Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. On the twenty-ninth day of the lunar year, suddenly a few policemen in official uniforms passed by Shiqu Village in front and headed straight for Lantang Village, scaring the villagers!
What are they doing on New Year's Day? When the village chief Zhao Youdang heard the news from the villagers, he was worried! Although he kept reporting to the government in front of the village chief of Xiaoji Village yesterday, the reality is that unless there is no other way, no villager is willing to have anything to do with the government! Those officials and yamen runners are like little ghosts on the road to the underworld, exploiting people layer by layer. Good people will be skinned alive if they go in!
They came just before the New Year, but they were not the officials he was familiar with who often came to the village below. It was impossible to get close to them. Zhao Youdang's heart was about to jump out of his throat. He couldn't help but think about the bad things: were they going to increase taxes, or were they going to go to war and conscript soldiers?
The villagers were also very scared. They stood far away, wondering why these officials came. It was the most frightening thing to scare yourself. Many people's legs went weak before the officials even spoke. Zhao Youdang had no choice but to go forward. After all, he was the village chief. Being a village chief usually had more respect and convenience than others in the village, but he had to take responsibility at this critical moment.
"Brother, are you the head of Lantang Village?" The leader was not a yamen runner, but a middle-aged man wearing a long gown and a sheepskin coat. He did not look like an official, but rather a respectable businessman. He spoke very politely. Zhao Youdang quickly bowed and said, "What's your name?"
No matter who he is, as long as he has these officers following him to give him face, Zhao Youdang will not dare to be disrespectful.
"I am the boss of Jinhu Dental Clinic in Nancheng, Anping County. I came here today on the orders of Liu Zhubu and Yang Shuban from the government office to do something in your village." The dental clerk smiled and said, "The hilltop east of your village was bought by a nobleman. We came here today to measure the land. We also want to inform the villagers that the east hill has an owner from now on. Villagers should not go up there if there is nothing to do, so as not to displease the nobleman."
As he said this, he showed Zhao Youdang the deed from the government office. Although the mountain was near Lantang Village, all the land belonged to Anping County, so he only needed to buy it from the government office, and did not need the consent of the villagers.
Zhao Youdang had no choice but to agree. What else could he say? The document was stamped with a big red seal! But he was also wondering, Dongshan is just an ordinary mountain, with few products and just so-so scenery. I wonder what the nobleman bought it for?
"Of course it will be useful." The boss of the dental shop said with a smile, "The women of the rich family plan to build a manor on this mountain and come here often to play and relax. They also want to build a road from the county town to the East Mountain to facilitate the family's travel. It's okay now, but after the manor is built, you villagers must be more careful. If you bump into the women of the rich family, you will be beaten to death without any reason."
Zhao Youdang was even more panicked by what he said, but he also knew that what he said was reasonable. Since he was a noble, he must be powerful and wealthy, and the reputation of his female relatives was even more important. He made up his mind to have a good talk with the villagers, and not to be like an egg trying to knock against someone else's stone!
But he didn't know that the woman from this noble family was in his kitchen, frying eggplant boxes with his wife!
Who do you think this broker is? He is the one who sold the house to Shen Qing. What's more, Dongshan actually let him smooth things over and helped Shen Qing buy it!
Shen Qing was ignorant of the fact that the agent brought his officers to the village today. He took a lot of gold and silver to the county town to find the agent early in the morning, but he didn't know that the government office would be closed on the day of the Little New Year, and then it would be a holiday. It would reopen after the Lantern Festival.
During this period, unless it is a big deal, the printing will not be done.
Shen Qing is just a village boy, who has only been successful for a few months. How can he know what is going on in the government? Even if we miss this, we can't do it before the New Year.
"But I have already made an agreement with Yang Shuban, and he has agreed to sell Dongshan to you." Shen Qing had not come to him before the New Year, and the man with the golden tooth was a little nervous, fearing that he had finally opened up the connection, but Shen Qing would not want it again: "It's just that the fee may be a little more expensive."
In fact, the mountain land was not worth much. If it was good land that could be reclaimed and used to grow crops, it would have been planted long ago. The land on the East Mountain was thin with gravel underneath and white soil on the surface. It would take more than a year to cultivate it. This kind of land was the cheapest.
But as the old saying goes, farmers live off the mountains, which does not only refer to food. The trees on the mountains can be used to build houses, the fallen dead branches can be used as firewood, and mushrooms and wild vegetables can also be used as food... Therefore, the mountains next to the village are usually not sold.
But whether to sell it or not depends on the will of the people in the government office. When the Golden Tooth man said this to Shen Qing, he meant that everything had been arranged.
The mountain was measured and found to be worth only three or four hundred taels of silver in total, and it would cost one or two hundred taels just to bribe people.
Shen Qing originally didn't know there were so many twists and turns, but after listening to the Gold Tooth Man's talk today, he felt that he had learned a lot. He was even very grateful to the Gold Tooth Man: What is this few hundred taels of silver to Shen Qing now? As long as he can take over Dongshan and keep the secret of the cave, how much money will he have in the future?
"In that case, thank you, Boss Jin." Shen Qing bowed to the Golden Tooth Man and decided not to bother two masters with the same thing. "I plan to build a manor on that mountain and build a road from the manor to the county government. I wonder if Boss Jin has any suitable candidates to recommend?"
