114, Buying Land
114, Buying Land
"Master, please have some shrimp." Lu Mingfei put a shrimp with the head removed and the tail shape still intact into the bowl in front of Zhao Lang, and also provided the young master with five-star hotel service.
Zhao Lang glanced at the boy who was peeling shrimp for him, then looked at the shrimp in the bowl, and then picked up the chopsticks, picked up the shrimp in the bowl and put it into his mouth, slowly chewing and feeling the taste of the food.
The shrimp meat grilled over charcoal fire is firm and has a hint of sauce flavor.
He had eaten many shrimps cooked in various ways and with various flavors, but the grilled shrimp he ate this time gave him a completely different feeling.
Lu Mingfei himself was not so particular about eating shrimp. He broke off the shrimp head, sucked a mouthful of shrimp paste, and then bit the shrimp meat directly with his mouth and ate it together with the shrimp shell.
"This shrimp shell is a bit hard." The shrimp shell was too hard, so he had to spit out the shrimp shell in his mouth.
“…” Zhao Lang happened to see this scene.
"Do you want more? I'll peel a few more for you." Lu Mingfei said as he reached out to take the shrimp again, but this time Zhao Lang held his wrist.
"I'll do it." Zhao Lang let go of Lu Mingfei's hand and picked up a prawn to peel it. This time he placed the peeled prawn on the plate in front of the boy, "You eat it."
"Hey, thank you, you're so nice." Lu Mingfei enjoyed the prawns that the young master peeled for him without hesitation. He found that the prawns Zhao Lang peeled for him were exactly the same as the ones he peeled for Zhao Lang just now. The prawn heads were removed, but the tails were still in good shape.
It seems the young master doesn't know how to peel shrimp, does he? He simply doesn't want to do it!
The grilled shrimps have a hint of charcoal aroma, hmm, so delicious!
Especially when the young master helps to peel the shrimp, the taste is even better!
"It's delicious, especially delicious!" Lu Mingfei looked very satisfied as he ate.
Zhao Lang looked up at the boy who was eating with a happy and satisfied look on his face. His eyes fell on the boy's smiling face, and the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably. He suddenly realized that the things he didn't want to do before were because no one wanted him to do them, but now...
He glanced at the boy who was eating the shrimps he peeled and grilling the meat, shaking his head with joy, then lowered his head and continued to peel the shrimps silently.
The oven on the table was not too big, but there were not many people eating here, just the two of them, so while Lu Mingfei was grilling, the two of them were eating, and it was enough for the two of them.
It’s just that there were too many ingredients on the table, and the two of them couldn’t finish them all.
Seeing that Zhao Lang's eating speed slowed down after the meal, and Lu Mingfei was also full, he discussed with the young master: "There are still so many ingredients here, can I grill some and give them to others?"
"Yeah." Zhao Lang nodded.
After seeing the young master's agreement, Lu Mingfei took some pork slices that were easier to roast and put them here to roast. After roasting the pork slices, he also roasted prawns and some other things, put them on two large plates and took them out to the young lady outside, "You can share them with everyone."
"Yes." The maid didn't expect that there would be a share for servants like them. She was very surprised and delighted when she took the things.
After Lu Mingfei delivered the food, he came back in and baked two more portions, took them out to the young lady and shared them with the others, then told Zhao Lang that he wanted to go home. "Then I'll leave first. I'll rest at home for two nights tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and then come to your place in two days." It felt like he had been out for a long time today, and he suspected that it was already very late.
"Why don't you come?" Zhao Lang asked with a little unhappiness in his eyes.
Lu Mingfei couldn't say that he ran out every night. Not only would he be tired, but Zhao Lang would have to accompany him all the time. He felt embarrassed, so he made an excuse, "I need to spend some time drawing the blueprints for the crossbow. When the time comes, I'll have a craftsman make it and bring it over to you to see."
"Okay." Zhao Lang agreed.
The guards pulled the carriage to the yard. Lu Mingfei said goodbye to Zhao Lang and got on the carriage to go home.
The next day, his father and his adoptive father went to a pawnshop to buy land. He was busy preparing for exams and drawing blueprints for bows and crossbows, so he did not go with them.
The two of them went out of town for three or four days before they found a suitable place.
On the fifth day, Lu Mingfei heard his father come back and learned that their land had been bought.
"We were lucky this time. Someone happened to be selling that piece of land. I discussed it with your adoptive father, and we teamed up to buy the land, getting exactly half each. Besides, there are mountains and water over there, which is perfect for raising ducks." Lu Youtian was very happy when he told his family about this. He felt that they had picked up a great bargain.
Hearing this, Lu Mingfei asked, "How much did you charge per acre when you bought the land?"
