Chapter 445

Just like this, Sunday arrived. Since the meeting time with Luweiya and Yiluna was in the afternoon, Xia De went out after washing his clothes in the morning. According to the business card given by Priest Priest Ao Gu Si, he found a renovation team that could maintain the house and checked the specific damage to the third floor of his house.

Because the stairs were broken, they had to use a telescopic metal ladder to move between the second and third floors.

Only Mia had been to the third floor in the past few months. Today was also the first time Xia De entered the third floor of his house. After the workers climbed over the metal ladder, what they saw was a dark corridor. The entire structure of the third floor was almost exactly the same as the second floor, with two rooms beside the corridor.

The entire floor was dilapidated and damp, with a layer of dust on the ground. Stepping on it left a footprint, and the ceiling and walls were full of mold spots. But at least before the church cut off the third-floor stairs many years ago, they had cleaned the place very cleanly.

Although he could see some bloodstains with 【Echo of Blood】, there was at least no garbage here, so there were no mice. Even, similar to the situation in the basement, the first floor, and the second floor, in this space that had been abandoned for many years on the third floor, there were no spiders or spider webs to be seen. Xia De opened the two rotten room doors on the third floor and even climbed to the attic with the help of workers. The attic roof leaked a little, but there was no trace of insects at all.

This was quite novel.

Many owners of this house died here. As far as Xia De knew, many famous accidents had happened on the third floor. The renovation team that came to check the damage to the house knew that someone had disappeared on the third floor of No. 6 St. Deran Square.

Neither alive nor dead, that accident was once a hot topic in the Tobesk tabloids many years ago.

After the preliminary inspection, they returned to the second floor to discuss things. The construction team manager, who looked very experienced and had somewhat dark red skin, gave his opinion:

"The building itself is somewhat severely damaged. Besides small problems like floors, walls, and windows, the serious problem is the roof. We need to redo the waterproof layer for the roof and floor. In addition, if you need to connect steam pipes and gas pipes, you also need to contact the gas company and the steam company to lay the pipelines inside the walls. I just saw cracks in the corridor wall on the third floor; this also needs to be checked and reinforced."

This sounded very troublesome.

"Can you help contact the gas pipes and steam pipes?"

Xia De asked.

"Of course."

"Besides the maintenance of the third floor, please also calculate the painting of the basement, the room next to the second floor, and the overall walls of the first floor, calculate the maintenance of the outer walls of the house, calculate the renovation of the chimney and fireplace, please give me a specific quote, and then tell me the construction period."

The middle-aged man wearing overalls thought for a moment:

"During the maintenance of the third floor, it is best not to live on the second floor. If the first floor also needs to be painted, we suggest you choose a room not to be painted temporarily, and you can live there, otherwise you definitely won't be able to stand the smell of paint. If you want to finish as soon as possible, we can start tomorrow, but you have to pay more for shortening the construction period."

This request was still reasonable. Xia De held the cat and thought for a moment:

"For floors and paint, use the best materials. I will live here for a long time... What if I require completion within a week?"

The professional manager of the construction team calculated with a notebook, and then got up and went outside, letting the workers who were checking on the third floor go to the first floor and the basement to measure the area of the walls.

This professionalism made Xia De have a good impression.

Finally, the two returned to the second floor again and calculated the specific costs in the study:

"You were introduced by Priest Priest Ao Gu Si, so we charge you the lowest fee. Including material costs, construction costs, gas pipe and steam pipe laying fees, as well as the fee for the Tobesk housing maintenance permit application, which is not cheap. You can see the Yoder Palace directly from here, so applying for construction in the nearby block needs to be applied... a total of 200 Jin Bang."

Although Xia De could afford this money, he still frowned:

"Sir, this money is enough to buy a house with a garden in a remote area of the city."

"I know this is a lot, but the content that needs construction is also not small. The cost of maintaining a house not only includes construction costs, but also adds to the overall value of the house."

The manager patiently explained:

"What is the normal valuation of houses in the nearby block, Mr. Hamilton, you know yourself. I have already helped you press it to the lowest price within a reasonable range. We also want to erase the premium based on the value of the house, but the industry association won't agree."

"Industry Association?"

Xia De was puzzled again, and the middle-aged manager continued to explain. It could be seen that he was also not very satisfied:

"It is the federation of the construction industry. Its main responsibility is to introduce business, but at the same time, it will also supervise the quotes of every business in the city to prevent the fluctuation of industry charging standards brought about by malicious price increases and price cuts. The original intention of this organization is good, but this also leads to the fact that our charging level cannot be much lower than our peers, otherwise we will be excluded by our peers later."

Xia De opened his mouth and was stunned for a moment before nodding. He didn't expect to encounter such a thing:

"Then can I ask, how much is the premium of 200 Jin Bang?"

