Taking advantage of the innkeeper being surrounded, Manbao and his group went back up to the second floor, pushed open the window and looked at the lake opposite, feeling refreshed, and said: "Such a nice place, if not for the journey, staying here for ten days or half a month would be quite nice."

Bai Shan pondered: "Are we in a hurry?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Manbao also started to think, "It seems like we’re not really in a hurry."

The two exchanged glances, while Bai Erlang was already excitedly nodding, "That’s right, that’s right, we’re not in a hurry, we’re here for a study tour!"

Yin Huo nodded gracefully, saying: "The scenery here is nice, we can stay a bit longer."

Liu Huan rubbed his back and said: "These past few days of riding have almost broken my bones, and Mr. Zhuang is surely more tired than us."

Manbao and Bai Shan looked down at the people surrounding the innkeeper bargaining, and immediately turned and rushed downstairs, pushing the guards aside to step up themselves.

Manbao said: "Initially, we only intended to stay for two days, but considering the scenery here is quite acceptable, staying for ten to twenty days wouldn’t be a problem."

Bai Shan: "But we have too many people; the rent is so high, it’s not worthwhile."

Ale squeezed out a smile and said: "If you gentlemen and ladies are satisfied with this courtyard, I can lower the price a bit. This large courtyard has plenty of rooms, and there’s enough space for the guards to stay two to a room..."

Bai Shan interrupted him, saying: "We have over a hundred people outside."

Ale was momentarily stunned, and after realizing it, became even more excited and enthusiastic, saying: "Is everyone going to rent a courtyard? If the gentlemen book our inn, I can give you another ten percent off the monthly rent."

Bai Shan thought for a moment before shaking his head, saying: "No, make it twenty percent. We might not stay a full month, but twenty days for sure. I’ve heard sandstorms occur occasionally in the desert, so we’ll watch the weather. If the weather stays nice, we’ll leave in about twenty days. Calculate the rent for twenty days at eighty percent of the monthly rate."

Ale felt a toothache upon hearing this and was about to speak when Manbao said: "Forget the water, you still have to provide us free firewood."

Bai Shan nodded: "Exactly."

It’s not easy to chop trees in the desert, and since they’re not locals, they have no idea where to get firewood. Instead of worrying later, they might as well have the inn take care of it.

Ale did some calculations and disagreed.

Zhou Liru, who had followed them down, said to him in a local dialect: "Innkeeper, there are few guests in this town now, many empty courtyards, if you don’t want to rent to us, we could go elsewhere. Keeping the courtyard empty still requires cleaning, better rented to us, this rental isn’t cheap."

Liu Huan was calculating this "not cheap" to find out how much it actually was, but couldn’t work it out, so he turned and asked Bai Erlang, "Do you know how much it is?"

Bai Erlang glanced at him, saying: "If we stayed the full month, it would be four taels; for twenty days it’s two taels and seven coins of silver."

"That’s right," Manbao, although not understanding the local dialect well, could understand Zhou Liru because she spoke slowly and carried their family’s accent. She continued in Mandarin: "We need to rent at least six large courtyards like this. By the way, do you have that many?"

Ale: "...Coincidentally, yes, we have exactly six."

Manbao sighed, "So it’s fate then."

Bai Shan went on: "Accompanying us is also a caravan, not many people, but still a few, even if they don’t rent courtyards, they will stay at the inn, and these are also our guests brought over. I’ve heard that there hasn’t been a decent caravan in the small town for a long time."

Honestly, Ale was very tempted, but the price was really pressed too low.

Bai Erlang started counting on his fingers: "We didn’t bring cooks with us, the guards are fine, but we don’t like their cooking, so the meal expenditures will also be..."

Ale gritted his teeth and nodded, "Alright, but let’s agree ahead that if you don’t stay up to twenty days, the rent will still be calculated for twenty days."

Manbao and the others immediately nodded happily in agreement, "No problem."

They would definitely stay for twenty days, absolutely not wasting the rent!

Thus Bai Shan summoned a guard, asking him to go fetch Assistant General Nie and the others from the front, "Tell them we have booked the inn, and they should come over quickly."

The young man, excluded outside, couldn’t help but stand there slack-jawed for a long time before finding his voice, "That, that new convoy at the street corner is with you?"

Manbao nodded, "Of course, didn’t you notice we didn’t bring any luggage? Going such a long way, how could we not bring luggage?"

The young man: ...He hadn’t noticed until she mentioned it.

Ale, having closed a big deal, remembered to ask: "You gentlemen and ladies don’t look like you’re doing business, mind if I ask for what purpose are you traveling?"

Bai Shan said gracefully: "We are traveling with our teacher for study."

Ale sighed in relief and laughed: "No wonder the gentleman is so generous."

They settled on six large courtyards, something traveling merchants would be reluctant to spend so much on, usually staying themselves with confidants in courtyards while others stayed in dormitories at the inn.

Bai Shan accepted this compliment, mainly because their luggage was filled with too many jewels and valuables. Last time at the inn, they needed twenty people guarding through the night, and here they couldn’t do the same.

Staying at the inn, people might be careless, who knows when something might be lost?

After negotiating, Daji stepped forward to pay.

Bai Shan and the others, having bargained, were sweating half a body’s worth, but also felt refreshed and followed the innkeeper back to the inn, not only blowing lake breezes but also checking out what good things to eat in the inn.

Manbao gave that young man a piece of loose silver, then said smilingly: "By the way, I wanted to ask if you have any good cooks here."

They couldn’t really let the guards and that group of soldiers cook for themselves, could they?

So it’d be better to hire two cooks, if possible.

The young man perked up, immediately saying: "My mom and my sister-in-law can cook!"

Manbao and the group: ...Never miss a chance to promote your family, eh?

Assistant General Nie, having finally shaken off the crowd from the street corner and came over, was surprised and wide-mouthed when he saw the courtyard they booked, and once he learned they booked it for twenty days, everyone was speechless.

A soldier couldn’t help but lean beside Assistant General Nie, saying: "Sir, wouldn’t this count as dereliction of duty?"

Assistant General Nie regained composure, saying blandly: "Perhaps there’s a famous doctor here? It always takes some time to inquire about famous doctors and prescriptions."

The soldiers: ...If you say so, sir.

The two travelers, returning from shock, exchanged glances and calmed their minds, well, treat this trip as leisure.

Just wondering if they could return to the capital by this time next year.