Secretariat's reputation unprecedentedly high. Everyone understood that it was not the government office that brought these benefits, but the princess living in Fengyang Villa and her representative Xia Fucheng.
Nowadays, the first thing newly moved residents hear from their neighbors are the anecdotes of these two people.
Of course, it is not only ordinary people in Jinxia City who are affected by the changes, Xia Fan himself is also included.
At the princess's strong suggestion, he moved out of the alchemist's dormitory where he was originally located and moved into a new house in the south of the city.
Ning Wanjun's original words were: "I don't mind you living in the villa permanently, but as the person in charge of the Privy Council and the Secretariat, I shouldn't even have a mansion of my own. If I tell you, it will only lose my face." . The south part of the city itself is a place where officials and wealthy businessmen gather. Now that there are so many empty places, you can just pick a house by yourself. You can build it yourself."
So Xia Fan had a permanent home for the first time.
He did not choose the residences of the officials, but chose to rebuild them - each of those mansions covered an area of dozens of acres, with landscape bridges in the garden and seven or eight houses. They seemed very grand, but they did not have dozens of servants to take care of them. Don't come. Therefore, he directly razed a large courtyard and used part of it as the base of his own residence, and built a "large flat" with an area of about 200 square meters on top of it. Adding the area of the front yard and back yard, the overall area was almost close to Five hundred square meters.
According to the views of this era, although the mansion with less than an acre of land could not be called grand, it was already an extremely spacious home for Xia Fan.
After the housewarming party, he and Li moved into their new home.
Shanhui was arranged to live in a house across the street, so they could take care of each other.
"I thought you would let me live opposite or next door." Li looked around at the new house, and her brisk tone undoubtedly showed that she was in a good mood at the moment.
"If you want to have a space to be alone." Xia Fan walked to a copper pipe, pressed his hands on the surface, and performed the seismic technique. "But the door of this house is open to you at any time."
"There's no need to go to so much trouble, just arrange it as you do now." Li also followed over and asked curiously, "What is this?"
"A heating device, commonly known as floor heating, can maintain a comfortable temperature in the house without burning charcoal." Xia Fan said with a smile. Although Jinxia City is a southern city and the average temperature is not low, due to its proximity to the sea, the humidity is quite heavy, which is a magical attack that ordinary clothes and bedding cannot withstand. Therefore, at the beginning of construction, he considered the need for independent heating.
A few copper pipes, fine sand filled in the bottom of the house, and wooden floors throughout the house formed a simple and reliable heating device. This set of floor heating does not require a water pump to maintain warm water operation. The heating method is electric heating. Apart from the need to artificially raise the temperature once a day, there are no other disadvantages.
"I see," Li immediately understood its principle. "It's the same as the stone chamber where you made the salt water, right?"
"Smart." Xia Fan praised. The reason why he spent so much effort on doing this was simple: he didn't want the fox demon in winter to be wrapped up in three layers outside, so that when he returned home, he could still appreciate the whole picture of the other party.
What's more, as soon as you get to the house, you can take off your shoes and run around barefoot, which is an extremely pleasant thing in itself.
"What is this bench?" Li turned to look at the deerskin sofa in the living room, ran over and touched it, "It feels so soft!"
"It's stuffed with cotton, so it's fluffy. The same goes for the bed, by the way."
"You really know how to enjoy it." The fox demon lay down and stretched out, "It's so comfortable... Is this news that only the listener can know?"
"Probably." Xia Fan was too lazy to explain that he was not a listener. "By the way," he cleared his throat, "there is something more comfortable, but it requires someone's help to complete it."
"Oh? What?"
He took out a box from his pocket and opened it, revealing several thin needles and pom-poms inside.
"Put this in your ears to clean out earwax. I heard it's ten times more comfortable than scratching an itch."
"Are you sure? I've never tried it... What if I stab your ear?"
"How about I give you a demonstration first."
Li suddenly tilted his head, with a smile on his lips, "I said, you are just looking for an excuse to touch my ears, right?"
Xia Fan's expression froze. Was his intention actually seen through
Indeed, it had been several months since Li agreed to let him pet his tail, and he often thought about how to go further - but after all, the ears were on the top of his head, and it was always inappropriate to speak directly. If he was rejected, it would undoubtedly be a blow, so he I came up with a method of curve research and used my ears to achieve breakthroughs.
Unexpectedly, his idea was clearly understood by the other party before it was implemented.
"Actually, you don't need to make so many excuses. I know you are curious about demons, which is not a bad thing..." Li lay down and said, "So it's okay, just do what you want."