Chapter 88 Chapter 88 Getting Married
February 19th is Dafu’s first birthday.
The Fan family did not prepare a banquet at home. They simply invited a few close relatives, but they still set up five tables.
It was still a joyous and lively occasion.
After two or three days, Xu Yang told the villagers that the county was going to sell the vacant and ownerless wasteland in the village, and those who wanted the land could go to Xu's house to register.
Kang He knew the news the day before. He did not go to the county that day, nor did he arrange to slaughter the pig. He just waited in the village to do this specifically.
The last time the village sold land like this was more than two years ago. Time flies.
Early in the morning, all the farmers in the village who wanted to buy land went to Xu's house to take a look at the wasteland.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Xu Yang led the farmers to walk through all the wasteland that was for sale in the village.
Most people in the village know what wasteland there is, but they don’t know which ones are for sale this time.
"I think those 10 to 20 acres of land in the eastern suburbs are great. People complain about the thick weeds and thin soil, but underneath that thin soil is black soil, which is very fertile!"
Father Fan whispered to Kang He in a low voice.
"If that place is for sale, we'll buy the one in the eastern suburbs."
Kang He agreed, "I heard that they've almost cleared out all the unowned land this time, and a lot of it has been sold. That piece of land hasn't been touched in years, so it might be sold."
Soon, all the villagers passed the eastern suburbs. When they heard Xu Yang say that all the wasteland in the eastern suburbs would be sold, Father Fan slapped his thigh with joy.
After looking at the land, Xu Yang talked to the farmers in the village about the rules of buying land this time.
The decree issued by the county government stated that no matter whether one was a scholar, farmer, merchant or industrialist, anyone with more than 50 mu of land at home was only allowed to purchase a maximum of 10 mu of land, and he had to wait until those with less land bought it, and could only purchase land if he had surplus.
Between thirty and forty-nine acres, fifteen acres are allowed.
Between the 20th and 29th acres, five acres are added.
Between the tenth and nineteenth acres, another five acres were added.
This area is less than ten mu, and it can be increased to thirty mu.
Many farmers just listen to this rule. Even if they can increase their land by 30 or 50 mu, what's the use? They can't afford that much money.
No matter how much fun it makes, at best it can only buy one or two acres of land.
There are some short-sighted people who say that the rich who can buy more don’t just tell their people to buy more, and what’s the point of promising such a large amount of land to the poor instead.
How could they know that the imperial court's decree was to give ordinary farmers the opportunity to own an acre and three mu of land? If it were the other way around, not a single drop of food would fall on the poor families.
Kang He did some calculations and said happily to Fan Jing, "At most, our family only has nine mu and two mu of land, which is just enough for the largest lot."
Fan Jing was not in a hurry: "Let's first hear about the price of the land this time."
After talking about the rules of land acquisition, we have to talk about the land price that everyone is most concerned about.
Xu Yang said, "This time, the unowned farmland has been completely counted. It's unlikely that we'll see another county government land sale like this in the next ten or eight years."
"The county wants to give farmers a good deal of profit: good wasteland will cost nine strings of cash per mu, and poor wasteland will cost seven strings of cash per mu."
When the farmers heard the land price, they immediately started talking about it.
"Oh my god, last time the good and barren land was worth ten guan per mu, but this time it's only nine guan, and the poor land is only seven guan. That's one guan less!"
"The land the county sold earlier was wasteland in the western suburbs. It was barren land that no one had cultivated before. This time it's uncultivated land. Even if someone had carefully tended it five or eight years ago, it's still no better than the wasteland we sold last time."
"The price is good this time. Even if I have to borrow some copper coins, I will bite the bullet and give it three and a half cents."
Kang He, Fan Jing and Fan's father, after hearing the land price, gathered together to discuss which land to buy and how much to buy.
"Dad is talking about good soil in the eastern suburbs. I see they've cultivated a whole field over there. All the wasteland is in one place, not scattered here and there. If we buy it, it will be much easier to farm and manage."
