When Old Man Ding came back, he brought two black stones the size of fists. Kang Yueran put them in front of the oil lamp and took a look. Just as she guessed, they were indeed coal.
She burst out laughing. She was going to be rich! She was going to be a coal boss! "Uncle Ding, how far is it from your house to Jiguan Mountain? Can you take us there tomorrow?"
"It's not far, it'll take about an hour and a half to walk there. Madam, do you recognize this thing?"
"If I'm not mistaken, this is called coal. Like firewood, it's used for burning. It's not poisonous per se, but it produces toxic gases during the mining process. Uncle Ding, could you please ask your son to take us to the mountain tomorrow to have a look?"
Old Man Ding smiled and said, "Madam, you are a very knowledgeable person! Let Dalang take you there tomorrow. He is familiar with the place!"
During the meal, Uncle Ding told Ding Dalang that he would take Kang Yueran and others to Jiguana Mountain tomorrow.
Ding Jiasanlang was studying at the academy, and his room was given to Kang Yueran and Chai Shijing. Aunt Ding even covered them with her own newly made quilt. Yiming, Dacheng, and Ding Dalang's eldest son shared the room for the night.
Chai Shijing sat on a stool and looked at the bed. The bed was large, but the quilt was limited. "Yueran, you sleep on the bed, and I'll just lie on the table for the night."
Kang Yueran touched the soft quilt and said with a smile while taking off her coat, "Who told you to take the initiative to say that I was your wife? Do you regret it now?"
"You will be my wife sooner or later, so why should you regret it? After all, we haven't really gotten married yet, so sleeping together is not a good idea."
Kang Yueran came over and pulled him, "Alright, your injury hasn't healed yet, you can't bear to lie down all night. Let's sleep together, just sleep and don't do anything else."
"You're not afraid of me..."
"What are you afraid of? You're still injured. You can't beat me!"
Chai Shijing laughed angrily, "You!" After saying that, he also took off his coat.
The two of them got into bed and looked at each other face to face.
Chai Shijing coughed and said, "Yueran, don't look at me. I'm afraid I can't bear it. Turn your back to me and sleep."
Kang Yueran also felt a little embarrassed, "Okay!" She turned over and faced Chai Shijing with her back.
Chai Shijing pulled Kang Yueran into his arms, let her rest her head on his arm, and said, "Go to sleep!"
After a long sleep, Kang Yueran stirred and Chai Shijing asked, "Are you awake?"
"When did you wake up?"
"Just woke up, the Ding family is already up, let's get up too."
Kang Yueran sat up, stretched, got out of bed and put on her clothes.
After breakfast, led by Ding Dalang, they drove a carriage to Jiguana Mountain.
The hole that was dug that year was still there. Yiming tied a rope and went down into the hole. He chopped off two stones with a dagger, and Dacheng pulled him up again.
Kang Yueran took a look and found that it was indeed coal!
Chai Shijing asked, "Can this thing really burn like firewood?"
"Well, I was short of firewood for making porcelain. It was a blessing from heaven."
The five of them returned to the Ding family together, said goodbye to the Ding family, and drove back to Mingzhou City.
They did not check out and returned to the inn and stayed in their original room.
While Kang Yueran and Chai Shijing were washing up, Yiming asked the shopkeeper about Jiguana Mountain and Mr. Wang.
After returning to the room, he told Kang Yueran about it. "Uncle Ding is right. Jiguan Mountain is indeed owned by the cloth merchant Wang Quanfu, and Wang Quanfu has always wanted to sell it.
But the shopkeeper said that Wang Quanfu was a bad person and dishonest in his business dealings. His daughter married Qiu Zhi, a military official in Mingzhou. Leveraging his thousand-man defense force, Qiu Zhi often bullied merchants and civilians.
Whether it is Mingzhou or Anzhou, they are both located in the center of Dayong. Even if there is war, it will not affect here. The city defense army has no place to use its skills, and is becoming more and more slack and in a mess.
Chai Shijing said angrily, "The Anzhou city guards are the pests of Dayong, and Mingzhou is even worse, they have become hooligans who oppress the people."
"Don't be angry. It's not appropriate to reveal your identity now. You can deal with them later. Yiming, who is the governor of Mingzhou?"
"Wang Shouye, the governor of Mingzhou, is the prince's man and a corrupt official."
Kang Yueran asked, "How desperately does the Crown Prince need money? Why are all his subordinates corrupt officials?"
Chai Shijing replied, "The Crown Prince loves to enjoy himself, and he also wants to win over the court officials. No matter how much money he has, it will not be enough.
Let's go buy the mountain first. I'll deal with these people when I return to Beijing and make sure they don't cause you any trouble."
Yiming said, "Why don't you come up with a reason to buy the mountain? Otherwise, Wang Quanfu will definitely become suspicious, which will not only cause more trouble, but also cost more money."
Kang Yueran smiled cunningly, "No need, the land deed needs to be registered at the government office. Besides, we will definitely be mining coal after the New Year, and Wang Quanfu will know about it sooner or later.
Let him name his price, and we'll give him whatever he wants, and I'll get the money back from him later."
Chai Shijing also agreed with Kang Yueran's approach, "We can't stay in Mingzhou for long. Let's buy the mountain first. There will be plenty of opportunities to make Wang Quanfu spit out the money later."
Chai Shijing was not in a position to help with the purchase of the mountain. Kang Yueran took Hu Dacheng and went to the Wang family in his original appearance.
After waiting at the door for half an hour, the doorman took Kang Yueran and the other to see the chief steward Li.
Seeing Kang Yueran, a young girl, Chief Steward Li was a little displeased. "Why are you, a little girl, buying a mountain? Where is your master?"
"My brother is young, and I make the decisions about our family affairs."
"What do you want to do with the Jiguana Mountain?" Li Da Zongguan had seen some of the world. He knew that those black stones must be useful, but he didn't know what they were for.
"Jiguan Mountain is flat and has a lot of good farmland around it. I want to build a farm and workshop on the mountain and buy some good farmland to grow crops."
Li Da Zongguan didn't suspect anything and raised a finger. "Our master said that Jiguanshan must be sold for at least 10,000 taels."
The black rocks at the bottom of Jiguan Mountain are poisonous. Building a village is easy, but drinking water is a problem. But this matter has nothing to do with him. He is only responsible for selling the mountain.
Kang Yueran also raised a finger, "One, one, ten thousand? Ten thousand taels? So expensive? Chief Steward, can you make it a little cheaper?"
Ten thousand taels of silver for a coal mine is not expensive, but asking for ten thousand taels for a barren mountain with no trees is clearly bullying.
Li Dachang's face turned cold. "Do you think this is a market? A place where you can bargain?"
Kang Yueran stepped forward and handed Li Dachang a silver note of one hundred taels. "Don't blame me, General Manager. I hope you will take care of it."
Li Dachangguan looked at the face value of the banknote, then quickly stuffed it into his sleeve, his smile reappearing on his face. "Jiguan Mountain is just lying there, so why not sell it to you? How about this, not 10,000 taels, but 8,000 taels."
Afraid that Kang Yueran would bargain, he added, "I'll have to talk my master out of eight thousand taels. If you're willing, buy it. If not, leave!"
Kang Yueran nodded. "Okay, I'm going back to Anzhou tomorrow. Can I go to the county magistrate's office to transfer the ownership in the afternoon?"
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