After waiting for so long, a suitable plot of land was finally found. Xichun didn't delay any longer and went to the house with the village chief. After hearing their purpose, the man took Xichun and his party directly to the field.
“My land is all top-quality land, with only five acres being dry land on the mountain. Actually, there are quite a few people in the village who want to rent my land, but if it weren’t for the urgent need for money this time, who would be willing to sell all their land? Alas, there’s really no other way this time.”
The old man's hair was all white. He said he was only forty years old this year, but because his only son was sick, the two of them had to take him to the prefectural city for treatment. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough money, so they had to sell all the land.
“There are twenty acres here. My ancestors were once wealthy, but they were all single-son families. Gradually, by my generation, all that was left was this little bit of land, and now we have to sell it. I really feel sorry for my ancestors.”
"As long as he's still alive, everything can be earned back. Don't worry, old man. Your son will definitely find a good doctor in the city to treat him, and then he'll be able to earn back the money from this land."
"Well, although we didn't have much hope, we don't plan to come back. We'll sell all the houses in the family and see if we can do some small business on the outskirts of the prefectural city while also seeking medical treatment. Except for the dry land, which I plan to sell for eight taels of silver, the rest will be sold for ten taels of silver per mu. You can think about it yourselves. If you're willing to buy, I can go to the yamen with you in the next few days to exchange the deed."
"Could you make it a little cheaper? It's still a bit too expensive." The village chief did the math in his mind. Twenty acres of land would cost 190 taels of silver, which was no small sum. Although the price of the land was indeed like this, he still wanted to reduce the cost for Xichun.
“If this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been willing to sell. Besides, my land is top-quality. You can see for yourselves. There’s even a well here, which makes it convenient to draw water. My ancestors dug it. It’s precisely because I didn’t want to sell it cheaply that I’ve been holding off until now. Otherwise, if everyone in the village bought a mu (unit of land area) of land, we could have bought some.”
“Village chief, let’s go with the amount Uncle suggested. We’ll come to buy the land tomorrow. My father suffered a lot because of his illness, but unfortunately we still didn’t have enough money. Let’s just consider this a good deed and hope that your son will recover soon.”
Xi Chun stopped the village chief from haggling. The original owner's father had encountered a similar situation, and she didn't want to continue bargaining. The village chief was only trying his best to help her because he was doing it for her own good.
“This girl is definitely going to do great things. Since you’re so agreeable, I won’t sell her to anyone else. Tomorrow morning, bring the money, and we’ll go to the yamen to exchange the deed.” The uncle agreed.
"Alright, Xichun, you're a kind-hearted girl, let's go with this price. You'll have to wait for us here tomorrow." The village chief understood Xichun's meaning and stopped haggling.
“There are countless people suffering in this world. Xichun, you are just too kind. You should think about yourself too.” On the way back, the village chief said with emotion.
Their village is what it is today because of Xichun's kindness, which is why the village chief is feeling sentimental now.
"Money can never be earned enough. Besides, I can earn money on my own now. Even if I help others, it's within my ability. And I only help people I think I can help. People like the Chen family, even if they kneel in front of me and beg me, I won't pay them any attention."
I thought doing more good deeds would accumulate good karma for my father and myself. Who can predict what will happen in this world? Who knows, maybe one day we'll need someone's help.
In fact, Xichun was thinking that her time travel was a kind of metaphysics, and she hoped that by doing more good deeds, she could encounter fewer bad people in the future.
"That's true. It's never a bad thing to accumulate good deeds in secret."
The next morning, Xichun and the village chief got everything done, and the twenty mu of land was theirs. Xichun became the owner of the twenty mu of land.
"Thank you, Village Chief. I'm so grateful for your help these past two days. Otherwise, we wouldn't have finished so quickly." Today is already the 27th, and the government office will be closing in two more days, so we had to rush to finish everything.
"It's nothing, compared to your help, what I did is also a small matter," the village chief said with a smile.
Wang was also happy for Xichun's return. When she heard that Xichun had bought land, Wang was genuinely happy for her. The Fu family was a wealthy family in the city, and now that Xichun had land, she had more confidence and wouldn't be afraid to marry into the Fu family in the future.
"That's wonderful, Xichun. If your father knew this from beyond the grave, he would be so happy for you," Wang said excitedly.
"Yes, I also hope he can know that I have made something of myself and that things will be better in the future." Xi Chun carefully put away the land deed, and then Wang Shi explained her purpose.
"Xiao Bao's wife said at home that you're getting married next year, so she wants to invite you to her home for the New Year this year. I don't know what you think, whether you'd like to come or not?" Wang didn't directly ask, but instead explained the whole story.
"Since they've all invited me, I'll go have a meal with you. But I'll cook something to feed my father first, then I'll go." Xi Chun thought for a moment and agreed. After she got married, she probably wouldn't come back to the village often, so having this meal with the Ma family was a way of showing her attitude and asking them to continue to treat Wang Shi well.
As for Xiaofeng, he was their child, so they naturally wouldn't neglect him. The new bride seemed to be a smart person last time, knowing that Xichun was the one who could help the most. She was so considerate last time, and Xichun's impression of her enthusiasm was quite good.
"That's good. You used to be all alone. It will be more lively when you go out to eat this year." When Wang heard that she had agreed, she was happy and thought about preparing more good dishes.
Wang was busy with other things, so she didn't stay long. Xichun then sorted out all the things she had prepared for this trip home and delivered them to each family.
Aunt Zhang and Aunt Liu's families were both to be given some meat as a token of gratitude for their help and care in the village, as well as for the village chief who had been running errands for them. So Xichun also sent some meat over.
Apart from keeping some for their own family, Xichun also distributed the rest, which would be sent to the Ma family later.
Grandma Ma and Mo Xiaoling couldn't stop smiling when they saw the things Xichun brought. They kept saying that Xichun was too polite, and after some persuasion, they finally accepted the gifts.
The lively New Year celebrations began, and Xiaofeng chattered away, telling all sorts of funny stories about himself and his friends, while Mo Xiaoling shared the gossip she had heard with Xichun.
“I heard from my family that the Chen family couldn’t find anywhere to go, so they headed into the mountains. They finally found a village where they could stay. After marrying their daughter to a hunter in the village, they managed to build a thatched house with the help of their son-in-law. Now they are struggling to make ends meet.”
"That's the fate they deserved," Xi Chun said casually. Mo Xiaoling knew she didn't like mentioning the Chen family, so she shut up.
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