Chapter 45: Successful Land Purchase
Now that the real protagonist has arrived, it is naturally inconvenient for a minor character like Hu Zi to come to the table.
He stood obediently behind Kang Yang, fulfilling his duties as a servant diligently, adding wine and serving dishes to everyone, and making sure everyone was served comfortably.
After three rounds of drinks, Kang Yang finally spoke out the purpose of this banquet: "My lords, I asked you to come here today because I have a small matter that I would like to trouble you with."
The county magistrate put down his wine glass with a faint smile on his face: "Brother Gu, please feel free to speak up. I'll see if I can help you."
The chief clerk also agreed, but never mentioned the promise.
Kang Yang picked up the wine jug and filled the two adults' glasses with wine. He smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. All you need is a nod from the two adults and a word from the people below."
"Oh? Tell me about it?" The county magistrate raised his eyebrows and asked curiously.
Kang Yang pointed to the village chief sitting beside him and said, "I have just introduced you two adults. This is the village chief of Taohua Village. I have a younger sister who accidentally drifted to Taohua Village in her early years and was only found home a few days ago. My sister, who had been raised by my family for more than ten years, has returned to Taohua Village. Although she is not my biological daughter, my elders have raised her for so many years and are very concerned about her. They want to give her some assets so that she can live a worry-free life. My sister finally fell in love with the piece of rocky land at the foot of the mountain south of Taohua Village and wants to buy it to build a farm. So I would like to ask you two adults to be flexible."
Kang Yang told the story in a few words, mixing truth with lies, and then stated his purpose.
On the way to the southwest, he discussed everything with the lady.
No one in the southwest knows Kang Yang. As long as the young lady doesn't say it, no one knows that he is just a servant in the marquis's mansion.
So their plan was one open and one covert. On the surface, Kang Yang was a noble son of a wealthy family in Kyoto, and this trip was to return home from his adopted sister and do some small business.
Gu Jiayue hid in the dark and enjoyed a peaceful life.
The two gentlemen, who had been somewhat skeptical at first, immediately relaxed after hearing this. The Chief Registrar chuckled and said, "It's just a small matter? Just have your servants go to the county government office to sign."
They thought that this rich young man who suddenly appeared came to them for something big, but it turned out that he just wanted to buy some land.
But he is worthy of being a rich man from Kyoto. He gave three gifts for such a small matter.
"Thank you both, sirs! But I want to buy a little more land, about 500 acres." Kang Yang said with a smile.
The county magistrate waved his hand generously and said, "It's a small matter. As long as you prepare enough redemption money, we can approve any number of acres you want."
It's just 500 acres of rocky land that can't be cultivated. As long as the money is ready, he can approve not only 500 acres but also 1,000 acres.
"Haha, you two lords are really good officials who serve the country and the people! Don't worry, lords, we have already prepared the money to buy the land. I have also prepared some small gifts for you two lords. I hope you two lords will not despise them." Kang Yang said with a smile.
Hu Zi, who had been prepared, took out two palm-sized boxes from his sleeves, each containing three silver notes worth one hundred taels.
The two officials took one look and were immediately delighted. The County Magistrate even took out his seal and said, "If you go with my seal, those people won't embarrass you."
Kang Yang took the seal and handed it to Hu Zi behind him, then said to the village chief, "Then I'll trouble you to make this trip. Hu Zi, you must take good care of me. Go quickly and come back soon. The county magistrate is still waiting to get the seal back."
"Yes!" Huzi replied, and he and the village chief hurried away. Kangzi continued to toast with the two adults, exchanging pleasantries.
Kang Yang had been a servant at the Crown Prince's side since childhood, learning everything the Crown Prince learned, so his abilities were unquestionable. But after just one meal, the two adults had already made him their close friend.
Since the matter of buying land and building a house had been handed over to Hu Zi, Gu Jiayue no longer asked too much about it and continued to supervise her younger brothers and sisters and Goudan in their studies.
They have already finished learning the "Three Character Classic", and starting today she began to teach the four people the "Thousand Character Classic".
Goudan is extremely passionate about studying. He works diligently without anyone else having to put in much thought, even to a point of being overly hardworking.
According to Gu Yuhe, Goudan would skip the lunch break and go straight to the sandbox, practicing his calligraphy. During breaks, he would pull Gu Jiayue aside and ask her all sorts of questions, his eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge. His eagerness to learn was so intense that others couldn't help but admire him.
