A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace

Chapter 413: The Small Courtyard

"Would it kill you not to sing your own praises?""I’m devastatingly handsome. What’s wrong with acknowledging it?"

"Devastatingly handsome, you have the nerve to say..."

Monster grew displeased and dragged Tiger over.

"Tiger, tell me, am I not devastatingly handsome?"

Rat also squeezed in closer.

"Tiger, you mustn’t submit to this guy’s tyranny! Just say what you think!"

The two, still bickering, both ran up to Tiger.

With eyes fixed on Tiger, they almost wished they could bore holes into his face with their stares.

Tiger felt a bit awkward.

He looked left and right, and after a long while, he barely managed to choke out a sentence.

"Um... weren’t we thinking of ways to gather silver for Big Brother?"

Rat: "..."

Monster: "..."

"It’s all because you led us off track!"

"Hey, you dare say I led us off track! Between the two of us, who’s really to blame?"

Tiger broke into a cold sweat.

"Can’t you two ever give it a rest?"

"Big Brother, you’re also not..."

Tiger had just turned his head, intending to have Big Brother properly teach these two a lesson.

But when he turned around, Big Brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Big Brother? Big Brother?"

He looked around, but there was no sign of him!

Seeing this, Monster and Rat quickly settled down and helped look for him.

Unfortunately, there was no trace of Big Brother.

Tiger was somewhat despondent.

"Things were going fine, why couldn’t you two just be quiet? Big Brother is worried!"

Rat grinned sheepishly.

"Uh, Tiger, no worries. Big Brother must have gone out for something; he’ll be back soon!"

This time, Monster unusually didn’t say a word!

「That night.」

Xia Tingfeng didn’t come back.

Tiger woke up in the middle of the night. He groggily got up and saw that Big Brother’s room was completely empty.

He was immediately wide awake.

Hurriedly, he went to look for Rat and Monster.

But... upon closer inspection, he discovered that their rooms were also empty.

Tiger was utterly baffled.

Where have they all gone...? It’s one thing if Big Brother is acting strange, but what are these two up to?!

Tiger couldn’t sleep anymore and walked around the courtyard in his clothes.

Snow began to fall in the latter half of the night, and Tiger glanced at the sky.

He then ran to the courtyard gate and looked up and down both sides of the main road.

There wasn’t a soul on the street; the whole world was silent.

"Hey! Damn it all!"

When those two get back, just see if I don’t beat the life out of them!

Unable to endure the cold any longer, Tiger cursed and went back inside.

Just as he took off his clothes and lay down in bed, he heard a noise from the courtyard.

"Eh? Are they back?"

He didn’t bother to get dressed, crawling out of bed and heading to the courtyard.

Sure enough, he saw Rat and Monster sneaking back from outside.

One behind the other, they were chatting and laughing.

They had completely forgotten the hostility from their bickering earlier in the day!

Tiger stormed up to them, fuming.

"You little rascals!"

He had no idea what these two unscrupulous rascals had been sneaking off to do.

Anyway, Tiger was very angry.

"Big Brother is struggling, and you two run off wherever you please!"

Rat and Monster were taken aback.

"Big Brother came back?"

With his back turned, Tiger said angrily, "No!"

Big Brother was clearly driven away by these two scoundrels, and they still have the nerve to ask!

Rat and Monster breathed a sigh of relief.

Both of them were nearly frozen stiff.

Dragging Tiger, they headed for the house.

"That’s good! Let’s go, let’s go! We’ll talk inside!"

Tiger was so angry he was practically steaming.

"What do you mean, ’that’s good’?!"

As they talked, the three of them had already arrived inside the house.

Tiger was feeling irritated when he saw Rat and Monster pull out a few packs of silver from their bosoms.

Rat said, "We originally bought this house for three hundred and sixty taels of silver, but because we were in a hurry to sell, we let it go for three hundred and twenty taels!"

"This was the best we could do; we really tried our hardest!"

Monster said, gritting his teeth, "Holy shit! I was just short of seducing someone!"

Tiger was completely taken aback.

"You two..."

So these two scoundrels went to sell the house.

"So, you deliberately pissed Big Brother off?"

Rat smiled smugly. "If Big Brother hadn’t left, could we have sold the house?"

Monster, for once, didn’t say much.

Tiger’s earlier anger had long since vanished. He stepped forward and gave each of them a punch.

"You two always conspire on these things and leave me in the dark!"

Monster rolled his eyes. "If we had told you beforehand, you would’ve spilled the beans immediately!"

Rat nodded in agreement.

"Exactly!"

Tiger: "..."

He was just about to make a couple of sarcastic remarks when Rat said impatiently, "I’m dying of sleepiness! Let’s just go to bed!"

Tiger felt it was inappropriate to say anything more.

The three were about to disperse when suddenly, a deep, icy voice came through.

"Stop right there!"

The atmosphere instantly plunged to freezing point. A chill ran down all three of their backs.

Monster felt a little nervous.

"How come it feels colder than the howling north wind on the street?!"

Rat also shrank his neck. "Right!"

Didn’t Big Brother leave?

The three of them turned around, shivering. Just in time, they saw Xia Tingfeng leaning against the doorframe, his eyes icily cold and his face grim!

Tiger immediately cowered.

"Big... Big Brother... I didn’t take part in this!"

Rat and Monster abruptly looked up, their expressions showing both shock and anger at Tiger’s betrayal.

The three communicated with their eyes.

Tiger, just you wait! Once this is over, I’ll beat you to death!

Monster looked at him with disdain. I never thought you were this kind of Tiger!

Tiger glanced back helplessly.

What choice do I have? It’s all for the sake of survival!

The house was sold, and that was that. Xia Tingfeng gave each of the three a heavy punch. There wasn’t much else he could do about it.

He took one hundred taels of silver from the three hundred and twenty. Then, he had someone find them a smaller house. In the dead of winter, his brothers had to have a place to live.

He kept the remaining two hundred taels for himself.

He truly didn’t see them as outsiders; they were his own sworn brothers. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken a single bit of that silver!

Only... What kind of house could two hundred taels of silver buy in the Capital City?

Xia Tingfeng had worn his boots through by the time he finally found a residence with two courtyards.

The place was somewhat remote, but the courtyard itself was very tranquil.

Upon entering, an elegantly carved Phoenix Bamboo screen wall immediately caught the eye.

Walking around the screen wall, one faced a stone-lined pond that stretched about thirty zhang (one zhang is approximately 3.3 meters) from one end to the other.

Unlike the ponds of other wealthy families, it wasn’t large enough for boating.

This pond, however, was just the right size for a pavilion to be built over it.

Lotuses were planted and goldfish were kept in it. Through the thin layer of ice from the previous night’s snow, carp could be glimpsed swimming beneath.

The pavilion’s design was quite unique, with each of its six corners adorned with a charming bird crafted from colored glaze.

Beaded curtains veiled the lower half of the pavilion, and inside were a stone table and stone benches.

Further in were the front and inner courtyards.

The front courtyard was simple, containing only one bedroom, a study, a few servants’ rooms, and a kitchen.

The inner courtyard was also exquisite. Its bedroom and study were connected. It also had its own rear yard, a storage room, a small kitchen, and a lavatory.

The most unique feature was a vacant lot in this rear yard; it was unclear what was currently planted there.