Father Fan said, "Yes, it's close to the village main road, and it's convenient to transport the grain in the autumn. If it's up to me, I'll put it there."
Fan Jing had no objection, he just asked how many acres of land they needed to acquire. After all, when the general had just gone to check out the land, Xu Yang said that there were 22 acres of wasteland measured in the eastern suburbs.
Among them, 18 acres were designated as barren land, and the remaining 4 acres were barren land.
Kang He calculated the land price in his mind. Eighteen mu of poor land would cost 126 strings of cash, while four mu of good land was not much, only 36 strings of cash.
These 22 acres of wasteland cost a total of 162 strings of cash.
Kang He couldn't help but hiss, this was not a small amount.
A few days ago, Shang Kanghe counted the silver he had on hand. He found that the money for the prescription was 280 strings of cash and had never been touched. He earned some extra money from running a shop outside and slaughtering pigs at the end of the year, so he had saved 32 strings of cash.
In addition to these, there were also twenty taels of silver as a reward from the county government for catching the kidnapper, and sixty taels of silver ingots from the Wu family.
After counting everything, I still have 392 strings of cash on hand, which is nearly 400 strings of cash.
An opportunity like this one where the county government takes the lead in allocating land for sale will rarely come again. If you want to buy land again in the future, you can only buy it from private hands.
Not only can I buy three to five acres at most at a time, but the price will definitely not be comparable to this time.
Kang He wanted to seize this opportunity, so he gritted his teeth and bought enough.
It doesn’t matter if you add some more later.
"We haven't had any major expenses lately. Even if there were, it would be because Zhen'er is getting married in the second half of the year. We might as well buy the 22 acres of land in the eastern suburbs all at once."
Kang He said, "If Zhen'er gets married and we can't afford a lot of money for her dowry, we can just give her some land. With the land deeds, that would be a decent dowry.
After marriage, whether you rent out the land to someone else or do something else, it will be a long-term income, better than just holding on to dead money."
Kang He said this to Fan's father. Even if the land was bought, it would not be possible to reduce Zhen'er's dowry.
Not to mention that not all the saved money was spent, the county's pork shop still had a monthly income.
I said this just to make Father Fan feel more at ease. There is no one in the family who doesn't love Zhen'er.
Another reason is that Father Fan is very concerned about his reputation. Zhen'er has found a good husband's family, which is much higher than theirs. Father Fan wants to make Zhen'er's dowry more decent, both for Zhen'er's future life and for the glory of his own family.
When Father Fan heard Kang He say this, he was also moved. As a farmer, how could he not want to buy more land?
But this is twenty-two acres, and he is sweating profusely. He just collects some manure, how much money can he save?
The daughter-in-law should have some money, but she is going to give it as a dowry to the two maids Zhen'er and Qiao'er, so she may not be willing to give much easily.
"Isn't that too much? How can we afford it?"
Kang He looked at Fan Jing, trying to see what he thought. If he agreed to buy it, everything else would be easy to discuss.
Fan Jing knew how much money the couple had, and he trusted Kang He to do the job, so he said to Fan Dad, "Don't worry about money."
After hearing what Fan Jing said, Kang He joined in: "The shop is making some money, we just need to tighten our belts and get through this period."
Father Fan thought about it for a while and quickly cleaned up the fields. There would be a harvest in the autumn this year. With more land, the grain production would naturally be more.
When the time comes, I will keep it all for my family to eat, and then sell it to make a few dozen coins. It will only last for three or two years.
"Okay then, let's settle this."
After they came to a conclusion, the three of them hurried to find Xu Yang to register it to avoid having it bought by someone else.
It was impossible to hide how much land each family in the village had bought. Everyone gasped when they heard that the Fan family had bought 22 acres of land in the eastern suburbs in one go.
Kang He knew that the villagers would inevitably talk about this matter. In order to avoid causing trouble, he asked Fan Dad and Chen Sanfang to go out and borrow money on purpose.
He also went around asking people about buying and selling livestock. Their female donkey was pregnant with a donkey, so he took this opportunity to talk about the matter.
They made something to show outsiders so that people would realize that it was not easy for their family to buy more than 20 acres of land. Although they had some money on hand, they still had to borrow money to do it.
People say that when they talk about it, they won’t hate the rich as much.
This time, in addition to the large amount of land purchased by the Fan family, Doctor Zhu also bought ten acres of small land.
He has been in the village for two or three years. Now Xu Yang has gotten married and is about to have a child. He feels uncomfortable living in someone else's house for a long time, so he wants to build two houses to live in.
Taking advantage of the government's land sale, he took out his savings and bought some land so that he could build a house and grow some vegetables for himself.
Although the villagers always sent him vegetables, he often couldn't finish them all, but he felt uneasy relying on others to send them. He would grow some by himself. He wouldn't need much to eat, and he could also grow some medicinal herbs.
At the end of the month, after paying the money, the land was in my hands. This time, measuring the land was not difficult.
Father Fan called Yihuan and Erxi out to the fields to reclaim wasteland. Twenty-two acres of land, in addition to the family's original nine and a half acres, totaled a little over thirty acres. Since this was their first time reclaiming wasteland, they had to work very hard.
From the beginning of this month to the end of March, Fan Dad and Yihuan and Erxi were almost always working in the fields, going out early and coming back late.
Not only them, Kang He and Fan Jing looked after the shop during the day, and after closing the shop they would come home to help with the work for an hour or two.
People took turns to look after the shops on the left and right, and to do the work in the fields.
After working so hard for more than a month, we finally managed to clean up more than 20 acres of land.
And it’s not over yet, the sowing will start in full swing later.
Seeing how exhausted the family was, Kang He began to think of hiring a farmhand. With so many fields at home, sooner or later someone would need help. It would not be possible to rely on the family members alone, unless everyone worked like this in the future.
But we live our lives for comfort, and ending up so exhausted is somewhat putting the cart before the horse.
But Kang He did not say this out loud, but kept an eye on it secretly.
He had just bought the land, and was pretending to be looking for people to borrow money, and then turned around to hire farmhands. All his previous efforts were in vain.
The family will hold on for a while and wait until the autumn harvest in the second half of the year.
On the last day of April, Jane received a letter from the city. She knew who sent it without opening it.
Apart from Luo Chuanyi, who else would write to him now?
After reading the letter, Zhen'er's face turned red with joy.
When her family returned, she read the letter to them.
"My dear Zhen'er, you are so lucky! This boy from the Luo family has passed the provincial examination and become a student before he even reached the age of twenty. How can he be so talented?"
I heard Zhen'er read the letter saying that Luo Chuanyi entered the examination hall in February and rushed out of the city to participate in the provincial examination in April. Now that the results of the provincial examination are out, his name is on the list.
The college examination is held every three years, and he will take the exam again next year.
Less than a year after the engagement, Luo Chuanyi passed the imperial examination and became a handsome young man. How could the whole family not be happy?
If it were last year, the Luo family would definitely not come to visit them.
Chen Sanfang was overjoyed and said, "That's not right. It's not that our Zhen'er is lucky, it's that Zhen'er is blessed. The Luo family kid took the exam for so many years and still didn't pass, but he passed after being engaged to Zhen'er. Isn't that because of Zhen'er's good fortune?"
Zhen'er felt embarrassed to teach Chen Sanfang.
Fan Jing's face was filled with a rare joy. He asked Zhen'er, "Did you say when you're getting married?"
Hearing Fan Jing's question, her cheeks flushed again, and she whispered to her family, "He did mention it in the letter, hoping for August."
When everyone at home heard this, they paused. There were only a few months left, and they felt a little rushed, but they were also happy.
The Luo family did not change their mind just because he passed the imperial examination. Instead, they urged him to get married quickly, which was better than delaying it.
Seeing this, Kang He said, "Then let's set a wedding date. Zhen'er and I will also prepare the wedding gifts."
Two days later, cousin Yun and Luo Chuanyi came to the Fan family specifically to discuss the wedding date. Luo Tongsheng was busy with social engagements in the city and had no time to come.
Cousin Yun was enthusiastic and Luo Chuanyi was polite. Without Luo Tongsheng around, the conversation went much faster.
The wedding date is set for August 221st.
After the discussion, the Luo family would go home to prepare the betrothal gifts and hold a banquet; the Fan family would prepare the dowry, as they would also have to prepare a banquet to marry off their daughter.
It's really lively and busy.
Kang He discussed with Fan Jing, and Fan Jing wanted to take out 50 strings of cash to prepare a dowry for his sister. Kang He did not say a word against it. Not to mention that it was within their ability, even if they did not have such a large amount of money, the couple would still find a way to get it.
When they got married, he agreed to Fan Jing's proposal.
Chen Sanfang also took out twenty strings of cash, and Father Fan took out eight strings of cash.
Twenty-eight strings of cash were used as a betrothal gift, and fifty strings were used to buy cabinets, chairs, tables, desks, dressing tables and other household items; they were also used to buy bed curtains, quilts, soft pillows, etc. for daily use... both good and inferior fabrics.
Well, I have to get some nice jewelry.
Zhen'er lived a simple life at home. She kept herself clean and tidy on weekdays. She looked like a rare and pretty girl when she went out. She often worked, so she seldom bought jewelry to decorate herself.
Even if there were two, they were just worthless things like silk flowers.
The family thought of buying her a set of silver and a set of jade. They couldn't afford more, but two ordinary sets were enough.
Seeing that the wedding gifts prepared by her family were already as generous as they could be, Zhen'er tried to dissuade her, "Don't buy any more jewelry; the other wedding gifts are already generous enough! Even this is already twice as much as Sister Xiangxiu's!"
"Silly girl, we know you love simplicity, but life in the city will be so different from home.
The Luo family was a wealthy and educated family, and the relatives and friends they interacted with on a daily basis were not vulgar or poor.
Whether you go out or meet guests, if you don't have some jewelry to adorn yourself, not to mention that you don't have any jewelry, people will look down on you if they see you wearing that kind of clothes and jewelry once and then that kind again. "
Chen Sanfang took Zhen'er's hand and said, "There are many idle families in the city. Unlike us villagers, we have so much work to do all day that we don't have time to dress up. They love to visit each other and have fun, and see their clothes."
"Even though we may disdain it in our hearts, when people are in such an environment, it is the same as when in Rome, do as the Romans do."
Kang He also said, "That's right. Your brother wanted to buy it for you. I was just being unreasonable. Our family isn't so poor that we can't even afford two sets of jewelry. This is a token of our family's love. If you refuse, you'll hurt our family's feelings."
Zhen'er was deeply moved and cried in the house for a long time at night. She felt that her family treated her so well.
Upon hearing that Zhen'er was getting married, and to the Luo family in the city, Liang sent a box of cloth, saying that it was to add to Zhen'er's dowry.
When Fan Jing and Kang He got married, the gift she gave was not expensive. Firstly, Fan Jing would not have accepted it if she had given him an expensive gift. Secondly, the Fan family was in a really difficult situation at that time. If she gave him an expensive gift, it would have been very stressful for him and he would have had trouble returning the gift.
The Fan family here is better off than hers, so they can give whatever they want with all their heart.
The eldest wife's family also sent some gifts to add to Zhen'er's dowry, including two sets of tea sets that came from somewhere. Although not expensive, they were quite elegant.
Maybe someone gave it to Fan Xin as a thank you, so it would be appropriate for Zhen'er to take him to a scholar's home.
In addition to these, he also gave her a thick red envelope, which contained six strings of cash.
Xiangxiu brought three new wigs and two pieces of red hairpin jewelry.
Zhen'er married well. Even Mr. and Mrs. Fan, who were so patriarchal and stingy, gave Zhen'er two strings of money.
In June, the Luo family sent a list of betrothal gifts, and the Fan family also exchanged a list of dowries.
"I never thought the Fan family was so wealthy, and the dowry list was so long."
