Sure enough, upon hearing his words, the village head and several elders quickly stepped forward, repeatedly expressing their politeness.
“Scholar, you’re too kind. We’ll all be villagers helping each other out soon! Besides, it’s an honor for Shiligou that you’ve settled here. Our children will have to rely on you in the future,” said an elder with a cane.
Yesterday, I heard my brother talk about this family. I know they are a polite family. My brother is the old man who led the way yesterday!
The village head glanced at the others, his shrewd eyes not missing a single face, and he was even more satisfied!
This group of people weren't some random vagrants; to put it bluntly, they had their eyes on Shiligou and planned to settle there. Other villages would be scrambling to take them, and he couldn't let anyone snatch them away! He thought about it all night, and this morning he quickly went to find several clan elders to make sure today's task was completed properly, lest the job he'd already secured slip away again!
And then there's his short-sighted wife, saying this family is generous! That piece of fine cotton cloth successfully won her over—she's all talk and no action! He's not just after money; he's trying to find a good teacher for his grandson! But, you can't hit a smiling face, and who doesn't like a family that knows how to get things done? At least this time the wife didn't cause trouble, which shows this family is clever! They're certainly resourceful women!
After seeing him today, Chen Sheng had a new plan in mind. He thought that the scholar was a pleasant surprise, and the young man surnamed Gu was also a martial arts expert. If they could be used by their village, it would be an extra layer of protection in this chaotic world!
But now, upon seeing the other women, their speech and demeanor were far from simple! Especially the woman called Qin San Niang, with her refined features and upright posture, she even possessed the air of a matriarch from a prominent family! No one would doubt that she came from a wealthy family and had fallen on hard times!
Although his mind was racing, Chen Sheng didn't show it on his face. Only upon closer inspection could one see that his smile had become even more genuine.
"There are quite a few empty houses in our village, and the ones you've been assigned to are pretty good. If you don't want to build a new house or find building a new house too much trouble, you can stay here for now."
"Of course, there are a few plots of land available for homesteading; I can take you there to see them."
"Live there? Of course not for free! It means buying the house!"
“Thank you, village head, that house is indeed very nice! But we would like to look around a bit more. The children from these families get along very well and are hoping to have more companions if they could all be together. Also, if we open a private school in the future, we will need a more spacious place,” He Yingyuan said, bowing.
This was the result of their discussion yesterday. Both Qin San Niang and He Yingyuan wanted to rebuild the house. The former wanted to build a spacious brick and tile house according to her own wishes, while the latter was a clean freak and couldn't bear to live in a house that someone else had lived in! This wouldn't do!
As for Gu Qingshan? The idea was to settle him in a place far from the mountainside so that it would be convenient for him to hunt.
Wu Chunhua didn't mind, but she wanted to stay close to Qin Sanniang and the others, since the two of them were women and she was worried about their safety.
Chen Lizheng didn't feel impatient at all. After all, the homestead land also needed to be bought with money, and he could get more benefits from it.
The houses in the village? The prices are all transparent! And then there are the homeowners' close relatives watching. If the money is sold, whether it's divided equally or tilted towards them is a matter that will offend people! There's nothing we can do, they're all short-sighted.
In short, for Chen Sheng, who deeply understands the importance of self-preservation, it's better to avoid trouble! He only said those words because several clan elders were present! He couldn't afford to give them something to criticize, could he?
As the group talked, they went to look at several plots of land for building houses.
There weren't many plots of land available for them to choose from, and they were all located on the edge of the village. This wasn't because the village head was deliberately making things difficult for them, but because there were too many families in Shiligou before, making it too crowded, and the better locations had already been occupied by houses.
Although the houses of refugees are vacant, there is no guarantee that they will return. The government will not be able to cancel the land deeds for another ten years, so even the village head cannot demolish the houses without authorization.
There are three remaining options: one near the river, one at the village entrance near the main road, and one on the mountainside.
People generally think that the location closer to the official road is a good location, but the downside of this location is that it is noisy and it is also quite far from the land they intend to buy. Apart from convenient transportation, there are no other advantages!
The land that Chen Lizheng and the others allocated to them was all at the foot of the mountain. This land must have been cultivated before, but it was now overgrown with weeds, and since it was winter, it was a desolate and barren scene! It looked rather bleak!
Seeing the displeasure on everyone's faces, Chen Sheng was not in a hurry and said leisurely, "Most of the land in our village is owned. This piece of land at the foot of the mountain used to be very fertile. If you take good care of it, you can get some food. There is also a stream nearby. If you bring water from the stream, you can grow rice."
Moreover, this plot of land is large, over twenty acres, more than enough for the four of you to manage!
As he spoke, he scanned the group with his shrewd eyes, as if to say that very few of these elderly, weak, women and children looked capable of farming!
Liu squatted down, picked up a handful of soil, and examined it closely. This soil wasn't sandy; in fact, as Chen Lizheng had said, it should be able to sustain life and wasn't considered inferior soil.
Wu Chunhua nodded in agreement. As long as they worked hard and gave the ground more fertilizer, they could raise the animals. Besides, there was no shortage of water here, which was better than anything else.
Seeing that they were satisfied, Qin Sanniang and the other people who did not farm were even less likely to say anything against it.
Moreover, from her perspective, she not only doesn't reject this land, but is even quite satisfied with it!
Although this place is not close to the official road, it can be reached by following the stream. If they want to go to the city, they don't need to go through the village at all, which adds a bit of privacy and makes it more convenient to buy things in the future.
Furthermore, the homestead here is not far from their fields, making it convenient to do farm work without having to walk a long way. In Qin San Niang's memory, the Wang family's plots of land were far from the old house, and it took almost half an hour to walk there every day!
Also, the small hill next to it is quite nice. Although it's not very high and probably doesn't have any valuable prey or medicinal herbs, it's still a hill! She plans to take it over when the opportunity arises.
"Uncle Village Head, is it possible to buy a piece of land on the hillside to plant fruit trees?" Qin San Niang asked, pointing to the small hill next to her.
"Of course, that's fine. Mountain land isn't valuable. If you want to plant fruit trees, you can do it yourself!"
"Our villagers won't disturb the fruit trees, but planting fruit trees in these mountains is quite troublesome. It will take three or four years to see any income!" The village head stroked his chin, carefully offering his advice.
In these times of war and chaos, most people are just getting by, living one day at a time!
Chen Sheng was somewhat surprised to hear that Qin San Niang wanted to plant fruit trees. Although he thought it was a bit far-fetched, he was sure that this woman was planning to live a good life!
Thinking of this, his tone became quite calm, telling her not to worry about the ownership of the mountain land. If she wanted to buy it in the future, she could go to the government to handle it. However, the mountain land was not easy to cultivate, as it contained many rocks. Just clearing the rocks would require a lot of labor, and hiring people would be even more uneconomical!
Hearing him say that, Qin San Niang felt relieved! She would first nurture the saplings in her space, and then transplant them to the mountain. If necessary, she would buy the entire mountain. Anyway, it wouldn't cost much money!
Seeing that no one had any objections, they decided to use this place as their future homestead and farmland.
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