Gu Yuhe, on the other hand, was a completely different person. He would lose his focus the moment he wasn't being watched, and he would constantly talk to Goudan, who was studying diligently, disturbing him and making him lose focus.
Gu Yuhe's eyes were always wandering. Sometimes he looked out the window, sometimes he fiddled with the stationery in his hand, his mind was not on the book at all.
As for Gu Zhigeng and Gu Bailu, their academic progress can only be described as average.
This is not their fault. In addition to studying every day, they also have to take care of many housework and do some embroidery work in their spare time. As a result, they naturally have less time to study.
Gu Jiayue tried to persuade her grandparents many times, hoping to let her two younger sisters study wholeheartedly, but her grandparents believed that girls did not need to take the imperial examinations, and it was enough to know a few words, and there was no need to give up all their affairs for this.
Under the influence of this concept, Gu Zhigeng and Gu Bailu gradually lost their enthusiasm for learning. They just accompanied their children in studying, and their eyes were less focused during class.
Gu Jiayue felt helpless about this and could only think about waiting until the school was completed and she was away from her elders at home, and then find a way to correct her sisters' learning attitudes.
*
"Miss, the lumber and bricks have been purchased. Would you like to go check them out?" It was lunchtime, and the four little ones had gone to rest. Gu Jiayue had been sitting around doing nothing, but when she heard Hu Zi say that, she immediately became interested. Thinking it was a good time to go out for a walk, she agreed. "Okay, let's go."
Five days ago, Hu Zi brought back the land deed with her name on it, and she finally felt relieved. Hu Zi and Kang Zi were indeed servants trained by the Marquis's mansion from the bottom up. They were both very capable and completed the tasks assigned to them very well.
In modern times, wouldn't companies be scrambling to get such talents?
No, she has to keep these talents.
Nanshan was located at the end of the village, some distance from the Gu family. It took almost ten minutes to get there by carriage.
The southwest is full of mountains and the terrain is rugged, with few flat places. Therefore, the rocky land at the foot of Nanshan Mountain is not flat either.
Many of the exposed stones are five or six meters high, and there are dense bushes. It is really troublesome to clean up these things.
In a relatively flat area, wood and stones were piled up like mountains.
Gu Jiayue looked at these materials, unable to hide the joy in her eyes.
Thinking that he would soon be able to own his own home and career in this ancient world, his heart was filled with longing, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled up: "Now that the materials are ready, let's get started. We can use the villagers to work. Now that the busy farming season is over, let everyone earn some money."
There was a hint of excitement in her tone, as if she had already seen the future school and mansion rising from the ground.
"You can drive the cart and buy some meat and vegetables every day. Then find a few aunts in the village to help with cooking, and make sure everyone has enough to eat twice a day." Gu Jiayue gave instructions in an orderly manner.
Hu Zi listened attentively and nodded in agreement, "Okay, miss. I see there's a butcher in Xishan Village, so we can have him deliver the goods every day. There are people growing vegetables in our village too, and since all the employees are from the village, why not buy the vegetables there too? The vegetables grown in the village are fresh, so we can buy as much as we want and there won't be any waste."
During this period, Hu Zi worked tirelessly to buy high-quality and low-cost building materials. Now, he knows the surrounding situation very well, even knowing about the trivialities of the fight between the village chief and his wife.
When he told Gu Jiayue about this, Gu Jiayue widened her eyes in surprise. She never expected that the village chief would tell him such a thing.
Gu Jiayue thought for a moment and felt that what Hu Zi said was very true. She nodded and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say. You can go to Madam Cai to withdraw the money."
After explaining the things, Gu Jiayue paced around and looked around. A new idea came to her mind. It seemed that the original design drawing needed some changes.
"Miss, it looks like it's going to rain. Let's go back quickly." Hu Zi looked up at the sky and reminded anxiously.
Gu Jiayue looked up upon hearing this, only to see that the once clear sky was now completely covered by dark clouds, a gloomy mass, as if a huge curtain had been pressing down. "Okay, let's cover the wood first and then we can go."
I just opened up a lot of the wood to check the quality. Now it is going to rain, so I have to cover it up quickly, otherwise the wood will be damaged if it gets wet.
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