Chapter 11 Chapter 11 The family discusses the purchase of land
Baozhu waved her hands repeatedly and complimented him, "Your Excellency has a keen eye. You actually knew I was looking for this hairpin. What's the point of showing off your achievements? It's really embarrassing. I should be the one thanking you, Your Excellency."
It was good enough to be able to enter the garden and take a look, but I didn't dare show my face in front of those nobles, so I hid from Gusu to Bianjing. If I caused trouble in Bianjing again, I was afraid I would not be able to escape.
Pei Xun smiled and said, "Looking at the girl's attire, I know she's from Suzhou. This hairpin is also made in the southern style. I also remember that you were looking for something on that small road today. I think this is the hairpin you found."
Baozhu acted as if she was convinced, and after she had made her point, the two of them bowed and said goodbye.
The eldest brother just came out of the carpenter's shop and asked Baozhu what happened. Baozhu didn't say anything else, just said that she saw some new food and wanted to take a look.
Dalang shook his head. "Come back tomorrow to buy some. It's getting late. Let's go home now. I'm afraid the food has already been served at home."
The brother and sister then returned to Dong's house together.
I went out shopping for a few days, and the new house was gradually fully furnished. When the time came, the whole family could move in, and it would be better not to bother my aunt's family anymore.
It will be convenient for my second brother to study then. Now that we have a house, the whole family can settle down in Bian Jing.
With their household registration transferred to Bianjing, my second brother could also be naturalized there. With his uncle's connections, he could take the Imperial College exams directly, which was much cheaper than returning to Pingjiang Prefecture. Not only would there be fewer people competing, but many students at the Imperial College were able to secure official positions through imperial influence. Alternatively, some families were so wealthy that they didn't care much about studying, so most were less academically inclined than students from Jiangnan.
After all, it is a good thing to move the school registration to Bian Jing.
After dinner, Zhen's eldest son came to discuss small business with Baozhu.
Zhen's father showed off his skills at Fanlou today, and with his uncle mediating, I think the job is almost done. We just need to ask the owner of the house behind the scenes about it.
The monthly salary offered by Fanlou was sixteen strings of cash. The family still had several hundred strings of cash left, and some jewelry, but they didn't have much land now, and it would seem poor if they sold it. Besides, they would need a generous dowry for their daughter when she got married.
The monthly allowance offered by Fan Lou, apart from other things, is enough for the family to eat and drink if they live frugally, with some left over. As long as they don't spend all their money, it's great. The Zhen couple was also relieved.
Now that Zhen's father had found a job, Xu became a little anxious. She was not lazy. She used to be a manager in a restaurant. Now that the family had moved to Bian Jing, it was not easy for her to find a job as a manager. But she was good at talking and capable at doing things. There were countless restaurants in Bian Jing. Even if she could not be a manager, there would always be someone willing to help her wipe tables and wash dishes.
No matter what she does, as long as she has a job, she will feel at ease.
The house near the Imperial College was not completely renovated until late May. The leaks were repaired, and most of the furniture was bought by several children who had searched for it together. Those that were really hard to find were only bought from shops. My uncle and aunt also helped to buy a lot of things.
There were still a few hundred strings of cash left at home, and the couple thought it was not easy to open a shop now, so they might as well buy some land and property. The cost of food and drink in Bianjing City was very high, and some land could at least solve the problem of food and drink. This money would be dead money if kept at home, and it would not be worth a penny more in a hundred years. It would be better to use it to buy some land, and earn some money by selling the grain.
Baozhu also had the same idea. Merchants think long-term. Nowadays, a family has to spend money on food and drink. If they buy some land, the annual income will not only be enough to cover the family's expenses, but they can also have some money left over after selling the grain. If they really encounter any difficulties, the land is more valuable than the dead money in their hands.
The family kept 200 strings of cash for emergencies, and Xu sold some gold ornaments to make up 600 strings of cash. In Bianjing, land was extremely expensive, and there was no good land to buy, and the land prices were staggeringly high.
Zhen's father had been assigned a job as a cook in Fanlou. Xu thought she had seen some of the world, but she still had a lot of things to take care of at home, so she couldn't leave.
After the Dong family settled in Bian Jing, they also bought some properties. Because the prices in Bian Jing were really high, and Dong's uncle's former classmate was an official in Xuzhou, so he bought some properties in Xuzhou. In this dynasty, the custom of women marrying off lavishly was prevalent. When Yuanniang got married, the only property left in Xuzhou was a farm, and the rest was given to Yuanniang as a dowry.
With this connection, the Zhen family considered buying land in Xuzhou as well. Erlang needed to study, and Xu Shi was busy trying to find a job as a landowner, so she couldn't spare the time. As for Baorong, no one trusted her with leaving the house. Baozhu was clever, more intelligent than Dalang, and Dalang was a man of great stature, someone most people wouldn't dare to provoke. Therefore, Dalang and Baozhu had to go to Xuzhou together to buy land.
It would take at least three days or at most two days to hire a car to get from Xuzhou to Bianjing. Baozhu dressed as a man and smeared her face to look like a young man. She ate, drank and stayed overnight along the way, and no one knew she was a girl.
There are fewer people in Xuzhou, and the land price is much lower than in Bianjing, but naturally it is definitely higher than in other places.
The land price is roughly the same as that in Suzhou. The land is vast at a glance. The wheat fields are green at this time of year, and there are mostly people working in the fields.
The brother and sister arrived at a county town under Xuzhou. When they arrived at the post station, the sun was at its hottest. After traveling for days, they were so tired that they could hardly open their eyes. They found a clean inn and asked for two adjacent rooms. They put down their luggage and washed up first, and asked the waiter to bring them two bowls of noodles. After eating and drinking, they rested for a while before going downstairs to ask people.
His uncle gave him a business card. Although his classmate was in Xuzhou, he had no problems at the moment, so Baozhu did not plan to go and look for him. It was difficult to deal with favors between people. The money could only buy a few more acres of land. If he wanted to find someone, he would have to give gifts. If he gave too many gifts, it would be difficult for him to do it. If he gave too few, he was afraid that others would look down on him. It would only add a lot of trouble.
The brother and sister searched for two or three days before they heard the news in a village called Shizhuang under Dahe Town.
It turned out that the person selling the land was a landlord named Shi from Shizhuang. He had only one old son in his family. He was lazy and lived a carefree life. He felt bored with the good life he had lived for too long. He still felt that eating and drinking were not enough, so he teamed up with some bad friends to have fun together. He asked someone to set a trap for his unfilial son, and made him lose all his money.
It’s a pity that people are so obsessed with gambling that they don’t care about anything else and even borrow a lot of money from the gambling house.
In the end, he couldn't get away, and only woke up when the other party refused to lend him the money.
Now that the person has been detained, they say his hands and feet will be chopped off if the money is not paid back. The panicked Shi landlord is begging for help everywhere.
However, since the gambling house was open, there were people behind it. Seeing that Landlord Shi had not been able to collect the money for several days, he actually cut off a piece of his finger and wrapped it with cloth. He also asked his thugs to rush to his house and throw the finger on the ground in front of the old and young people in the family.
The poor old lady fainted for several days after being frightened. Landlord Shi knew that asking for help was useless. He had put all his money into the loan, but it was useless. The other party took the money and produced a receipt, and then doubled the amount of money he had borrowed. So Landlord Shi was so frantic that he sold his land everywhere.
I think those who set up the scheme have found out the Shi family's financial situation and want them to sell all their land to barely fill the hole.
Baozhu and her elder brother arrived at the place with the introduction of a middleman.
The land was all good, and the wheat stalks grown there were crowded together. The fields looked flat and open. The brother and sister looked at each other and were already somewhat satisfied. The fields were far away in Xuzhou, and this time they not only had to buy the land, but also find an honest person who understood farmland and crops to take care of the fields. After all, the whole family was now living far away in Bianjing City.
Although this middleman likes to take advantage of others, he is indeed capable. Baozhu asked many middlemen, and although they have land, most of them are scattered. Only he knew that the land of the landlord Shi was in large tracts.
Baozhu had been listening to this man talking about the past and present of the Shi family. Now, when she saw the landlord Shi, she was a little surprised, because this landlord did not look like a landlord, but more like a farmhand. His face was darker than that of ordinary people, and his hands were rough. If you looked closely, you could see that his palms were covered with thick calluses. Just by looking at his appearance, you could tell that he was a very honest person.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you two brothers." The landowner Shi just felt tired. Thinking of his disappointing son, he felt hatred and anger but could do nothing about it. Now that someone came to buy the land, he couldn't help but complain.
Baozhu only then realized that this family business was built by himself. When he was young, he did all kinds of work and saved some capital by trading furs in the cold north. Later, when he got older and could no longer run, he bought more than 50 acres of land and finally lived a stable life.
Although he hired someone to work on the family's farm, he still had to go to the fields every day, feeling at ease when he worked on his own. Now, he was harmed by the prodigal son, and his life's hard work had turned to ashes. However, no matter how much harm the prodigal son caused, no matter how harshly he beat and scolded him, he could not bear to not save him.
At the end of his speech, the man shed tears. Baozhu felt sorry for him. The family fortune he had accumulated throughout his life was completely squandered by his foolish son.
This man must have heard what the landlord Duoshi said, so he patted him on the shoulder to show his comfort, and then interrupted him when he saw that it was not too late.
"Uncle Shi, you said earlier that you had sold about 20 acres of land to villagers, and there were still about 30 acres left. These two gentlemen are here to look at the land today. Please take us to have a look."
The price of medium-quality land is 15 strings of cash per mu, and the price of high-quality land is 20 strings of cash per mu. Before I came, the broker said that this was a fixed price and not a penny less.
Landlord Shi took a few people to see which field it was, and he would go into the field from time to time to demonstrate it. By the time the sun set, Baozhu had a rough idea of what was going on.
"This price is not really that high, because Master Shi has to harvest this crop of wheat himself. Without this crop, the price per acre is lower. Otherwise, one acre of land would cost more than this."
Baozhu nodded. "This is a serious matter. Uncle, please wait while I discuss it with my family. If nothing goes wrong, I will go to the brokerage firm to sign the contract with you in five days."
"Five more days?" Landlord Shi shrank back upon hearing this. "I'm afraid my beast can't stand the beating anymore. Those hooligans are the most heartless. If this goes on any longer, my beast will be in real trouble—"
Baozhu thought about it and said, "Then let's wait for three more days. I'll give the middleman a confirmation after three days."
The man was quite shrewd and simply said, "Since you two gentlemen haven't paid a deposit yet, there are still people looking at the land in the next few days. If no one commits after three days, that's fine. If someone commits, then the highest bidder will get it."
"If someone has really made a reservation, I'd like you to help me look for other fields." Baozhu didn't comment. She was used to being cautious and there was no way she would pay money just by coming here to take a look.
Baozhu and her elder brother have been staying in the inn these days to gather information. After all, they are not native to Xuzhou. If one of them has set a trap with the landlord Shi, all the money will be wasted once it is given.
The price of purchasing these acres of land is not a small amount, so the background of the land must be carefully checked to avoid disputes in the future. The family lives far away from Xuzhou in the mountains, and it will be difficult to support themselves if something happens.
After spending a lot of money and asking around, I found out that the land was real and that the unfilial son of the landlord Shi was in debt at the gambling house.
The Shi family had indeed sold twenty acres of land to villagers, but many people wanted to take advantage of the situation and rob the other thirty acres, so they just kept bargaining for the price. Landlord Shi saw that the price was too harsh and the money he got from the sale could not cover the debt of the gambling house, so he did not sell any of the land.
Three days later, Baozhu and her elder brother went to find the middleman, signed the contract at the yamen, paid the silver, and gave the middleman ten strings of cash. Only then was the matter settled.
Baozhu put the land deed into a box and kept it safe. She had specially exchanged it for silver ingots before the 600 strings of cash came. Landlord Shi took the money box and bent his waist a little. He was eager to use the money to redeem the person and could not delay any longer. As soon as he came out of the yamen, he hurried to the gambling house.
A box of silver ingots was exchanged for several land deeds, totaling thirty-five acres of land: fifteen acres of upper land and twenty acres of middle land. Landlord Shi kept only two acres, having sold the rest. Because of her luck, not only was the land in one place, but Baozhu also bought the pond to the north for ten strings of cash. Landlord Shi explained that he had the pond fertilized every year, so the silver carp, crucian carp, and black carp were all fat, and the ditch was full of tiny shrimp. Baozhu thought it would be a good idea to catch some fresh fish and send them to Bianjing in winter.
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