Feng Chou walked into the courtyard. Inside was a small courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard was a well. Beside the well were two large wooden basins. One of the basins was filled with dirty clothes, while the other was filled with dirty water and half-washed clothes. These clothes and the cold well water should be the culprit behind this woman's red hands.
On both sides of the yard were a few ropes with freshly washed sheets and clothes hanging from them.
The woman pointed at the clothes and said, "Since you're renting my house, you can wash the dirty clothes for me. Ten hippies for one sheet and two hippies for the clothes."
Feng Chou revealed a pleasantly surprised expression and said, "That's great."
The woman smiled proudly. She knew that these rough men who wielded knives and played with guns hated washing clothes the most.
Feng Chou took out a deflated money pouch from his bosom.
When Feng Chou took out the purse, the woman's face sank. But in the next moment, a smile appeared on her face again. Because Feng Chou didn't only take out silver coins from the purse, but also dazzling gold coins.
Feng Chou took out two gold lion cubs and four silver crowns and handed them to the woman. "Here you go. It's half a year's rent."
The woman wiped her hands that were soaked in the laundry water and reached out to take the money.
She held the gold coin in front of her eyes and looked at it carefully for a while. Then, she weighed it in her hand before nodding and putting it away.
To a commoner, gold coins were indeed something uncommon, but the mistress of this courtyard had seen them before.
The child couldn't help but come up and say, "Mom, give me one. Let me see."
The woman gave the child a gold coin, and he happily played with it. The beautiful reddish-gold color almost made him unable to take his eyes off it.
After the woman carefully put the remaining gold coin into her pocket, Feng Chou rubbed his hands and asked, "Madam, can we sign this rental contract?"
Madame listened to him and said, "Come with me." Then she went into the house.
After taking two steps, she seemed to have thought of something. She turned back and took the gold coin from the child's hand before entering the house.
The house was a simple but large living room with a fireplace at the innermost part.
It wasn't winter yet, so the fireplace wasn't lit.
In the middle of the living room, three old sofas were placed around a wooden table.
There were four closed doors in the four corners of the living room.
On the left side of the living room was a cabinet half the height of a person. On top of the cabinet was a bottle of ink and a small pen holder with a dipping pen.
The woman went to the cabinet and opened it. There was some wine on the bottom and some paper on the top.
She took out a piece of rough yellow paper and put it on top of the cabinet. Then, she opened the bottle of ink and put the dipping pen inside. Then, she moved aside and said to Feng Chou, "Take a look. this is the rental contract. If there's no problem, please sign your name. By the way, do you know how to read.."
Feng Chou said, "I know a little."
Then, he looked down. The words on the paper were crooked, and the sentences were not very smooth. They were all spoken in English, but the general meaning was correct.
Feng Chou signed Gavin's name. In order to fit his identity as a mercenary, he deliberately wrote the letters very clumsily.
The woman took the document and praised, "Your handwriting is very good. Young man, what do you do?"
Feng Chou said, "Mercenary."
The woman shook her head and said, "That's a pity. With your good handwriting, you should be a clerk instead of wasting your time among the mercenaries."
Feng Chou didn't know how to answer her, so he just smiled "honestly".
The woman then brought Feng Chou to his room.
The stairs to the second floor of this two-story house were outside the house. The two walked out of the living room and saw the little boy waving a wooden stick in the yard near the gate.
Feng Chou took a few glances and saw that the boy was waving the basic swordsmanship in the knight's training manual.
The boy's posture was full of mistakes.
After taking a few glances, Feng Chou smiled and looked away.
The second floor was divided into four rooms, and each room was divided into an inner and outer suite. It was quite spacious for a single person.
The room was furnished with simple furniture, including a bed, bedding, tables, chairs, and cabinets. It was easy to move in.
Feng Chou nodded in satisfaction.
The woman handed him a key. "This is the key to your room. I can't give you the key to the gate. You can knock on the door when you come back at night. If it's too late, it's best not to come back."
Feng Chou shrugged and didn't say anything.
The woman said again, "Okay, you can move in now. You've paid the money anyway, so this house belongs to you from today onwards."
Feng Chou nodded and said, "I can't come back today. I took a mission and may not be back until three or four days later."
The woman said indifferently, "I don't care. Anyway, your rent starts today. It's your business whether you live here or not."
After going downstairs, Feng Chou walked out of the door.
When he passed by the little boy, he suddenly shouted, "Hey!
I heard you say mission. Are you a mercenary? "
Feng Chou said, "Yes?"
The boy said, "Can you tell me about your mission?"
Feng Chou said, "Okay, but you have to wait for me to come back. This is my first mission."
The boy suddenly lost interest. "Tsk, so you're a rookie."
After that, he waved the wooden stick in his hand again.
After leaving the yard, Feng Chou quickly walked out of the messy residential area and came to the street. He walked along the street and went around half of the city, arriving at the city's north gate.
The city's slums were located in the northernmost part of the city. The streets here were narrow, and there were no shops or taverns on either side. There were only low shacks left, and the ground was full of sewage.
Feng Chou had no choice but to go to the second level of the city to take a detour.
The city's north gate was particularly deserted.
Antalya City's location was not like a small town, which was used to control the surrounding agricultural areas. On the contrary, this city was too big, so it avoided the flourishing agricultural areas as much as possible. The control of the agricultural areas was achieved by relying on the more than 30 castles in the territory.
Therefore, there were no farmlands outside the north gate of Antalya City, but there was a large piece of open and flat land not far from the city gate.
This was the training ground of the Lord's Guard and the City Guard of Antalya. It was also the venue of the annual tournament for the knights.
Feng Chou followed a dirt road that was not in good condition and bypassed this large training ground.
There was a fence around the training ground, and a small group of guards was stationed in the corner of the training ground. Feng Chou did not want to cause trouble just because he walked less.
The northern edge of the training ground was a forest. The uneven road bypassed the training ground and entered the forest from the northeast corner of the training ground.
This road with poor condition led to Feng Chou's destination, "Claire's Gentleman's Territory".