Chapter 92
"Because I don't want to be like the miasmic forest, where everything I get in the forest is destroyed by hunters who come in later!"
Of course, Gu Ran didn't dare to tell Village Chief Wu directly that she bought Dunzi Island with the intention of reclaiming wasteland and planting orange trees.
She guessed that if Village Chief Wu wanted to arrange the purchase of the island on her behalf, he would have to deal with Village Chief Weng of Donglin Township.
Village Chief Weng was from Donglin Township. The Liu and Zhu families in his township were large orange growers. If he knew that he bought Dunzi Island to open an orange orchard, he would probably tell the Liu or Zhu family immediately.
If the Liu or Zhu family knew about this idea, and they immediately spent a large sum of money to buy the island, then Dunzi Island would have nothing to do with her anymore.
So Gu Ran told her in detail about what happened this year when hunters from other villages heard the news, came into the miasma forest to hunt, destroyed his traps, and caused trouble for him.
"If Dunzi Island is mine, then whatever I find there will be mine."
"Then if you found some rare wild food on Dunzi Island and sold it for a high price, others would be even more jealous of you."
"They're just jealous of me. Dunzi Island is mine. Without my permission as the island owner, they can't enter. There's nothing they can do, no matter how anxious they are. If they dare sneak in and I catch them, I can report them to the police and have them arrested," Gu Ran said. "Then I'll have more confidence!" He then pressed, "Village Chief, how much silver do you think it would cost to buy Dunzi Island? It's too much, I can't afford it, so I'm not buying it."
Gu Ran said with a chuckle, "Village Chief, please help me go and ask. I won't treat you unfairly in the future."
Village chief Wu had no choice but to go find village chief Weng.
"Dunzi Island? Why are you asking this?"
"There is a family in our village who wants to buy this Dunzi Island and use it as a hunting resort." Village chief Wu did not directly say which family wanted to buy it, but gave a vague explanation.
"Is it the Shen family?" Village Chief Weng immediately thought of Mr. Shen's family who had moved to Xiaxi Village last year.
As the head of the village, he naturally knew about the time when Mr. Shen's family moved to Xiaxi Village.
The Shen family was not exiled here, but chose the village location themselves and migrated here. The group brought no less than twenty slaves and guards with them. They were very grand and built the largest house in Xiaxi Village. It was obvious that they were wealthy.
Although the Shen family has not been seen doing any business until now, Mr. Shen not only bought 20 acres of land in Xiaxi Village, but also opened another 20 acres. He also bought a lot of good farmland from other villages in Xiaxi Village and even in Donglin Township. The land deeds he handled covered hundreds of acres.
The Shen family only had the 20 acres of land in Xiaxi Village that their old farmer cultivated. As for the land they bought in other villages, they rented it out.
Just by looking at their behavior, we can tell that the Shen family used to be a wealthy family with hundreds of pieces of land.
Xiaxi Village is such a small village, but it has a decent population. When the village head Weng heard about building a villa, his first reaction was the habit of the wealthy families: the first step is to buy land, and the second step is to buy real estate.
But the Shen family was so generous that they actually set their sights on the deserted island.
Village Chief Wu neither denied nor admitted it. "I plan to ask the price. If it's too expensive, I'll just forget about it."
"It's a deserted island. There's not only miasma but also poisonous snakes and big beasts. No one dares to go there. How much is it worth?"
"If they want it, how can I not ask?" Village Chief Wu said in embarrassment, "Head, you think Dunzi Island is worthless, but the county government may not think so either."
"Then I have to ask first."
It was three days later when Village Chief Weng went to the county government to inquire about the value of the deserted island of Dunzi Island.
Village Chief Wu directly told Gu Ran the information he had obtained.
"Two hundred and fifty taels?"
"That's right. According to the records from the county government's Ministry of Revenue, this Dunzi Island is estimated to be over 200 acres in size. Because it's a deserted island, the value is calculated based on the mountain value of the barren forest."
Although ordinary woodlands are not as valuable as high-quality farmland, they still cost four or five taels of silver per mu. But at the moment, the government's price for Dunzi Island is based on the value of the abandoned woodlands, so it only costs one tael of silver.
It is probably because Dunzi Island is surrounded by water, and it is not easy for ordinary people to get there. In addition, the environment on the island is harsh, and the county government thinks it is an abandoned deserted island, so they attach more importance to this broken island.
"Mrs. Gu, two hundred and fifty taels is no small sum," said Village Chief Wu. "If you live peacefully in the village, this money will last you a lifetime. But if you use it to buy a deserted island, except for your occasional hunting trips, it's like being abandoned on Broken Island. It's not worth it. If you really want to buy one, you'd be better off using it to buy some good farmland and rent it out. Then you won't have to worry about your future."
Gu Ran calculated his family assets in his mind and said nothing.
"Second Lady Gu, think about it carefully. Isn't this true? You still have to find a husband, right? And when you get married, you still have to raise your children, right? If you want your children to have a good life, you have to teach them to read and write. Then there's the dowry, betrothal gifts, daily expenses, all of which require money. If you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your children, right?"
"Hey, Village Chief, what kind of kid is this? He's not even a clue about life." Gu Ran didn't take Village Chief Wu's words to heart at all. He smiled and looked at the worried-looking Village Chief Wu, waving his hand: "Village Chief, you also know that two hundred and fifty taels is a large sum of money. If I want to buy it, can you help talk to the county government and ask them to lower the price a little bit?"
"That's the county government, not the market. How can there be room for bargaining?" Village Chief Wu said angrily and amusedly, "If you think it's too expensive, then don't buy it!"
"Oh, no, I'll buy it, I'll buy it!" Gu Ran looked painful. He went back to the room, closed the door, and took out the money he had saved from the workshop.
In fact, as early as when he made up his mind to buy Dunzi Island, Gu Ran exchanged the small ingots of five taels of silver he had saved for silver notes in the county town.
Excluding the fixed amount of silver she had saved, the money she had saved was only about two hundred and fifty taels.
Now that’s a big deal. Buying Dunzi Island means that all this huge amount of money is gone.
But, that’s a whole island!
Spending two hundred and fifty taels to become the island owner was something she could never imagine, whether in her first or second life.
I had no money in the first life, no strength in the second life, and this third life, hehe!
Gu Ran couldn't help laughing as he held the banknote in his hand.
To her, money means nothing. Owning an island and becoming an island owner is a great thing!
You can earn money back if you lose it, but an island is only yours once you buy it!
Dunzi Island is a deserted island now, but it will no longer be so once it is developed!
Gu Ran laughed for a long time before he went out with a box in his arms and handed it solemnly to Village Chief Wu. He also took out five taels of silver, saying it was the fee for asking her to handle the island deed with Village Chief Weng.
After all, buying a deserted island is a big deal.
The trouble was that Village Chief Wu and Village Chief Weng had to run errands for him, and he spent two hundred and fifty taels of silver. Naturally, the five taels of silver as hard work fee was a small part of it.
Village chief Wu took the box and looked inside. There were two silver notes worth two hundred taels, and three silver ingots, two large and one small. He looked at Gu Erniang with mixed feelings.
How long has Gu Erniang been in Xiaxi Village? How could she have saved such a large sum of money by tinkering with it on her own?
She also thought of the young master of Fusheng Trading Company who often visited her.
Because Xu San often came to Xiaxi Village to look for Gu Er Niang. Gu Er Niang could earn so much money, probably it was mostly from the business with the young master Xu, right?
This was the first time that Village Chief Wu had bought such a large deserted island. The next day, he took Gu Ran to Donglin Township to meet Village Chief Weng.
The village chief then realized that the one who wanted to buy Dunzi Island was actually Gu Erniang. He was quite surprised: "So it was you, the wife of the Gu family, who wanted to buy that deserted island!"
"That's right." Gu Ran smiled, "Please trouble Village Chief Weng to help us with this trip."
As the village chief of Xiaxi Village, Weng Lichang, who even the village chief of Xiaxi Village had to obey, naturally knew everything about the origins of this lady from the Gu family.
At this time, apart from the expectation, there was no other guess, but it made me more certain about building a villa.
Since she was raised as the daughter of a marquis and was once the grandmother in the prime minister's mansion, it is understandable that she has some of the mannerisms of a lady from a powerful family.
So, Village Chief Weng and Village Chief Wu took Gu Ran to the Ministry of Revenue of the County Government.
Recently, the entire Yongchang County government office has been busy with the matter of Lord He from the capital catching the number one thief assassin. The county was in chaos. Fortunately, two days ago, Lord He transferred the assassin to the Jianzhou government office, and the county government office has gradually returned to normal.
Village Chief Wu had already secretly handed over the fee that Gu Ran paid for the island deed to Village Chief Weng.
Village head Weng was a man who often went to the county government office to deal with land deeds and house deeds. He had money to pave the way, so he soon met the clerk of the Ministry of Revenue.
After confirming Gu Ran's identity with Village Head Weng and Village Chief Wu, and making sure it was Gu Ran's intention, the clerk from the Ministry of Revenue wrote the island deed of Dunzi Island to Gu Ran on the spot, and asked Village Head Weng, Village Chief Wu and Gu Ran to sign their names respectively. Then the clerk also signed his own name, and then stamped it with the red seal of Yongchang County Government.
"This island deed is in four copies. One is for you, Madam Gu, one is for you, the village chief, one is kept at our county office, and the other will be sent to the Jianzhou government for record."
Hearing that the island deed for purchasing Dunzi Island would be sent to Jianzhou government for record, that is, the island deed had to be sent to Jianzhou government and stamped with a red seal before it could be returned to the three responsible persons, Gu Ran naturally expressed his compliance.
Of course, before getting the red deed, the clerk also gave Gu Ran a stub with an official red seal to indicate that the Yongchang County Government had already received the 250 taels of silver from the Gu family in Xiaxi Village to buy Dunzi Island. This was to prevent Gu Ran from having to use the stub to claim the money back from the county government if anything went wrong along the way.
In this way, even though the official red seal island deed was not obtained, Dunzi Island was still purchased.
Gu Ran held the stub in his hand, his heart blossoming with joy.
From now on, she owns the entire island.
Despite such a big happy event, Gu Ran did not dare to make it public. Just in case, it was better for her to keep a low profile, so she returned to Xiaxi Village and did not tell anyone.
He didn't even encourage Pei Liuniang to go to Dunzi Island immediately.
Before the Red Seal Island Deed returned, she didn't want to be too prominent, so that no one would find out and interfere.
If you want to go, you have to get the island deed and go there openly. Then you will have the confidence to tell those who go to the island without permission that Dunzi Island belongs to you and that you are not allowed to trespass.
So during the days of waiting for the island deed to be issued, Gu Ran stayed obediently in the small house, followed his usual routine, tended to the last crop of fairy grass in the field, and the konjac patch, and also started to dry persimmon cakes.
The wild persimmons harvested the day before were all stored in the small warehouse - of course, she also quietly stored a batch in the space compartment.
While the weather was still good, Gu Ran started to dry the persimmon cakes.
October happens to be a time of year with little rain and sunny weather, so naturally we should seize the time to dry the goods.
Pick out a bunch of intact persimmons to make persimmon cakes. Don't choose fully ripe ones. Choose those with a firm outer layer of flesh so that they are easier to peel. Otherwise, the persimmon flesh is too soft and the juice from the flesh will get all over your hands when you peel it, and the dried persimmon cakes will not look good.
Don’t throw away the peeled persimmon skins; dry them together with the peeled persimmons.
Soak the peeled persimmons in boiling water. This can disinfect the outer flesh and keep it clean and hygienic. It can also slightly cook the outer layer of flesh. This not only allows this layer of flesh to harden after ripening to wrap around the sweet and soft persimmon core and juice to prevent it from leaking out, but also makes the persimmon skin tougher when it is dried in the sun.
The blanched persimmons can be placed one by one on a bamboo winnowing basket and then put in the sun to dry.
This is how you make persimmon cakes with soft and sweet persimmons. If you use hard and crisp persimmons, you can string them together and dry them in the sun, just like drying peppers or corn in clusters.
If you want to dry persimmons until they are soft and look good, you have to dry them every day. The more you dry them, the better the color of the final persimmon cakes will be.
During the drying process, an inevitable step is to pinch the persimmons. About every five or six days, the dried persimmons need to be pinched by hand so that the final shape of the persimmon cakes can be adjusted at any time to be a nice flat shape.
So when you see the persimmon cakes sold on the market, and they look flat, you realize that they are not naturally dried, but are made by hand.
Generally, persimmon cakes are pinched three times, with different pinching strengths each time.
The first time they are opened for drying, except for the outer layer, the inner part is still natural persimmon flesh, so you only need to press it slightly.
The second time, the flesh inside also begins to solidify into gelatin due to drying. Of course, this is the natural form of soft persimmons, and it is said that the flesh of crisp persimmons begins to become soft at this time. At this time, you only need to slightly pinch out the round shape of the future persimmon cake.
The third time, after pinching and pressing, the persimmon cake is basically formed and can be collected in a few days.
The whole process usually takes about half a month. Next, in order to make the persimmon cake look good, it is time to carry out the frost preservation step, which is to let a layer of white frost form on the surface of the persimmon cake during the sun exposure.
Use an earthenware jar, put a layer of persimmon peel that has been dried together with the persimmon cakes on the bottom, then stack a layer of dried persimmon cakes, and then stack a layer of persimmon peel and a layer of persimmon cakes on top, until the end, seal the top with persimmon peel, then seal the earthenware jar, and put it in a ventilated place to dry. After about ten days, sugar will be secreted to form white frost.
At this time, the persimmon cakes are considered to be completely prepared. You can eat them directly or put them in another moisture-proof container. As long as they are sealed, they can be stored for many days. You can eat them during the Chinese New Year, and you can enjoy the "persimmons" that please you and it is a good omen for good luck.
When the persimmon cakes were ready, Village Chief Wu brought the island deed of Dunzi Island back to her.
Gu Ran happily showed off the red deed in front of Pei Liu: "Look, look, I own an island now." From now on, he can call her the island owner.
Gu Ran looked at the red deed for a long time, then carefully placed it in a specially prepared box, closed it, locked it, and then put it in the workshop.
Such an important deed, the only one that proves her identity as the island owner, must of course be hidden away carefully.
Pei Liu looked at Gu Ran's excited expression and couldn't help but smile with his eyes narrowed.
Could buying an island actually make her so happy?
But what should we do about that Dunzi Island and that madman?
Of course, we need to find someone to catch him.
So Gu Ran immediately went to find Uncle Li.
Ever since learning about Li Ji's situation, Gu Ran has been asking about his situation in the village.
Li Ji lived in the home of Uncle Wu San, who built the windmill tower for Gu Ran.
He lived alone, so he only rented a small room in Uncle Wu's house. He usually did odd jobs for people in the village to save some money to make ends meet.
But no one in Xiaxi Village knew about his martial arts skills. He probably never mentioned it, otherwise, with his skills, he could easily find a job in the city.
But it’s better this way. At least, she and Liu Niang are the only ones who know Uncle Li’s background, so there will be no one else who wants to hire him to compete with her.
"Uncle Li...I'd like to hire you for a job. Are you interested?"
Seeing that Li Ji usually makes a living by doing odd jobs, he should be interested.
Li Ji glanced at Gu Ran and said nothing.
He never imagined that he would be exiled one day, and the place of exile was the same village as the prisoners he had escorted before.
I can only sigh that it is fate.
As a former official, he usually keeps a low profile, but it is his instinct to gather information about the enemy.
So Li Ji quickly learned about many things that had happened to Gu Er Niang since she settled in Xiaxi Village. These included, of course, how she was the only person in the village who dared to enter and exit the terrifying miasma forest without getting hurt, how the five large windmills she built in the village dispelled the miasma and prevented the village from being invaded by it, how she cooperated with the He family in the county town to make a living, how she also had business dealings with Xu Sanlang, the young master of Fusheng Trading Company, and how Pei Liu Niang, a serious criminal from Zhengzhou, lived in her small house, and so on and so forth.
These things he found out made Li Ji doubt whether this was still the fourth grandmother of the Qin family?