The Luo family's household was run by Yun's cousin's eldest daughter-in-law, Lu. When they received the Fan family's dowry list, the couple took a look at it and then sent it to the eldest daughter-in-law to see.
Cousin Yun said, "The Fan family loves their daughter, that's why they gave her such a generous wedding gift."
Mrs. Lu smiled and said, "I always hear mother and my second brother praise our sister-in-law. A few days ago, I heard father praise her as well, which is rare."
"My brother's wife was writing to my second brother, and my father happened to see it. He heard that my brother's wife could read and write, and that she had learned this at my brother's private school. He was very pleased. He said that the Fan family was a rare and open-minded family, allowing a girl to study and learn to write."
Cousin Yun said, "Your father is someone who craves anything related to reading. He's delighted by anything that has anything to do with reading. I'm afraid he was a bookworm in his previous life."
Lu couldn't help laughing.
The Fan family waited for the betrothal gifts to be delivered. They had prepared a lot of gifts, but according to today's customs, they were much less than the Fan family's dowry, but it should still be about forty or fifty strings of cash.
Looking at the big picture, it is already taken very seriously.
Fan Jingrang also gave them all to Zhen'er as his private property.
Qiao'er felt very reluctant to see her sister getting married, and she was even more envious when she saw how grand her wedding was.
"Big brother, when I get married, the man's family will send me a betrothal gift. Can you give it to me?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Jing said, "Of course it's the same."
Chen Sanfang smiled and pinched Qiao'er's face when she heard this: "You are just thinking about what will happen in a few years. When has your elder brother ever treated you any differently from Zhen'er?"
At the end of August, the sound of gongs and drums was heard entering the village. Zhen'er, wearing a red veil and a bright red wedding dress, said goodbye to her family and got on the Luo family's sedan chair.
Zhen'er cried so sadly that the white powder she had put on her face in the morning turned into soup. Chen Sanfang couldn't help but wipe his eyes.
Not to mention that the Fan family was reluctant to let him go, even Kang He felt a little melancholy.
Zhen'er is a good-natured, capable and considerate girl. I don't know how many times she has sewed clothes and washed shoes for him. When Dafu was one and a half years old, Zhen'er was the one who took care of him the most.
Who can bear to let her marry into another family?
The wedding procession had left, and the guests had to be entertained with wine and food. Kang He turned around, but Fan Jing was nowhere to be seen.
Kang He looked around and saw that the person had gone back into the house without him noticing.
At this moment, he didn't even take off his shoes and just lay straight on the bed.
When Jiang Caizhener said goodbye to his family, he took his hand and told him to take good care of himself.
He didn't say a word, as if nothing had happened, but Zhen'er was crying loudly.
This guy is out, he's really excited.
Kang He sat down beside the bed and gently poked her waist: "She's not far away, and we go to the city every day. Isn't it easy for us to see Zhen'er?"
Fan Jing turned over and faced Kang He with his back, ignoring him.
Kang He was silent for a moment, then went out and brought Dafu in.
The kid looked at Fan Jing on the bed and kept calling, "Little Daddy, Little Daddy."
Kang He wiped his mouth after eating the meat and said, "Just stay here and sleep with your daddy for a while, okay?"
Dafu clapped his chubby hands and said, "Little Daddy, go to sleep."
"Well, go to sleep with Daddy."
Kang He kissed his son on the face and took off his shoes. The little guy then happily stepped around on the bed.
Fan Jing had no choice but to sit up and carry Dafu over. He glanced at Kang He.
"I'll go and greet the guests. There are more than thirty tables set up outside."
That was all, he left the house.
Dafu was wriggling in Fan Jing's arms. He lay on top of Fan Jing and was about to bite his ear.
This little cub's bite hurts people, so Fan Jing pinched his little nose to stop him from biting.
"I want Guoguo, I want Guoguo."
When Fan Jing saw his son wanted to eat, he scolded Kang He and said that the other person was eating well and should be brought in.
He had no choice but to carry the little kid out to find food with him.
Kang He, who was greeting people outside, felt relieved when he saw Fan Jing carrying Da Fu to the kitchen.
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