"That puts my mind at ease." Ye Lizheng nodded. "How big do you want to buy? It should be at least two-tenths of an acre, right?"

"From here to here." Ye Caiping pointed and circled a large area at the foot of the mountain.

"What?" Ye Lizheng was somewhat surprised. "This is five acres of land. How big are you going to build your house?"

“I’m not just building houses, I plan to open a workshop.”

"A workshop?" Ye Lizheng was bewildered. "What kind of workshop?"

"I make hot and sour soup. I plan to make the hot and sour soup seasoning into seasoning packets. In the future, anyone who wants to eat hot and sour soup can just soak some dried vegetables, add water and the seasoning packet."

Ye Caiping already had a plan when she was making the spicy soup.

If you make your own soup, you can only sell it in small towns and counties. But if you make it into a seasoning packet, the market will be the entire Zhou Dynasty.

Ye Lizheng listened with his heart pounding: "This...this...are you sure it can work?"

"Uncle Village Head knows that my family's spicy soup business is quite good. In any case, let's give it a try!"

Ye Li was just thinking about how busy Ye Bajin had been lately, always bringing Hu La Tang (a type of spicy soup) in and out. It was easy to imagine how good Ye Caiping's business was.

"After this workshop is built, we'll need to hire people, right?" the village head asked tentatively.

"yes."

Ye Lizheng's eyes lit up even more. If that were the case, the villagers would at least have some income.

"How much for these five acres?" Ye Caiping asked.

"The imperial court has regulations that the best paddy fields cost five taels of silver per mu, less desirable land three taels, and wasteland two taels. Homestead land is generally calculated at three taels."

"The best residential land is in the center of the village. Look at this map, the area circled in red is three liang per mu. The area at the beginning and end of the village is two liang per mu."

“This place… is near the foot of the mountain, and it was originally wasteland, so it’s worth two taels. If you want five mu, that’ll be ten taels in total.”

"Okay." Ye Caiping was about to take out her money.

"Wait a minute." Ye Lizheng chuckled. "At least take a look at the land first! How can you just hand over the money after looking at the blueprints? Also, what are your parents' opinions on buying this land..."

"Alright, let's go see now. Huan'er, go and call your grandparents."

Although she can make the decision to buy the land and her parents won't object, she still has to respect her family's opinions, since they all care about her.

Huan'er was about to go out when Ye Bajin came in rubbing his eyes: "Sister Caiping, I'll go! I just need to deliver the goods for the evening market."

He was just catching up on sleep in his room.

"This is troublesome."

After Ye Bajin left for a while, he saw Old Lady Ye, Old Man Ye, and even Ye Daquan and Erquan arrive together.

"Brother, aren't you going to deliver goods?" Ye Caiping said.

"Hehe, knowing you wanted to inspect the land, I sent Yong'er. Don't blame me, little sister," he said, scratching his head.

"It's okay." As long as someone else does the work, it's fine.

The group followed Ye Lizheng to the foot of the mountain.

Grandma Ye looked up at the towering mountain so close to her, her mouth agape: "Caiping, isn't this... a bit too remote?"

“It’s not remote; only here is there enough space.” Ye Caiping then talked about opening a workshop.

Grandma Ye and the others were completely bewildered. They didn't know what a workshop was; all they knew was that their daughter wanted to expand her business.

Grandma Ye felt a little sorry for her: "Isn't this too tiring? It's already very good as it is now. We have income every month, and we are content with our modest wealth."

"I'm not tired, I enjoy doing business."

Grandma Ye was slightly taken aback when she saw the light in her eyes. It seemed she truly liked it!

Grandma Ye smiled and sighed, "I'm glad you like it."

Ye Caiping walked around the five mu of land she had chosen; she had her eye on this land for a long time. Now, looking at it again, she was increasingly satisfied.

After building houses and workshops, there will still be some land left over from these five acres, which can be used to grow some things.

"Mom, look, the mountain stream flows down over there! We can divert a section of the stream and bring it into our house, which will make it much easier to get water."

Grandma Ye's eyes lit up. Indeed, if they brought in fresh water, they would never have to carry water again.

Listening to Ye Caiping talk about how the house would be built, Grandma Ye and the others liked it more and more, and no longer cared that the place was remote.

After inspecting the land, it was getting dark, and the group returned to the village head's house.

Ye Caiping immediately paid the money and pressed her fingerprint on the land deed.

Ye Lizheng folded the land deed neatly: "I'll go to the government office tomorrow to register it for you. Why don't you go register as a female household member too? Let's go together."

"OK!"

As Ye Caiping spoke, she suddenly remembered the gift she had brought and quickly placed it on the table: "Thank you for your trouble, Uncle Village Head. This is something I picked up while I was getting cloth this morning. Please don't find it offensive, Uncle Village Head."

Ye Lizheng was taken aback: "I am already very grateful to you for giving me eight jin of work to do, how could I accept your gift?"

Ye Bajin earns thirty copper coins a day, plus a bowl of spicy soup. That adds up to more than an ounce a month!

Which farmer can earn one or two taels of silver a month?

“We’re all family, so don’t stand on ceremony with me, Uncle Village Head. Bajin even helped me carry cloth this morning! His oxcart is parked in the cart shop, which also incurs a fee. I didn’t even stand on ceremony with him, so please don’t stand on ceremony with me this time, Uncle.”

Having come this far, Ye Lizheng couldn't refuse: "Then I'll accept it without hesitation."

Ye Caiping, remembering Ye Yong's situation, tugged at Old Madam Ye's sleeve: "Mother, about Yong'er's marriage..."

Grandma Ye was taken aback: "Yes, yes."

Grandma Ye pulled the village head's husband aside and whispered something to him.

The village head's wife stared wide-eyed, nodding as she listened, and finally smiled and said:

"Don't worry! Since you've prepared everything, things are much easier. I'll talk to her first thing tomorrow morning. This time, I'll make sure it's done perfectly for you."

Last time, it was the village head's wife who helped them test Xiuxiu's mother, but when she asked for twenty taels, they were scared off.

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