On the other side, An Ning saw An Dashan and Gao had left, so she handed little An Rui to Wang Er's mother and that Zhou Pozi to take care of, and went to the pawnbroker where she bought the house last time. When she arrived at the pawnbroker, An Ning was greeted by an unfamiliar pawnbroker, so An Ning asked, "Is Zhang Ya Ren here?"

Zhang Yaren, who was seeing off a guest, heard someone looking for him, so he said, "Yes, yes." Then he said goodbye to the guest and walked towards An Ning.

Gan Ya people have good memories. When Zhang Ya saw An Ning, he remembered her immediately and said, "It's Miss An. I haven't seen you for a while."

An Ning smiled and said, "I went back to my hometown some time ago, and I just came back and came to ask you for help."

Zhang Yaren said quickly, "Miss An, you are too polite. If you need any help, just let me know. I will do everything I can for you."

An Ning did not keep the question secret and said directly: "I want to buy some land. I wonder if Mr. Zhang Ya has any good land to recommend to me."

Zhang Ya nodded and said, "You have found the right person. During the New Year, the northern barbarians often come to nearby villages to rob. Many landlords have sold their fields and moved their families away from this border."

An Ning nodded and said, "Well, then please ask Zhang Yaren to think about where there are good fields, preferably those that can be connected into one piece."

Zhang Ya thought for a moment and said, "There is indeed such a thing. Twenty miles south of Juyong Pass, there is a piece of land for sale. It is over 500 mu and it is all top quality land, but the price is a little high."

An Ning asked: "How much does it cost per acre?"

Zhang Ya stretched out his palm and said, "I want to sell it for five taels of silver per mu."

When An Ning heard this, she realized that it was one or two taels of silver cheaper than the fields her family had bought, so she said calmly, "It's a bit expensive, but I don't know if it's good land. Why don't you come with us and we can go take a look together?"

Zhang Ya nodded and said, "That's easy. We are free now, so let's go take a look!"

An Ning nodded and said, "Well, my mule cart is parked outside the door. Zhang Yaren, go and pack up. Let's go and come back quickly!"

Zhang Yaren nodded, went back to get a bunch of keys and personal belongings, and got into the carriage with An Ning.

A distance of twenty miles is not far. The few of them rode at full speed and arrived at the place Zhang Ya mentioned in less than half an hour.

He took An Ning around the fields and said, "It's not the planting season yet, so the fields are still empty, but you can tell from the color of the soil that it's fertile."

An Ning grabbed a handful of soil and looked at it carefully. Although it was not pure black soil, it was obvious that the soil was very fertile. So he nodded and said, "Not bad, let's go look somewhere else." Then he continued to walk forward, and Zhang Yaren followed closely behind.

Zhang Yaren said as he walked, "This piece of land belongs to a man named Lin. He also has a farm here. It's not big, just an ordinary two-story courtyard. Mr. Lin said that he didn't know how much the farm was worth. If someone buys this piece of land, the farm will be half-sold and half-given to the buyer. Why don't we go take a look at the farm after we finish looking at the land?"

An Ning nodded and said, "Okay."

It would take a while to look at such a large area, so An Ning only picked a few places to look at, and found that they were all the same, so he stopped looking and went to the farm with Zhang Yaren.

An Ning and Zhang Yaren came to the manor together. An Ning thought the manor looked very ordinary, not as good as the newly built house of the An family. Zhang Yaren opened the gate of the courtyard. The layout of the courtyard was very simple. As soon as the gate was opened, five main rooms were seen, three side rooms on each side, and a large courtyard. Although the house was not new, it was obvious that the person living here was hardworking. The house was well maintained and did not look shabby at all.

An Ning nodded and said, "This house is not bad. Let's not beat around the bush. Look at how much money this piece of land and this farm cost in total. Let's decide on it as soon as possible so as not to delay planting crops."

Zhang Ya liked such straightforward people, so he said, "Okay, let's not beat around the bush. This piece of land is 515 acres in total, and I don't want you to pay for this farm. I'll just give you 2,575 taels of silver."

An Ning smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang Ya, you see, we are old acquaintances. This price is a bit high, isn't it? As far as I know, the land here is quite cheap. You can buy an acre of good farmland for four and a half taels of silver. Although this piece of land is fertile, it is much better than other good farmland. I don't want to embarrass you, so I'll round it off and call it 2,500 taels of silver!"

This was not the first time Zhang Yaren had dealt with this girl, so he knew that she was not easy to fool, so he said, "Okay, since Miss An has spoken, I can't turn her down. I won't make any money from this deal, so I'll just pay her what she said!"

An Ning smiled. Zhang Ya would make at least fifty taels of silver from this deal. However, she did not expose Zhang Ya. Instead, she asked, "Did you rent out the land, or did you hire someone to farm it?"

Zhang Yaren smiled and said, "Of course they rented out the land, but the northern barbarian army attacked the nearby villages. Most of the people in the nearby villages were killed or injured. Those who should have fled have already fled. The rest are old, weak, sick and disabled. I guess they are no longer able to rent the land."

After hearing this, An Ning asked in confusion, "Why does this place look like it hasn't been looted?"

Zhang Yaren said, "This is all thanks to General Wang. He happened to come here to evacuate the people that day and encountered the northern barbarians. General Wang fought bravely and wiped out the northern barbarians completely, so that the northern barbarians did not continue to cause trouble in other places. But Mr. Lin was scared and moved all the food here the next day, and then gave all his property to the pawnbroker, asking the pawnbroker to sell it on his behalf, and then moved his family."

An Ning nodded, this was understandable, so he said: "Mr. Zhang Ya, please see if there is anyone in the pawnshop who has been a village head and recommend one to me. My eldest brother is busy with military affairs and has no time to manage this village. But this village cannot be left without anyone to manage it, so I want to buy a village head position."

Zhang Ya thought for a moment and said, "That's true, but they are a family of five. They used to work for a wealthy family. Their situation is similar to Mr. Lin's, except that his family sold most of the servants who were unwilling to leave their homeland."

An Ning nodded and said, "Okay, let's go back and take a look."