When Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi returned home, Chen Xiaocai had already cooked the rice.
Previously, when Chen Xiaomi went out hunting, Chen Xiaocai would cook for herself, but her cooking skills weren't very good.
After Lu Lin married into the family, he was the one who did most of the cooking. However, if Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi were too busy, Xiao Cai would cook the food first.
When Lu Lin was cooking, Chen Xiaocai would sometimes help with the fire. Over time, Chen Xiaocai's cooking skills improved considerably.
"Big brother, why are you so late today?" Chen Xiaocai asked.
Chen Xiaomi told him about her encounter with the Qin brothers.
Chen Xiaocai sighed, "Life is tough for the mountain people."
Before Chen Xiaomi killed the tiger and bought the house, he lived in the mountains with Xiao Cai and Xiao Mai for a period of time. During that time, the three brothers lived in poverty. When he heard about the Qin family's situation, Chen Xiao Cai couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic.
"Is anything happening in the village?" Chen Xiaocai has been quite popular among the children lately and is well-informed, so Lu Lin would ask Chen Xiaocai to find out anything he wanted to know.
"The Lu family wants to sell land, ten taels of silver per mu of low-grade land, but no one is willing to take it over for the time being. Everyone is saying that the Lu family is robbing people," Chen Xiaocai said.
"The Lu family's two acres of inferior land are too expensive, selling them for ten taels of silver per acre." Chen Xiaomi said that land prices are not stable. If there is a major famine, farmers will have no food to eat, and in order to survive, they may even resort to cannibalism. Selling land at a low price is even more out of the question. So-called land consolidation is most likely to happen in such times.
During times of great famine, land prices are very cheap; you can buy an acre of land for just two or three taels. However, under normal circumstances, an acre of inferior land costs about seven or eight taels, an acre of medium-grade land costs about eleven or twelve taels, and an acre of superior land costs about fifteen taels. The Lu family's two acres of inferior land are a bit too expensive to sell for the price of medium-grade land. However, there are many people in the village who want land now, so this is a good opportunity.
"It's a pity it's Lu family land." Chen Xiaomi shook her head with some regret.
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi, seemingly lost in thought.
The next day, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi brought some white rice and cured meat up the mountain, which made the two Qin brothers very grateful to them.
Qin Yi's condition has improved slightly, and he has regained consciousness.
When Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi arrived, Qin Yi sat on the bed and sincerely thanked them.
Lu Lin marveled at the mountain people's robust physique; the same injuries wouldn't have healed so easily on those people in the past.
Lu Lin guessed that Qin Yi had already heard about the three taels of silver. When he met the two of them, he was somewhat embarrassed and said that he would definitely repay them when he recovered.
Qin Yi even called the two children to kowtow to Lu Lin, which terrified Lu Lin.
As someone who transmigrated from a peaceful era, Lu Lin wasn't exactly a saint, but he still couldn't bring himself to watch others starve to death right in front of him.
After leaving Qin Yi's place, Lu Lin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
When Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi returned home, they saw Chen Xiaocai sitting at the door with a worried look on her face.
Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiaocai and asked, "What happened?"
"The Lu family has arrived," Chen Xiaocai said.
Lu Lin sighed. People from the Lu family don't come unless they have something to say, so it probably won't be anything good.
"What did the Lu family say?" Chen Xiaomi asked.
Chen Xiaocai pursed her lips and said, "The Lu family said that we shouldn't let the good stuff go to outsiders. They see that we have no land and want to sell it to us."
Chen Xiaomi asked with great interest, "Did they say how much silver it would cost?"
"Twelve taels of silver per mu."
Chen Xiaocai rolled her eyes. "It's just two acres of low-grade land!"
Logically, there shouldn't be a shortage of buyers for the land in the village. However, the Lu family's asking price is too high. Even when land prices rise, the lowest grade of land is only worth eight taels per mu, and the current market price should be around six or seven taels. The Lu family seems to be asking the villagers for ten taels per mu, and the price has increased by two taels by the time it reaches them.
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "Never mind them."
Chen Xiaocai nodded and said, "Okay."
The Lu family.
"Is Lu Lin unwilling to buy the land?" Wang asked.
Mrs. Tang shook her head and said, "It seems she has no such intention."
Lu Lin and Lu Chengyu were born around the same time, and the villagers often compared the two. Lu Chengyu had always been far superior to Lu Lin.
In Tang's eyes, Lu Lin wasn't even worthy of carrying her son's shoes. However, her son was failing the assessment repeatedly, while Lu Lin's life was getting better and better after marrying into Chen Xiaomi's family. She heard that he was making a lot of money, which made Tang very resentful.
Wang said sullenly, "Isn't Chen Xiaomi very rich? How come she can't even afford two acres of land?"
"Perhaps it's just a rumor; they're not that rich at all," Mrs. Tang said.
Wang agreed wholeheartedly, saying, "Yes! That ungrateful brat Lu Lin looks so poor, where would he get so much money? In my opinion, he's probably just putting on a show."
The Lu family's land remained unsold, and with the wedding fast approaching, they had no choice but to lower the price. In the end, the two acres of land were sold for eight taels of silver per acre, to Granny Shen, who had previously worked with Lu Lin.
Granny Shen gave away sixteen taels of silver in one go, which caused quite a stir among the villagers.