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, poured the water in the teacup onto the coffee table, and wrote a few numbers with his hand. Thinking about it this way, Xia De's premium was actually only about 30 percent. He didn't expect that, without purchasing furniture, just renovating the house would be so expensive.

The manager was still explaining to Xia De:

"Repairing a house can improve the overall value of the building after all. Therefore, construction on different houses can bring different wealth growth to the house owner. This is also a reasonable explanation for the premium based on the value of the house... How about this, you pay us 200 Jin Bang, and after the association checks this business, we will return part of it to you. But it cannot be fully returned, 5 percent, this is already the limit."

This should be a discount given for the sake of Priest Priest Ao Gu Si.

"But in this way, can the account problem be handled?"

Xia De asked again, and the middle-aged man then showed a smile:

"You don't have to worry about this. The accounting firm we outsourced to is very professional. However, if we start tomorrow, I suggest you arrange a place to live on the first floor as soon as possible and lock the room door on the second floor to prevent affecting your property during construction. Oh, Monday is mainly for the re-evaluation of the overall damage to the building and construction marking, so you should move to the first floor before Tuesday."

This was a very reasonable suggestion. After all, Xia De and the cat couldn't just sleep on the floor on the first floor.

"But why not? Is there any difference between sleeping on the floor and sleeping on a bed?"

Xia De asked himself in his heart, and then felt the cat's little claws scratching him. Looking down, the cat was looking at him with dissatisfied eyes:

"Okay, I will definitely let you sleep on the bed."

The orange cat Little Mia had very high requirements for the quality of life.

When he saw Luweiya and Yiluna in the afternoon, Xia De told them about his plan to repair the third floor of the house and complained about the high cost of house maintenance.

Yiluna was surprised that Xia De was so rich, while Luweiya looked up:

"In this way, all the rooms in No. 6 can be opened."

"That's how it is."

"What do you plan to do with so much space? After the third floor is repaired, you have two extra empty rooms and an attic, plus the empty first floor and the second room on the second floor, most of the space in your house is now idle."

"I plan to seal the windows of the room next to the stairs on the third floor and decorate it into a dark room for daily practice of sorcery and curses, and have open space available when needed to set up rituals. As for the other rooms... empty for now, there will be opportunities to use them sooner or later."

Luweiya smiled and didn't comment on Xia De's idea. Yiluna wanted to say something, but looked at the cat lying on Xia De's lap and didn't speak in the end.

"Xia De, why do you look much whiter?"

Yiluna brought up a new topic:

"Your skin seems to have improved a lot. What cosmetics are you using recently? I remember you mentioned that you have a friend who is good at preparing potions."

"Then let me tell the story of what happened in Lengshuigang."

Xia De said with a smile, stretched his arms and stretched his body backwards, so the cat that was originally lying on his lap also stood up, lowered its upper body, raised its butt, and also stretched.

The summer sun passed through the city's fog and shot into the room from outside the window. Xia De was ready to tell the story:

"This story might be a bit long."

"It doesn't matter, we have time."

The seventeen-year-old girl in a dress said, and looked at the female diviner again:

"Start now."

Xia De nodded, appeased the orange cat, and began to recount the terrifying things that happened in the harbor city; Luweiya leaned back on the sofa with a teacup and a smile; Yiluna touched her chin with her hand, and the seventeen-year-old girl looked at Xia De's face very attentively.

The afternoon sun passed through the thin fog over Tobesk and shone on their faces. Everyone's face seemed to be glowing. But the brightest was actually the orange fur on Mia's body. This orange and white cat was taking a nap on Xia De's lap, and the fur on its body was facing the sun, flashing with light.

The Coldwater Harbor incident ended temporarily, and Dakenisi still had more than half a month to arrive in Tobesk. The remaining half of the Month of Flowers was really a leisurely time for Xia De.

His story really lasted for the whole afternoon. Most of a pot of black tea was consumed by Xia De, and the girls also tasted the small cookies Xia De took out, and would occasionally ask questions about the details.

And except for not mentioning Miss Afuluola the witch and the secrets of Duoluoqian and Princess Louisa, Xia De told almost everything. He didn't admit to Miss Galina that he was the "God Caller," but he didn't hide anything from the two brown-haired girls.

In Yiluna's eyes, the previous half month was just a short, leisurely summer time after she returned to Tobesk from the Holy See. She didn't expect Xia De to have experienced such complex and wonderful adventure stories during this time.

"This is just like those legendary stories. While the hero is adventuring, in the eyes of ordinary people, it's just very ordinary time... Xia De, compared to you, I don't look like a Chosen One at all."

This should be considered the seventeen-year-old girl praising Xia De.