Chapter 249 More Comfortable Things

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.

Especially 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, other goods are still abundant - 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 have also postponed their plans to close their stalls for the New Year, hoping to make more money.

But the biggest difference that 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 jobs for the salt field, 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. Telling anyone about it will only make me lose face." . Chengnan District itself is a place where officials and wealthy businessmen gather. Now that there are so many vacant places, you can just pick a house and 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 there were not dozens of servants to build them. Can't figure it out. Therefore, he directly razed a large courtyard and used part of it as the base of his residence, and built a "large flat" 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 viewpoint 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, the average temperature is not low, but 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 laid throughout the house formed a simple and reliable heating device. This set of floor heating does not require a water pump to maintain the 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 energy to do this was simple. He didn't want the fox demon to be wrapped up in three layers of layers in winter. In this way, he could still appreciate the other party's full appearance when he returned home.

Besides, he could take off his shoes and run around barefoot as soon as he arrived at the house, which was also an extremely pleasant thing.

"What is this bench?" Li turned his head 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. By the way, the bed is the same."

"You are quite good at enjoying it." The fox demon lay on it and stretched his waist, "It's so comfortable... Is this also 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 a few fine needles and pompoms inside.

"Put this in your ears to clean the earwax. I heard it's ten times more comfortable than tickling."

"Are you sure? I've never tried it... What if I hurt your ears?"

"How about I demonstrate it first?"

Li suddenly tilted his head, a smile on his face, "I say, you're 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 touch his tail. He often thought about how to go further - but after all, the ears are on the top of the head, and it always feels inappropriate to open his mouth directly. If he is rejected, it will undoubtedly be a blow, so he came up with a roundabout research method, using ear picking to achieve a breakthrough.

Unexpectedly, before he implemented it, his idea was already seen through by the other party.

"Actually, you don't need to find so many excuses. I know you are full of curiosity about monsters, and this is not a bad thing..." Li lay down and said, "So it's okay, do it according to your idea."