Many people felt that eight taels of silver per mu of land was a bit too high, but others felt that with the current shortage of land, it was still good to be able to buy it even though the price was a bit high.
Many people sighed, "The Lu family is going to marry a young lady from a wealthy family. This is truly extraordinary. They even have to sell land."
Chen Xiaocai looked at the land deed in her hand and said, "You bought back the Lu family's land?"
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "No."
He dared not touch the Lu family's land. He only lent money to Granny Shen so that she could buy back the Lu family's land. After buying it back, Lu Lin then bought the Shen family's land from Granny Shen, so it could be considered that he indirectly bought the Lu family's land.
Chen Xiaocai looked at Lu Lin with some confusion and asked, "Why did you decide to buy land?"
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, "Didn't you want it? Besides, money isn't an issue."
Every time land was mentioned, Chen Xiaocai's eyes would light up. Although Chen Xiaomi hid it better than Chen Xiaocai, Lu Lin could tell that Chen Xiaomi also wanted land. Land held an extraordinary position in the eyes of the people in this world.
Chen Xiaomi blinked and said, "Having land is always a good thing."
Lu Lin nodded and said, "If it's just two acres, I should be able to manage it."
Chen Xiaomi glanced at Lu Lin sideways and said, "You used to manage five or six acres of land all by yourself."
Lu Lin knew that Chen Xiaomi was referring to the original owner of this body, and he felt a little embarrassed.
Although he inherited the original owner's memories, he did not inherit the original owner's spirit of hard work and perseverance.
As the saying goes, it's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality; everyone has a tendency to be lazy.
Lu Lin kept the fact that he bought Granny Shen's land a secret, because Granny Shen had already planted crops on the land. The two parties agreed that the land handover would be completed after the Shen family harvested their crops. Granny Shen felt embarrassed for taking advantage of Lu Lin, but Lu Lin didn't mind much. He already felt a little guilty for using Granny Shen as a shield.
After persuading Granny Shen for a while, she agreed.
While the Lu family was busy preparing for the wedding, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi discussed it and decided to buy a shop in town.
Lu Lin already had over three hundred taels of silver. With so much silver, he should probably invest in some property.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi walked around the street for a while. Chen Xiaomi said, "There are three shops for sale now. Which one should we buy?"
The cheapest shop costs only fifty taels, but it's just a small shop in a less-than-ideal location. The more expensive one costs two hundred and fifty taels, and it's not only in a good location, but it also has a small courtyard with two sections. The courtyard has a main hall, side rooms on the left and right, and several servants' rooms, with all kinds of facilities.
Chen Xiaomi went to see the house; it was spacious and clean, and everything about it seemed perfect.
Lu Lin blinked and said, "We're not exactly short of money anyway, so why not just go all the way and buy that 250-tael one?"
Chen Xiaomi glanced at Lu Lin and pursed her lips. Lu Lin's choice was within Chen Xiaomi's expectations. When looking at the business, Lu Lin had expressed that he was very interested in that mansion.
The owner of the mansion, valued at 250 taels, was a wealthy landowner. His eldest son had passed the imperial examination this year, and his family members were all going to accompany him to take up his post. That's why he was selling the shops and mansion at a low price; such an opportunity wouldn't normally come around.
Two hundred and fifty taels is not a small sum. There are quite a few wealthy people in the town, but many of them own real estate. It would be difficult for them to come up with so much silver in a short time. Therefore, the house has been listed for a long time but has not yet been sold.
“That house is quite close to the school,” Lu Lin said.
Chen Xiaomi snorted and said, "What's the use of being close?" Chen Xiaomi had wanted to send Xiao Cai to the academy before, but the academy's instructors refused to accept him because of him, and Chen Xiaomi had been thinking about it ever since.
"Student business is very easy to do." The rest of the Lu family lived frugally, but they were very good to the students in the family. Many families placed their hopes for a better future on the students.
Chen Xiaomi puffed out her cheeks and asked, "If you were to open a shop, what kind of shop would you choose?"
Lu Lin smiled and said, "You could open a stationery store."
Chen Xiaomi blinked and asked, "Selling writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones?"
Chen Xiaomi thought to herself: Brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—those are all precious things! Chen Jing bought an inkstone before, which cost two taels of silver. Chen Xiaomi had seen that inkstone before, but had never touched it. If he were to break something so precious, the old woman would definitely not be at peace.
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "How much money can we make?" There are already shops in town that sell writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones. They all have fixed supply channels. If they interfere, not only will they not make money, but they will probably offend people.
Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin and said, "If we don't sell writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, then what will we sell?"
Lu Lin rolled his eyes and said, "We could consider selling bags." In his previous life, those designer bags could easily sell for ten or twenty thousand yuan. If he were to produce backpacks, they should also have a market.
Chen Xiaomi puffed out her cheeks and said, "Selling bags? Would anyone buy them?"
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I guess there will be."
Chen Xiaomi pouted, looking at Lu Lin's somewhat distrustful expression, "Can you make bags?"
Lu Lin blinked and said, "Me? I don't know how. But I can teach people to make bags."
Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin with suspicion. Lu Lin smiled and said, "Let's give it a try."
Chen Xiaomi nodded and said, "Okay."
Chen Xiaomi thought to herself: The more than three hundred taels of silver in the family were basically earned by Lu Lin. Even if he squandered it all, at worst he could start over. With so much silver, it shouldn't be so easy to squander it all in a short time.
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