Chapter 549: 549

Chapter 549 Choosing A House For Rent

After the Perry Expedition, the Edo Shogunate concluded the Kanagawa Treaty with the U . S and was forced to open the two trading ports of Shimoda and Hakodate . However, after the five years of Emperor Komei’s reign, the two sides signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce on the Puritan Ship . The ports of Kanagawa, Nagasaki, Niigata, and Hyogo were added to the treaty . At the same time, foreigners were allowed to stay for business in the Edo and Osaka areas .

Although Kyoto wasn’t on the list, it took only one day to get there from Osaka . Ten years had passed since the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and after the Kinmon incident, Sonnõ jõi rethought their strategy . Since the emperor was the only one in charge now, he focused on bakumatsu . The barbarian was no longer mentioned anymore, and they started to cooperate with the West actively . Hence, Westerners could move around even more freely now .

As the most important river in the Kansai region, the Yodo River originated from Lake Biwa and connected the Kyoto Basin with the Osaka Plain . It was an important transportation channel for Kyoto during the Edo period . Many foreign merchants from Osaka had also come to Kyoto by traveling on this river .

Zhang Heng asked around about the nearest pier, and he arrived at the spot before sunset .

The place was no less lively than the city . The riverbank was lined with machiya, where tiles were neatly arranged on their roofs, and signboards and curtains swayed in the gentle breeze . The window’s first layer was a thin convex lattice followed by a mosquito net-a classic example of traditional Japanese architecture .

The building’s main structure was made of wood, its entrance narrow, but the walkway long . Under normal circumstances, the part facing the street would be used as a shop, and the back was used as lodging . The advantage of this layout saw all the shops clustered up, and they were close to each other .

There were boatmen unloading goods at the pier, and there were also ladies preparing to get on the boats . A shrine was not too far away from Zhang Heng, where dozens of devotees gathered outside for the daily blessings and protection . It wasn’t long before Zhang Heng found a Western businessman interested in hiring a translator .

The latter’s name was Gabriel, a Frenchman . He had come to Kyoto with a business group to discuss selling a batch of cotton yarn with a local businessman . It seemed he was dissatisfied with the cotton yarn business, and he had other plans in his mind . However, it was inappropriate for him to announce his plans to the business group-It meant he would not be able to use the assigned translator in the group . Just when he wondered where to find a Japanese that could understand French, Zhang Heng delivered himself to him . Gabriel was delighted . He quickly waved his hand, eventually agreeing to pay Zhang Heng a koban each day as his salary . Koban was a general currency used during the Edo period and was a gold coin of sorts .

A koban was equivalent to one tael of gold, and one tael of gold was equivalent to a small sentence of one or two gold-one or two gold was approximately 60 mace or four strings of coins . In this era, the daily income of a craftsman in Kyoto was about 70 coins . In other words, Zhang Heng’s current daily income had almost caught up with a craftsman’s two-month salary .

Zhang Heng knew one or two things about translation jobs of the era . He had consulted the people at the pier before he came here and discovered a huge demand for professional translators in Japan right now . However, those who could communicate with foreign businessmen were no longer lacking as they did before the Perry Expedition . In fact, even when the country was shut down during the bakumatsu, Satsuma, Choshu, and others had been secretly doing business with other countries .

The tanegashima (actually the matchlock gun) originated from Satsuma . When a Portuguese merchant ship was blown to Tanegashima Island south of Satsuma by a typhoon, they named this Japanese iron gun as Tanegashima . Now that the shogunate had opened for trade for over ten years, many Japanese had traveled to Europe to study, and a translation job wasn’t as valuable as it used to be .

Gabriel’s paid more than double the market price . And he did not even know Zhang Heng well . Zhang Heng also asked for an advance payment, and despite that, Gabriel didn’t hesitate to hire him . From there, he knew that this French businessman’s plan in Kyoto might not be as simple as he thought it was .

With Zhang Heng’s Lv . 3 sword-fighting skills and the experience accumulated in the previous few quests, he was not too worried about the dangers he encountered . Moreover, it was sundown, and it might be too late to find the next employer . So, in the end, an agreement was reached between both sides .

After paying Zhang Heng a koban, Gabriel asked him to meet tomorrow morning at the tea house next to the pier . When Zhang Heng left the pier after talking to him, the sky had fallen into complete darkness . Thanks to a meal before the quest, he wasn’t very hungry, and as of now, his top priority would be to find a place to stay .

During the Edo period, the shogunate set up a Sankin-kõtai system to control various domains’ lords . These were required to go to Edo every once in a while to carry out government affairs for the shoguns . In fact, it was just an excuse to make them spend less time in their territory and prevent them from fooling around when they were there . If they disobeyed, they could be taken down the next time .

However, Tokugawa was kind enough to fix all the dojo along the way . Later, he even started to develop hatagoya, a somewhat similar concept to capsule hotels of later generations . Not only did they include two meals for every night you stayed, but many hatagoya had maids to take care of their customers . During the bakumatsu, more and more travelers poured into Japan, and the hatagoya started to deteriorate . Criminals began providing gambling equipment and prostitutes to their customers, and some hatagoya even forced their maids to become sex workers .

After that, Osaka’s businessmen banded up, discussing a plan to open chain hotels and unified the service standards, so travelers could stay at ease in the hotel with the guild’s sign hanging outside the door .

Whether it was a hatagoya or an ordinary inn, they were temporary solutions for Zhang Heng . Considering the time that he needed to stay in this quest, Zhang Heng still preferred to rent his a house . Seeing that there was still some time, instead of going to the hotel in a hurry, he found a middleman nearby and asked the latter to show him the houses around this area available for rent .

The middleman was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy who looked brilliant and was also born in this area . He was well informed and knew everything about every household . Zhang Heng first paid him 100 coins and promised to give him another 100 after that . Immediately, he became more energetic than before . He did not care if he had not eaten dinner . His priority was to take Zhang Heng to walk around the streets .

However, Zhang Heng was not interested in the several houses located in the prime spots . The two of them went further and further and had to light up their lanterns in the end . Zhang Heng had already planned to give up and wanted to do it again tomorrow . However, the last place triggered Zhang Heng’s interest .

Once they entered the house, they saw a small courtyard . At its center was a cherry blossom tree, and the smells it emitted were nothing short of phenomenal . There was a well under the tree as well, and the water was crystal clear . The layout of the small courtyard was square, simple, and beautiful . Once Zhang Heng pulled open the shoji door, he saw that the house was spacious and there was also a tea room . Other than that, the furniture was complete . In a modern-world context, Zhang Heng could just bring his luggage in and stay here for good .

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .