As for Master Fan, who was from the same clan, he simply shook his head at Fan Damu and then left.
The courtyard immediately became empty.
Some who hadn't left yet asked, "I reckon only Fan Jin's family in our village might buy it. Are you sure you don't want to sell it to them?"
Fan Damu's situation is now uncertain.
It seems like it's not worth turning down money, is it?
If the two most likely buyers in the village aren't buying, who else can we sell to?
Someone else said, "But even at this price, Fan Jin's family wouldn't buy it."
"Sixty-odd taels of silver, who could come up with that much? Even Fan Jin's family doesn't have that much silver in savings."
"It's not like we don't have mountains and land. We can still grow potatoes on the land now, and the potato harvest is plentiful. A few acres are enough for a family to eat. Which family doesn't have twenty or thirty acres of land? Who would spend money to buy more?"
Needless to say, the mountains and forests are a different story; they're mostly barren hills covered in miscellaneous trees, what's the point of buying them? And now, even fields are no good—they lack fertility, so nothing can be grown, and even if you did, there wouldn't be much of a harvest.”
Fan Damu felt increasingly disheartened as he listened.
He believed that the price was very considerate of the villagers.
Originally, he planned that after selling himself, he wouldn't have to live in a thatched hut, his family would have enough to eat and drink, he wouldn't have to farm, and he wouldn't have to face floods. With the money from selling himself and the land, life would only get better in the future.
I never imagined that not only would I not be able to sell it for that price, but I wouldn't even be able to sell it!
Once the crowd had dispersed, Fan Damu looked anxiously at the old village chief and asked, "Old village chief, who else in our village would buy this? What price do you think would be appropriate?"
Those fields are no longer arable; he has to sell them all.
He could only feel at ease when the money was actually in his pocket.
The old village chief thought for a moment and then said selectively, "You can also ask the Ding family. As for the price, you can decide for yourself."
He said that if the price is too high, the product won't sell, and people won't blame themselves but only him;
If he sells it at a low price, people will only blame him if they feel they lost money later.
Li Wu, being very perceptive, said, "Dad, you must be tired this morning. Let me help you back to your room to rest."
The old village chief nodded.
No one asked Fan Damu to stay, so Fan Damu, dressed in new clothes and shoes, could only leave awkwardly.
He then walked towards the Ding family's house at the very back.
Unexpectedly, the Ding family was not home. After asking around, they learned that they had been staying at Fan Jin's house during this time.
At this moment, Fan Damu no longer cared about his previous statement that he would not sell to Fan Jin. He was willing to pay any price as long as Fan Jin bought it!
All he wants now is to sell it!
Shui Qing opened the courtyard gate, completely surprised that Fan Damu would come to her door on his own initiative.
She disliked this person greatly because he was cunning, lazy, greedy, and overly shrewd.
Hearing that he had come to see Ding Heli, they stepped aside to let him into the courtyard.
Fan Damu has lowered his offer to Ding Heli by a lot: three taels per mu for paddy fields, eighteen mu of land plus surrounding wasteland for ten taels of silver, and five taels of silver for barren hills.
Shui Qing listened intently, quite tempted, but held back and didn't mention it.
That's how it is when you buy things; you can't let people know you intend to buy, otherwise it's hard to negotiate the price.
Moreover, given the relationship between their two families, if Fan Damu realized she wanted to buy, he would only raise the price if he had her figured out.
Ding Heli looked troubled: "I don't know how to farm, and my daughter isn't cut out for it either. Wouldn't buying it and leaving it there be a waste of land?"
Fan Damu felt a chill run down his spine.
He glanced at Hu Shuiqing beside him out of the corner of his eye and saw that she looked indifferent and not very interested.
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