Chapter 188 Who Did I Offend?

However, this made Song Chunxue much more at ease in front of Lord Xie.

They will not hesitate to befriend them because of their vastly different social status.

Before long, lunch was ready at Lord Xie's house.

The minced meat, seasoned with soy sauce and stir-fried to perfection, is piled on top of clear broth noodles, its aroma so enticing it's almost intoxicating.

The key point is that there were also six dishes, three meat and three vegetable, which was practically treating Song Chunxue as a distinguished guest.

Even the feasts at their manor weren't this good.

Song Chunxue thought to herself, "No wonder they're from a big city, it's so nice to deal with them."

She ate three bowls of noodles with minced meat sauce without any hesitation.

"Thank you for your hospitality, sir. I've finished eating." After finishing her meal, Song Chunxue stood up. "I'd like to finish my business as soon as possible and go home. Would you mind showing me the courtyard, Chunshu?"

"Alright, I don't have anything to do today, so I'll take you there."

Song Chunxue was taken aback. "No, no, no, if you go, people will gossip about you."

"Besides, I remember my senior brother saying that you've been having some romantic entanglements lately. If you come with me and happen to run into someone, it might cause a misunderstanding. Perhaps..."

These words made Haruki, who had just entered the room, unable to help but laugh.

Xie Zheng glared at him.

Chunshu wasn't afraid of him. "Sir, you have indeed been troubled by unwanted suitors lately. The local customs here are relatively fierce, and the women from wealthy families are not as gentle and reserved as the women in the capital. A few days ago, a woman came to my door saying that she would not marry anyone but you. I'm afraid she will come again today."

Under Xie Zheng's angry glare, he hurriedly added, "It would be good for the adults to go out and have some peace and quiet."

Song Chunxue couldn't help but look at Xie Zheng. His face was indeed attractive to women. In this harsh and cold Northwest, there were very few men as good-looking as him who also knew how to refuse people.

Otherwise, if he were to use his official authority to intimidate them, the girls from small towns would definitely be scared away.

They left the courtyard together, and the donkey had already been led to the stable in the backyard.

The courtyard that Chunshu showed her was not far away, only about a hundred meters away. It looked like it had been built only a few years ago, and the wooden rafters under the eaves were a very light color.

Song Chunxue couldn't help but ask, "How much does this courtyard cost?"

"Twenty taels, because all the furniture in the house is new. The owner of the house has gone to Jincheng and no longer needs it. No bargaining."

"Alright, let's buy it then. But I wonder who we should give the money to? And how do we transfer the land deed?"

Xie Zheng said, "This is easy. Just leave it to Chunshu. He's best at these kinds of things. I even poached him from the tavern. If there's an opportunity in the future, I'd like to take him to the capital to try his luck."

Song Chunxue smiled and said, "Your Excellency cherishes talent."

"It's also for my own convenience," Xie Zheng said with a smile. "When I first came here, I also wanted to buy this courtyard, but I didn't have enough money at the time, so I rented the one in front. Now that I have the money, I don't want to move."

They entered the courtyard, which was a spacious siheyuan (traditional courtyard house) with six rooms, and the courtyard itself was very spacious.

Most importantly, the ground is paved with blue bricks, so there's basically no need for many changes if you want to move in.

Such a nice courtyard, and it only costs twenty taels?

However, Song Chunxue could never afford it in her entire life.

Now that she's gotten lucky, she actually thinks it's quite cheap.

Upon entering the main room, Song Chunxue looked at the furnishings and couldn't help but admire them.

I like everything.

After all, she was a country woman, and most of the things in the city were made by rich people; she had never seen anything good.

Half an hour later, Chunshu handed the remaining silver and land deed to Song Chunxue.

With twenty taels of silver left, Song Chunxue looked at another courtyard. Although it had been built over the years, it was actually a large fortress with a two-story building in the courtyard. If bandits came, there would be no need to worry about them breaking in.

Moreover, a few years later, the city will indeed face the possibility of bandits breaking into it.

When asked the price, it was only thirty taels of silver.

"purchase."

Song Chunxue readily agreed, took out eleven taels of silver from the bundle she had brought with her, and handed it to Chunshu.

"This tael of silver is for the trouble you went through running errands, please don't refuse it."

Such a big matter, without connections, she probably couldn't handle it by herself in half a month.

But since Haruki is running around everywhere, he has to be given benefits.

“This is too much, it won’t do.” Chunshu looked at Xie Zheng, “Sir, this…”

"Take it, you deserve it." Xie Zheng rarely joked like this. "This sister-in-law is rich, so just take it."

Song Chunxue chuckled, "Actually, I have something I need Chunshu's help with."

Xie Zheng seemed to have guessed as much as he had, "Does sister-in-law want to buy land or a shop?"

"I want to buy them all."

"..." Xie Zheng was taken aback, then lowered his voice and said, "Have you made a fortune again recently?"

"..." Why is he laughing so happily?

"That's perfect. Recently, due to some cases, the government has some fertile land that needs to be sold. These are all rich lands that have been embezzled and seized. If you buy them now, their value will increase next year."

“If I weren’t a non-local, there would be no point in buying land here, I would have bought it long ago.”

"Many people in the government want to buy it, but they don't have any spare money. Sister-in-law, you have about the same amount of money as those wealthy merchants. You can buy ten acres first."

Song Chunxue's heart was surging with excitement. Could such a good thing really exist?

She suppressed her excitement and calmly asked, "How much silver is one acre of land?"

"Two taels of silver, how much can you buy?"

If the person in front of her wasn't Xie Zheng, she would have loved to stand up and jump around.

Two taels of silver! She thought it was worth it even if it were five taels of silver for the wasteland she bought in a remote place before.

She wanted to buy it all for two taels of silver.

"I'll buy twenty mu," she said, having already spent the remaining forty taels of silver. "Is what you said true, sir? Are there really such affordable fertile fields?"

"How could I possibly lower the price?" Xie Zheng called Chunshu over. "Go to the yamen again later. My sister-in-law wants to buy twenty acres of land. Pick out the most fertile plots. Take the money and go to process the land deeds. Just say that I want to buy them."

Chunshu stared wide-eyed at Song Chunxue, "Auntie, you're so generous! Did you leave yourself some money for the journey?"

The child was worried that she might impulsively spend all her travel money.

Song Chunxue handed him the silver, saying, "Yes, money should be spent wisely. Besides, I don't feel at ease keeping the silver at home. Farmers love their land the most."

“That’s right, even wealthy people can’t buy those plots of land. I’ll take care of it for you right away.” Chunshu walked quickly and disappeared into the alleyway in a flash.

Song Chunxue was in a good mood after a fruitful day.

Luckily, there were some loose silver coins left over from last time in my bag, otherwise I really wouldn't have had any money to buy snacks for the third and fourth children today.

"Come to my house and wait. It will take at least half an hour."

"Alright."

Song Chunxue followed Xie Zheng back to his home. As soon as they entered the alley, they saw a woman with a maid blocking the doorway.

"Lord Xie, where have you been?" A young woman dressed delicately ran towards them, pointed at Song Chunxue, and asked, "Who is this old woman?"

"..." She is a bit old, but she didn't offend this girl, did she?

However, judging from the girl's expression, Song Chunxue understood that she was jealous.

"Please show some respect, young lady. She is my woman, and she is about the same age as me. Are you implying that I am old?"

"What?" The woman, who had applied a lot of rouge and powder, glared at him, and the powder dripped off. "You actually like this kind of old woman?"

Song Chunxue realized what was happening and smiled as she took Xie Zheng's arm. "Yes, adults hate people who are ill-mannered, no matter how young they are."