A day passed, and when An Ning went to call An Dashan and the others back for dinner, the beams of the new house were all put up. The workers had been waiting for An Ning to come and call them for dinner. Although they ate a lot at noon, they were all in their prime and did physical work, so they were already hungry. As usual, An Ning came after eating a full meal. An Dashan took everyone back to eat. Looking at the generous and fragrant noodles and stewed meat, everyone was very excited and couldn't wait to eat after washing their hands.
The next day, Uncle Gao came over and looked at the new house, which had already been completed. He said angrily, "Why didn't you ask us to help with such a big thing as putting up the beams?"
An Dashan smiled and said, "All the villagers have come to help, so we have enough manpower, so I didn't call you. I will definitely call you all over when we move to the new house."
Uncle Gao nodded and said, "Dashan, do you remember what I told you about buying land last time?"
An Dashan nodded and said, "I remember, but is there any news?"
Uncle Gao nodded and said, "The landlord has harvested all the crops and is selling them. My family still has some extra money and plans to buy five mu of good farmland near our village. What do you think? As far as I know, the landlord has more than 200 mu of land near your village. They are all good farmland and are connected together. If the landlord didn't want to sell them as a whole, many people would be eyeing them!"
An Dashan was immediately excited when he heard this. More than 200 acres of fertile land was a more reliable asset than money. So he said, "Brother, to be honest, I do have a sum of money. Let's go and take a look now!"
Neither of them was the type to procrastinate, so they set off right away. An Dashan went back to his room to get the silver note, said something to Gao, then harnessed the mule cart and took Gao's uncle to the landlord's house.
The gatekeeper of the landlord's house saw that the two men were dressed in ordinary clothes and thought they were villagers who wanted to buy a few acres of land. He said impatiently: "My master said that my land is not for sale. You should leave quickly."
Uncle Gao was a man of short temper, and he was about to argue with him. An Dashan held Uncle Gao back and said, "Let's get down to business, and don't bother with him." After comforting Uncle Gao, An Dashan said to the servant, "Please go and inform them that I want to buy the land next to Huaishu Village."
The servant saw that An Dashan was serious and didn't seem to be joking, so he said, "Okay, wait a moment, I'll go in and report."
An Dashan and Gao Dajiu waited at the door for a while, and then the servant came out with another servant and said, "Our master invites you in."
An Dashan took out a few copper coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the servant's hand, saying, "Young man, please keep an eye on the mule cart for me."
The servant looked at the copper coins in his hand, nodded, and said, "Okay, go in, I'll help you watch the mule cart for a while."
After An Dashan thanked them, he took Gao Dajiu and another servant into the yard. The landlord received the two in the main hall. After watching them come in and greet each other, the landlord asked them to sit down and said, "You want to buy the land next to Huaishu Village. That piece of land is quite a lot, a full 230 acres."
An Dashan nodded and said, "Yes, please ask Mr. Lin to give us a price."
The landlord's surname was Lin. He had passed the imperial examination and became a scholar in his early years, but no matter how hard he tried, he failed to pass the imperial examination, so he had to come back to inherit the family business. However, his son was better than him. He had passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, and now he was a sixth-rank official in the capital. His son became a sixth-rank official at a young age and had a bright future, so he wanted to bring his parents to live with him, but he had no time to take care of the family property, so he had to sell it and buy a new one after entering the capital.
Mr. Lin looked at An Dashan and said, "According to the current market price, one mu of good farmland is six taels of silver. Two hundred and thirty mu is one thousand three hundred and eighty taels of silver. If you want all of it, how about I give you one thousand three hundred and fifty taels of silver?"
An Dashan thought that there was still room for negotiation, so he said, "Mr. Lin, how could this large piece of land be all good farmland? Look, I am sincere in buying it, can you please lower the price?"
Mr. Lin didn't expect that this peasant-looking man had such an opinion. He did have 50 to 60 mu of inferior land among his 230 mu of good land, which was why he insisted on selling them together. Mr. Lin smiled and said, "Yes, what this brother said is indeed right. How about this, I'll round this piece of land to an integer and give you 1,300 taels of silver!"
An Dashan didn't expect Mr. Lin to be so straightforward. He swallowed the words he had prepared and said, "Mr. Lin is generous. It's better to do it today than to wait for a day. How about we go and measure the land today and get the land deed from the government?"
Mr. Lin nodded and said, "Okay, I'll ask the butler to go with you later." Then he said to a man in his forties beside him, "Butler Lin, I'll leave this matter to you."
Butler Lin bowed and said, "Yes, sir." Then he made a gesture of invitation to An Dashan and Uncle Gao.
An Dashan stood up and said goodbye to Mr. Lin, then he and Uncle Gao followed the housekeeper out.
Uncle Gao felt a little disappointed because the Lin family's land was not sold separately. Seeing this, An Dashan said, "The land near our village is not too far from your village. If you want to buy it, I can give you a few acres."
Uncle Gao shook his head and said, "Although it's not that far, it's still a little far from our village, and it won't be easy to take care of it. I'd better see if anyone else has any for sale."
An Dashan thought about it and realized that it was indeed not easy to manage. Steward Lin got on the carriage and walked in front, while An Dashan followed behind in the mule cart. Soon they arrived at the field. The crops in the field had been harvested long ago, leaving only the neat wheat stubble. Steward Lin ordered the servants to measure the land. The servants took long ropes and began to measure the land separately, while An Dashan and Uncle Gao watched from the side to prevent cheating.
The land was quite square, so it was easy to measure. It took the team about an hour to finish the measurement. It was said to be 230 acres, but in fact there were 2.5 acres more. They bought 232.5 acres of land for 1,300 taels of silver. An Dashan felt it was a good deal and he couldn't stop smiling. Uncle Gao was also sincerely happy for his sister.
The few people did not delay, because Steward Lin had the land deed, so they went directly to the county government office. When they arrived at the county government office, the clerk who handled the land deed was still the same as last time. The clerk saw that they knew each other, so he did not make it difficult and directly exchanged the deed. An Dashan also paid the money in front of the clerk.
An Dashan was not a rigid person. It was said that the county magistrate was not as good as the county manager. He would have to ask the people in the government office to do things in the future. So he secretly gave the clerk two taels of silver. The clerk squeezed the silver in his hand and smiled more sincerely. After completing the land deed, Steward Lin and An Dashan walked out of the gate of the county government office, exchanged a few words, and then parted ways.
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