The journey was quite long, and Chen Ahfu was bored and looked out the window. Looking at the fertile fields and wilderness flashing behind him, he felt like he was riding in a car in his previous life. But most of the time he was listening to Luo Fang and Qing Bo chatting about all sorts of things outside the car, and sometimes Chen Shi would also interject a few words.

They talked about how many relatives and friends came from the capital, how many people came from the provincial capital, and how almost all the rich and powerful people in Dingzhou came to celebrate Chu Hanyan's birthday. It was so lively...

Chen Afu understood that not only was Miss Chu's family prominent, her great-grandfather was an old marquis, and her grandfather was a marquis. Even her great-uncle was the governor of Jibei Province, a high-ranking official... Then, before she became a nun, the abbot Liaochen should have been the wife of the Marquis Chu, the sister of the Luo Xunfu. Why did she become a nun with such a prominent background?

I really can't understand it.

Moreover, they did not say that the current Marquis, the girl's grandfather, came to congratulate. According to Steward Luo, someone had ill intentions towards the girl, and even asked a nobleman in the palace to help... Could it be that Marquis Chu had fallen in love with someone else, and his current wife was powerful and would not let the girl go, so he forced Chu Lingxuan to let his daughter hide in the city?

Also, there was no mention of the little girl's maternal family or mother. Perhaps her mother is already dead...

When Chen Afu was thinking about his own things, he heard their topic suddenly change and they were talking about the newly appointed prefect, Mr. Chen.

Chen Afu became so nervous that even Chen Shi's expression became unnatural.

I only heard Qing Bo ask, "Manager Luo, when you were welcoming guests, did you see the newly appointed prefect Chen? I heard that he is very handsome." He then said unconvincedly, "No matter how handsome he is, can he be as handsome as our master? Or as handsome as our marquis when he was young?"

Luo Fang smiled proudly and said, "I really saw that Master Chen. He is indeed very handsome. However, his handsomeness is different from that of our master and marquis. Our master and marquis are handsome with a sense of majesty and toughness, while Master Chen is particularly handsome, prettier than a woman." After a pause, he said, "Uh... strange, why do I feel that Master Chen looks like someone I know?"

Chen Shi glanced at Chen Afu nervously, then at Wang, and quickly said, "Manager Luo, Brother Qing, I wonder where our former prefect has become an official?" He then said confidently, "He is an honest man, he must have been promoted."

Luo Fang said, "He went to the capital to be an official..."

They changed the subject again.

Fortunately, they did not directly mention the name of "Mr. Chen", and Wang did not care about things that had nothing to do with her, and kept her head down knitting her lace.

Chen Afu felt that it was impossible to hide the fact that Chen Shiying was the prefect of Dingzhou from Wang for too long. After all, Chen Shiying's hometown was in Zhaojia Village, Fenglin Town, Sanqing County, which was only seven or eight miles away from Xiangluo Village. The people there would definitely be excited about the emergence of a young prefect, and perhaps the news had already spread to Xiangluo Village.

Around 9:00 p.m., we arrived at Laohuai Village in Guanghe Town. We found the owner of the forest land and went to look at the land together. The large field was connected, and there was a weir lake not far away, which was also convenient for irrigation.

Although Chen Shi was a businessman, he also grew up in the countryside, so he could tell the quality of the land. He went to the field, grabbed a handful of soil, looked at it, nodded, and whispered to Chen Afu and Wang that the field was good.

Chen Ahfu nodded to show that he was willing to buy. The landowner Lin then found a few more tenant farmers, hoping that Chen Ahfu and his family would continue to use them.

Chen Ahfu agreed. As the land purchase contract had not yet been finalized, she did not want to travel such a long distance tomorrow, so she agreed to sign the tenancy agreement when she passed by here on her way back to Xiangluo Village four days later.

There are 200 fields in total, 100 acres in the east are under Chen Afu's name, and 100 acres in the west are under Chen Ming's name. It was Chen Afu who had planned to give Chen Ming so many fields. This was his first time buying a property, so he had to give Chen Ming more to repay him for taking care of little Afu.

Wang originally thought that she would give Chen Ming 50 acres of land, but now it turned out to be 100 acres. Just when she was about to postpone it, Chen Afu shook his head and stopped her.

It's really hard to postpone it in front of so many people.

Seeing such a vast expanse of fertile land that stretched as far as the eye could see, Wang's eyes became red. She had finally become a landlord. She would never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of her life. This, this, this was something she could never have dreamed of.

The land purchase agreement was signed, the broker and the middleman signed and sealed the deal, and Chen Afu gave 1,260 taels of silver to the landowner Lin.

She took out two more coins and asked Chen Shi to buy two pieces of meat and five pounds of wine at the entrance of the village and gave them to the head of the village. She also treated everyone to lunch, and gave two coins to a more capable tenant farmer, asking him to prepare a few good dishes and buy a few pounds of wine. Chen Shi and Luo Fang accompanied the men to drink and eat, while Chen Ahfu and her daughter ate in another room.

Because they had to hurry on their way, they drank the wine quickly and finished it in about half an hour.

After dinner, Chen Afu and Wang took Qingbo’s carriage and returned to the city with Luo Fang.

Chen Shi was going to go to Zhongning County with Li Yaren and Lin the landlord to get the deed. It would take more than an hour to get from here to Zhongning County, and another hour to get from Zhongning County to the prefectural city. If they hurry up, they can get back to the prefectural city before the city gates close. The time for opening the city gates in the Dashun Dynasty was the beginning of the Chen hour, and the time for closing the city gates was the beginning of the Xu hour.

Chen Ahfu gave Chen Shi two taels of silver, and in addition to the arrangements, he also invited Li Yaren to have dinner. If he could not enter the city before the city gate was closed, he would have to stay in an inn outside the city.

Around 3 p.m., Chen Ahfu and Wang arrived at Chen Shi's house. Zhang enthusiastically brought a pot of braised skewers to the carriage and gave them to the two families.

Chen Dabao had not returned from the Chu Mansion yet, and Chen Afu and her daughter were tired, so they went back to their room to rest.

A-Lu pointed to the two bowls of water on the table and said, "This is sugar water. I left it out for my mother and sister."

Chen Afu smiled, touched his pigtails, and drank the sugar water.

Wang hugged A-Lu and said, "A-Lu, you must study hard and treat your sister well in the future."

Ah Lu nodded and said, "I must pass the imperial examination to support my sister and prevent people like Wang Yingjun from thinking about her."

Chen Afu and Wang were very happy with what he said.

Not long after, Chen Dabao was sent back to the Chu Mansion by a carriage, and Manager Luo also came.

Manager Luo smiled at Chen Ahfu and said, "My old marquis is as picky as Sister Yan. He likes the glutinous rice dates you make and says they are much better than those made by the cook. He will be returning to the capital the day after tomorrow. Hehe, my master wants to ask the wife of the Chen family to help make some more for him to take to the capital." He raised the basket in his hand, pointed to the two large bags of things carried by the two servants behind him, and said, "We have brought all the ingredients."

Seeing so many ingredients, Chen Afu smiled and said, "Okay, let's finish it tonight and tomorrow morning."