allonlinenovel Chapter 9 Renting a House
Chapter 9 Renting a House
The old locust tree spirit nodded as it looked at the words on the paper, then neatly wrote the three characters "Lu Jinyan" in a notebook beside it. After asking some questions about her situation, it stamped its seal on her name.
After doing all that, the old locust tree spirit brought over a tray from the side, on which were placed four plaques, each with a different style, shape, and material.
"Grandpa, what is this?" Lu Jinyan asked, somewhat puzzled.
"These are demon tokens. This is a high-level demon token, costing one hundred demon crystals. This is a mid-level demon token, costing fifty demon crystals. This is a low-level demon token, costing only ten demon crystals. This is the most common demon token, free! Girl, take a look, which one do you like?" The old locust tree demon said, introducing the prices to her as he spoke!
As Lu Jinyan listened to the old locust tree demon's introduction, she couldn't help but find it amusing. This old man was trying every possible way to squeeze money out of her, and he seemed determined not to give up until he had made a fortune!
Indeed, the saying "every man for himself" is applicable everywhere. Back when I was working, didn't my colleagues and superiors always try to find ways to benefit themselves?
Lu Jinyan sighed. If it were before, she definitely wouldn't have let him have his way. But she had just transformed into human form and was not familiar with this demon realm. It was not a good time to make enemies. If she was tactless and chose the free one, the old man probably wouldn't give it to her so easily. When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Spending a few dozen demon crystals to buy peace is not a loss. Besides, the free demon tokens on the table are indeed a bit ugly.
She had to carry this thing with her at all times; if it was too ugly, she wouldn't be able to show it off in the future. However, she didn't have many demon crystals right now, so she couldn't spend them recklessly. After careful consideration, she finally chose a low-level one.
"Grandpa, I don't have many demon crystals on me, so I'll choose this one. When I earn more demon crystals, I'll come back and get a better one!"
Lu Jinyan picked up the low-level demon token and handed it over. Although the old locust tree demon was somewhat dissatisfied that the little girl in front of him had only chosen a low-level demon token, he still gained something, so he didn't make things too difficult for her.
"Alright, alright, little girl, you've made your choice!" The old locust tree demon said, then took the low-level demon token and placed it on the booklet where he had just written his name. With a wave of his hand, Lu Jinyan's name appeared on the token.
Upon seeing this, Lu Jinyan quickly reached into her sleeve, actually taking out twelve demon crystals from her spatial storage and handing them over.
"Thank you for your hard work, Grandpa. These two extra demon crystals are a token of my respect. I hope you won't find them too much!"
She's been through a lot of social interactions before, so she naturally understands the ins and outs. She hasn't decided where she's going or what she's going to do yet, so she'll probably stay here for a while until Chu Chu takes human form before making any plans. Therefore, she still needs to manage her interpersonal relationships well.
The old locust tree spirit smiled broadly again upon hearing Lu Jinyan's words, and began to find the young girl in front of him more agreeable.
"What are you saying, little girl? Don't mind, don't mind at all! How could this old man mind? Here, here, this is your demon token. Take it safe, little girl. If you ever need anything from this old man in the future, just come and do it!"
The old locust tree spirit smiled and handed over the demon token, saying some polite words. Lu Jinyan smiled and accepted the demon token, nodding her thanks: "Thank you very much, Grandpa!"
Having successfully obtained the demon token, Lu Jinyan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now she was officially a member of the demon realm.
Stepping out of the Demon Bureau, Lu Jinyan let out a breath. It was already dark, and the streets were dotted with lights. Carrying her small flowerpot, Lu Jinyan walked along the street, looking around, somewhat lost. She didn't know where to go.
She found that this place seemed no different from the ancient times depicted on TV. The streets were bustling with people, the cries of various vendors, and all sorts of restaurants, teahouses, and inns. If she had known that this was the demon realm, she would have thought it was the human realm.
After walking a short distance, Lu Jinyan felt much more at ease. At first, she had been wondering if all the people in the demon realm were strangely shaped monsters. After all, in TV dramas, not all monsters were fully human-shaped; some had human bodies and cat heads, or human bodies and ox heads. It seemed that wasn't the case.
Everyone was walking on the street in normal human form; at least so far, she hadn't seen a single strange-looking monster. She could only say she was overthinking things; sometimes having too much imagination isn't a good thing! But this reassured her a lot; if the streets were full of strange monsters, she might have been scared to death.
Although she is now a demon, she still feels like a human being deep down, and it's not so easy for her to accept it all at once. In other words, she can accept that she is a demon, but she can't accept the appearance of some strange demons around her.