Shen Qing will buy grain from the county town and transport it to the end of the world in the future. It would be so tiring to carry it up the mountain by himself. It would be better to build a road directly so that horse-drawn carriages can transport it in.
He planned to build the manor right in front of the cave, and even include the cave inside the manor, so that it would become his private property and would not be easily discovered by others.
This sounds like a big project, and it might cost thousands of taels! Boss Jin was so excited that his face turned red: "Yes, yes, my wife's brother builds houses for others. If you don't mind, you can let him do the job. If there is anything that doesn't suit your taste, just come to me!"
In fact, his brother-in-law was just an ordinary house builder, and had never done such big projects as building a farm or repairing a road. But he had to accept this job first, even if he was recruiting later, he couldn't let go of this overwhelming wealth!
Both sides were very satisfied with the deal, but unfortunately the government seal could not immediately make it happen. Until Shen Qing took off the agate pendant tied around his waist and gave it to the Golden Tooth Man as a reward: Originally Shen Qing was going to reward the Golden Tooth Man with 20 taels of silver. But when his hand touched his waist, he changed his mind.
He had so many jewels that he couldn't sell them. To be frank, he didn't have the right channels. But how could the Gold Tooth Man, who had been in the county for so many years, not have any? He was still worried about how to exchange the jewels for cash, so why not just give the jewels to the Gold Tooth Man, Yang Shuban and others?
"I didn't bring much silver with me today, so Boss Jin, take this pendant and enjoy it. When the government office opens during the Lantern Festival, I will definitely give such a generous gift to the clerk." Shen Qing said.
The man with the gold tooth took a few deep breaths, gritted his teeth and said, "Please sit down for a moment. I'll be right back!"
Then Shen Qing understood what it meant to “money makes the world go round”.
How many people with Jinya know about goods? He often walks on the streets and has a sharp eye. When the pendant was hung on Shen Qing, he recognized it. It was an agate pendant! It was a high-quality product with pure texture and bright color. Although it was not much bigger than a pigeon egg, it was almost as big as Shen Qing's house!
The Golden Tooth Man thought that Shen Qing would give him a considerable reward, but he could only imagine 20 to 30 taels, or at most 50 taels? This was already a lot. You have to know that the county magistrate's annual salary was only 40 to 50 taels, and the chief clerk and the clerk even less. Of course, they also had subordinates to pay tribute to them on weekdays. For someone like the Golden Tooth Man, who opened a relatively large dental shop in the county town, the annual income was only 100 to 200 taels, which was already considered to be one of the people with higher incomes in the small county of Anping County.
I didn't expect Shen Qing to be so generous. This reward is almost as much as his annual income, not to mention the repair of the manor and the road? Now that the deed is not signed, the Golden Tooth Man is afraid that Shen Qing, the God of Wealth, will run away!
He left his wife and children to entertain Shen Qing, and he ran to Yang Shuban's house. With a generous gift in front of him, and the eloquent words of the man with golden teeth, he persuaded Yang Shuban and even alarmed the chief clerk. Even though the seal had been sealed for many days, he still managed to get the job done, and called a few runners to Lantang Village to measure Dongshan and record it in the book.
Even though those runners were called out to work overtime before the New Year and had to go to the village below to endure the wind and cold, they were not dissatisfied: the reward for this trip was very sufficient, and who would not envy being chosen by Secretary Yang!
Several officers measured and divided the area very responsibly. As the saying goes, they were soft-hearted when they took advantage of others, so they drew some extra marks for Shen Qing, and then informed Zhao Youdang and recorded it. After that, Zhao Youdang called a meeting of all the men in the village and told them about the matter without mentioning it again.
The villagers were informed that Dongshan had been bought by a nobleman in the city and they could no longer go there. Although they felt a little uncomfortable, no one dared to say anything in front of the officials. Although these villagers usually said this and that, Zhao Youdang had to argue with them when he announced something. He was quite thoughtful. But when facing people who were truly higher in class than them, they would at most feel unhappy in their hearts and could only accept their fate.
But there are also those people who think that it doesn't matter if they are not well, as long as everyone is well, they will feel comfortable: "Anyway, we don't have much to do in the mountains on weekdays. The firewood and other things produced in the fields are enough. If we can't go to the East Mountain to dig wild vegetables, we can go to the South Mountain to dig them. It's just a matter of walking a few more steps." The person who spoke curled his lips, implying: "My family doesn't rely on the mountains for a living, it's much better than those firewood sellers hunting wild animals."
Shen Qing was not invited to the meeting this time, but Aunt Guixiang heard it again and came back to learn from Miao: "I don't know what they are thinking. The whole village is at a disadvantage, but other families are at a greater disadvantage. They are happy about it." But she was indeed a little worried about Shen Qing: "Will Qing'er's idea of opening a workshop succeed? If it succeeds, Qing'er can be a manager in the workshop and won't have to worry about chopping wood anymore."
Aunt Guixiang turned around and saw Miao's face. She asked in surprise, "What's wrong with your face? It's so red. Did the fire make you red?"
More interesting articles: IXISHUS.COM
If you cannot access the novel, please send an email to [email protected]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
