"Of course you can. If you can buy land in the village at this price, that would be the best deal. My family doesn't buy the Qian family's land simply because we don't want to have anything to do with them. You don't need to be shy about it."
He Jiuniang smiled and looked at Madam Yu and Madam Qin.
Yu also said, "Yes, it's a fool not to take advantage of a good deal! We can't miss such a good opportunity. Are you two planning to split it equally?"
"No, no, no, we don't have that much money. My family will buy two mu of land, and Sister Qi's family will buy one mu. We'll buy other land next year when we make some money."
Cui'er waved her hand. Although they didn't have much money, they were all smiles. They had made a lot of money in such a short time, and could even afford to buy land. This was something they never dared to dream of. There was nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, they should be proud.
They couldn't earn this much money in a whole year back in their hometown.
He Jiuniang said, "I think you bought too little. The Qian family probably won't sell. Why don't you ask Brother Fugui and the others? Why don't you each buy some and divide these ten acres of land among yourselves? Many hands make light work. Even if the Qian family regrets it later, they won't dare to cause trouble easily."
"I think you're right! Okay, we'll listen to you, let's go find Brother Fugui and the others and ask them!"
The families who fled the famine together all made some money, and if they squeezed together, they could at least buy an acre of land.
Qi and her daughter could actually sell two or three acres of land, but both of them worked in a garment workshop and didn't have time to take care of the land. They just wanted to buy an acre of land to grow some grain, so that they would have some security and the two of them wouldn't be too tired.
The two thanked He Jiuniang and the others, then got up and left.
Yu sighed, "Life has improved for the Lu family members. We are very fortunate to be in this lineage now."
"Yes, it's all thanks to my third sister-in-law! Third sister-in-law, you are our lucky star!"
At this point, Qin couldn't help but wipe away her tears. If her family were still alive and had met them, they could have settled in Anping Village together and surely made a good living. But now...
Seeing Qin Shi like this, Yu Shi also felt a little sad. At least Qin Shi had a niece by her side, but she knew nothing about her maternal family. Previously, He Jiu Niang had drawn a portrait and asked the soldiers to keep an eye out for her, but it seemed that there had been no progress.
Actually, she had given up hope, but she would still feel sad occasionally when she thought about it.
Seeing this, He Jiuniang secretly slipped away. The atmosphere was too oppressive, and it was better for her not to get involved.
After a period of hard work, all the sewing machines were put to use, with each female worker having one, and the daily output was excellent.
The Lu family's ready-made clothes don't require taking measurements. He Jiuniang divides them into three sizes—small, medium, and large—according to postmodern sizing. Anyway, they just mass-produce every day, and they can ship any number of orders.
There are also slower ones. Those high-quality, exclusive custom-made pieces that require hand embroidery can take several days to complete. Fortunately, those things are very expensive, so even if it takes a few days, it's worth it. Therefore, the embroiderers' wages have always been higher than those of ordinary female workers.
The female workers naturally didn't dare to complain. They were much more relaxed using sewing machines than before, and they earned more money. They were overjoyed.
Seeing how easily the female workers were doing their jobs, the embroiderers complained one after another. They had also gotten along well with the Lu family and were quite bold. Whenever they saw He Jiuniang, they would pester her to ask when she could make a machine like a sewing machine that could embroider.
He Jiuniang waved her hand. Although it wasn't impossible, that thing was too complicated and required electricity, which wouldn't work in this era.
Fortunately, the embroiderers knew that this was very difficult to do, so they usually just fantasized about it and didn't have much hope.
The Qian family was indeed short of money. After learning about the extremely low price offered by the wealthy people in the county town, and hearing the price of three taels of silver offered by Cui'er and the others, they felt a pang of heartache and sold the goods. In this way, they instantly had thirty taels of silver, enough to have a prosperous New Year.
These past few days, Madam Li has been cursing the Lu family terribly, saying that if the Lu family hadn't deliberately targeted her family like this, her family's land wouldn't have sold for only three taels of silver.
However, the villagers ignored these words and did not join in criticizing the Lu family.
Even though everyone knew that the Lu family didn't want to associate with the Qian family, in order to curry favor with the Lu family, they would still chime in to scold them when they heard Li talking badly about the Lu family.
The villagers were exceptionally united in dealing with this matter.
While the Lu family was busy with their economic endeavors, Lou Chong, Lu Baichuan's trusted confidant whom he had sent out half a month ago, secretly returned to Nantai and handed him the letters he had been carrying.
"Third Master, Miss Wei didn't say anything, she just gave me this envelope."
Upon hearing Lou Chong's words, Lu Baichuan's heart sank to the bottom. The envelope was very thick, and he had already guessed what was inside.
"Alright, go back and rest."
He gave a stiff smile, dismissed the person, and then opened the envelope with a heavy heart.
Sure enough, it was half of the stack of silver notes he had given her earlier that was now being returned.
That's the rule there: you get paid after the job is done, and if it's not done, you get half. After all, they sent someone to inquire, so they have to get a fee for their hard work.
In addition, there was a list and a letter, the contents of which were very short, consisting of only a few words.
No such three people were found in Anzhou. They may have met with misfortune on the way. My condolences.
It was a very short line of text, but Lu Baichuan stared at it for a long time before he came to his senses.
With so many people in the family, could it be that not a single one survived?
Thinking of that list, he immediately picked it up and looked at it carefully. It was full of names with the surname Lu that he had found, but none of them were familiar to him.
Impossible. With so many members in the Lu family, how could there be none?
Could it be that they didn't go to Anju at all?
Perhaps the journey was difficult and they had to change course halfway through?
Yes, that's right, that must be it!
He unconsciously increased his strength, crushing the paper in his hand into tiny pieces.
He refused to believe that his family was all gone and insisted on going back to find them himself.
We need to expedite the process and bring this matter to a close.
After thinking for a moment, he picked up his pen and wrote a letter. Then he called in a subordinate and said, "Find a way to send it into the palace and deliver it to the Emperor of Nantai."
He had been making arrangements during this time, and if all went well, he should be able to return to Beiyan after the New Year. After that, he would ask Prince Chen for leave for a while to find his family.
That evening, Emperor Nantai received a letter from Lu Baichuan, saying that he was willing to help him through his current predicament, but it would cost money.
The signature is Shunyu Gambling House.
Emperor Nantai stared into deep thought as he looked at the letter, wondering who exactly was behind the Shunyu Gambling House.
He had suspected before that the other party was most likely from Beiyan, and that even the death of the Crown Prince was related to them, but he had never had any evidence.
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