Chapter 108 Buying Land
At this moment, there were two little men in Yu Tong's heart, fighting non-stop in his ears.
A villain listed countless reasons to him, asking Yu Tong to quickly sell the barren mountains and wasteland to Zhu Chong.
But another villain kept warning him that Zhu Chong must have some unknown secrets behind his purchase of these barren mountains and wastelands, and asked Yu Tong to be extra cautious.
While Yu Tong was thinking about it, Zhu Chong had an indifferent expression on his face and kept flipping through the fish scale book.
After finishing reading, Yu Tong still didn't say anything. He sat quietly in the chair, picked up the fragrant tea, and sipped it slowly.
It has to be said that the fragrant tea here by Yu Tong is very ordinary, but Zhu Chong managed to drink it as if it were West Lake Longjing.
Zhang Quan sat below with a puzzled expression on his face. He didn't understand why Zhu Chong was so polite to Yu Tong, but as a subordinate, since Zhu Chong didn't say anything, there was naturally no need for him to step forward at this time.
Looking at Zhu Chong who was as steady as a rock, Yu Tong felt a little overwhelmed. He still couldn't figure out Zhu Chong's purpose.
"Well, since Lord Zhu is interested in purchasing these places, I will certainly comply." Yu Tong nodded with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chong felt relieved, but his expression remained calm. He slowly and gently put the tea in his hand back, nodded, and said nothing more, "Then please make an offer, Lord Yu."
"Yes, yes, yes." Yu Tong's eyes rolled quickly. "Oh, to be honest, these barren mountains and wastelands have never been purchased by anyone, so this price..."
"Master Yu," Zhu Chong interrupted, "my ancestors were also farmers. Let's be clear on some things."
"Since it's a barren mountain and wasteland, don't sell it by the acre or anything like that. Especially that barren mountain, it's better to sell it directly as a whole. I won't let you suffer a loss. Ten strings of cash for one barren mountain, what do you say?"
Although Zhu Chong made a lot of money from Zhu Biao, having money is one thing, and being a sucker is another.
Why should you pay a high price for something when you know you can buy it at a low price?
Besides, Zhu Chong would need a lot of money to purchase these barren mountains and wastelands later. Even if it cost ten strings of coins per mountain, he would have to spend forty strings of coins at once. In today's Ming Dynasty, that was a huge sum of money!
Hearing Zhu Chong interrupting him, Yu Tong's face darkened slightly. His original intention was to make a one-time deal, and of course he didn't want to suffer too much loss. If Zhu Chong said so, the profit on his side would be too limited.
Yu Tong immediately shook his head in objection, "Master Zhu, you can't say that. You can see that these barren hills are also marked with mu in the fish scale book. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, they should be calculated in mu."
"In that case, I will not ask for more from you, Lord. One tael of land, one tael of silver, will help the people of Changning County earn less."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chong slammed the table and stood up, a look of disbelief on his face. This guy really thought he was being taken advantage of!
"Master Yu, this is a joke that's really too much. You're selling me a barren mountain for the price of good farmland? You're so arrogant!"
"A barren mountain is worth thousands of strings of cash. Do you really think I know nothing? Even a lion's mouth wouldn't be opened like that!"
Yu Tong's expression became even uglier, but since he was bargaining, he knew he had gone too far and it was normal for others to be angry. Naturally, he just said awkwardly, "Master Zhu, please don't be so angry. As the magistrate of Changning County, I naturally have to consider the county."
"Well, let's both take a step back. Master Zhu, tell me how much you can offer per acre. Let's talk slowly!"
Zhu Chong sneered, put his hands behind his back and showed his cold white teeth to Yu Tong, "Master Yu, this is not how we do things."
"Even according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, good farmland has its own price, wasteland has its own price, and barren hills have their own price. But you are selling barren hills as good farmland. Humph, if you do that, just pretend I have never been here. Farewell."
Zhu Chong said this and turned to leave. Yu Tong panicked when he saw this and quickly stood up to persuade him, "Master Zhu, why are you really angry? Didn't we say that we can negotiate the price..."
"No, there's no room for negotiation. If you want to calculate the price by mu, then we can still negotiate. Otherwise, you can just wait for someone who is willing to pay one mu for one guan to take over."
Zhu Chong also asked for too much and dared to take him as a sucker. He was totally out of his mind.
Hearing Zhu Chong say this, Yu Tong knew that Zhu Chong was really angry. One acre of land cost one cent, so even if a mountain was worth at most a few strings of cash, it would be better to sell it to him for ten strings of cash as Zhu Chong had said before.
But now that the other party has loosened up, the next step is nothing more than being careful, raising the price, and paying it back when the time comes.
So the two of them stood in the backyard, talking back and forth, spit flying, and started bargaining.
Of course, the initiative now lies in Zhu Chong's hands, so Zhu Chong begins to control the opponent in all aspects.
In the end, Zhu Chong purchased four barren mountains and nearly 300 acres of wasteland near the mountains at the price of 11 strings of cash per mountain.
Of course, the price of wasteland is different from that of barren mountains. Zhu Chong purchased it at a price of one hundred coins per mu, but even so, Zhu Chong's total expenditure was less than one hundred strings of cash.
After everything was settled, Zhu Chong and Yu Tong began to sign the contract.
Zhu Chong's name was recorded on the fish scale book, and then Yu Tong was asked to stamp the official seal and Yu Tong's personal seal on the newly drafted land deed. Zhu Chong then paid the full amount, and the transaction was completed between the two parties.
After Zhu Chong collected the land deed and confirmed that it was correct, he handed it to Zhang Quan for safekeeping. Then he bowed to Yu Yitong, said "goodbye", turned around and strode away.
Yu Tong didn't invite Zhu Chong to dinner either. After all, the transaction price was far different from what he had imagined, and he always felt that he had suffered a great loss.
But he noticed that Yu Tong's expression was not very good throughout the whole process, and he felt a little comforted.
But what he didn't know was that when Zhu Chong, Zhang Quan and others got on the carriage and walked out of Changning County, Zhu Chong immediately couldn't wait to ask Zhang Quan to hand over the land deed to him. After he carefully read it twice and confirmed that there were no mistakes, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Zhou Xiuying and Yang Miaozhen didn't take Zhu Chong's sudden laughter seriously, but it scared Zhang Quan.
"Sir, this is...this land deed, how can it make you so happy?"
Zhang Quan could vaguely guess something, but after following Zhu Chong for a whole day, he had no idea what Zhu Chong was trying to do, especially since he did not participate in the entire bargaining process with Yu Tong and just felt it was strange.
But now seeing Zhu Chong laughing, he knew that Zhu Chong must have taken advantage of him, so he became itchy and wanted to know the truth.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chong stopped smiling and said, "There's nothing to be happy about. This matter still has some beginnings and ends. You'll know in a few days."
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