Lu Youtian first quoted the price of good farmland before quoting the price they would pay for this piece of land. "I figured we weren't buying this to farm, so we didn't really need good farmland. The main thing is that the land is big enough and has water. We can build a workshop there in the future, so we don't need to come back to the city and rent a house."
"That's true." Lu Mingfei knew that his father and adoptive father had made a good deal on the land. However, not only would they have spent all the money they had saved for nearly a decade, but they would also have spent all the little savings of his adoptive father and mother's family.
"Go to the mountains and find some thorny caltrops and plant them around the area. This will make it harder for people to get in, and for wild animals to come and eat our ducks."
"Okay, I'll discuss with your adoptive father later where to find this."
"Does the family have enough money to buy ducklings?"
"Yes, it doesn't cost much to buy ducklings. I've discussed it with your adoptive father. We'll raise a group of female ducks to lay eggs, and then we can hatch the ducklings ourselves. We'll keep some of the hatched ducklings for ourselves and give some away for free to the villagers in the surrounding villages. Once they grow up, we'll buy them from them. That way, there will definitely be many people willing to raise ducks with us." If it were Lu Youtian alone, he wouldn't have such long-term ideas. However, this time he and Lu Qingfeng went to buy land together, and their two families were doing business together, so he listened to Lu Qingfeng's ideas and thought they were feasible.
From what his father said, Lu Mingfei could tell that some of the suggestions from his adoptive father were quite good. This was not surprising, as his adoptive father's ancestors were good at business. His adoptive father's intelligence was evident; he was quicker than his father and thought things through more thoroughly.
Of course, he wasn't saying that his father was stupid, it was just that everyone was good at different things.
"Did you buy the land separately or together?"
"It's separate. Your adoptive father and I each bought half and set up a boundary in the middle." Lu Youtian took out the title deed and showed it to his eldest son.
He himself had never dreamed that his family would be able to buy land outside of Kyoto Prefecture. For generations, they had been tenant farmers for landlords, never owning any land. However, from then on, Lu Youtian's descendants all had land. While not all of it was good farmland, if they wanted to cultivate it later, they could turn the land over and grow crops over a few years.
Regarding this matter, Lu Youtian was not just thinking about the present, he also had a long-term vision. "I think that since our two families are doing business together now, we don't know whether our descendants will continue to do so together in the future. So, in order to avoid future troubles, we have made these things clear in advance."
"Even if our family doesn't do business with your adoptive father's family anymore, we won't have any disputes over land."
"Well, it's better to write it down clearly. Our future cooperation should also be written down in black and white." This is not because Lu Mingfei is on guard against his adoptive father, but because he is afraid that his future generations will have conflicts over interests.
After all, it is difficult for people to maintain a good relationship for three generations just by relying on that little bit of affection. It is better to rely on interests to bind the two families together.
Lu Mingfei also knew his family's situation. If they relied solely on their own strength, it would be difficult to build a family business. The best way was to find a trustworthy person with good character and work together. At the moment, his adoptive father was their best choice.
Firstly, the relationship between the two families has been very good for many years, and secondly, the character of his adoptive father and mother. As for Lu Mingcong's personality, it can be seen from now that this child has a pure character and will not go astray when he grows up.
So basically, within the next two generations, there will be no conflicts in the cooperation between the two families.
Later, the father and son talked about this matter for a few more sentences before ending the topic.
As for the subsequent work of raising and looking after ducks, Lu Mingfei was afraid that he had no time to help, so he could only leave these tasks to his father and godfather to arrange.
After talking to his father about the family affairs, Lu Mingfei prepared to go out to take care of some personal matters. "Dad, I'm going out for a while and will be back soon."
"Oh, go ahead, come back early. Do you have any money left? Do you want me to give you some money?" Lu Youtian knew that his eldest son would sometimes go to the bookstore to read and buy books, so when his eldest son said he was going out today, he thought his eldest son was going to the bookstore.
Lu Mingfei thought about how little money he had, so he said to his father bluntly, "Then give me ten taels of silver." He felt that making these parts might take a lot of time and effort, and he was afraid that the blacksmith would charge him more for the labor.
"I don't have enough silver here, please wait a minute." Lu Youtian took out his purse and looked at it. Seeing that there was not much silver in it, he asked his eldest son to wait outside. He went to his mother to ask for twenty taels of silver to give to his eldest son, "I asked your mother for twenty taels of silver, you can use it to buy books." He knew that books were expensive, and was afraid that ten taels of silver would not be enough, so he gave a little more.
"...Thank you, Father." Lu Mingfei did not explain to his father that he was not going out to buy books. He went out with a huge sum of money of twenty taels of silver and his small shoulder bag.
"You're welcome." Lu Youtian watched his eldest son go out, then he closed the door to the yard with a smile and went to the kitchen to find his wife.
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