When I finished my business in the shop and returned home, it was already dark.
Just as I was about to have dinner, the village chief came over.
"Miss Lin, I heard you were back, so I rushed over to find you."
Lin Jiuyue looked at the village chief in confusion.
"Village Chief, what do you want to talk to me about?"
The village chief had a smile on his face, as if something good had happened.
"Isn't it? It should be a good thing for you."
Lin Jiuyue was stunned for a moment, then spoke.
"Village Chief. What's the good news?"
"Today I heard that the land in the village next door is for sale. I thought you said you wanted to buy the land last time but didn't succeed, so I came here to ask if you would like to buy it."
Lin Jiuyue: ...
I really wanted to buy some land, but I asked around for a long time and couldn't find anyone who had large land to sell, so I bought a small hill in the village.
After a long period of clearing the land, the hill was finally completed.
Now that I have the small hill, I am no longer in a hurry to buy land.
"Village Chief, how big is the field you're talking about? Whose is it? And where is it?"
When the village chief saw Lin Jiuyue asking so many questions in one breath, he knew that Lin Jiuyue still wanted to buy it.
"Haha, I heard there's twenty acres of it. It's in the village next to ours. It belongs to the wealthy Zhang family. It's all top-quality farmland."
When Lin Jiuyue heard the village chief's words, she instantly became interested.
Twenty acres of land is quite a large area. If I buy it and plant some crops, wouldn't that give me another way to grow food in my space?
"Village Chief, since these are all top-quality farmlands, why did Mr. Zhang sell them?"
These days, land is like lifeblood to ordinary people. Unless there are special circumstances, people generally don't choose to sell their land.
"Well, it's just that the rich man Zhang was unlucky. He gave birth to a son who was not very promising."
"The son of the wealthy Zhang who listened to the story became addicted to gambling years ago and lost all the family money. After being beaten up by the wealthy Zhang, he behaved himself for a while."
"A few days ago, I don't know why, but I seemed to be possessed by a ghost and went to the gambling house to gamble again. I gambled so much that I lost all the money I had and even borrowed a lot of money from the gambling house."
"By the time they realized what was happening, they had already borrowed over two thousand taels of silver. All the money in the family had been lost, leaving only the house and the land. Naturally, they had no money to pay back the gambling den."
"But what kind of place is that gambling house? It's a place where even the royal family will suffer a lot of losses if they enter. It's impossible to borrow money without paying it back."
Lin Jiuyue: ...
Gambling is something you can't get away from once you get hooked. It's like eating mutton. Even after you finish eating it, you still smell fishy.
"Then what?"
Lin Jiuyue probably knew how things would turn out, but she still couldn't help but ask.
"Because he had no money to pay back the silver, the gambling den people detained Mr. Zhang's son and threatened that he would have to pay back the silver within three days. If he took more than a day, they would chop off one of Mr. Zhang's fingers."
"Originally, Mr. Zhang was a tough guy, thinking he'd use this opportunity to teach his son a lesson and scare him. But he didn't expect the gambling den's people to be so ruthless. They actually chopped off one of Mr. Zhang's fingers and sent someone to deliver it to Mr. Zhang's home."
"After seeing his son's severed finger, Mr. Zhang panicked and is now scrambling to collect money."
After hearing the words of the village chief, Lin Jiuyue couldn't help but sigh.
Gambling is harmful!
There are many wealthy people who become paupers because of gambling addiction, let alone ordinary people?
Besides, gambling houses in this era can be considered a legitimate industry. And who can open a gambling house without some power behind them?
Although Mr. Zhang had some money, it was still a little less than what the people in the gambling house had.
“What a pity.”
Lin Jiuyue said with a sigh.
"Isn't it? If the Zhang family didn't have such an unfilial son, they wouldn't have fallen to this point. They've worked hard for most of their lives, and now they've lost all their wealth in just a short time."
After the village chief finished speaking, he also sighed.
If this happened to me, if my son did something like this, I could break his legs without asking anyone from the gambling house to do anything!
"Does that mean the Zhang family only has this one son?"
Lin Jiuyue looked at the village chief in confusion.
People in this era like to have more children. The more children, the better. Well, the more sons, the better.
"You're right. Although Mr. Zhang is rich, he only has this one son."
Lin Jiuyue nodded.
If he really had so many sons, Mr. Zhang, the rich man, probably wouldn't spoil his sons as much as he does now, and his sons wouldn't lose all the family fortune.
Ultimately, the rich man Zhang and his wife also have to bear some responsibility for what happened to the Zhang family.
Spoiling a child is like killing him! There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
"Village Chief, how much silver is one acre of the land of the wealthy man Zhang?"
"The best farmland costs eight taels of silver per mu."
Lin Jiuyue nodded.
The best farmland in Lijia Village costs only seven taels of silver per mu. Sometimes, if the owner is in a hurry to sell, it may be even cheaper.
But this is the capital, so it is understandable that the price is a little higher.
What's more, their fields are all connected. Large areas are easier to manage, so it's normal that they are more expensive.
"Village Chief, are you free tomorrow? If you are, can you take me to see it?"
The village chief nodded.
"Whenever you have time, if you want to go and have a look, I'll come over early tomorrow morning and take you to Mr. Zhang's house to ask."
As soon as the village chief heard that the land of the wealthy Zhang family was going to be sold, he hurried to tell Lin Jiuyue, fearing that if he informed her too late, the wealthy Zhang family would sell the land.
But when he arrived, Lin Jiuyue was not at home, so it was delayed until dark.
"Okay, let's go early tomorrow morning."
Mr. Zhang, the rich man, was anxious to use the money to save his son, so he must have been in a hurry to sell the land. If he went too late, the land might have been bought by someone else.
It will not be easy to find such a suitable piece of land in the future.
The village chief was so eager to tell Lin Jiuyue about this matter, and he also had selfish motives.
The overall conditions in Shangbei Village are good, but there are still some families in the village who do not have land, or the food grown on their land is not enough for their families to eat.
The village chief thought that Lin Jiuyue was rich and had a small family, so she definitely couldn't cultivate so much land. If Lin Jiuyue really bought all of Zhang Dacai's land, she would definitely have to find someone to help her farm, or even rent out the land.
Lin Jiuyue is now a resident of Shangbei Village. Whether it's finding someone to help with farming or renting out their land, the villagers of Shangbei Village have more opportunities than those outside.
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