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Chapter 62 Buying Land

The head of the village's surname is Li, and his given name is Li Decai. Except for the elders and peers who are close to him, everyone else calls him the head of the village. From the fact that Shen Zian and Li Shi call him "Uncle Head of the Village", we can see that they have a good relationship.

The head of the village has a son and a daughter. The daughter is married and the son has also found a wife. Today, both of them are not at home. Their son, the little fat boy, stays at home. His nickname is Shuanzi. This name sounds like a name that he cherishes. He wants to tie him up and prevent him from being taken away by ghosts and gods.

"Aunt Zhao, the buns you made are so delicious. My mother can't make them."

Shuanzi was eating his second dumpling, looking up at Su Zhi, and saying sweet things in his still childish voice. The adults were all happy to hear him, as this little fat boy was the most lovable.

Su Zhi touched his head and said, "This is called a dumpling. Auntie can make something more delicious. I'll bring it to you later."

"That's not good."

Jinhua's mother said with a smile, she watched her grandson eat and smelled the delicious aroma, she also took one to eat, she felt her saliva came out after the first bite, she thought to herself that this boy and his wife are really good at cooking, this dumpling is so delicious, no wonder the old man came back and said this young lady is capable, it's true. Thinking of this, her attitude towards Su Zhi became better.

"I heard that you changed your name to Su Zhi? Then I will call you Su Zhi too! Su Zhi, you make dumplings really well. I wonder if my wife can learn from you?"

"Sure, if you want to learn, I will definitely teach you. It's very easy to do and you will learn it once you teach."

Su Zhi smiled and said that although there was no such dumpling in this place, she did not intend to make money by selling it. It was more important to teach others to have a good reputation and good relationships. Besides, she came to buy land from the village head today! She saw the smile on the face of the village head's wife deepened, and she knew that she had done the right thing.

"It's settled then. You guys go talk business, I'll take this naughty boy out to play."

Jinhua's mother took the dumplings and led Shuan to another room, smoking a cigarette. He had just heard Shen Zian say that he wanted to buy a piece of land, which was a large piece of land, and he was thinking about how much money he would get from selling it. At this time, he saw his wife and grandson walking away, and Su Zhi also looked at him. He put down his cigarette bag and coughed.

"Although the land you bought is wasteland, it is not small. It must be about 50 or 60 mu. Let's put it this way. Here, low-quality land costs 10 taels of silver per mu. That's arable land. The wasteland you bought is 8 taels of silver per mu. What do you think?"

Li Shi smiled and said, "Mr. Li Zheng, you also said that those lands are wastelands. Eight taels of silver is too much. No one wants the land on the east side of the river. Crops don't grow well there. They say it's low-quality land, and it's even less productive than low-quality land. If low-quality land is worth ten taels of silver, then that land is worth, if not five taels, at most, six taels. And that's still arable land. How can this uncultivated wasteland be worth eight taels? I think it's worth four taels at most!"

Su Zhi gave a thumbs up in her heart. She thought Li Shi was a good bargainer. If it was calculated this way, it wouldn't cost much to buy such a large piece of land.

The village head coughed, took another puff of his cigarette, and said, "Your price is too low. Although this land is barren, it may not be bad land if it is cultivated. Four ounces per mu is too little."

Shen Zian said, "Mr. Li Zheng, you are right, but isn't that land uncultivated? The large piece of land in front of my house that we want is a low-lying area, and the land next to the bamboo forest is even more sandy, so the grass doesn't even grow high, and the bamboo there isn't as green as the ones that grow elsewhere. For land like this, if you don't charge them and let them cultivate it, they won't bother. If you ask them for money, I guess no one will buy it. Not to mention that it's such a large area."

"Zi'an is right."

Li Shi helped out from the side.

The village head thought for a moment and said, "That piece of land is not very good, but there is a large bamboo forest and it is close to the mountain. Although the low-lying land is not good, it can still be used to grow rice."

Su Zhi thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Uncle Lizheng, bamboos are everywhere in our Daqing Mountain, so that large bamboo forest is worthless. Being close to the mountains has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages. There are beasts in the mountains. If they run out of food this winter and run down the mountain, wouldn't we who are close to them be unlucky? That depression, from what I see, is full of weeds. Even if we want to open it up to make paddy fields, the grass seeds will be enough to keep people busy. Don't people say that fish seeds take a thousand years to grow, while grass seeds take ten thousand years to grow?"

The head of the village was speechless now. He also knew that the land was indeed not good. Even if it was given to the villagers for free, no one would be willing to go through the hard work. Everyone was afraid that even if the land was cultivated for ten or eight years, it would still be as bad as the inferior fields by the river.

Seeing that the village chief had nothing to say, Su Zhi added a strong dose of medicine and said, "Mr. Lizheng, there is a large amount of land for sale in this village, and it is wasteland like this. This will be good for you. And if I really invite the holy beast, this will be the place for the holy beast to live. It will also be good for the reputation of our village."

