After dinner, the villagers each sent a head of household to fill the village chief's house to the brim.

Several elderly villagers sat around a square table and discussed the matter together.

“The fine is twenty taels of silver, but our village can scrape together the money from each household,” said Li Shoutian, the oldest man here.

Li Qingshan nodded and said, "Every household in the village makes a lot of money by burning charcoal and making incense cakes. It's not bad to scrape together twenty taels. Life will be tough in the future, but it's still better than going back to our hometown."

Li Shoucai asked, "But how do we replant the trees from this mountain?"

Li Shoucai's words put everyone in a difficult position. Buying saplings would cost a lot of money, and even if the village managed to scrape together twenty taels, it would be a huge financial burden. Where would they find any extra money to buy and plant trees?

Immediately, everyone started talking about it.

Just then, Lu Qiqi stepped forward and said, "Let's get the village chief out first. I'll figure out how to get the saplings. The government is worried about landslides during the rainy season. Even if the government doesn't come, we still have to plant these trees!"

Li Shoucai thought that since Lu Qiqi could lead everyone to make money by making charcoal cakes, she might really have a way to find the saplings. Suddenly, the words that were stuck in his throat came out smoothly.

“Let’s get some paper and pen and figure out how much each household should contribute. Tomorrow we’ll go and rescue the village chief from prison,” Li Shoucai paused, then added, “The dungeon is so cold and damp, I wonder how the village chief will get through tonight!”

After hearing Li Shoucai's words, everyone's spirits began to slump again.

Li Yan took out paper and pen from home and helped with the registration.

The villagers lined up to sign their names, then went home to get the money. Each household paid the money and left a fingerprint, so that they would have proof in the future.

By the time I finished all that, it was already past midnight.

Lu Qiqi and Li Qingshan walked towards their home at the foot of the mountain, their shadows cast by the moonlight.

Li Qingshan asked, "Seventh Girl, how did you manage to find so many saplings?"

Lu Qiqi looked up at the bright moonlight and said, "We need too many saplings. For now, we have no choice but to buy them."

After a moment of contemplation, Li Qingshan said, "If you have any difficulties, tell your uncle. Your aunt has some money."

Lu Qiqi was pleased that the family worked together to solve the problem, and smiled, "Okay!"

Last night, the people of Lijia Village pooled together enough money and sent Li Shoucai and Li Yan to pay the money and bring the village chief back.

Lu Qiqi was waiting for someone at the village entrance early on.

Seeing the two people driving the oxcart, Lu Qiqi jumped off the carriage road. "Uncle Shoucai, you should drive the carriage to pick up the village chief. It's chilly in spring, so it will be better for you."

"Okay, okay," Li Shoucai hurriedly went to drive the carriage.

Li Yan bowed to Lu Qiqi and said, "Thank you, Miss Lu."

Lu Qiqi responded with a faint smile.

After the two had walked away and left the country road, Lu Qiqi put the oxcart into her spatial storage and led out a fine horse from it.

Lu Qiqi mounted her horse and galloped along the country road. She was going to Qingshui Town with Li Shoucai and the others, but her destination was at the West Gate, which would allow her to avoid Li Shoucai and the others.

Upon reaching the West Gate, Lu Qiqi dismounted, led the horse to a secluded spot to store it in her spatial storage, and then entered the West Gate.

Upon arriving at the seed shop in the West Market, Lu Qiqi went straight inside.

The seed shop's business was bad because of the rain a few days ago. After two days of overcast skies, the sun finally came out today, and the seed shop's business has improved a lot.

Upon entering, Lu Qiqi saw many people buying grain seeds, ordering flowers, plants, and saplings.

After informing the shopkeeper through a waiter, she went through the archway to the backyard, found a place to sit and wait for the shopkeeper.

Before long, the shopkeeper came out with a smile on his face.

"Miss Lu, I'm so sorry, our shop has been too busy today and we haven't been able to provide adequate service." The shopkeeper sat down and then called over a waiter, telling him to quickly serve tea.

Lu Qiqi didn't bother with pleasantries with the shopkeeper. "I'm sure the staff has already told you. I just wanted to ask if you still have those tea seedlings? And how is the tea you've grown?"

"Yes, yes," the shopkeeper said. "The tea is top-notch. You can trust me on that, young lady. If it's not good, I won't mind if you smash up my little shop!"

The shopkeeper was very confident about the tea, so Lu Qiqi no longer hesitated, inquired about the price, and ordered 10,000 tea seedlings.

After paying the deposit and receiving the receipt, Lu Qiqi finally heard the truth from the shopkeeper: "These tea trees originally belonged to a high-ranking official's estate, and he originally planned to plant them as soon as he arrived in the village."

Unexpectedly, my family was punished with confiscation of property, and all the land was confiscated and sold off, leading to the situation we have today. But don't worry, young lady, this tea is absolutely excellent.

A high-ranking official said that if someone confiscated a house, all the belongings would be seized and sold off.

After a moment's consideration, Lu Qiqi thought, "I've spent so much money. If the mountain isn't mine, and someone else targets this tea mountain and buys it in this powerless era, wouldn't I lose everything?"

We can't do business that loses money like this.

Lu Qiqi asked, "Shopkeeper, what procedures are needed to buy a mountain in Luzhou Prefecture? How much silver will it cost?"

After a moment's thought, the shopkeeper said, "Qingshui Town has many mountains and land. To buy a mountain, just have the village chief write a letter to the government office, pay the money, and get the deed. The procedure is not complicated."

"Buying a mountain costs a lot. The laws of the Great Jin Dynasty prohibit the buying and selling of stone mountains. In our Luzhou Prefecture, earthen mountains are divided into large and small mountains. Small mountains start at fifty taels and go up, while large mountains are hard to say; you can't buy one without three to five hundred taels."

Lu Qiqi understood the general idea and left the seed shop. The shopkeeper promised her that he would deliver the tea seedlings to the veteran village within seven days.

Upon returning to the veterans' village, Lu Qiqi immediately went back to look for the envelope given to her by Chen.

Lu Qiqi removed the sealing wax from the scroll cloud pattern and took out a piece of paper inside.

Unfold it, and you'll find nothing but five-hundred-tael silver notes!

Lu Qiqi exclaimed that the Chen family's move was indeed generous.

With these five hundred taels of silver notes, plus the money she had on hand, buying a mountain wouldn't be a problem.

Time was tight, and Lu Qiqi didn't even discuss it with her family before riding her horse directly to the government office.

After explaining her purpose, the officials led Lu Qiqi to a side hall. After she finished drinking a cup of hot tea, Registrar Chen finally arrived late.

As soon as Registrar Chen entered, Lu Qiqi stood up and gave a slight bow.

After she explained her purpose, Registrar Chen said, "I already know about what happened in your village. The laws of the Great Jin Dynasty cannot be violated."

You could have reported this to the government and had them make proper arrangements for felling the trees, but instead you made the worst decision and cut down all the trees.

Now that they're doing everything in their power to salvage the situation, it can be considered that they've acknowledged their mistakes and are correcting them.

With Clerk Chen saying this, the purchase of the mountain was considered a done deal. Lu Qiqi then asked, "I wonder how the government priced the mountain?"

“Even if you don’t buy it, this mountain will still be allocated to your village. Considering your willingness to restore the mountain’s original shape, three hundred taels is enough.”

Three hundred taels. Lu Qiqi pondered for a moment. In that case, she would still have two hundred taels of silver left, which could be used to buy land at the foot of the mountain, as a foundation for building a manor in the future.

Lu Qiqi smiled and said, "Registrant Chen, may I buy the land at the foot of the mountain as my private property?"