This is a bit of a double standard, but there's nothing she can do about it. After walking around the streets with the flowerpot in her arms, she was too tired to walk anymore. Lu Jinyan took Chu Chu to an inn. It was too late to find a place to stay, so they could only stay at the inn for the night and look for a place to rent the next day.
The inn was spotless, and the owners were an elderly couple who seemed very kind. Lu Jinyan was exhausted after a long day; she felt like her body was about to fall apart. After washing up at the inn, she went straight to bed. Chu Chu knew she was tired and didn't disturb her, quietly cultivating on her own.
She secretly made up her mind to transform into human form as soon as possible so that she could accompany Yan Yan on her adventures in the demon realm.
Lu Jinyan slept soundly through the night, until the sun was high in the sky, and slowly woke up to Chu Chu's repeated calls.
"Ugh, Chuchu, you're awake so early!" Lu Jinyan rubbed her eyes and yawned; she was really sleepy.
"Yanyan, get up quickly, the sun's already high in the sky!" Chu Chu said helplessly.
"Okay, okay, I'll get up now!" Lu Jinyan rubbed her face, turned over and sat up in bed, took a few deep breaths, and then got up to wash up.
Even inns in the demon realm serve food. Although powerful demons with high cultivation levels don't need to eat, ordinary demons do. So, like humans, the inns here prepare some food.
To make it convenient for customers without cultivation, well, Lu Jinyan felt that the demon realm was not quite what she understood. There were no strange demons walking on the streets, and not everyone knew magic.
Most demons, after transforming into human form, live like mortals, resting at sunset and working at sunrise, starting families and establishing careers. Only a few demons with the talent for cultivation choose to continue cultivating.
There are inns, restaurants, clinics, schools, and sects here, almost exactly like the novels she read. The only difference is that the ones she read were all about humans, while these are about demons!
Lu Jinyan is a person inside, and her cultivation level is very low, almost non-existent. Even when she was still a flower, she was extremely greedy. Now that she has finally taken human form, she can finally eat.
She called the waiter to bring over a few side dishes, and Lu Jinyan couldn't wait to eat them. But as soon as she put them in her mouth, she spat them out with a "pui" sound.
What are these things? Can this even be called food? At best, it's just cooked.
These demons only learned some human habits, but not the essence. Take cooking, for example—it's a mess.
I don't know how the others managed to eat it...
After eating only a couple of bites, Lu Jinyan gave up. She didn't want to make things difficult for her stomach. When she went downstairs to pay the bill, she casually asked the shopkeeper if he knew where she could find a house to rent nearby.
"Shopkeeper, do you know where I can find a house to rent around here?"
The shopkeeper was a kind-hearted man. Seeing that she was a young girl, not very old, and seemed easygoing, he smiled and asked, "Miss, would you like to rent a room?"
"Yes, does the shopkeeper know where I can find a suitable house?" Lu Jinyan didn't know where to look for a house in the demon realm either.
"Young lady, you're in luck. There just happens to be a vacant house in my old man's house. If you don't mind, I'll have my wife take you to see it. If you like it, the price is negotiable. If you don't, it's alright. My wife is just sitting around anyway. We can have her take you to look somewhere else later." The shopkeeper looked at the well-behaved girl in front of him and thought she was quite nice.
He happened to have an empty house in his yard, and suggested that his wife take her to see it. With that, he called his wife, who was in the backyard, to come out.
"Thank you so much, Uncle and Aunt!" Lu Jinyan didn't have any particularly outstanding qualities, but she was sweet-talking, which is why she did quite well in her previous life at the company.
He addressed the old shopkeeper and his wife with such respect, calling them "Uncle" and "Auntie" repeatedly, making them beam with joy.
"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. I've got nothing to do anyway, so I might as well go for a walk and get some exercise. Girl, let's go!"
The shopkeeper's wife led Lu Jinyan through a maze of twists and turns to a house.
"Girl, this is it. This house used to be where my son and daughter-in-law lived. A few days ago, they moved to the city, and the house has been empty ever since. Do you like it? If you don't, I'll take you to see other places!"
The shopkeeper's wife pushed open the door and led Lu Jinyan inside. The house wasn't large, with a small courtyard. Several grapevines were planted in the courtyard, and a grape trellis was built. Under the trellis, there was a table and several chairs where people could drink tea and chat. There was also a well in the courtyard.
In the center of the house is a main hall for entertaining guests, with two bedrooms on each side, as well as a kitchen and a woodshed. The outhouse is at the back of the house.