When the village head heard what was going on, he raised his head and said with a smile, "I'll take people to measure that large piece of land. You can't be careless about it. I'll give you four taels of silver for one acre of land."

Shen Zian, Su Zhi and Li Shi were all delighted when they heard this, as this meant half of the price had been confirmed.

Shen Zian agreed with the village head that he would take people to measure the land tomorrow morning, and then he said goodbye and went home.

It was getting dark when they got home. They had finished their meal. Su Zhi packed up her things while Shen Zian started to fix the broken table with the nails and hammers borrowed from Li Shi's house. Before the furniture was put in, they had to use this. After the repair, Su Zhi lit a small oil lamp, took out a pen and ink and started to draw the structure of the house. Shen Zian sat aside and watched while Su Zhi explained to him while drawing.

Su Zhi didn't study architecture, but she had seen fellow villagers building houses in the countryside, and of course she had seen blueprints, so she drew it from memory. Although it wasn't very detailed, the general outline was correct. From Shen Zian's expression, you can tell that at that time there were no three-dimensional house structural drawings, and even the craftsmen in the countryside didn't even have blueprints, and only relied on experience to build. A blueprint like this is enough.

"Wife, you are really smart."

Shen Zian watched his wife's slender fingers flexibly draw one stroke after another. In just a moment, those lines became a house frame, a standing house frame. He was very impressed. And his wife's idea of ​​the house made him admire her even more. He thought that a house could be built like this, and it was no worse than those houses of the rich people in the city!

Su Zhi still blushed slightly at Shen Zian's praise, but it was very natural now. She looked at him and said, "My husband is also very smart, but you don't have time to learn. If you want to learn, I will teach you in the future. You won't feel embarrassed to learn to read and draw with your wife, right?"

Su Zhi knew that Shen Zian could read, but not all of them. She thought Shen Zian was very smart and looked smart. He could cook any dish she had cooked. If such a person was trained from a young age, he would definitely be a talent. She didn't expect her husband to become an official or anything like that. She just hoped that he could have more confidence and that they could live a better life together in the future.

Shen Zian smiled and said, "I don't feel embarrassed now. I am proud to have such a smart wife. When you have free time, you can teach me. I can't let you down."

The two of them continued to draw, chatting and laughing, until Su Zhi finished the picture, and then they turned off the lights and rested.

Shen Zian hugged his wife, feeling her breath, his heart was hot and itchy, thinking that his wife's illness would soon be cured. After the house was built, he would tidy up their room and give his wife a bright red new house. Then it would be the wedding night, right? !

The next day, the head of the village brought people to measure the land. After a busy period, they finally measured out 65 mu of land, and the total amount required was 260 taels of silver.

To buy and sell land here, one not only needs to sign a contract with the seller, but one also needs to go to the government office to sign the contract and keep it on file.

What Shen Zian bought was a wasteland, so he just had to go to the government office. Of course, the village head and the middleman who had a record with the government, also known as the broker, also had to go. Shen Zian took the head and the broker to the county in a ox cart, wrote a deed and kept the file, and the land was officially theirs.

Shen Zian invited the head of the village, the broker, and the official who was helping him to have a meal at a restaurant, and then rushed home in the afternoon. When he got home, he handed the land deed to Su Zhi, and then took Su Zhi for a walk.

"Wife, we are going to have a big house and a big yard!"

Su Zhi was also very happy. After Shen Zian put her down, she hugged him and kissed him, then went into the house with the land deed. Shen Zian touched his face and smiled a little foolishly. Then he happily took the cow off the cart and tied it up before going into the house. Seeing that his wife's face was a little red, his face also turned red.

After buying the land, it’s time to start buying materials and looking for people.

Li Shibang went to ask the villagers for help. Although he had left the village for many years, he was a righteous man and got along well with the villagers when he came back. Shen Zian was no bad choice either. Shen Zian wanted to build a house. When Li Shibang called for help, a large group of people came. Shen Zian saw that they were all honest and hardworking villagers, so he kept them all. If the house was to be built quickly, more people were needed. Moreover, he planned to enclose these dozens of acres of land. The wall project was very large, and it would not work with few people!

Shen Zian and Su Zhi agreed to pay 75 wen per person per day. Generally, building a house costs 60 wen per person per day. Since they were all from the same village, Shen Zian was afraid that Su Zhi would be tired, so he decided not to provide meals, so he gave her an extra 15 wen for meals. This price is considered high. Which man can spend 15 wen for a meal? Others only pay 65 wen without meals, and some even pay 70 wen!

After hearing about the wages, many men in the village came looking for work. The men from the Shen family also came, but Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui came to help, while Shen Ziping came to take advantage.