When Li Jun lay down on the bed and hugged his wife again, he forced himself to ignore the scent on her body, closed his eyes, and hypnotized himself to go to sleep early.

In the end, Tang Baozhu couldn't bear it any longer. Feeling guilty, she turned around, reached out her hand, and clenched it tightly.

That night, Li Jun felt like he had entered a whole new world; he never imagined it could be like this.

In the days that followed, when he couldn't hold it in any longer, he would coax his wife to continue using this method to help him relieve his tension. This made Tang Baozhu particularly regretful, feeling that she shouldn't have been so soft-hearted in the first place.

Of course, that's a matter for later. Now, on the second day, Li Jun ate breakfast early and went to the county town. He hadn't forgotten what his wife had told him.

First, I went to the slave trader and bought two able-bodied young men. These young men were much more expensive than women and children, costing 15 taels of silver each, and he wouldn't budge on the price.

Even though Li Jun was so good at bargaining, he couldn't get a single copper coin off the table, which made him feel particularly bad. It wasn't that he wanted to lose a lot of money, but he just enjoyed the process and feeling of bargaining.

The two young men were named Chunsheng and Qingshan. When Li Jun bought them, he specifically chose the one who was slightly better looking, so that they would be a better match for Chunxue and Qingliu.

Even the names were chosen to fit Chunxue and Qingliu. Although Li Jun's idea was good, he still wanted them to get to know each other and choose the names they liked.

There may never be two hosts as good as them again.

After taking the two men's indentures, Li Jun led them to the county government office and went directly to the clerk there to express his intention to buy the barren mountain.

When the clerk heard that the purchase was of the barren hills near Qingshan Village, he became particularly enthusiastic. That piece of wasteland had not been sold for decades, even centuries, and it was rare to find a sucker willing to buy it. They quickly took people to Qingshan Village to measure the land, lest Li Jun change his mind.

Li Jun was so impressed that he thought the officials these days were actually so nice, hardworking, and easy to talk to. It was such a wonderful misunderstanding.

Fortunately, Li Jing was not unhappy to see how enthusiastic they were; in fact, he was even happier and quickly took them to Qingshan Village.

When Li Jun returned to Qingshan Village, it was almost noon. Thinking that his family might have already prepared lunch, he quickly took the clerk and the five constables who had helped measure the land and headed home.

The clerk and the five constables did not refuse to go to Li Jun's house for a meal. Along the way, through conversations with them, Li Jun learned that the clerk's surname was Zhao. Through chatting, they became closer and he started calling him Brother Zhao.

Then Brother Zhao and Brother Li had a long chat.

Tang Baozhu didn't leave her room during lunch. That's how it was in those days; when guests came to the house, women would try to avoid them.

Fortunately, no one bothered her, so she could secretly have a big meal in her space. After eating and drinking her fill, she quickly came out of the space, and no one noticed.

When Zhao Wenshu came to Li Jun's house for dinner, Li Jun secretly slipped him a silver note. When no one was around, Zhao Wenshu took it out and saw that it contained 50 taels of silver.

For clerks like them who were often in the county government office and had no extra income, it was rare for someone to give them money, so they quickly and secretly pocketed it.

Zhao Wenshu thought he was the only one who received the money, but in fact, the other five yamen runners, including Li Jun, had also secretly slipped 10 taels of silver to each of them. The five yamen runners knew that everyone had received money, so none of them said anything. They were thinking that when they measured the silver later, they would secretly give him a little leeway, so that they wouldn't get the money for nothing.

Li Jun slipped them silver so they would be more lenient when measuring. When they saw how casually they measured, they knew the silver had worked.

The entire hilltop is about 1,000 to 1,300 mu, but because of the bribe, only 1,100 mu were counted, which is equivalent to giving away more than 200 mu for free.

So much money has already been given, not for those 200-plus acres of wasteland, but to negotiate the price with Zhao Wenshu a little more.

Zhao Wenshu accepted Li Jun's money, which was quite generous of him. After all, very few people in the county were buying barren mountains, so he rarely had any extra gray income. It was rare for someone to give him 50 taels of silver at once, just to lower the price. He could make that kind of deal.

The land here, though called barren hills, isn't actually that barren. If it's cultivated for a year or two, it should be comparable to other people's low-grade farmland.

However, when reporting back to the county government, he could directly say that it would be difficult to cultivate such land in less than 5 or 6 years. Generally, such wasteland is worth one tael of silver per mu. But Zhao Wenshu was a bit greedy, so he directly reported two taels of silver per mu. This was because he would take a little money in the middle, then give some to his superiors, and then give the biggest boss there as well, and he would give the largest share of that money.

Li Jun had no idea that there were so many twists and turns involved. He was already quite satisfied with the price of two taels of silver per mu for the wasteland.

In the end, a total of more than 2,200 taels of silver was paid, and with the silver given to them, it came to more than 2,300 taels.

I have a little less than 200 taels of silver left. It seems difficult to build a larger house with that little money. However, the grain on the estate and in the fields will be ripe soon. When I sell the grain, I will have some cash on hand.

Moreover, there is a shop in the county town that generates a steady stream of income, though not much, it adds up to twenty or thirty taels of silver a month.

Li Jun silently calculated the money that was about to be received, but after calculating it again and again, he felt that the money was still not enough. After all, the barren mountain needed to be reclaimed by someone, and everyone needed to build fences. Each fence should be at least two meters high so that there would be no need to worry about the animals inside escaping.

There was no other way but to swallow my pride and ask my wife for some more. After thinking it through, I started to get things done.

Chunsheng and Qingshan kept busy following him, but for honest farmers like them, having work to do made them feel at ease, so they didn't complain at all. On the contrary, they were happy because being busy meant that their employer trusted them.

After Li Jun came out of the county government office, he looked at the red contract in his hand. He had spent more than 2,000 taels of silver to get this contract, which was registered in his wife's name.

He wasn't a heartless person. That barren mountain was bought with money from his own wife, and he wasn't greedy for it. After all, it would all belong to the child in her womb.

Even as darkness fell, nothing could dampen his burning desire to return home and bring joy to his wife.