After all, she doesn't look like a lady who was raised as a noble lady in a marquis's mansion, nor does she look like the pampered grandmother of the Qin family.
And Gu Erniang, whom he met during his exile, also...
Then Li Ji remembered the second wife of the Gu family, who once defeated the strong with her weak strength and broke the legs of a thief who was as big as a mountain.
Well, this Gu Er Niang once again refreshed his understanding of her.
Now she actually took the initiative to hire him to do a job. Although he didn't show it on his face, Li Ji was actually full of curiosity in his heart.
What kind of job does Gu Erniang, who is such a capable person, want to hire me to do?
"Tell me about it?"
"I and Liu Niang, the lady from the Pei family, are planning to go to Dunzi Island, across from the miasma forest, tomorrow. It's a deserted island and quite dangerous, so we'd like to hire you as our bodyguard."
Dunzi Island?
Li Jiyi once took a boat from Donglin Township Ferry to the county town and heard of Dunzi Island.
He could tell from himself that the small islands of the Broken Islands were probably sparsely populated and covered with wild forests, without anyone telling him.
Since it is a wild forest, it must be extremely dangerous, and there is inevitably miasma.
"Why would you go to such a deserted island for no reason?" Li Ji felt that if Gu Er Niang wanted to enter Dunzi Island, he was afraid that things would not be that simple.
"Hmm, just go up and find something." Gu Ran naturally didn't want to mention his intention to go to the island to check and prepare for planting orange trees next spring. He coughed twice to cover it up. "One hundred coins a day, how about it?"
Li Ji noticed Gu Ran's expression and knew that she was not telling the truth.
However, one hundred coins a day was quite profitable. He was afraid that he would not be able to find such a high-paying job in Xiaxi Village. In addition, he was very curious about the affairs of Gu Ran and Pei Liuniang. After thinking about it for a while, he nodded.
"It's settled then. You come to our cottage tomorrow and we'll go to the ferry terminal in Donglin Township and take a boat to Dunzi Island." Gu Ran was secretly delighted.
"Deposit?"
"Huh? Oh!" Gu Ran quickly rummaged through his purse and took out fifty cents.
Li Ji took the money and said, "In addition to the one hundred coins a day, if there is any accident or injury during the journey, you, as the host, must also be responsible."
"Okay, I'll take responsibility."
After making an appointment with Li Ji, Gu Ran excitedly returned to the cottage to prepare for going to Dunzi Island.
It would be great if there weren't any crazy people on Dunzi Island. She could actually go to the island alone with the help of that workshop.
But since he knew that there was a powerful madman on Dunzi Island, Gu Ran had to consider his own personal safety.
"But, it's been almost a year, right? Are you sure that lunatic is still on the island?"
Gu Ran was packing the things he was going to take to the island tomorrow and couldn't help but ask Pei Liu.
"Yes, it is said that the madman was seen on Dunzi Island a long time ago. I'm afraid he has been living on the island for a long time."
"He lives alone on a deserted island?" Gu Ran didn't quite believe it. "Do you know who he is?"
Pei Liu shook his head: "I've asked around, but no one knows."
"Hey!" Gu Ran suddenly became worried: "Is he really crazy or just pretending to be crazy?"
"I'm afraid he's really crazy. If he had any sense and knew who he was, he would have left Dunzi Island long ago and returned home or to his hometown, right?"
"But, to have lived on Dunzi Island by himself for so long, that madman is really capable."
Pei Liu agreed.
Of course he has the ability, otherwise why would he be forced to leave the island and fall into the river by this madman when he first came to the island?
Fortunately, he was good at swimming, otherwise he would have drowned early.
Gu Ran decided: "Let's go to Dunzi Island first to investigate. It would be best if we can find that madman and see if we can persuade him to leave Dunzi Island. If he remembers who he is and where his home is, I will help send him back. If not, we can wait until we find him."
"Anyway, I'm the current owner of Dunzi Island, and I don't like people of unknown origin staying on the island."
What if he is a bad guy and destroys her orange trees after her orange orchard is opened?
She also planned to build a private courtyard on Dunzi Island if she made enough money, but with the wolves watching closely, that was of course not possible.
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